********* Welcome to Project 64! The goal of Project 64 is to preserve Commodore 64 related documents in electronic text format that might otherwise cease to exist with the rapid advancement of computer technology and declining interest in 8- bit computers on the part of the general population. Extensive efforts were made to preserve the contents of the original document. However, certain portions, such as diagrams, program listings, and indexes may have been either altered or sacrificed due to the limitations of plain vanilla text. Diagrams may have been eliminated where ASCII-art was not feasible. Program listings may be missing display codes where substitutions were not possible. Tables of contents and indexes may have been changed from page number references to section number references. Please accept our apologies for these limitations, alterations, and possible omissions. Document names are limited to the 8.3 file convention of DOS. The first characters of the file name are an abbreviation of the original document name. The version number of the etext follows next. After that a letter may appear to indicate the particular source of the document. Finally, the document is given a .TXT extension. The author(s) of the original document and members of Project 64 make no representations about the accuracy or suitability of this material for any purpose. This etext is provided "as-is". Please refer to the warantee of the original document, if any, that may included in this etext. No other warantees, express or implied, are made to you as to the etext or any medium it may be on. Neither the author(s) nor the members of Project 64 will assume liability for damages either from the direct or indirect use of this etext or from the distribution of or modification to this etext. ********* The Project 64 etext of the Little Computer People help file. Extracted from original Windows(R) help file GAME06.HLP obtained from the Activision C64 15 Pack. Help file supplied by Fandango. Converted by the Basic Bombardier. Some of the information in this etext is assumed to be close enough to the original hardcopy version until an orginal can be converted, which is likely to be called LCP10B.TXT. LCP11A.TXT, February 1996, etext #18. This replaces LCP10A.TXT, from which most of the Windows(R) 95 C64 emulator stuff was removed. ********* Little Computer People Contents General Description [ 1.0 ] How To Play [ 2.0 ] Hints [ 3.0 ] Game History [ 4.0 ] Commodore History [ 5.0 ] Troubleshooting [ 6.0 ] [ 1.0 ] General Description This deed gives you official permanent title to the research software "house-on-a-disk" accompanying this software. You, the undersigned, agree to maintain said house and its occupant according to the instructions put forth below. Congratulations on your new house! There really are little people living inside your computer. And one of them is waiting for you to give him a home...and be his friend. He will talk to you and play with you and live a very happy life, as long as you take care of him. This Discovery Kit contains a house for one Little Computer People. Try it. See who moves in. You will discover a whole new world of computer fun and friendship. ********* [ 2.0 ] How to Play Basics How to Start Follow the on-screen directions to begin the game. Letter of Introduction Dear Fellow Researcher, We're happy to welcome you to the Activision Little Computer People Research Group. As you may have read, we suspected for quite some time that there was something living inside most computers. But we didn't know who, what, or how many there were. After years of research, hard work, and creative speculation, we invented what finally became the turning point in this arduous investigation: the "House-On-A-Disk". When our first Little Computer Person so tentatively entered his new "home", it was an experience beyond explanation. You'll soon see what we mean. From that moment on, we have been collecting volumes of information on the Little Computer People: what their personal habits are, what they like, what they don't like. We now believe that every single computer has its own Little Computer Person. And that every Little Computer Person is unique in appearance and personality. This is why we have opened this research project up to all interested computer owners. We also have strong evidence indicating that there are actually several Little Computer People in every computer. But it seems that only one will reside in any given home. So, if you find you enjoy caring for and observing your first Little Computer Person, you may want to sign up to study others your computer may hold. The preceding guide is a compilation of what's currently known about providing for the little person inside your computer. Use this guide as an outline. But remember, please, to experiment on your own. There are many questions that are still unanswered. And only through the support and cooperation of people like yourself will we ever be able to fully understand our newfound friends. Sincerely, David Crane and Sam Nelson For the Activision Little Computer Person Research Group Making Contact Every time you follow the procedure outlined in this section of the guide, you will begin a new research session with your Little Computer Person. In your first session, you will be required to enter your name, the date and time for your research files. In all subsequent sessions, you will only be asked to enter the date and time. Entering Your Name The first thing to appear on the screen is your research notebook. You will be asked (in your first session only) to log your name into the project files. (To later change the name, see Changing the Researcher's Name below.) Using the keyboard, type your name (first name first) in the spaces provided on the screen Entering the Date The format for entering the date is MM/DD/YY, where MM stands for the month, DD stands for the day, and YY stands for the year. Be sure to enter the numeric digit for each space. Use zeros in front of numbers less than ten. For example, if you start a session on January 1st, 1986, type: 01 01 86, then press RETURN. Entering Time The format for entering time is HH/MM, where HH stands for the hour and MM stands for the minute. As in Entering the Date, above, use zeros in front of numbers less than 10. Type A for AM, P for PM. Twelve o'clock midnight should be entered: 12 00 A, noon should be entered as: 12 00 P. Moving In If this is your first research session, your house will be empty when it appears on the screen. Based on our findings to date, most Little Computer People are quite shy and will not readily rush into a new situation. In fact, it may take several minutes before they actually muster the courage to step inside the new home you're providing for them. On the other hand, Little Computer People have also been found to be quite loyal. Once they have moved in, you can expect them to be in their new home on subsequent sessions. In fact, we've never seen one move out yet. When a Little Computer Person enters a house for the first time, we've found that he will usually inspect the new home for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. Then he usually leaves to retrieve his belongings. Yours will probably return shortly with his suitcase. Most Little Computer People also bring their dog. If yours doesn't, contact us. NOTE: KEYBOARD COMMANDS ARE NON-FUNCTIONING DURING THE MOVE-IN SEQUENCE. Care and Feeding of Your Little Computer Person - or - How to Make Sure the Person Inside Your Computer is Healthy, Happy, and Totally at Home. Although Little Computer People are basically quite independent, once they move into their new home they are, in a sense, living in your world. So they will need your help in certain areas. To insure that your Little Computer Person is healthy, see that he always has food and water. (The dog also needs food.) Both hunger and dehydration can make Little Computer People sick. They generally turn green and just lie in bed when they are sick. Also, because they tend to be quite active, they should not be allowed to sleep too much. They would much rather have your attention. Caring for Physical Needs Hold the CONTROL key down and press the designated letter to care for your Little Computer Person's physical needs. [CTRL] F - Food is delivered to his front door. [CTRL] W - Fills the water tank. Each time you press [CTRL] W, approximately one glass of water is added to the water tank. [CTRL] A - Rings the alarm clock. [CTRL] D - Leaves dog food at the front door. Your Little Computer Person will do the rest. Caring for Emotional Needs Addressing the physical needs of your Little Computer Person is relatively easy. To know if he needs food or water, you simply look to see if his supply is running low. Addressing emotional needs, however, takes much more sensitivity and careful study. First of all, you must be aware of his different moods. So far, we've discovered four distinct moods in the Little Computer People: :-) Happy He's probably getting plenty of attention. :-| Content He's fine but could be better. Try a Mood Booster. :-( Sad Needs Mood Boosting immediately :-( [Green] Sick This happens when he has gone without food and water for a long time. Mood Boosters There are several ways to elevate the mood of your Little Computer Person. Studies indicate that some ways are more effective than others, , and new techniques are constantly being reviewed and discovered. Please record your own discoveries. [CTRL] C - A phone call. Many Little Computer People enjoy receiving phone calls - unless they are constantly interrupted to the point of irritation. We have not yet deciphered their spoken language, nor discovered with whom they chat. [CTRL] P - Physical contact (or "Petting"). We haven't found one yet who doesn't respond to this instantly. Note: in order to pet your Little Computer Person, he must be sitting in his easy chair in the living room. To call him to the chair, press [CTRL] P and he will know you want to pet him. [CTRL] R - Leaves a record for his stereo at the front door. [CTRL] B - Leaves a book at the front door for him. Note: Records and books elevate your Little Computer Persons spirits only for mild cases of the blues. Playing Games - this is one of their favorite pastimes, so it naturally makes them feel great. See Playing Games for details. Recreation and Relaxation Most Little Computer People are very good at entertaining themselves. They're good pianists and can play compositions from Bach to Boogie Woogie. They also like their record collections. In fact, albums make great gifts for them. We've noticed that some Little Computer People exercise frequently. Many seem to enjoy playing with their computers or sitting down in their easy chairs with the newspaper we've provided. You may even be able to talk them into building a fire in the fireplace. (See Keyboard Communication, below.) Keyboard Communication We recently found that we can communicate quite extensively with Little Computer People by typing sentences using the computer keyboard. These sentences can be in the form of questions, suggestions, or requests. We use them to evoke a wide range of responses and reactions from Little Computer People. You can do the same. Though we are just beginning to scratch the surface, here are a couple of requests we have tried. - Please type a letter to me. - Please build a fire. Little Computer People are especially responsive to good manners. So remember to incorporate words like "Please" and "Thank you" into your requests. Changing Researcher's Name To change the name of the researcher, type "logon please", and then press RETURN. Select the program called " Name Changer" by pressing "1" (one) on the keyboard. Then follow the instructions at the top of the screen. ********* Playing Games As far as we know, almost all Little Computer People like to play games. Each Little Computer Person has his own individual favorites, so we've listed a few of the games we've noticed occurring most frequently, along with simple instructions for playing them. A Little Computer Person will usually allow you to make the game selection. He will knock on the glass of your TV or monitor to get your attention and ask you to select a game from the list at the top of the screen. Type in the number of the game you want to play. 1. Card War This is a simple game in which you are each dealt 26 cards from a 52 card deck. (Little Computer People always prefer to deal.) You both draw the top card from your pile. Your Little Computer Person will show you his card first. To show your card, press F1 as indicated by the command menu in the upper right corner of the screen. Whoever has the higher card wins the hand, and both cards are added to the winner's stack. When both cards shown are of equal value, this is called WAR!! At this point, your Little Computer Person deals out 4 more cards to himself and 4 more cards to you, face down. He will then turn over his last card; press F1 to show your last card. Whoever has the higher card wins the hand, and all of the cards on the table are added to his stack. If the last cards shown during a WAR! Are of equal value, then your Little Computer Person continues to deal 4 more cards each until someone wins the hand using the same rules. The game is over when one of you has all 52 cards. You can press F7 at any time if you decide that you want to quit. 2. Anagrams When you play anagrams with your Little Computer Person, he'll insist on being the one to think of the word. You'll be the one who unscrambles it. A scrambled version of the word he's thinking of appears in big type on the screen. You type in what you think is the correct word, and he will tell you whether your guess is right or wrong. He'll let you guess 8 or 9 times before he tells you the word. If you need a hint, press F3, and one letter will assume its correct place in the scrambled word. Note: A Little Computer Person will not give you two hints in a row. You must guess at least once between hints. Press F1 to quit this game. We have never had a Little Computer Person quit playing on his own. 3. 5-Card Draw Poker Standard poker rules apply. As usual, your Little Computer Person will probably insist on being the dealer. You're just going to have to go along with it. You both start out with 200 poker chips, as displayed at the top left of the screen. Your number of chips is below his. Bets and raises are limited to 20 chips each. Press F1 to ANTE UP one poker chip and begin the game. The Little Computer Person will deal each of you 5 cards (yours are face up) and ask if you feel lucky. (He is really asking if you want to bet any chips). The menu in the upper right corner gives you three choices. Bet (F1) - Bets one poker chip every time you press F1. Enter (F3) - Enters your bet. Pass/Clear (F5) - Lets you pass when you feel you have a weak hand and do not want to bet, or clears your bet if you decide to bet a different amount. After you make a bet or pass, the Little Computer Person will either match your bet or pass. When the Little Computer Person asks if you want cards, press any combination of numbers from 1 to 5 on the keyboard to discard the cards that you don't want. (As examples, to discard the card on the far left, press 1. To discard the card second from the right, press 4.) Press the number again to make your original card reappear. You can discard all five cards if you like. Once you've discarded the cards you don't want, press F1 to draw replacement cards. Your Little Computer Person deals them to you. If you want to keep all five of your original cards, press F3 to stay. You will not be dealt any replacement cards. Your Little Computer Person then tells you on the screen how many cards he discards. You now have the option to make another bet. At this point, your Little Computer Person may raise his bet and give you two choices: See (F1) - Lets you match his bet. Fold (F3) - Lets you abandon the hand, losing whatever you've bet so far. If you opt to See, you'll be given three more choices: Raise (F1) - Lets you raise the bet even higher. Enter (F3) - Enters your raise. Call (F5) - Stops betting for that hand and lays the cards on the table. After each hand, you have the option to quit the game (F7). Observations It would be beneficial for you to create a log book in which to record your observations. You will quickly start to notice distinct character traits in your particular Little Computer Person. A detailed record of these traits is very important to the research project as a whole. Please keep in mind that your discoveries and insights, like everyone else's, are critical to an accurate analysis of this important investigation. Researcher's name: Moving in: Date: Time: Unusual Activities: Appearance: Hair: Clothing: Name of Little Computer Person: Appetite: Sleeping Habits: Overall Health: Predominant Moods: Housekeeping Hints: Hygiene: Moods: Musical Ability: Game Playing Aptitude: Letter Writing Ability: Forms of Relaxation: Keyboard Key Description [CTRL] F Food is delivered to the front door. [CTRL] W Fills the water tank. Each time you press [CTRL] W, approximately one glass of water is added to the water tank. [CTRL] A Rings the alarm clock. [CTRL] D Leaves dog food at the front door. Your Little Computer Person will do the rest. [CTRL] C A phone call. Many Little Computer People enjoy receiving phone calls - unless they are constantly interrupted to the point of irritation. We have not yet deciphered their spoken language, nor discovered with whom they chat. [CTRL] P Physical contact (or "Petting"). We haven't found one yet who doesn't respond to this instantly. Note: in order to pet your Little Computer Person, he must be sitting in his easy chair in the living room. To call him to the chair, press [CTRL] P and he will know you want to pet him. [CTRL] R Leaves a record for his stereo at the front door. [CTRL] B Leaves a book at the front door for him. You can also use the keyboard to interact directly with your Little Computer Person. Try commands such as "Please play the piano" or "Please build a fire." Remember your manners! Joystick The joystick is not used in Little Computer People. [ 3.0 ] Hints Be sure to pay attention to your Little Computer Person's emotional needs as well as his physical needs. ********* [ 4.0 ] Game History David Crane, Programmer "The idea for Little Computer People was actually brought to us by an outside developer. I was interested in the potential of the product and recommended that we buy it. The original name of the project was 'Pet Person', based on the 'Pet Rock' craze of the 60's." "When it was brought in-house, the original plan was for it to be more like a fish-bowl, with no input from the user. I took it in and rewrote about half of the original program to include the interactivity that ended up in the final product." "One interesting facet of the program that most consumers don't get to appreciate is that it was duplicated in-house. Since we had control over every disk that went out the door, we gave each copy of the game its own, unique serial number as it was copied. This serial number was then used to generate the personality, appearance, and behavior of the 'Little Computer Person' on the disk. Certain factors of the computer person were determined by this serial number - name, shirt color, personality traits, and so on. These factors were determined independently, so although there were probably many serial numbers that would generate a computer person named 'Tom', the chances that any two of them wore the same color shirt and liked the same game is almost nil. Each disk was effectively unique." Sam Nelson, Producer "The idea for the sequel to Little Computer People was to have a Little Computer People apartment complex. In that kind of a scenario, it would be more interesting to watch the interaction between the people, study the relationships that form, and so on. And you would be able to do things in several houses at once, so it would be more challenging." The reason no such game was ever released was that "Activision wasn't in the practice of sequelling what we had done already. So we just played around with it in the office for a little while and then dropped it on the floor." On early Activision culture: "At the time, Producers were called 'Creative Development Managers'. They would manage the projects much as Producers do today. At one point, there was one big room where all the internal development was done. Steve Cartwright sat in one chair, David Crane sat in another, Bob Whitehead sat in another, and so on. So we were on one side of this wall, and on the other side was marketing, sales, finance, operations, and all the other departments not directly associated with product development. Only the design teams and the producers knew what products were being made at any one time. Once a game was finished, we would give them the final copy and just say 'OK, here it is'. These other departments would then produce, market, and sell the game." [ 5.0 ] Commodore History Birth of a Legend Commodore International Limited was founded in 1958 by Jack Tramiel, a typewriter repairman from the Bronx, New York. It received much of its financing from Canada's Atlantic Acceptance Corporation and quickly grew to include typewriter manufacturing. However, Atlantic went bankrupt in 1965, threatening to take Commodore with it. To save his company, Tramiel began hunting for a new source of funds. He found it in Irving Gould, a Canadian venture capitalist, who supplied the ailing company with $400,000 in exchange for 17% of the company and Tramiel's pledge of all the receivables. Price War and the Lean Years By the 1970's, Commodore Business Machines had grown further, branching into calculators and other office machinery. Business boomed until Commodore lost in a brutal price war with Texas Instruments. Commodore had been assembling pocket calculators with TI microprocessors. The chips cost Commodore about $50 per calculator, and the final product sold for about $100 each. In response, TI came out with a competing calculator of its own manufacture using the same chip that sold for only $49. Commodore lost $4 million on sales of $56 million and nearly sank. Tramiel learned a valuable lesson. In 1976, Commodore bought MOS technologies, a failing semiconductor manufacturer, for $800,000, ensuring that it would no longer be dependent on outside vendors for needed parts. Growth Under Tramiel's deliberate guidance, Commodore grew into a $1 billion company, growing sevenfold from 1981 to 1984. It was one of the largest suppliers of home computers in the world. Commodore 64 Era By early 1982, Commodore had five new products in development, one of them being the infamous Commodore 64. Believing he had a winner, Tramiel took a gamble. He sidelined the other products and built up massive inventories of the C64. Then, he flew in the face of the computer industry by enlisting the same mass merchandisers (K-Mart, Toys "R" Us, Target, and others) that sold the Vic-20 to market the C64. By doing so, he proved that computer buyers didn't need to rely on the hand-holding of an elite class of computer-literate salespeople and their specialty store prices. The C64 was rushed to market with haste bordering on recklessness, and about 1/4 of the machines shipped didn't work. Commodore's solution was a no-questions-asked policy on the exchange of defective machines. After several months, the defect rate had been whittled down to a more acceptable 4-5%. By 1984, about 4 million Commodore computers were in use around the world, and 300,000 more were being sold per month. However, Commodore's leadership believed that market saturation was still a long way off, since only about 6% of U.S. households owned computers. This was far less than the 20-25% that owned video game players during the peak of the home video game craze. Tramiel Leaves Tramiel had been known for his iron-fisted style of management. He was involved with every aspect of the company and anything or anyone he didn't like was changed or removed. This led to a class action suit in November of 1983, which charged that Commodore failed to disclose information about its operations and did not build a strong management team. According to a statement released in January of 1984, Tramiel said, "personal reasons prevent my continuing on a full-time basis with Commodore." Gould recruited Marshall F. Smith from Thyssen-Bornemisza NV, a conglomerate based in the Netherlands Antilles, to replace Tramiel. At the time of Tramiel's departure, the home computer market was failing, causing Mattel and Coleco to leave the business. Another company that decided to leave the industry was Warner Communications, which sold Atari to the newly unemployed Tramiel for a pittance. Shortly thereafter, a stream of Commodore executives followed him. Smith In an effort to make Commodore profitable, Smith took to downsizing, cutting the payroll by more than 45%. Though the company had an impressive $339 million in 1985 holiday revenues, it made only $1 million for the quarter after paying off about 1/4 of its bank debt. Commodore suffered through Fiscal Year 1985, losing $237 million, and getting into trouble with its creditors. The banks granted a much- needed one-month extension on Commodore's loans, and, with the success of the company's second-best Christmas sales ever behind them, Commodore defied the Gods of Bankruptcy yet again. The Rattigan Years In March 1986, Thomas J. Rattigan replaced Smith as Commodore's CEO. Rattigan was hired in April of 1985 with the understanding that he would replace Smith, who remained on as a director. Rattigan's objective during the first few months of his leadership was clear - cut costs in order to stabilize Commodore's position, allowing it to rebuild. Once again, the payroll was trimmed from top to bottom, and three plants were closed in five months. New controls were added in the finance department to prevent the sloppy reporting that had undermined Smith's leadership. Commodore continued to sell respectable numbers of its $150 C64 throughout 1986. The Commodore 128, a successor to and more powerful machine than the C64, was selling for $300 at the time, also helping to keep the company afloat. Rattigan's policies worked. By March of 1987, Commodore had caught up on its loans and posted a $22 million earning in the quarter ending December 1986. It also had $46 million in the bank, the most cash since 1983, its most profitable year. Amiga Commodore's next move was to release the Amiga line of home computers. Code-named 'Lorraine' during development, Amiga was quickly dubbed the "save-the-company machine." The Amiga was packed with computing power. At its center was a Motorola 68000, the same chip that powered Apple's original Macintosh. The Amiga had an additional set of three custom- designed chips, one to handle stereo sound, one for graphics and one for animation. The Amiga was also one of the first computers to mult -task, performing several different computing jobs at once - such as word processing and game playing. The Post-Rattigan Years On April 22, 1987, Rattigan was replaced by Chairman Irving Gould, the venture capitalist who had been involved with Commodore for over 20 years. It is unclear as to why Rattigan was replaced after turning the company around and posting $28 million in profits over the four quarters ending in March 1987. Rattigan himself claimed that he was forced out by Chairman Gould due to personality conflicts and that Gould was upset about Rattigan getting credit for the company's turnaround. Gould argued that the comeback in the U.S. was insufficient compared to its rebound in overseas markets, which accounted for 70% of its sales. In fact, despite its profitability, Commodore's U.S. revenues had declined by 54% in the same four quarters. According to Gould's ideology, the North American operation was to be a sales and marketing extension of the company, rather than the unwieldy, semi-independent entity it had become. For the third time in Commodore history, a new leader began his term at the helm by drastically downsizing. Under Gould's reign, the payroll was cut from 4,700 to 3,100, including half the North American headquarters' corporate staff, and five plants were closed. Current On April 29, 1994, Commodore International announced that it had been unable to renegotiate terms of its outstanding loans and was closing down the business. The liquidation process lasted for months, owing largely to the far-reaching size of the corporation. In addition, the fact that the company was incorporated in the Bahamas while a large share of the creditors were from the United States made legal proceeding tense and drawn out. On April 20, 1995, almost a full year later, Commodore was sold to the German company ESCOM for approximately 10 to 12.5 million dollars. [ 6.0 ] Troubleshooting (Little Computer People) How to Start Follow the on-screen directions to begin the game. Little Computer People Game Specific Notes If nothing seems to be happening, be patient. Your Little Computer Person (LCP) is still moving in. You won't be able to interact with your LCP until he decides to move in (this may take as long as twenty minutes). After that, you are free to talk to him and take care of him. Also, Little Computer People has a built in "screen saver." If there is no keyboard input for a period of time, the entire window in which Little Computer People is playing will go black. Your LCP is still going about his business, the computer is just not displaying it. Just press any key and you will see your LCP. When interacting with your LCP, remember, he is like any other human being. He doesn't respond to every command and will not do everything you ask. Also, try different ways of phrasing questions and commands. Remember to always say "Please" and "Thank You." ********* End of the Project 64 etext of the Little Computer People help file. *********