The MDickie

-S-H-O-W-

www.MDickie.com
Mat@MDickie.com

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
This game is designed for Win 95/98/2000/XP, and requires a 3D card with Direct X7
or higher. A strong processor is recommended, although there are many performance
options (see Performance Tips).

WARNING: This game contains scenes of extreme violence and explicit content. If you
are a minor, or are easily offended, you are advised to employ the game's censoring
options.

THE GAME
What if there were no security guards on TV chat shows? What if the guests were
actually ENCOURAGED to fight?! The MDickie Show is the brutal answer to those very
questions. Here, "Violence Solves Everything" - as everyday arguments are fought
out in front of a a blood-thirsty crowd! As the player, you must participate in a
season of these shows and bring order to people's lives. Will you take the side of
the good guys and become the "nicest" show on TV? Or will you side with the bad
guys and become the "nastiest" show? Either way is fine, so long as you become the
most talked about show in the world! At the end of the day, perhaps the biggest
'fight' is with your morality...

GAME MODES
There are 2 basic game modes to enjoy. You can either play through a Season of live
shows (in a bid to top the ratings) or you can customize your own battles in
Rehearsals. The Season mode is your only chance to unlock the 35 show topics that
are available. Every show you take part in will automatically become available to
use as you wish in Rehearsals. They're broadcast at random though, so you may have
to play through the game several times before you find them all! Each show throws
up its own specific characters - and you must choose which one you want to side
with. Everytime you win as the 'good guy' you take a step towards being good, and
every win as the 'bad guy' moves you closer to evil. Sometimes the guy you need to
further your status will not necessarily be the best fighter, which is something to
consider before you sell your soul to the devil! The bad guys tend to be the more
formidable fighters, but they suffer more in brawls because the host and intruders
are more likely to take shots at them. In any case, it is not productive to LOSE a
fight. Every loss will push you a step back because the assumption is that you lost
on purpose (even if you didn't). You can only lose 3 times before the show is
exposed as a fraud and is pulled from the air. The only other way to lose is if you
dither around the charts for too long and exhaust all of the available shows...

You can't call the shots in live television, so the Season mode demands that you
have at least "Average" difficulty and at least "Normal" fight length. If you want
to mess around you should do so in Rehearsals. Here you can apply your preferred
options, choose multiple guests/intruders, use unconventional fight rules, and set
up the studio as you wish!

Normally, a fight is won when one character knocks out the other. If a host is
present, they are responsible for declaring a KO. He will go over to a worn-down
and grounded fighter to check them out - if he finds that they are not moving and
have zero health then he will declare them eliminated. The last remaining guest, or
team of guests, will win the fight - and can go home safe in the knowledge that
they were 'right'! Note that the host is deliberately fallable. Victory depends on
him keeping up with the action, and being co-operative, which puts a whole new spin
on the game. If you find this frustrating you can set "automatic" hosting in the
options menu - then an elimination will occur the second a guest has zero health.
In Rehearsals there are alternative fight rules, such as "Injury" where the host
checks for injuries rather than health. The most unconventional fight mode is "King
of the Hill", where guests are eliminated once thrown off the edge of the stage!

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CONTROLS
The game can be controlled with either keyboard or gamepad. Being an action game,
it is recommended that you use a 6 button gamepad. In the Season mode you are
automatically permitted to use both keys and pad to control your chosen character,
but otherwise you must assign the specific method by pressing on a character
several times. The commands for both keys and pad can be redefined in the options
menu. There you will also find a "Control Board" option. Setting this to "Arcade
Machine" will transfer Enter and Escape to keys 1 and 2 respectively, which is
apparently better suited to arcade boxes.

You should visit the redefine options to familiarise yourself with the standard
controls. Consider that they are designed to perform the following actions:

SWITCH = Cycle target enemy (if any)

RUN = Run towards target
RUN + DIRECTION = Run in specific direction
RUN + ATTACK = Running attack (if suitable run up, otherwise Big Attack)
ATTACK = Lower Attack/ Flying Attack (if stood on item)
ATTACK + DIRECTION = Upper Attack
ATTACK + GRAB = Big Attack/ Flying Attack from edge of stage
PICK UP = Drop or pick up weapon/item
RUN + PICK UP = Set fire to weapon/ use flaming weapon to set fire to item/ fix
broken item in hand
GRAB = Grab opponent/ Cancel grapple/ Throw weapon in hand (hold to throw further)

GRAPPLING
Your most devastating attacks come from grappling. Once in a grapple you can
execute any one of your character's network of about a dozen moves:

GRAB = Let go
GRAB + DIRECTION = Standard Throw
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
ATTACK = Move A Centre
ATTACK + UP = Move A Up
ATTACK + DOWN = Move A Down
ATTACK + LEFT/RIGHT = Move A Side
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
RUN = Move B Centre
RUN + UP = Move B Up
RUN + DOWN = Move B Down
RUN + LEFT/RIGHT = Move B Side
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
PICK = Move C Centre
PICK + UP = Move C Up
PICK + DOWN = Move C Down
PICK + LEFT/RIGHT = Move C Side

During fights your character may become "X-RATED", temporarily enjoying an

adrenaline rush. In this state, any grapple move command will result in that
character's devastating Special Move!

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MAKE-OVERS
No chat show would be complete without a make-over department! Here you can expand
the roster to up to 60 characters by creating new guests. If you've unlocked all of
the show topics you can even edit the default ones! The editor works by asking you
to decorate each separate limb on a character's body. There are almost 200 images
to choose from, which can be further customized by changing the colour with keys Q,
A, W, S, E, D, R, and F. For your convenience, there are basic shortcuts for each
type of image:
1 = Faces
2 = Bodies
3 = Materials
4 = Joints/Mixtures
5 = Misc

Also remember that you can Copy &
Another time-saving tip is to use
BACKSPACE key to reset the colour
can also be performed by BUTTON 2
copy & paste.
Paste textures with Right CTRL and Right SHIFT.
the SPACE key to randomize an image, and the
scheme. Note that the commands reserved for SPACE
on the gamepad, and BUTTONS 4/5 can be used to

You can further personalize your character with a hairstyle, a body, accessories
such as hats and specs, and even a voice tone. Note that the accessories can be
coloured in the same way as an image. If you want to see a new body you must press
Enter - the game will then take a few moments to reconstruct your character. You
may find that some accessories do not remain intact for novelty bodies such as the
Alien.

If creating a new guest, you should then proceed to the Style department and check
that their actions are as you wish. The moves and attacks are self-explanatory, but
here's a summary of the attributes:
POWER - A character's ability to inflict damage and perform power moves.
SKILL - A character's ability to execute moves without messing up or falling over.
AGILITY - A character's movement speed and their ability to jump & climb without
tripping.

Before pressing "Save & Exit" you should check that your character is facing the
camera and looking good! A photo will be taken for use throughout the rest of the
game...

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CAMERA
The production crew at The MDickie Show are the best in the business, and have
countless camera angles to offer! Half of them are playable and the other half are
so fancy that they should only be used ocassionally or when spectating. In any
case, you can browse the angles one-by-one with keys F1 and F2. The transition will
be gradual, but you can press F3 to zoom the camera diectly to its destination. For
your convenience, the 10 most useful angles are assigned to keys 1 to 0...

You may come across the "Manual" camera. This can be placed anywhere in the studio,
using the follow controls:
I/K = Move in/out
J/L = Move left/right
Y/H = Move up/down

Most of the cameras are pointed directly at one character. Naturally, it defaults
to the furst human player - but you can change the focus at any time using keys +
and -...
Here are some other in-game controls to consider:
ESC = Quit/ Skip intros
ENTER = Proceed/ Skip intros
P = Pause
F4 = Toggle health displays on/off

F5 = Slow Motion
F6 = Normal Speed
F7 = Fast Speed
F8 = Turbo Speed!

F10 = Hide scenery

F11 = Hide players
F12 = Take screenshot (saved as bitmap in game's main directory)

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I'll leave you to discover the intricacies of the gameplay for yourself!

For exclusive info, cheats, and downloads be sure to keep an eye on www.MDickie.com

Please report any problems, suggestions, or comments to: mdickie@lineone.net

NOTE: This game is a parody of trash TV, the media, and the world in general. It
does not necessarily reflect the views or beliefs of Mat Dickie. The characters'
actions are NOT to be imitated, and their views are not to be taken seriously. Any
similarities to real people or events, past or present, are purely coincidental.

Reproduction, public performance, and transmittal of this publication is

prohibited. No commercial lending. Usage allowed only under acknowledgement of
these conditions.

Copyright � Mat Dickie 2003