================= FORGET-ME-NOT FAQ ================= Author: David M Smith Version: 1.0 (May 14, 2011) Forget-Me-Not is an arcade-style action shooter game from Nyarlu labs for iOS devices. While being an entirely original game, it includes gameplay and design element reminiscent of several 80's-era arcade games, including Pac-Man, Robotron and Berzerk. It also has several elements (random mazes and hit points, for example) from text-based RPG's like Rogue and Nethack. You can download Forget-Me-Not from the iTunes App Store and from: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/forget-me-not/id419572408?mt=8 This FAQ has been created by me through simple observation while playing version 1.01 of the game on the iPad. Some information comes thanks to game creator "nyarla"'s postings on the TouchArcade message boards. http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?threadid=88308 A. Game Concepts A.1 Goal A.2 Levels A.3 Movement and grinding A.4 Firing, Damage and Health A.5 Flowers and Irises A.6 The Key and the Door A.7 Fruit and potions B. Monsters B.1 Bestiary C. Scoring Tips D. Copyright and Contact Info === A. GAME CONCEPTS === A.1 Goal The goal of the game is to make the highest score you can before running out of lives. Score points by moving your character -- the white square with eyes -- to collect flowers and fruit, and destroy monsters. Complete levels by collecting all flowers, grabbing the key, and entering the door. There are three game modes: standard, survival, and shuffle. In standard mode, you begin with three lives and level difficulty progresses normally. Survival mode is the same, but you have only one life (and cannot earn extra lives). Shuffle mode is the same as standard mode, but the more difficult monster varieties (which normally only appear in later levels) may appear in earlier levels. A.2 Levels Each level is randomly generated maze, but all contain walls, flowers and a key. Mazes "wrap" from left to right and from top to bottom: if exit the top of the maze via a tunnel, you'll reappear at the bottom. Explosions in the game can destroy walls of the maze, so there may be many opportunities to wrap around the sides of the maze. Bullets (yours and enemies) also wrap if not blocked by walls, and may even cycle continuously if not blocked. Each level includes random monsters (but monsters get successively more difficult in later levels). There is no "last" level and no way to "finish" the game: high score is the only goal. A.3 Movement and grinding Like Pac-Man, your character continues moving in a straight line until you change direction or run into a wall. Change direction by swiping the touchscreen in the desired direction of motion. (Tip: keep your finger resting lightly on the screen and use small movements to change direction. You can change the control sensitivity in the settings, but the default works well on the iPad.) You can "pre-select" a change of direction by swiping at right angles to your current direction as you move along a wall. This will cause your character to "grind": you'll hear a sound and start to throw off sparks. Not only does this cause you to turn automatically at the next junction, if you grind long enough you'll start to build up "charge", represented as a red box around your character. If you build up enough charge, you will be "charged up": you will start flashing silver and have the ability to "squish" monsters just by running into them. If you grind for even longer long, your character will move at double speed and flash red; if you continue grinding for a few seconds more you will explode and lose a life. Note: Being charged up gives you the power to squish enemies but does NOT protect from projectile or explosion damage -- you can still be killed while charged up. Being charged up also gives you the power to destroy "goop" by running into it (see: Frog in the Bestiary), and protects you from monsters appearing through a Vortex. A.4 Firing, Damage and Health Your player continuously fires bullets in the direction of movement. You can shoot most enemies with bullets to destroy them. All enemies have "hit points", and require multiple shots to deplete their hit points and destroy them. Your bullets are weak at first, but you can increase the power of your shots and their rate of fire with red potions, and destroy enemies faster. Your character has hit points as well, represented by the row of flowers at the top-right of the screen. Being shot by enemies (or your own bullets wrapping around the screen) or taking melee damage from an adjacent monster depletes your hit points: when no hit-point flowers are left you lose a life. The number of lives remaining is shown by the number in the top-right corner of the screen. (Tip: touch the top row of the screen where your hit points are displayed to pause the game.) Being caught in an explosion will always cost a life, regardless of the number of hit-points you have remaining. A.5 Flowers and Irises At the start of each level, every vacant square is filled with a flower. You must collect all flowers before you can exit the level (the last flower will flash to make it easier to find). Collect flowers in unbroken chains to score big points: a chain of N flowers scores N^2 points, awarded when you break the chain. For example, a 100-flower chain scores 10,000 points, awarded when you break the chain. You must immediately follow each flower collected with another flower to continue the chain: empty spaces and fruit break the chain. (Note: the Key does NOT sit on a flower a the start of the level, so collecting the key will break a flower chain.) On big levels, look for long chains for big points, but watch out for the many monsters which eat flowers and can disrupt your plans. Explosions (from Bob-Ombs, Wizzrobe projectiles, and other sources) will convert nearby flowers to Irises, which appear as a large glowing "+". Irises last about 5 seconds before disappearing, but if you can grab them before they disappear each Iris immediately scores 10x the current flower chain number and does NOT break a flower chain. Look for Irises (or try to create them by shooting Bombs, etc) while in the middle of a long flower chain: if you've collected 20 flowers and then collect an Iris, it will immediately score 200 points while maintaining the flower chain (any often other Irises will be nearby for even more points). A.6 The Key and the Door The Key sits at a random square at the beginning of the level. You must run over the Key to collect it: it will follow directly behind you when you possess it. The Key absorbs bullets, so while you're carrying it you're protected from monsters firing at you from behind, and most importantly from your own bullets wrapping around the level. Many monsters can steal the key, either by picking it the stationary key from the maze, or from your possession by moving through it behind you. In this case, the key will follow the monster. You must be in possession of the key to exit the level. Steal the key back by destroying the monster carrying it, or my moving through the key as it trails behind. The Door (a white sqaure with a keyhole) appears when all the flowers in the level are gone. Grab the key and move your character next to the door to exit the level and begin a new one. A.7 Fruit and potions Destroyed monsters drop either fruit or a potion. If the monster drops fruit, up to nine apples, lemons, cherries, grapes, strawberries, mushrooms or sushi will appear. (The number of fruit dropped depends on the space available around the destroyed monster - fruit will not appear in walls.) Regardless of the type of fruit, the scoring is the same: the first fruit collected in a chain scores 25 points, and then 50, 75, 100 etc points for additional fruit collected. (Unlike flowers, a gap of 1-2 non-fruit squares does not break a chain while collecting fruit.) Rack up long chains of fruit for big points: a chain of 10 fruit is worth 1375 point total. An extra life is awarded each 100 fruit collected. Instead of fruit, a monster may also drop a red or green potion. The green potion immediately replenishes your health (it has no effect if you are already at full health). The first red potion you collect each life increases the damage of your bullets (they appear thicker); successive red potions increase your rate of fire. After you die, your firepower will revert to its base level. Fruit and potions will disappear if not collected within about 30 seconds (although for fruit there is a brief grace period of a second or so when you can still collect them after they have disappeared). Some monsters will "eat" fruit and potions if they move over them. === B. MONSTERS === Forget-Me-Not includes a wide variety of enemies, each with their own behaviour, damage and score. Shoot or squish enemies to score their point value (and create fruits or potions). Grinding to charge up and then running into monsters ("Squishing" them) is an effective way to dispatch most enemies. Squishing many enemies in rapid succession creates a "squish chain": each squished enemy in the chain scores a rising multiple of its base score, for big points. Some monsters have a "melee" attack, and can only damage you if you are directly adjacent to them. Other monsters have a "ranged" attack: most shoot bullets like you do, but there are other kinds of projectiles as well. Some monsters explode (or fire projectiles that explode); all walls within the range of the explosion will be destroyed, and any flowers will be converted to Irises. If you get caught in explosion yourself, you will be killed instantly. Monsters will attack each other as readily as they will attack you, but you only get points for monsters you destroy yourself. Still, sometimes it's best to hang back as they destroy themselves, and collect the fruit they leave behind. Many monsters eat flowers, fruit (including potions), or both, which will disappear when the monster moves over it. B.1 BESTIARY Here is a list of all the monsters in the game and their base score when shot or squished. Monsters appear in rough order of level; higher-level monsters tend to appear in later levels. Monsters also seem to appear sooner and in greater numbers and move faster as levels progress, thus increasing the difficulty level. The names given are not "official", but my own creation (except where they have been named by the game's creator in message boards). Name: Vortex Score: N/A Description: white spinning whirlpool Attack: Insta-kill if monster appears while player is on vortex, unless charged up Eats flowers: no Eats fruit: no Note: Not really a monster per se, but other monsters appear on the platfield via a Vortex. It's risky to pass over an active Vortex unless you're charged up. Name: Spark Score: 10 Description: green, brown or blue or purple sparkly thing Attack: melee (but generally avoids attacking) Eats flowers: no Eats fruit: yes Note: Moves randomly around the playfield. Only dangerous when cornered at the end of a hall, but can easily steal the Key from you. Name: Sheep Score: 10 Description: Round back with flat face and eyes. Attack: melee, ranged (slow) Eats flowers: yes Eats fruit: yes Note: One of the few monsters with both a melee and a ranged attack, but the bullets it shoots are weak. Name: Pig Score: 20 Description: Character with bulging eyes, snout and round back. May be pink or blue. Attack: melee Eats flowers: yes Eats fruit: yes Note: Only dangerous up close: its melee attack does a lot of damage quickly. Name: Bloodhound Score: 75 Description: Character with round back and bulging eyes, with spikes near mouth. Brown or blue. Attack: melee Eats flowers: yes Eats fruit: yes Note: The bloodhound moves by following the trail of where you have moved. Name: Frog Score: 10 Description: Spotted rounded-corner green or blue square with eyes. Attack: melee Eats flowers: no Eats fruit: yes Note: drops transparent "goop" behind it. You cannot move through goop: it must be shot or blasted through in a charged-up state to destroy. (Note: if they key or a flower appears trapped by goop in a side-alley it you can't enter or shoot, try charging up and grinding into the goop to destroy it.) The Frog explodes if trapped by its own goop and is unable to move. Name: Tiger Score: 50 Description: Square with eyes and diagonal stripes. Blue or red. Attack: ranged (very rapid fire, will fire on player or any monster in direction it faces) Eats flowers: yes Eats fruit: yes Note: Deadly when approached from front, shoot from behind or from the side. Name: Pudding Score: 10 Description: Shaped like sheep, but appears in many colors with prominent spots. Attack: melee Eats flowers: yes Eats fruit: yes Note: When Puddings are fired upon, they often multiply and create new Puddings. Rack up a high score by charging up, gathering speed and ramming from a distance for a squish combo from the spawns created from your firepower. Puddings cannot steal the Key. Name: Bomb Score: N/A Description: Hollow circle. Red, yellow or blue. Attack: explode Eats flowers: no Eats fruit: no Note: Does not move and cannot be destroyed by regular means (even by squishing). If fired upon, a timer will start and a sizzling noise will be heard. You can move it around by continuing to fire at it, until it explodes after a few seconds. Name: Bo-bomb Score: 100 (if shot and destroyed), 0 (if explodes after time limit) Description: black, round, eyes Attack: explode Eats flowers: no Eats fruit: no Note: Harmless until fired upon, at which point it turns red and moves rapidly while making distinctive sound. Explodes after a few seconds (or sooner, if you destroy it by shooting). Cannot be destroyed by squishing. Name: Turret Score: 100-500 Description: rotating glowing cross (small and large varieties) Attack: ranged (multi-directional) Eats flowers: no Eats fruit: no Note: Has no attack initially, but shooting a turret will add to its ranged attack, evenually making it fire continuously in all four directions. Moves quickly in a maze-navigating pattern, hugging the left or right wall. Best destroyed by squishing. Name: Centipede Score: ? Description: pale green centipede, with a head and multiple body segments Attack: melee Eats flowers: yes Eats fruit: yes Note: Destroy the head (easiest by squishing) to make each segment explode into fruit. Cannot steal key. Name: Zod Score: 333 Description: spinning square with hole in centre Attack: melee (insta-kill explosion on impact) Eats flowers: yes Eats fruit: yes Note: Moves in predictable straight-line directions, but takes a lot of damage and is hard to destroy. Especially problematic if it's carrying the key. Name: Wizzrobe Score: 200 Description: blue ghost character Attack: ranged (special) Eats flowers: no Eats fruit: no Note: doesn't move through the maze like norman monsters, but instead transports directly from one location to the next, spinning as he goes. While stationary, can shoot fireballs to any point on the maze, which cause small explosions where they land. Name: Squid Score: 200 Description: teal PAC-man ghost Attack: ranged (special) Eats flowers: yes Eats fruit: yes Note: Squid "fart" small projectiles out of their rear end, with a range of about 5 squares. The projectile causes a small (1x1) explosion that knocks a square out of any wall it hits, and can convert one flower to an Iris. Name: Ghost Score: 10,000 Description: Large white ghost with red eyes and flapping arms Attack: insta-kill on touch Eats flowers: no Eats fruit: no Note: Appears if you don't complete the level quickly enough - you'll see a message like "run away" or "kekekeke" and the ghost will float onto the level. Unlike other monsters, the ghost isn't confined to the grid, and can float anywhere on the level to follow you. The ghost cannot be harmed by your bullets -- it can only be damaged by eating flowers (which causes it to hide its eyes and pause briefly). You'll need to eat about 30 flowers in a row to kill it -- and don't pause, because it regenerates health. Tip: warp at the edges of the maze to escape -- unlike you, the ghost has to cross the entire maze to get from one side to the other. === C. TIPS === * Start each level with a flower chain. Especially on the larger levels, long flower chains can be a great source of points. If the key is close to your starting position grab it, but otherwise map out a route that avoids the key (it will break your chain) and doesn't box you in while collecting as many flowers as possible. Be prepared to adapt your route as monsters appear, as many will interrupt your chain by eating flowers or creating fruit if you destroy them. Use warps from one side of the map to the other to your advantage. Scores of 40,000 (for a 200-flower chain) are well worth the effort. * Grab the Key ASAP. Once you've completed your big chain at the start of the level, grab the key as soon as you can. It's not safe to move along rows or columns without walls without the key, or your own bullets will kill you. It also protects you from being fired upon from behind. * Collect those fruit! Fruit aren't just a good source of points (especially if collected in chains), but every 100th fruit collected also awards an extra life. * Grab Red potions when you can. In particular, grab at least one red potion as soon as you can each life: it doubles your firepower. Additional red potions help too, by increasing your rate of fire. * Grab Green potions when your health is low. It seems obvious, but when you're low on health a green potion is almost as good as an extra life. * Always be grinding. Try and stay charged up as often as you can by grinding against the walls. (Grinding is also a good way to ensure you don't miss turns.) When you start flashing red let yourself cool down so you don't explode, but then get back to grinding again so you can squish enemies. * Squish Puddings for big points. Puddings can be your greatest source of points in the game, thanks to squish multipliers. Get charged up and find a nice long wall with a nearby pudding. Bear down on the pudding while charged: your bullets will cause the puddings to multiply, setting yourself up for some massive squish bonuses as you barrel into them -- not to mention all the fruit and potions they drop. * Squish Centipedes for fruit. Get charged up and run into the head of the centipede. When you squish the head, ALL the segments of the centipede turn into delicious fruit, setting you up for a valuable fruit chain and progressing you to an extra life. * Create Irises while you're collecting flowers. Activating a Bomb or Bob-Omb while working on a long flower chain can create several high-scoring Irises. It's too tricky to pull off as a reliable high-scoring strategy, but it's immensely satisfying when you can do it. * Don't complete levels too quickly. Take the time between when you collect the last flower and when you exit the maze to destroy enemies and collect their tasty, tasty fruit. You may even want to leave the last flower uncollected, to avoid accidentally exiting the level by bumping into the Door. When the Ghost appears, make your exit (or if you're good, keep on farming enemies for fruit while avoiding the Ghost). === D. COPYRIGHT AND CONTACT INFO === I welcome corrections and updates to this guide -- email me at david@nonfamous.com with any comments you have. Copyright 2011 David M Smith. Forget-Me-Not FAQ by David M. Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You can share or remix this guide for noncommerical purposes provided it is attributed to me, David M Smith (david@nonfamous.com), and licensed to recipients under the same terms. Complete license details can be found at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/