Francisco Gonzalez and MonkeyGames Entertainment Present

Case 2: The Lost Galleon of the Salton Sea

Contents

Foreword

Playing the Game

AGS Game Settings

Foreword

Hello, and thanks for downloading the 2nd game in the Ben Jordan series! There have been a few minor changes since the first case, and this is the place to tell you about them.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this game. And be sure to try for a perfect score to get a special message at the end!

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The Story

Ben Jordan is fresh out of college and has decided to become a freelance paranormal investigator. Now on his second case, he is called out to the small California town of Dunesberg to investigate a man's disappearance while searching for the Lost Galleon, a legendary treasure ship said to be buried somewhere in the desert.

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Credits

A graphic adventure game by Francisco Gonzalez
Original music by Andreas Slotte
Beta Testing and Additional Puzzle Design by Berian Williams
Adventure Game Studio by Chris Jones
Readme file by Edmundo Ruiz with portions written by Ben Croshaw and Francisco Gonzalez

Ben Jordan logo by Edmundo Ruiz

“I Can’t Hardly Stand It” (the music in the bar) by Charlie Feathers

Special thanks to:

Gilbert Cheung, for the name “Dunesberg”

Berian Williams and Adam Hay, for letting me use their likenesses.

Edmundo Ruiz, for showing me how to script the notepad function.  

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Playing the Game

To run the game, double-click on the bj2.exe file. For more information on setting up the game, check out the section entitled AGS Game Settings.

Most of the screen is taken up by the main view window. This shows Ben Jordan and his current surroundings. Several objects in each room can be interacted with, and these are called 'hotspots'.

A gray bar appears at the top of the screen. This bar displays the game title and the current score. Whenever you accomplish something siginificant in the game, you will get a score point.

Move the mouse cursor there and the icon bar will appear. The pictures on the bar represent the following, from left to right:

  • Walk to
  • Look at
  • Interact with
  • Speak to
  • Open inventory
  • Notepad
  • Save game
  • Restore game
  • Quit
  • About

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Basic Commands

The first four pictures, when clicked on, will change the mouse cursor to the appropriate symbol. Then you may click on a hotspot in the main view window to use the appropriate symbol on said hotspot. You can also scroll through these commands by clicking on the right mouse button.

  • WALK (walking mini-Ben): Click on any point in the room you want Ben to walk to, and he will do so if he can, otherwise he will go as close as he can to it.
  • LOOK (eye): When used on a hotspot, Ben will examine it and you will get a message describing it. Click to close the text windows.
  • INTERACT (hand): Click on a hotspot and Ben will walk over to it and then try to do an appropriate action - e.g. use a button to press it, use a door to open it. If he can't do anything or if he doesn't know what to do, the game will tell you.
  • TALK (speech bubble): In most cases, this only works with other characters. Click and Ben will try and open a conversation with the selected object. If he succeeds, a discussion will begin. If not, nothing will happen. During a conversation a number of options appear in a textbox in the middle of the screen. Click on the type of conversation you want Ben to talk about. When a character is speaking you can skip dialog by clicking anywhere on the screen.

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The Inventory

Click on the picture of Ben's pocket to open the inventory. This displays all the items Ben is carrying with him - obtained by either interacting with them or being given them. Click first on the magnifying glass and then on an object to examine it in more detail. Alternatively, inventory items can be held in Ben's hand and used on another interactive object. Click on the arrow and then on an inventory item - the cursor will become the same item. Now click again on something in the inventory to try and combine the two objects, or click 'OK' and click on a hotspot in the room to use the item on that.

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The Notepad

Click on the picture of the notepad to open it. As Ben learns things in the game, he may write them down in the notepad. If you forget what you're supposed to be doing or just want to make sure you're on the right track, you can check the notepad. Click on the "Put Away" button to put it away.

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Saving and Restoring

You can save your progress by clicking on the 'Save Game' icon and entering a name for your save game. Later on, when you come back to the game, you can click the 'Restore Game' icon and reload your saved game, so you don't have to play through the whole game again.

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Hot Keys

  • Tab: Open inventory screen
  • F5: Save game dialog
  • F7: Restore game dialog
  • F9: Restart game
  • F12: Take screenshot (it will be saved as scrnshot.bmp in the game's folder)
  • Alt+R: Record replay
  • Ctrl+Q: Quit game

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AGS Game Settings

Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator comes with default settings so that you don't have to run the setup first in order to run the game. However, if you want to change any of the settings, you can access the game's setup by double-clicking on the winsetup.exe file.

  • Resolution: You can change the game's resolution between 320x200 and 640x400. Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator was designed for 320x200 and it will run best at that resolution. However, if your screen can't handle 320x200 as a full-screen resolution, then try selecting 640x400.
  • Run in a window instead of full-screen: It allows you to run the game in a standard window instead of filling up the whole screen.
  • Use 85 Hz display (CRT monitors only): In case that the screen flickers while you run the game, check this option and it will get rid of the flicker. However, this will only work on CRT monitors and not on flat screen monitors.
  • Force alternate letterbox resolution: This changes the aspect ratio of the game, showing black bars at the top and bottom of the screen.
  • Anti-alias scaled sprites (fast CPUs only): Characters will look a lot smoother as they scale (become larger or smaller) on the screen.
  • Downgrade 32-bit graphics to 16-bit: In case that your computer cannot handle a 32-bit graphic resolution, you can check this option. However, Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator was designed in 16-bit mode so this option will not affect the game.
  • Digital Sound: Changes the kind of sound system the game will use to play the digital music and sounds.
  • MIDI music: Changes what kind of midi music system the game will use. However, Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator only features digital music and therefore this feature will not affect the game.
  • Use digital music pack if available: Plays digital music instead of midi music. Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator comes with the digital music pack and only features digital music; therefore, unchecking this feature will turn off the in-game background music.
  • Use speech pack if available: Characters speak if there is a speech pack available. Unfortunately, there is no speech pack available for Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator.
  • Game language: Changes the language of the game if you have downloaded a translation. Please check the MonkeyGames Entertainment website for any available translations.

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Advanced

  • Replay: This option allows you to select the replays you recorded. You can record the game by pressing Alt+R anytime. When you quit the game, it will prompt you for a description and a file name and it will save it into a replay file.
  • Maximum size: As explained in the window itself, you can limit the maximum amount of memory the game can use for its sprite cache. Usually, this option doesn't need to be changed from its default selection.

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Copyright © 2004 MonkeyGames Entertainment