Quantum Gardening
=================


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The Plot
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The pig breeding season is once more at an end and Eadwig Addlethorpe 
has 
turned to his other passion at this time of year: growing tulips.  
Eadwig's 
garden is not like any you will have seen before, for he is 
relentlessly 
pursued around the trellises he erects by last year's crop of borlotti 
beans, and there are deadly giant bees roaming the area too.  
Thankfully 
Eadwig has devised an innovative method of dealing with these problems: 
quantum gardening.

For any event at which there could be more than one possible outcome 
the 
universe splits into two or more alternate realities.  In one universe 
team 
A might win the Interstellar croquet tournament, in the other it will 
be won 
by team B.  Sometimes we even make a choice as to which of these 
alternate 
realities we should enter - should we take that new job as a yodelling 
dumpling arranger or stay in our present situation as a blancmange 
flinging 
trebuchet operator?  Other events such as the weather seem random and 
out of 
our control.  Eadwig, however, has dicovered that he has the ultimate 
power 
to decide which future alternate reality he enters - decisions which 
would 
not, on the face of it, be his to make.  He may have a choice between a 
future where snails attack his plant, or one where it rains all day and 
the 
snails decide to go snorkelling instead.  In order to ensure the best 
results Eadwig simply chooses to enter the version of the future where 
his 
plants thrive.  It's free, completely organic, and no pygmies are 
harmed in 
the process.



The Game
--------

Eadwig can move up and down fixed ladder positions, and left and right 
where 
platforms exist.  In addition, he can lay down new sections or remove 
old 
ones at will.  Any rainfall which lands on the platforms will run 
laterally 
until it encounters a gap in the platforms - in this way rain may be 
directed onto Eadwig's plant, usually located at the bottom of the 
screen.

The universe is splitting all the time and Eadwig can see the choices 
before 
him in the form of a board game surrounding the main play area.  Dice 
drop 
from the top of the screen, and Eadwig chooses which alternate reality 
he 
enters by selecting one.  For example, should he pick up the die which 
has 
landed on a 5, his position will move 5 places around the board, 
whereas 
collecting the die showing 3 will progress him 3 places.  Each square 
he 
lands on represents an alternate universe with a different effect, 
represented by the icon on the square.  Spiders take care of pests, 
trowells 
are handy for digging in hamster jam fertiliser, and rain makes plants 
grow. 
  Be wary of snails.  As for the other symbols... well, you'll have to 
work 
those out for yourself.

After every two levels Eadwig reaches a bonus stage where he can 
increase 
his revenue.

Ultimately, Eadwig's choices lead him towards a more chaotic and 
disordered 
universe and this manifests itself on later levels.



The Controls
------------

You have the power to choose which alternate universe Eadwig enters.

2 - Up
W - Down
9 - Left
0 - Right
M - Pick up or drop platform
H - Hold

Quantum Gardening has a control menu where you may define your own 
keyboard 
controls, or select Kempston or Sinclair joysticks.  So grab a joystick 
and 
challenge a friend to a game.  Can you choose to enter the reality 
where 
your friend loses all his lives on the first screen?