INTRODUCTION AND CREDITS

Backstage: A Nightmare In One Act
A game written, designed, and created by Devon Oratz. (Legion)

Backstage was created using chipsets and charactersets created by DarkCrono for the game Abstract Paroxysm and chipsets and charactersets created by Gibmaker for the game The Longing Ribbon. I take no credit for these resources Ive used or the edits Ive made of them- all credit is due to their respective creators.

Backstage also uses many graphical resources from various sources in the game making community, music from the Silent Hill series of games and various other sources, and sound effects from various sources. I take no credit for these resources Ive used or the edits Ive made of them- all credit is due to their respective creators.

Backstage, and its concept, story, characters, maps, and contents are Copyright 2005 to Devon Oratz.

The Resources and Materials used in Backstage are Copyright to and the intellectual property of their respective authors, to whom all credit is given.

In general, for anything in Backstage that looks or sounds good, give credit to its creator. Anything that looks or sounds bad, blame me for using it wrong.

Hell isnt a place, but a state of mind. Hell lives within us all.

	Tom Keller is lost. He has gone astray, and become trapped in a nightmare world that is a twisted mirror image of our own, tormented by horrific abberations, haunted by shattered memories. He is alone behind the world, and to escape, he must come to terms with all of his sins.















GETTING STARTED: THE CONTROLS

	(If youve ever played an RPG Maker game before, most of the following is redundant.)
	Use the Arrow Keys to move Tom throughout the game world. Tom can move Up, Down, Left, and Right.
	The Space Bar or Enter key is the action button. Use it to examine objects, open doors and cointainers, interact with the environment, and talk to people.
	Press the Escape Button to open the Menu.

THE MENU

	From the menu screen, you can choose to View Stats and Equipment, View/Examine Inventory, Save Game, or Exit Game.
	Viewing stats and equipment will show you what your current Health is (rated simply from 10, being in perfect health, to 1, being at deaths door) and what Defensive Items and Weapons you have equipped.
	Viewing your inventory will let you look at and examine the Keys, Items, and Weapons youre carrying. Occasionally, the descriptions of items given by Examining them can give you important clues about how the items can be used, so its worth Examining your Inventory if you ever find yourself stuck.
	Save Game allows you to save your progress at any point. Be sure to save early and often (death is cheap and easy in the nightmarish world of Backstage) and make multiple saves so as not to get caught in a bad position, with little health and few defensive items. There may be a handful of points in Backstage where it may be possible to open the menu and save when you are already dead- try and avoid this known bug.
	Exit Game allows you to leave the game and stop playing at any point.
	*KNOWN BUG AND ISSUE* - WHILE THE MENU IS OPEN, EVENTS IN THE GAME PROCEED IN REAL TIME- MONSTERS WILL CONTINUE TO PURSUE YOU, SO BE CAREFUL ABOUT USING THE MENU IN DANGEROUS AREAS.
	*KNOWN BUG AND ISSUE* - THE MENU IS AVAILABLE THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE GAME, INCLUDING DURING CUTSCENES AND OTHER AREAS WHERE IT SHOULD NOT OPEN. BE CAREFUL NOT TO ACCESS THE MENU IN THESE AREAS, DOING WILL MESS UP THE GAME IN SOME PLACES, AND ESPECIALLY RUINS CUTSCENES.
	

COMBAT IN BACKSTAGE

	Tom is not particularly fast or strong, so, normally the best strategy for dealing with the horrific monsters in Backstage is just trying to get away from them. Sometimes in Backstage, it is impossible to avoid monsters- sometimes, monsters attack too quickly, or simply move faster than you. When you make contact with a monster, combat will happen automatically, and be over in a few seconds.
	If you are armed with a Defensive Item, the monster will be destroyed, and you will take no damage, but you will lose the Defensive Item. If you are armed with a Weapon, the monster will be destroyed, and you will take no damage, but you will have one less shot in the defensive item. If you are unarmed, you will be damaged by the monster- if the damage doesnt kill you, you will then have a chance to destroy the monster with your bare hands. However, stronger monsters are hard to kill this way. If you take enough damage, you will die. Just a few unarmed combats with even the weakest monsters can kill you. It is crucial to seek out and equip yourself with as many Defensive Items and Weapons as possible, or youll be killed quickly.
	*If you are equipped with both a Weapon and a Defensive Item, the Weapon will be used first if you are caught by a monster. Weapons in general are more effective against monsters than Defensive items.

DAMAGE, HEALING, AND DEATH

	In addition to monsters, there are traps, environmental hazards, and other nasty surprises in Backstage that can cause you damage or even kill you instantly. The world itself is out to hurt you.
	In Backstage, you may find a few scattered first aid kits located throughout the game. These first aid kits have plenty of healing supplies, but are too large to be portable- you have to use them where you find them. Once you use them, theyll be out of supplies, and you wont be able to use them again.
	If your Health is ever reduced to 0 or lower in Backstage, you die, and will have to restart your game.

SAMPLE EQUIPMENT

	The following are just some of the items youll need to hunt for to defend yourself with in Backstage.

Defensive Items
Defensive Items are easy to find, but once one is used, it is destroyed. You can carry multiple Defensive Items at one time.

Glass Shard- The glass shard is a fairly common defensive item that can be used to slash and stab monsters that attack you.  They are easy to find, but they cant damage Armored enemies, who youll need a Weapon to really hurt.
Molotov Cocktail- A glass bottle full of gasoline or hard liquor with a soaked rag stuffed in the top and lit, a molotov cocktail is a powerful defensive item that can burn just about any monster in the game if they attack you. The materials for molotov cocktails are fairly difficult to find.

Weapons
Weapons are rare in the game, but can be used again and again until they run out of ammo. You can carry multiple Weapons at one time, but once a Weapon runs out of ammo, its useless to you.

Revolver- A Smith & Wesson Model 27 Revolver in .357 Magnum, this classic handgun has great stopping power, and surprisingly moderate kick. It loads 6 rounds, each of which is strong enough to take down a monster.
Handgun- A Beretta M92F 9mm pistol, this is a reliable semi-automatic pistol with an impressive magazine capacity of 15 rounds. However, due to its relatively low stopping power, multiple shots are needed to take down monsters.






MONSTERS

	The following are just a few of the horrific creatures that will be hunting you down throughout Backstage.

Nightgaunt- These vaguely humanoid flying creatures have black and purple rotted flesh, and exude a stench of decay. Their foot long, rock hard talons and gnashing fangs are stained with rust colored blood. Lean and lithe gargoyles, they have the ability to appear from shadows and corners and tear at their prey. Mask seems to have some limited ability to control them, but they are motivated most by their lust for ravaging sin tainted flesh.
Movement Speed: Fast
Damage Inflicted: Medium
Special Qualities: None

Clockwork- Huge, rusted iron automatons, controlled by clanking steam engines, these blood stained metallic golems have huge serrated blades for arms, and are tremendously strong. They are typically placed as guards to important locations backstage, and are not as inclined to appear out of nowhere in a flash of darkness as Nightgaunts, which are sent as scouts to hunt down prey. It is unknown what motivates them besides the blood lust of their thirsty, rusted, ever-clanking gears.
Movement Speed: Slow
Damage Inflicted: Medium to Serious (Can Hit 2x for Serious Damage)
Special Qualities: Armored- Armored monsters cant be killed with Glass Shards due to their hard metal shells- Glass Shards that are held wont be used against them. Unarmed attacks are also very ineffective against them- two unarmed attacks are necessary to kill them, allowing them to do their damage twice. Weapons and more powerful Defensive Items will kill Clockwork as easily as they will normal monsters.

Revenant- Wraiths made of living shadow, with huge scythes, Revenants can easily appear and attack from everywhere. They are the spirits of men who were lost Backstage, driven insane, and killed. They are simple tools- hooks to drag others down into the darkness.
Movement Speed: Fast
Damage Inflicted: Medium
Special Qualities: Incorporeal- Incorporeal monsters arent at all effected by Defensive Items and Weapons. No matter what youre equipped with, theyll always do their damage to you if they touch you, although unarmed attacks can disperse them. Incorporeal monsters can also move through walls and obstacles.

Butcher- Insectile, cadaverous abominations in blood spattered chitin wielding razor-grafted claws and huge, rusty blades, butchers are fast and strong. In a world of terror, even a single butcher is a nightmare in it's own right- fortunately, they are not encountered often.
Movement Speed: Fast
Damage Inflicted: Medium to Serious
Special Qualities: First Strike- Monsters with first strike damage you even if you're equipped with a weapon or defensive item, by hitting before you can defend yourself. After a monster with First Strike hits you, it will hit you AGAIN if you don't have a weapon or defensive item, for even more damage, before it can be dispatched with an unarmed hit.










CHARACTERS

	Tom Keller is an average enough guy, although one badly down on his luck. On the evening this nightmare begins, hes coming home from a fancy dinner with his wife, at a nice restaurant- where she took him to tell him she was leaving him, and where he still picked up the check. Shes kicked him out of the house and had the locks changed, and hes had quite a bit to drink after dinner, and wants nothing more than to call her and give her the piece of his mind. Hes already checked into a seedy hotel down town, where he plans to sleep it off after making a phone call. However, he is about to step through to the other side of a mirror that will warp and destroy everything he thought he knew about his life.

	Alice Sirafas is an enigmatic and intriguing dark haired woman, the polar opposite in appearance and attitude of Toms soon-to-be-ex wife Lucy. She seems to know Tom, although he cant remember from where, and she seems to have both a troubled past and a loose grip on reality. However, by the time Tom meets her, she may be his only ally against the shadows that lurk and wait Backstage.

	Detective Aaron Wilks is a dedicated and honorable law man, one of the only clean cops in a department rife with corruption. When his partner is killed by a serial killer, and the case file is purposely misfiled, vaulted, and buried by the chief of police, Wilks sets out to find the truth, and get revenge, even though his superiors have specifically ordered him off the case. Putting his career and his life on the line, Detective Wilks tracks the killer to a hotel downtown.

	Mask is a mysterious figure who Tom soon meets once he falls through the cracks of this world into the bloody shadows of the next. Although Mask appears to be human, he seems to have some kind of control over the horrifc creatures that stalk the darkness backstage. He explains that he is trying to help Tom, and educate him, but his methods of education seem more like torture as he stalks Tom through the twisted mirror world he cant seem to escape from.

HINTS AND TIPS

	Backstage is best played in near total darkness, with good quality speakers, or even better, headphones, with the volume turned up high. Not only will this enhance the atmosphere of the gameplay experience, and give the game a fair chance to scare the hell out of you, a dark background will make several of the game's darker areas easier to see, and quality speakers or headphones will let you hear some of the subtler directional cues to the game's audio puzzles.

"HELP LINE"

	If you need help in Backstage (it is possible to get hopelessly stuck in the game by missing the clues to some of the more difficult puzzles) just PM me on GW and I'll get back to you post haste.

ENDINGS AND RANK

	Backstage has 3 Endings that can be earned depending on your actions throughout the game, and a Rank System that will rank you on your play time, monster kills, and the ending you earned when you finish the game. In some day I may actually make a website where people can post their best ranks and scores, but until that day, it's just for bragging rights.