FRIDAY THE 13TH FAQ V1.0 ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- by David J. Stein, Esq. 0. Introduction 0.1 Foreword 0.2 Versions 1. Overview 1.1 Game Structure 1.2 Controls 1.3 Music 2. Gameplay Elements 2.1 Characters 2.1.1 Gerry King 2.1.2 Wendy Watson 2.1.3 Amanda Baxter 2.1.4 Bryan Bone 2.1.5 Stuart Palmer 2.2 Campers 2.3 Jason 2.4 Status Bars 2.4.1 Fear Meter 2.4.2 Health Meter 2.4.3 Time Meter 2.4.4 Camper Status 2.5 Weapons 2.5.1 Ranged Weapons 2.5.2 Close-Quarters Weapons 2.6 Sanctuary Cross 2.7 Horrors 3. Map Layout 3.1 Outdoor Map 3.2 Church Map 3.3 Barn Map 3.4 House Map 4. Tactics 5. Bugs 6. Revision History 7. Credits ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- 0. INTRODUCTION 0.1 FOREWORD Friday the 13th is, well, a dumb little game for the Commodore 64, Spectrum ZX, and Amstrad CPC back in 1986 by a little company called Domark under license from Paramount Films. It is completely unrelated to the Friday the 13th game made for the Nintendo NES. The game is (loosely) based on the Friday the 13th horror movies of the 1980's, but no specialized knowledge of the movies is necessary to play or enjoy the game. (Indeed, I never saw any of 'em - either when I first played the game as a child, or since then.) This is also an easy game. There are a few ways that you can lose (getting hacked to death by Jason, running out of time, or getting too frightened.) However, Jason is comparatively weak and slow, and the time limit and capacity for fright are usually so generously set as to be irrelevant. In fact, you have to *try* to lose. So if this is a dumb, simple game, based on movies I never saw... why am I writing a FAQ? Well, there's something about this game that, I guess, struck me the right way when I first played it at the age of twelve. I keep coming back to it, too - of all the thousands of games installed on my C64 emulator, this is one of the top ten that I find myself playing. It's easy to pick up, mess with, and put down again. And it's got some of that kitschy goodness - the fun chiptunes, the horrible graphics, the minor but eye-catching bugs - that exemplifies the spirit of the C64 platform. 0.2 VERSIONS Looks like Domark cranked out three versions of this game for the C64, the Amstrad CPC, and the ZX Sinclair. I've only played the C64 version, but I've seen screenshots of the other versions. The Amstrad version has has some color changes, but otherwise appears identical. The Sinclair version has *much* clunkier graphics, including monochrome sprites reminiscent of Firebird's old C64 games (Underwurlde, Sabre Wulf, etc.) I'm guessing the music and sfx also differ based on the capabilities of each machine. But the screen layouts suggest that gameplay is probably identical. ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- 1. OVERVIEW 1.1 GAME STRUCTURE The game structure is pretty simple. You and ten other campers wander around Crystal Lake, doing all of the normal campground things: cooking S'Mores, making fun doo-dads out of corn husks, seeing the... well, OK, everyone just wanders around like lost shoppers in Wal*Mart. Occasionally, they stand still, just for variety. But this ain't Little Computer People - one of the ten campers is a cold-blooded killer in disguise: Jason the psychopath. At random intervals, he will unmask himself, pursue a hapless camper, and cut them to ribbons with a machete. And after he's killed the other nine... you're last in line. But you can avoid this fate - you can go on the offensive! Find a weapon and scour the campgrounds; if you run across Jason whilst unmasked, you can take a swing at him. If you want to be even more assertive, you can try to determine which camper is Jason and take him down before he ever touches anyone (proactive self-defense?) Of course, once you hurt Jason's feelings (e.g., by stabbing him with a spear), he may come after you instead, and he's got just as sharp a machete as you do... So, that's basically it. You start the game as one of five players (the game cycles through five characters, each with a backstory - but they're identical except for their appearances.) You're unarmed, so you have to search for a weapon - anything will do at first, but you may swap if you run across a more preferred instrument of destruction. You search for Jason as he kills campers one by one. Eventually, either he finds you or you find him, and you hack away at each other. If you kill him, the game resets and you play again (as the next of the four stock characters); if he gets the better of you, well, game over. Yeah, it's really that simple. (Oh, there's also a scare-meter - if you get too horrified, you die - but you can tolerate so much horror that it's practically a non-issue.) 1.2 CONTROLS Friday the 13th plays from a top-down perspective, and you can walk your character around the screen with a joystick. You begin the game empty-handed, but if you find a weapon or a cross on the ground, you can pick it up by standing on it and hitting the fire button. You can only carry one item at a time, but you can swap it for another by standing over it and hitting the fire button. Wielding a weapon is done by holding the joystick left or right and pressing the fire button. (Note: You *have* to be holding the joystick left or right when you hit the button - otherwise, you just drop your weapon, and that's a very bad thing to do in the middle of a fight!) 1.3 MUSIC One of the best aspects of this game is the music - it's simple and chippy, but somehow it adds a great deal to the ambience and fun of the game. The game has seven tunes, of which I could only identify five: * Main tune: Sleepers, Awake! A Voice Is Calling (J.S. Bach) * Church tune: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Wedding March (Mendelssohn) * Church tune: Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor (J.S. Bach) * Forest tune: Teddy Bears' Picnic (J.W. Bratton) * Jason attacking tune: Unknown track - might be original? * Barn tune: Old MacDonald Had a Farm (origin unknown) * Archery range tune: Unknown track - might be original? (I've listed them in this order simply because the SID tune for them features the tracks in this order.) When the game begins, "Sleepers, Awake!" is (usually) playing - this is the default tune; whenever another tune ends, this one plays again. However, several locations are tied to particular tunes, and if you walk into the location while "Sleepers, Awake!" is playing, the location-specific tune will interrupt the current tune and begin playing. Note - since your character always starts the game in a room with a location-based tune (Toccata and Fugue), and sometimes this will start playing instead of "Sleepers, Awake!" - but not always - it seems random. Also, the "Jason attacking" tune will play when Jason becomes uncloaked and starts chasing down a camper. When this tune begins, you're likely to hear a scream soon after! ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- 2. GAMEPLAY ELEMENTS 2.1 CHARACTERS At the start of each game, you'll take the role of a character (starting with Gerry and cycling through the others at the start of additional games.) They play identically except for different appearances, starting health meters, and backstories. 2.1.1 GERRY KING * Description: "Gerry has a taste for adventure. He would never refuse to help anyone and is a natural leader. He uses his combination of strength and intelligence with great success. But what is his hidden weakness?" * Appearance: Male, yellow hair, blue shirt, yellow pants (identical to Stuart) * Starting health: 6 2.1.2 WENDY WATSON * Description: "Wendy is a shy girl who finds life quite a struggle. Always depressed, she has earned her nickname of 'Waterworks Wendy' over the years. Her parents sent her to the camp to meet people." * Appearance: Female, red hair, blue dress, red pants * Starting health: 3.5 2.1.3 AMANDA BAXTER * Description: "convalescing from a nervous breakdown Mandy is a computer programmer by trade. She has come to Crystal Lake for the outdoor life and a quiet week of sunbathing." * Appearance: Female, yellow hair, blue dress, yellow pants * Starting health: 3.5 2.1.4 BRYAN BONE * Description: 'Bonio', as his friends call him, is one of the most enthusiastic guys you are likely to meet. Always willing and eager, sadly he hasn't quite the character to carry through." * Appearance: Male, red hair, blue shirt, red pants * Starting health: 4.5 2.2.5 STUART PALMER * Description: "Stew trained for the Marines but didn't make it. He still maintains a fitness regime, jogging, swimming and weight lifting but is a liability in stressful situations" * Appearance: Male, yellow hair, blue shirt, yellow pants (identical to Gerry) * Starting health: 5.5 2.2 CAMPERS Crystal Lake has ten campers who... well, for the most part, they just wander around aimlessly, bumping into things, until Jason shows up and kills them. They don't pick up weapons or carry anything, and they don't help you in any way. Actually, they're very similar to goldfish: they just spend the whole time wandering around and checkin' stuff out. Each camper starts in the same location every game, and (except for Jason) just begins wandering. The ones that start outside tend to walk all over the map, but the ones that start in a building usually stay inside. However, if you touch one of the campers while you're not carrying the sanctuary cross, the camper will go to the room containing the sanctuary cross (this is the designated sanctuary) and then... well, stand around doing nothing for a while, until they get bored and wander away. Goldfish, I tell ya... The campers seem oblivious to the fact that they're being hunted, and even when they're being attacked by Jason (or you), they just wander aimlessly. Often, when a camper is being targeted by Jason, the camper will just stand dead still and wait for Jason to come and stab him with his sword (but the first stab will often jar the camper out of this stationary mode, and he'll start walking around again.) The game documentation suggests that each camper has a fright meter, and that Jason always selects the camper with the highest fright meter to attack next. I've seen nothing to support that, though - Jason just seems to choose a target at random. The ten campers (in order of appearance in the status bar at the bottom right corner of the screen) are: 1: Appearance: Male, green hair, blue shirt, green pants, orange shoes Starting location: Forest edge 2: Appearance: Female, purple hair, blue dress, purple pants, orange shoes Starting location: Forest edge 3: Appearance: Female, white hair, blue shirt, orange pants, blue shoes Starting location: Archery range 4: Appearance: Child, blue hair, cyan shirt, blue shorts, blue shoes Starting location: The trees and house fence north of the graveyard 5: Appearance: Male, hite hair, blue shirt, white pants, orange shoes Starting location: Kitchen in the house 6: Appearance: Female, green hair, blue dress, green pants, orange shoes Starting location: Bathroom in the house 7: Appearance: Female, cyan hair, blue shirt, orange pants, cyan shoes Starting location: South-most bedroom in the house 8: Appearance: Child, blue hair, white shirt, blue shorts, blue shoes Starting location: Near the cross in the church 9: Appearance: Male, purple hair, blue shirt, purple pants, orange shoes Starting location: South altar in church 10: Appearance: White hair, blue dress, white pants, orange shoes Starting location: Barn 2.3 JASON One of the campers is Jason in disguise! When the time is right (well, actually, at random intervals), this camper will stop wandering around aimlessly, track down another camper, and hack him to bits with a sword. You'll know that Jason is on the prowl because any music currently playing will be interrupted, and the "Jason attacks" tune will play; and his success at killing a camper will be announced by a loud shriek and the appearance of a new tombstone in the camper status meter. When all of the other campers are dead... Jason comes after you! Jason can be any camper - man, woman, or child - and most of the time, he walks and acts just like any other camper. However, there are a few ways to identify Jason: * Often while stalking a camper, Jason will drop the disguise and appear in all black clothing. You might run across him by chance while he is en route. * You might stumble upon Jason attacking the camper (Jason is never in disguise while attacking, obviously.) * If you hit a camper with a weapon, ordinarily he/she will just appear as an "ouch" icon. But if you hit the camper-disguised Jason, the camper's icon will go all crazy... it will flicker through Jason's icon and several others, even showing static at one point. Often, Jason will just go back into disguise and try to walk away, but if you wound him enough, he'll just drop the disguise and start attacking you. * I *think* it's true that the camper who's actually Jason will not head toward the sanctuary room if touched by the player, unlike the other campers. However, it can be difficult to differentiate the "heading to sanctuary" walk with the "bumbling around aimlessly" walk, so I'm not sure about this. Fortunately, Jason has handicaps, too. Surprisingly, Jason doesn't have a whole lot of health - if you're equivalently equipped with a sword or axe, you can just stand toe-to-toe with him and take him down before he kills you. This is especially true when Jason is in disguise - a couple of chops with an axe can take him down. Jason also walks slowly, while your character runs twice as fast at all times; if you have a range weapon, you can just run circles around him and pick him off from a distance. Also, Jason swings his sword fairly slowly, and you can hit him a lot more often with your weapon than he can hit you. Jason is also susceptible to the same poor pathfinding as the other campers, so he'll often get stuck on a fence or a door jam, and you can hit him a few times or even kill him while he bumps into things. The documentation for the game states that Jason chooses targets to attack according to an individual fright meter for each camper. However, it doesn't seem that way; it just seems random. The manual also states that if you kill Jason in one game, he takes the apperance of the character you played in that game during the next one. However, this is also incorrect - Jason appears to assume or possess a camper at random for each game. Besides, the characters that you play aren't otherwise present in the game as campers. 2.4 STATUS BARS 2.4.1 FEAR METER On the left is a picture of your character (well, a representation, anyway - it always shows a blonde-haired woman regardless of which character you're playing.) This shows your fright meter; the game advances through four stages of fear, with your character's hair standing more and more on end. If your fear exceeds a certain point, you die of shock and the game ends. This could have been a cool feature, but in practice it's meaningless, because your character's capacity for fright is so high that you have to *try* to max it out. I've walked through the game killing every camper I've seen and eventually killing Jason, and the fright meter only reached the first level above normal. 2.4.2 HEALTH METER To the right of your character's portrait is a large blue and white dumbbell on a vertical scale - this represents your character's health, and if it reaches zero due to Jason's attacks, your character dies. Pretty straightforward. Again, this is not a significant limitation, because your character can withstand a tremendous amount of trauma. 2.4.3 TIME METER To the right of the health meter is, well, nothing at first - but over time, horizontal lines will be drawn here that together illustrate Jason's hockey masks. This is actually a time meter, and once again, if it runs out (i.e., if the hockey mask is completely filled in), the game ends. This isn't actually a straightforward measurement of time, though - it doesn't fill in steadily, but rather as game events occur, such as campers being attacked and dying. (You'll often see this meter start to advance shortly after the "Jason attacks" tune starts playing, because Jason is attacking a camper.) Once again, the amount of time represented by this meter is so large that it's unlikely to put any pressure on you to finish the game, and you'll have to try to max it out. One way of advancing it is by attacking corpses - the hockey mask fills in pretty quickly this way. 2.4.4 CAMPER STATUS At the bottom right is a depiction of each of the ten campers in the game. This just shows whether each camper is alive (standing up) or dead (replaced by a tombstone.) Note: The depictions of the campers in this area doesn't perfectly match the actual characters - some of the colors may be different. Unlike the other meters, the game doesn't end if all of the nine campers die - it's just a sign that the last camper (Jason) is coming after you next! 2.5 WEAPONS Friday the 13th features two kinds of weapons: close-quarters weapons and ranged weapons. They are scattered randomly throughout the campgrounds at the start of the game, and Jason always carries a sword. Your character starts the game empty-handed, but you can pick up and carry one weapon at a time, and you can swap with another weapon if you choose. The campers ignore all weapons. (I've done my best to identify the weapons... but to be truthful, the graphics for the weapons are particularly bad, so I may very well be wrong in the identification.) All weapons are only wielded horizontally: you can attack or throw something left or right, but not up or down. 2.5.1 RANGED WEAPONS The ranged weapons can be thrown as many times as you like (and you don't have to go get it afterwards; you can just throw it again when the first projectile vanishes.) A ranged weapon travels the whole width of the screen, harming anyone in its path. It's noteworthy that when a character is hit by a ranged weapon, he just stands still in the "ouch" pose until the weapon is off the screen - even if it's the death blow, he stands still until the weapon vanishes, and then falls over. Also, you can hit multiple characters with the same thrown weapon (if they're cooperative and stand at the same horizontal level.) The ranged weapons do less damage, but you can hit your foe from a distance outside the range of his close-ranged weapon. The ranged weapons include: * Throwing Fork OK, maybe it's not a fork, but - well, I don't know what else it could be. It's just a fork; you can pick it up and throw it tines-first at anyone. It does very little damage, but like the other ranged weapons, it travels the whole width of the screen. * Throwing Hammer Er... I guess?... it looks like a small hammer. Same amount of damage as the throwing fork, and otherwise the same properties, too. * Throwing Hatchet Yeah, I think the developers *really* had a failure of imagination when it came time to designing the weapons. The throwing hatchet is identical to the throwing fork and the throwing hammer, except for its slightly different appearance. * Throwing Spear The spear is the only decent ranged weapon - it seems to do a respectable amount of damage. 2.5.2 CLOSE-QUARTERS WEAPONS The close-quarters weapons generally do more damage, but of course, your target needs to be close to you. These weapons include: * Knife This is a teeny tiny knife with what looks like a bowl-shaped handle... OK, I don't really know what this is, but it's a terrible weapon. Its damage is slightly better than the ranged weapons, but it's very difficult to hit your target due to its small attack surface. * Pitchfork The pitchfork is longer than the knife, but it's still difficult to wield - it just pops out of the side of your character, and an opponent will only take damage if he's in the range of the tines of the pitchfork; if he is closer, no damage is dealt. * Chainsaw The chainsaw is disappointing. Again, it just appears at the side of your character, and damage is only dealt to opponents who happen to be standing where the teeth of the chainsaw appear. Moreover, it doesn't do very much damage, and you can't just walk around wielding it; you have to swing it just like any other weapon. All in all, it works the same as the pitchfork. No gasoline required, though. (Hmm... maybe it doesn't do much damage because it's not running?) * Sword I *think* this a sword... well, it's just a white line, actually. Yeah, no hilt, no edge, no nothing... just a blade. Hey, it's a budget game. Anyway, the sword is a great weapon - large range and heavy damage, and anyone within reach is affected (i.e., there is no "too close" with the sword as there is with the pitchfork or chainsaw.) Its reach is a little shorter than that of the axe, but it seems to be a little quicker, so you cand deal out more damage in a shorter amount of time. Small wonder that it's Jason's weapon of choice. * Axe The axe is just the sword with an axe-head on it. This is apparent from the range - as with the sword, people who are standing on top of you or next to you will take damage; again, there is no "too close" while swinging the axe. I guess maybe the handle is sharpened or something?... Anyway, its reach is longer than the sword (due to the gluing of the axe head onto the end of the sword), and it's my impression that the axe deals out a little more damage than the sword. However, it is slower to wield between the sword - it takes longer to recover from an axe swing and to begin a second one than for a sword. 2.6 SANCTUARY CROSS Also placed randomly within one of the buildings of the campgrounds is a large, pink cross. You can pick this up (swapping out any weapon you might be carrying) and drop it in any indoor room (but can't be dropped outdoors.) The room where the cross resides is a sanctuary, and Jason won't attack any campers there. (Well... usually not, anyway... sometimes he does. I presume it's a bug.) However, Jason has no problem with attacking you there. You can direct campers to go to the sanctuary room by touching them... however, they seem a bit distractable, and might initially make a beeline for the sanctuary but then wander off in a random direction before arriving. Campers who make it to the sanctuary will stand still and stop wandering around the campgrounds (well, for a while, anyway; they will eventually wander away. Goldfish, I tell ya!) In all, trying to gather the campers at the sanctuary is like herding cats, and is not really worth the effort. 2.7 HORRORS One of the more charming aspects of the game (and startling! - well, for the first hundred times you see them, anyway) is the displaying of a "horror" picture when you stumble upon a corpse. Upon entering a room with a dead camper, you'll sometimes be presented with one of two full-screen drawings - a picture of a man being decapitated by a hatchet, or a picture of some bloody, grinning skulls - while being treated to a blood-curdling scream. This is a neat analogue to the "jump-scare" tactics used in many (cheap) horror films, including the Friday the 13th movies. Usually, this only happens the first time you encounter a dead camper; afterwards, I guess, your character remembers that it's there. However, the game is sometimes a little incongruous - if you kill a camper, walk off-screen, and walk back on, you'll sometimes be treated to a horror picture. It's almost as if the developers didn't imagine that players might opt to help Jason bump off the campers... heh, heh... ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- 3. MAP LAYOUT The outdoor map is a 4x6 grid with three buildings - a church, a barn, and a house - each of which can be entered and explored. The outdoor map wraps around on both axes (i.e., walking four screens to the right, or six screens down, will take you back to the same outdoor location.) The location-based tunes are identified in parentheses. Each room contains some stock objects (hay bales in the barn, etc.) At the start of a game, an assortment of weapons is distributed at random throughout the map and buildings. The campers are positioned at specific starting locations on the map - these don't change from game to game - and each one is marked below with an asterisk and the number of the camper. Your character begins in the organ room of the church. 3.1 OUTDOOR MAP +------------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+ | | | | Forest Edge | | Graveyard | Graveyard | Forest Edge | Hay Bales | | | | | | +------------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+ | | | | Hay Bales | | Church | Graveyard | Barn | Tractor | | | | | | +------------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+ | | Graveyard | | Archery Range | | Graveyard | House Fence | House Fence | House Fence | | | | | (Track 7) | +------------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+ | | Five Trees | | Archery Target | | Seven Trees | House Fence | House | House Fence | | | *4 | | *3 | +------------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+ | | Four Trees | | Forest Edge | | Brick Wall | House Fence | House Fence | Brick Wall | | | | | House Fence | +------------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+ | Forest Edge | | Forest Edge | Forest | | *2 | Nine Trees | *1 | (Teddy Bears') | | | | | | +------------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+ 3.2 CHURCH MAP +------------------+------------------+ | Exit | Altar | | Cross | (Bride) | | *8 | | +------------------+------------------+ | Organ | Altar | | (Toccata) | *9 | | | | +------------------+------------------+ 3.3 BARN MAP +------------------+------------------+ | Exit | Hay Bales | | Hay Bales | Carts | | (Old MacDonald) | *10 | +------------------+------------------+ | Hay Bales | Hay Bales | | Carts | Carts | | | | +------------------+------------------+ 3.4 HOUSE MAP +------------------+------------------+------------------+ | Exit | | | | Foyer | Living Room | Library | | | | | +------------------+------------------+------------------+ | | | | | Bathroom | Bedroom | Kitchen | | | | *5 | +------------------+------------------+------------------+ | | | | | Bedroom | Bathroom | Bedroom | | | *6 | | +------------------+------------------+------------------+ | | | | | Bedroom | Bedroom | Living Room | | | *7 | | +------------------+------------------+------------------+ ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- 4. TACTICS Tactics really shouldn't be necessary - this is an easy game, and you have to try to lose. Really. But, for what it's worth... 4.1 IDENTIFYING JASON Oftentimes, you'll just stumble upon Jason when he's undisguised or attacking (or he'll stumble upon you), or you'll run across a corpse with a suspicious camper hanging out nearby. Easy enough. But there a few other ways of tracking him down. First - Jason's behavior while disguised *might* not be the same as that of other campers. For instance, he might not change course and head to the sanctuary when touched by the player. (However, this can be difficult to tell, and might not be consistent.) Also, Jason might seem overly directed in his wanderings - as opposed to simply walking to random locations, he might be tracking a particular target to attack. Second - note that the campers all start in predefined locations, and that the ones indoors tend to stay there (unless you've redirected them to the sanctuary.) Thus, campers 5, 6, and 7 are usually found in the house; campers 8 and 9 are usually in the church; and camper 10 is usually in the barn. If you happen to not find one of these campers in these locations (or his corpse), it's quite possible that this camper is Jason and is out stalking another camper. Third - follow the trail of bodies! When you hear a scream, watch the status bar to see which camper died - this might inform your search for Jason. As you wander around, try to remember who you're seeing and where they're headed. If you pass a guy and he happens to drop dead shortly thereafter, turn around and head in the direction he was walking - you might bump into Jason. Also, again note that many campers tend to stick around where they start. When a camper dies, try to identify where he or she typically hangs out (in the house? in the barn? etc.), and then go there as quickly as you can and "interrogate" any campers in the vicinity (by hitting them with a weapon!) Finally - if you're eager to provoke a confrontation, there's one easy way to narrow down the candidates: kill everyone you see! A dead camper is a camper that Jason can't hunt, so killing campers (especially those wandering around outside) narrows down the list of suspects and the options for where you'll find him. 4.2 KILLING JASON First, get yourself a good weapon. A sword or axe will do nicely, but if you prefer keeping your distance, try to locate a spear. It's easier to kill Jason when he's in disguise - sometimes it just takes two good whacks with an axe. Being a little proactive in identifying him will make your job (even) easier. If you can't ID or kill him before he de-cloaks, try to chase him when he's stalking or attacking a camper - he'll be distracted, and you can wound or even kill him before he turns his blade on you. Sometimes, you can even spot him trapped against an obstacle and get a few nicks in without repercussions. If he's coming after you, you can slow him down by resurrecting a dead camper! Just find a corpse and whack it a few times until it starts walking around as a zombie, which you can use to lure Jason or beat him up while he's distracted. Finally, if you're committed to a one-on-one bout - try to jab him with a ranged weapon from a distance (you walk twice as fast, so you can just run circles aruond him in one room!) With close-quarters weapons, just try hitting him faster than he can hit you. If your health meter runs low, try disengaging, finding a ranged weapon, and finishing him off that way. 4.3 OTHER FUN Friday the 13th is not exactly a complex game, but it can be fun to mess around with its dynamics. For example, try taking on the mantle of Jason and killing the campers yourself... see if you can knock off more of them than Jason can! You can try herding them into the sanctuary together, but they tend to wander away. You can also ID Jason and follow him around - you could try to protect the other campers from him when he attacks. ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- 5. BUGS Ah yes, the bugs... there are several, but they aren't show-shoppers and they generally add to the fun (and oddity) of the game. First and most obvious - when you hit Jason with a weapon while he's masquerading as a camper, his sprite goes all crazy-like, flickering betweeen other sprites and even static. His sprite returns to normal when he starts walking again, or when he uncloaks to his all-black state. My guess here is that the developers either couldn't imagine a way to reveal that your quarry is in fact Jason, or simply didn't get around to putting in an animation of some kind. Second - when you or Jason swings or throws a weapon, the hit detection algorithm apparently checks against all campers in the way... even if they're already dead! If you attack a corpse with a weapon (inadvertently or otherwise), it will actually stand up, appear to get hit, and then lie back down. Even its tombstone icon vanishes while it's upright. This increases your fear score, too (but I guess defiling a corpse is reasonably panic-inducing.) Even better... the corpses *usually* lie back down, but not always... in fact, sometimes they just start walking around again! Yes, thanks to this bug, your character has the power of resurrection - just walk up to any corpse, no matter how cold or abused, and poke it a few times with a weapon until it stands up and starts walking around. It's not quite good as new, though; it can only withstand one hit before falling over dead again. But you can repeat as many times as you want with the same corpse... bizarre but true. The pathfinding is pretty bad. Campers will often take the long way around an obstacle (e.g., approaching a building from the left, walking its entire width behind it, hooking around the right edge, and then walking to the door in front!) Campers and Jason will often walk directly into an obstacle (particularly a fence or brick wall) and will just keep pushing against it until dislodged in some manner. And I once saw Jason trying to attack a camper who was standing still near a two-scree stretch of fence - but Jason just made laps around the entire length of the fence, and took one swipe at the camper with his sword on every pass. Silly stuff. Of course, it's easy to imagine that the developers struggled to find a good pathfinding algorithm that would run quickly on a Commodore 64 - while a game with realtime music and graphics requirements ran in the foreground! I think they did quite well, actually, given the constraints. People often disappear, too - Jason and campers included. This frequently occurs between screens; you'll be following/chasing someone who walks off-screen, and when you go in the same direction, your target isn't there. But sometimes, it's even more blatant: someone will just vanish wile just walking across the screen. Jason pulls this trick sometimes, especially if you kill a camper while he's in disguise and walking across the same screen. One noteworthy bug is that the game has trouble drawing more than two campers in the same room (besides you and Jason), so if three or more happen to be wandering around (or lying dead!) in the same location, you'll only see two until one leaves. Frequent graphics glitches arise whilst displaying sprites near the edges of the screen (e.g., swinging a weapon near the edge of the screen will make the tip of it appear on the other side of the screen.) Also, your character can sometimes get caught between an obstacle and an edge of the screen, and you may need to walk off-screen and return to the room to move about more freely. Other quirks are simply conceptual. For example, if you track down Jason while he's incognito, you can attack him a bunch of times in a row while he walks across the screen - and he'll stay in costume, apparently minding his own business (while you chop at him with an axe!) But when he reaches the edge of the screen, often he'll walk off-screen, but immediately walk back on-screen in full black regalia and with his sights set on you. As another example, you may often see two horrors or more for stumbling upon the same corpse - and sometimes, you'll see a horror when stumbling upon campers that you killed! Maybe your character has short-term memory issues, or multiple personalities? ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- 6. REVISION HISTORY v1.0 - First version. ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- 7. CREDITS This FAQ was written by David J. Stein, Esq. in the Spring of 2008 as a brief escape from work. Special thanks to: Domark, Inc. - For creating this cool game. Par Hakan Sundell - For designing the excellent CCS64 emulator. My beloved Keurig coffee maker - the sine qua non of this FAQ. Contact Info: Please feel free to contact me at djs10@po.cwru.edu with information about this game. Be sure to include "Friday the 13th" in the subject line - otherwise, your message will probably get eaten by my spam filters. ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * ------- * * -------