You're a German Shepherd waking up in a park. Find and wake your four dog friends, meet the monkeys, pigs, sheep and snakes, win bling to wear -- and then take on adventures: lost babies, hungry friends, sleepy little ones, and the nasty bugs that live in the swamp.
1. Getting startedThe start-up screen, your name, and carrying on later
Start Adventure Park vYYMMDD.exe. (The first time, Windows may say it doesn't know the app: click More info, then Run anyway.) It runs full screen. The start-up screen shows the Shepherd and the Collie while the camera flies all round the park behind them, with the park's music playing.
Press any key to bring up the menu.
New Adventure asks your name -- type it and press Enter.
Continue: your name carries on a saved adventure (the newest four are listed, with how far each one got).
A new adventure: type your name.Next time: carry on where you left off.
Then you're in the park -- and the Shepherd's fast asleep. Press W (or any movement key) to wake her up.
"Wake up sleepy girl, time to go on an adventure!"
2. ControlsWorld of Warcraft style -- press Tab in the game to see them all
Key
Does
WS
Run forward / back up
AD
Turn (strafe while you hold the right mouse button)
Shift · R
Walk instead of run · autorun on / off
Space
Jump -- land on anyone asleep to wake them
Left drag · Right drag
Look around · steer with the mouse (both buttons: run forward)
Mouse wheel · Wheel click
Zoom · Bark! (the pack joins in)
XCZ
Sit · stand on hind legs · lie down (stay down and she falls asleep)
T · F
Throw a tennis ball · pick up / drop a ball, food or a bone (catch balls in the air!)
Return
Swap which dog you're playing
I · G
Dress up your dog · give an animal something to wear
M
The big map
H · N
Show the quest again · the animal panels (all / as tabs 1-4 / off)
J · K · Tab
Music on / off · skeleton view · show / hide the controls
Esc
Close the map -- or save and quit
Tab: every control, in one place.
3. Reading the screenEverything on the screen, numbered
Mid-adventure: feeding a hungry monkey.
The map -- the whole park, north up. You're the big arrow; the white wedge is where the camera's looking. Coloured dots are the animals, balls and bling lying about.
The quest box -- what to do now, with ticks, distances and progress bars. Press H to see the full message again.
Who's leading -- the dog you're playing (Return swaps).
Treats -- a bone fills in for each adventure. Three, and bones turn up in a garden (see Bone treats).
Brave medals -- won in the Brave Dog Adventures (see Brave medals).
Key tips -- the keys you'll want most, and the frame rate.
Messages -- little notes about what just happened.
The animal panels -- what every animal is thinking and doing (N switches them about).
The dogs' panel -- what each of your friends is up to.
Follow the triangles. A bobbing green triangle marks whoever needs you -- a sleeping friend, a lost baby, a friend in need, food to fetch. A red triangle marks a nasty bug (or a monkey up to mischief).
4. The story27 quests -- one after another, the quest box always says what's next
The story takes you all round the park, finding your four friends and meeting the animals.
Quest
What you do
Wake Up · Go For a Run!
Wake the Shepherd, then run 200 m.
Find Your Friend · Wake Up Your Friend
Find a friend asleep somewhere (follow the green triangle), then jump on them (Space) to wake them.
Fun with Friends
A 200 m run with your new friend leading -- and a bling reward for the whole pack.
Find Your Tennis Ball
Find the Collie's ball in the red garden, pick it up (F) and carry it 25 m.
Go for a Swim
Everyone in the pond, splashing about with the big ball.
Gardens
Visit the red, yellow and blue gardens.
Butterflies!
Run through 10 swarms of butterflies to scatter them.
Garden Nap
Go to the garden it names, lie down (Z) and fall asleep.
Something Smells!
Follow your nose to a new kind of animal, and meet every one of them by name.
Then round again with more friends: the Terrier, the Lurcher and the Poodle, and the pigs, sheep, monkeys and snakes.
Go For a Run! -- the bar fills as you run.The Collie, asleep under her green triangle. Jump on her!
Go for a Swim.Butterflies! -- charge right through them.
Something Smells! -- it's the pigs.
5. The animalsEach one has a name, a home, and a mind of its own
Monkeys
Five monkeys, King Monkey (twice the size), and three baby monkeys. They climb their climbing frame in the north-east, swim, chase butterflies -- and get up to mischief: pinching your tennis balls and your bling, then dancing round you and making off to hide it at their stash rock. A monkey up to no good has orange thoughts and a red triangle. Baby monkeys love a ride on anyone's back -- even yours.
The climbing frame.Bubbles has hitched a ride on the Collie.
Pigs, sheep and snakes
The pigs (and three piglets) roll in the mud in the south-west. The sheep (and three lambs -- and Sooty, the black sheep) graze their field in the south-east. The rainbow snakes (and six babies) live in the rockery north of the forest; they curl up to sleep, smell the flowers and climb trees. Each home has its own tune.
The mud wallow.The sheep's field.
The snakes' rockery.
6. BarkingWheel click -- and the whole pack joins in
Click the mouse wheel and your dog barks; your friends join in a moment later. Each dog has its own bark. Animals nearby jump and dash away -- and bump into a rattled one and it might drop the ball or bling it's got. Close up, a bark chases off a nasty bug.
Woof! The pigs are "startled by a bark!"
7. Bling & dressing upTen kinds, lots of colours, one for the head and one for the neck
Finishing the Fun with Friends runs, the smell quests and the first Butterflies quest wins bling for the pack: bows, party hats, woolly beanies, bandanas, collars, bell collars, bow ties, scarves, flower chains -- and pearls, later. Press I to dress up your dog: turn her round, try things on, and Apply.
Press G beside an animal to give it something to wear. (Snakes can only wear things on their heads.) Watch out for the monkeys -- they'll pinch your bling!
I: the dressing room.G: dressing up a lamb.
8. Adventures28 adventures -- once the story's done, a new one every minute
After the story, the quest box counts down -- "New adventure in 60 s" -- and then an adventure starts, picked at random from the Adventure Pool.
Lost Babies!
The babies of one kind have wandered off all over the park. Find each one (a green triangle) -- it follows you -- and lead it back to its grown-ups. All home: a party!
Nibbles is lost.
Help a Friend!
An animal is cold, sad or wants to feel special. Find them and press G beside them to give them the right thing to wear (the quest says what helps). Help three friends and you win a surprise...
Dandelion is cold -- something warm, please.
Can I Run with the Pack?
An animal would love a run with the dogs: go and get them, then run 200 m together (only while they keep up!).
Running with the pack.
Feed a Friend!
An animal is hungry. Some food turns up somewhere in the park (it has a green triangle): pick it up with F, carry it over and drop it (F) beside them.
An orange for Bongo.
Nap Time!
A baby can't settle. Lie down beside them (Z) and go to sleep -- they copy you, Brahms' Lullaby plays, and bit by bit their eyes close.
"Sprout is calming down..."
9. Bone treatsEvery three adventures
The bone tracker beside your dog's name fills in a bone for each adventure. When all three are full, bones turn up in a garden -- a different garden each time (the message says which). Run over, pick one up with F and your dog has a lovely treat: she begs, lies down and chews it up, then spins round with joy.
The first time: treats unlocked!Chewing it up.
10. Brave Dog Adventures14 adventures -- standing up to the nasty bugs
Once a dog has eaten a bone treat, the Brave Dog Adventures unlock and join the others. And something new appears in the forest's north-west corner: the swamp -- murky ground, bubbling puddles, a giant spider web and a heap of brown rocks, the poop pile, where the bugs live. It even has its own creepy music...
The swamp: the bugs' home.
The nasty bugs
Spiders, beetles, wasps, mosquitoes and horseflies. Each one has a red triangle. Get within about 5 m and bark -- each round of barking chases one bug all the way back to its poop pile.
The five kinds of bug.
Nasty Bugs Attack!
Five bugs are attacking one of the animals. Find them and bark every bug away.
Pickle is under attack!
Kidnapped by Bugs!
The bugs grab a baby animal and carry it off through the air to their spider web, where they keep on attacking it. Get to the swamp, bark every bug away, and the baby drops free -- then take it home to its family.
Carried off......and stuck in the web. Bark!
Bug Invasion!
Ten bugs invade part of the park -- the climbing frame, the pond, a garden, the sheep's field or the mud wallow. Chase every last one of them away.
The yellow garden's been invaded. "Woof! The mosquito ran back to the poop pile!"
One bug per bark. Each round of barking chases off the nearest bug -- so keep barking, and keep close.
11. Brave medalsOne for every Brave Dog Adventure
Every Brave adventure wins a bronze medal, shown to the left of your dog's name. Three of a kind turn into the next one up: 3 bronze make a silver, 3 silver a gold, 3 gold a bronze star, and 3 bronze stars a paw medal -- the best of all.
How the medals add up.
12. The big mapPress M -- the game carries on underneath
The whole park, big. Every place you know about is named with a dotted line round it, and you can watch the dogs, animals, bugs and bones moving about. Places you haven't found yet stay off it -- no spoilers! Press M or Esc to close it.
The big map.During a Bug Invasion -- the bugs are the red dots.
13. SavingAutomatic
Your adventure saves when you quit (Esc), after every quest you finish, and every couple of minutes. Everything's kept: how far you've got, the adventures and medals, your bling, what the animals are wearing, bones lying about. (An adventure you were in the middle of starts again from the beginning.)
Where: each player's game is a file in %APPDATA%\Adventure Park\saves, named after them. Copy it to keep a backup.
14. Tips
Lost? Press H for the quest again, or M for the big map -- and follow the green triangles.
Jump to wake. Sleeping friends only wake if you land on them.
Hold the right mouse button and steer with the mouse -- it's the easiest way to run where you're looking.
Autorun (R) saves your fingers on the long runs.
Keep your bling safe. Monkeys pinch it -- bark at a thief and bump into it to make it drop what it took.
Bugs: get close, then bark. One bug per round of barking.
Fetch the bones. Eating one is what unlocks the Brave Dog Adventures.
15. Picture galleryClick any picture to see it big
