~1_1

The first level is rather illustrative.
You'll just check how the bugs actually
move, and you won't have to burden
yourself with thinking or another
similar activity. Sure, you can try all
the game keys, especially the function
key "F1", which can provide you with a
relatively large set of hints. It will
come in handy in the beginning, you can
trust us...
~1_2

This level is focused on manipulation
with explosives. Try in practice what
can be destroyed using the explosives
in The Bugs Escape. And please don't
call the phone number, it's just a
decoration, and the line owner, Mr.
Mrazek, Ph.D, would be a bit angry at
you, I guess.
~1_3

Another interesting element in The Bugs
Escape is a pickax. We'll talk about
them in the level after the following
one, but you can try their function
together with the other game elements
now. Besides, the pickax there is
also a little jackhammer in The Bugs
Escape, designed for the same purposes
- to remove stones.
~1_4

Now it's time for hard steel fans. With
its aid it's possible to crunch stones
and make one's way further into
inaccessible areas. It's got a significant
disadvantage, though. The stones in The
Bugs Escape are so terribly resistant that
once you break them, you can throw the
blunt tool away and start looking for a
new one.
~1_5

You've seen a door in the Bugs Escape for
sure, you leave each level through them.
What you'll see now is a very special,
one-way door. Well, it's actually not
that special, it has just one interesting
feature. Once you go through it, it
closes and there's no way to open it
again. Only by cheating, but let's talk
about that later.
~1_6

We've met boxes, barrels and other junk
before. The following level is supposed
to make you exercise sliding, moving,
pushing them off... Anyway, you'll be
moving them until you're standing by the
exit with all five keys.
~1_7

You have six levels behind you already,
that's indeed not bad. Once you finish
playing The Bugs Escape, you may
experience a significant growth of the
gray matter volume, sometimes up to
half a percent! One fellow even matured
when playing The Bugs Escape. However,
he started at the age of ten, finished
at the age of nineteen, so maybe it's
not because of the game, who knows...
~1_8

The bugs differ from each other in color.
We can list them individually: red, green
blue, beige and violet. It's got a meaning
in the game. There are a few elements that
are tied a certain bug by its color. One
of them is a gateway. Only a bug of the
same color can go through it.
~1_9

The last element is a color locked door.
Only a special key of the same color
can open it, and to make it harder, only
a bug of the same color can take the
key. Once opened, it stays available for
the other insects, too, and even a box or
dynamite can be pushed through it.
~1_10

Since you've met all the game elements,
the last exam will have a slightly harder
level, containing all that you've had the
chance to meet so far, plus something
new - cooperation of the insect friends.
In order to solve the level you'll have
to involve not one or two, but all five
bugs to accomplish the desired result.
~2_1

The first level of this difficulty can
be successfully listed among the ultra-
easy ones. As a matter of fact, even
the hard levels are not hard if one knows
what it takes. Additionally, this rule
applies in computer games: if there's no
intelligence or skills, there's cheating.
When you finish this level we'll disclose
a few cheats to you.
~2_2

As we promised, here are the cheats:
"CTRL+ALT+E" - quit the level,
"CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+A" - five keys,
"CTRL+SHIFT+W" - go through the wall,
"ALT+SHIFT+S" - one more pickax,
"CTRL+ALT+D" - open every door
If you use a cheat once more you'll
invalidate it. Cheats aren't applicable
in the difficulty level "Hard", which
makes the competition fair.
~2_3

You might have noticed that the cheats
don't work. We admit it, we were kidding
you. As a matter of fact, The Bugs Escape
doesn't contain any cheats; it would be
questionable if it did. But thinking
that anyone believed that and was
pressing the keys furiously and cursing
the game authors is pretty amusing, maybe
even spiteful.
~2_4

As you've seen for yourselves, The Bugs
Escape isn't a serious game at all. So
try not to take it seriously, don't
be unnecessarily angry, don't curse the
game authors, even though they might
deserve it sometimes, and when the game
really upsets you, you can take revenge
on it - move it from the hard disk to a
floppy disk and then throw it to a trash.
~2_5

It's possible that you find a grammar
error or a typo in the Bugs Escape
accompanying text. Although the texts
were checked carefully, it's impossible
to eliminate the risk completely. So,
please be tolerant, and if you find any
discrepancy, send us an email and we'll
do our best to fix it.
~2_6

The following level should be a question
of a few seconds for you. When in these
kinds of levels, it's good to use the
turbo key "ALT", which makes the bugs
fly on the screen like mad, literally.
And if you also have a high image refresh
rate, the speed increases even more.
~2_7

Another interesting key in The Bugs Escape
is the letter "D". It lets you save a
demo, which can later be played back from
the command line. You can use that to show
someone that you actually completed the
level. Demo records can of course be made
from custom levels created using the
editor. More information is in
"BERUSKY.TXT".
~2_8

Give the editor a try, too. It's not
too user-friendly, but you can create
something in it. You can then send us
your creation, we'll be more than happy
to play something that hasn't been
created by our claws. As for the
editor, the best functions are hiding
under hot keys; a list of them is again
in the well-known file "BERUSKY.TXT".
~2_9

Some of you may mark this level as
"not doable". It actually appears so in
the beginning, but after a detailed
exploration you'll figure out that it's
really possible to get to the exit.
It's indeed a damned lousy trick, easy
to overlook, so we're rather telling you
in advance, in order for you not to
quit The Bugs Escape in the very
beginning.
~2_10

Have you ever played Boovie? If not, we
highly recommend that. It's really a
quality game with lots of nice animations
that you can't see here for sure. We've
seen only a demo but even that was worth
it. A brutal, free minigame Bloodie,
having an original scenario and great
playability, is even better than Boovie;
definitely don't miss it, it's one of
the best freeware games.
~2_11

Have you ever drunk beer? We haven't,
but it's said to be worth it. Reportedly,
it's better than The Bugs Escape and
Boovie together. Thus, it's necessary to
test it properly, which will apparently
happen on the prepared Bugs Escape
baptism. If the beer meets the
expectations, we'll stop producing games
and we'll start making the "soup of
the nation".
~2_12

Do you know that one of the Bugs Escape
programmers represents the Czech Republic
in karate? Well, he has only a yellow belt
together with a kimono after his
grandmother, but he's supposed to make it
into the regional championship in a year.
As he says, when games start boring him
he'll do sport for a living, which
we disapprove of, since beating people
for fun and getting paid for it is
barbarism.
~2_13

The level ahead is pretty trivial. The
principle is to push a barrel with a
radioactive waste to the exit to the next
level. Since there's only one bug in
this level, it has to walk a lot,
especially if you torture it with the
'ALT' key. It's worth saying that this
level is the youngest in the whole Bugs
Escape, it was created approximately
fifteen days before the release date.
~2_14

The IQ of an ordinary trained monkey -
a chimp, can be IQ 85 and more. Some
individuals are even able to control
various office devices, including a
personal computer. A dolphin could
possibly make it, too, maybe even better,
but the problem is that it needs water
and doesn't have hands, only fins. Which
means that it's better to put a monkey
than a dolphin into an office.
~2_15

The following level will apparently cause
trouble. Not that it's extremely hard,
but you may happen to suffer from an
urgent lack of explosives. We shouldn't
give you advice, but a tiny hint can't
hurt. So, try getting as many radioactive
barrels as possible and use them where
they're needed the most.
~2_16

Listen to the band from Plzen called
Znouzectnost when playing The Bugs
Escape. This music is officially
recommended by all beta-testers, it's
not demanding for listening, contains
extraordinary lyrics, and has an
especially positive impact on thinking,
which is good when playing. Though we
don't condemn the original Bugs Escape
score, it's good for playing, too.
~2_17

There are a few little catches in the
following level. Although it seems easy at
first sight, you may get stuck there for
a while. You can, however, pass it with
no problem. For those of you who won't
be lucky, here's a little hint again:
consider carefully where to use the two
radioactive barrels.
~2_18

Interesting situations appeared often while
making the levels. Since The Bugs Escape was
being developed slowly for about two years,
some levels were forgotten, and when we
were getting back to them after many months,
the author sometimes wasn't able to resolve
the it in an appropriate way. It's possible
to see a few of those bits in the difficulty
level "Hard".
~2_19

So, this level is definitely worth talking
about. The design side is no big deal, it's
even embarrassing how it's easy, but what's
interesting is the principle of solving.
If we can give you good advice, remember
it very well, since a similar situation
appears in almost every other level of
The Bugs Escape, and it's in fact the most
often used plot.
~2_20

We have a riddle for you. It doesn't sound
too logic, but it can be solved. You may
know it already, we didn't make it up
ourselves, someone told us. So:
Two elephants sit down on a fence. What
time is it? That sounds weird, doesn't it?
If you don't resolve it yourselves, it
doesn't matter at all, you'll get the answer
once you complete the following level,
anyway.

~2_21

"It's time to change the fence", that's
the complete solution of the previous
riddle. We suppose you evidently expected
something more intelligent; however, this
is the only correct answer to the question
"What's time is it when two elephants
sit on a fence?". We've also prepared two
more, intellectually demanding riddles,
but they appear in completely different
difficulty levels.
~2_22

Longer is dead who dies later. This is
a universal old phrase, which has, however,
absolutely no implications. But this
statement can't be denied. Think: Jan Hus
died in 1415 and Karel Capek in 1938. This
means that Jan Hus is 523 years longer
dead than Karel Capek! One can surely find
many similar examples in the rich history of
our nation.
~2_23

This level appears very gross, moreover
- it's very chaotic and you'll have a very
hard time finding all five keys. That's
exactly how it looks when the authors
are running out of fantasy. It's then
better to take a time off, consider
everything carefully, and get back to the
game, otherwise, there's lack of ideas,
which then makes for such levels.
~2_24

Some people admire AnakreoN for their
extra self-criticism, which we reputedly
express only by our hidden arrogance.
No wonder it's an interesting thesis;
however, as it happens to be in similar
cases, completely nonsensical. We can afford
self-criticism for several reasons: ... I
see it can't fit in here so we'll tell you
the reasons in the next level.
~2_25

Firstly - we do freeware, and for this
simple reason we can't claim that we're
good, that our games are the current hits
and stuff. Secondly - we're powered by
feedback, although we admit that if all
e-mails from testers were like "You guys
are losers, better quit!", we would
probably give up.
~2_26

There's currently a big boom of the Linux
operating system. In the beginning, we
thought we would issue Bugs Escape for
Linux, too; it was even written on our
web, but we never did. Some other concerns
occurred, we had a lot to do in order to
make it run in DOS, and this is the way we
apologize to all those who hoped for that.
~2_27

27 is considered a lucky number in
numerology. Okay, there have been cases
before that argue against this
superstition, the execution of twenty-
seven Czech aristocrats, or the first
27 years of the Thirty Years' War, though
we hope you'll pass the twenty-seventh
level without bigger problems.
~2_28

There's no word about number 28 in
numerology. It's a very bad number for
programmers, though. If you know
anything about Y2K you'll definitely guess
what we're talking about. But The Bugs
Escape will pass the year 2000 problem
because we tested the program thoroughly,
and we can swear that The Bugs Escape will
be working on the feared 29th February
in the third millennium.
~2_29

It's been proven by science that people
born on February 29 die very soon, usually
between fifteenth and twentieth year. This
interesting phenomenon hasn't been
explained by anyone so far, and it's
possible to successfully doubt that it
will ever be. The only known and very
effective defense is a pragmatic
conception, which is something all
beginning parents should keep in mind.
~2_30

The following level is very trivial,
and would better fit into the difficulty
level "Training". Take it as nice
relaxation before the following storm
of extremely hard levels. You'll be
waiting for them for a while, on the other
hand, it's worth knowing that The Bugs
Escape isn't a piece of cake, as it
may have appeared so far.
~2_31

The first dog in space was Laika, Yuri
Gagarin went after it. There are some
speculations that he never returned
back to the Earth and that's why he was
actually less successful than his dog
colleague, but there's no proof. We
in AnakreoN believe that Yuri returned
and died in that civil airplane, as they
say.
~2_32

Another terribly easy level. If you
don't like it anymore, choose a higher
difficulty, you can always return here,
that's what passwords in Bugs Escape
are for. They're not too smart, thanks
to our designer who wrote the random
password generator although he can't
do programming at all.
~2_33

A recent study about game playing
malignancy, or about their negative
impact on children's psyche
respectively, fully proves the scientists'
fears. Yes - playing games, especially
the action, strategy and logic ones,
seriously affects children's psyche,
damaging their natural creativity.
Caution, parents - do your children
have TFS or the Bugs Escape in their
computers by any chance?
~2_34

Have you ever thought how games will
look like in the year 2052? Think,
there are 20 years between Tetris and
Quake, and where have games received in
the meantime? In the next 20 years, e.g.
Unreal will be just a technical
artifact from the beginning of the
millennium. Funny how the gaming world
is so full of evanescence.
~2_35

We were polemicizing about the future of
games a few moments ago, games of the
second half of the 21st century. Who
knows if our forecasts are right, but
we can say now for sure how the games
of the future won't look like -
definitely not like The Bugs Escape,
Manic Miner or similar.
~2_36

A nice design can often improve an idea
that's not too smart. The level you'll
see now is direct evidence of that.
However, if there's neither an idea nor
designer's skills, what gets created is
neither playable nor watchable.
Fortunately, we haven't included such
levels in The Bugs Escape, or we're not
aware of that.
~2_37

We once considered translation into
another language. Slovakian and Polish
languages were planned, but we gave it
up because we couldn't speak Polish
and we had huge holes in our Slovakian
language skills, e.g. we didn't know how
to translate the title itself, which was
a really big deficiency. We excluded
English in the very beginning, it was
completely beyond our translation
skills.
~2_38

The following level has a very
interesting history. It served for
testing for more than a year, new
game features and the overall
functionality were tested on it. Then
it was the initial level in a few
beta versions of The Bugs Escape, mostly
used for internal purposes. Finally,
we deleted it by accident, recovered,
modified and included into the difficulty
"Easy".
~2_39

Have you ever considered how the world
would look like without computers? It's
a terrible idea for someone, another
one would like it because computers just
complicate their lives, or they don't
care at all. But we would mind; if there
were no computers, we would have to ship
The Bugs Escape as a board game.
~2_40

At first sight, this level may appear
to be difficult, but that's not the case.
Sometimes it's the other way around -
one takes a look, says - "nothing to
worry about in two minutes", and spends
half an hour with it, which can happen
in the last level of the difficulty
"Hard".
~2_41

For kids - that's a short description of
the level in front of you. Pushing a
radioactive barrel through a labyrinth
is the usual subject of the level
designers. Here you can also fully use
all five insect friends' skills, which
makes the plot much easier.

~2_42

The Bugs Escape should have originally
contained also a special arcade game
mode, where you would fight against
another player or the computer, which
would be represented by a form of
aphids, ants, necrophores, bark
beetles and Colorado beetles, using the
standard Bugs Escape weapons. But we
changed our mind, because the game would
lose its natural essence. Maybe next time.
~2_43

This level is peculiar because it takes
only 36 steps to complete it, which
shouldn't take an experienced player
more than 15 seconds, even without
pressing the "ALT" key. There are two
ways to finish this level, one of them
takes more steps. Do you think you can
find both ways? Or will you put up with
a trivial finish?
~2_44

Another easy level. Just think how to get
into one of the radioactive waste heaps
and you win. For there are four heaps,
you'll have to plan four times. You must
be thinking it would be worth having a
bit more chances to load the position,
but would it still be a logic game?

~2_45

You definitely know this level from the
Bugs Escape demo, if you had a chance
to see it. It doesn't look exactly like
the original model but the principle
has been saved. It's interesting that
this relatively easy level is considered
a rather hard nut to crack. Why is that
- who knows - anyway, check it yourself.
~2_46

From the scientific point of view, the
ladybug (Anatis Ocellata) is the winged
insect from the beetles subfamily. In
other words, it's a six-legged creature
with an awful head, two feelers, and a
colorful wing case with black dots.
Compared to the pig, the ladybug has a
smaller brain, compared to the cow, it has
a smaller digestive tract. It grows up
to half an inch.
~2_47

From the gaming point of view, this beetle
is pretty friendly, even a sociable being
who obeys you, is able to push boxes,
break stones with a pickax, unlock the door,
and even isn't afraid of radioactive waste
if needed. This beetle is generally a very
talented animal, fated to certain activities.
~2_48

Aphids are the greatest enemies of ladybugs.
Ladybugs hate them so much that they kill
and eat them; that's why they are
considered beneficial insects.
Aphids, who often cooperate with ants,
have a very different opinion on this;
they make it clear by their behavior that
they doubt this usefulness.
~2_49

The next-to-last level in the difficulty
"Easy" doesn't seem easy at all, but
that's just an illusion. Once you look
around a bit, you'll learn that there's
no allegory there. All you need is five
pickaxes... Hmmm, we've likely disclosed
something we shouldn't have. Never mind,
take it as a hint.
~2_50

There we go. The last, 50th level in this
difficulty level is between you and a
successful finish of the second episode of
The Bugs Escape saga, if we can call it so.
Once you see the final episode sequence,
you can decide whether to try another -
harder episode or not.
~3_1

Welcome to the first level of the difficulty
"Medium". Contrary to commonness, this
time we'll start more than fiercely. Using
just two ladybugs, you'll need to pass a
level where at least three ladybug pals
would be needed. Two ladybugs can achieve
a lot, too, but they'll have to think too
much to figure out an acceptable solution.
~3_2

Those who have played the first demo
version of The Bugs Escape surely
remember this level. It tortured many
people, and it's even said to be
unsolvable by some of them. Although
it's nothing very complex. All that needs
to be done is to take five keys, push
a box from time to time, break a stone
or two, and that's it. As a matter of
fact it's the same thing over and over
again, yet it keeps causing trouble.
~3_3

Another interesting thing from the world
is here. You probably know what tsunami
is - gigantic ocean waves caused by an
underwater earthquake. They cause
enormous material damage and mortality
in Asian countries every year. Usually
they're a few feet high; however, in
the beginning of the this century, a
Russian explorer saw a wave more than
2000 ft high. Wow!
~3_4

Filth. Most likely the first word to
cross your mind when you see the
following level. But, before you sue
us for a moral offense, we'd like to
warn you that this level wasn't
created by our designer, but a man
called Hacker Chris, who told us that
nothing bad would happen to our web
server if we published the level. What
would you have done if you were us?
~3_5

Looking at the following level, it's
hard for us to keep our mouths shut.
We'd really like to give you a hint
again, but we can't, because we would
inadvertently give you the complete
solution. Whether you like it or not,
you'll have to figure that out
yourselves again. Don't be sad,
though; when it's really necessary,
you'll definitely receive good
advice. We won't let you down, you
can trust us on that.
~3_6

A physicist from an Australian college
proved that one and one isn't two, but,
again, just one. With an experiment
with two emerging droplets of mercury,
he convinced the whole auditorium that
a change in the first grade education
was necessary. This scientific discovery
raises a harsh question, however: how
will that affect the players of The
Bugs Escape? Hmmm... probably in no way.
~3_7

This type of levels is relatively very
popular. In fact it's a set of five
little separated levels, and each of
them is to be solved using only one
ladybug. If you make any mistake,
switch to another ladybug and try
another logical task; you can always
get back to the previous one after
you restart the level. How simple...
~3_8

A little interesting thing from the
world. The famous 8-bit processor
Z80 from ZILOG, whose architecture
was used by the not-lesser-known
computer ZX-Spectrum, is now
successfully used by Adaptec, who
mount it as a supporting circuit
into their SCSI controllers. Now the
question is, for the father of
ZX-Spectrum sir Sinclair, is it a
reason to be proud, or to cry?
~3_9

In addition to archaeologists, also
numerologists have focused on the
Pyramid of Cheops recently. The
dimensions of the pyramid provide
them with undreamed-of information
that can be advantageous. Do you
know, for example, that if you add
the height of the highest pyramid's
base and the area of the base,
calculate the square of the result
and multiply that by zero, you'll
get the year when Christ was born?
~3_10

It won't be easy not to get lost in
this level. Good thing there are
many ways to the finish this time,
which is unusual, but it'll
simplify the situation, which isn't
exactly enviable in the first place.
And if you happen to be looking for
the exit pointlessly, keep in mind
that the eye in the upper rig...
No, no, no. That would be too big a
hint. Search, and you'll find it.
~3_11

If you're bored by all those super
modern 3D games and you're hungry for
what used to be classic games, we
wholeheartedly recommend one of those
many console emulators. One of the
best known and best ones is "MAME".
You'll find there the most favorite
pieces of all times. You can download
it from the Internet, but we're
deliberately not announcing the address
to avoid an advertisement.
~3_12

On a more serious note, you definitely
know E. A. Poe, the controversial writer
from the beginning of the century. He
wrote mostly short stories, of which
the best known is probably "The Pit
and the Pendulum", or the detective
story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".
Surprisingly, this half-mad writer was
also a great poet, which isn't well
known. When you finish playing The Bugs
Escape, try asking about his works
in a library. You won't be disappointed.
~3_13

Welcome to the snare of the thirteenth,
unhappy level. When we say 'unhappy',
we mean it can really make you cry. It's
possible that after a thousand steps,
right before the finish, you'll find out
that the barrel you just used to destroy
the wooden tun apparently had another
purpose. Look before you leap.
~3_14

Another level that came to light on the
eight-bit platforms. It's mediocre when
it comes to both complexity and design.
The only interesting thing that could
possibly catch a player's eye is the
fact that there are no explosives here.
The truth is that this important
element of the game wasn't yet invented
at that time.
~3_15

We suppose it's time for another nice
riddle to let the players relax. We
happen to have one for such a
situation, and it seems it's high time
we used it. So: "Do you know why hobos
carry a cell phone at all times and
everywhere?" For those of you who
aren't from a big city, the word 'hobo'
is a slang term for a homeless tramp.
~3_16

The correct answer to the last riddle
"Why do hobos carry cell phones?" is:
"Because it's virtually impossible
to catch them at home." We haven't
really seen a hobo with a cell phone,
but we find the riddle reasonable,
anyway. Of course - we wouldn't dare
bother you with illogical riddles.
~3_17

Perhaps every team of game authors has
an idol they'd like to get close to,
achieve its qualities, and of course
also its financial gain. Many people
would love to reach the success of
ID-Soft, or the popularity of
Westwood. We, as a freeware team, look
up to Huckleberry Finn, to whom we're
currently financially very close.
~3_18

The following level is designed to
work as a stereograph. Put off your
glasses, if you're wearing them,
stick your eyes on the screen, and
start moving away from it with your
eyes half closed until you're about
ten inches away from the screen. In
this position, you should see
relatively clear contours of a sign
that's hiding a propagandistic
undertone.
~3_19

Few animations can be found in The
Bugs Escape itself. Aside from the
flickering of the bugs' little legs,
also an explosion can be seen, or
a slow breakdown of a crusted rock
under the strokes of a jackhammer;
that that's about all there is to
see here. The following level is
trying to compensate for this severe
deficiency at least partially,
although very poorly.
~3_20

Once upon a time, on an 8-bit, a
brutal demo was very popular. Its
name was, coincidentally, 'Ladybug'.
It went more or less like this:
A ladybug was walking across a
man's palm. And the man said:
"Sing, ladybug." The ladybug drew
a deep breath and began: "La la,
la la la - tra la la." And the man
was so happy to have a singing
ladybug, he promptly applauded it...
~3_21

If you think two ladybugs having the
same color can't occur in a level,
you're wrong, of course. Such a
situation isn't exceptional, on the
other hand, it's quite rare. In that
case only one bug can move, the others
are just playing dead, which can be
perceived literally.

~3_22

Before you start playing, consider
carefully how many ladybugs you'll
actually need to solve the challenge.
A ladybug that's seemingly walled up
and useless can come in handy in certain
situations. The entire plot can then
change from a simple attempt to
conquer a key to a desperate attempt
to free an imprisoned beetle. But that
has probably advised you too much...
~3_23

We suppose the previous level was quite
challenging, even though we'd helped
you a lot. Well, the hints aren't a bad
thing at all, they should actually be
part of every level, maybe except for
the very easy ones. However, it's not
that simple. To write a good hint is
often much harder than to create a
level. That's why we're so sparing
with it in The Bugs Escape...
~3_24

" WWW.FEE.VUTBR.CZ/*GREBENIC/ORIGAMI/ ",
isn't a link to the son of the leader
of the Communist Party of Bohemia and
Moravia, but to the best Czech web
site about an old Japanese art - about
ORIGAMI. Origami is the art of folding
paper, usually one square sheet of
paper, and it's been played with for
centuries. You can try that yourselves,
too; it's fun and it's mental exercise.
~3_25

You might have noticed a strange
character in the Internet address in
last text. Something that looked like
a star. This deficiency was caused by
one of the Bugs Escape developers, who
had left behind a seemingly
insignificant character when compiling
the font - the swung dash, AKA tilde.
To work around that, we replaced the
original symbol with a substitute
character.
~3_26

If you can draw at least a little bit,
are from Brno, and would like to
contribute to computer games, you can
try to contact us. You don't have to
be extraordinary painters, you just
need to like it and be willing to
follow through with something. We're
interested in intermediate painters,
too, or in fact just them, since
can't hire professionals.
~3_27

Some people think The Bugs Escape
profits from the former fame of
Sokoban, AKA "warehouse keeper".
That's not exactly a correct
assumption; however, we have to
admit that some of our ideas were
indirectly inspired by Sokoban. We
don't find that bad at all, though.
It didn't affect the playability of
The Bugs Escape; on the contrary,
it improved it a lot, so what's
the big deal?
~3_28

A level chaotic at first sight can
soon become clear, which can be said
especially about level twenty-eight.
If you examine it thoroughly, you'll
find out that the individual
ladybugs occupy small territories
of the level, which are hermetically
isolated from the outside world.
Ladybugs aren't aware of each other,
which implies that each ladybug has
to help itself.
~3_29

Have you ever wished you could break
the unshakable position of the US
dollar in Wall Street? If so, this
is the right place. We can't arrange
for a stock market crash, but the
imagined breakage of the currency is
doable. No, we're not daydreaming;
play this level and you'll see for
yourselves what we were talking about
so tediously.
~3_30

If you think The Bugs Escape is a
childish game, we won't disprove your
opinion; but we have to add that the
fateful idea of insect was born out
of pure distress. When we didn't yet
have capable graphic designers, the
little characters were being drawn
by our screenwriter, who was unable
to create anything worthwhile. And
from all the horrible things he
produced, a meek ladybug was the
most beautiful and eventually stayed
in the game.
~3_31

There are three types of logic game
players. Players of the first type
play the games for the joy of their
spirit, the second type to assure
themselves of their exceptional
intellect, and the third type have
to play the games, against their
will, because they test them, as
their creators. We've gone through
all the three stages, but we can
safely state now that the best gaming
pleasure can only be experienced if
you're playing for the joy of your
spirit.
~3_32

The greatest and also the only reward
we can get for the Bugs Escape is
the warm word of appraisal from a
certain player. Criticism is less
cheering, invective even less, but
that's life, anyway. So don't be
shy; if you want to tell us anything,
just write us. We like to read
letters, we reply to some of them
gladly, too. Our e-mail address is
in the Credits.
~3_33

If there were more ladybugs in this
level, it could successfully be among
the easier ones; but this way, when
you need to get by with just one,
not only will you have to think more,
but you'll have to run more, too. Our
beta tests showed that it's necessary
to take more than nine hundred steps
in order to get through the door into
the next level! Even though it's not
a big level at all.

~3_34

The next-to-last level is, compared to
all the previous thirty-three levels,
extremely easy. According to certain
uncredited team members, it's even
much easier than the last level of
the difficulty "Training", which is
quite possible. This level is
thematically divided into two logical
units; I called the one on the left
side "Lovers Without Legs", and the
one on the right side "Sitting
Kitten". Or is it the other way
around?
~3_35

We're saying good-bye to the
difficulty "Intermediate" with this
level. Of course it's not the end of
the game itself, there are other
difficulty levels, too, and if they
all were a piece of cake, you can
also try to create a new super-hard
one and send it to us over the
Internet; we'll play it, and if we
like it, we'll stick it on our web
site together with your name.
~4_1

Welcome to the first level of the
difficulty "Hard". It immediately
shows that it's nothing easy,
although - the fact that you can
choose from eight keys facilitates
the situation to some extent. In
spite of that, I think it's gonna be
quite a challenging start. Just
don't give it up in the very
beginning; if one approach doesn't
work out, another, more complicated
one will.
~4_2

When you catch a glimpse of the
following level, you'll be wondering
why we placed it here. After playing
for a while, according to our
assumptions, this will be answered
by a few minutes you'll spend exploring
the principles of correlative logical
mechanisms on which this level is
based. However, when you find the
solution, you'll wonder why it didn't
cross your mind sooner.
~4_3

We're really curious to see how you'll
resolve the following challenge.
Especially those of you who participated
in the Bugs Escape contest should be
careful not to take too many steps,
which you can easily take a lot here.
Also in this level, a more complicated
solution is correct, too, but requires
more steps...
~4_4

Something easier to unbend would come
in handy, wouldn't it? Okay. The "Hard"
difficulty itself doesn't mean that
each level is supposed to torture you
for great many minutes or even hours.
Sometimes it's necessary to stop, have
a rest, and only then to launch into
new and challenging tasks, which contain
new traps and snares.
~4_5

There's a malicious snare in this level.
Maybe you'll notice it immediately, or
you won't. The latter can be fatal for
you, because then you'll be trying to
find a meaningful solution fruitlessly.
We have a little hint for you, then. If
you remember the level number nine in
the difficulty "Easy", your chances of
finding a solution in a couple of minutes
are pretty high.
~4_6

Sometimes it appears to be very important
not to cross the borders of good taste.
For instance, a man had "Don't Worry, Be
Happy" played at his wife's funeral.
People had a hard time hiding their
smile, amused by the touching lyrics of
the reggae master's. How cynical.
Fortunately this can't happen to you
with the Bugs Escape.
~4_7

This is one of the oldest levels. I
created it when I was about twelve,
on an eight-bit Spectrum computer by
Sir Marles Sinclair. The level is very
chaotic, it'll be hard for you to orient
yourselves, even though the plot isn't
smart at all. Well, what would you
expect from the brain of an untalented
twelve-year-old kid...
~4_8

Don't take the sign "EASY" too seriously,
it's irony, rather than a description.
A level that's clear at first sight and
appears to have a clear goal will likely
bring a lot of surprise by situations
from which there's no coming back, except
for a restart. And another lesson learned
is: Never judge things and people based
on their appearance; rather focus on
what's inside and on their profundity.
~4_9

Definitely one of the hardest levels ever,
at least that's how we perceive it. Like
the previous two levels, this one comes
from the time when eight-bit computers
ruled the gaming world. However, that was
a long, long time ago, many people don't
even believe that. In spite of that, it
was the golden age of computers.
Everything was in its infancy, there was
no lack of novelty - those who didn't
experience that don't understand that.
~4_10

However, let's stop the nostalgia; it's
nothing contemporary, anyway. The fact
that the eight-bit architecture has been
out for a long time can be proved by
the fact that the Sinclair computer was
presented as an historical model from the
computer prehistory in a recent IT fair
trade. Yet it sold well just five years
ago.
~4_11

Did you know that the worldwide network
Internet was founded upon the army
project Arpanet? Indeed, it's true. In
fact, many things from the ancient
Arpanet still remain! For example at
"WWW.OWLET.COM", one can find one of
the oldest CGI scripts of all time -
"BXTACK.CGI, whose purpose is to guide
medium-range ballistic missiles.
~4_12

Most people think that the asellus is
the nice beetle with red wing cases,
thousands of which can be seen every
summer. Unfortunately that's not true,
since this bug is actually a little
freshwater crustacean, up to half inch
long. Really, we're not making this up;
just look into an encyclopedia.
~4_13

One interesting fact about this level
is that incautious individuals can
inadvertently block a route they might
want to use again later. Although
there's no one-way door here, the design
of this level allows for such a
situation. This can be especially
annoying right before the end; one then
feels like taking the keyboard off the
table and hitting someone's head with
it.
~4_14

Another very chaotic level. Most players
hate this kind of riddles from the bottom
of their heart, since instead of dealing
with actual logical problems, first they
have to find individual ladybugs in the
jungle of elements, then keys together
with the exit, and only then can they
think which box to move, or how many
pickaxes will be needed for the
tremendous heap of rocks.
~4_15

Many levels have a clear solution in the
very beginning, which is, however, quite
hard to actually execute. Well, this is
the exact opposite of that - you'll be
able to move or bring anything anywhere,
but it will be pointless, because you
won't have any idea how to get to that
damned exit. And then you'll see the
light...
~4_16

According to statistics, twice as many
people die from bee stings every year 
than from a shark attack. It was written
in the June 1972 issue of Sea Torture.
The author of the article was the
underwater filmmaker Joe Pumblechook.
It's paradoxical that he, the pioneer
of this innovative study, died in the
filming of a green moray under the teeth
of a blue shark.
~4_17

As promised, here's one more riddle:
It's big, green, furry, it's on a tree,
and when it falls down from the tree,
it kills you; what is it? We admit that
this riddle is a bit more complicated
than the last one; on the other hand,
it totally fits the difficulty you're
just playing. As usual, you'll get the
answer when you beat this level.
~4_18

A billiard table. It's big, green,
there's furry chammy leather on it, and
it's so heavy that it can kill you when
it falls on you from a height. Of course
the riddle is nothing new; we saw that
somewhere in the Internet. If you can
think of anything else that can be big,
furry and kill under certain
conditions, let us know and broaden our
horizons.
~4_19

The Bugs Escape is slowly but surely
coming to an end. We hope that the
moments you've spent with it weren't
a waste of time, and that you'll get
through the remaining two levels
smoothly to follow through with your
effort. Break a leg!
~4_20

The last playable level from the ladybugs
adventures. As usual, the last level
is also the hardest (best) one. After the
level has been completed, the fourth,
final congratulation will take place, in
which the authors will show their respect
for your intellectual skills. And if
you're feeling like Albert Einstein's
little brother now, try to solve also the
five levels of the "Impossible"
difficulty...
~5_1

AnakreoN will give a new computer with
Pentium III Xeon and 3Dlabs Oxygen GMX
video card to those players who manage
to complete the following level,
regardless of the number of steps taken
or time needed. And we'll add a 24"
screen if you make it in 147 steps. So,
enjoy! Rack your brains and a reward
will be yours.
~5_2

I really hope that you've cheated to
make it here, i.e.: someone told you
the password, you can hack a bit, or
you already have the source code. If
not, you're a genius, and we just hope
that it's 2036 now, and a Xeon can be
bought for a few bucks used. The level
that's in front of you now is very
similar to the previous one.
~5_3

Do you know why we included the
difficulty "Impossible" in The
Bugs Escape? Some of you might think
that we had no special reason, but
that's not true. It does have a
pragmatic reason. To make a long story
short, we wanted to avoid demanding
final animations, which should,
according to a European standard,
conclude every decent computer game.
Well, and a game that's impossible to
finish doesn't need any outro...
~5_4

If you manage to finish some of the
levels of this difficulty anyway,
please send us the guideline in email;
we're really interested in that. We say
that because many people told us they'd
completed all the levels, and that it
was quite easy. So either they're big
liars, or we've made a big mistake
somewhere.

~5_5

So, this is the 120th, very last level
of The Bugs Escape. Congratulations on
the successful completion; we hope you
have enjoyed the game. If so, we'll
surely start working on "#2"; however,
that will run under Windows, exclusively
in 3D, from the player's point of view;
and it'll cost about forty dollars.
Have fun, and see you in another
project...
~