Current Shareware 1994 January/SHAR194.ISO/games/duel2000.zip/DUEL.DOC

Text File | 1993-06-15 | 16KB | 302 lines

                                   DUEL

                      Copyright 1991, David Sherohman



     This software package is offered "AS IS" and without warranty as to
performance, quality, or suitability for any purpose.

     This software is copyrighted and is not in the public domain.  License
is granted to use this software.  If the user finds the software to be
useful, then a donation is requested, of an amount to be determined by the
usefulness of the program and the user's financial resources.

     License is granted for the free and unrestricted distribution of Duel
2.0.1, subject to the conditions that:
     1) It only be distributed as an archive titled DUEL201, with the
extension given by the archiving program used to create the archive and
containing the files DUEL.EXE and DUEL.DOC neither of which may be modified
in any way.
     2) No fee of any type or amount be charged for distribution. This
includes disk handling fees, etc., but not fees for the use of a BBS from
which it is downloaded, provided that said fees are normally charged for use
of the system.                    DUEL
                      Copyright 1991, David Sherohman

     Concept:  Duel is a "card"-based system of medieval melee combat.  At
the beginning of a duel, the computer will randomly determine the initial
attacker and combat will then commence.  A blow is resolved by comparing the
attacker's attack card to the defender's defense card, with damage gradually
reducing attack and defense capabilities by limiting the number of cards
available to the wounded combatant.

     Display:  Here's a typical screen image -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Dancer                               Attacking
     [1]                                   [2]
  Weapon Type: Blunt, Cutting           Endurance: 20
           [3]                                [4]
                                         Strength                Special
Option    Maneuver                H  RA  LA  T  RL  LL  S      K T F R S Q
                                                                   [5]
0 (A)     Cut                            4
1 (A)     Punch                   2                                      Q
2 (A)     Thrust                             8                         S Q
3 (D)     Block                   3  2   7   3                         C
4 (D)     Parry                      4   2   4
5 (D)     Block                   3  3   5   4

 [6]        [7]                              [8]                   [9]


                                  H  RA  LA  T  RL  LL  S      W D K L C
                                            [10]                   [11]
Armor:                            2  2   2   2  2   2   2
  Incoming Attack: Thrust [12]          Defense: Duck  [14]
  Target Zone: Torso      [13]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Index of screen locations:
[1]  Your name.

[2]  Your status - Attacking, Defending, Down, or Dead (rarely actually
displayed).

[3]  Weapon Type - Blunt or Pointed, Cutting or Crushing - Primarily for
future use.  Within Duel, only Blunt Cutting weapons (Medieval European
swords) appear.

[4]  Endurance - Will always be 20 within Duel.  Used for Fatigue.  (More on
this in the Attack Special descriptions.)

[5]  Attack Specials listing.  (Knockdown, Tiring, Frenzy, Reach, thruSt,
Quick)

[6]  Option - Number and Attack/Defense classification of card.
[7]  Maneuver - Name of maneuver represented by card.

[8]  Strength - Value of card's effect upon each hit location.

[9]  Specials - Listing of special effects carried with each card.

[10] Hit Locations listing (Head, Right Arm, Left Arm, Torso, Right Leg, Left
Leg, Stomach) and value of armor upon each location (fixed at 2 within Duel).

[11] Defense Specials listing.  (Withdraw, Distract, ducK, Leap, Counter)

[12] Incoming Attack - Name of attacker's offensive maneuver.

[13] Target Zone - Location(s) to which attack is targeted.

[14] Defense - Name of defender's defensive maneuver.


     Summary of play:  In a nutshell, the program gets your name, decides who
attacks first and gets your initial selection of cards.  The main section
shows your status screen, gets the attacker's attack option, displays the
Incoming Attack and its Target Zone, gets the defender's defense option,
resolves the attack's effect, and displays any locations which have been hit.

     Entering your name:  Fairly straightforward.  Just type it in when
you're asked and hit Enter.

     Card selection:  The program will ask, "Draw [a]ttack or [d]efense?
(X)".  Hit A or D to determine the type of card to draw.  X is the number of
cards which you have yet to draw.  As will be explained below, as you are
wounded, you will eventually be required to have a certain minimum number of
defense cards in your hand, so you may not always be given the choice of
which type of card to draw.

     Choosing attack/defense options:  Press the number corresponding to the
card you wish to select.  When you are attacking, your attack cards will be
highlighted, and defense cards will be highlighted if you are defending.  If
you have been knocked down, none of your cards will be highlighted as none of
them will be valid options.  Note that when choosing your defense, you will
not be told what Attack Specials you need to worry about.

     Special attack/defense options:  If you don't have any attack cards,
want to replace some of your cards, or for some reason don't want to attack,
hit "P" to Pass the attack off to the Black Knight.  If you Pass, you will
also be given the option of discarding and replacing any or all of your
cards.  On the defense, if you don't have an adequate defense against the
Black Knight's attack, you can hit "R" to play a Random defense.

     Attack resolution:  At its simplest (ie without taking any Specials into
account), an attack is resolved by subtracting the strength of the defense
over each hit location from the strength of the attack, and any locations
with a result greater than 0 are hit.  If any areas are actually hit, the
armor on that location is then subtracted, and the remainder (if greater than
0) is the number of damage steps taken.
     Weapon types:  In addition to Specials, these also modify the above
process slightly, as Edged weapons ignore half of the defender's armor on
non-thrusting attacks and Pointed weapons ignore half the armor on thrusting
attacks.

     Damage steps:  At the beginning of a Duel, each combatant has six free
cards in his hand.  That is, six cards, each of which can be freely chosen as
either attack cards or defense cards.  When a damage step is taken, a free
card will become a defense card, cutting down potential attack options.  Not
to worry, though - you won't find yourself stuck with a hand that has to be
six defense cards, as a defense card will be lost instead if you have as many
required defense cards as you have free cards.  If you have no free cards,
you'll be down to a single card in your hand, which is bad news anyhow.

     Massive damage effects:  If a single attack by an Edged weapon causes 5
or more damage steps, the hit location in question is cut off/through.  If
the weapon is Crushing, the area is smashed.  Either way, the defender is
killed instantly.  Note that thrusting attacks don't do these things, as they
can't do enough damage.

     Feints:  Some attack cards include feints (denoted on the display by a
strength of "F").  These are nasty.  There is a percentage chance, based upon
the number of free and mandatory defense cards available to you, that you'll
see through the feint.  If you don't, you'll be told that the attack is aimed
for a different location than it really is, so you're likely to defend the
wrong area.  Of course, the computer is just as vulnerable to feints as you
are...


                              Attack Specials
     Knockdown:  If the defender fails to play a defense with a Withdraw or
Distract special, he will be knocked down.  Being Down is potentially deadly,
as a downed combatant can only defend with randomly-chosen non-Duck, non-
Leap, non-Withdraw defenses.  Downed combatants can get back up if they play
a Distract or Counter special, but they do not gain the attack unless the
defense bears both.

     Tiring:  The only attack special which tends to benefit the defender.
When a Tiring attack is played, the attacker has a percentage chance equal to
his Endurance of NOT losing a damage step to fatigue.  With the fixed stats
of Duel, this means you have an 80% chance of losing a damage step each time
you play a Tiring attack...

     Frenzy:  Another special which tends to spell bad news for the defender,
when a Frenzied attack is played, the attacker makes the Frenzied attack and
the defender defends himself normally.  Then an additional attack is drawn
randomly and applied against the same defensive card.  If the defender
successfully Withdraws, both attacks are negated.

     Reach:  Normally, if the defender plays a Withdraw defense, they get
away without having to endure the attack.  An attack with Reach, however,
will still hit them, although it will lose a quarter of its attack strength.
Withdrawal will negate a Knockdown even if the attack has Reach.

     Thrust:  Thrusting attacks ignore half the defense's strength, but,
after penetrating armor, only do half damage.

     Quick:  Unless the defender sees it coming (same percentage chance as
spotting a feint), Quick attacks can only be defended against with a random
defense.  This isn't quite as bad as being Down, though, as Ducks, Leaps, and
Withdrawals are allowed in the defense.


                             Defense Specials
     Withdraw:  Withdrawal will render you effectively immune to any attack
without the Reach special and protect you from a Knockdown special.  As an
additional effect, if either combatant Withdraws against an attack without
Reach, both will be given the option of discarding and replacing any or all
cards in their hands.

     Distract:  If the defender Distracts the attacker, the attacker's attack
will be lost and the defender will either get up (if Down) or gain the
initiative.

     Duck:  Shifts all target zones by 3 (Torso -> Head, Legs -> Arms,
Stomach -> Torso).

     Leap:  Shifts all target zones the other way.

     Counter:  Allows the defender to get up if Down or gain the initiative
otherwise.


    Please send comments, questions, donations, requests for updates, etc.
to:

          Dave Sherohman
          2100 Bryant Ave. South Apt. 104
          Minneapolis, MN 55405

Internet: [e-mail]

     If you want an update, send the name of the program for which you want
the update and either $10 or $5 and a blank disk with mailer.  If you send
money, be sure to tell me what size and density disk to put it on.

     In addition to an update of the program requested, I'll also throw in
other programs I've written, subject to the limits of either space on the
disk or the amount of code I've written, whichever runs out first.

     Even if you don't want an update and don't want to send a donation, I'd
like to hear your comments on my programs along with any suggestions or bug
finds, and I'd also be happy to answer any questions.  Unfortunately, as I'm
planning to produce a number of future programs with the Biting Blades combat
system (which Duel is the first program to use) as their core, I don't feel
that I can release the source.

     What's in the future for Biting Blades?  I'm tentatively calling the
next program Gladiator, which will allow for greater variety in opponents,
weaponry, and fighting styles along with an experimental implementation of an
experience/advancement system.  I'm not sure what's to come after that,
though I plan to eventually expand from Blades and another program titled
simply RatEye into a full-blown fantasy adventure system.

     Why Biting Blades?  Basically I was fed up with traditional combat
systems.  Roll a die, find out if you hit, roll another die, find out how
much damage you do, and keep on going, usually at undiminished capability,
until you drop dead.  Down to one hit point?  No big deal, just hope you can
hit him before he gets you.  It eventually grew dull, and I got to thinking
about what combat would be like - at any given time, you're prepared to
strike certain areas, and to defend certain areas.  At first I was
considering some sort of system based upon posture and positioning, but
quickly trashed that idea as being far too complex to work up.  Just where
the idea for cards came from, I'm not entirely certain, but it succeeded in
capturing the essential elements - unless you hold only attack cards, you
don't really notice the first few scratches and bruises, but then as your
wounds become more serious, the tension mounts as your abilities are
diminished...  Many times in playtesting, I've sat on the edge of my seat
with a single free card remaining, desperately throwing up random defenses
and then hitting wherever the opportunity presented itself when I got the
attack...          Collective History of Biting Blades

     Duel 1.0.0 - First release of the system.  Fairly complete in itself,
but limited to the Knight1 fighting style (Medieval knight with longsword and
shield) and no variation in combatants' capabilities.  Primarily a test
implementation of Blades.

     Duel 1.0.1 - Minor adjustments to title screen and two bugs fixed.  The
first was a fairly minor problem which resulted in the program erasing cards
from the player's hand when their number was hit even if the card wasn't
played (ie when you're defending but you punch in an attack card or vice
versa).  The other was a flaw in the computer's card-drawing logic which
caused it to always draw a defense card when it was down to its last free
card, thus making it impossible for the computer to attack when at death's
door.

     Duel 1.1.0 - Made the program stop asking how many cards you want to
discard if you don't have any or which cards to throw if you just told it you
want to throw them all.  Fixed another minor bug which prevented the program
from showing the follow-up attack after a frenzied swing.  Also took out a
bug which caused Leap and Duck defense specials to behave differently from
how they should.  (I thought it was a little odd that when the computer went
for my chest and I ducked, not only did I get hit in the gut, but I got hit
in both places...)  The final adjustment was to take out a lot of superfluous
waiting for multiple keypresses before continuing.

     Duel 2.0.0 - Gee, the game looks exactly like it did in version 1.1.0,
and I didn't fix any bugs... but I did rewrite the computer's decision-making
routines, so the Black Knight is a slightly tougher opponent.  He still
starts with the same stats as you do, he's just a little smarter than he used
to be...

     Duel 2.0.1 - All I did was revise the docs to reflect a change in my
address.  Not a big change...

     Gladiator 1.0.0 (coming soon!) - Four fighting styles to choose from!
Messages to tell you when your opponent is weakening!  Improved message
formatting!  Bug fixes!  Armor ablation!  Strength levels scaled down so I
can go back up for 2-handed weapons!