HPAVC/HPAVC CD-ROM.iso/pc/ARENA20.ZIP/ARENA.TXT

Text File | 1995-05-19 | 14.5 KB | 367 lines

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                                v2.0 for DOS
                    (Copyright) 1995  Benjamin Peterson

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1.0--  What is Arena?
 1.1-- Legal Stuff

2.0--  Controls and getting started
  2.1-- Options
  2.2-- Moving
  2.3-- Spellcasting
  2.4-- Firing
  2.5-- Flying

3.0--  Terrain
  3.1-- Trees
  3.2-- Mirkwoods
  3.3-- Walls
  3.4-- Grasses
  3.5-- Fires
  3.6-- Orbs

4.0--  Pieces

5.0--  Spells

6.0--  Strategies

7.0--  Registering

8.0-- Command line options

1.0-- What is Arena?

        Arena is a strategy game for DOS, running in SVGA 640x480x256 mode.
        It is loosely based on an old, old C64 game of the same name, which
        impressed me so much back in the 80's that I've decided to bring it
        up to date.  This is the result -- no mere nostalgia piece, but a
        banquet of sumptuously presented 32x32 tiles.  Yeah, tiles.

        The idea is this: two to four wizards are placed in an arena, with
        certain randomly-chosen spells, and whichever one manages to
        avoid being killed by the others is the winner.

        Other than the SVGA Arena has no particular requirements.  It fits
        in about 250k of system memory.  If something goes wrong with it
        then please mail me at the address given later on in this document.

        If you can't move, you didn't put 'Num Lock' on.

  1.1-- Legal Stuff

        I can never remember all the things you're supposed to say here,
        and who's going to read it?  However:  Arena, it's source code and
        data files are all copyright me, Benjamin Peterson, and may not
        be altered, nor yet distributed except in the file 'Arena.zip',
        just like the one they came in.  Oh, and no charge may be made
        for distributing these files except to cover the media.
        I mean basically, normal shareware rules apply. After you've
        subscribed you can have the source code if you want.
        Should be good for a few laughs.

2.0-- Controls and getting started

  2.1-- Options

        Ok, so you typed 'ar256', pressed space when you were asked to and
        got to the options screen.  You'll see a few ovals and rectangles,
        and a little string of stars.  In beta testing, nearly everyone
        preferred playing with the string of stars to playing the game.
        Sigh.
        The options for arena size, number of players, sound (ha ha) and
        player colour should be obvious.  To change a player name, click
        in one of the 4 little rectangles at the top of the screen.

        'Random Play' begins the game normally, giving each wizard a random
        selection of spells.  For those who must have fairness at all costs,
        though, the 'Equal Play' button will give all wizards the same
        spells.

        The button marked 'Orbs' determines whether each wizard will have
        a glowing magical orb in which to hide.  You think that's silly?
        Well, hmm, you probably have a point but interesting gameplay
        was my aim here rather than a serious investigation of post-
        Tolkien images of magical achievement.

   2.2--Moving about and stuff

        The game starts.  If you turned Orbs off, you see a little wizard.
        It's you.  If you didn't turn Orbs off, you see a glowing sphere
        with an eye in the middle.  The eye shows that the Orb currently
        has something inside it... you.

        Moving about is done with the keypad keys.  The little window on
        the right, under the one with your name in, shows how many moves
        you have left.

        The mouse is for looking around.  Click on a map square to centre
        the map on that square, and to get a description in the bottom
        right window of what's in the square.

        Press any key to recentre the map on your wizard.

        Capital 'Q' quits.
        '!' quits fast and displays some text.  Useful where I am, since a
        guy comes and shoots me if he thinks I'm doing anything other than
        word-processing or email.  Pretty strange, huh?


   2.3--Casting Spells

        If you want to cast a spell, assuming you have some moves left,
        press 's' to bring up a menu of spells.

        Clicking on a spell casts it.  Pressing a key gives you a bit of
        help on the highlighted spell.

        Those spells that begin with 'Call' behave differently according
        to whether you right or left click on them.  If left-clicked, they
        attempt to bring into the arena a certain monster or soldier;
        the more powerful the monster the less likely it is to work.  If
        right-clicked, they always bring the monster -- but it is illusory
        and thus can be destroyed any time by the 'True Sight' spell.

        'Call' spells ask for a keypad key to determine where to put the
        monster;  other spells generally require the mouse.

   2.4--Firing

        Called a dragon?  Don't just let it get rusty, use it to BURN
        things with!  Press 'f' to fire!

        Use the usual method of selecting squares in this game, i.e.  click
        on a square to place it at the middle of the visible map and to
        get information on it, and then press space to finally select it.

        If you press space while a square is out of range or not in sight
        of the firer is highlighted, an X will appear on it and you'll have
        to choose another one.

        Hey, I'm sorry if I'm insulting your intelligence here, but for
        one thing nobody reads this stuff really, and for another thing
        a couple of the dumber beta-testers really did find this confusing.

        Salamanders resist fireballs; zombies and skeletons resist psychic
        rays.

   2.5--Flying

        INCOMING!  You got a flying monster?  Press 't' for 'Take off'
        (ahem) and the cursor will change to a little picture of the
        monster.  Cute, hmm?  Select a square just as with firing and
        spells.  If there's something on it, your flying monster will
        attack it.  If after the attack the square is free, your monster will
        go there.  If not, it'll return to base.  Pretty damn useful,
        that.

        'Course, if you DONT press 't' you can move further, since a diagonal
        counts as one move on the ground but as the square root of 2 in the
        air. Such is life.

   2.6--Messages

        On your right you have 5 little windows:

        Name:  Your name.  I didn't really need to say that actually :I
        Mode:  Flying, aiming, moving, or waiting for you to press space
                and go on tto the next monster.

        This monster:  Info on this here monster that you're moving right
                now. If the word 'Range' appears, it implies that the thing
                can fire.

        Combat:  Tells you the results of shots, hand to hand fights, and
                attacks on trees.

        Looking at: Tells you what's in the highlighted square.

        You can press '?' for a rather brief help summary during the
        game.

3.0--Terrain

        3.1-- Trees
                Belong to one side or another, never neutral.  You always
                start with some.  Enemy trees have to be felled before you
                can go through them.  Your own trees will protect you from
                all projectiles and melee attacks, until they fall.

                Fireballs destroy trees.

        3.2-- Mirkwoods.
                Mirkwoods attack whatever is adjacent to them, regardless
                of what side it's on.  The only safe way to get rid of them
                is to use a flying monster that need never be adjacent to
                them, or burn them up with fireballs.
                Mirkwoods cannot attack in the first turn after they are
                created.

        3.3-- Walls
                You cant shoot through them, you can't walk through them.
                Just like in real life.

        3.4-- Grass
                You can see through grass, but it takes 2 moves to walk
                through.  Grass gradually spreads until eventually it
                would fill the whole arena.
                However, grass is very inflammable...

        3.5-- Fire
                Throw a fireball and you might start one.  Fires spread
                through grass, but don't burn trees or mirkwoods.  Fires
                will leap onto ALL monsters that are left sitting next
                to them, except salamanders, which are immune.

        3.6-- Orbs
                Only a wizard can be in an orb.  When in an orb he is prot-
                ected from all attacks, but not entirely immune.

                Only an Earthquake spell can destroy an Orb.

                If a wizard finds an enemy Orb unoccupied -- when its
                owner is dead or away -- he can convert it to one of his
                own by attempting to enter it.

4.0-- Pieces

        There are about 30 sorts of monster.  All monsters have the following
        characteristics:

        Attack strength
        Defend strength
        Movement points

        They might also fly, shoot and cast spells.

        They might be undead.  If they are, they can't be hit by non-undead
        hand-to-hand attacks, which is pretty damn useful.  Some things, like
        zombies, are always undead.  But you can make anything undead if
        you work at it...

        They might be illusions.  These are EXACTLY like real monsters except
        that the True Sight spell destroys them.

        They have an alignment, which is shown by the colour of the spell
        with which you call them.

        They might be shades.  When real, non-undead monsters are killed,
        their shades remain behind.  You cannot move over a shade.  You
        CAN see through a shade and therefore shoot through it, if it is
        the shade of something that was on your own side.

5.0-- Spells

        Help on individual spells is obtainable at the Spells menu by
        pressing a key.  Help on individual monsters is available as help
        on the appropriate 'Call' spell.

        The big Yin-Yang symbol at the top of the menu indicates your
        alignment, a measure of how good or evil you are.  Calling evil
        things successfully makes you more evil.  The more evil you are,
        the more evil things will want to come to you, and the easier it
        gets to call evil things.  And the harder it gets to call good
        things.  And vice versa.  And so on.

        The colour of your Orb also indicates your alignment.

        Anything which appears as '(magical)' in the little windows
        can cast spells; some monsters come with spells and some are
        given them.

        All spells except True Sight are used up when fired; True Sight
        you have an infinite supply of.

        To the right of the spell names are little codes:

        NUMBERS:  The difficulty of the spell. 0 means it will always succeed.

        'L':      You have to have a line of sight to the target.
        'R':      The spell has a certain maximum range.
        'S':      The spell centres on the caster and does not need aiming.

6.0-- Strategies

        I have to admit, it isn't easy to explore the full depth of this
        game all at once.  It probably isn't worthwhile either.  Whoops,
        forget I said that.  Ya see, ya gotta realize that:

        Knowing when to make illusory monsters and when to use up a turn
        true-sighting the enemies' monsters is half the game.

        Making good use of trees to put archers, beholders and other firing
        pieces in, is the other half.

        It ain't all about dragons.  Even a dragon can die of a single arrow.
        Use strength, heroism and other such spells to bring all your
        creatures up to strength.  No one monster is all that useful.

        Certain spells such as 'Gift' and 'Clone' can be comboed; that is,
        you can arrange things so that by getting different monsters to
        fire them all in the same turn, you can wind up with a gold dragon
        next to the enemy's Orb before he has time to move.  Heh heh heh.

7.0-- Registering

        Ever wanted to be one of the elite?  Well you can be if you
        register Arena.  Actually, you can't, but in addition to the
        warm feeling of having done a good deed, you'll get the editor
        with which monster graphics and abilities are set, and the
        single-player version in which any of the 4 wizards can be
        played by the computer.

        To register, just send either 10 English pounds or 15 US dollars
        to me:

                Benjamin Peterson
                4, West Hill Place,
                Brighton,
                Sussex
                BN1 3RU
                England

        Tell me whether you want the stuff uuencoded and sent by internet
        mail, or posted on a physical disk.  If you want a physical
        disk, add 2 pounds or 5 dollars.

        If you just want to talk, discuss AI algorithms, tell me a better
        way to spend my time or something like that, I'm:

        [e-mail]

        and

        [e-mail]

        Drop me a line.  It's lonely when you've just finished a program.



8.0-- Command line options

        For some reason I included the following:

        If the first argument after 'ar256' is -nocentre the mouse will
        not go to the centre of the screen after being clicked.  I like
        it this way.

        Otherwise, enter the names of the players you want and there
        will be that number of players with that number of names when
        the options screen comes up.

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