PsL Monthly 1994 January

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Text File | 1993-04-30 | 16.6 KB | 361 lines

---===≡≡≡≡===--- SPECTRUM SORCERY ---===≡≡≡≡===--- Version 1.0 DESCRIPTION/OBJECTIVE: Spectrum Sorcery is a game of strategy. Two wizards are competing on a multi-colored playing field. Each of them is attempting to change the entire field to his own color by moving around the field and casting various spells. With each section of the field that they change to their own color they feel their own strength increase while their opponent's weakens. But they must always carefully weigh their choices between improving their own position and weakening their opponent's, lest their opponent grow strong enough to once again challenge them. The battle is not over until the last section of the board has been claimed. CONTROLS Spectrum Sorcery is completely mouse driven, and will not operate without a mouse. All selections are made by pointing at various "buttons" on the screen and then clicking the left mouse button. There are basically two types of buttons on screen: those that deal with controlling and configuring the game, and those that select actions within the game. Control buttons are located along the left side and bottom of the playing field. Action buttons are located to the right of the playing field. The control buttons are as follows: QUIT : Quit the game, return to DOS RESET : Reset the game, begin a new game with current board BOARD : Select a new board layout and begin a new game. The various boards have different combinations of colors and dead zones. Certain type of movements or spells may be more or less effective due to the layout. The smaller layouts allow for a shorter game. SOUND : Toggle between SOUND and QUIET modes HUMAN/ COMP1/ COMP2 : Select who will control this wizard, either a human player, or one of two different computer players. By changing the controller of each wizard you may configure the game to play in single-player, two- player, or demo mode. After changing the mode control will take effect beginning with the next turn. The action buttons will be described below under GAME PLAY. A note on the demo mode: If the computer is controlling both wizards in demo mode the controls may seem a bit sluggish. Simply click on a control and hold the mouse button down for a second until the program notices your action. GAME PLAY The game loads up ready to play. It defaults to single player mode with the computer controlling the Red Wizard and the player controlling the Violet Wizard. TERMS: Board : The playing field consisting of 100 pads. Pad : A single colored square on the playing field. Color : A pad may be Red, Yellow, Green, Blue or Violet. Additionally, some board layouts contain "Dead Zones" which have no color. DeadZone: A dark pad on the board. It cannot be moved onto and it is not affected by spells. In fact they may even hinder some spells by their layout. Wizard : One of the players, either human or computer. One wizard is of color red (identified by "R" on the board) while the other is violet (identified by "V" on the board). Power : The amount of strength that a wizard has. It determines how much activity the wizard can perform. It is determined by the number of pads on the board of that wizard's color at the end of a round. Unused power at the end of a round is retained for the next round. Power is allocated each round as follows: 30 points + 1 point for each pad of the wizard's own color. The maximum power that can be allocated is 70 points. Round : The larger unit of game play, which lasts until both players have exhausted their power, or until both players "pass" consecutively. Turn : The smaller unit of game play, which consists of a single action by each wizard in turn, repeating until the round is over. Action : An action taken by a wizard. Actions consist of moving around the board or casting particular spells. Spell : Spells are used to actually change the color of a pad. In doing so some of the wizard's power is consumed. Some spells require a certain minimum level of power to operate, even if not all of this power will actually be used by the spell. ACTIONS: Pass : Select no action for this turn, allow play to continue with other wizard, no cost. Move : Move the wizard to an adjacent pad, and STOMP on that pad once if sufficient power is available. Costs 1 point, plus 1 point for STOMP. Stomp : Change the color of the current pad by one value closer to your own color. Costs 1 point. Convert : Changes the color of the current pad to your color, or as close as possible based on available power. Costs 1 point per color change. Transmute : Changes the color of all adjacent pads by one value closer to your own color. Costs 1 point for each pad affected - range 1 to 9 points. This spell cannot be started unless at least 9 power points are available. Blitz : Recursively changes the color of all bordering pads that match the color of the current pad. Continues until all bordering pads match your color or power runs out. Costs 1 point per color change per pad. This spell cannot be started unless at least 16 power points are available. Experiment with this spell on a two- color board until you feel comfortable with its behaviour. Teleport : Move the wizard to any other pad on the board. Cost is based on the difference in color between the destination pad and the wizard - ranges from 1 to 5 points. Lock : Place a lock on the current pad. A locked pad cannot have its color changed until it has been unlocked. The cost is based on the difference in color between the pad and the wizard - ranges from 1 to 5 points. In addition there is a 1 point per lock maintenance fee for each additional round that the lock is retained. Unlock : Remove a lock from the current pad to allow the color to be changed in the future. The cost is based on the difference in color between the pad and the wizard - ranges from 1 to 5 points. Release : Release all locks owned by you. In case you find that the lock maintenance fee is too high you can immediately cancel all of your locks. There is no cost. Help : Ask the computer to select an action for you. Cost is dependant upon which action the computer selects. The game begins by asking the Violet Wizard to select an action. Game play proceeds with each wizard selecting an action in turn, until both wizards have used all of their energy or both wizards pass consecutively. Power is then recalculated based on the status of the board and a new round begins. This continues until all colored pads are either red or violet, at which time the winner is declared. The wizard with the most power at the start of a new round will be the first to select an action. In case of a tie, the last wizard who acted first will again act first. If you select an action that cannot be performed (such as moving onto a dead zone, or converting a locked pad, or trying to start a blitz without enough power) you will hear an error sound and you will be asked to make another selection. You do not lose a turn for trying to take actions that fail. There are several indicators at the bottom of the screen that offer an indication of the progress of the game. In the center is the Power Balance meter which shows a bar graph of the relative strengths between the two wizards based on current board configuration. As the bar moves to one side it indicates that the board is closer to being completed for that particular wizard. Note that the power meter may not completely move to either side if there are dead zones on the board. Next to the Power Balance meter on either side is a display of the current power of each wizard. This allows you to keep track of your power, and therefore your options, throughout a round. At the beginning of each round these numbers can be compared to get further information on the balance of the game. The wizard that received more power points this round has a better position on the board. STRATEGY While all of the board layouts begin with an equal color balance, that does not mean that all boards offer equal chances for both wizards. The random scattering of pads may favor a particular wizard early on thus allowing him to build up an advantage more easily than the other wizard. However this advantage is usually slight, and statistically it will average out such that both wizards face equal odds. Your primary concern should be to completely convert pads to your own color, partially converting a pad will not gain you any power points next round. You may approach this in a number of ways: convert those pads closest to your location to reduce the amount of energy spent on moving around the board; convert those pads closest to your own color early on in the game to build power quickly; convert those pads of your opponents color first to weaken his position while improving yours. It might be instructive to pit the two different computer players against each other in demo mode and learn from their actions. Computer1 is a more balanced player who moves only as necessary converting pads completely as it moves. Computer2 is much more aggressive and will search out its opponent's pads first. Also try the computer players on different boards to get a feeling for how the board layout affects strategy. For example, while Computer2 is often more effective on the normal board, Computer1 is usually better on board 8 (dual rings, closed). Always consider the layout of the board when deciding on a strategy. BOARD LAYOUTS There are 11 different board layouts that provide variations on the basic game: 1. Basic game, 10x10, 5 color 2. Basic game, two color (blue-yellow), low starting power 3. Basic game, two color (red-violet), high starting power 4. Shorter game, 8x8 5. Shortest game, 5x5 6. Single ring 7. Dual rings, open 8. Dual rings, closed 9. Diagonals 10. Small corners 11. Large corners SHAREWARE Spectrum Sorcery is being distributed as shareware and may be freely distributed in its original form. This program may not be sold. However, a reasonable service charge (not to exceed $7) may be asked in order to cover handling and/or materials costs. This release of Spectrum Sorcery contains the following files: SORCERY.EXE SORCERY.DOC If you have enjoyed playing this game you are encouraged to support both the author and the shareware concept in general by registering your copy by sending $10 to David Bollinger P.O. Box 894 Denair, CA 95316 Comments and suggestions are welcome. LEGAL STUFF Spectrum Sorcery is (C) Copyright 1993 David Bollinger. Disclaimer: The author makes no representations or warranties with respect to this software or documentation, and specifically disclaims any express or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any purpose. HISTORY April 1993. Version 1.0 is the first publicly available version of Spectrum Sorcery. Note: This game is based upon the game "Spectral Sorcery" which I had seen on the Atari ST. It has been reverse engineered based on a rather inaccurate memory of the original. I apologize if anyone else was familiar with the original and finds that this version plays differently. Hopefully it has gained more than it has lost in the translation (such as the larger field, mouse support, optional board layouts, more intelligent computer player, etc.). ----------------end-of-author's-documentation--------------- Software Library Information: This disk copy provided as a service of Public (software) Library We are not the authors of this program, nor are we associated with the author in any way other than as a distributor of the program in accordance with the author's terms of distribution. Please direct shareware payments and specific questions about this program to the author of the program, whose name appears elsewhere in this documentation. If you have trouble getting in touch with the author, we will do whatever we can to help you with your questions. All programs have been tested and do run. To report problems, please use the form that is in the file PROBLEM.DOC on many of our disks or in other written for- mat with screen printouts, if possible. 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