1xarchon(6) Games Manual xarchon(6)
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6 xarchon - ARCHON clone for X11
7
10 xarchon
11
14 In this game, the Light Side and Dark Side fight over control of a
15 chess-like board. Each side is composed of 18 fantastic creatures of
16 myth and legend, which are represented by images (or icons). While not
17 identical, the opposing sides are balanced in strength.
18 This manual page is composed of two main parts. The first one
20 describes the rules of X ARCHON. The second part describes how to
21 interact with the graphical user interface.
22
25 There are two modes of game play: board and field mode. When in board
26 mode, you select which creature (or piece) you want to move, and where
27 to move it to, in a way somewhat similiar to chess.
28 However, in X ARCHON, merely moving a creature onto a square occupied
30 by a foe does not win the battle. At this point, game play changes to
31 field mode, and a battle begins. The surviving creature is returned to
32 the board, in control of the disputed square.
33 There are two ways to win the game. The first, easier way is to have
35 creatures of your side occupying the five power points (see section
36 SQUARES for more information).
37 The second, more difficult way is by leaving your opponent no legal
39 move to make. This can by killing all their creatures, or imprisoning
40 (see section SPELLS for more information) their last surviving crea‐
41 ture.
42 destroy all the creatures of the opposing side.
44
47 The board is composed of 9 by 9 squares. Not all squares look the
48 same. The appearance of a square tells about its nature.
49 Game play in board mode is turn-based: while one player is making a
51 move, the other side waits. In each turn, a player can either move a
52 single creature from one square to another (see the section on move‐
53 ment) or cast a spell (see the section on spells).
54 SQUARES
57 Light, dark, and luminance squares: Light squares are always light,
58 dark squares are always dark, but the shade of luminance squares slowly
59 changes from light to dark and back to light, in accordance with the
60 luminosity cycle.
61 It is preferable for a creature to rest on a square having the color of
63 its side; see the section on field play for more information.
64 The lower right corner of the board display shows some useful informa‐
66 tion about the luminosity cycle. The direction ("+" or "-") indicator
67 shows the direction of the luminosity cycle. A + indicates the cycle
68 grows lighte, a - indicates it grows darker. The side (L or D) indi‐
69 cator tells you which side benefits from resting on a luminance square
70 at that time: L for light, and D for dark. And finally, the state
71 (digits 1 through 6) indicator discloses the exact value of the lumi‐
72 nosity cycle, with 1 indicating the lightest possible luminosity, and 6
73 indicating the darkest.
74 Power points: Five squares on the board have special markings; a crea‐
76 ture resting on a square that is a power point heals twice as fast as
77 it would on any other kind of square. Such a creature is also immune
78 to magical attacks; see the section on spells for more information.
79 MOVEMENT
82 To select a creature, use your controls to move the cursor to the
83 requested creature, then press fire to select it. Then use your con‐
84 trols to move the creature to where you want it to go, and press fire
85 again to complete the move.
86 A creature may travel only up to a certain distance per turn, and the
88 move you make will be restricted to this limit. Not all creatures have
89 the same limit; some can only move up to 3 squares away from their
90 starting position, while others may move as far as 5 squares.
91 Creatures belong to either of two classes. If the creature you select
93 is of the ground class, you cannot move it through squares occupied by
94 other creatures at all (although you may move it into a square occupied
95 by a foe). Fly creatures, on the other hand, are not limited in this
96 way, and may move through any square, wheather it is occupied or not.
97 Whatever the class of the creature is--ground or fly--it can only end
99 its move in a square that is either empty, or occupied by a foe. In
100 the latter case, the game play will change to field mode.
101 SPELLS
104 Two creatures on the board posses the ability to cast magic spells.
105 These creatures are the mages: the light wizard and the dark sorceress.
106 Spells are cast in place of a regular movement. This means that in a
107 single, a mage can move, or he or she can cast a spell, but never both
108 things at once.
109 There are seven different kinds of spells. As the game begins, all of
111 the seven spells are available to each mage. However, once a spell is
112 cast by a mage, that particular mage cannot cast that particular spell
113 again throughout the game.
114 Teleport: Moves a creature of your choice from one square to any other
116 square that you select, regardless of the distance between the two
117 squares. You can only move unimprisoned creatures on your own side,
118 and neither the source nor the destination square may be a power point.
119 Heal: Instantly and completely heal a creature of your choice. Its
121 health is restored to the level it was at when the game started.
122 Shift Time: When the luminosity cycle is at its lightest or darkest
124 peak, it is abruptly shifted to the opposite side. Otherwise, this
125 spell merely changes the direction of the luminosity cycle.
126 Exchange: Swap places between any two creatures you select, regardless
128 of the distance between them. There is no restriction on the side of
129 either creature. However, neither creature can be imprisoned or on a
130 power point.
131 Summon Elemental: Bring forth a spirit of one of the four elements of
133 nature (air, earth, fire or water) to battle an opposing creature of
134 your choice. The elemental and the opposing creature will engage in a
135 battle as usual. However, once the battle is over, the elemental van‐
136 ishes--even if it won. You can not choose which elemental will appear,
137 and you cannot use an elemental for anything other than engaging bat‐
138 tle. You also cannot attack a creature resting on a power point.
139 Revive: Resurrect and bring back to the board a single creature, per
141 your selection, that was previously lost in battle is resurrected. The
142 creature is also healed, but that does not cost you a heal spell. The
143 creature will be placed besides your mage, so there must be at least
144 one square vacant around the mage.
145 Imprison: Temporarily bind an opposing creature of your choice to the
147 square it is resting on at the time of the spell. The creature will be
148 able to defend itself during battle; but on the board, it won't be
149 able to leave its square. The effect of imprisonment wears off for
150 light side creatures when the luminosity cycle is at its lightest peak;
151 similiarly, dark creatures will become free when the cycle is at its
152 darkest peak.
153 Cease conjuring: This is not a spell, but merely a way to tell the game
155 you have changed your mind, and don't really want to cast any spells at
156 this time. Since it's not really a spell, it never becomes unavail‐
157 able.
158
161 By turn end, if any two creatures rest on the same square (by result of
162 either plain movement or some spell), the game goes into field mode,
163 and a battle begins between the two creatures.
164 This battle is fought entirely within the square the two opposing sides
166 are interested in. However, since the squares on the board are pretty
167 small and it would be hard to see anything, the single square is
168 expanded to the size of the display.
169 There are a few basic rules in field play, and these will be described
171 next.
172 MOVEMENT AND ATTACK
175 The game is not turn-based in field mode; rather, any action either of
176 the creatures makes--such as to move somewhere, or attack in some
177 direction--is instantly performed.
178 Movement is possible in all 8 surrounding directions. Most creatures
180 move at the same speed, however a few move somewhat slower. To move,
181 press a direction key to indicate where you want your creature to go.
182 Attacking is also possible in all 8 sorrunding directions. There are
184 three basic kinds of attacks, which are detailed below. To attack,
185 hold down the fire key, and press a direction key to indicate where you
186 want your creature to attack.
187 Short-range: your creature uses a typical "cold" weapon to hurt its
189 opponent. For such an attack to have any meaning, the two creatures
190 must be adjacent. A creature attacked in this way loses some of its
191 health, and becomes frozen for a short period of time.
192 Circular: your creature causes a circular area of some small radius
194 around it to become harmful to the opponent. If the opponent enters
195 this area, it will gradually lose health until the attack is complete.
196 It will not become frozen.
197 Missile: your creature fires a shot, preferably in the general direc‐
199 tion of your opponent. There is no need for the two creatures to be
200 close to one another. Not all missiles are the same; some are faster,
201 while others are more damaging. A creature attacked by a shot loses
202 some of its health, and becomes frozen for a short period of time.
203 Once a creature attacks, it cannot instantly attack again. A short
205 period of "reload" time is required. (Even in the case of a "cold"
206 weapons such as a sword or a rock, your creature cannot repeatedly
207 attack without a little rest in between.)
208 The instant you attack, a red bar appears on your side of the screen.
210 This bar indicates how long you must wait before your creature can
211 attack again. As time passes, this bar decreases in size. Once the
212 bar disappears, you may attack again.
213 HEALTH
216 All creatures that are alive are at some level of health. The exact
217 level of health is indicated by the outtermost bar on each side of the
218 screen. The goal of a creature is to cause enough damage to its oppo‐
219 nent, such that the opponent's health becomes zero, and it is removed
220 from the board.
221 It is important to note that the winning creature will not be healed at
223 all the time it returns to the board. Thus, even the strongest of
224 creatures may eventually be defeated by a horde of attackers.
225 But the health of a creature at the beginning of a battle may be deter‐
227 mined by more than just its own health: of the two creatures, one of
228 them receives a bonus, depending on the color of the square. Light
229 squares will boost the initial health of light creatures; similiarly,
230 dark squares will boost dark creatures.
231 In this bonus calculation, squares that are always light or always dark
233 give the most bonus, while squares that participate in the luminosity
234 cycle give a bonus that is proportional to how close the square is to
235 the peak of the cycle. In other words, light creatures would benefit
236 the most from luminance squares when the cycle is at is lightest peak;
237 and dark creatures would benefit the most when the cycle is at its
238 darkest peak.
239 ROCKS
242 Inside the square over which you and your opponent are fighting are
243 rocks. These rocks are visible only in the field screen.
244 Much like the luminance squares on the board, the rocks participate in
246 a luminosity cycle: each slowly changes from light to dark and back to
247 light. Most of the time, the rocks are solid. However, when the lumi‐
248 nance approaches the lightest peak of the cycle, it becomes possible to
249 slowly walk or shoot past it.
250
253 The graphical user interface is your means of telling the progam
254 exactly how you want to play. Using the GUI, you can:
255 - define players, select two players to play on either side; - select a
257 graphical theme (although currently there is only one theme to choose
258 from); - start and end games; - and toggle sound.
259 DEFINING PLAYERS
262 the program has a concept of "players." A player is merely a collec‐
263 tion of configuration choices. For example, one configuration choice
264 is who plays for this player (a human at the console, the computer, or
265 perhaps it is played through the network).
266 Use the menu option Define Players in the Settings menu to open the
268 Define Players dialog window. In this window, you may insert, delete
269 or update players.
270 Insert and delete operations are pretty much self-explanatory, as there
272 are two buttons that will take perform these tasks.
273 Updating means changing a player's name, or its kind, or specifically
275 configuring it. The former two are done simply by typing a into the
276 name entry box and selecting one of the "kind" radio buttons, respec‐
277 tively. The latter is done by clicking on the configuration button,
278 which brings a specific configuration window. The content of this win‐
279 dow is described below.
280 Once you have configured the players as needed, click on the OK button
282 to actually make changes. Alternatively, if you change your mind,
283 clicking on the Cancel button will undo all of these changes.
284 Human configuration: The human configuration window lets you set the
286 keyboard/joystick/mouse controls for the player. You may configure
287 different controls for the light and dark side of the same player, so
288 you can later choose it to play for both sides. (In other words, you
289 don't have to define two human players for a two-player game.) Alter‐
290 natively, you may define controls once for both sides.
291 The "Side" option menu allows you to decide which side (light, dark or
293 both) is going to be affected by the next keyboard binding you make.
294 The "Action" option menu selects which action you are going to bind,
295 and finally, clicking on the "Key" button lets you type in the key you
296 want bound to the selected action for the selected side (or sides).
297 The last option menu is used to say if a joystick or mouse may be used
299 in addition to the keyboard controls.
300 Computer configuration: The computer configuration window is pretty
302 simple. Radio buttons let you select a difficulty level for the com‐
303 puter: easy, medium or hard.
304 There is a checkbox which lets you specify that you want the old, rule-
306 based computer board logic. In effect, enabling this checkbox means
307 this computer player will play rather poorly on the board. (This
308 checkbox has no effect on the way the computer plays in field mode.)
309 Network configuration: The network configuration window lets configure
311 the game for playing over the network. The network model dictates that
312 the light side is always the "server", which waits for a connection to
313 be made, and dark side is the "client", which makes the initial connec‐
314 tion.
315 Therefore, the IP address that is configurable in this window is only
317 meaningful for players that will be selected to play the dark side, as
318 they would need to know the address to connect to.
319 The port number, however, has to be filled in by both sides. Both
321 sides must also set the exact same number for the connection to be suc‐
322 cessful.
323 SELECTING PLAYERS
326 Once you are comfortable with your players, use the menu option Select
327 Players in the Settings menu to open the Select Players dialog window.
328 This window lets you select which player is going to play for the light
330 side, and which is going to play for the dark side.
331 You may also choose which side goes first using the two radio buttons
333 provided for this purpose. Please note that the network model dictates
334 that the light side always goes first, and so these radio buttons have
335 no effect on networked games.
336 Click OK to accept the selection you've made, or Cancel to undo any
338 changes you may have made.
339 THE GAME
342 Use the menu option New in the Game menu to begin a new game. If no
343 network players have been selected to play for either side, the game
344 will immediately begin. Otherwise, the light side will enter "server"
345 mode and wait for the "client"--the dark side--to connect to it. Only
346 when a connection has been made will the game actually start.
347 The user interface disappears while playing the game. To return to it,
349 press the Escape key. The Settings menu will then be disabled, pre‐
350 venting you from making any modifications to the players or graphics
351 while a game is active. However, you will be able to stop the game in
352 progress, unpause it, or exit the progarm altogether, using the menu
353 options Stop, Unpause and Exit, respectively, of the Game menu.
354 Another way to return to the GUI while playing the game is the F12 key,
356 which also stops the current game. It is equivalent to pressing Escape
357 and then selecting the menu option Stop from the Game menu.
358 Note that pausing a network game is not possible, and so the only way
360 to return to the GUI is using F12, which also ends the game.
361 Also note that the game does not automatically return to the GUI after
363 either side has won. Instead, it leaves you starting at the board.
364 Pressing Escape or F12 at this point will yield the same result, which
365 is getting you back to the GUI.
366
369 Ronen Tzur <rtzur@shani.net>
370
373 Copyright (C) 1999 Ronen Tzur
374 Based on an original game by Anne Westfall, Jon Freeman, and Paul
376 Reiche III.
377 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
379 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
380 Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
381 option) any later version.
382 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
384 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MER‐
385 CHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
386 Public License for more details.
387 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
389 with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
390 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
391X ARCHON July 1999 xarchon(6)