READ ME

Run the program and wait for the loading bar to finish.

After the loading screen, you are met with the main menu.

main menu

To play the preview campaign, click 'new campaign'.

For one-off battles against friends across a network or the internet, click the 'battle' icon.

Single player skirmish mode is also available from the battle icon.

main menu screen

The campaign takes the main character, Aurax, on a journey, battling through a series of individual levels and revealing the story. Along the journey you will be joined by an assortment of party members who will help your in you quest.

The amount of spells you have at your disposal is initially limited, but will increase as you progress and are given rewards for tasks completed. Each level normally has a series of conditions that must be met satisfactorily in order to progress.

Separating each encounter in the story will be a Realm map, which allows you to move from one level to the next. Sometimes this will allow you multiple options, but in general completing one level opens up another (right-click the new level, and Aurax will move to it). It is also a good idea to take the opportunity here to fine tune your spell choices, by using the available portmanteau (lit. "spell box"), ready for the next challenge.

The preview CD contains two levels from the very first Realm of the full game.

Aurax

battle mode - single player

These are fully configurable one-off battles. Single player allows you to choose up to 7 other AI wizards to compete against.

battle mode multiplayer

Multiplayer allows you to play a one-off battle across a network, against a mixture of AI and human opponents. To start a multiplayer game:

Select multiplayer which takes you to a screen where you must enter your name.
Click the name field to give it focus, and enter your name.
Art of Magic supports TCP/IP and IPX.
The next screen asks you to 'create', 'list' or 'join' game.
- List will display all current games it finds on your network.
- Select a game to join (click on it and turn it green) and then click join.
- Create will ask you for a game name and then send you into the game lobby.
Once in the game lobby, each player who is not the host should click 'IÆm ready' and once all players are ready the host will be able to press 'start battle'. [Note that this button is disabled until all players are marked as ready (the host is always marked as ready)]
The host may add AI players to the game by clicking on empty wizard portrait rings.
There are a number of game types and configurations available - try them out!

Each player is then taken to their portmanteau screen.

realm map

quick battle single player options

portmanteau

The portmanteau is your spell box, where you make your spell choices to equip yourself prior to battle.

Here, using a drag and drop method, you take spell ingredients (located in the bottom right 3 rows) and place them in any available talismans (in the 3 columns on the left). Each talisman has an alignment (chaos, neutral of law) depicted as red, green or blue backgrounds respectively. The combination of the ingredient and the talisman's alignment makes a spell, which is then depicted within the talisman and will be available for the game that follows. A preview of these combinations can be seen in the empty round windows when you focus on an ingredient, or by reading the tool tips.

Each spell has a cost, which represents how much of your mana will be required to cast it in the game. This is represented by a yellow ring around the outside of the talisman; the bigger the surrounding yellow arc the more expensive it will be.

Finally, there are some new, advanced features that may be suppressed depending on your options or campaign progression.

The alignment toggles can be changed to alter the alignments of all the talismans in the column beneath.
The alignment slider can alter your total alignment to make your wizard more efficient to a particular alignment. This manifests itself in the cost of your spells, which can be seen to change dynamically as you alter the slider.
Finally, talismans can also be dragged and dropped between columns.

In combination, these final tweaking abilities can make your wizard very powerful.

The preview CD has had certain spells and creatures removed.

portmanteau

empty talisman	ingredients
alignment toggle	alignment slider

the game

Your wizard is integral to playing a battle. If your wizard dies then it's game over! Any creatures under your control die with you, so protect your wizard (and aim to destroy the opposing wizards).

Note that in "timed" battle games the lives are actually meaningless - the winner is the player with the highest total score when the time runs out.

You start the game looking at your wizard in the landscape. Also on screen will be:

Your portrait ring (bottom right). The inner portrait not only shows the character you play, but your health level, which will change to a skull as you take damage. The outer ring depicts your mana (as a percentage of your maximum) - the amount of energy you have to cast spells with.
Your scanner map (top right) shows your team's location in the world (wizards depicted as crosses), and will also show the enemy creatures and wizards if you, or your party or creatures, come into range of them.
Your spell icons (bottom) show the spell choices you made in your portmanteau. As you click on them (left click) your mana ring will dull a portion of the arc, to show how much mana will be required to cast the spell. If the ring around the outside is full, then you have enough mana to cast this spell.

To move, select your wizard (or a creature under your control) with a left click over the actor. If selected correctly a health bar will appear over its head. Now a right click on the landscape (or indeed the scanner map) will place a destination marker on the landscape for it to go to. You can also 'rubber band' a number of troops and issue the same command, by holding down the left mouse button, and dragging over a group of troops. [Extra functionality includes using shift to place multiple waypoints for troops to follow in order, rather than a single destination and, in single player, doing all this while the game is paused.]

The cursor will default to an attack operation if placed over an opponent actor. Most creatures will attack automatically if an enemy is in range, depending on their AI (some creatures are robots who will do exactly as told, others go looking for trouble...)

To cast a spell, left click a spell icon to select it, then right click in the world (within range of your wizard). The pointer will change to reflect if you are in range, or if you donÆt have enough mana or a line of sight. Your wizard has a control limit (depicted on screen above the portrait ring). If you have reached your maximum, the summonable creature spells will gray out, and you won't be able to create any more. Your non-summoning spells will still be available.

The world is 3D, so the camera can be scrolled, rotated and zoomed using just the mouse. Hold the right mouse button down, and move the pointer to the edges of the screen. Moving to the bottom and top edges of the screen will zoom the camera in and out, and to the right and left edges will rotate the camera. Without holding the right mouse button down, the edges of the screen will allow you to scroll across the map. If at any time you lose the location your wizard, double left click it's portrait (bottom right), or left click on the scanner map, which will also move the camera.

You cannot cast spells unless you have enough mana. Although you start off with a full amount, this will quickly deplete. To collect more mana:

Take control of 'POPs' (places of power). These are physically depicted as magical circles of stone or metal on the landscape, or on the scanner as white hoops. This is a main tactic of the game. By standing on these places of power with your wizard, or one of the creatures under your control, the mana will be transferred to you, and your mana ring will be seen to fill up. Possession of these places is important to being able to wield formidable amounts of magic against your opponents.
Collect mana sprites from the landscape. Right click on them when you have your wizard selected, and your wizard will move towards and collect them. Only a wizard may collect them, and the icon will then appear in your inventory on screen. When you wish to add this mana sprite to your mana store, right click it's inventory icon and your mana ring will be seen to instantly increase by a set amount.

You cannot survive without health. When one of your creature's health drops to zero, they die and you have one less creature under your control. But when your wizard dies, your game is over. Keep your wizard away from danger! But where this is not possible, you can restore health by:

Collecting food from the landscape (some creatures will also be able to do this for you). The item will appear in you inventory, as per mana sprites, and a right click will use it.
Using a heal spell on yourself (if you have made the spell available in your portmanteau previously)

quiting games

Use Escape to quit all games, using the in-game options menu.

saving and loading games

Campaign games and single-player quick battles can be saved at any time (including from within the Realm map). Use Escape to bring up the in-game options menu and click the 'save game' button. Enter a name for your saved game in the edit box or select one from the list, and click 'save'.

To load a game, use Escape to bring up the in-game options menu and click the 'load game' button (alternatively, you can navigate directly to the 'load game' screen from the main menu). Choose a saved game from the list and click 'load'.

If you're in the middle of a level, you can take advantage of quick-save/quick-load: 'F6' to save, 'F7' to load.