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Text File | 1996-02-14 | 11.6 KB | 278 lines

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ || || || ZERG -- A Fantasy Role-Playing Phenomenon By Mike Shapiro || || || || >>: The Manual :<< || || || || VERSION 0.5 (DEMO) || || || /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: An Amiga 500, 1000, 2000, 2500HD or 2500UX with at least 512K of memory. The fact that you're reading this means that this can't be too much of a problem. 1) What is Zerg? ================ Zerg is a blatant would-be Ultima ripoff whose sole purpose is to serve as a emotional vent for the author's surpressed frustrations and anxieties that he's incapable of writing any sort of functional program longer than five lines or so. In Zerg, you assemble a stalwart band of adventurers comprising of yourself and nobody else, and explore a mythical world of sorcery, horrific monsters, and fabulous treasure; in short, the typical fantasy role-playing plot surrogate. The actual goal of the game varies in both difficulty and nature with the revision of the program itself. 2) How do I play Zerg? ====================== The same way I play Zerg, albeit hopefully with more patience. Simply double-click the program's icon (from the Workbench), assuming I bother to make one. Otherwise, from the CLI, simply type 1> Zerg ... and the program will run. Simple, eh? 3) What's the goal of the game? =============================== The current goal of the game is very simple, just like the version of the software. You must simply seek out and kill any ten (10) monsters, then return to report your achievements to either of the two towns. The goal and plot of the game shall increase drastically in complexity in upcoming versions, and shall involve more than mindless violence. 4) How do I go about accomplishing it? ====================================== First start the game, as explained in step 2. Now you'll notice a panoramic display of the crudely-drawn, low-resolution map of the world of Zerg. You may now control the actions of your adventurous alter-ego, who is always displayed at the center of the screen, as you attempt to reach whatever the current goal of the game is. There are many different commands you can use from the main map, the list of which will hope expand in future versions. Note that some commands may also be activated by use of the Intuition menus. The current commands are: (Movement) Movement in the four main cardinal directions (you know; north, south, whatever) is possible by using the numeric keypad. These keys must also be used when a direction is called for as secondary input for another command. 7 8 (North) 9 (West) 4 5 (Rest) 6 (East) 1 2 (South) 3 A) Attack + [direction] This allows you to impart physical violence unto the monster of your choice. Your strike may draw blood, or swish by without effect, depending on many factors, such as your skill at fighting and the weapon you are currently using. Have no moral qualms about laying waste to any of the horrid beasties that wander around the mainland -- without exception, they are vile, merciless, and olfactorily unpleasant minions of Evil, and deserve their gruesome fates. Upon slaying a creature, you will be awarded experience points and any treasure the monster was carrying, as appropriate. VERSION NOTES (0.5): Um, at the moment, the monsters wander about somewhat aimlessly, making it all the easier for you to do away with them. In addition, they don't fight back. The weapon you use is irrelivant, and the combat system is extremely simple. There are about 8 monster types. Look for a bigger variety of more intelligent monsters, as well as actual weapon types, in upcoming versions. E) Enter This will allow you to enter a dungeon, castle, town, or other structure of that nature. You must be currently on top of whatever you wish to enter. VERSION NOTES (0.5): The only structures you'll see around are the two indistinguishible towns, Garolin and Farpath. You may only enter them after you've slain the required 10 monsters, and shall thereupon win the game. (Disgustingly simple, eh?) Look for actual town interiors, as well as other structures, in upcoming versions. L) Look + [direction] This will allow you to identify or examine anything lying one square in any of the allowable directions away from you. For instance, if directly to the north of you stood a towering monster, and you wished to know precisely what species of monster it was, you could type "L", then "8", and would then be told that, for example, "You see an Ogre." You can also identify terrain types this way. V) Version This will display the author's name, in case you haven't yet memorized it, as well as the current version of the game, so that you can see exactly how primitive a rendition of Zerg you're playing. Q) Quit I must concede that it is vaguely concievable that you may wish to interrupt your fervid Zerg-playing once every few hours to perform mundane activities, such as eating, sleeping, and other trivial fare. The Quit command will exit back to either the WorkBench, or AmigaDOS, depending upon how you started the program. VERSION NOTES (0.5): Since gameplay is right now incredibly simple, there is no feature to save the game. I intend to implement this in the next version. 5) I don't understand the display? What are all these numbers? ============================================================== As of the current version, the display is divided into three segments. The majority of the screen is a graphic representation of your adventurer and the terrain and monsters surrounding him. As he moves around Zerg, the terrain will scroll relative to his position. The left quarter of the screen is what Infocom calls the Status Bar, and subsequently I must call the Status Display for fear of litigation. You will see all information about your character and his attributes displayed here. These are as follows: NAME: This is pretty easy to figure out. STR: This is a numerical measure of the physical strength of your silicon protagonist, ranging from 0 (a gelatinous pile of flesh) to 100 (Rambo-like proportions). Values of above 100 are possible, but not for human beings unaided by powerful magic. WIS: This is similar to the STR value, but measures the wit and intelligence of your character. When spells are implemented, this attribute will be important for wizards and other thurmaturgistic creatures. AGL: This is a measure of your character's agility -- meaning a loose representation of physical and manual dexterity, handiness, and speed. HP: This is your character's Hit Point Value, or the amount of points of Damage (imparted by monsters, traps, hostile magic, dishpan hands, etc.) your character can sustain before (gasp) death. XP: This is a measure of your character's experience. This will influence his skills and abilities, and general outlook on life. Experience increases with the completion of important tasks, and victory in combat. VERSION NOTES (0.5): Most of the Display area is inconsequential in this release. The name of your adventurer, and his strength, wisdom, and agility, are static, and have no bearing upon this version of the game. Hit Points and Experience are not displayed. This will, of course, change, and in upcoming versions, in which you will have more control over your character. 6) But what of this Land of Zerg? How did it come to be? Who lives there? ========================================================================== Apt questions, all. The history of Zerg, and a more flavored and detailed explanation of the peoples, places, and things of Zerg will show up in the Textfile of Lore that shall accompany future versions. 7) And all these versions? What of them? ======================================== This is, as admitted, a fairly pathetic demo version of the game, intended to attract followers and create a reverant mass of frothing, addicted Zergians who will hound sysops across the country for the latest version. Additional versions, hopefully culminating in the production of the first non-demo release version (the mythical V1.0), will come out periodically, depending upon my personal time and energy, as well as user support. Now, the typical shareware author takes pains to remind you that he or she is a living, breathing, and often starving human being, and paints a mawkish picture of himself slaving away at the keyboard for months, honing and perfecting a product that he believes will do good for the Amiga community. He then releases it as shareware or PD, and pleads for ridiculous sums of cash, sometimes in exchange for appearance on a "Registered User List". My view is this: If I wanted this to be a money-making venture, I'd make it commerical. Much to the disappointment of the legal staff of Origin Systems, I've decided not to take this path, and thus shan't shower you with pleas for altruistic donations. Not that I'll REFUSE them, heavens no, but that I don't abide under the pretense that it's your obligation to pay them. What I WOULD like, however -- and I ask this, not demand it as a right -- is feedback on this program from anyone who doesn't disgustedly delete it outright. It's still in production, as you no doubt guessed, and can assume a variety of different incarnations from here on. I'll continue working on the program even if nobody admits to having downloaded it, but it will surely be a better product should suggestions be made. The best way to leave a comment is through EMAIL. I belong to no nationwide networks, so forget CompuSturge or anything like that. You can EMAIL me on one of the following BBS's, however (all of which I recommend heartily) in the New Yawk area: AMUG (516) 234 - 6046 [Leave EMAIL to "Mike Shapiro"] Battlefield (718) 225 - 9083 [Leave EMAIL to "Mike Shapiro"] LiveLine (718) 332 - 1330 [Multiuser : Leave EMAIL to "Iago"] (Note that you'll actually have to register as a user in each case before accessing EMAIL functions, but I recommend this anyway.) Or if you prefer to write: Mike Shapiro 23 Ridge Drive East Great Neck, NY 11021 In addition to your praise/condemnation, I'd appreciate reports of any bugs you find. VERSION NOTES: (0.5) Restrict your comments to general suggestions about the direction or style of the game, as many basic features have yet to be implemented. 8) Anything else I should know or do? ===================================== Good Zappo, yes -- have FUN! - Mike Shapiro (me) 1/8/88 Other programs by Mike Shapiro: DeFunct - Function key simulator CLIColor - Simple ANSI command Galcon Amiga - Amiga conversion of Galloway + Markgraf's hit IBM space wargame! (Forthcoming)