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/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ || || || ZERG -- A Fantasy Role-Playing Phenomenon By Mike Shapiro || || || || >>: The Manual :<< || || || || VERSION 1.0 || || || /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ 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. i) Zerg Update! =============== This is an abbreviated list of new features and functions found in this release of Zerg. Note that all changes noted here will be dealt with in detail in this documentation file, but are presented here as a summary of sorts. Change the First: Improved graphics. The screen now has three windows, not two, with the increasingly useful Sidebar getting its own. Several graphic icons have been added, and others have been improved. There's no title screen as of yet (In fact, any submissions of viable 320 x 200 lo-res title screen graphics will be considered. If I use your picture, you get your name in the credits. That's it. [Thus, more financially minded artists should go enter the Moria contest.]) There are, however, death and victory graphic screens. Scrolling is MUCH faster, much to the disappointment of those many fans who send me letters of appreciation detailing how much they liked going out for a spot of lunch between screen redraws. Change the Second: Populated towns! Yes, you can now enter Castle Ardon or the Town of Garolin (Farpath was demolished to make room for a shopping center, but the plans have not yet come into effect), explore their lavishly-detailed interiors, talk with the various inhabitants, go shopping at some of the stores, and generally make a nuisance of yourself. Now I know from experience that every player of any Ultima- type game gets few greater pleasures out of life than laying waste to innocent cities, looting and pillaging, wiping out the local militia with the wave of a wand, and similar activities; and thus I have prohibited combat within the walls of any city or town. This may change in future versions. Speaking of combat... Change the Third: An improved combat system! (Or should I say, "a combat system!"?) Your character can now select the weapon of his or her choice with which to cleave apart the local fauna, and can wear a variety of protective armors. Why? Because I, buffetted with epithet-enlaiden complaints by the Monster's Union, have programmed the monsters to fight BACK. That's right, the monsters no longer wander about aimlessly, but come directly at YOU. Thus, you bloodthirsty maniacs who delighted in how the creatures of the Zerg 0.5 DEMO paid no attention to their own defense are in for something of a shock. Change the Fourth: Greater character development. Your character actually has hit points and gold measurements, and such, and they have a greater role in game play. Most notably, if you run out of hit points, you die. There's still no choice of class or race, however. Change the Fifth: Miscellaneous new commands. You'll be delighted with a plethora of new and exciting options and commands that await your keypress. My favorite is the Talk command... Change the Sixth: You'll note that the long-awaited (by me) Textfile of Lore accompanies this version of Zerg. It basically serves to create a history and meaning behind the game, and give everything a sense of atmosphere. Most of the things it describes haven't actually been implemented in the game, but do give you an inkling of what's to come in future releases. Change the Seventh: The much-needed Load, Save, and Restart features have been laboriously thrown in. Other Changes: There are many other minor sundry alterations that should become apparent during game play. The code itself has also been revamped and debugged in ways that may not become apparent during play, but would surely elicit a low whistle from you programmers out there. Anyway, all these features, and the new rules of game play, will be discussed presently. If you're a veteran Zergian, you may just want to skim the Version Notes. Or maybe you're so entranced with my acerbic prose style that you'll want to savor every semicolon and re-read everything for nostalgia's sake. Do what you like. 1) What is Zerg? ================ Zerg is a blatant would-be Ultima rip-off whose sole purpose is to serve as a emotional vent for the author's suppressed 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). Otherwise, from the CLI, simply type 1> Zerg ... and the program will run. Simple, eh? 3) What's the goal of the game? =============================== The object of Zerg is to slay certain monsters in a certain order as dictated by the King of Dieria (a simple sub-plot being the actual finding of the King), after which you are awarded unimaginable riches and win the game. This may not seem like much of a difference from the last version game until you realize that killing a monster can be tricky, and may require special weapons or magic. The goal and plot of the game shall increase considerably in complexity in upcoming versions, and shall possibly involve more than mindless violence. Look for some sort of dungeon in the next release, as well as a bigger landscape. 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 (1.0): More monster types have been added, and, as said, all creatures will now actively seek you out and attack you. They do follow you fairly tenaciously, and will even try to "un-stick" themselves if you lure them into a corner. One type of monster simply cannot be killed by physical violence, and requires some other method. (Plot ho, cap'n! Plot ho!) There's a variety of weapons and armor you can purchase, and upon slaying any creature you are now awarded with gold and experience. If you're being trampled by a monster that's particularly nasty, try running away. If you get out of the monsters's sight for a long enough period of time, chances are that it'll get bored of looking for you and wander off in pursuit of other things. C) Cast This allows your character to cast any spell that he or she knows. VERSION NOTES (1.0): The role of spells and magic in this version is very limited, but essential to victory. 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 (1.0): You can now actually explore the interiors of the Castle Ardon and town Garolin, and indeed must, if you wish to get anywhere in the game. They're nice places to visit, and house many interesting characters and stores that are necessary to the completion of your quest. There will be more towns, cities, castles, and perhaps a dungeon or two, in upcoming versions. I) Inventory This will simply display a nice list of all your character's possessions, including any armor or weaponry being used. 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. O) Offer + [direction] Should you wish to practice financial cajolery upon a local Zerg resident, or simply make a generous gift, select this option. You will be prompted for the amount to offer, ranging from 100 to 900 gold pieces in increments of 100. Note that monsters usually aren't terribly inclined to take bribes, if they even know what gold is. Q) Quit I must concede that it is vaguely conceivable 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 (1.0): Note the spiffy Quit requester, as well as the save and load game options that help make trans-game Zerging a pleasure. R) Ready This option allows one to wield any weapon he or she possesses. Upon selecting this option, one is presented with a list of his or her weapons, if he or she possesses any, and is prompted to select which weapon he or she would like to ready. Only one weapon can be readied at a time. Thus, when a weapon is selected, it disappears from the list, and any weapon that was previously readied will re-appear on the list. Unless one has a weapon in hand, one cannot fight hostile foes, either in assault or self-defense. Thus, the unarmed adventurer is very vulnerable. Note that selecting this option when one is already using one's only weapon will automatically un-ready that weapon. S) Status This option will replace the view with a screen displaying pertinent information about your character that isn't displayed on the sidebar. It is as follows: Class: This is the class (profession) of your character. Classes include fighter, thief, wizard, etc. (See the Textfile of Lore for more details). Level: This is the experience level of your character. As you defeat more monsters, this number increases, as does the power of your character. HP Max: This shows the maximum number of hit points your character has when perfectly healthy (as opposed to his or her current hit points as displayed on the Sidebar). MP Max: Similar to HP Max, this shows the highest number of Magic Points your character can have at a given moment. Experience: This shows the number of experience points you have. If you gain enough experience, your Level may increase. Body Count: This is a measure in cadavers of just how many creatures to whom you've laid waste. It has no function in game play save the feeding of your bloodthirsty ego. Current Weapon: This informs you of whatever tool of death your character is currently using to obliterate the foul beasties of Zerg, if any. You select this weapon with the Ready command. Current Armor: This displays the type of armor you're currently wearing. You select this via the Wear command. Gold: A numerical representation of your wealth in gold pieces, the standard unit of currency in most of the kingdoms of Zerg. All adventurers start the game with 30 gp. (Note the poignant symbolism here.) T) Talk + [direction] This allows you to interact with the various inhabitants of Zerg. While few people will offer any elongated conversation, you may get a few interesting snippets hither or thither. Upon occasion, you may even be asked a simple yes or no question. Talking with a shopkeeper may allow you to purchase goods or services. You can talk over some tables and counters, as well. 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. It also shows a brief list of some of those selfless morons who helped make Zerg what it is today. (Whatever it is...) W) Wear This option is similar to the Ready command, save that it allows an adventurer to wear the protective armor of his or her choice, if he or she owns any. Armor makes it more difficult to be struck by an opponent's assault, and will sometimes absorb damage from a blow. Note that selecting this option when one is wearing one's only armor will automatically remove that armor. Y) Clock This will display the time, in game turns. Truth to tell, it's a pretty useless command, but I use it in debugging. The one purpose that it could serve for a player is keeping track of potential purchases; stores will refresh their inventories at set turn intervals. (Thus, if you don't see a weapon you can afford at the moment, hang around!) Keep in mind that time will not pass while you use this command. Z) Coordinates Another useless but faintly amusing debugging command, this option will display your X-Y coordinates in whatever region you happen to be. There are also some options accessible via the pull-down menus. Some are merely Intuitive equivalents of keyboard options (I know that nobody really believes that dragging a mouse across your desk is significantly more convenient than pressing "I", but let's face facts: the more menus and sub-menus a program has, the more professional it looks. So get off my back.) while others can only be selected in this manner (or their respective shortcuts). GAME MENU --------- About - This is the menu equivalent of the "Version" command. Load Game - This option allows you to continue a previously saved game. Save Game - This option allows you to save the current state of the game to disk for future play, should you opt to do that sort of thing. VERSION NOTES (1.0): I really didn't think I'd include this option in this version of the game, but it occurred to me that playing might be a real drag if you had to restart from the beginning each time a troll slit your gullet, so I threw this hack together. As you can see, it's somewhat crude; there is no file requester, as there is no selectable filename. The game will be saved to a file called "Save" in RAM: (don't worry about running out of memory... the file is extremely small). This does mean that if you want to play a saved game after re-boot, REMEMBER TO COPY IT TO DISK. It's inconvenient, but I'm a lazy programmer. The next version will have some sort of file requester, I promise. Really. Restart - This option will reset Zerg to its default configuration. It's the equivalent of re-booting the game, but more convenient. Quit - This is the Intuition equivalent of the Quit command. ACTION MENU ----------- Inventory - This is the equivalent of the "Inventory" command. Status - This is the equivalent of the "Status" command. Help - This displays an abbreviated list of commands. Redraw - Should you encounter some sort of onscreen graphics bug, this will allow you to remedy the situation by redrawing the screen's contents. 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 Sidebar 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 99 (Rambo-like proportions). Values of above 99 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 more spells are implemented, this attribute will be important for wizards and other thaumaturgic creatures. AGL: This is a measure of your character's agility -- meaning a loose representation of physical and manual dexterity, handiness, and speed. LVL: This is a measure of your character's ability to excel in his or her profession. (IE: A level 4 fighter would generally be a more skilled warrior than a level 1 fighter.) Higher levels are achieved through earned experience points. MP: Standing for Magic Points, this is a measure of your character's magical strength, if any. Casting spells will exhaust a number of magic points proportional to the difficulty of the spell. Fighter types usually have no magical ability whatsoever. Usually. 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. VERSION NOTES (1.0): The Display area is now fairly functional. While your character's abilities are taken into consideration in various activities, his or her name, strength, wisdom, and agility still have identical starting values -- that is, there's no true character development yet. This WILL be implemented in the next version. I swear. 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 are expounded upon in nauseating eloquence in the Textfile of Lore that accompanies this file. Keep in mind that many of the things described in the Textfile are atmospheric, and may have no bearing upon game play. 7) And all these game versions? What of them? ============================================= This is, as admitted, the first "true" release of Zerg -- prior to this, rabid Zerg fans had to contend themselves with a fairly pathetic demo that circulated the BBS world. It's a fairly playable game, I like to convince myself, but will be greatly enriched and endetailed (is that a word?) in future versions. I've mentioned several enhancements that are planned for future releases, but I'm also toying with a few entirely new features. Here's a list of things that MAY show up in the next version or later. User input is always welcomed, of course. - The game desperately needs sound. As soon as I cut down CHIP RAM requirements somewhat, I can afford to implement this. The way I see this, sound could go three ways: 1) Simple Amiga-generated sound routines embedded in the C code. This would yield blurps and blips (aka Ultima on an IBM or Apple) but nothing astounding. It would also eat up the least amount of memory. 2) Digitized sound effects. Perhaps an "ARRGH!" when you're hit in combat, or the clanking of swords, or the cry of a monster. Or maybe I should digitize voices saying each character's interactive one-liner, and only release the game on a 30-meg hard drive. In any case, this will slurp up oodles of memory, but be well worth it. 3) Sonix-Driven music! If I keep the instruments simple, I could see if it's allowed for authors to include the Sonix music driver with programs and fit quite a few original melodies in. This what they do in the excellent RPG Alternate Reality, and the effect is great. - Day and night effects. Darkness and such. - Weather conditions, such as rain or snow. - 16-color graphics. Granted, this wouldn't look as pretty, but it would cut memory costs drastically. It ALSO means that I have to go over each and every graphic in the game. I wish I had thought of this before. Sigh. - Multiple character support. Expect this one fur shure, because I've already started coding it. - A bigger world map! This is a near-certainty. The isle of Dieria is wearing somewhat thin. - Character classes + Magic. I promise more magical spells by the next version, and perhaps character classes as well. I reserve the right to lie outrageously in this matter, so don't yell at me if I don't come through. 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 commercial. 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. In other words, if you value this program to the extent that you wish to send in a $10 donation or something similar, by all means, go ahead. You'll have a friend for life, I assure you. But I won't despise you if you don't. (In fact, I'll have a somewhat higher estimate of your sensibilities.) 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: (1.0) Now that the basic flavor of the game has been established in this version, I'd really like commentary -- not just suggestions for new features, but complaints or praise on game play itself. Is it too hard? Too easy? Generally unappealing? Bug reports are always welcomed, as well. 8) Anything else I should know or do? ===================================== Good Zappo, yes -- have FUN! - Mike Shapiro (me) 1/8/89 Revised: 2/26/89 Re-Revised: 3/17/89 Revised yet again: 3/24/89 Other programs by Mike Shapiro: DeFunct - Function key simulator. (It's cute.) CLIColor - Simple ANSI command. (It's useless.) Second Conflict - Amiga conversion of Galloway + Markgraf's hit IBM space wargame! (Forthcoming, I suppose.) A Final Note: ============= "In one word he teach me secret of success . . . plagiarize!" - Tom Lehrer You may find Zerg as boring as watching gastric mitosis, or spend your every waking moment burning its 32-color screens into your retinas. In either case, one adjective that should not be applied to Zerg is "original". That's right, blokes. In case you weren't aware of this, this game is entirely modelled (in terms of interface and gameplay, if not actual names, characters, or events) after Lord British's justifiably successful Ultima series. If you like Zerg, you'll like these games that I am so eloquently ripping off, despite the fact that the Amiga ports are of relatively poor quality. I am only making this plug out of a sense of duty and admiration for Mr. British's fine works. And, of course, to discourage a lawsuit on his part. As for this history of this program, it actually originated as a programming exercise (I know, I know. I'm now on Chris Crawford's hit list. But what can one do?), and it eventually occurred to me that I might hoist the mess of garbled code onto the Public Domain. And so I did. Was it a mistake? That, of course, is for you to decide.