Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM/CAM_CD_1.iso/files/257.lha/AdvancedLaserChess/ALC.TXT

Text File | 1989-05-30 | 9.6 KB | 233 lines

                        ADVANCED LASER CHESS
        PD Game from Amiga Resource Magazine, Summer `89 Issue
Docs created by Vic Serbe, Big City Lights BBS, 217-356-7776,2400,N,8,1


GETTING STARTED:
First of all you should know that this game has a slew of digitized
samples that it expects to find in a directory called "samples" off
of the current directory. Make sure that these are available before
you run the game. If the game doesn't find the sounds, it WON'T
crash your machine, but it will let you know before it loads the
game that it couldn't find them.

WORKBENCH:
Just double click the icon and go. To exit the title screen and
play the game, click the left mouse button. To bypass the title
screen, double click the left mouse button.

CLI:
Make sure that the current directory is the one with the program
files in it and the samples directory off of it. Then type
"ADVLASER" <cr>.

a.) The background sound can be toggled on and off by pressing the
space bar.

b.) Advanced Laser Chess (ALC) is a well-behaved multi-tasking
program and can be pushed to the back with the left-Amiga-N key
sequence.

c.) ALC is strictly a two player game. One may play with one's
self, but it's a good way to go blind (and it's boring too!).


                            THE GAME

THE DISPLACEMENT DEVICE:
In the center of the board, you will see the displacement device.
this device will randomly appear and disappear after each player
turn. Any piece placed on it will disappear and re-appear at a
random location pointing in a random direction somewhere on the
board. When the displacement device is not present, the square
becomes a gate! (see below)

GATES:
The center column on the playing board contains four gates (not
counting the one that appears when the displacement device is
absent) that open and close randomly. Closed gates act as normal
playing area squares. Open gates are TOTALLY DESTRUCTIVE! If a
piece is moved on to an open gate, or is on a gate when it opens,
it's blown to kingdom come!


                           THE PIECES
             (See the iff picture called PIECES.IFF)

Like [boring] chess, each piece in the game has it's own
characteristics. The brightly colored sides are reflective armor,
and all other surfaces are vulnerable to laser hits. Laser hits on
the reflective surfaces will be reflected with no harm coming to
the piece. Laser hits on the non-reflective surfaces will cause the
piece to either be frozen or destroyed (depending on which type of
laser hit it).

To select a piece, simply click the left mouse button on it. To
deselect a piece, simply click the left mouse button on it again
or move the piece (by clicking the left mouse button on the
destination square). All pieces may move in horizontal or vertical
directions only. Therefore, a single diagonal movement will take
two moves (one horizontal and one vertical).

Each player gets three moves in each turn. The three moves may be
taken in any way the player wishes. All moves may be used for one
piece or the moves may be shared by up to three pieces. A given
laser may be fired only once per turn. The laser beam will not
cease until the left mouse button is released... that way you can
see exactly what the path of the laser was when it was fired.

All of the pieces in the game except the fully mirrored octagon and
the hypergon (see below) may be rotated to any position in 45
degree clockwise increments. Any time a piece is rotated to any new
position (even if several 45 degree steps are taken) ONE of the
three moves will be used. If that piece is rotated back to it's
original position (BEFORE DESELECTION) then no moves will be used
when deselection occurs.

STOMPERS:
Stompers appear as octagons (either the fully or partially
reflective type). Stompers can take other pieces (EVEN OF THE SAME
COLOR) if they are moved on top of them.

KINGS:
The Kings are the diamond shaped pieces on the board. Kill the King
and you win the game. Kings can take other pieces just like the
stompers can, but they are VERY vulnerable and equally important.
Great care should be taken whenever you move a King. If a King is
taken, the game is over. The entire playing board will then turn
the same color as the assailants pieces (click any mouse button to
return the board to normal). When the game has ended, the only
icons that will work are the QUIT, RESTART, and DISK icons.

HYPERGONS:
Hypergons look like wagon wheels. The hypergon is a mobile
displacement device. To displace a piece (yours OR your opponents)
simply move the hypergon on top of it. Any laser that hits a
hypergon is reflected in a random direction.

TRIANGULAR MIRRORS:
Triangular Mirrors are the basis for laser offense and defense.
They have only one reflective side and may be moved, taken, or
destroyed just like any other piece.

ONE-WAY MIRRORS:
One-Way Mirrors look like an arrow enclosed in a rectangle. A laser
will pass THROUGH the one way mirror without destroying or freezing
it as long as the laser is going in the EXACT direction of that
arrow. Any beam that strikes any other surface (except the
reflective surface) will either freeze or destroy the piece. One
way mirrors are excellent shields for Destructive Lasers.

DESTRUCTIVE LASERS:
Destructive Lasers look like a cannon. These little muthers will
destroy ANY piece (except the hypergon) whose non-reflective
surface is struck by their beam. Please note that the laser itself
has no reflective surfaces, so it's as vulnerable as it is
powerful!

FREEZE (STUN) LASERS:
Freeze Lasers look like little romulan space ships and fire from
the back end. Any piece struck on a non-reflective surface (except
the hypergon) by an Freeze Laser's beam will turn white and be
temporarily frozen (disabled). A frozen piece has a 20% chance of
being un-frozen at the beginning of each turn. Frozen pieces are
VERY vulnerable. They cannot be selected or moved, and become non-
reflective on all sides!

BEAM SPLITTERS:
Beam Splitters look like smaller triangular mirrors that have two
reflective sides. If a beam of any type strikes the point where the
two reflective sides meet (the reflective vertex), the beam is then
split into two equivalent beams and are deflected perpendicularly
to the original beam. Any beam that travels parallel to the
reflective surface will miss the Beam Splitter and pass through the
square freely.

BOMBS:
Finally, the Bombs are square shaped pieces that are between the
Freeze Lasers and the Triangular Mirrors at the beginning of the
game. Potentially the most destructive pieces on the board, Bombs
will take out everything in a bordering square when detonated by
the destructive laser! Bombs are detonated with laser beams. There
are 4 detonation portals on the Bomb... one on each side. If a
laser hits the Bomb on any other surface, the Bomb will be
destroyed or frozen depending on the type of beam that hit it. If
a freeze beam enters a detonation portal of the Bomb, all pieces
in squares bordering the Bomb are frozen along with the Bomb. If
a Bomb is in a square bordering a Bomb that's detonated, it will
be destroyed, but NOT detonated (no chain reactions allowed here).


                              ICONS

All of the icons will change to the color of the pieces who's turn
it is at the beginning of each turn.

The numbers in the upper left corner display the number of moves
left in a given players turn.

The QUESTION MARK icon will highlight all of the possible
destination squares available for a given piece. Simply select a
piece, then click the left mouse button on the icon and hold it as
long as you like (no moves will be used) while that piece is
selected (good for new players).

The PASS icon will forfeit any moves remaining in a turn and bring
up the next player's turn.

The LASER icon will fire a selected laser and use one move. If that
particular laser has already been fired in that turn, then nothing
happens and no moves are forfeited.

The DISK icon will bring up a requestor that will allow you to
either save a game, restore a game, or cancel the requestor. This
function can be used at any time during, before, or after a game.
When Save or Restore is selected, a string gadget is brought up and
you type the name of the game in ( a .ALC extension is assumed on
a restore and appended on a save). The standard board setup (like
at the beginning of the game) is named DEFAULT.ALC.

The LOSS icon will bring up a screen displaying all of the pieces
lost by both players up to that point in the game. The screen will
be displayed as long as the left mouse button is held, and gameplay
will resume as soon as the mouse button is released.

The RESTART icon will restart the game from scratch.

The QUIT icon will exit the game completely.


                       GAME CUSTOMIZATION

All of the samples in the samples directory are stored in standard
IFF form and may be changed to whatever you would like them to be,
but make sure that your samples are named the same as the
originals, sampled at about 10,000 samples per second, and are less
than 32K. All you need is sampling hardware and software (sold
together for as little as $65.00 Mail Order) and the ability to
store samples in IFF form.

NOTE: BACKUP THE ORIGINALS IF YOU CHANGE THESE!

There is also an IFF file called ALC_PIECE.PIC. You may customize
the color of the game pieces by using a paint program such as
Deluxe Paint on this picture.



                           STRATEGIES

The main factor in wiping out the opponents King is foresight.
Always remember that each player has THREE moves in which they may
fire or capture in.

Try to sneak your mirrors around without giving away what you're
setting up. Indirect laser shots are the most impressive and
destructive by far!

Use the One-Way Mirrors as shields for your lasers. The One-Way
Mirrors will allow your shots out, but no others in (at least not
directly).