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Annotation of mstools/samples/mazelord/readme.txt, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: Mazelords is a 3-d maze game. The objective is to get as high a score as
        !             2: possible by zapping other players, and by destroying automated drones which
        !             3: wander around the maze. When there are no other players, zapping drones still
        !             4: makes an interesting game in itself.
        !             5: 
        !             6: Mazelords is a networked or non-networked game, depending upon how it is
        !             7: invoked. In both versions, the player is placed in a room of sanctuary in a
        !             8: palace. In this room, players may not shoot, and drones cannot hurt players.
        !             9: Once outside of its 3x3 confines, however, anything goes. Your task is to hunt
        !            10: down drones and other players and 'zap' them. Players will be teleported back
        !            11: to sanctuary, and drones will be teleported to a random location in the maze.
        !            12: 
        !            13: Drones appear as grey robots, and the number and speed of drones is
        !            14: configurable under the Options.  20 drones, speed 2 is a playable setting.
        !            15: 
        !            16: The controls to maze lords are simple:
        !            17: 
        !            18:   UpArrow:    Move one square forward
        !            19:   LeftArrow:  Turn left, stay in same square
        !            20:   RightArrow: Turn right, stay in same square
        !            21:   DownArrow:  Move one square backwards
        !            22:   Space:      Zap whatever is in line of sight
        !            23:   X: exit the game.
        !            24:   W: Whisper something. Anyone within the specified # of squares of you will
        !            25:      hear your message
        !            26:   S: Shout something. Same as whisper, except the default distance people
        !            27:      will be able to hear you at is different.
        !            28: 
        !            29: To play, ideally you should be running on a 486 or MIPS with lots of memory
        !            30: and sound enabled (ie a soundblaster or jazzsnd). The game should work on
        !            31: other systems. Note that if you don't have sound, you can still play, as
        !            32: the important sounds will be changed to speaker beeps.
        !            33: 
        !            34: 
        !            35: Upon invoking Maze, you have several options:
        !            36:     FILE->NewGame: Starts a new game. Make sure you have configured the game
        !            37:                    under the OPTIONS menu unless you want the defaults and want
        !            38:                    to play Locally rather than over the network.
        !            39:     FILE->PauseGame: This pauses the movement of all drones, but you will
        !            40:                      still be a sitting duck if someone shoots at you. This will
        !            41:                      eventually be changed.
        !            42:     FILE->StopGame:  Resets the game completely.
        !            43:     FILE->Exit: exits you from the game.
        !            44: 
        !            45:     OPTIONS->Networked/Local:  This determines whether you will be playing
        !            46:              against other people on your network domain or not. It's fine to
        !            47:              run NETWORK'd when there is noone else playing. Default is LOCAL.
        !            48:     OPTIONS->PlayerSettings: This brings up a dialog with two list boxes. The
        !            49:                              first shows a list of bitmaps you can choose from
        !            50:                              to be your character. Currently there is a fish
        !            51:                              and a smiley face, but the number of choices will
        !            52:                              be growing.  You can also choose a home maze.
        !            53:                              this isn't used right now, but soon your home maze
        !            54:                              will be add to a random part of the existing maze,
        !            55:                              and you will be able to teleport there at will.
        !            56:     OPTIONS->Drones: This brings up the drones configuration dialog. Select
        !            57:                      the number of drones you want and the speed you want them
        !            58:                      to go, ie # of moves per second. Move algorithm is
        !            59:                      currently ignored, as all drones use the same semi-random
        !            60:                      algorithm.
        !            61: 
        !            62: 
        !            63: The display consists of the following
        !            64: 
        !            65: o   A 3-d view of the maze. This has a few drawing bugs in terms of correctness,
        !            66:     but unless you're watching for them they generally don't make a difference.
        !            67:     If you have doubts about a wall, you can verify its existing on the
        !            68: 
        !            69: o   Overhead view: this is a view of two squares to each direction from
        !            70:     where you are at. You can't see other players on the overhead map, but
        !            71:     you can see a small triangle in the center, which indicates which way
        !            72:     you are facing.  This window is an ABSOLUTE view, ie up is ALWAYS north on
        !            73:     the window, regardless of which direction you're facing in the maze.
        !            74: 
        !            75: o   Text window: This gives information about what is happening in the game,
        !            76:     such as who you have zapped or who zaps you, and notification when
        !            77:     players enter or leave the game. You will also see messages whispered or
        !            78:     shouted by other players if they are close enough.
        !            79: 
        !            80: o   Score window.  This shows all players active in your domain if you're
        !            81:     networked. The display includes the bitmap being used by the player, their
        !            82:     score, and a directional indicator to show the ABSOLUTE direction you need
        !            83:     to go to reach the square that player is in. These are updated every
        !            84:     time they change.
        !            85: 
        !            86: Have fun with the game! Any comments or suggestions should be sent to
        !            87: [email protected].
        !            88: 
        !            89: Note that MazeLords is still in progress. It is cross-compilable for Windows 3.1,
        !            90: but won't run under Windows 3.1 yet.  Also, there are miscellaneous glitches
        !            91: which will be ironed out for the retail release of the SDK.