Playing Allure of the Stars =========================== Playing Allure of the Stars involves walking around an abandoned Solar System space-ship, alone or in a party of trusted crew-members, setting up ambushes, hiding in shadow, covering tracks, breaking through to deeper spaceship decks, bumping into hostile intruders, doors and walls, gathering technical resources and making creative use of them. The bloodthirsty alien monsters and their horrible minions do the same, intelligence allowing, while tirelessly chasing the stranded heroes by smell and sight. Once the few basic command keys and on-screen symbols are learned, mastery and enjoyment of the game is the matter of tactical skill and literary imagination. To be honest, a lot of imagination is required at this stage, but the game is already playable and winnable. The game also features multiplayer cooperative and competitive modes, though only a shared-screen interface is provided at this time. Contributions welcome. Terrain ------- The heroes are marked on the map with symbols '@' and '1' through '9'. Their goal is to explore an old, gigantic, once luxurious space liner, battle the horrors within, gather as much gold and precious gems as possible, and escape to tell the tale. The spaceship, in the campaign game mode, consists of many levels covered with varying terrain of the following basic kinds: terrain type on-screen symbol floor . wall # wall cache & stairs up < stairs down > open door ' closed door + The game world is persistent, i.e., every time the player visits a level during a single game, the level layout is the same. Keys ---- You move throughout the level using the numerical keypad or the vi text editor keys (also known as "Rogue-like keys"). 7 8 9 y k u \|/ \|/ 4-5-6 h-.-l /|\ /|\ 1 2 3 b j n SHIFT (or CTRL) and a movement key make the selected hero run in the indicated direction, until anything of interest is spotted. The '5' and '.' keys take a turn to brace for combat, which gives a chance to block blows for the remainder of the turn. Melee, searching for secret doors and opening closed doors can be done by bumping into a monster, a wall and a door, respectively. Below are the default keys for major commands. The last four commands are specialized versions of 'a' and 'p', offering narrower default item choice. The commands that take player time are marked with a star. key command < ascend a level* > descend a level* ? display help I display inventory a apply a consumable* c close a door* d drop an object* g get an object* o open a door* p project a projectile* q quaff a drink* r read a tablet* t throw a missile* z zap a mechanism* To make a ranged attack, you need to set your target first, using targeting mode ('*' and '/' keys). The target, for the few commands that require any, is indicated by the targeting cursor. To avoid confusion, commands that take time are blocked when targeting at a remote level (when the cursor is displayed on a different level than the selected hero). The targeting commands and all the less used commands are listed below. None of them takes hero time. key command ESC cancel action or bring up the Main Menu RET accept choice TAB cycle among heroes on the level SHIFT-TAB cycle among heroes in the dungeon * target monster + swerve targeting line - unswerve targeting line / target position P display previous messages S mark smell T mark suspect terrain V mark visible area [ target next shallower level ] target next deeper level { target 10 levels shallower } target 10 levels deeper 0--9 select a hero anywhere in the dungeon Commands for saving and exiting the current game, starting a new game, etc., are listed in the Main Menu, brough up by the ESC key. Some of the game modes are multiplayer or feature multiple computer players (allied or not). The setup of the modes can be modified via a configuration file. key command CTRL-x save and exit CTRL-r new campaign game CTRL-k new skirmish game CTRL-p new PvP game CTRL-o new Coop game CTRL-e new defense game There are also some debug, testing and cheat options and game modes that can be specified on the command line when starting the game server. Use at your own peril! :) Of these, you may find the screensaver modes the least spoilery and the most fun, e.g.: Allure --newGame --noMore --maxFps 45 --savePrefix screensaver --gameMode screensaver Monsters -------- Heroes are not alone in the spaceship. Monsters roam the dark halls and crawl from damp air-ducts day and night. While heroes pay attention to all other party members and take care to move one at a time, monsters don't care about each other and all move at once, sometimes brutally colliding by accident. When the hero bumps into a monster or a monster attacks the hero, melee combat occurs. The best weapon carried by each opponent is taken into account for calculating bonus damage. The total damage the current hero can potentially inflict is displayed at the bottom of the screen. The total damage potential of a monster may change as it finds and picks up new weapons. Heroes and monsters running into one another (with the Shift key) do not inflict damage, but change places. This gives the opponent a free blow, but can improve the tactical situation or aid escape. Throwing weapons at targets wounds them, consuming the weapon in the process. Target a monster with the '*' key from the top keyboard row or from keypad. You may throw any object in your possession (press '?' to choose an object and press it again for a non-standard choice) or on the floor (press '-'). Only objects of a few kinds inflict any damage. Whenever the monster's or hero's hit points reach zero, the combatant dies. When the last hero dies, the game ends. On Winning and Dying -------------------- You win the game if you escape the spaceship alive (or eliminate all opposition, in some game modes). Your score is the sum of all gold you've plundered plus 100 gold grains for each gem. Only the loot in possession of the party members on the current level counts (the rest of the party is considered MIA). If all heroes die, your score is halved and only the treasure carried by the last standing hero counts. You are free to start again from a different entrance to the spaceship, but all your previous wealth is gone and fresh, undaunted enemies bar your way.