Dungeoneers Player's Guide By Andrew Brault (c) 1998 http://www.tiac.net/users/ajb/dungeoneers/index.html E-mail: ajb@tiac.net OVERVIEW -------- Dungeoneers is an adventure game for the PalmPilot handheld computer. You will explore huge caverns, looking for weapons, devices, and other items to help you defend yourself against the roaming nasties. Along the way, you will find stores which will sell you anything from commodities such as energy, to exotic devices, to upgrades for your personal explorer vehicle. Mineral ore can be found scattered around the caverns and refined into valuable chips. You must manage your resources carefully and plan ahead to succeed. Many surprises await you as you explore the vast expanses of underground caverns! REQUIREMENTS ------------ You need a PalmPilot with at least 67k of RAM free. However, you will not be able to save your game unless you have 91k of RAM free, since the save-game file takes about 24k. This game should run on all PalmPilot models. If you find any compatibility problems please let me know. SHAREWARE NOTICE ---------------- Dungeoneers is being sold as a shareware product. In the unregistered version, you will not be able to travel beyond level 3 of the caverns. The registered version removes this restriction. The unregistered version should provide enough material for you to evaluate whether to buy the full registered version ($15 US). GETTING STARTED --------------- This program comes in two parts: PART1.PRC and PART2.PDB. You must install both. You can install the files using the Palm Install Tool program that came with your PalmPilot. Once installed, the game will appear in the application launcher screen. The game can be driven either from the pushbuttons or with the stylus. By default, the keys are set up as follows: Date book - move left Address - move right To Do List - action key Memo Pad - cancel key Up key - move up Down key - move down You may customize these key settings via the "Set Up Keys" option on the title screen. You may switch between stylus and button input at will. To make a selection using the buttons, move the selection highlight and then press the "action" key (the To Do List key, by default). To make a selection using the stylus, tap once on the selection you want to make it current. Tap again on the selection to accept. After starting Dungeoneers, you should select the "Instructions" option to get a brief overview of the game. Tap the screen or press a button to proceed from each screen. NOTE: You may save your position and quit at any time by tapping one of the "soft" application keys located on the silkscreen area (i.e., "application" or "calculator"). If the greyscale shades are too light or too dark, you may either use the contrast knob on your Palm Pilot to adjust the overall screen contrast, or select the "Adjust Colors" option from the title screen. In the Adjust Colors screen, you can tap on the arrows to make the colors lighter or darker. To go back to the title screen, press the "cancel" key (Memo Pad key by default), or tap on an empty part of the screen. When you are finished setting up, select "Start Game" from the title screen. You must then choose an exploration vehicle to "pilot". Beginners should select the Stinger vehicle (the one in the center). If you want a harder challenge, you can select one of the other vehicles. During the game, you may have a chance to take control of other vehicles, including ones not on this list. After making your selection you will be presented with a shareware notice. Then you must wait a short amount of time (15 seconds or so) for the first dungeon level to be created. Note that this delay is _not_ a shareware "annoyware" delay. EXPLORING THE DUNGEON --------------------- After the delay, you will find the vehicle you selected in the center of the screen. Your "map" of your surroundings extends for a ways in each direction, and as you explore by moving around, more of the dungeon is revealed. You can move by using the up, down, left, and right buttons, or by tapping the stylus above, below, or to the left or right of your vehicle. You may come across many different things in your explorations. Treasures and other goodies may be acquired by moving atop them. Some treasures will be picked up automatically, giving you a message such as "Found 5 chips!" in the status line at the bottom of the screen. Other treasures require that you pick them up explicitly (because they may not in fact be beneficial). To do this, press the action key or tap the stylus on your vehicle. A menu will pop up, and you should select "Pick Up" to pick up the object you are standing upon. Sometimes you will encounter enemy vehicles, which will often chase you and try to attack you. You can fire back at them by facing them and then choosing "Attack" from the pop-up menu given by pressing the action key (or tapping on your vehicle). The status line at the bottom of the screen will give you a blow-by-blow account of the battle. By selecting "Inventory" from the pop-up menu, you can manage the devices carried by your vehicle. Initially, you begin with one weapon (a M2 laser for the beginner's Stinger ship) and one other free gift which varies from game to game. The number of item cells shown (5 for the Stinger) indicates the maximum number of devices you may own at a time. By selecting a device and pressing the action key (or tapping on it), you can bring up a short menu containing the following options: Use - attempt to apply the device, or arm it (put it into use) if it is a weapon Drop - drop it on the ground beneath you Destroy - remove it from the game entirely; used for worthless or harmful items At the bottom of the screen is a short synopsis of the selected device and an appraisal of it's value (in chips). To get out of the inventory screen and back to the main game, either press the cancel key or tap on the bottom area of the screen. THE GOAL OF THE GAME -------------------- The goal is to locate the huge diamond at the bottom of the caverns, somewhere below level 10. Then you must find a way to escape with your treasure. As the difficulty increases the further down you go, you must build up your strength at each step of the way. On each level there are one or more exits to the next level. These exits appear as downward-pointing arrows. Your goal on each level is to collect as much treasure as possible, find stores and purchase equipment, and then descend to the next level. VEHICLE STATUS -------------- Along the right side of the screen are five boxes indicating the status of your vehicle. From top to bottom, they indicate: Hull: The strength of your vehicle's hull. Attacks from nasties damage your hull. When this value reaches 0, your vehicle is destroyed. Certain stores will repair your vehicle (for a price). Each kind of vehicle has a maximum hull value which may be increased by purchasing upgrades at stores. Ener: The amount of energy you are carrying. Energy is used when firing weapons and when using certain devices. You may find energy cells scattered around the caverns or left behind by destroyed enemies. Each vehicle has a maximum energy capacity, which may be increased by purchasing upgrades at stores. If you go over this capacity you will be told "Can't Carry" when you try to pick up more energy. Chip: The number of crystite chips you are carrying. Chips are used as money for purchasing items at stores. You may carry up to 2000 of these. Ore: The number of ore units you are carrying. Ore can be traded for other commodities at certain shops. The maximum number of ore units you may carry is shown by your "Hold" value (next). Hold: The maximum number of ore units your ship can carry. Some shops sell hold expansion units which will allow you to carry more. Below the 5 status boxes are two boxes labeled X and Y. These give a constant readout of your current position within the dungeon, as a navigational aid. THE ACTION MENU --------------- By pressing the Action key or tapping on the picture of your vehicle, you can bring up the Action menu. It contains the following choices: Attack - fire your currently armed weapon in the direction you are facing. Inventory - bring up the inventory management screen. Rotate - change the facing of your vehicle; this takes no game time, so you can rotate and attack an enemy in the same turn. After selecting this option, press (or tap) in the direction you want to turn. Pick Up - pick up the device you are standing on (if any). Options - bring up a list of game options (see below). THE OPTIONS SCREEN ------------------ By choosing "Options" from the Action menu, you will get the following list of options: Continue game - leave the options screen Restart game - quit, and go back to the title screen Adjust colors - adjust the greyscale shades Set up keys - change the meanings of the keys Save and Quit - save your position and leave the game Quit - leave the game without saving IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS ---------------------- This section is for interested readers who would like to know about the internal details of the implementation of Dungeoneers. It is not necessary in order to play the game. The source code for this game consists of about 3200 lines of C code and about 9000 lines of a variant of Smalltalk of my own design. It was developed using the Windows 95 port of GCC for the Pilot and with Dolphin Smalltalk, a free Smalltalk system for Windows 95/NT. The file PART1.PRC is the C portion of the program, occupying about 20k. PART2.PDB is the compiled Smalltalk code, plus the greyscale bitmapped graphics, totalling about 47k. An image-based persistence scheme is used to implement saving and restoring. When saving, the entire state of the running program (including the graphics screen) is copied into a database; when restoring, the saved database is copied back into working memory. CONCLUSIONS ----------- I hope you enjoy this game. Please e-mail any comments or questions to me at: ajb@tiac.net