CS490 Game Design Project - Fall 2003

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*Shards of a Broken Land*
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To Begin:
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 To begin playing "Shards of a Broken Land", 
 run (double-click) the Shards.exe program.


General Game Info:
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 This game is a strategy-RPG, which means it's a game that
 progresses with an RPG-type storyline and challenges you
 to win a sequence of battles which depend on your strategy.


System Requirements:
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 DirectX 8.0, DirectX 9.0, or higher (you can download it from Microsoft for free)
 A computer running Windows XP with a decently fast processor (Pentium 3, Pentium 4, or better)
 A good 3D video card that is fully compatibility with at least DirectX 7.0

 Shards will still play on older systems as long as they have DirectX installed,
 but don't expect smooth animation on computers that don't meet the above requirements.


Control Keys:
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 The controls for this game are:

 Space Bar is the "Accept" button, press it to confirm any action or go to the next screen.
 Escape is the "Cancel" button, press it to cancel or go back one screen.
 Escape is also the "Menu" button, use it to access the party menu at the world map screen.
 The arrow keys move the cursor in the direction you press.

 Moving the mouse changes the camera view, and the scroll wheel on the mouse zooms in and out.
 (The mouse only changes the viewpoint -- you must use a keyboard to actually play.)

 To quit the game when you are done, press Alt-F4 or Ctrl-Q. This discards all progress.
 To temporarily exit the game without discarding progress, press Alt-Tab.


How to Play:
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 CUT SCENES:
  The game begins in a "cut scene," which is a non-interactive event that tells the story of the game.
  To proceed, just keep pressing the Accept button after you read each text box.

 WORLD MAP:
  After the first scene, the game proceeds to the "world map".
  The floating blue circle is the cursor on the world map, press the arrow keys to move it.
  The arrow that points downward represents your party's current location (the "you are here" marker).
  The other circles are locations you can move to along the lines. Red means unvisited, green means visited.
  To move to a location on the world map, move the blue cursor over it and press the Accept button.
  If it is a town, you can then buy and sell items and equipment from the menu that appears,
  otherwise you may enter another cut scene or a battle may be triggered.

 PARTY MENU:
  From the world map, you can also press the Menu button to access the "party menu",
  which lets you equip weapons and items, learn abilities, change battle formation, etc.
  It is very important to prepare for battle between battles at this menu screen.
  The party menu has the following options:
  
  STATUS from the party menu lets you view and modify character statistics.
   Note that upgrading statistics uses up ability points,
   and it is usually more worthwhile to learn abilities with those points instead.

  EQUIP lets you equip weapons, armor, and useable items on your characters.
   You cannot use anything in battle until you equip it out of battle first.
   When equipping weapons or armor, it will have an effect on the character's statistics.
   Note that weapon strength is NOT shown in these statistics, but their cost is a good guide.

  ITEMS lets you view your current stock of items and get descriptions of them.
   You can't really do anything else at the Items screen; that's what Equip is for.

  ABILITIES brings up a submenu with two choices:
   VIEW ABILITIES: This is just for looking at your currently useable abilities.
   LEARN ABILITIES: This very important submenu lets you teach abilities to your characters.
    The more abilities you learn, the more options you have in combat.
    Also, when you learn enough abilities, an option to upgrade your character class appears here.
    You cannot undo a class upgrade, but whatever upgrade you choose will improve the character.
    **IMPORTANT** Go to Equip and re-equip your character after upgrading the class.

 BATTLE:
  Combat in this game is turn-based, menu-based and fairly straightforward.
  When one of your characters has a turn, his or her menu will come up, with 6 options:
  Move, Attack, Ability, Item, Defend, Status.

  MOVE lets you tell the current character where to move.
   A Move does not become final until after you use an Attack, Ability, or Item,
   so you can choose Move multiple times until you're satisfied with the character's new location.
   If your character has enough movement points, you can Move, Attack, then Move again in the same turn.

  ATTACK tells your character to physically attack someone (or something).
   It must be next to your character, so to attack the enemy, you must Move next to them first,
   then choose Attack, press the arrow button toward the enemy, and press Accept.
   Head-on attacks are more likely to be dodged than attacks to the side or back.
   Some characters can use long-range weapons like bow-and-arrows, in which case
   you can Attack from further away, although you still have to move somewhat close.
   Note that most magicians are too weak to Attack well; they should use Abilities instead.

  ABILITY brings up a list of the character's special abilities,
   which can do many things. Some abilities are just like regular Attacks,
   while other abilities are wide-range destructive magic, and still others are healing spells.
   You must learn abilities at the Party Menu (see above) to use them in battle.
   Be sure to experiment with lots of different abilities to see what is most effective.
   If you have lots of abilities, you might have to move the cursor down a while to see them all.

  ITEM lets you use an item in battle, such as a healing potion.
   You must equip items at the Party Menu (see above) to use them in battle.
   Most useable items are only for healing, like some abilities.
   Note that only one of Attack, Ability, or Item can be used per turn.

  DEFEND goes on to the next characters turn. If you cannot Move close enough to attack the enemy,
   just Move as close as you can and then choose Defend, and that character will get a chance later.
   This does not actually increase your character's defense; it only prepares for the next turn.

  STATUS gives you a detailed info screen of the character's status.
   You do not really ever need to choose this option, but it can tell you more about your enemies.
   Choosing Status does not count as an action.

Until you choose Defend to end the character's turn, time is effectively frozen.
This means you can take as much time as you want to think about what to do next.

The enemies are controlled automatically by the computer.
The enemy characters have to follow the same rules that you do.


Hints:
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Between battles, make sure to buy the best equipment from the towns,
and always go to the menu and equip the things you buy or you can't use them.
Don't buy things you don't need, though, for instance you can't use Katanas until later on in the game.
If someone can use an item, their picture will show up on the item buying screen when choosing to buy it.

Just as importantly, make sure to go to the menu and learn new abilities
at the Ability->Learn screen, otherwise your characters won't be able to do much.

Always attack enemies in the back whenever possible, it's more likely to do damage.

Take advantage of the layout of the battle areas. For instance, if an enemy is next to a wall,
you can surround them with 3 characters and they won't be able to escape.

Each character and enemy has an "element" of Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Light, or Darkness.
The elements each have a color:
Fire is red-orange, Water is blue, Earth is yellow, Wind is green, Light is white, Darkness is purple-black.
You can tell what element the enemy is by looking at the circular icon next to their close-up.
The elements come in pairs of opposites:
Fire and Water are opposite, Earth and Wind are opposite, and Light and Darkness are opposite.
Characters or enemies of any element are weak against the opposite element, and strong against their own.
In other words, you should cast fire spells on ice dragons, attack Darkness creatures with a Light character, etc.
Also, you should protect weak characters by keeping them away from from enemies of their opposite element.
Lastly, healing spells are most effective when used on characters of the same element.


Control Keys (Full):
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There are alternatives to the key controls mentioned above,
so if you don't like them, here is the complete list:

Confirm/Accept:    Space Bar  OR  Enter Key  OR  V Key
Cancel/Back/Menu:  Escape Key OR  Alt Key    OR  X Key  OR  C Key
Move cursor up:    Up Arrow Key    OR  I Key  OR  8 Num Key
Move cursor left:  Left Arrow Key  OR  J Key  OR  4 Num Key
Move cursor down:  Down Arrow Key  OR  K Key  OR  5 Num Key  OR  2 Num Key
Move cursor right: Right Arrow Key OR  L Key  OR  6 Num Key
Rotate view left:  Move Mouse Right OR  D Key
Rotate view right: Move Mouse Left  OR  A Key
Pitch view up:     Move Mouse Down  OR  S Key
Pitch view down:   Move Mouse Up    OR  W Key
Zoom view in:      Move Mouse Wheel Up   OR  E Key
Zoom view out:     Move Mouse Wheel Down OR  Q Key

Recommended setups: Right hand on the arrow keys for cursor movement,
                    left hand on the WASD keys for camera movement
                          and on the Space Bar and the C key for Accept/Cancel.
OR
                    Right hand on the mouse for camera movement,
                    Left hand on the IJKL keys for cursor movement
                          and on Space Bar and the Alt key for Accept/Cancel.



Credits:
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Programming and Game Concept
 Alex Fierro   -- concept, battle mechanics, scripting, menus, interface, scenarios
 Justin Pease  -- engine, graphics, effects, abilities, characters, maps, world, data
 Dustin Shultz -- battle AI, website

Art
 Aaron Windsor     -- character and monster design
 Justin Pease      -- character sprites and various other art
 Mandi Cosenzo     -- art for Relayn
 Angela Cosenzo    -- original character design and portrait for Relayn
 Jianshu Jean Tang -- various textures and other art
 Mia Niazi         -- various art

Story
 Jeremy Schichor -- original story design
 Xiu Xu          -- in-game dialogue script

Music
 Nathan V. Patwardhan                 -- battle music
 Additional music supplied by Boxstep -- world map music
 Justin Pease                         -- various music

Game engine based on GameX 4.1 which is  2002 by Rama C. Hoetzlein.