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HeroQuest - Battle Game
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Table of contents:

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1. Playing the game
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1.1 Requirements
1.2 installation
1.3 Game controls
1.3.1 Keyboard shortcuts
1.4 Level-up
1.5 The shop
1.6 Saving, loading, restarting, dying
1.7 Other game functions
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2. Creating your own maps
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2.1 The levels
2.2 The level format
2.3. Creating tilesets
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3. Credits
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3.1 Essentials
3.2 Programming
3.3 Graphics



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1. Playing the game
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1.1 Requirements
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This game requires Java 1.5.0 or higher to be installed on your system. Most people have java installed for web applications anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem.

If you don't have Java, you can download it at:

http://java.com/


1.2 Installation
----------------
This part is fairly simple. Simply extract all files to a new directory.

The game comes with three executable JAR files, one for each language:

battlegame.jar     English version
gevechtsspel.jar   Dutch version
jeudecombat.jar    French version

Normally, you just double-click on the file and it'll run with Java. If it doesn't, download and install Java as indicated in 1.1.

Note that through the menu you can switch language at all times during the game.


1.3 Game controls
-----------------
You can start a new game by selecting "New game" in the "Game" menu.

After choosing a hero class, you see the playing field in the middle, a sidebar at the right and a text bar at the bottom.
On the playing field you see the terrain, the monsters and your hero. On the sidebar you can find all information about the hero and all commands you can use, and on the text bar you will see messages appear about what is happening in the game.

Keep a close eye on the text bar during battles. It will tell you if attacks miss or hit, and how much damage is inflicted.


The game is turn based. Your first turn is started automatically. The game will roll two dice and give you the result as action points.
Action points can be used for four things:

-moving: costs one action point for each step. Use arrow keys to move.
-using weapons: cost depends on the speed of the weapon: fast=3AP, normal=5AP, slow=6AP
-using spells: costs 4AP or more if the spell requires more than 4 magic points.
-drinking potions: Drinking a potion costs 4AP. The life and magic potion restore 15 points of respectively hit points and magic points.

Note that to use weapons or spells you need to attack a monster first.
To attack a monster, click on it with the left mouse button. The battle will continue until one of the opponents dies or the line of sight between the opponents is broken.
You can check whether a monster is visible by holding your mouse over it. By holding down CTRL you can see the path used to check the visibility.
As long as you are engaged in battle with a monster, no other monsters will attack you.

Weapons can only be used when standing next to the target (diagonally works too).
Spells have a longer range, and can thus be used to take enemies by surprise.
Note that in later levels, monsters will start using magic against you as well.

When you have depleted your action points, click "end turn". After clicking this, the monsters will have their turn, and might attack you.
After the monsters have finished their turns, the game once again generates your action points and you will start the next turn.


1.3.1 Keyboard shortcuts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To make the game more fluent, the most common functions in the game have been given keyboard shortcuts:

[SPACE]:    Skip to next turn

[w]:        Use a [w]eapon
[S]:        Use a [s]pell
(note: this key is the first letter of the function, so it might change in other languages)

Note that unlike the UI buttons, the attack shortcuts will automatically scan for nearby enemies. This search happens in a clockwise spiral, starting on the cell just left and above your hero, and going on until the maximum range of the attack.

If several enemies are in range, but you want to attack one specific enemy, be sure to click on it first.


1.4 Level-up
------------
After you have defeated enough monsters to raise your experience by 200 times your current level, your level will increase. Like this:

level 1 = 0XP
Level 2 = 1*200XP
Level 3 = 1*200XP + 2*200XP
Level 4 = 1*200XP + 2*200XP + 3*200XP
etc...

For every level you gain, you will get 10 skill points to distribute amongst your hero's properties.

It is up to you to determine what you want to so with these points. For example, you can use them to give a knight magic, or to gain a higher strength level to carry better weapons.


1.5 The shop
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After defeating all monsters in one level, you enter the shop.
In the shop, you can buy new weapons, spells and potions, and you can repair your armour.

To buy a weapon, select the weapon you want from the dropdown menu. Then, select the hand in which you want to carry it (either left or right). Then, click the "Buy Weapon" button.

Under the price you will see which weapon that hand currently holds. When buying a weapon, you will automatically sell the weapon you were holding in that hand, and you will only have to pay the difference in price between the two.

To sell a weapon, select the hand in which it is being held, and select "hand" in the weapons list. Buying the "Hand" weapon will give you your money back.

To buy a spell, select it from the list and click the "Buy Spell" button. Spells can't be bought twice, and can't be sold. They are permanently added to your list of spells.

To buy a potion, simply click either the "buy life potion" or "buy magic potion" button.

To repair your armour, simply click the "repair armour" button. This will repair one point of your armour.


1.6 Saving, loading, restarting, dying
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The reason I take all of these together is because they all follow the same rule.
When saving a game, you will not save you current stats. You will save your stats as they were in the beginning of the level.

So, when loading or restarting a level, the stats will be as they were in the beginning of the level. This is done so people can't cheat and get more experience points by replaying one level over and over again by defeating all but one monster and then restarting it.
This rule also applies when the level restarts because you died.

The only exception to this rule is saving when you are in a shop, in which case you save you stats exactly as they are at that moment, and return to the shop when loading the game.


1.7 Other game functions
------------------------
-Language controls:
Use the Taal/Language/Langue menu to change your language. The three implemented languages are Dutch, English and French.

-Screenshots:
To take a screenshot of the current playing field, press F12. The screenshot will be called "level##.png", where ## is the level number you're on. If you want to make several screenshots, you need to rename the old one first or it will be overwritten.
Pressing F11 will make a screenshot of the map, without any monsters on it. The filename will be "level##_bare.png".


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2. Creating your own maps
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2.1 The levels
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In the "data/levels/" folder, you will find the levels, with a .lvl extension. These files are actually just text files. You can easily create your own by copying one of these files and editing it.

Just be sure the new level follows the same name format:
level##.lvl
with ## a number from 01 to 99.

Note that only consecutive level numbers will be loaded by the game. If one is missing, the game will end with a message congratulating you for finishing the game.


2.2 The level format
--------------------
The format of the levels is fairly simple. Look in level02.lvl for a full detailed explanationon how to use it.

Notes:
-the maximum playable size is 20x14. Anything bigger than that can't be shown correctly.
-the terrain type names can be looked up in the "data/images/terrain/" folder
-the monster names can be looked up the "data/images/monsters" folder


2.3. Creating tilesets
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To create a tileset, simply add a new folder to data/images/terrain/

Make sure the folder contains these two 40x40 PNG images:

"path.png"  : for open terrain
"wall.png" : for impassable terrain. Do note that you can't see or use spells through impassable terrain, so adding something like water wouldn't be very realistic.

After adding the tileset, simply use the directory name as "terrain=" indicator in a level file.


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3. Credits
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3.1 Essentials
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HeroQuest is created by Milton Bradley.
The copyrights of HeroQuest are held by Hasbro.

This game is only loosely based on HeroQuest, and has no official affiliation with its creators or owners.


3.2 Programming
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This game is made by Simon Meskens and Maarten Meuris, as a school project.

Since then, it has been maintained by Maarten Meuris (aka Nyerguds) as a personal hobby.


3.3 Graphics
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Most of these graphics are found on Google Images, from sources all over the web.

logo:
****
-the HeroQuest logo is taken from
http://heroquestbaker.altervista.org/indexenglish.htm

Shop:
****
-shop background taken from Warcraft II, and thus copyrighted by Blizzard entertainment.
 Please don't sue! It's all just for fun!

Heroes:
******
-the Knight is made from "Sir Dorric the Knight", a puppet created by Daniel Oates:
http://www.puppetrypastimes.com/bozart.htm

-the monk is made from "SuperMoine", created by Supamonks Studio:
http://www.supamonks.com/

-the Wizard is apparently one of the Microsoft Office Assistants. I never use Office assistants though, and I just found him on the Internet.

Monsters:
********
-the Imp is recovered through archive.org from:
http://pages.britishlibrary.net/patgardiner/images/Evil+Creature.gif

-the Ogre is taken from the Fairy Tale Clip Art page at
http://www.angelsoft.co.uk/3clipart/fairy01.htm

-the Spider was created by Andy Griffiths:
http://www.artshole.co.uk/andygriffiths.htm

-the Ghost, even though I found it on the internet, is obviously an image from Mortal Kombat 2. Copyrighted by Midway.

-the Mummy is taken from
http://www.dqshrine.com/dq/dq2/

-the Demon is based on the Daemon from Warcraft 1. I may have ripped off his wings and set his sword on fire, but I'm pretty sure it's still copyrighted by Blizzard.

-the Vampire is based on a costume photo from jungleblurbs.com:
http://www.jungleblurbs.com/target/Evil-Vampire-6305285957.shtml

-the Skeleton (which is still unused in the game) is based on an image of Gregg the Grim Reaper, from the game "Conker's Bad Fur Day". Gregg is copyrighted by Rareware.

Terrain:
*******
-Dungeon & pyramid images based on images taken from NeoQuest:
http://neopets.com

-Forest ground based on a layout image of Seraph Inn:
http://seraph-inn.com/


That's all, I guess! The rest I either made myself or can't remember.

I would also like to thank Adrien from Switzerland for helping me with the French translation of this readme file.

-Maarten "Nyerguds" Meuris
