красный архон спеллы

December 16th, 2005 by Medarch

A detailed look into one of the best games of all time

I would say “greatest,” but that usually means influential, which Archon hasn’t been particularly. But that only serves to solidify its uniqueness. Billed as a combination action/strategy game upon its release in 1983, Archon ends up being far more action-oriented, but the diversity of characters from the fantasy realm and their combat attributes the game employs should be enough to dazzle any self-respecting game geek.

Answering the call of my own inner geek, I have exposed Archon ’s mechanisms and hidden numbers through days of experimentation with the game’s original and best version, that for the Atari 800. The description, analysis, and numbers below pertain only (as far as I know) to the Atari 8-bit computer version of Archon .

Recently I’ve been thinking about building a new Archon -type game for Windows. The first step, I figured, was to find a detailed FAQ on the original, but since apparently none exist, I had to make one myself. And so this report was born

Archon is a war between the Light and the Dark: two armies of creatures and persons of myth and legend, called by the game “icons.” Each side begins with a force of 18 icons, with 8 different types per side. The Light and the Dark do not share any types, yet the teams are very evenly matched. The armies alternate turns, maneuvering for position on a chessboard-like Strategy Screen. On a single turn either one spell may be cast, or one icon moved. Turns may not be passed. Whenever an icon is moved to a square already occupied by an opposing piece, a battle ensues on the Combat Screen, where each different type of piece has its own hit points, attack damage, and so on, detailed below. The winning icon keeps the square, while the loser is eliminated from the game (both icons may be destroyed in the battle, in which case both are eliminated).

Each side aims to occupy the five “Power Points” on the board or to completely eliminate the opposition. Victory can also be achieved by casting the Imprison spell on the opponent’s last remaining icon. The game can end in stalemate as well in either of two ways: the last two icons destroy each other in battle, or there is no progress for a certain number of turns. (“Progress” here means battles or Spells cast, and the number of turns is at least one full cycle of color-change (12 turns per side) but depends on the number of pieces left and has been difficult to determine in some cases.) Games usually last between 50 and 100 turns per side if the players are well-matched.

The strategic side of Archon takes place on a 9 9 grid of squares of three types: perma-light, perma-dark, and the ones that cycle through those two colors plus four more intermediate shades of green. The cycle repeats, progressing from lightest to darkest and back again, with one turn for each player at each color. I call these six colors “A” through “F”, with “A” being the lightest. The color of the square affects the hit points (more about that later) of both fighting creatures when a battle takes place there, with the Light Side benefiting from lighter squares and the Dark Side from darker.

When the Light Side moves first to open a game, the changing squares will begin at “D” and proceed darker, changing after each turn of the Dark Side. When Dark moves first, the changing squares begin at “C” and initially grow lighter. Moving first, therefore, has the disadvantage of quickly exposing your icons that begin on the changing squares.

At the edges and center of the game board are the five blinking red “Power Points:” one on a perma-light square where the Wizard starts, one on a perma-dark that the Sorceress controls, and three on squares that change color. Often, the entire game revolves around the battle for the three in the middle. Each of the five Power Points protects its square, as well as any icon on it, from being the target of a Spell. They also have healing properties (see the Hit Points and Damage section). Capturing all five wins the game.

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