NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     battlestar - a tropical adventure game

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     battlestar [-r] [saved-file]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     battlestar is an adventure game in the classic style.  However, it's
     slightly less of a puzzle and more a game of exploration.  There are a
     few magical words in the game, but on the whole, simple English should
     suffice to make one's desires understandable to the parser.

THE SETTING    [Toc]    [Back]

     In the days before the darkness came, when battlestars ruled the heavens...


           Three He made and gave them to His daughters,
           Beautiful nymphs, the goddesses of the waters.
           One to bring good luck and simple feats of wonder,
           Two to wash the lands and churn the waves asunder,
           Three to rule the world and purge the skies with thunder.

     In those times great wizards were known and their powers were beyond
     belief.  They could take any object from thin air, and, uttering the word
     `su' could disappear.

     In those times men were known for their lust of gold and desire to wear
     fine weapons.  Swords and coats of mail were fashioned that could withstand
 a laser blast.

     But when the darkness fell, the rightful reigns were toppled.  Swords and
     helms and heads of state went rolling across the grass.  The entire fleet
     of battlestars was reduced to a single ship.

SAMPLE COMMANDS    [Toc]    [Back]

           take    ---     take an object
           drop    ---     drop an object

           wear    ---     wear an object you are holding
           draw    ---     carry an object you are wearing

           puton   ---     take an object and wear it
           take off --     draw an object and drop it

           throw  <object> <direction>

           !       <shell esc>

IMPLIED OBJECTS    [Toc]    [Back]

           >-: take watermelon
           watermelon:
           Taken.
           >-: eat
           watermelon:
           Eaten.
           >-: take knife and sword and apple, drop all
           knife:
           Taken.
           broadsword:
           Taken.
           apple:
           Taken.
           knife:
           Dropped.
           broadsword:
           Dropped.
           apple:
           Dropped.
           >-: get
           knife:
           Taken.

     Notice that the "shadow" of the next word stays around if you want to
     take advantage of it.  That is, saying "take knife" and then "drop" will
     drop the knife you just took.

SCORE INVEN    [Toc]    [Back]

     The two commands ``score'' and ``inven'' will print out your current status
 in the game.

SAVING A GAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     The command ``save'' will save your game in a file called .Bstar in your
     home directory by default.  You can recover a saved game by using the -r
     option when you start up the game, or by giving the name of the saved
     file as an argument.  Save files will be saved to and restored from your
     home directory unless a path is specified - i.e., ``battlestar -r
     savedgame'' will look for savedgame in your home directory, but
     ``battlestar -r ./savedgame'' will look in the current directory.
     ``battlestar -r'' will look for the default file, .Bstar in your home
     directory.

DIRECTIONS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The compass directions N, S, E, and W can be used if you have a compass.
     If you don't have a compass, you'll have to say R, L, A, or B, which
     stand for Right, Left, Ahead, and Back.  Directions printed in room
     descriptions are always printed in R, L, A,  B relative directions.

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     I wrote Battlestar in 1979 in order to experiment with the niceties of
     the C Language.  Most interesting things that happen in the game are
     hardwired into the code, so don't send me any hate mail about it!
     Instead, enjoy art for art's sake!

AUTHOR    [Toc]    [Back]

     David Riggle

INSPIRATION ASSISTANCE    [Toc]    [Back]

     Chris Guthrie
     Peter Da Silva
     Kevin Brown
     Edward Wang
     Ken Arnold  Company

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

     Countless.

FAN MAIL    [Toc]    [Back]

     Send to edward%[email protected]a, chris%[email protected]a, rig[email protected]a.

BSD                            September 7, 2000                           BSD