                      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
                        Legend of Saladir V0.24

                             Bugfix release V0.24

                      (C) Erno Tuomainen 1997/1998
                      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


*********
INTROITUS
*********


Quick note:
Yeah right, the last release I uploaded 22th of January contained ver
bad bugs in hp regeneration and in other places to. I had to make an
urgent bugfix release so that the game would be a BIT more playable. I
hope there're not that many bugs anymore.



The game now starts to look much better (atleast from MY point of view).
It's now pretty easy to add things because most of the basic things are
ready or nearing complete. One major thing in my mind is the spell
system. I haven't started making any scroll or potion items because I
want to implement a working spell system first.

When the spell system works, I can use those same spells as potion or
scroll effects. It would make some things easier, and prettier because
there wouldn't be too many systems inside the main game engine.

But okay, without any more words, go and check out this version and tell
me how you like it.

I would really like to hear about the speed system, and also about how
"fair" the game is. Is it playable in it's current state. Monster and
item stuff is not very balanced at the moment, but I will modify things
when time gives me a chance.

Comments can forwarded to me via email: ernomat@evitech.fi


P.S. This document will eventually evolve into Legend of Saladir Manual.
Hopefully.



*****************
STARTING THE GAME
*****************

Start the game from the same directory where SALADIR.EXE and
OUTWORLD.MAP are located.


When starting, Saladir will make a temporary directory called TEMPDATA
under the same directory where SALADIR.EXE is located. The game will use
this directory to store temporary data like already visited levels and
such stuff. The directory will be cleaned when game exits to DOS.

After Saladir has loaded, you will be prompted for a name. If you have
difficulties thinking names for your character, like I do, you can just
press enter and let it create a unique name for you. Try my
"Name-o-Matic". :)



*********************
ABOUT GAME PLOT/GOALS
*********************

There isn't any, YET! This is under development. The plan is to make
this game very much QUEST based. There will be many types of guilds
where you could get some quests. But before that, I have much to do with
the main game engine and RPG-system. Spells and skills are another major
thing to concentrate first.

Please join to the mailinglist (check below) and we can discuss
everything closely.



*************************
ABOUT HITPOINTS AND ARMOR
*************************

Legend of Saladir has a "specialized" way to handle hitpoints. Player
has five slots where these hitpoints are located. These slots are, Head,
Left hand, Right hand, Body (chest) and legs (both legs in one slot).

Your brave adventurer will die if the Head or Body hitpoints go below
(or to) zero. Also he/she will die if the total hitpoints, all slots
calculated together fall below (or to) zero. So DON'T be get confuzed if
your adventurer dies even the HP-value on the left side of the screen
displays value over 0.

Beware in combat, it's good to watch your slot hitpoints (ehm,
slotpoints?) because if your hand hitpoints fall to zero you will not be
able to fight anymore. Also walking is impossible with broken feet.
Protect your head and body properly, they are the most vital parts of
your body.

Armor will aid you in this. Some armor slots will protect many parts of
the body. For example, if you're wearing a magical cloak it will protect
your whole body and gloves with other hand armor will protect your hands
and arms.

This system is really in experimental phase, let's see if it works and
what modifications it will need.

Press 'A' during game to get your armor status
Press 'H' to get your hitpoint status, detailed

Hitpoint regeneration happens when enough time has passed.

Regeneration starts from the HEAD, if head has lost hitpoints it will
first regenerate to full and then the next slots will start regenerating
in this order:

        HEAD
        BODY
        RIGHT HAND
        LEFT HAND
        LEGS

It's not very good system, but I had to make it in a hurry. If I decide
to keep this regeneration system, I will make this order selectable by
you. So you could select which part of your body regenerates first. But
most probably there will be something else since I don't like this
system at all. :-)




********************************
ABOUT TIME AND CALENDAR AND FOOD
********************************

This version has a time and calendar built in. The calendar measures the
time passed in the world of Salmorria (The land where Saladir takes
place).

Every move your character makes takes a certain amount of time. If you
are adventuring in the wilderness then time goes faster when moving
around the map. This is because one dungeon grid is much smaller than
one grid in the wilderness map. So, beware also that food will go faster
when you're hunting wolfes in the wilderness.

You can access the calendar and passed time with 'T' and 't'.

In Saladir, your food usage is measured in remaining time counter. When
you eat, you will get some more time to the counter. When the counter
reaches zero you will die. Simple.

When you are absolutely full and can't eat anything, you are BLOATED and
then you have 12 hours until you starve to death. OKAY, I know that in
real world almost everyone can last MUCH longer, but there has to be
some considerations on the game balance. This is something I need your
comments on. Please, how does it feel in game play?


*******
WEAPONS
*******

If you use have equipped two weapons in both of your hands, remember
that the RIGHT hand will attack first and the LEFT hand weapon will be
used if there is enough time left for your turn.

If you equip a two handed weapon you will not be able to use your other
hand.

If your hand gets enough damage in combat, your weapons will drop and
you can't use your hand until it has healed.



*********
MATERIALS
*********

In the Salmorrian Mountains there are many caves and dungeons, and those
are filled with many types of items. Every item has a material (well
almost every item) it's made from. Some materials are better, some are
worse. Some materials are more valuable than the others and some
materials are better in combat, lasting longer and giving more
protection and damage. Naturally, most valuable materials are founded
less often. So when you find something special, take it away, it might
not be there next time you pass by.



*****************
TORCHES AND LIGHT
*****************

Some areas in the world doesn't have light so you must bring it with
you. Unlit rooms can be very dangerous for careless adventurers. (I can
say that with experience)

You must be wielding the light for it to work. The lantern must be in
your left or right hand.

In this version you don't have to light the lantern, it will be done for
you. And another gimmick of this version, light doesn't burn out.



********
MONSTERS
********

This version doesn't have too many types of monsters, but I hope they
give you a good fight.

You can get some information by looking at the monster with 'l'-key.



*****************
CLASSES AND RACES
*****************

In this version you can select a class, but it doesn't have ANY effect
other than the name of the class is displayed in the bottom of the
screen. Class modifiers are yet to be done.

You always play human race for now.



*****************
KEYBOARD COMMANDS
*****************

The action keys are:
  c     Close a door
  d     Drop item from your backpack
  e     Eat something from the ground or from backpack
  i     Inventory of items in backpack
  l     Look around the visible area
  o     Open a door
  p     Show the last displayed message
  w     Walk mode, press direction to start moving
  q     Equip items, also equipped item list
  t     Show current Salmorrian time.
  z     Cast a spell (is not working properly for now)
  A     Show armor class for body parts (hitpoint absorb)
  C     Chat with monster
  E     Show experience needed to raise a level
  H     Show hitpoints for body parts
  Q     Quit game
  R     Redraw screen
  T     Show playtime
  V     Show version
  ,     Get
  ?     Online command help
  \     Configuration options (Also ALT+O)
        use ? or LIST to get configuration info
  :m    Show all messages in the buffer
  <     Go upstairs
  >     Go downstairs
  5     wait/stand still
  .     wait/stand still

Direction keys (cursors) and the keypad numbers can be used for movement




******************************
LEGEND OF SALADIR MAILING LIST
******************************

My brother has kindly put up a mailinglist for my game. If you are
interested in the development of this game, want to give some feedback
or just chat with others playing The Legend of Saladir then please sign
in.

Write message to saladir-request@japeteus.keltti.jyu.fi

And in the message body use this sentence with your email-address of
course.

subscribe saladir <Your email>

Include 'digest' if you want to get one days messages in one single package.




**********************************************
WHERE CAN I FIND LATEST VERSIONS OF THIS GAME?
**********************************************

Check the public (anon) ftp at:

        japeteus.keltti.jyu.fi /saladir

or go to my homepage, downloads section at

        www.evitech.fi/~ernomat/index.html


******************
THANKS AND CREDITS
******************

 This part is to be a place for thank yous and credits for this game.
 Currently it's not very big but here are the persons I owe much.

 More personal thanks to the following persons (and cats):

 o Thomas "The very corrupted adventurer" Biskup

        Yes, dude, it's you who helped me when I was starting this game.
        Remember those awfull questions about some particular coding
        stuff. It really helped a lot.

        Also, I think it's VERY noticeable that my game looks similar to
        ADOM in many parts. I've tried NOT TO COPY anything but I really
        like ADOM very much and I play it very much too. I want to make
        some things like ADOM does. Thanks for making such a great game
        like Ancient Domains of Mystery is.

 o William Tanksley

        For providing a really great random number generator for my
        roguelike game. Life would be a pain without your routine.
 
 o Darren Hebden, the roguenews guy.

        Thank you for posting announcements of my game to your news
        page! Also thanks for many nice ideas you posted on the
        mailinglist.

 o Jarno "da lil'bro" Tuomainen

        For being my wictim in the test process. Countless times I've
        sent him new versions of Saladir and countless times has he
        tested them with his NT-machine. Thanks, and please be my victim
        in the future too.

 o Suvi

        My girlfriend who doesn't get mad even I stay up almost the
        whole night with my computer.

 o Inka and Natasha

        My two female cats who have accompanied my lonely coding nights
        by sitting on my lap. Meoww..

 Thanks for nice ideas and other suggestions for Saladir: (in
 alphabetical order):

	Chris Allcock.
	Douglas Goodall, 
	Rune Jarns,
	Jarno Tuomainen

	(list hopefully growing...)


***********************
HISTORY - Is there any?
***********************

  Urgent bugfix version V0.24  22.01.1998

  These SHOULD be fixed now:
  - You can now fight when your legs are in bad condition.
  - Hp regeneration now generates damaged parts semi randomly.
  - Hp regeneration restores the damage condition of damaged
    bodyparts to OK when hitpoints raise above 0.
  - Configuration variable HEALTHALARM now acts as a percentage
    value for EACH bodypart which has hitpoints. When hp goes
    below this percentage of the maximum hitpoints of that part you
    will get a warning.
  - There were several output leaks in Equip screen when bodypart
    was damaged.
  - Items should be dropped correctly when hand damages.
  - Monsters should not be generated to players location.
  - Tempfiles should now be deleted when game exits.


  Version 0.23  22.01.1998
  ------------------------
  This version has a lot of new stuff and bugfixes.

  - Currently pretty limited, but working Monster inventories
    similar to the player inventory system.
    Currently they only pick the items up, and they can sense
    the level for items, think something about items value etc.
  - Level memory, already visited levels are remembered!
    including monsters, items and level for now
  - New speed system with SPEED attribute for each being!
  - Separate materials for armor and other stuff.
  - Terrain effects, like how terrain slows your movement down etc.
    Some terrain can even make your movement faster (like road)
  - Weapons get older in use, different behaviour with materials.
  - Levels are no more so populated with rare items.
  - New dungeon level types and room templates (ie Lairs/Zoos)
  - Random name generator.
  - 2 weapon combat (player only for now)
  - Armor now works see the next place
  - New hitpoints system, eventually this will be for all monsters
    also, but for now only player has this:
    Hitpoints are "divided" into five slots, Head, Left/Light hand,
    Body and Legs, body has always the greatest hitpoints.
    Player will die if the total hitpoints (all five slots calculated
    together) or HEAD or BODY will fall below or to zero.
    It's not very good at the moment but I will try to make it better.
    Regeneration is a bit dumb for now, but I will think of something.
  - Light items added, they can be used too.
  - Line-of-sight got some bugs bashed while I was making the darkness
  - effect.
  - New improved LOOK command (l).
  - Level advancing works somehow, currently it uses the experience
    system, but I will try to think something extra for that.
    (only hitpoints get upgraded from level advance for now)
  - Monster race descriptions for all races currently in the game.
  - Output has been tidyed up a bit again
  - Some new items and monsters
  - Dark rooms and darkness generally
  - More configuration options and other minor tidbits.
  - And finally, the save-feature is nearing completion :-)


  Version 0.20 - 16.01.1998
  -------------------------
  - Some of the new features added to this version are:

  - Online help
  - Female or male players and monsters
  - Equipping items
  - Gold, silver and copper coins
  - World time and calendar (including timers:)
  - Player and monster regeneration (hitpoints)
  - Piled items can be taken and dropped one by one
  - Game configuration options (not saved yet)
  - Food usage, starvation
  - Equipped weapons are used in battle now...
  - Dragonscale weapons are not possible anymore :-)

    + many bugfixes

Version 0.17
  - This was the first public release.
  - Nothing much to say, it's prehistoric



****************
IMPORTANT NOTICE
****************

Although this program is NOT developed to be harmfull, I must state that
I am not responsible for any damages caused by this program. If you
execute this program, you take all the responsibility.



******************
AUTHOR INFORMATION
******************

Legend of Saladir is being programmed by Erno Tuomainen and I can be
contacted at the following addresses:

Homepage:       www.evitech.fi/~ernomat/index.html
my email:       ernomat@evitech.fi

snail mail:     Erno Tuomainen
                Serkustentie 1 G 62
                00430 HELSINKI
                FINLAND

        --------------------------------------------------------
                  END OF LEGEND OF SALADIR PRE-MANUAL
