Wiznotes

A brief playing guide to the Wizard MegaDisk demo

Note: This file contains details of all items and spell available in the full 
commercial version, and you won't necessarily come across them all in the demo.

The game has three main modes of console which we shall hereafter refer to
as "Normal Mode", "Inventory Mode" and "Big-View Mode".  The game commences in
Normal Mode.

Movement is via keyboard or by holding down the left mouse button while the cursor 
is in the view window.

Normal Mode Icons
=================
Icon				Left button		Right button		Keyboard
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Face icons			Give carried		Select char's		F1-F4
				item to char 		inventory
								and enter/leave
								Inventory Mode

Hand Icons 		Take/Give/Swap		Shoot bow, drink
(above or below		item carried		potion, cast scroll
a character's		with item in 		cast wand/staff/ring,
face icon)			hand.				eat food,take gold

Name Boxes		Select char's book and spell
(below faces)		ready for casting or selection			F5-F8
				of another spell via the book

Spell Name Box 		Cast currently named spell of
(above book)		current spell character

Spell Book			Select/Deselect		Turn page
				a spell

Crossed Swords		Enter combat		Enter combat
								and cast all		Space Bar
								selected spells

Compass			Enter Mapdisplay	Enter Big-View Mode 	F9/F10

Continuous Area 	Interrogate a		Cancel a
(darkened box		continuous			continuous
just beneath the		effect spell		effect spell
view window)


Inventory Mode
==============
Selecting a character's face with the right mouse button or pressing F1-F4 will
enter or leave Inventory Mode.  Inventory Mode is very similar to Normal Mode.
The main difference is that you have access to more of your party's inventories
than just the hands.

There are sixteen inventory slots assigned to each of the four characters.  The
first six of these are reserved for armour types; helmets, armour, gloves,
shields, boots, amulets.  An item in one of these special slots is deemed to be
equipped/worn etc.  Amulets tend to enhance a character in some way.

The other two slots on the top line of the inventory are duplicates of the
character's hands.  An item in the hand will also be accessible here and vice
versa.

Clicking on item slots in the inventory will take/give/swap the item if the
left mouse button is used.  The right mouse button is for shooting a bow,
drinking a potion, casting a scroll, casting a ring/wand/staff, eating food,
stashing a bag of gold.  Bows, rings, wands, staves may only be used (right
mouse) when in a character's hands (or hand slots)

Common keys and arrows behave a little differently.  They can be pooled
into clumps of upto ninety-nine.  Typically, the left mouse button will take a
whole pile while the right mouse button will take only one or will take one
more.  To shoot a bow, the bow and the arrows to be used must be in the
character's hands.  The bow is used automatically in combat along with all
other normal weapons.

There are further icons available in Inventory Mode.  The compass behaves
as in Normal Mode to access either the map or Big-View Mode.  The crossed
swords is as before to launch either normal combat or normal plus magical
combat.  The continuous effect area has been obscured and a new one now exists
just beneath the character's faces.

Further available icons are Options, Stats Display, Exit Inventory,
Pool/Share Gold, Change Current Inventory.

The icon beneath the crossed swords will display the current character's
stats.  This comes in two pages.  Use the left mouse button to toggle between
the pages and the right mouse to regain the bank of icons.  Here you are able
to see a character's experience and how hungry/fed a character is.  The levels
of food satiation are Starving, Ravenous, Famished, Hungry, Peckish, Fed, Full,
Replete, Glutted, Stuffed.  There is no point feeding a stuffed character.  A
character who is starving will not heal normally.  The better fed a character
is the faster the character will recover any vitality lost during play.  The
characters begin the game full.

Experience is gained during play.  All characters receive equal experience
unless dead.  A dead character will not receive experience.  Experience enables
a character to "make a level break".  This will make a character more powerful
and grant extra spells.  Mages gain extra spells at every level break; Rangers
gain spells at every even level; Assassins gain spells on every level divisible
by three, Warriors gain spells at every level divisible by four.

Level breaks are gained when a character has attained the following totals
and will only be granted during sleep.
Level  2		2000
Level  3		6000
Level  4		2000
Level  5		25000
Level  6		40000
Level  7		60000
Level  8		80000
Level  9		110000
Level 10		140000
Level 11		170000
Level 12		200000
Level 13		230000
Level 14		270000
Level 15		310000

Big-View Mode
=============
You can enter Big-View Mode either by clicking with the right mouse on the
compass icon (either from Normal Mode or from Inventory Mode) or by pressing
F10 on the Keyboard.  Fewer icons are available in Big-View Mode but those
remaining are adequate for most of the time.  Big-View Mode is really only
recommended for faster machines although speed may be adequate on mid-range
machines if the detail is turned down (by pressing the Tab key to select one of
three settings or see Options below).

The icons available in Big-View Mode are (as above) the face icons, the
hand icons, crossed-swords icon, spell name icon, name boxes.  It is
recommended that any required spells are selected prior to entering Big-View
Mode as the book is not available.  You may leave Big-View Mode by pressing F10
or by clicking on a face icon with the right mouse which will enter Inventory
Mode with the selected character's inventory.

As with Normal Mode and Inventory Mode, dropping items on to a character's
face with the left button will deposit the item into the character's inventory.
The character will automatically equip armour/amulets if it/they are of a 
higher value than already worn, eg. if a character is currently wearing 
leathers and you drop chain mail into his inventory he will remove the leathers, 
which will be available on the pointer for redistribution..

The continuous effect area is now on the bottom line just beneath the
right-most face and hand icons.

Miscellany
==========
Next to the face icons are two bars, the yellow one indicates current hit-
points as a measure of current maximum and the purple bar is spell points.

The horizontal blue bar is the current vitality of the character whose book and
spell are currently selected.  The more blue the better.  A character has more
difficulty casting a spell when low on vitality.  The character's food level
determines the rate of vitality recovery.  Holding an item called Angrath's
Heart will also boost vitality recovery.

Game detail is selectable from the Tab key or from Options (see below).
Gameplay is in no way compromised by reducing detail but the speed gain may be
significant.  Slower machines may require the lowest detail setting and not
find Big-View Mode at all comfortable.

A gamesave to RAM may be effected from the R key.

Beds
=====
During dungeon exploration, you will find beds.  Click on a bed with the right
mouse to send your party to sleep.  The party will always wake up hungrier than
they were before sleeping unless they are already starving.  Sleep allows much
increased recovery rates of spell points and hit-points and only during sleep
may a character gain levels or learn new spells.  Note that a starving
character will not heal hit-points.

If a character is due to learn a spell then the gods of magick will visit
the character during sleep.  Click on a god to select its class of spells.
Follow any prompts.  Any gold required will be taken first from the character
gaining the spell and then from the rest of the party if that character is too
poor.

Shops
=====
There are several shops selling items and consumables.  They are invariably
tucked away in alcoves behind wooden doors with signs scribbled on the wall
outside.  Opening the door will enter the shop.

The shop has two pages of shelves which may each be accessed by clicking on
the arrows above the shelves.  Clicking on exit shop will leave the shop.
Clicking on an item on a shelf with the left mouse will ask the shopkeeper for
a price.  Clicking with the right mouse will purchase the item if the character
whose inventory is active has sufficient funds.  The Pool/Share gold icon will
be of help during shopping.  Clicking on the shopkeeper while carrying an item
with the left mouse will ask the shopkeeper for a price; using the right mouse
will sell the item.  The shopkeeper almost always makes a profit and is not
prepared to haggle.  Any rings/wands/magical-staves bought from the shopkeeper
will be fully charged so you may wish to sell an item and then buy it back in
order to recharge it.  The shopkeeper will add any non-consumable item to the
shop's inventory if there is free shelf-space so that you may buy the item back
at a later time.  If the shelves are full, the item will be discarded.  Note
that the item may go to the other page of the shop's shelf-space.

Regen-Chambers
===============
You will find regeneration chambers from time to time.  Their location may well
be worth noting.  Entering a regen chamber will bring any dead party members
back to life.

Action Cursor
============
While the mouse cursor is not within the view window, the cursor will be a
pointing hand.  Use the very tip of the graphic to access any icons.  In the
view window, the cursor can take two forms; the pointing hand or the
grabbing/action hand.

While the cursor is a pointing hand a click in the view window with the
right mouse will aim and cast any spell currently selected.  While it is the
grabbing/action cursor you may: pick up items from the floor; open doors; use
levers or buttons; remove some special items from walls.

You may also carry items in the hand.  While you are carrying an item, the
cursor will change to show what is carried.  Clicking with the right mouse in
the view window while carrying an item will: drop the item; throw the item;
attempt to use the item (key) to unlock a door.

Spell Casting
=============
Spells may be cast in one of four ways: right mouse on the crossed swords icon,
which will also initiate combat (space bar is a duplicate of this function);
clicking on the spell name icon; clicking with the right mouse on an item in a
character's hand or inventory (scrolls only); by clicking with the right mouse
in the view window (this will also aim the spell where applicable).  If a spell
is not aimed, the character will do the aiming.  Characters are often more
accurate than you are.

Spells
======
Green Spells - Earth Magic
Armour		Continous spell, boosts armour class (AC).
Healing		Heals some damage from whole party. Tires caster greatly.
Paralyze		Freezes a monster temporarily.
Levitate		Prevents falling down pits and protects from firepaths.
Warpower		Continuous spell, boosts combat ability.
Arc Bolt		Damage spell. An arc bolt will bounce from walls
Renew		Restore all lost hit points. Exhausts the caster.
Formwall		Creates a wall. Cancelled by casting another in same place.

Yellow Spells - Chaos Magic
Deflect		Continuous spell, protects from missile fire. Short lived.
Terror		Causes monsters to flee in panic.
Antimage		Continuous spell, protects from magical attack.
Regen		Continuous spell, heals and returns from the dead
Ethblade		Creates a weapon in a free hand. Allows double attacks.
Spelltap		Will reduce a monsters magic ability. If the party is hit
			with spelltap then all continuous effect icons will be
			cancelled and the party will lose spell points.
Vivify 		Returns dead characters to life.
Disrupt		Damage spell.

Red Spells - Dragon Magic
Missile		Damage spell. The party can defend with Deflect
Torch		Creates light
Fireward		Creates a ward.
Dispell		Removes firepath and illusory walls
Fireball		Damage spell.
Firepath		Creates firepath locations.
Recharge		Will recharge items. Exhausts the caster.
Inferno		Damage spell with knock-on fireballs.

Purple Spells - Night Magic
Confuse		Will cause a monster to fumble around.
Phaze		Limited teleport. Will leap over monsters often spinning you
			to turn and face the monsters' backs.
Suspend		Will float the party away from danger. Cancelled by any
			right mouse click in the view window or by any attempt to
			cast an aggressive spell.
Trueview		Continuous spell, sees through illusory walls and gives the
			effect of great light.
Wizeye		Exploration spell.
Mindrock		Creates illusory walls
Wychwind		Damage spell to fore, aft and sides.
Mindrage		Damage any monster in clear view. Exhausts the caster.

The cost in spell points to cast a spell depends on a character's ability as a
magic user and how tired the character is (vitality bar).  A spell will always
cost at least one point and will have greatest effect if cast when the
character is fully rested (vitality bar on full).  If the cost of a spell is
greater than one then waiting for the character to recover will not increase
the effectiveness of the spell but will reduce the cost of the spell.  Being
fed speeds a character's recovery rate.  Casting a spell tires the character as
reflected by the vitality bar.  The Amber Amulet greatly reduces the tiredness
due to casting many of the spells.  At later levels character's can effectively
machine-gun their damage spells at the hapless foe.

Potions/Items
==============
Hedjog Venom		Restores full hit points
Moon Elixir		Restore full spell points
Phoenix Broth		Restore full hit points and spell points
Chymera Blood		Boosts hit points even to above maximum
Power Potion 		Boosts spell points even to above maximum
Dragon Ale			Permanent intelligence plus one
Orc's Vomit		Permanent strength plus one

Snake Staff		Arc Bolt spell
Firestaff			Inferno spell
Grim Reaper		Disrupt spell
Power Staff		Wychwind spell
Sun Staff			Casts all continuous effect spells
Cloud Staff		Mindrock spell
Serpent Wand		Renew spell
Dragon Wand		Fireball spell
Night Wand		Confuse spell
Chaos Wand		Antimage spell
Amber Wand		Missile spell
Cloud Wand		Suspend spell
Serpent Ring		Warpower spell
Chaos Ring			Deflect spell
Dragon Ring		Fireward spell
Night Ring			Phaze spell
Cloud Ring			Trueview spell
Moon Ring			Regen spell
Amber Ring		Armour spell

Scrolls and rings/wands/staves will have greater effect if cast by the highest
level character with the highest intelligence.

Options
=======
You may enter the Options menu by hitting the Esc key during play or by
clicking on the options icon in Inventory Mode.

You may have upto five active gamesaves, each represented by a small image
of the view window at the time of making the gamesave.  Save and Load are
pretty obvious.  A save description must be terminated with Enter/Return.  Esc
will clear the name or abort the save without modifying the disk.  RamRestore
will restore the last position from RAM.  This is done automatically after
party death.  Save to RAM is done during play by pressing the "R" key and is
done automatically on loading a previous gamesave.  Note that making a gamesave
does not affect your RAMsave position.  Note that your RAMsave is lost when you
quit the game; switch off your machine; have a power cut etc.

Quit to Dos will return you to Dos.  Please ensure that you have made a
gamesave should you wish later to resume from your current position.

Mouse speed is selectable at three settings.  The default setting is the
middle one.

Game detail is selectable at three settings.  Note that a reductions in
detail does not compromise gameplay.  The default setting is maximum.  The
middle setting will disable the display of the ceiling during play.  The lowest
setting will disable both floor and ceiling.  The TAB key allows detail
selection during play.

The larger view in the bottom left corner is your current position.  This
is updated after a LOAD from disk or after a RamRestore.  Return to game will
return you to play.

Map
====
The game map can be accessed by pressing F9 on the keyboard or by clicking with
left mouse on the compass (not available in Big-View Mode).  Your current
position and direction are indicated by a small blue arrow.  Note that while
viewing the map, the game is effectively paused.

Clicking on the map icon in the top right corner of the screen will allow
you to view maps from other towers throughout the game.  Up/Down icons will
allow you to view other level of the currently selected tower/dungeon and the
purple exit icon will return you to play.

Combat
=======
Combat in Wizard! is partially automated to leave you free to manipulate your
party, its inventory and select and cast spells.  Archers will get on with
aiming and firing arrows and the characters will keep hitting at anything in
range.  Combat will be cancelled if the characters find that the monsters are
out of range.  Monsters will hit at the closest character so you can often
provide yourself with a short respite by turning your party to present the
best-healed or best-armoured character to the attacking monster.  Note that it
is not possible to rearrange your party order once into the game.  This can
only be done during character select.

Movement Keys
==============
Movement is via mouse holding the left button with the cursor in the view
window or via keyboard.

				Left Keys		Right Keys		Cursor Keys
---------------------------------------------------------------
Normal Forward 		S			Keypad 5		None
Turn Left			A 			Keypad 4 		Cursor Left
Turn Right			D			Keypad 6		Cursor Right
Fast Forward		W			Keypad 8		Cursor Up
Fast Turn Left		Q			Keypad 7		None
Fast Turn Right		E			Keypad 9		None
Move Left			Z 			Keypad 1		None
Move Right			C			Keypad 3		None
Move Backwards		X			Keypad 2		Cursor Down

