APSHAI18: Temple of Apshai 2018! for the TRS-80

Status of Project

Currently WIP. The dungeon is generated and you can move about (a bit). Next step; treasures, monsters, traps etc...

Introduction

APSHAI18 is a redeveloped version of the game "Temple of Apshai" for the TRS-80, inspired by the original, but with some new ideas.

APSHAI18 is a remake in the style of the original, but with many new improvements. Graphically the TRS-80 is really limited and the original game was painfully slow at redrawing the screen.

The remake renders the dungeon in real-time, with dynamic pan and zoom. That's on a real TRS-80, not a modern emulator. Of course you still need to use your imagination as the graphic style is just as limited!

Another great feature of the remake is that the dungeon is generated. The dungeon is different for every game! The placement of treasures, traps and monsters is then intelligently arranged for gameplay.

Installing/Running

Model I

The binary APSHAI18.CAS is a trs-80 model I SYSTEM CAS file, to be loaded through the cassette interface. Load using the following commands:

SYSTEM (enter)
*? (press A enter)

The program will load with flashing asterisks in the top right corner. at the next *? prompt type / (enter).

The program will begin.

Model III

The file APSHAI18.CMD is a binary to put onto a floppy disk and run. Alternatively use the APSHAI18.DSK image of a floppy disk containing APSHAI18/CMD

Model IV/4P

Boot into Model III mode and run as above.

Using an Emulator

If you don't have a real TRS-80 handy, you can run the game in an emulator. There are many excellent emulators around for the machine and even some web based ones.

I use the open source SDLTRS emulator, which is free and you can compile it yourself from scratch. There is a windows binary in the "emu" directory for convenience source code here.

From the src directory, start the emulator like this (see go.bat)

 ..\emu\sdltrs -model 1 -romfile ..\emu\model1.rom -scale 2 -cassette apshai18.cas

SDLTRS may be configured using the menu on F7. F11 is the "turbo" button, which you may find useful for speeding up loading.

For full details see, http://sdltrs.sourceforge.net/

You can also run apshai18 in the emulator under LDOS and LS-DOS. As a model III, run (see go3.bat):

..\emu\sdltrs -model 3 -romfile3 ../emu/model3.rom -scale 2 -disk0 "../emu/ld3-531.dsk" -disk1 "apshai18.dsk" -foreground 0x07e218 

After this command, type APSHAI18 (enter) to run.

Compiling Apshai18

The project is completely free and open source, hosted on github, http://github.com/voidware/apshai18

Get your copy of the source repo with,

git clone https://github.com/voidware/apshai18.git

The project compiles using the Small Device C Compiler (SDCC), which is free and open source, http://sdcc.sourceforge.net

Download and install the SDCC binaries and you're ready to go!

The build uses make (for windows either install cygwin or mingw). To build, go to the src directory and type make.

SDCC generates Intel HEX format "binaries". You need to convert these to TRS80 CAS format. There is a utility in tools/mksys that performs this conversion. There is a windows mksys.exe compiled binary for convenience, otherwise you'll have to compile the mksys.cpp program yourself - which is only the one file with no dependencies.

The conversion from IHX to CAS is done automatically by the makefile using this mksys utility.

Playing The Game

Status Panel

1. ROOM NO. 52
   Current room or corridor.
2. WOUNDS: 100%
   ie. not wounded.
3. FATIGUE: 100%
   ie all endurance available.
4. WGT: 42 LBS
   weight carried
5. MONSTER SLAIN!
   Shows you killed the monster last fought, else blank. Also NOTHING (after search)
6. CRUNCH! status of your last attack. Also SWISH
7. SHIELD HIT!
   Status of your last received attack. Also STRUCK THEE, IT MISSED.
8. ARROWS: 23
   How many arrows.
9. MAG AR: 0
   How many magic arrows.
10. ANT MAN
    Current combat monster.
11. TOTAL SLAIN: 21
    Monsters killed this foray.
12. Additional Info (eg NONE LEFT)

Commands

Key	Description
D	Turn right
A	Turn left
W	Walk forward
S	Walk backwards
T	Thrust
P	Parry
F	Fire normal arrow
M	Fire magic arrow
O	Open door
E	Examine wall for secret door or search for traps if not near a wall
G	Get treasure
D?	Drop some treasure
Q	Hearken (query)
!	Speak with monster
H	Apply healing salve
Y	Drink healing potion

Healing takes a turn

Original APSHAI Commands

Key	Description
0-9	Move forward 0-9 feet
R	Turn right
L	Turn left
V	Turn around (volte-face)
A	Attack
T	Thrust
P	Parry
F	Fire normal arrow
M	Fire magic arrow
O	Open door
E	Examine wall for secret door
S	Search for traps
G	Get treasure
D	Drop some treasure
Q	Hearken (query)
!	Speak with monster
H	Apply healing salve
Y	Drink healing potion

Turning does not take a turn.

Money

• Copper Pieces
• Pieces of silver (= 10 copper)
• Gold coins (= 10 silver)
• Small Diammond (= 50 silver)
• Diamond (= 100 silver)

Equipment

Armour

TYPE	WEIGHT	OFFERED PRICE
LEATHER	9	30
RING MAIL	22	100
CHAIN MAIL	31	150
PARTIAL PLATE	47	250
FULL PLATE	63	1000

Game Design

There are no role playing character attributes such as strength, dexterity etc. Although these were in the original, nobody really played a game with anything less than perfect stats.

The original had 3 "monster speeds" (slow, medium, fast) which served to adjust difficulty. This didn't change the game speed, but instead the time you are given to react.

• Items have weight which affect fatigue.

• Original had 4 dungeon levels, increasing in difficulty.

• Opening Doors?

• Secret doors? Face a wall and search with E

Traps

Type	Levels
Lily	1,4
Needle	1,2
Pit	1,2,4
Spear	1,2,4
Mold	1
Ceiling	2
X-Bow	2
Cave-in	3
Dagger	4
Flame	4

Traps become visible once found with search.

Treasure

Move to location with treasure, press G

Will then display the name of the treasure.

If you find a sword, it is swapped with your current sword providing it is a better weapon.

Magical treasures:

• rings
• swords

Level 1:

Name	Description	Silver Value
T01	Lillies (healing potion)	1
T02	Incense Moss	3
T03	Phosphorescent Algae	5
T04	Mithril (magic) shield	10
T05	Food Algae (2 places)	5
T06	Mushrooms (2 places)	6
T07	Kelp (2 places)	6
T08	4 Gold Pieces	40
T09	6 Arrows with Silver Points	6
T10	5 Small Diamonds (3 places)	250
T11	8 Small Diamonds	400
T12	4 Small Diamonds (3 places)	200
T13	7 Small Diamonds	350
T14	10 Arrows with Silver Points	10
T15	Magic Sword and 2 gold pieces	200
T16	5 Magic arrows	50
T17	Copper Ingot	20
T18	chest with 200 silver pieces and a diamond ring	400
T20	Worthless Items	0

Listening

You can sense the presence of another creature the other side of a wall, if you're close to the wall.

Talking

Speaking with a monster may avoid combat, unless monster has been attacked or it's treasure touched.

Combat

Attack monsters by moving into them (from any direction).

Thrust (T) is an all-out attack. it costs more fatigure.

Parry (P) allows rest during combat.

Fire an arrow. THWUNK

When you're hit, shake screen with wide chars

Death

THOU ART SLAIN

Benedic the cleric found thee, experience xxx, dost wish to re-enter?

Generating the Dungeon

Dungeon Entrance and Exit

Each dungeon will place an entrance door at the bottom left and and exit door at the top right.