Quest

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Screenshots - Quest

Quest atari screenshot
Quest atari screenshot
Quest atari screenshot
Quest atari screenshot

Information - Quest

GenreAdventure - RPG (Text)Year1992
LanguageGFA BASICPublisher[no publisher]
ControlsKeyboardDistributor-
Players1Developer[n/a]
ResolutionMedium / HighLicensed from-
Programmer(s)

McNaughton, Ross

CountryUnited Kingdom
Graphic Artist(s)

[unknown]

SoftwareEnglish
Game design

McNaughton, Ross

Box / InstructionsEnglish
Musician(s)

[unknown]

LicensePD / Freeware / Shareware
Sound FX

[unknown]

Serial
Cover Artist(s)ST TypeST, STe / 0.5MB
MIDIVersion1.51
Dumpdownload atari Quest Download / MSANumber of Disks1 / Single Sided
Protection

Additional Comments - Quest

Other versions with the same title:


[no publisher] (version 1.0) (United Kingdom), [no publisher] (version 1.1) (United Kingdom), [no publisher] (version 1.5) (United Kingdom).

Instructions - Quest

                                    QUEST
                                    *****
                              by Ross McNaughton

QUEST  is  a roleplaying game in the hack-and-slay tradition -  that  is,  the 
character development centres around killing monsters and collecting treasure. 
Additional  points  are gained for solving certain objectives,  the  main  one 
being to find (and kill) whatever is at the bottom of the dungeon (getting out 
alive is quite important, too!)


REQUIREMENTS
************
QUEST  will run on any ST in high or medium resolution.  It is  possible  that 
after a long session on a 512K machine,  the game will run out of memory,  but 
provision has been made to save the game and restart if this happens.


STARTING A GAME
***************
The first thing QUEST does is to ask you for the name of a character.  If  the 
name  is  that  of  an existing saved game file,  the  game  will  be  loaded, 
otherwise a new character will be generated.


CHARACTER GENERATION
********************
After entering the character's name, you will be asked to enter a sex and race 
(Human,  Elf,  Dwarf,  Gnome,  Halfling or Half-Orc) for the character,  after 
which the program will generate some stats.  Depending on race and stats,  you 
will be given a choice of character class. If you don't like the choice, there 
is  no option to reroll the stats,  but I have left the break key  (Control-C) 
enabled so you can return to the desktop and try again.

There  are fifteen different  character classes,  each of which has  different 
abilities and starting equipment. They are:

ALCHEMIST: Alchemists are expert with potions and begin the game with several. 
They are quite good at magic use but are poor fighters.
Humans, gnomes and elves may be alchemists.
 
BARBARIAN:  Barbarians  are  the toughest characters in the  game,  with  good 
fighting ability and hit points, but have almost no skill in magic use.
Humans and dwarves may be barbarians.

CLERIC: Clerics are good at using magic but have only average fighting ability 
and hit points.
Humans, elves, halflings and half-orcs may be clerics.

DRUID:  Druids are similar to clerics, although slightly worse at fighting and 
slightly better at magic use.
Only humans may be druids.

FIGHTER:  Fighters  have  slightly lower attack bonuses and  hit  points  than 
barbarians,  but start with a more balanced set of equipment and are not quite 
as useless with magic.
Members of any race may be fighters.
     
ILLUSIONIST:  Illusionists  are very similar to wizards,  but as befits  their 
more specialised magic use, they start with different spells.
Humans, gnomes and elves may be illusionists.

JESTER:  Jesters  have  very  special skills;  they are  skilled  at  throwing 
objects,  at landing safely after a fall,  and also have an unusual amount  of 
luck  which allows a saving throw against dangerous actions such  as  drinking 
harmful potions.
Gnomes and halflings may be jesters.

KNIGHT:  The knight is a very powerful class,  having the same hit points as a 
fighter but better equipment and more skill at magic.  However,  the standards 
for  knighthood  are  very  exacting  and only  a  few  characters  will  have 
statistics which allow this class. 
Humans and elves may be knights.

MONK:  Monks  are experts at hand to hand combat and have a bonus to  hit  and 
damage  when  fighting without a weapon.  They also have good hit  points  and 
reasonable magical skills.
Only humans may be monks.

NINJA:  Ninja are experts with all weapons and receive a bonus to hit with any 
weapon. They start the game with a variety of weapons.
Only humans may be ninja.

PEASANT:  Peasants  are  average  at everything,  and start  the  game  poorly 
equipped.  Peasants  require   no minimum statistics:  they can  be  perfectly 
viable characters,  but if a peasant is the only choice you are offered,  your 
character is probably not good enough to survive very long.
Members of any race may be peasants.

RANGER:  Rangers  have reasonable skill at both fighting and  magic-use.  They 
begin the game with a variety of useful items.
Humans, elves and halflings may be rangers.

SMITH:  Smiths  have  similar abilities to fighters but start  the  game  with 
different equipment.
Humans and dwarves may be smiths.

THIEF:  Thieves are average at both fighting and magic use.  They are adept at 
avoiding  traps and have the advantage of beginning the game with a couple  of 
keys - very useful later in the game.
Members of any race may be thieves.

WIZARD: Wizards are the experts at magic use, and start the game with a couple 
of scrolls, but have poor hit points and little skill at fighting.
Humans and elves may be wizards.

Regardless  of class, characters can improve their skills in all areas as  the 
game  progresses. Advancement is not automatic: you must find the correct room 
and object to increase your level.


THE DUNGEON
***********
The  rooms of the dungeon are described in a similar manner to a  normal  text 
adventure,  starting  with  the  general room  description,  then  a  list  of 
available  exits,  then of monsters in the room and any treasure lying  around 
(all of this assuming you have sufficient light to see what's going on!  Light 
is  not  needed  in the upper levels but it is essential as  you  go  deeper). 
Finally  there is a description of any effect which applies to your  character 
(poisoned, paralysed etc.) and then a prompt asking "What now ?".


MONSTERS
********
There  are  over fifty different monsters in QUEST.  Some have more  than  one 
attack, others have special attacks and defences. You will gradually learn the 
capabilities of each monster; those on the first couple of levels tend to have 
only simple attacks and do minor damage,  as you go further down the  monsters 
get  meaner  and  more imaginitive.  The tougher monsters tend  to  have  more 
treasure.


TREASURE
********
As well as gold, there are 50 different special or magical items which you can 
find as treasure,  including scrolls,  potions, gems and keys. These items are 
initially only identified by their description,  to find out what they do  you 
will  either  have to use them or find some other  method  of  identification. 
However,  unlike  some similar games,  the items are consistent from  game  to 
game,  so  once you've played a few games you should have an idea of  what  at 
least some of the items are.
Depending on your character class,  you may already possess some items at  the 
beginning  of the game,  but you still won't know what they do until  you  try 
them.
Weapons and armour may also be found as treasure. 


COMMANDS
********
QUEST uses 16 commands, all activated by single key presses. They are:

N,S,E,W
Use  these keys to move in the four possible directions.  Available exits  are 
always shown in the room description.

F    FIGHT
Attack a creature in the room.  If you face more than one opponent,  you  must 
kill the first which was generated before you can attack the next.

G    GET
Pick up any treasure or items which are present in the room.

C    CAST A SPELL
Entering  this  command will present you with a list of the  scrolls  you  are 
carrying,  simply choose the one to cast or enter 0 to abort. Spellcasting has 
a chance of failure depending on your character's class and level.

D    DRINK A POTION
Similar to the above command,  you will be shown a list of the potions you are 
carrying and asked to choose which to drink.

U    USE AN ITEM
Again,  this command presents you with a list.  GEMS and KEYS can be used with 
this command. Using a gem will affect either yourself or the room you are in.

T    THROW AN ITEM
GEMS and POTIONS may be thrown,  in which case they will affect any monster in 
the room. Thrown items have a chance of missing, dependent on your character's 
dexterity.

R    READY A WEAPON
This command allows you to change your active weapon. You will be given a list 
of each type of weapon you are carrying and asked to choose one.  If you  have 
more than one weapon of a particular type,  choosing it will ready the  weapon 
of that type with the highest magical 'plus'.

W    WEAR ARMOUR
Similar to the above command, but for armour.

L    LOOK AT INSCRIPTION
Occasionally,  walls or objects in rooms will carry inscriptions. This command 
allows you to read these inscriptions.

Q    QUIT AND SAVE
This  command  saves  your character and  current  position,  then  exits  the 
program. If you wish to quit without saving, use Control-C.

I    INVENTORY
This command shows a full inventory including character status,  active weapon 
and armour and items carried.  This command does not count as a turn,  so  you 
can  examine  your inventory during a fight without giving  your  opponent  an 
extra attack.

?    LIST COMMANDS
This  command displays a list of all available commands.  Does not count as  a 
turn.


MAPPING
*******
Mapping is essential in QUEST.  The map is generated randomly as you play,  so 
it changes for every game.  The map generator treats each location as a square 
of equal size, so squared paper is ideal for mapping. Start the first level in 
the  middle of a sheet:  each level is the same size and shape so once  you've 
mapped the edges of a level you'll know how large each map needs to be.
Don't forget that in a location which reads,  for example,  "stairs lead up to 
the North", moving North will move you both North a square AND up a level. 
Pits always lead to the same square on the next level.
There  are some 'trick' locations which can mess up your mapping.  Apart  from 
these,  the map is completely logical,  so if you move, say, West and then are 
unable to return East, you know you have found a trick location.
DO make a map, there are quite a lot of extra points earned for getting out of 
the dungeon, so knowing where the stairs are is very useful.


THE ENDGAME
***********
When  your  character dies or escapes from the dungeon,  you will be  given  a 
description of the character's performance,  including treasure and experience 
gained and objectives achieved. These achievements will generate a score which 
is also displayed.


MEMORY
******
As  mentioned  earlier,  this game has been known to run out of  memory  on  a 
520ST. I have added a routine which will, if available memory becomes too low, 
allow the player to save the game and quit to the desktop.  This will  release 
the memory back to GEM; the game can then be reloaded and resumed.


HISTORY
*******
Version 0.9, Version 1.0 (1990)
*******************************
These  versions were never released,  0.9 was a version that I knew still  had 
bugs in it and in version 1.0 I soon discovered them!

Version 1.1 (1991)
******************
This  version was released to a PD library but they managed to leave  out  the 
datafile so it wasn't much good for anything!

Version 1.5 (1991)
******************
This was a major rewrite to the monster generation routine,  to try and reduce 
the number of string assignments and thus the memory usage. 

Version 1.51 (1992)
*******************
Naturally,  the new routine introduced a new bug (I hope it was just the one!) 
but with luck, this is the final version. 

Ross McNaughton
4 Davenport Road
Sidcup, Kent
DA14 4PW

30th July 1992
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