2.11BSD/man/cat6/battlestar.0
Printed 11/24/99 1
BATTLESTAR(6) UNIX Programmer's Manual BATTLESTAR(6)
NAME
battlestar - a tropical adventure game
SYNOPSIS
battlestar [ -r (recover a saved game) ]
DESCRIPTION
_B_a_t_t_l_e_s_t_a_r is an adventure game in the classic style. How-
ever, 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
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
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 top-
pled. 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
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>
Printed 11/24/99 1
BATTLESTAR(6) UNIX Programmer's Manual BATTLESTAR(6)
IMPLIED OBJECTS
>-: take watermellon
watermellon:
Taken.
>-: eat
watermellon:
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
The two commands "score" and "inven" will print out your
current status in the game.
SAVING A GAME
The command "save" will save your game in a file called
"Bstar." You can recover a saved game by using the "-r"
option when you start up the game.
DIRECTIONS
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
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!
Printed 11/24/99 2
BATTLESTAR(6) UNIX Programmer's Manual BATTLESTAR(6)
AUTHOR
David Riggle
INSPIRATION & ASSISTANCE
Chris Guthrie
Peter Da Silva
Kevin Brown
Edward Wang
Ken Arnold & Company
BUGS
Countless.
FAN MAIL
Send to edward%ucbarpa@Berkeley.arpa,
chris%ucbcory@berkeley.arpa, riggle.pa@xerox.arpa.
Printed 11/24/99 3