Space Lords: Centaurus

multiplayer breakout game for Commodore 64, 2012

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An action-packed party game in space for up to 4 players.

Four Space Lords battle for supremacy in their galaxy. Everyone has a space
station on the edge of the great spiral nebula. In order to protect their own
stations the lords try to move their shields to reflect the glowing plasma
balls which they hurl against each other. If the station is hit despite
resistance individual segments will burn until it eventually provides no
protection for the Lord. If a Space Lord is then hit by a plasma ball which
got through the station he loses a life. The game runs until a single lord
remains, who thus receives the golden crown of the galaxy.

Keys:
Keyboard Player: [ , ] = left [ / ] = right [ C= ] = action

During the game: [ RUN/STOP ] or [ Q ] = pause on/off
Title screen: [ RUN/STOP ] or [ Q ] = show/hide highscore list
Always: press longer [ RUN/STOP ] or [ Q ] = game reset

If there are not enough players available the other Space Lords are controlled
by AI (artificial intelligence), so there are always four active opponents
playing.

Start:

To start the game, the first player must press the fire button of their input
device and move the controller in any direction. This action is needed by the
game to recognize the used input device automatically. The other players do
the same, to join the game. The first player will be assigned to the lower
left space station, the other players are placed counterclockwise to the
space station. In contrast to the respective positions, the Space Lords are
assigned by random. The number of the control port and a symbol of the
detected controller (paddle, joystick, keyboard or mouse) is displayed for
each player in their corner. There is a microchip symbol for AI controlled
Lords.

After the controller detection and alien assignment each player is presented
with a terminal in their corner which gives them the ability to replace the
default alien name (ARC, PEX, WOR and XYM) with a custom three letter
initial. To finish the name input press the OK check mark in the lower right
corner of the virtual keyboard.

After name entry, the first player is presented with three possible game
options to select from:

SCORE HIGH: 3 game rounds. After each completed round, a bronze, a silver and
a gold crown will be distributed. Finally, the crown and the survived time
are evaluated and awarded an overall winner on the podium. The round display
is in the form of 3 rings on the left side. Only in this variant, points are
scored and the highscore is stored.

LIVE LONG: Each player has 3 lives (which are shown near the border as
hearts). If a Space Lord lost a life it's taken off and his space station
rebuilt, while the other players continue to play without interruption. If
you have used up all 3 lives, you're ruled out. Until all players have lost
(except the last) their lives, the game is over. The place on the podium
shows how long a player has survived, compared to its rivals.

PLAY ONCE: Only one round with the subsequent ceremony (no points). Optimal
for quick games or a competition for many players by knockout system.

How to play:

The game begins when all inputs are complete. In the center of the spiral
nebula appears a transport aircraft which yields a plasma ball. Players must
try to deflect the ball with their shields so that it does not hit their own
space station and is instead hurled toward a possible opponent (changing the
rebound angle by varying the position of the shield to the ball). Plasma
balls bounce off the shields, from the space stations (after generating a
loss) and from field-edges.

If a plasma ball hits a space station the segment touched burns and the ball
bounces off. In this situation you should make sure that you do not cover the
path with your shield because otherwise the ball immediately bounces off the
shield back to the station and thus increases the damage quickly.

If the plasma ball causes no harm for some time it will be accelerated. The
speed is reduced if it hits a space station. After some time additional
plasma balls are put into play. These are, as the first ball, carried by a
cargo spacecraft from the center of the spiral nebula into play. The new
plasma ball only begins to fly if triggered by another ball flying very close
by, the spacecraft flies away when a timer expires. Up to 4 plasma ball will
be in the game - a single ball will disappear when it hits a Space Lord.

End of game:

The game ends when only one player (after one or three rounds) is alive. The
stations will be restored and in the middle a winner's podium will be
displayed. Here the players are awarded with bronze crown (3rd place), silver
crown (2nd place) and gold crown (winner).

Round end with warp mode:

When at the end of a round there are only AI controlled Space Lords active, it
will be switched into warp mode to finish the game as quickly as possible and
yet to determine ranking. The space stations will no longer bounce the plasma
balls off and they are launched much faster.

Scoring:

In the game mode SCORE HIGH the gold crown is worth 3,000 points, the silver
crown brings 1,500 points and the bronze crown 750 points. In addition,
depending on total time a player is in the game about 2,000 points are
distributed to all Space Lords, so when there is a tie due to crowns this
acts as a tie breaker, declaring the player who lasted longest in the game as
the winner.

In the modes LIVE LONG and PLAY ONCE the player who has survived the longest
wins and thus is awarded the gold crown. The other players get their places
according to their crowns, points are not awarded.

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Some useful keyboard shortcuts
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       [PAUSE] - stop/continue game
          [F9] - quick load game state
         [F12] - quick save game state (still stored after leaving the site)
         [F10] - toggle performance meter
         [F11] - toggle fullscreen mode
  [ScrollLock] - quick switch control ports
    [PageDown] - make a screenshot (320x200)