Archon

Description

Archon is visually very similar to chess, but with a number of significant changes.

While the board is similar to a chessboard and the various pieces are similarly designed to have various offsetting abilities, when one piece attempts to take another the removal of the targeted piece is not automatic. Instead, the two pieces are placed into a full-screen 'combat arena' and must battle (arcade-style, with the players running the pieces) to determine who takes the square.

Generally (but not always) in combat, a stronger piece will succeed over a weaker piece in either defending or capturing a square. It is also possible for the fight to result in a double-kill, in which both pieces are eliminated. This uncertainty adds a level of complexity into the game, since it is not always possible to predict if taking a square will be successful.

Each character's strength is also affected by the colour of the square on which the combat occurs and by a light-and-dark cycle on the 'neutral' squares, indicated by the changing colour of the board. The 'light' side is stronger on the white squares and during the light cycle, and the 'dark' side is stronger on the dark squares and during the dark cycle.

Different pieces have different abilities in the combat phase. These include movement, lifespan, and weapon damage & attributes. The weapons vary by range, speed, "reload time" and the amount of damage inflicted on an opponent. For example, the pawn (represented by knights on the 'light' side and goblins on the 'dark' side) moves quickly, but has very little strength; its weapon, a sword or club, has limited reach and power. A dragon is considerably faster and can fire a powerful projectile blast, while a golem moves slowly and fires a slow but powerful boulder.

Some pieces have special abilities. The Phoenix can turn into a ball of fire, both damaging the enemy and shielding itself from enemy attacks. The shapeshifter assumes the shape and abilities of whatever piece it is up against.

Each side also has a spellcaster piece (the Sorceress for the dark side, the Wizard for the light side) which can cast seven different spells; each spell may be used only once per game by each spellcaster. The spells are:

• Teleport - teleports one of your pieces to any square.
• Heal - fully heals one piece.
• Shift Time - reverses the light/dark cycle.
• Exchange - swaps the board locations of any two pieces.
• Summon Elemental - summons one of four elementals randomly to a chosen square to battle an enemy piece -- the elemental disappears after the battle.
• Revive - returns one of your defeated pieces to the board.
• Imprison - prevents the target piece from moving until the light/dark cycle returns to its color.

The spells may not be cast on pieces currently sitting on one of the five 'power points', which are located at the center of the board and the center of each of the four sides.

The game is usually won when either one side destroys all the opposing pieces or one of the sides is able to occupy all of the five power points. More rarely, a side may also win by Imprisoning its opponent's last remaining piece. And if each side has but a single piece, and the two pieces destroy each other in a double-kill, then the game ends in a tie.