NAME
robots —
fight off villainous
robots
SYNOPSIS
robots |
[-Aajnrst]
[maximum]
[scorefile] |
DESCRIPTION
robots pits you against evil robots, who are trying to kill
you (which is why they are evil). Fortunately for you, even though they are
evil, they are not very bright and have a habit of bumping into each other,
thus destroying themselves. In order to survive, you must get them to kill
each other off, since you have no offensive weaponry.
Since you are stuck without offensive weaponry, you are endowed with one piece
of defensive weaponry: a teleportation device. When two robots run into each
other or a junk pile, they die. If a robot runs into you, you die. When a
robot dies, you get 10 points, and when all the robots die, you start on the
next field. This keeps up until they finally get you.
Robots are represented on the screen by a ‘+’, the junk heaps from
their collisions by a ‘∗’, and you (the good guy) by a
‘@’.
The commands are:
- h
- move one square left
- l
- move one square right
- k
- move one square up
- j
- move one square down
- y
- move one square up and left
- u
- move one square up and right
- b
- move one square down and left
- n
- move one square down and right
- .
- (also space) do nothing for one turn
- HJKLBNYU
- run as far as possible in the given direction
- >
- do nothing for as long as possible
- t
- teleport to a random location
- w
- wait until you die or they all do
- q
- quit
- ^L
- redraw the screen
All commands can be preceded by a count.
If you use the ‘
w’ command and survive to the next
level, you will get a bonus of 10% for each robot which died after you decided
to wait. If you die, however, you get nothing. For all other commands, the
program will save you from typos by stopping short of being eaten. However,
with ‘
w’ you take the risk of dying by
miscalculation.
Only five scores are allowed per user on the score file. If you make it into the
score file, you will be shown the list at the end of the game. If an
alternative score file is named on the command line, that file will be used
instead of the standard file for scores. The score file must be created empty
beforehand, e.g. with
touch(1).
If the argument
maximum, which must be a number, is
provided when a score file is first used, the value given will be used as the
maximum number of scores to keep per user instead of the default five. This
value is a property of the score file and cannot be changed later.
The options are
-
-
- -A
- Auto-bot mode. Lets the game play itself.
-
-
- -a
- Advance into the higher levels directly, skipping the
lower, easier levels.
-
-
- -j
- Jump, i.e., when you run, don't show any
intermediate positions; only show things at the end. This is useful on
slow terminals.
-
-
- -n
- Increase the number of games played by one; that is,
automatically choose to play again one time per usage of this option.
-
-
- -r
- Play in real time; that is, if you do nothing for a few
seconds the game will assume you meant to do nothing and move the
robots.
-
-
- -s
- Don't play, just show the score file.
-
-
- -t
- Teleport automatically when you have no other option. This
is a little disconcerting until you get used to it, and then it is very
nice.
FILES
- /var/games/robots_roll
- The score file.
AUTHORS
Ken Arnold
Christos Zoulas (autobot mode)
BUGS
Bugs? You
crazy, man?!?