Archon (computer game)
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Archon is a computer game developed by Free Fall Associates and distributed by Electronic Arts. It was originally developed for Atari 8-bit computers in 1983, but was later ported to several other systems of the day, such as Apple II, Commodore 64, Amiga and the NES. It was designed by Paul Reiche III and Jon Freeman and programmed by Freeman's wife, Anne Westfall. Reiche also produced the artwork for the game.
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Description
Archon is visually very similar to chess, but with a number of significant changes.
While the pieces on the board have similar relative abilities to the different pieces in chess, 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 to determine who takes the square.
Different pieces have different abilities and weapons in the combat phase. The abilities affect the speed of the character in combat and how many hits it can take. The weapons used dictate the reach and amount of damage a piece can inflict on its opponent. For example, the pawn (represented by knights on the 'light' side and goblins on the 'dark' side) is fast but has very little strength and has a sword with limited reach and power. A dragon is considerably fast and can produce a powerful blast while a golem is a slow mover but can throw 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 blasts. The shapeshifter assumes the shape and abilities of whichever piece it is up against.
Its far more difficult for a pawn to defeat a higher level piece. This adds a level of complexity into the game, since you cannot always predict if taking a square will be successful. But generally the stronger the attacking piece, the greater the chance of success.
Each character's strength is also affected by the color of the square on which the combat occurs and by a light-and-dark cycle on the 'neutral' squares, indicated by the changing color of the board. The 'light' side is stronger on the white squares and during the light cycle and the 'dark' size is stronger on the dark squares and during the dark cycle.
The game is 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' on the board.
Sequels
FreeFall Associates developed a sequel to the game called Archon II: Adept in 1984 (it appeared on different systems on different dates). Not very similar to the original, it had improved graphics, different creatures and required different strategy to win. The players in this version represented either Order or Chaos and possessed a wizard that could cast powerful spells. The Amiga version featured full stereo sound, unusual for games of the day.
Toys for Bob developed a game in 1994 called Archon Ultra. It was a full remake of the original game with updated graphics and sound. The design team included Fred Ford, one of the original developers of Archon. It also featured a multiplayer mode via modem. However, it performed very poorly in the marketplace.
See also
External links
- Template:Moby game
- Template:Moby game
- Screenshots from the Commodore 64 version of the game (http://screenmania.retrogames.com/c64/03/c64_0052.html)
- A current development attempt of Archon for MS Windows (http://www.archonevolution.com/)
- Amiga version of Archon information (http://eager.back2roots.org/DATA/A/ARCHO.HTML)
- Open source implementation of the game (http://xarchon.seul.org/)de:Archon_(Spiel)