ZAPM - An incomplete guide to an incomplete game
by Cyrus Dolph
INTRODUCTION
ZapM is a science fiction "roguelike" adventure game in which the intrepid hero -- you! -- explores a derelict space hulk in search of the fabled "Bizarro Orgasmatron", rumored to be the most powerful artifact in the galaxy and the only hope of saving the universe from an unknown doom.
ZapM is intended for an immature audience, and contains foul language and probably some fart jokes. If it were a movie, it would be rated PG-13 and would have gone straight to video.
The game is free (and frankly, you're getting what you paid for!), but if you actually like it and play it then I say you owe me a beer or a postcard or something. Email me (cyrus@zapm.org), or look me up on the Zapm web site (http://zapm.org). There's also a bulletin board on the site where you can talk about the game and submit bug reports.
CUT THE CRAP, HOW DO I PLAY?
ZapM plays a lot like other roguelike games, and care was taken to use many of the same interface commands as Nethack so it should feel familiar to many people.
Let's take a typical ZapM screen:
############### Cyrus
.{..=........ Summer Intern
+.......>.....# XL 1:528
#.............+
b Str 9 Int 14
##@##### Con 8 Wis 18
...... Agi 13 Cha 6
+......# Dex 15
......
####+### Slow -45
######+####### #.# Armor 12
............ #.# HitPts 6/ 7
............ #.# Energy 189/ 0
#####+######## #.# $125
#.# #.# Sore
#'####### #.#
..{.... ##########'#
.......#####.......... Lost Maze 1
.......+.....+..........
##########################
You hit the grid bug. The grid bug is derezzed!
Most of the screen is filled with a map of the current level. This map is bordered on the bottom by a message window, and on the right by a status display. Here is a partial key to explain some of the symbols on the map (more details below) :
@ - you, the strapping space hero
b - a grid bug (a scary monster that wants to kill you)
+ - a closed door
> - a staircase leading down
{ - a churning vat of ... something!
The status window displays up-to-microsecond tactical information about your character's condition, professional standing, and sex life:
kraken <-- your character's name (defaults to UNIX username). Summer Intern <-- professional rank.
XL 1:528 <-- experience level and experience points (XP). It takes
1000 XP to gain a level in your profession.
Str 9 Int 14 <-- abilities: Strength, Constitution, Agility, Dexterity
Con 8 Wis 18 Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
Agi 13 Cha 6
Dex 15
Slow -45 <-- speed status (+100 is double speed, -100 is half speed) Armor 12 <-- armor rating (higher is better)
HitPts 6/ 7 <-- hit points / max hit points Energy 189/ 0 <-- energy / energy capacity
$125 <-- buckazoids
Sore <-- various temporary conditions will be listed in
this space
Lost Maze 1 <-- level of the hulk that you're exploring
Hopefully you are already familiar with RPG concepts such as hit points, experience levels, and armor class. If not, go buy a copy of D&D or something.
THE HERO
ZapM is like most RPGs in that the hero chooses a character role. And here are the choices:
Psion: You're a scrawny freak. A freak with strange mutant powers. Momma always said not to drink radioactive waste, but you didn't listen and now your DNA is supercharged.
Quarterback: Back on Earth, you thrill crowds with your athletic skill and you have a cheerleader girlfriend. But in space, you can be savior of the universe!
Software Engineer: Your Mountain Dew gut and carpel tunnel syndrome put you at a physical disadvantage but at least you remembered to bring your laptop computer along. And your inate abiliy to notice buggy equipment sure is handy.
Space Marine: You're one of the tough hombres that defends our planet against aliens every night and day. Your equipment is state of the badass art, and you've got a badass attitude to match it.
Some professions are just plain more difficult than others. Probably the best roles for beginners are the Space Marine and the Software Engineer.
ABILITIES
Your starting abilities are chosen at random, and modified according to your profession. I suppose you could keep restarting until you get a character with nice stats, but that makes you a weanie. Besides, you'll get chances to improve them during the game (for example, you can increase an ability every fourth level you gain).
Strength: Affects your carrying capacity and the damage you do in
combat with melee weapons or your bare hands.
Constitution: Figures in to your hit point total and your resistance to
illness, poison, and the like.
Agility: Improves your armor class and your chances of landing a
blow in melee combat. Helps you dodge certain attacks.
Dexterity: Helps (or hurts) your shooting ability. Important for
many manual skills like repairing and picking locks.
Intelligence: Important to your computer hacking skills and certain
other intellectual pursuits.
Wisdom: Affects your ability to resist psionic attacks, and
your chances to spot hidden monsters and traps.
Charisma: Represents your personal strength and your psionic
ability. Also a measure of how charming you are.
If an ability drops to zero, you die. An average person's abilities are around 10. You'd expect a real space hero to have all 18's or better, wouldn't you? Too bad that so far your character is only a would-be-hero.
SKILLS
Your character uses a number of skills in his adventure. Your proficiency rating in a skill is computed by adding the number of "ranks" you have in that skill to a modifier computed from the skill's key ability. You earn a certain number of skill ranks every time you gain a level, which you can distribute as you wish.
The following weapon skills affect your chances of hitting a target with a weapon of that type:
Grenade Weapons (Dex): Grenades and any other thrown weapons
Handguns (Dex): Guns you hold in one hand: pea shooters, pistols, laser pistols, phasers, blasters.
Light Guns (Dex): Most guns you aim with both hands: laser rifles, shotguns, and sniper rifles.
Heavy Guns (Dex): Badass guns: pulse rifles, railguns, chainguns, and laser cannons.
Swords (Agi): Covers all types of swords.
Basic Melee Weapons (Agi): Covers all melee weapons that aren't swords.
The following adventuring skills help you in various ways:
Concentration (Con): Helps you sustain any mutant powers you're using when you might otherwise get distracted.
Pick Locks (Dex): You can pick locks without a key.
Repair (Dex): You can repair damaged droids and other things, too.
Search (Int): Gives you a better chance to find secrets when you're actively searching for them.
Spot (Wis): Helps you notice secrets when you're not actively searching for them. Even from a distance.
Hacking (Int): Helps you do things that involve computer progamming.
Mutant Power Skills (Cha): Each power has a skill associated with it that improves your chances of using the power successfully.
THE MAZE
Graphics, shmaphics! These ASCII symbols are all you need to understand what's going on:
. The floor. The dot helps you count squares, I guess. A blank
space represents either an area you haven't explored or a part of the maze that isn't lit up.
# A wall. You can't walk through it.
^ A trap. Try not to fall in/set it off.
{ A vat full of radioactive sludge. You're not really going to drink
from it, are you? Gross!
+ A closed door. Or a bionic implant. You know, the great thing
about the future is you don't have to undergo surgery to install a cranial implant, it just kinda tunnels its way into your brain in like two seconds!
' An open door. Did I mention that some doors are automatic, just like
at the grocery store? There are also locked doors that you need an appropriate keycard to open (or you could just kick it down). Also, there could be SEKRIT DOORS!
$ Some money. The almighty buckazoid can get you all kinds of nifty
things. Don't spend it all in one place.
) A weapon. Hopefully it's a rocket launcher, but probably it's a
rusty laser pistol.
- Some ammunition. Required for most "conventional" weapons.
[ A piece of clothing. You can wear up to five articles at once: a
jumpsuit, a suit of armor, a helmet, some eyegear, and a belt.
! A canister. It could contain something tasty or it might be deadly
raygun fuel. There's more than one way to find out.
? A floppy disk. There are all kinds of useful programs on these.
You did find a computer, right?
/ A ray gun. Its function depends on what kind of fuel was loaded
into it.
( A tool or useful item. Make sure you have plenty of energy cells.
& A broken device. Usually a busted up droid.
@ The hero. Don't get too attached, because the poor fuck will
probably get wasted by a redshirt any minute now.
A-Z,a-z
A monster. Kill it before it kills you.
You can always use the look command (type '/') to find out what a character on the map represents. This can often give you additional helpful information such as what kind of weapon a monster is wielding.
THE COMMANDS
7 8 9 You can move around using the numeric keypad.
\|/
4-@-6 If you type the '5' or 'g' key, followed by a direction key,
/|\ you will continue moving in that direction until you reach a
1 2 3 wall or something interesting.
y k u If you are an old geezer playing on a VAX machine or something, \|/ you'll probably want to use the vi/Nethack-style movement, which h-@-l you can enable from the options menu (type 'O'). /|\ b j n
The '<' and '>' keys are for moving up and down, respectively. That's how you can climb staircases.
These same movement keys will be used when you are asked to specify a direction (for example, when aiming a raygun). In such situations you can aim at yourself, if you want, by using the '.' key.
To fight a monster in melee combat, just walk into it. You will attack with whatever weapon you are currently wielding.
Here's a list of the other commands (the ^ indicates the Ctrl key):
? Brings up the help menu.
/ Look at something on the map.
: Look at what is here.
. Rest (do nothing) for one turn.
, Pick up an item from the floor.
i List an inventory of what you're carrying. Each item is bound
to a letter a-z or A-Z, which means you can't carry up to 52
different items in your pack. Several items of the same type
will stack into one listing, e.g. "h - 3 debugged canisters of
napalm".
d Drop an item from your inventory.
D Drop one or items.
f Fire your weapon.
t Throw something.
- Open a door.
c Close a door.
k, ^D Kick a door, monster, or object.
s Search adjacent squares for traps and secret doors. You'll
probably want to repeat this command a few times.
w Wield a weapon. You can go unarmed by typing '-' at the
ensuing prompt.
W Wear a piece of armor or clothing.
T Take off a piece of armor.
I Install a bionic implant.
U Uninstall an implant.
a Activate or apply a tool.
q Quaff from a canister or vat.
x Execute a floppy disk program. You must have a computer.
z Zap a ray gun.
m, Z Zap a mutant power. More on this below.
^P Show console message history.
p Pay for items in a store.
S Save your game and exit. In ZapM, you get one save file per
character, so if you die that's it! Only low-down cheaters
back up their savefiles (a crime known as savescumming), and
they never get better at the game.
^Q Quit the game. This ends your game permanently, are you sure
you didn't want to save instead?
O Options menu. This is where you can enable vi-keys and
autopickup mode.
E Look at your skills.
A Adjust inventory. You can change the letter bound to an item.
N Name an object or class of objects.
V Display Version and Copyright information.
Many commands will prompt you to choose an object from your inventory to use - just type the letter of the appropriate item. A list of the likely item letters will be displayed, and you can press '?' to expand that list to show descriptions for those items. In some cases, you can press '*' to select an object from a list of your entire inventory.
MUTANT POWERS
If your character has any mutant powers, you'll be able to zap them with the 'Z' command. This will bring up a menu listing all your powers and your chances of successfully using each one. This chance depends on several factors such as your charisma score, your character level, the level of the power, and your skill. Also, wearing certain equipment (particularly brain implants) hampers your aura and interferes with your psionic ability.
When you attempt to use a power, your charisma will be temporarily reduced according to the level of the power. Your charisma will regenerate on its own, or you can hurry the process using certain items. Most mutant powers cause one-time effects, but some powers such as X-Ray Vision will be maintained until you deactivate them. Charisma spent on these persistant powers won't be restored while they are still in use.
How do you gain new mutant powers? You'll have to figure that out for yourself!
ENERGY
Much of the high-tech equipment is powered by electric energy. There are two sources of energy: energy cells and power plants. Energy cells are essentially batteries - each one contains a single charge and when it is expended, the hero discards it. Power plants have a energy reservoir that is automatically recharged over time. Whenever you use a weapon or other item that needs energy, it will automatically be drawn from one of these sources. Some tools that you activate will continuously draw energy, so make sure you keep an eye on your power level!
ITEMS
An important part of ZapM is collecting and identifying useful items. The function of objects such as floppy disks and ray guns is unkown until you identify them somehow. Until you've identified these items, all you will have to go by is the label or description (for example, "a floppy disk labeled XERTH Q3"). Any two objects in the game with the same label or description will be of the same type, but these assignments are randomized every time you start a new game. Wouldn't be any fun, otherwise, right?
There are a number of ways to identify items. The simplest and most dangerous method is just use it and see what happens. If the effect is obvious (and you don't die in the process), Zapm will automatically remember it so that next time you encounter a similer object you'll know what it is. If the effect is unclear, you will be given an opportunity to provide your own description for the object (just as if you had typed 'N' to use the Name command) as a helpful note (for example, "a canister called This smells good").
Weapons and armor can have program enhancements that make them more effective. The degree of enhancement is denoted by a number, which indicates the degree to which your ability to hit and damage with a weapon is improved, or the degree to which your armor rating is improved with an item of clothing. For example, a +2 suit of armor will give you an extra two points of armor rating. Sometimes enhancement number can be negative, which results in a detrimental effect.
Some of the objects you find in the game have been optimized by clever programming wizards, while others are riddled with bugs. Optimized equipment generally works better, while buggy equipment tends not to function very well and can have all kinds of unpleasant side effects. Buggy weapons will become glued to your hands, and it is impossible to take off buggy clothing and armor through normal means. If you know the quality of an item, it will be denoted in the description as "buggy", "debugged", or "optimized".
Try to get your hands on a computer and some of floppy disks of identify to help determine the nature of your equipment.
HAPPY ZAPPING!
Well, that's all I'm gonna write for now. Besides, the game is new and likely to change dramatically so I'll probably have to redo this whole document anyway.
Please, please send me bug reports and feedback at http://zapm.org!!
Good luck and I hope you have fun!