Disc
Disc by Loriciel is a fantastic game of action and skill that is reminiscent
of the old Tron Disc's game, one of my personal old favorites. When I asked
several people how they liked the game, some of them replied: "Huh? I thought
Disc was a utility." Well despite the vagueness of it's name, this is in
fact a game, and one not to be missed.
The game offers two player competition, either human vs human or human vs
computer. Basically each player stands on their own platform comprised of
eight tiles positioned in two rows of four tiles each. The platforms have
a wall of an additional eight tiles, two rows of eight like the floor, and
the wall is positioned directly behind each player. The platforms are
suspended in mid-air and positioned face to face. The object is to throw
a disc or discs at the other player and try to hit him with it, thus
draining his life meter. Once the life meter is exhausted, the player
dies. Ah, but this is only half the fun. There is an additional method
of disposing of your opponent and that is to disintigrate the tiles that
comprise his platform until he has nowhere left to stand and falls to his
death. To do this you must hit your opponent's back wall tiles with your
disc. You will notice certain geometrical patterns are drawn on each of
the back wall tiles. Each time you hit a back wall tile, the geometrical
pattern of that tile will change to a new pattern, until all the patterns
have run through their cycle. When this happens, the back wall tile will
dissappear and so will the corresponding floor tile. The back wall tiles
and corresponding floor tiles are labeled below:
--- --- --- ---
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Back Wall
--- --- --- ---
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
--- --- --- ---
Bottom Platform / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 /
--- --- --- ---
Where you Stand / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 /
--- --- --- ---
So hitting the number 2 tile on the back wall will disintigrate it and the
number 2 tile on the bottom platform. Hitting the back wall's number 8 tile
will disintigrate it and the corresponding number 8 on the bottom platform.
Keep hitting all tiles until there is nowhere left for your opponent to
stand. He will fall to his death into the great void and you will win the
match. The same can happen to you, however, so practice defensive moves
as well as offensive. i.e. Protect your wall by blocking your opponents
discs, while hammering at his wall with discs of your own. More on this
later...
GEOMETRICAL PATTERNS:
=====================
The back wall tiles use geometrical patterns to control how many times you
need to hit a certain tile to disintigrate it. In the early levels, one
two or three hits and a tile is gone. In the latter levels it takes a
few more. Below is a listing of the first five geometrical patterns.
There are more as the levels get higher, but this listing will suffice
to help you understand the concept:
5 Hits Left - Pentagon
4 Hits Left - Square
3 Hits Left - Triangle
2 Hits Left - Equals Sign "="
1 Hit Left - Circle
The listing is showing you that when a tile starts out as a Pentagon,
the first time you hit it, it will change to a Square, the next hit will
change it to a Triangle, and so on down the line until finally it is gone.
After hitting a Circle tile, the back wall tile and corresponding platform
tile will disintegrate.
When a tile is destroyed, a high-pitched tone sounds to let you know. If
you are standing on a tile and hear the tone and your tile starts to dis-
integrate, you'd better move quick.
There is one geometrical shape that looks like a number 8 turned sideways.
Tiles with this pattern on them are indestructible.
IMPORTANT KEYS TO KNOW:
=======================
ESCape - Will quit and reset game back to title screen.
Backspace - Quit & Exit to DOS from almost anywhere.
Break Key - Pauses Game / Press any key to resume
TAB Key - Pauses Game / Press TAB again to resume.
MOUSE CONT ROLS:
===============
This game does not appear to support mice.
JOYSTICK CONTROLS:
==================
Use the information on keyboard controls below, just substitute moving
the joystick in the direction of the corresponding keyboard keys. The
action button is joystick button number one.
KEYBOARD CONTROLS:
==================
This game supports two player simultaneous combat mode so there are two
sets of keys on the keyboard, one for each player. I will call the two
sets of keys "keymap one" and "keymap two". I do this because keymap
one isn't necessarily always used by player one. The way it works is
with a one player game, the player must use keymap two. With a two
player game, player one uses keymap one, and player two uses keymap two.
Below are keymaps one and two. When the action button is not being held
down, the following keys will move the player in their corresponding
directions as shown by the lines pointing to the letters:
KeyMap One KeyMap Two
Q W E I O P
\ | / \ | /
A -- -- D K -- -- ;
/ | \ / | \
Z X C , . /
ACTION KEY: Letter "S"
For the joystick, the directions are the same
but the action key is joystick button number one.
* The action keys for keymap one and two is the letter "S" and the
key, respectively. Usage of the Action keys is discussed in the next
section.
* The player using keymap two also has the option of using either the
standard arrow keys or numeric keypad arrow keys for direction, the
action key for keymap two remains the same, however.
USAGE OF THE ACTION KEY:
========================
When holding down the action key in conjunction with a directional key
you can throw the disc high or low as well as block your opponents disc
with your shield. Here's how it's done:
Forward
Throw Disc High: Left | Right
\ | /
\ | /
Throw Disc Low: Left ---- ---- Right
/ | \
/ | \
Use Shield: Left | Right
Front
So, using keymap one, to throw a disc high and to the right you would
hold down the letter "S" key, then press the letter "E". Using the joystick
you would hold down the joystick button then push the joystick diagonally up
and to the right. To deflect a disc from the left you would hold down the
letter "S" key, then press the letter "Z". With the joystick, you would
hold down the joystick button then push the joystick diagonally down and
to the left. To block an oncoming direct hit, hold it straight down with
the button pressed, or use the "S" and "X" keys if using the keyboard under
keymap one. Getting the idea of how this works?
The action key also has a stand alone function. If a disc of your color
is moving near or towards you, pressing the action key by itself will
guide the disc towards you and help you catch it. You do not have to
press the action key to catch a disc, but it seems to help you do it
better. If you don't catch a disk right, either because you are not
centered on it, or because you're balancing yourself too close to the edge
of a square, the disc will hit you and take some of your power away -
Even if the disc is yours. So try to get close as possible to your disc
and use the action button to guide it to you and catch it properly.
If the disc is not your color either dodge it or try to deflect it with
your shield. If it hits you it WILL inflict damage on your life meter,
and if you do not deflect it with your shield, it will inflict damage to
your platform.
DISCS AND WHO THEY BELONG TO:
=============================
Depending on which type of game you choose to play, you and your opponent
may start out holding anywhere from one to five discs between you. Look
at the top of the screen just under the players life meter. A picture
of a disc will show up under your life meter for each disc you are holding
and same for your opponent. Player one's life meter and disc status is
located on the top left of the screen and player two's on the top right.
When you throw a disc it will be of your color, either white or orange,
depending on which player you are. Generally player one is orange and
player two is white. When a disc of your color hits your opponent's body
or his back wall, it will inflict damage. When the disc bounces off your
opponents back wall, it will come back towards you and you must try to
catch it and then throw it again to try and inflict more damage.
When you or your opponent deflect a disc with the shield, the disc will
change from your opponents color to your color. Also, if you fail to
catch or deflect a disk of your own color, it will hit your back wall,
and although it won't inflict damage to your wall, it will change to
your opponents color and fly back towards him.
Discs do not really belong to either player exclusively. Ownership of
a disc is determined by what color it is, and the color of the disc
will change frequently as it bounces of walls and is deflected. Always
try to deflect your opponent's discs, and always try to catch your own
discs and then line yourself up for another shot. If you're involved
in a multi-disc game, be advised that you and your opponent can both
catch more than just one disc. Actually a good strategy in multi-disc
games is to wait and catch as many discs as you can, then fling them
all at your opponent in rapid succession to confuse the hell out of
him and inflict major damage.
OPTIONS:
========
-Two Players- (Human vs Human)
* ONE ON ONE: By selecting the two player option from the title menu
you and a friend can play one on one. Two matches are played, and at the
end of the first match players switch sides, so be prepared. In the
event of a tie, another two matches are played. Victory is achieved
by winning both matches. Each match lasts two and a half minutes or
until one opponent is destroyed.
-One Player- (Human vs Computer)
* TRAINING: Start with this to get familiar with how to manuever your
player and discs, and for practice with hitting targets
as well as dodging and deflecting opponent discs.
You start out with target practice. Try to hit the tiles
that have the "?" on them with your disc. The next part
is moving target practice. An opponent will appear and
try to dodge and deflect your disks as you try to hit him.
The next part you get to dodge and deflect discs as your
opponent trys to hit you with them.
* CHALLENGE: You get to pick out exactly which opponent you wish to
challenge. Move the cursor with the arrow keys or
joystick until your desired opponent is highlighted, then
click with your action key to select. You will challenge
this opponent to one match lasting two and a half minutes.
* TOURNAMENT: You play a tournament of 8 matches lasting two and a half
minutes each against each opponent in succession. It's
all over when you lose your first match.
* CHAMPIONSHIP: You play one match against each opponent in succession and
each match lasts two minutes. It's all over when you lose
one match.
HINTS & TIPS:
=============
1) Matches are timed. The timer is shown at the top center screen. When
the timer counts down to zero and both players are still alive, the
player with the highest score will win. Score is kept by giving the
player one point for every hit on the opponent's body and one point
for each of the opponent's tiles that the player destroys.
The Score is located to the immediate right of each of the players
names which are located on the top left and right of the screen for
players one and two, respectively.
2) You can stumble and fall! Be careful and don't get too close to the
edge of your platform. Lose your balance and you will fall right off
the edge and die.
3) You will not fall into the holes of missing tiles if there is a tile
on the other side. i.e. If you are standing on tile 1 and tile 2 is
missing, if there is a tile 3 you can move towards it and the player
will automatically jump the gap between them. If more than two tiles
form a gap, do not attempt a jump to the other side as you will fall.
/\ /\
Ok to jump --> 1 34 Not ok to jump ---> 1 4
^6 8 ^ 78
^ ^
You could safely jump You would die trying to
from tile 1 to tile 3 jump from tile 1 to tile
or from tile 1 to 6. 4 or from tile 1 to 7.
4) Discs can get behind you, hit the wall, bounce off, hit you in the
back, bounce and hit the wall again, hit your back again, etc...
This will cause major damage to you and your platform and may even
knock you clear off your platform. Avoid this by deflecting discs
with your shield and by moving around often.
5) From time to time bonus tiles will appear on your opponents back wall.
These tiles will look like a question mark within a circle. If you
can hit this tile you will get a special option for your disc, like
speed disc for instance which makes your disc travel at lightining
speeds to cripple your opponent. Be quick because the bonus tile
will not wait all day for you to hit it. Also if you do hit it
and attain a bonus disc option, use it quickly as it will not last
long.
6) You get to choose your character from a list of 8 different ones at
the beginning of each game. I have tried a few of these but not all,
and I haven't noticed much difference in which one you choose besides
the name and face.
*** THE END ***
