This manual is for Downfall 0.3. The version number above refers to this manual.
Number pad, vi keys - move around
. or 5 - rest
s - save
Q - quit
g or , - pick up an item
d - drop an item
l - look at something or move somewhere
o - open a door
c - close a door
< - go up
> - go down
Z - cast spell
r - read a scroll
q - quaff (drink) a potion
f - fire/throw a projectile
= - reassign an item to a different letter
The display is in four main sections: the message box, the stats area, the map, and the inventory. The message box describes what is currently happening. The stats area contains information about your character. The map is your view of the dungeon. The inventory shows what you are carrying. These four sections are separated by dark gray borders by default.
The map is to the bottom-right of the window, and contains symbols that represent the various monsters, items, and terrain in the dungeon. The symbols used are similar to those used in other Roguelikes, so if you are familiar with another roguelike, you should have no trouble interpreting the map.
@ - you, or possibly other humans
letters - monsters
· - floor
orange or gray - walls
red ≈ - lava
+ - a closed door - move into it to open it
' - an open door
< - an up staircase
> - a down staircase
) - a weapon
[ - a suit of armor
? - a scroll
! - a potion
( - a projectile
!! - you heard a sound in that direction
∩ - a portal
black - you can't see there
The stats area contains important information about your character.
The first line has your name and your experience level.
hit points - How much damage you can take before dying. This is expressed as a fraction, current hp over maximum.
damage - How much damage you can do in combat. Increase this by wielding a weapon.
accuracy - How likely you are to hit in combat. Increase this by gaining experience levels.
evasion - How likely you are to dodge in combat. Increase this by gaining levels.
armor class - Reduces the damage you take when hit. Increase this by wearing armor.
mp - Magic points let you cast spells. Increase the maximum by gaining levels.
xp - How much experience you have. This is expressed as a fraction, current XP over additional XP needed for next level.
Dungeon level - How deep you are in the dungeon. There are 16 levels by default.
The inventory shows what you are carrying and what is equipped. It is sorted into sections for the different item types.
There are only a few kinds of items right now. There are weapons, armor, scrolls, potions, and projectiles.
Weapons can be wielded with 'w'. They increase your damage.
Armor can be worn with 'W'. It increases your armor class.
Scrolls can be read with 'r'. They usually have an effect on your environment.
Potions can be quaffed (drunk) with 'q'. They usually affect you directly.
Projectiles can be fired with 'f'. Some of them, like arrows, need you to wield a certain weapon first (in this case, a bow).
Downfall doesn't have a very good magic system yet, and there are only a few spells. Here they are:
a - convert HP to MP - useful for getting emergency MP
b - magic missile - does unresistable damage
c - teleport - moves you to a random location
d - haste - doubles your speed for a while
e - heal - heals a few HP
f - magic mapping - the map is revealed
g - protection - you take no damage for a while
h - dig - changes walls to floors
Downfall has a powerful configuration system. There are three configuration files, named by default "init.cfg", "cre.cfg", and "item.cfg". In all these files, text in parentheses is comments. If you need to use a literal parenthesis somewhere, use a backslash '\' immediately before the parenthesis. A literal backslash is written as a double backslash '\\'.
init.cfg is the main configuration file. Unless you plan to add new monsters or items, this is the only file you need to worry about. It contains some documentation of its own, in the form of comments, and most of the options are self-explanitory. The ones that aren't usually don't need to be changed.
cre.cfg contains all the creatures in the game. Downfall classifies monsters as creatures, as well as you. Each entry begins with one of the words "human", "normal", "itemuser", or "spellcaster". This is the AI the creature should use. After that is the creature's name and a newline. The lines that come after that don't need to be indented, although it improves readability if they are. Here is a sample entry:
normal rat
dsp r gray
stats 2d2 1d2 1d3 1 0 9
This is the entry for rats. They have a normal AI (they can't use items or spellcasting). "dsp r gray" means that rats are displayed with an 'r' character and are colored gray. The stats line is the most complex thing in this format. The fields are, in order, hit points, damage, accuracy, evasion, armor class, and speed. I compress them all into one line like this because it makes the file a lot shorter and more readable (once you're used to the format). The "2d2" is in d notation, which means that 2 2-sided dice are rolled, and the results are added together. It's possible to use something like "2d2+3" instead, which adds 3. "3" is also legal. When a rat is created, it will be given random hit points calculated from 2d2.
item.cfg contains the items. The format is similar to cre.cfg, so I'll just list the differences. "wp" combines weight and probability on one line, so the file is shorter. Probability is how likely an item is to be generated; lower is more common. (Probability also exists for creatures, but is calculated by the game). "f" is the foreground color of the item. The displayed character is set automatically by the game, but you can override it if you want. Some fields in items also allow d notation, which is why when you play the game, some weapons and armor of the same type are more powerful than each other. I'm not sure if I'll keep this feature, because it can be confusing.
item.cfg also allows you to change the effects of items, with on_quaff, on_read, and similar functions. on_quaff and on_read cause an effect whenever the object is quaffed or read. It isn't possible to create your own effects; you have to use the ones already in the game. It is possible to use two other lines, on_quaff_p and on_read_p, which are the same as on_quaff and on_read, except they add a parameter.
lvl.cfg contains the dungeon branches. The format is a little different from the other config files. An entry looks something like this:
branch town name town levels 1 floor darkgray wall darkgray ltype town num_monsters 0 color white
This creates a dungeon branch called "town" with one dungeon level, with dark gray floors and walls, with no monsters. "ltype town" makes the dungeon generator generate a town. "color white" makes the color of staircases into it colored white. There are two places to put the name of the branch: in the first line and in the "name" line. The first line is the name used to refer to this level in the rest of lvl.cfg. The "name" line is the name displayed to the player.
Connections between dungeon levels are created like this:
conn town d 1 1
This creates a connection between the town and d (the main dungeon) from level 1 of town to level 1 of d.
There are some other options not seen in this example. "monsters" controls what monsters are generated. It can be either "list", with a list of monsters specified (all on separate lines, and ended with "end") or "all". "is_portal" makes the staircases to the dungeon branch portals. The portals are shown as arches, and the player isn't placed on the portal out when entering the level. This is used for branches like the labyrinth "doesn't_map_out" is used so the player "forgets" parts of the level when exploring, so the player doesn't remember where they've been.
If the game crashes, you might find a file called "ERRORS". It may contain a description of what happened. Sometimes Downfall purposely crashes, because a problem is severe. When it purposely crashes, there will always be an entry in ERRORS. Send the ERRORS file to me at the address below. Also, if your game immediately crashes, try deleting all the files in the "saves" folder.
If the game crashes after you enter your name, your decompression program probably deleted the "saves" folder. You should create (an empty) one, and probably get a better decompression program.
Added spells
Stronger monsters are only found deep in the dungeon
Added scrolls, potions, and ranged weapons
Added experience levels
Configurable dungeon branches
Item identification
Fixed some bugs
Contact me (Nathan Stoddard) at "nate at nate879 dot org".