Hoyle Majestic Chess Demo

Majestic Chess Demo Readme Fluent Entertainment ------------------------------------------- MINIMUM AND RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ------------------------------------------- Majestic Chess Demo has the following minimum system requirements: * Windows 98/ME/2000/XP * PIII 500 MHz or equivalent * 128 MB RAM * 16 MB supported Direct3D capable video card with DirectX 8.1 or later compatible driver * 56.6 kbps modem for multi-player The recommended system requirements are: * Windows 98/ME/2000/XP * PIII 800 MHz or equivalent * 256 MB RAM * 32 MB supported Direct3D capable video card with DirectX 8.1 or later compatible driver * 56.6 kbps modem for multi-player ----------------------------- HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY ISSUES ----------------------------- Majestic Chess Demo requires, at minimum, a 16 MB video card with official drivers that are 100% compatible with DirectX 8.1 (or later). However, testing the program on several dozen different video cards has shown that some cards that meet the minimum requirement might still have problems running Majestic Chess Demo. Issues with specific cards, plus their problems and potential workarounds, are listed below: -- ATI Rage 128 Mobility: Running Majestic Chess Demo in the identical screen resolution and bit-depth as your Windows desktop can cause Majestic Chess Demo to fail to exit gracefully. It has been determined that this is a problem with the drivers for this video card. If you have this card, we suggest that you choose a different desktop resolution other than 1024x768, which is the resolution that Majestic Chess Demo runs in. If this is not possible, then you should make sure that you are not running Majestic Chess Demo in the same bit-depth as Windows is running (i.e. make Windows run in 32-bit color and Majestic Chess Demo run in 16-bit color). ---------------- QUICKSTART GUIDE ---------------- The Majestic Chess Program has three distinct modes: Chess Adventure, Single Player and Multiplayer. Here are the basics on how you can make the most of each of these modes in this demonstration version of Majestic Chess. 1. CHESS ADVENTURE MODE In the Chess Adventure you will Visit mysterious lands, fight enemies, and play challenging games of chess in the process! Chess Adventure is a unique and exciting way for you to play chess. You take on the role of a king who must navigate through various lands to fight imposing foes. In the meantime, you learn how to play and master the game of chess. While you travel through lands, you are prompted to accept chess challenges that will move you further on your journey. The goal of each chapter is for you to overthrow the reigning overlord by successfully facing a variety of chess challenges along the way. As you accomplish your tasks, you win recruits (additional chess pieces) and collect artifacts to help you in your travels. You start each chapter in Chess Adventure with a single playing piece - the King. As you win chess challenges, you acquire pieces that help to build your forces against the opposing side. The pieces in your inventory are called the recruits. The number of recruits you acquire can make the difference between winning and losing a challenge, so you want to try to build up your inventory as quickly and thoroughly as possible. This means paying close attention to the story and applying what you?ve learned to win the challenges. Along the way you will also acquire gold and maybe even a magical artifact. You can use your gold at a store to buy recruits and other helpful artifacts such as hints and takebacks. In the store, highlighted items are available for purchase. Playing in Map View Map view is a topographical (bird?s-eye) view of your land. In Map view, you choose the locations your king visits to reveal challenges. You travel around a map to visit locations that reveal a story, and to uncover challenges that test the chess skills you learn from the story. A location is a building or point of interest on the map that reveals a story and a challenge. Locations highlight when you move your cursor over them. Click once to move to a location. Double-click to travel to a location instantly. Left-click to move the map or center it. The Fog of War is present in every map view. It obscures locations to which you have not yet gained access. When you land on a location and pass the challenge presented to you, places you did not have access to before are revealed as the fog lifts. A location is a place where your king lands to face a challenge. When you arrive at a location, a story is revealed which contains information that will help you meet the challenge in that location. You can decline a challenge, or accept it to have the chance to move on to another location. When you accept a challenge, Chess Adventure switches from Map view to Game view, where you attempt to complete the challenge. Playing in Game View Once you accept a challenge from a location in Map view, Game view displays the chessboard with the pieces set up for your challenge. The challenges will always test what you have learned in the chapter. Once you complete the challenge, Chess Adventure switches back to Map view so that you can move on to the next location and challenge. 2. SINGLE PLAYER MODE This mode is not available in this demonstration version of Majestic Chess. 3. MULTI-PLAYER MODE Multi-Player mode lets you participate in the Majestic Chess online community. In this demonstration version, you will connect to the Majestic Chess community as a guest. You will be able to play unrated games against other players, challenge other players, view games being played by other players, and chat with anybody else who is online. Challenging Other Players You can challenge other online players to a game by sending a challenge directly to a specific player or by posting a standing challenge to all players via the Challenge window. The Challenge window lists all the challenges posted by other online players. Posted challenges show the names of the players who posted the challenges, their ratings, the time controls they want to use in a game, whether they want to play a rated or unrated game, the color they want to play, the required rating range for the opponent, and whether or not other players can view the game. Whether you are making a direct challenge or posting a challenge, you also need to specify the parameters of the game you want to play. If you are posting a challenge, it will appear in the Challenge window. Accepting a Challenge You can also start an online game by accepting a challenge from another online player. You can accept a challenge that is sent directly to you, or a posted challenge that is listed in the Challenge window. When you accept a challenge, you need to accept all the game parameters specified by the challenger. To accept a posted challenge, right-click the challenge in the Challenge window. Unavailable Multiplayer Features In this demonstration version of Majestic Chess, there are some multiplayer features that are not available (although all of these features are available in the full retail version). ------------- PROGRAM NOTES ------------- 1. Majestic Chess Demo includes only one scenario: Tyranny of the Troll Queen. 2. The full program has a total of eight scenarios. 3. IMPORTANT: The full map is 2 screens wide by 2 screens tall. Scroll the map by either moving the mouse to the edge of the screen, or by left-clicking on a part of the map that is not a location to center that part of the map on the screen. ------------------ KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS ------------------ - Pressing ESC during the Chess Adventure will cancel the loading of a chapter, as well as abort any challenge that is in progress. - Press M will turn on/off music. ------------------- FURTHER INFORMATION ------------------- For more information about Majestic Chess, please go to our website: www.majesticchess.com