The Trial of Theseus a manual for people who read manuals Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Gameplay a. Wandering i. Maze ii. How to Find the Beast iii. Minotaur Tracking System iv. Minotaur Sight b. Combat i. Battle ii. Health iii. Retreating 3. Summary of Controls
1. Introduction The Trial of Theseus is a first person action game with elements of horror. The premise of the game comes from the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. In this story, the king of Crete waged war on Athens in revenge for the death of his son, and upon Athens defeat, he demanded that every nine years they send seven boys and seven girls to Crete to be devoured by the Minotaur, a creature half man and half bull, which lived in the deep Labyrinth beneath the palace. On the third such sacrifice, the Athenian prince, Theseus, volunteered to take the place of one of the victims with the intention of slaying the Minotaur. With the help of the Cretian princess, Theseus is able to successfully navigate the Labyrinth, find and kill the Minotaur, and escape victoriously from Crete. Inspired by the legend, Trial of Theseus lets the user explore a world never before rendered, and in 3D at that! Find yourself lost in the dark, damp labyrinth of legend as the Minotaur beckons you onward. Tread carefully, searching for the beast in every
nook and cranny of the labyrinth, but be warned that you are being followed as well! The Minotaur is a vicious beast, and the gameplay unfolds as a high stakes game of cat and mouse between Theseus and his dangerous prey.
2. Gameplay Take first person control of Theseus as he wanders the legendary labyrinth of Daedalus. Use a standard WASD control scheme along with mouse guided sight to lead Theseus through various different obstacles with the aim of slaying the half man, half bull beast. Follow the trail and sounds of the raging monster to engage and vanquish him. But beware... Theseus can be heard by the beast as well. Upon engaging the monster, take control of Theseus arms in combat, using a simple but classic two button combat scheme to halt the creature s vicious onrush. Fight your way through the labyrinth as it darkens and the tale plummets towards its epic conclusion. a. Wandering Use the game s WASD and mouse controls to seek your way towards the stampeding and screaming of the legendary beast. Manage Theseus line of sight with pinpoint accuracy through a 3D texture based environment of floor and wall, keeping an eye out for danger along the way.
i. Maze Make clever use of the labyrinth, but beware on your second playthrough the makeup has shifted! Trial of Theseus utilizes a random Maze generation algorithm to make sure that the player stays on their feet no matter how many times they have progressed through the epic tale previously. The maze generator used is known as the recursive backtracker, and it provides a fresh maze each time with many ways to progress, and many new places for the Minotaur to hide in, exemplified below. ii. How to Find the Beast Discovering the legendary Minotaur admittedly takes a good amount of work; the creature seems to lurk behind every corner, but often discovers the player
before the player discovers it. Assisting Theseus is his thread, spun behind each corner that he turns from, it ensures that he never loses sight of the places that he has and has not previously visited, making it far easier to corner where the Minotaur might be. iii. Minotaur Tracking System Using a famous algorithm known as A* (demonstrated below), the Minotaur has been given life, movement and guile. The Minotaur has the ability to search for and select a location at random throughout the maze, or even based on interesting factors affecting the location, meaning that the Minotaur has the ability to home in on Theseus and hound him until one or the other falls. iv. Minotaur Sight Aside from its ability to mark a location and chase it throughout the maze, the
Minotaur can also see the player by searching within a certain radius from itself, making the Minotaur difficult to sneak up on and frequently giving the Minotaur the upper hand in terms of detection b. Combat. i. Battle Once the Minotaur or any of the other monsters of the maze have been encountered, engage them with the sword and shield at Theseus disposal, taking them on with the confidence and furor of a Grecian hero. Use the shield to bravely parry away enemies lunges, controlled by the SHIFT button. When sensing a weakness in the enemies defense, lunge and slash them down with the spacebar. WASD will also be utilized through combat and sidestepping or hopping backwards to avoid the attacks of enemies.
ii. Health Theseus is tasked with slaying the ceaselessly attacking Minotaur before the opposite occurs, which is a tall enough task before considering that with each hit landed by the Minotaur, the sight of Theseus is reddened significantly to resemble his pain. The Minotaur s health has been equalled by the damage of Theseus to the point that every attack and block matters. iii. Retreating However, the Minotaur is not solely endowed with the mind of a beast; he think
strategically as well. Namely, if the Minotaur takes enough damage it will sense defeat and retreat, running back into the abyss in an attempt to extend the cat and mouse chase. 3. Summary of Controls Movement Adjust gaze Shield Block (combat) Sword Slash (combat) WASD Mouse movement SHIFT spacebar