Beast (video game)
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'Beast is an ASCII game written and developed by Dan Baker, Alan Brown, Mark Hamilton and Derrick Shadel in 1984.
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[edit] Game introduction
The object of this arcade-like game is to survive through a number of levels while crushing the "beasts" (represented by the character H) with the movable particles / walls. The H's are attracted to your position (you are represented as a "diamond-like" character) every move. The beginning levels have only the common beasts ("H"), however from level H and forth you will be facing so called "super-beasts". These are represented by a "double h" character. There is no good way to describe it, except from that it is taken from the part of the DOS code page intended for drawing tables. These "super-beasts" are harder to kill as they must be crushed against a static wall. From level P and forth you will be facing eggs, that in turn will become a "hatched beast". These beasts are the hardest to kill, as they can also move walltiles to crush you. They can be killed easily though, against any object like the regular beasts.
[edit] Controls and game physics
You may use the arrow keys or the numpad to move around. Using the numpad is better, because it allows you to move in all eight directions. You may press F10 while playing to return to the main screen. While at main screen you may press F1 to see highscores, F2 to set speed and F10 to exit to DOS. To select difficulty level simply press a letter from A-Z. Note: The four levels L-O are user definable. In beast there are two kinds of walls:
- The basic green wall which is movable
- The yellow static wall
The static walls are "explosive" from advanced levels and up. This means you will lose one life by moving into one. There is also something called "Pull blocks" that is available from levels A-I. You can pull blocks by holding the spacebar while moving. If there is a block next to you and you move to the opposite direction while holding spacebar, the block will follow you. You can't pull a block if a beast is next to it.
Alternatevily, you can also play this game with 2 players and work together, or try to crush each other.
[edit] Strategies
The usual way to kill a beast is to crush it between a block and another object. The other object can even be another beast. Otherwise the hero can trap the monster which will eventually cause the monster to explode.
[edit] General Crushing Technique
[edit] Beasts (H)
Try to lure these beasts into traps by hiding behind the trap. They can be crushed against any wall, static or not. Alternatively you may trap them completely and they will explode (this is less effective, but it may be considered amusing).
[edit] Super-Beasts (Double H)
Same as with regular beasts, but a static wall is needed (see the screenshots explaining above). Prioritize to take out these as they are harder to kill. Alternatively you may trap them. By trapping a "super-beast" it will in turn explode into five regular beasts. The best way to get rid of those is by making sure you make a thick enough wall around them so that the five beasts cannot escape from the enclosure you made; Make sure they will be "born" trapped.
[edit] Hatched Beasts(Big Double H)
These beasts are like you; they can move walls and can be crushed. Your only advantage to them is speed and hopefully wits. Although these guys doesn't need to be crushed against a static, the key here is to run behind a static wall, make room behind you (so you won't be crushed by it), and let it come to your side of the static wall. If you lure it right, you should be able to crush it against the static. The hatched beasts may be helpful though - any regular beast trapped between them and a wall he pushes will be crushed for you, and any super beast trapped between a static wall and a wall pushed by a hatched beast will crush it.
[edit] Eggs (oo)
Eggs are easy to crush, like the basic beasts, only easier because they don't move. However, you should always priotitize these first or else you'll get hatched beasts, who are the hardest opponents in this game. At the advanced levels (P and forth) taking out as many eggs as possible first is imperative to win, as there are so many eggs, or you'll end up being crushed by a horde of hatched beasts! Eggs cannot be crushed against another egg as shown on the image, nor can they be crushed against a beast of any kind.
[edit] The levels
The default level is E. You may change the level of difficulty from the main page by pressing any alphabetical key (A-Z).
[edit] EASY
- Winning level: 2
| Level | Pull blocks | Game speed up | Explosive blocks | Super Beast ratio | Eggs | Hatching speed | Starting beasts |
| A | Yes | No | No | None | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| B | Yes | No | No | None | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| C | Yes | No | No | None | 0 | 0 | 3 |
[edit] NOVICE
- Winning level: 3
| Level | Pull blocks | Game speed up | Explosive blocks | Super Beast ratio | Eggs | Hatching speed | Starting beasts |
| D | Yes | No | No | None | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| E | Yes | No | No | None | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| F | Yes | Yes | No | None | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| G | Yes | Yes | No | None | 1 | 60 | 4 |
[edit] HARD
- Winning level: 6
| Level | Pull blocks | Game speed up | Explosive blocks | Super Beast ratio | Eggs | Hatching speed | Starting beasts |
| H | Yes | Yes | No | 1 of 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| I | Yes | Yes | No | 1 of 8 | 1 | 60 | 4 |
| J | No | Yes | No | 1 of 8 | 2 | 60 | 4 |
| K | No | Yes | No | 1 of 8 | 3 | 60 | 4 |
[edit] USER-DEFINABLE
- Winning level: X
| Level | Pull blocks | Game speed up | Explosive blocks | Super Beast ratio | Eggs | Hatching speed | Starting beasts |
| L | Y/N | Y/N | Y/N | X | X | X | X |
| M | Y/N | Y/N | Y/N | X | X | X | X |
| N | Y/N | Y/N | Y/N | X | X | X | X |
| O | Y/N | Y/N | Y/N | X | X | X | X |
[edit] ADVANCED
- Winning level: 9
| Level | Pull blocks | Game speed up | Explosive blocks | Super Beast ratio | Eggs | Hatching speed | Starting beasts |
| P | No | Yes | Yes | 1 of 8 | 5 | 50 | 4 |
| Q | No | Yes | Yes | 1 of 8 | 6 | 50 | 4 |
| R | No | Yes | Yes | 1 of 4 | 7 | 50 | 4 |
| S | No | Yes | Yes | 1 of 4 | 8 | 50 | 4 |
[edit] EXPERT
- Winning level: 15
| Level | Pull blocks | Game speed up | Explosive blocks | Super Beast ratio | Eggs | Hatching speed | Starting beasts |
| T | No | Yes | Yes | 1 of 8 | 8 | 45 | 4 |
| U | No | Yes | Yes | 1 of 8 | 9 | 45 | 5 |
| V | No | Yes | Yes | 1 of 4 | 10 | 35 | 5 |
| W | No | Yes | Yes | 1 of 4 | 10 | 30 | 6 |
[edit] PRO
- Winning level: 20
| Level | Pull blocks | Game speed up | Explosive blocks | Super Beast ratio | Eggs | Hatching speed | Starting beasts |
| X | No | Yes | Yes | 1 of 4 | 10 | 20 | 6 |
| Y | No | Yes | Yes | 1 of 2 | 10 | 15 | 6 |
| Z | No | Yes | Yes | All | 20 | 15 | 2 |
[edit] Running the game on a modern PC
To be able to play the game in Windows XP with any luck you should use a program to slow it down. Using DOSBox works very well. On an AMD Athlon 1.8 GHz with 1GB of RAM running Windows XP, the proper DOSBox configuration would be (leaving everything else as is)
In the [cpu] section:
- core=normal
- cycles=1000
If you find the keys are too sensitive or insensitive for that matter, simply adjust the cycles.
[edit] External links
- The game (MS-DOS .COM-file) executable.
- DOSBox
- A JavaScript remake of the game (early development)
