Welcome to Zane's Tower

The object of Zane's Tower is to escape. To do this, you must open the Golden Doors. There are three ways to do this - the scroll in the Alien Treasure Box tells you these three methods.

Table of Contents Determing Tower Size Levels Rooms and Passages Features Items Clothing Weapons Potions Miscellaneous Relics of Zane NOTE: Containers Monsters Maneuvering and Game Play NOTE: Inventory Control Window Shortcut Key Summary

Determining Tower Size:

Before the game can be played, you must answer four questions. The first three determine the size of the Tower.

• "How many North-South rooms do you want?" - This determines the first dimension. This must be a value between 3 and 7. The larger this number, the more rooms you'll have to explore. This defaults to 3.
• "How many East-West rooms do you want?" - As above, this determines the second dimension. This must also be between 3 and 7, and defaults to 3.
• "How many Tower Levels do you want?" - This determines how tall the Tower will be - how many stories. This, too, must be between 3 and 7, but this defaults to 5.

If a value is entered that does not fall within the valid range, the default value will be used.

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Levels:

The forth questions you'll be asked is "Which level of difficulty?". There are three levels of game play.

• Level 1 is the easiest, and is intended for beginners. The monsters are weakest and less frequent.
• Level 2 is the default level, and is average difficulty.
• Level 3 is the hardest - not only are there more and tougher monsters, but also in order to beat Level 3 you must complete two of the three victory conditions in order to open the doors.

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Rooms and Passages:

The number of rooms depends on the starting dimensions you choose. By default, this will be three by three by five floors, for a total of 45 rooms. Each room has four walls, a floor, and a ceiling. Interior walls appear differently than exterior walls, and the bottom and top floors each have a different floor or ceiling.

To travel from room to room you may walk through archways, open doors, or holes in the wall, or you may climb up ladders and through trap doors, or you may climb down through trap doors or holes in the floor.. Some of these will be closed (clicking on a closed door will open it), some will be locked (this requires a tool to unlock - see below), and some will be secret (clicking on a plain wall or floor may or may not reveal hidden doors). It is also possible to break through damaged walls and floors (be careful walking in rooms with damaged floors, as it is possible to break through and fall!).

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Features:

Within rooms there may be different "features" - these are things within a room that you may not pick up or kill. These are described below:

Alien Treasure Box: this is the first feature you will encounter in Zane's Tower, as this is in the same room as the Golden Doors (and the same room you start from). The purpose of the Alien Treasure Box is to hold items. Click on the box to reveal what is inside - clicking on items within will pick them up. Items dropped in the room with the Alien Treasure Box will go into the box.

Ladders: In rooms with ladders, you will be able to go through doors and holes in the ceiling. If there is no ladder, you must you special items to travel up. Note: it is possible to see ladders in rooms without there being a trap door or hole in the ceiling - chock this up to Zane the Insane, as there is no way to travel up in such cases.

The Pool: there is a special room in Zane's Tower that is underwater and is entered into (and left from) the circular pool. Be warned: staying under water can cause damage.

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Items:

Within Zane's Tower, there are a multitude of items that can be picked up and used. These are separated into five categories, and are described below. You may carry only five items at a time.

To use an item, make sure that it is "in hand" (at the top of the inventory). Simply click on the item "in hand" to use it. You may rotate the items "in hand" by clicking .

Clothing: these items are bordered in red. They have the distinction of being worn. Using one of these items will "put it on", meaning that it no longer counts against your carried items.

	Helmet - reduces all damage taken by one point
	Armor - reduces all damage taken by half
	Pearl Ring - allows you to breath underwater, meaning you'll take no damage from staying in the pool
	Faulty Grav Belt - this device provides just enough anti-gravity support to protect the wearer from falling through damaged floors, and may provide a boost enough to allow the wearer to jump through openings in the ceiling
	Boots - increases nimbleness, which enhances combat ability and initiative

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Weapons: these items are able to do damage to monsters, and are bordered in yellow. Some weapons may also have non-combat uses.

	Sword - accurate and deadly, but only good for combat
	Sledge Hammer - not-so-accurate, but still deadly. Also great on locked doors and damaged walls and floors
	Silver Knife - accurate, but not-so-deadly. Good against monsters that can only be hurt by silver, plus pretty good for picking pesky locks
	Rocket Launcher - relatively accurate, but very deadly. Very limited ammo to start, but can be reloaded with rockets (see "containers" below). Can also blast a locked door and a damaged wall, and can even damage a healthy wall
	Torch - not-so-accurate, not-so-deadly (normally), and not-so-useful. However, don't face slime without it
	Laser Pistol - accurate, deadly, but limited energy. Has a self-energizing power source, and has four different power settings. Note: the higher the setting, the more damage and the more power it consumes. This item recharges over time

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Potions: bordered in green, these bottles can heal damage. There are two types: one has many doses and will heal damage one point per dose. The other has limited doses, but will heal five points each - this potion can also bring you beyond your normal maximum health, but be warned that drinking too many potions can be harmful instead of helpful.

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Miscellaneous: anything that is not clothing, a weapon, or a potion, will be bordered in purple. Each of these has a unique use, described below:

	Time Bomb - set this device to go off later, and then be sure to get rid of it! Will destroy pretty much anything in a room (including you, if you're not careful)
	Grappling Hook - use this to get through hard-to-reach holes and trap doors
	Bag of Holding - this can contain within it up to twenty items, and counts as only one item of your inventory. To use this, see "containers" note below
	Magic Map - gives you a "you are here" view of the floor you are on, showing you what rooms you've seen and what areas you haven't
	Skeleton Key - guaranteed to unlock (or lock) any door you come across
	Crystal Ball - using this will reveal all hidden doors within a room
	Rockets - these are reloads for the Rocket Launcher
	Scroll - found in the Alien Treasure Box, will poetically tell you how to escape

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Relics of Zane: the items bordered in blue are relics. The best place for these items of antiquity is in the Alien Treasure Box.

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NOTES: Containers: Two items (the Rocket Launcher and the Bag of Holding) are "containers", which means that they can contain other items within them. To place items within "containers", the container should be "in hand" and the other item must be within your inventory. From your inventory window, click on the item to be placed within other, just as you would normally switch the item "in hand". Only Rockets may be placed within the Rocket Launcher. To get items out of the Bag of Holding, click on the Bag of Holding while it's "in hand" - this will open the Bag of Holding window.

Monsters:

Besides items and features, rooms may also contain monsters. Monsters will all attempt to kill you, but some are better at it than others. To kill them first, use weapons. Some monsters are effected by some weapons differently.

If you walk into a room with a monster, and you do not wish to face it, click the button.

To avoid even having to do this, you may click the button to hear if a monster is in the next room.

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Maneuvering and Game Play:

Below is a screen shot of the game. It is described in depth below.

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1. Compass: This tells you which direction you're facing. In the example, you are facing North.
2. Hit Points: This tells you how many Hit Points you have. In the example, you have the maximum normal, 10. If you get knocked to zero, you fall unconscious. If you go below that, you're dead. As you drop in Hit Points, the numbers will go from Green to Amber to Red. NOTE: if you fall unconscious, any and all items you're carrying will be randomly redistributed throughout Zane's Tower, and your score will go down.
3. Rooms Seen: This tell you how many rooms you've visited (and how many rooms total there is). In the example, you've seen only one room - this one. The numbers will change color as you get closer to finding all the rooms.
4. Monsters Killed: How many monster's you've killed, and how many total there are. As above, the color changes as you approach killing them all. In the example, you've killed none - which makes sense, if you've only seen one room.
5. Tower Level: This tells you which level of the Tower you're at. You will always start on Level 1. Levels above are in amber, and levels below are in red (with a negative sign in front).
6. Hours Awake: As you travel throughout Zane's Tower, you will grow weary and require rest. You can stay awake for four hours before you begin to suffer fatigue damage. Resting (see below) will cure all fatigue damage and set this counter back to zero. Note: if you've been up for four hours or longer, you loose effectiveness in combat, searching for secret doors, picking locks, or breaking things with the hammer.
7. Click here to turn Left. (Shortcut Keys: A or 4)
8. Click here to look Up. If the room has a ladder, you are carrying the Grappling Hook "In Hand", or you are wearing the Faulty Grav Belt, and there is either a trap door or a hole in the ceiling, you can (possibly) go up to the next Tower Level. (Shortcut Keys: E or 9)
9. If there is an opening in front of you, click here to go Forward. If there is a closed door in front of you (for instance, the Golden Doors in the example), click here to open them (if you can). If there is a wall in front of you, click here to search the wall for secret doors. (Shortcut Keys: W or 8)
10. If there is an item in the room, it will appear here. Click it to Pick it up. Or, as in the example, you're in the room with the Alien Treasure Box, clicking here will look inside the box. (Shortcut Keys: P or 1)
11. If there is an open trap door or hole in the floor, click here to go Down. If there is a closed trap door, click here to open it. If the floor is cracked, clicking here may cause the floor to collapse safely, giving you a chance to avoid it (otherwise, the floor may collapse while you're unaware, and you'll fall.) If there is a plain tile floor, click here to search for a secret trap door. (Shortcut Keys: C or 3)
12. Click here to turn Right. (Shortcut Keys: D or 6)
13. This is your Information Window. As the game progresses, information will scroll through this window.
14. Game Clock: This is a measurement of how long you've been in Zane's Tower (in game time).
15. Score: This is your score. Score improves as you discover new rooms, kill monsters, discover secrets, etc. You're final score will be modified by ending Hit Points, game level, and how many items have been returned to the Alien Treasure Box. You loose points for being knocked unconscious or removing items from the Alien Treasure Box.
16. Inventory Control: There are two buttons here. The one on the left (currently "Empty") is your "Item in Hand" - click here to use that item. (Shortcut Keys: U or 5). The one on the right will open the "Inventory Control Window" (see below). (Shortcut Key: I)
17. Drop Item in Hand: This button will drop whatever item is "In Hand" into the room you are in. Only one item can be in any one room, with the exception of the Alien Treasure Box. Items dropped in the room with the Alien Treasure Box are placed within the Alien Treasure Box. (Shortcut Keys: H or Shift+D)
18. Rotate Inventory: This button will rotate the items being carried so that the second item carried becomes "In Hand", etc. See below for an example of this. (Shortcut Key: R)
19. Rest: The only way to remove fatigue damage and reset the "Hours Awake" counter is by clicking this button. You will rest for around half and hour of game time, and all fatigue damage will be healed. Depending on the game level, you may also heal some combat damage this way. (Shortcut Key: Shift+R)
20. Listen: By clicking on this button, you have the chance of hearing monsters on the other side of doors or through archways. This is only effective for doors and arches in front of you. (Shortcut Key: L)
21. Retreat: Click this button if you want to come back from whence you came. This is great when walking into a room with a monster you do not want to fight. Note: once you do something other than move forward or up, you cannot retreat. If you are in a room with a monster and you cannot normally retreat, you'll instead go directly backwards. If there is an open exit behind you, you'll back out of it, regardless of whether that was your original entrance or not. (Shortcut Keys: S or 2)
22. Turn Around: Click this button to turn 180°. This is the same as clicking either Left or Right twice (but not both.)
23. Quit: Quit Zane's Keep and take current score. Counts as a loss. (Shortcut Key: Shift+Q)
24. Help: Opens this page (Shortcut Key: ?)

    [Manuevering and Game Play]

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NOTE: Inventory Control Window

The Inventory Control Window tells you what and how many items you're carrying, what items you're wearing, and what item is "In Hand".

Currently, you are wearing Boots, you are carrying a Crystal Ball, Rockets, the Sword, and Armor, and "In Hand" you have the Rocket Launcher. To fire the Rocket Launcher, simply click on it, or on the "In Hand" item on the main screen. To use the Crystal Ball, you must first click on it to bring it "In Hand", then you can use it normally. Same is true with the Sword. To put the Armor on, you must first bring it "In Hand", then click on it. To take the Boots off, simply click on them. NOTE: currently, you cannot take the Boots off because you have no where to carry them. You must first drop something. (Or put the Armor on). Since the Rocket Launcher is a container (which can only hold Rockets), if you click on the Rockets now, instead of them going "In Hand", they will go inside the Rocket Launcher (reloading the Rocket Launcher). Once inside the Rocket Launcher, you cannot get the Rockets back. The Bag of Holding is different - by clicking on the Bag of Holding, a window will open up displaying its contents. If you needed to use the Rockets without putting them into the Rocket Launcher, you must first "Rotate" your inventory.

The Items Carried box shows the number of items carried. Note the "5" is in red, this is because if you are carrying five (the maximum number) items, you loose combat effectiveness.

Drop Item is as above, clicking on this will drop the item "In Hand" into the room you're in.

Rotate is as above: clicking on this will rotate your inventory. Specifically, clicking this button will cause the Crystal Ball to become "In Hand", the Rockets to become Item 1, etc. The Rocket Launcher will become Item 4.

And, clicking Close will close this window.

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Shortcut Key Summary:

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