Floorplan Strategy Game Page 2

From the strategy mode, the Visitor takes turns shifting the matrix with the evil genius, Doktor Stauf. Following his turn, the Visitor may choose to navigate in POV about the environment as far as the available path allows. When he has finished exploring and has arrived at the Gallery or Passageway of his choice, he then "resurfaces" to the FloorPlan mode. The Visitor must be cognizant of at what point along the maze's paths he wishes to be at the end of his turn, so that he is strategically situated to get to the target Gallery.

Stauf's goal is to get to the target Gallery before the Visitor does. If Stauf succeeds in thwarting the Visitor's efforts in this way, a new Target Gallery is given and the competion begins again.

The object of the game is to make your way through the museum, visiting each given target Gallery at least once.

It is from one screen that the basic strategic elements of gameplay are displayed and manipulated. This is called the FloorPlan Strategy Board. The board represents the floors of the fold-away museum model on the Foyer center table. Unlike the quick illustration below, it has a very solid, tangible 3D feel, as do all the elements on the screen. Although the model resides in the Foyer, the Floorplan appears on its table in a neutral environment. This mode is accessed by clicking the FloorPlan Icon during 3D navigation mode.

The illustration above shows a view of the main FloorPlan Strategy Game. The Blue Angel figure always appears and stays on the space representing the target Gallery. The figure of Stauf is represented as a red token. and the Visitor as a green token. Not shown here are the Spare Passageway Tile, the inventory of Talismans, the Navigate icon, the End Turn icon and the Exit icon (which may be invisible until the cursor is moved to the upper left-hand corner).

Δ 2nd Floor

Δ 1st Floor

The illustration above is a 2D abstract layout of the museum's 1st and 2nd floors. The FloorPlan of the 1st floor, is a 5x5 irregular matrix. The 2nd Floor is a 5x3 matrix. Each section of the matrix represents either a Passageway or a Gallery. The black spaces represent Galleries. Galleries are fixed in place and cannot be moved. The white spaces represent Passageways. Passageway Tiles can be shifted along column or row lines.

Passageway tiles show the directions of travel possible in that space. Galleries do not indicate directions of travel. It is assumed that a point of entrance and egress exist when an open Passageway path is adjacent to a Gallery.

There is a special Stairway space in the center of the 1st Floor and it's equivalent on the 2nd Floor. The two spaces are essentially the very same space in terms of navigating the maze. The gradated path lines indicate vertical movement between the two Floors.

Galleries are not labeled in the FloorPlan view. However, as each target Gallery is visited, it is marked with a design or label as a way of charting the Visitor's overall progress. The Foyer and Stairway spaces are labeled at the very start since they are not Galleries proper and might be best thought of as special, immovable Passageways.

In the end, the Foyer becomes the mysterious 13th Gallery.
There is a total of 26 tiles. 25 are in play at any one time and one is not (the Spare Tile). The following is a chart of the type and number of Passageway Tiles:


5	5

3	3	3	3

1	1	1	1

A new "game" starts after the Visitor or Stauf arrives at the target Gallery. A new target Gallery is chosen at random.
Stauf always starts each "game" in the Foyer.
Stauf's object is to arrive at the target Gallery before the Visitor. Likewise, the Visitor's object is to arrive at the target Gallery before Stauf.
Shifting the maze is done by moving the Spare Tile to the end of a row or column at perimeter of the FloorPlan thereby "pushing" a Row from the left or from the right, or a Column from the top or bottom. The entire selected Row or Column then shifts by the length of one Space in the chosen direction. The Tile that is pushed off the board now becomes the spare Tile. If a player's token is on a Space in that Row or Column, it too moves with the Shift. If the token is on the edge of the board and is pushed off, it remains part of the Spare Tile.
Placing the Spare Tile on the space from which it came is not allowed. On the first move of a new game, the Spare Tile may be placed anywhere.
After shifting the maze, the Visitor may chose to stay in place, thus ending his turn. He does this by selecting the End Turn Icon. Or he may wish to enter 3D POV Navigation Mode so that he may move within the mansion. This is accomplished by selecting the Compass Icon at the bottom right hand of the screen or by clicking on his board token.
For purposes of token movement, the path at the edge of the board does not wrap around to the opposite side.

A Visitor's Turn consists of:

Shifting the maze.
Play a Talisman, if any are available. This part of the turn is optional.
Once in 3D POV mode, The Visitor can explore anywhere the current configuration of paths on the FloorPlan allow. He may then "resurface" from POV mode at any time by clicking on the FloorPlan icon. His location within the museum will be indicated by the location of his token on the FloorPlan board and his turn will be at an end. If he "resurfaces" at the wrong time from the wrong location, his Token may end up in an undesirable space on the FloorPlan board.
Stauf then takes his turn shifting the maze and moving his Token to a new position on the FloorPlan.

There are three types of magic Talismans that the Visitor may add to his inventory as a result of finding them during 3D navigation mode. They are:

Extra Turn - Basically takes a turn away from Stauf, giving the Visitor two turns in a row.
Move Stauf - Allows Visitor to transport Stauf to any space on the board.
Lock Gallery - Prevents entrance or egress from a chosen Gallery for the space of one cycle, i.e., both Visitor's and Stauf's turns. Will most often be used to trap Stauf in a Gallery for one turn.

If the cursor is moved to the upper left-hand corner, the Exit icon appears. This is where the Visitor exits the museum and the game and is given the option to save his gamestate. This icon is also always available even during 3D navigation mode.

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