Archon: The Light and the Dark (Apple II)

One of the first ports of Free Fall Software's strategy/fighting hybrid game originally launched on Atari 8-bit computers, following releases for DOS and the Commodore 64.

Graphics Editor#

At the main menu, input the following sequence: Ctrl+I, J, L, N, then any key. You will then be redirected to a graphics editor.

The controls are as follows:

• Common
  • W / Z - Move cursor up/down
  • A / S - Move cursor left/right
  • Space - Select/Draw
  • E - Go to hi-res editor
  • = - Go to hi-res viewer
  • Ctrl + (W / Z) - Scroll canvas up/down
  • Ctrl + (A / S) - Scroll canvas left/right
  • Ctrl + C - Quit and reboot
• Shape editor only
  • Up / Down - Move asterisk up/down
  • Left / Right - Move asterisk left/right
  • < / > - Change shape width (1 to 4)
  • ^ - Change shape height (2 to 24)
  • ( / ) - Scroll through shape sets
  • 1 - Flip bits in row
  • 2 - Mirror shape horizontally
  • 3 - Mirror shape vertically
  • 4 - Mirror row
  • 5 / 6 - Scroll row left/right
  • 7 - Change row color set
  • 8 - Change byte color set
  • R - Rotate shape by 90°
  • * - Erase shape
  • Y - Delete current row
  • B - Create row at cursor
  • G - Delete current column
  • H - Create column at cursor
  • P - Get shape from asterisk
  • N - Animate sequence (input frames)
  • # - Copy visible set to buffer / Copy buffer to visible set / Clear sets
  • ↵ Return / Ctrl + M - Place custom shape at asterisk
  • Ctrl + T - Toggle sound
  • Ctrl + D - Scroll through DOS options
    • CATALOG
    • LOAD FILE - Opens a prompt to load a shape.
    • SAVE FILE - Opens a prompt to save a shape.
    • SAVE HI-RES - Opens a prompt to save a hi-res image, though it does not work correctly.
    • DOS COMMAND - Opens a command prompt.
    • EDITOR - Returns to the editor.
  • Ctrl + P - Scroll through drawing options
    • DRAW MODE - Not automatic; Space is used to draw/erase
    • DRAW WHITE - Draws pixels according to the cursor scrolling
    • ERASE MODE - Erases pixels according to the cursor scrolling
    • DRAW BL/PU - Draws blue/purple pixels according to the cursor scrolling
    • DRAW GR/RD - Draws green/red pixels according to the cursor scrolling
    • MIRROR DRAW - Similar to DRAW MODE, but an horizontally mirrored pixel is also placed
• Hi-res pixel editor only
  • I / M - Move window up/down
  • J / K - Move window left/right
• Hi-res editor only
  • P - Get highlighted region to shape
  • ↵ Return / Ctrl + M - Place custom shape at asterisk
  • * - Erase hi-res drawing

Developer Message#

At the end of Track $11, Sector $F is the following message:

NOPNEXT3BYTESFORGOODIES

This seems to be related to an alternate way of accessing the graphics editor by NOPing bytes $01 to $03 of Track $11, Sector $E.

References#