# Archon
I used to play _Archon: The Light and the Dark_ on my Commodore 64 for hours against the computer when I was a kid. As an adult, I keep having ambitions to re- (or de-)make this game despite the numerous official remakes out there.

For some reason, I chose to use 12x12 sprites for this implementation.

## Features
* 9x9 game board, 5 power points
* Light/dark cycle - Levels oscillate between 0-5 (0=extreme light, 5=extreme dark):
    * 0-1: light +1
    * 2-3: neutral
    * 4-5: dark +1
### Spells
* Shift Time - If used at peak, reverses cycle completely; otherwise, reverses current light/dark cycle
### Pieces - Light
* Proj (fireball), Spell - Wizard
* Aura (whirlwidn) - Djinn
* Aura (immolation) - Phoenix
* Proj (unibolt) - Unicorn
* Proj (boulder) - Golem
* Proj (spear) - Valkyrie
* Proj (arrow) - Archer
* Melee (sword) - Knight

### Pieces - Dark
* Proj (lightning), Spell - Sorceress
* Proj (fire), Flying - Dragon
* ??? - Shapeshifter
* Proj (petrify) - Basilisk
* Proj (boulder) - Troll
* Aura (scream) - Banshee
* Proj (quills) - Manticore
* Melee (club) - Goblin

### Balance Issues
One problem is the old Phoenix vs. Shapeshifter fight. Not only is the Shapeshifter a high-HP character, but this fight devolves to "who used Immolation slightly first" slugfest.

Possible solutions:
- One-frame delay on shapeshifter actions?
- Shapeshifter has really low HP, forcing projectile engagements?

Another is aura-based attacks in general; they're all centered around the piece that triggered them. The banshee has a cooldown-based AoE, and phoenix has triggered (+cooldown) AoE.

Of the projectile-based creatures, the differentiating factors are: velocity and damage. Velocity can be problematic because of the ease of dodging. Movement speed of pieces should be a consideration for balance, because troll vs. unicorn is another huge issue.

Tiers: high-powered pieces like dragon and unicorn move quickly and fire quickly; medium-tier pieces like basilisk and valkyrie move and fire medium-ly; low-tier have large tradoffs like manticore moving slowly with medium-speed quills, and archer doing the same.

## Media
![wip-01](sprites.png)