Programmed by Stephen Smith

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“It's Chaos!” At least, that's what people say when they see the source code. But when they play the game, they say “It's Chaos! But in realtime!”.

In case you haven't played the original "Chaos the Battle of Wizards", it's very simple, and is explained here. It's a bit like chess. and is also very complex, in the same way that chess is. The original is played on a grid, like chess, and you start with a Wizard, which is nothing like chess. And you can cast spells and create creatures, at which point I will completely dispense with the chess analogy.

This version is different, however. It's played realtime, and each player uses a seperate PC which connects to the server (which is also included in the download). It is NOT an MMORPG or anything like that. It's designed to be played by any number of people playing across a local network or the internet. It runs on Windows or Linux, cos it's great like that.


The white circle represents the size of the wizards afro.



What You Need

To play this game, what you will need (as well as the software) is a network of at least 2 PC's, and a person sat at each who can be co-erced into playing the game.

You can download the game here. It comes with full instructions, so you don't have to rely on the vague ramblings of this web page to work out what to do. You will need Java to play the game, by the way. If you haven't got it, you can get it here.

The original game was a classic on the Spectrum, and is frequently cited as one of the best games of all time. This one isn't, but that's probably because they just don't know it exists. But now it's got a web page, hopefully it will appear on Google.




An adoring fan, in the style of a Mummy, approaches the wizard for an autograph.

Any number of players can play, though I don't think I've implemented a “make sure wizards don't start on top of each other” algorythm, so you takes your chances. I've only tested it up to two players as well, cos I've only got one friend. Erm, I mean one other PC.

The jist of the game, as with all games, is to kill the enemy. In this case, it's the enemy wizard(s) that you must dispense. You can cast creatures to attack them, or fire lightening bolts (if you can get in range), or create magic fire which will hopefully spread in their direction (though, as seasoned Chaos players will know, this rarely happens according to plan).

If you do happen to play this game, please email me to let me know. I've had my games downloaded by hundreds of people over the last year, but has any one of them emailed me to let me know what they thought? Yes, actually. One person did, but to ask why he couldn't connect over his wireless network. I couldn't help him though, so that one doesn't count.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Why does it say 'Kill the Twats' at the top of the window?

    I regularly change the form title, to keep the game feeling fresh and new. I just happened to call it this when I took the screenshots.

  2. Do I recognise some of those sprites?

    No, definitely not. Now move along, there's nothing to see here.

  3. Are you a graphic designer?

    No.

  4. I was being sarcastic. It looks like a five-year old designed this site.

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Programmed by Stephen Smith

As seen in the letters page of Linux Format, issue 70! Fame at last!