Gameplay

Arganium's objective is simple: reach the exit switch in a level as fast as possible. However to do so a team is going to need to work together and employ both gaming and hacking skills to succeed.

Team Composition

Teams are comprised of 2 - 8 players and broken into two components, Control and Marines.

Control

Control is the hacker team component. Its 1 - 4 players will be responsible for solving the challenges presented on the scoreboard. Their challenges will not only provide points for their team but also allow Marines to proceed into new areas, provide PowerUp drops for Marines, as well as accidentally or on purpose spawn enemies for Marines. However, new challenges must be unlocked by Marines so they will need to take an active interest in helping the Marines survive as well as finishing the challenges.

Marines

Marines is the gamer team component. Its 1 - 4 players will be responsible for advancing through the level and keeping the team moving forward. Unlike Control they are given only one life each and if they all die their entire team will be eliminated! Their actions in a level will not only provide points for their team but also allow Control to unlock new core challenges for Hackdoors, allow Control to unlock edge challenges for PowerUps, as well as allow the team to finish the level. However, Hackdoors and PowerUps must be solved and used by Control so they will need to keep an active interest in searching for secret areas and switches as well as survival and mayhem.

Components

Area

An Area is the section of a level revealed by a preceeding Hackdoor. So in this case all things within the area beyond the first Hackdoor but before the second are part of Area 1, all the things beyond the second Hackdoor but before the third is Area 2, and so forth.

Challenges

Challenges are what Control completes for points, PowerUps, and progression. They take the form of CTF challenges hosted on the scoreboard and are broken down into two types.

Core Challenges

Core challenges are unlocked by Marines via hitting the Hackswitch in each Area. Completing a Core challenge for an Area immediately locks the others. When Control completes one the following happens:

• the point value of the challenge is recorded.
• the completed Core challenge is marked solved.
• the Core challenges for the current Area are locked.
• Enemy Spawners in the current Area are disabled.
• the Hackdoor to the next Area opens.

Edge Challenges

Edge challenges are unlocked by Marines finding the secret area in each Area. Each secret gives a credit that allows for Edge Challenges to be unlocked. Every time one is solved the count of them goes down, and when there's no additional credits the Edge Challenges are relocked. For each Challenge solved Control gains the ability to spawn a PowerUp into the game with the PowerUp Redeem button. When solving an Edge Challenge the following happens:

• Mark Challenge as solved.
• Award credit for the solve.
• If there are more secrets found than have been solved, leave Challenges unlocked. Otherwise lock.
• Control can click Redeem and choose a PowerUp to drop into an Area.
• the chosen PowerUp is spawned via that Area's PowerUp Spawner.

Hackdoor

Hackdoors are special doors that are only able to be opened by Control. There is only one per Area and it is unlocked via Core challenges.

Hackswitch

Hackswitches are special switches that are only able to be activated by Marines. There is only one per Area and it unlocks the next Area's Core challenges. When one is activated, it begins spawning an enemy type through the Area's spawners.

Par Time

The Par time is the optimal time to finish a level. It is measured in seconds and must be listed in both the level YAML file and the MAPINFO lump in the level. If the team completes a level under this time they are entitled to a large point bonus.

PowerUp

PowerUps are powerful items spawned by the server. They are dropped into the game via one-time use PowerUp Spawners. Available PowerUps include:

• Health
• Weapons
• Armor
• Invisibility
• Radation Suit
• Map
• Dark vision
• Ammo

Spawners

Enemy Spawner

One of two types of spawner is the Enemy Spawner, a MapSpot where enemies can be instantaneously created by the server. Once an Area's Hackswitch is activated the Enemy Spawners in an Area will continually spawn until the next Hackdoor is unlocked.

PowerUp Spawner

The second type of spawner is the PowerUp Spawner, a MapSpot where PowerUps can be instantaneously created by the server. There is only one per Area, is unlocked by the secret area within that Area, and requires solved Edge Challenges to allow spawning.

Secrets

Secrets are secret areas used to unlock PowerUp Spawners and Edge challenges. There is only one per Area and it unlocks locked Edge challenges as well as the Area's PowerUp Spawner.