Chaos is a strategy game for up to eight human players. The computer can also partakes in the game and controls independent creatures. Each player starts the game with a wizard and a repertoire of spells. The idea is to be last wizard alive and to amass the greatest score.
The game is played entirely with the mouse and is icon driven. All the entities in the game have graphical representations. text bar at the bottom of the screen is used to display other information.
The strategy elements in the game involve choice as to when and how to use the wizard's various spells and in deciding when and how to attack your opponents.
A game is organized a series of rounds. Each round consists of several stages, and each living wizard may partake in each stage of each round. The major stages are: spell selection, spell casting, and movement. Each of the stages is described in detail below. As well as these main stages there are also a number of auxiliary stages performed solely by the computer.
The game is played on a rectangular board of square cells. Each cell can contain one entity.1 You move your pieces around the board using the mouse. The cost of a move depends on the Euclidean distance between the initial cell and the final cell. Put simply, it costs more to move diagonally, than it does vertically or horizontally.
To further enhance the game in the future a series of predefined levels are in preparation. These levels will be suitable for single player or two player games.
It is important to understand there is a distinction between the gaming environment supplied by the computer and the computer controlled entities. When the computer moves its creations it does not get access to any information that you cannot get, in fact, the computer bases it moves on less information than a human player.
The remainder of this section describes in detail the various stages of a round. Section 2 discusses the different types of entities in a game. Section 3 is a comprehensive list of the spells and their effects. Section 4 covers legal and installation issues. Section 5 mentions future developments.