Knight

About the game

Everyone has heard of King Arthur. Nobody has heard of his little brother, Artore the Puny. Rumour in the village says the alchemist, Nefarious Richard, brewed a potion that turns him into a dangerous bat-like creature, and that he has drunk so much of it that he can no longer change back. Arthur makes his brother an offer: defeat Nefarious Richard and the throne is his.

Knight is that fight, a single duel in an open field. The bat-creature keeps drifting towards you, and every now and then it rears back and lunges. Touching it while your sword is down costs you one of your three hearts. Swing at the right moment and it is the bat that takes the hit; four hits and the fight is over. Both counters sit at the top of the screen, yours on the left and the bat's on the right.

You also have a quick dodge, a short hop to the left. While you are dodging the bat cannot hurt you, and if it runs into you mid-dodge you slip right past it. The dodge needs a moment to recharge, and the small icon next to your hearts shows when it is ready again. Win and Arthur tells you that you can be king now; lose and he lets you know what he thinks of you.

Playing it here

Knight is a CHIP-8 program. CHIP-8 is a simple virtual machine from 1977, created for hobby computers like the COSMAC VIP, and people still write new games for it. This one targets SUPER-CHIP, the later extension with a sharper 128 by 64 screen, and was made for Octojam 3, a yearly CHIP-8 game jam. It runs here in the Octo emulator, with the speed and colours chosen for it in the archive.

Click Play and press R on the title screen. F2 saves the state of the emulator at any moment and F4 brings it back. A gamepad works once the duel has started: the D-pad moves, A attacks and B dodges. Starting and restarting still need the R key on the keyboard.

Controls

A few things worth knowing

Strike as it arrives. The swing only lasts an instant, then needs a short pause before you can swing again. Waiting for the bat to come into range and attacking just as it touches you works better than swinging non-stop.

Every hit pushes you back. Whether you land a blow or take one, the knight is knocked a few steps to the left, so you get a moment to line up the next swing.

Save the dodge for the lunge. When the bat pulls back, it is about to dart forward. A dodge at that moment makes you untouchable, and a collision during the dodge sends you past it instead of costing a heart.

Credits and licence

Knight was created by Simon Klit-Johnson, who goes by simonpacis. The story borrows King Arthur from the old legends, which belong to everyone. It runs here in Octo, the CHIP-8 development tool and emulator by John Earnest (MIT licence). The author released the game with no restrictions, and it is also kept in the Chip8 Community Archive, which places its contents in the public domain under CC0 1.0. The licence text is linked from this page.