It determines not only the types of units a leader can acquire and the weapons humanoid units can equip, but also adjusts their degree of power depending on the time of day. Alignment is an important gameplay mechanic generally divided into three categories: Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic. Each of the alignments has its own unique class progression. When a certain level is reached (usually level five or ten), the unit is promoted to a more powerful class. Once a unit accumulates enough experience points it will gain a level. Every unit grows in power by gaining experience points (EXP) through casting spells, inflicting damage, receiving damage, killing a foe or a combination of these actions. The leader can also use magic points (MP) to summon a menagerie of creatures such as dragons, hydras, chimeras and griffins. Hirelings are all humanoids (dwarves, hobbits, elves and humans) who become warriors, mages and priests and are paid in gold with tax money collected from liberated castles and cities. As long as the main character is situated on a castle, up to six units that are neutral or of the leader's own alignment can be hired or summoned per turn. As leader, the player is able to build an army from scratch and oversee its development. The option to advance to the next map is also available but is limited to land adjacent to the ruler's current location. Troops can also be sent out to guard previously conquered maps as they can be retaken by the Demon Army. Another is to assemble a search party to seek out rare items, although members of this group will not be present for the subsequent battle. One of these is buying and selling equipment for troops all from within a handy menu. Units can only move to hexes that appear clear.Once a battle is won, several options open up. The objective in most scenarios is to vanquish the opposing commander as it is not mandatory to defeat all enemies on the map to win the battle. How far a unit can travel is determined by its ability to cross certain types of terrain based on its class and statistics. Movement is governed by hex tiles on the battlefield. These actions involve such choices as movement, or moving then attacking when in close enough proximity to a foe. Each side uses a turn to assign up to two actions per unit until the player manually ends the turn. The gameplay in Dark Wizard largely involves the player taking command of a party comprised of warriors, priests, mages and summoned creatures against an opposing army of demons led by a powerful commander. Each ruler has his or her own self-contained storyline and motivation for waging war against Velonese as well as unique powers, attributes and units available to them. The leader's task is to push back the invasion and liberate other kingdoms seized by the Demon Army. The player chooses one of four characters who becomes the ruler of Cheshire to launch a counterattack from the remote kingdom of Quentin - the last stronghold under human control. The setting takes place in the once-peaceful lands of Cheshire now overrun by the demonic hordes of Velonese, a former wizard apprentice imbued with the powers of a dark god. This single-player game also features an orchestral soundtrack and long animated sequences complete with voice-acting. Released in Japan in 1993 as Dark Wizard: Yomigaerishi Yami no Madoushi and in the United States in 1994, Dark Wizard features turn-based strategic combat played on a hex field map that progresses from one battle scenario to the next interspersed with brief cutscenes to advance the story. It was conceptualized by Kenji Terada who was notable for his work as scenario writer for the first three Final Fantasy games. Dark Wizard is a tactics-based, fantasy role-playing game developed by Sega for the Sega CD.