XBLAST V1.00 File: README LICENSE This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public Licences as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2; or (at your option) any later version This program is distributed in the hope that it will be entertaining, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILTY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc. 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. INTRO XBlast is a multi-player arcade game for X11R5. The game can be played with at least two players and up to four players. It was inspired by the video/computer game Bomberman(Dynablaster), which was to my knowledge first programmed for NEC's PC Engine/Turbo Grafx. Other (commercial) versions of the original game exist for IBM-PC, Amiga, NES, GameBoy and Super NES. FEATURES o 2 to 4 players o 1 or 2 players per X-Server o Ten different Levels o X11R5 o In this version only monochrome Graphics, but grayscale and color X-Server are supported o Resolution: 960x688 o needs ~200 kB (~280 kB with Backing Store) of X-Server Memory o Compact binary ~140 kB with shared libaries ~250-300kB with static libaries. o Small CPU usage HINT For descriptions of commandline arguments read the manpage or type xblast -?. If you start xblast without any option an interactive setup of game parameters is started. FILES The XBlast package contains the following files: o COPYING - GNU Public License o INSTALL - how to install xblast o README - this file o HOWTO.levels - instruction to create your own levels o Imakefile - Imakefile for xmkmf o blastblock.c \ o blastconst.h | o blastexpl.c | o blastfunc.h | o blastincl.h >- The source files o blastintro.c | o blastmaze.c | o blastscore.c | o blastsetup.c | o blastsprite.c | o blastx11.c | o patchlevel.h / o xblast.man - Manpage GAMEPLAY The idea of the game is quite simple "There can be only one ...". So the aim is to blast away all the other players. You can set the number of victorious matches required to win the total game with the `-v` option. Use your bombs to blast away the other players and certain blocks (e.g. the ?-Blocks in the 1st level). Under some of these blocks are extras, which increase the number of bombs you can drop simultaneously (the bomb symbol) or increase the range of your bombs (the flame symbol). In higher levels there are other extras like the skull-symbol which infects the player with a random illness. These illnesses heal after some time, but while infected the player can also infect other players. Another extra is the star symbol which makes the player invincible for some time. CONTROL The number keys 2,4,6,8 (preferably on the number pad) are used to control the first player of each X-server. If you press one of these keys the player starts walking in this direction and stops only if he/she hits an obstacle or the stop key 5 is pressed. In the latter case the player stops in the middle of the next field. Furthermore you can change the walking direction by using the direction keys. If the key 0 is pressed a bomb is dropped in the middle of the player's actual field. Be careful not to drop the bomb to early, as you can block your own way with it (bombs are always blocking the way). If you have found a remote control (in "Running Man") press + to ignite your bombs. The second player of the X-Server uses the keys T, F, H, B/V to walk, SPACE to bomb, G to stop and TAB for remote control. If only one player uses an X-Server both controls will work for him. TESTED PLATFORMS I have tested the program on the following computers o DEC 5000/240 with Ultrix 4.2A o HP 9000-730S with HP-UX 9.01 o i486DX266-PC with Linux 0.99pl13 o Motorola MVME-147SA with LynxOS 2.1 o Sun Sparc 2 with SunOS 4.1.3 o Force Sparc 2CE with LynxOS 2.1 Furthermore it was compiled by other persons on the following machines o DEC Alpha with OSF/1 Motif o SGI workstation IRIX Release 4.0.5 System V o IBM RS/6000 with AIX 3.2.4 o Sparc 10/41 with Solaris 2.3 (using gcc) o PC with SCO Open Desktop 3.0 (using gcc) o Sun Sparc Classic with SunOS 4.1.3c o HP 9000-710 with HP-UX 9.01 o PC 486DX2 with NetBSD 0.9 I hope it will run on all other computers with X11R5. If you managed to build the game on any other machine, please send me a short notice to the E-Mail adress below. CREATING YOUR OWN LEVELS An instruction to create your own levels is given in the file HOWTO.levels THE FUTURE The following things are planned for the future version (with absolutely NO WARRANTY that they will come): o Full Color Support (not just only Black/White) o Setup running under X11 o a better and more detailed guide howto build you own levels o more levels with new extras, graphics and monsters? But don't expect any large changes before spring 1994. BUGS Known are the following: o If the programm doesn't react to any keypress, move the mouse pointer outside the window and then inside again. o With certain X-Servers the control via number-pad doesn't work. Try Num-Lock or change your Xmodmap (This should be fixed by now). If you find any other bugs, please report them to E-MAIL: vogel@ikp.uni-koeln.de CREDITS GAME PROGRAMMING Oliver Vogel SPECIAL UNIX CONSULTANT Norbert Nicolay BETA TESTERS Eckhard Grah Rodi Herzberg Rolf Kuehn Norbert Nicolay Hajo Richter SPECIAL THANX to Cameron Gregory(cameron@cs.jcu.edu.au) for converting my README into a manpage, and to Henrik W. Nielsen(hwn@cci.dk) for his bugfix for the number-pad control. THANX to all people, who send me an e-mail, that the programm runs on the their machine or that the enjoyed the game.