__ __ _______ ______ _ __ _ ______ \ \ / / | __ \ / ____ \ | | | \ | | / _____| \ \/ / | |__| | | | | | | | | \ | | | | ___ > < | __ < | | | | | | | |\ \| | | | |_ | / /\ \ | |__| | | |____| | | | | | \ | | |____| | /_/ \_\ |______/ \______/ |_| |_| \__| \______/ Version 2.0 - 9th March 1994 Have fun with the newest version of XBoing. Here are some new features :- - Comprehensive point and click WYSIWYG level editor. - Play test mode. - Flip & scroll of blocks in editor. - Name, time limit settings. - Easy method for level design. - Sound system improved with more support. - Lots of really cool new sound effects. - Better presentation ie: more intro screens. - Level preview in the introduction sequence. - Load and save of games when allowed. - Game play changed to be fairer and more interesting. - More sound system support. - Levels have been re-designed. - Several new blocks and other creatures. - Source code has been improved and is neater. - Imakefile worked on again. - Some really bad bugs have been squashed. - Some new command line options. - Several CHEAT methods terminated! - Dual fire for paddle. - Use of dialogue boxes for some things. - Works with XPM version 3.3. The level editor is fully functional. The only problem will be when the game is installed properly and the levels are placed somewhere where the average user cannot edit them. You will also have a locking problem on them. Later versions of xboing will have a file selector or something. For more detail consult the README.changes file in the source code. It has a blow by blow description of all changes for this version. Description ----------- XBoing is a blockout type game where you have a paddle which you use to bounce a ball around the game area blowing up blocks with the ball. You win by obtaining points for each block destroyed and each level completed. The person with the highest score wins. XBoing was started like many other projects to learn Xlib better. I had the XPM library and was already using it in a Motif application. I thought that it would be cool to have nice colour pictures/animations in an Xlib game. So I did. Without the XPM library I would be still playing with the colours I think. Please read the manual page as the manual has some important game play information. WARNING: This game requires a lot of grunt to run well. If someone is doing a compile or the load is large then expect the game to be a bit bumpy and hard to play. Sorry about that. ;-| Please see README.version for information on this version. IMPORTANT: Some changes have been made to the way this version plays. You may want to read the manual before proceeding. Requirements ------------ The XPM library. Version 2.3 upwards tested. 3.3 is fine. Not tested below 2.3 Suggest you use 3.2g or 3.3 which is available everywhere now. A COLOUR X display. I may fix it to use other visuals later. ie: grey. mono An ansi or non-ansi compiler. Ansi is better, try gcc. A decent GRUNT box to run XBoing. No network travel if possible! :-) Also note that if you are on a Sun machine the xnews server is not the quickest and you may experience delays in the game due to its heavy use of pixmaps etc. I suggest playing it with the MIT X Server - hassle I know if you use other Sun software that requires news etc. Note: It will always be a bit slower on a network so playing on the host machine will give the best results. I have tuned the game for my SparcStation 2 and it runs very fast. I cannot test the game on other machines other the some Xterms and SGI Indigo's. Disclamier. This program doesn't have an Xdefaults file and does not use Motif or Xt. It is a plain XLib program. It runs VERY fast on my computer which is a sparc II. If it is slow then check out the README.problems doco. Please don't mail me and ask why it is slow unless you have read the - README.problems Where do I get it from ---------------------- Via anonymous ftp from [ftp.x.org] in the /contrib directory. The most recent version is xboing2.0-tar.Z or xboing2.0-tar.gz It may appear on other mirror archive machines that mirror ftp.x.org or whatever. In Australia try archie.au ftp.x.org will always have the latest. Unpacking the Archive --------------------- There are three files you can get. xboing2.0-tar.Z = Standard UNIX compressed tar file. Use uncompress. xboing2.0-tar.gz = GNU zipped tar file. Use gunzip or gzip -d, then untar. xboing2.0.readme = The README file you are reading! Once you have uncompressed the archive then you must untar it. It will make a directory called xboing in your current directory. The way I untar the file is as follows: tar -xvfo xboing2.0-tar You should then have the directory xboing and all the source etc. Read on. Installation/Building game -------------------------- Please read the file called README.install. It is important to read this file. Don't forget to get the XPM library and compile it up first! Please don't ask me how to compile XPM as it has really good installation documents. Usage ----- The game does have command line options so check them out. 'xboing -help' The colourmap is taken over as I need all the colours. Sorry but thats the problem with only 256 colourmap entries. I cannot see a problem with this. The colourmap is released afterwards and should return you to your lovely colour scheme. If it doesn't please let me know. Developement ------------ Xboing was developed on a SparcStation 2 with 48meg memory and a 19" colour display using the MIT X11R5 X server, Motif Window Manager. I used x11ups which is found on the archives as (UPS) for debugging - excellent tool. Sunos 4.1.2 sun4c. Compiled using gcc with warnings on and also tested using the Sun cc compiler (non ansi). Reference books: All of O'Reilly Series, X & Motif Quick reference guide Graphics: Titles done on Amiga using Deluxe Paint IV, converted using pbmplus tools and xpm image touch ups with "pixmap". Sounds: Mainly from sounds.sdus.edu and also from other places. Special Thanks -------------- Really Special thanks to Arnaud Le Hors (lehors@sophia.inria.fr) for the wonderful XPM library and for making it free :-). Thanks for a some cool backgrounds found in Anthony's Icons Anthony Thyssen - anthony@cit.gu.edu.au Please read the COPYRIGHT message in the backgrounds directory as some images are copyright and must not be used in a Microsoft Windows environment. The comp.windows.x newsgroup netters for help over the past few years. See the README.changes doco for inline lisitings of the helpers. Thankyou to those who have emailed me over the past year reporting bugs :-( and making me aware of your preferences. Patches to XBoing ----------------- Patches are great and welcomed. Please do as others have and either send them to me or post them to news. Please do NOT place them on ftp.x.org and make it look like I put it there. I got heaps of mail saying a certain patch didn't work and I didn't even know it existed. I think it is common courtesy to send me some email about what is going on etc. Suggestions/Bug fixes --------------------- I have had many suggestions and bug fixes. I cannot list all the names of the people who have helped as it would be a big list and I wouldn't want to leave anyone out. Thankyou to all those who have helped - you know. ;-) See the README.changes doco for more juicy info. Grovel Bit ---------- If anyone is feeling really generous or kind they can send money, equipment, cars, travel vouchers or anything for that matter to my humble self and I will be very happy. ;-) If that's all a bit much then a friendly email will do fine. ... (o o) /===============================================================oo0=\_/=0oo=\ | Justin C. Kibell - Systems Programmer - CATT Group CITRI - VICSES Rescuer | | email: jck@citri.edu.au Ph: +61 3 282 2456 723 Swanston St. Carlton Vic | | <<<<<<<< Volunteer Rescue == Unpaid Professional Rescue >>>>>>>> | \===========================================================================/