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xblast-2.0
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1996-11-17
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Program XBLAST V2.0
1993-1996 (C) by Oliver Vogel (e-mail: vogel@ikp.uni-koeln.de)
May 6th, 1996
started August 1993
File: README
ICENSE
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public Licenses 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
MERCHANTABILITY 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.
AUTHORS
Oliver Vogel (main author)
vogel@ikp.uni-koeln.de
Garth Denley (coauthor)
g0denley@teaching...
INTRO
XBlast is a multi-player arcade game for X11R5/R6. 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, Atari ST,
Amiga, NES, GameBoy and Super NES.
FEATURES
o 2 to 4 players
o 1 or 2 players per X-Server
o 52 different Levels
o X11R5 or X11R6
o Full color and monochrome support
o Resolution: 960x688
o monochrome XBlast needs ~200 kB (~280 kB with Backing Store)
of X-Server memory. Color XBlast needs about 8 times the
memory on an 8-bit display, however.
o Compact binary ~350 kB with shared libraries ~600kB with static
libraries.
o Small CPU usage
HINT
For descriptions of command-line arguments read the man-page or
type xblast -?. If you start xblast without any option an
interactive setup of game parameters is started.
FTP SITE
The current version of xblast will be uploaded to the FTP server
ftp.x.org in the directory /contrib/games/multi_player. XBlast 2.0 or
higher versions will also be uploaded to sunsite.unc.edu.
FILES
The XBlast package contains the following files:
o COPYING - GNU Public License
o INSTALL - how to install xblast
o Imakefile - imakefile for xmkmf
o Levels.HOW - instruction how to create your own levels
o README - this file
o XBlast.ad - application resource file
o Xresources - a sample Xresources file
o xblast.man - xblast man-page
o block.c \
o block.h |- xblast source files
o const.h |
o data.c |
o data.h |
o defaults.h |
o event.c |
o event.h |
o expl.c |
o expl.h |
o func.c |
o func.h |
o graphics.c |
o graphics.h |
o include.h |
o info.c |
o info.h |
o intro.c |
o intro.h |
o introdat.h |
o main.c |
o main.h |
o maze.c |
o maze.h |
o mytypes.h |
o patchlev.h |
o resource.h |
o score.c |
o score.h |
o setup.c |
o setup.h |
o shrink.c |
o shrink.h |
o shrinkdat.h |
o sprite.c |
o sprite.h |
o status.c |
o status.h /
o bitmap/ - subdirectory for all bitmap files
o level/ - subdirectory for all level data files
o tcl/ - xblast launcher tcl/tk script
o etc/ - useful script for level creators
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 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 current
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 current version program on the following computers
o i486DX266-PC with Linux 1.2.13
o DEC 5000/240 with Ultrix 4.2A
o HP 9000-730S with HP-UX 9.01
o Motorola MVME-147SA with LynxOS 2.1
o Sun Sparc 2 with SunOS 4.1.3
o Force Sparc 2CE with NetBSD 1.1
Furthermore older versions were 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/R6. 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
Levels.HOW
XBLAST SETUP
You have three possibilities when starting XBlast:
o no command-line options and configuration via text interface
o configuration via command-line options
o tk/tcl script for a setup with a X Interface
In order to use the tcl/tk script, first take a look at the README file
in the subdirectory tcl/.
WHATS NEW IN V2.0
o Support for color graphics
o 22 new levels most of them from Garth Denley
o New Tcl/Tk based launcher for XBlast. Now allows loading and
saving setups.
o Revised command-line interface, with easier player and display
setup.
o Improved (and more stable) interactive setup.
o Support for Xresources. Setup individual colors and in-game messages
for your player using xrdb. (G.D and me)
o Several different setups can now be saved. The setup file
is now an Xresource file, and should be more readable
than the old one.
o intro screen for each level (G.D. and me)
- just read what awaits you in the next level.
o new extras:
- Air pump, blow bombs out of your way (G.D.)
- Junkie Virus, once you get , you will need it (G.D.)
- Napalm bombs, Garth's devasting area effect bombs (G.D.)
- Firecracker, another one of Garth's devious new bombs. (G.D).
o two further sicknesses
- teleporter sickness
- reverse walking sickness (by Xavier Caron)
o new (optional) bomb behaviors (G.D.)
- snooker bombs
- bomb launching walls
- bomb bounce off walls, others bombs or players in some levels
- bomb detonate at walls, others bombs or players in some levels
o other new features
- random player start positions (G.D.)
o Each level and each bitmaps now has its own include file,
(Bitmaps in xbm format) for easier editing and sharing
levels and bitmaps.
o Tcl scripts to add/remove levels/bitmaps files to the source code.
WHATS NEW IN V1.2
o 21 new levels, of which 19 are contribution from xblasters
all over the world. (See also CREDITS below).
o a new extra type:
- teleporter extra (by Patrick Durish )
o several new features:
- short fuse bomb (by Mike Schneider)
- haunted bombs (by Garth Denley)
o two new sickness types
- malfunction sickness
- invisible sickness
o new command-line switches
- "-nokick" to disable kick bomb extra\
- "-s[howlevels]" to show all levels in the game
- "-u[se]" to give a list of levels to play
- "-f[rames]" to set the number of frames per second
o bugfix for Solaris
- xblast now calls XtToolkitInitialize()
WHATS NEW IN V1.1
o Filenames are changed to less than 15 char
(Required for X11R6 contrib)
o TWO new extra types:
- kicking bombs
- blast ALL bombs
o new shrinking feature for many levels
- the level starts shrinking after half the game time
- shrinking is more moderate than in Shrinking World
o extra conservation
- when a player dies, his extras are distributed
on the map
o bomb malfunction
- sometimes a bomb will take longer to explode.
o bugfix of a timing bug, which appeared under Solaris
(this bugs makes the players run uncontrollable).
THE FUTURE
The following things are planned for the future version
(with absolutely NO WARRANTY that they will come):
o Support for 5 Players
o Control keys defined by Xresources
o Team modes : 2 on 2, all on 1, 4x2 player mode.
o An improved Tcl/Tk-Setup with game statistics and level selection.
Things which are planned, but will take some time
o Sound Support for Netaudio and/or Voxware
o real client/server model.
o a better and more detailed guide how to build your own levels
o a tcl/tk based level editor.
o a tck/tk based Xresource setup
o more levels with new extras, graphics and monsters?
BUGS
Known are the following:
o "make depend" makes troubles on some computers. There
seem to be too many files opened. Most of the time
it does not get all dependencies. But I also encountered
scrambled bitmap files on our SunOS machine. If it
does not work correctly, just use "xmkmf" instead
of "xmkmf -a".
o If the program doesn't react to any key press, move the mouse pointer
outside the window and then inside again.
o XBlast needs a quite fast XServer for color graphics.
A rough estimate is about 100000 XStones. Linux PCs
with an accelerated card work or modern color X terminals
work as well.
o With certain X-Servers the control via number-pad doesn't work.
Try Num-Lock or change your Xmodmap (This should be
fixed since XBlast 1.1).
If you find any other bugs, please report them to
E-MAIL: vogel@ikp.uni-koeln.de
CREDITS
CONTRIBUTORS
Xavier Caron (x-caron@es2.fr)
o New Illness:
- new reverse walking illness
o Bugfix:
- bombs falling into walls (Gravitation)
Chris Doherty (cpdohert@teaching.cs.adelaide.edu.au)
o New Features:
- Fungus bombs
- Three bombs
- Grenade
- Triangle bombs
- Destruction bombs
- Renovation bombs
O New Levels:
- Spindizzy (together with Garth Denley=
Patrick Durish (dri@eup.siemens-albis.ch)
o New Features:
- Teleporter Extra
o New Levels:
- Mr. Beam
Rob Hite (hite@tellabs.com)
o New Levels:
- Indiana Jones
- Hallways
Christophe Kalt and Pierre Ramet
(kalt@hugo.int-evry.fr,ramet@labri.u-bordeaux.fr)
o New Levels:
- Shrinking Arena
Joachim Kaltz (kaltz@essi.fr):
o New Levels:
- Nowhere to Run aka Full Power Level 2
- Losange Over-Excitation
Laurent Marsan (mbaye@univ-mlv.fr)
o New Levels
- La Ruee Vers L'Or
- Survivor
- INV-X_IBLE
- Tic Tac Toe (without Short Fuse and Haunted Bombs)
- Je m'apelle Rico
- Toutencarton
- Born to be Killed
Mike Schneider (schneid@tellabs.com)
o New Features:
- Short Fuse Bombs
o New Levels:
- Suicide
SPECIAL UNIX CONSULTANT
Norbert Nicolay
"SENIOR" BETA TESTERS
Rodi Herzberg
Eckhard Grah (gone to Wuppertal :( )
Norbert Nicolay
Harald Tiesler
BETA TESTERS
Stefan Esser
Andreas Fitzler
Joerg Gableske
Rolf Kuehn
Christian Meier
Holger Meise
Johannes Rest (gone to Munich :( )
Hajo Richter
Susanne Schell
BETA TESTERS (Australia)
Chris Doherty (CPD)
Mark Black (Blackie)
FURTHER THANX TO
o Cameron Gregory(cameron@cs.jcu.edu.au) for converting my README
into a manpage
o Henrik W. Nielsen(hwn@cci.dk) for his bugfix for the number-pad control.
o Jamie(be136@city.ac.uk) for his great idea of the extra, which
detonate ALL bombs (in the Halloween level)
o Ian Jamison(ianj@melko.co.uk) for his bugfix of a timimg problem
with gettimeofday under Solaris
THANX
to all people, who send me an e-mail, that the programm runs on the their
machine or just that they enjoyed the game.