~4Dgifts/toolbox/src/exampleCode/games/IndiZone/tagh README created for the IndiZone II game contest, -- CREDITS -- tagh was written by Christine McGavran, who is as of January 1994 a senior at Dartmouth College. Christine would like to extend huge thanks and a packet of gummy bears to Drew Olbrich for his help, ideas, and encouragement. She would also like to thank SGI and the Dartmouth computer science department for the use of their computers, and the faculty and students of the CS dept. for being great guinea pigs. Tagh is modeled after the children's game of "tag." There are very flexible rules, a million variations, and a lot of strategy. Some cool scenery is included, birds instead of children, and playing chips. Experiment with the game a little, or go on to the Table of Contents. To run tagh just type "tagh <hostname>" Included is an ftr and an fti file that belong in /usr/lib/filetype. Contents 1. Starting up Tagh 2. Manipulating Your Creature 3. What if I'm Orange? 4. Manipulating the Chips 5. The Rules of The Game 6. A Summary of Game Controls 1. Starting up Tagh To use Tagh from a shell or launch window enter: tagh hostname where "hostname" is the name of a machine on the network. That machine will act as a server for the game. Up to three players can participate in a game. For each game, there should be only one host. For example, if users on machines "foo" "bar" and "ding" want to play a game together, they might all type: tagh foo 2. Manipulating Your Creature When the game begins you will see a creature from the back. This is your creature, and will always be in the center of the screen and facing away from you. The creature is controlled entirely by the mouse. The only relevant controls in Tagh are mouse movements, LEFTMOUSE button clicks, and the ESCAPE KEY for ending the game. Controlling the creature in 3D may be a little tricky at first, but is easy to learn. The creature remains in the center of the screen, and rotates as much as possible to face the cursor. If the cursor is behind the creature, the creature will just turn as far as it can. The creature's speed is determined by the distance between it and the cursor. That is, the closer the cursor is to the center of the screen, the slower the creature moves. You will notice certain traits about your creature: - it flaps its wings when going straight, - glides when it turns, - the faster the creature flaps its wings, the faster it is moving, - clicking the mouse button, when not "it," makes the creature swoop. Orientating yourself on the playing field can be tricky. A dense fog prevents you from seeing too far. Other creatures can hide behind the goalposts. Goalposts are marked by colors on the ground, the edge of the field is marked by a yellow fence, and the pit is always in the center. 3. What if I'm Orange? The orange creature is "it." Being "it" has it's disadvantages. You can't swoop and pick up chips, and nobody likes you. You should probably remedy this fast. Notice that clicking the mouse button while "it" cause sparks to emerge from your eyes. This is how you tag other creatures. If a creature is close enough while you click the mouse, it becomes "it" and you're free! If you aren't "it" already, then you probably don't want to be. Stay away from the orange creature. If you do get "tagged," you will become orange. For a few seconds you will be unable to tag other creatures (to prevent tagbacks). After that, you should probably set about tagging others. 4. Manipulating the Chips Once you are oriented, you'll see between your goalposts is a row of chips the same color as your creature. For each creature in the game, there are four chips. You are free to pick these up and put them where you want. To pick up a chip, if you're not "it," fly close to it and click the mouse button. A spark should indicate which chip you're picking up. When you reach cruising altitude again, there should be a "chip on your back." To drop a chip, click the mouse button again. This time, when the creature reaches low altitude the chip will fall. Chips that fall in the pit cannot be retrieved again. You can only hold one chip at a time, and you can only hold or pick up a chip if you are not "it." If you are tagged, you will drop any chips that you're carrying. When all of your chips have been dropped in the pit, the goalposts will become the color of your creature, and a gold chip will appear in your goal. Picking up any gold chip restarts the game. 5. The Rules of The Game There are only a three rules in Tagh: 1. You can only pick up a chip if you're not "it." 2. If you're "it," the only way to go on picking up chips is to tag someone else. 3. If you or someone else puts all your chips in the pit, the goals turn the color of your creature, and anyone may restart the game by picking up a gold chip. Note nothing has been said about winning or losing. Part of the objective of this game is to let the players define their own game. You can do this by talking about how you want to play beforehand, or by interpreting each other's actions on the playing field. There are many variations of how you may want to play. For example, getting all your chips in the hole may be considered winning, or it may be considered losing. Players may choose to battle it out by themselves, or two players may gang up on each other... Finally, the game strategy will obviously change depending on the number of players. Think up new strategies, objectives, and rules. Like the game you played as a child, Tagh has numerous variations. 6. A Summary of Game Controls Mouse movement turns your creature and controls its speed. LEFTMOUSE click causes your creature to swoop and possibly pick up or drop a chip if not "it," and to try to tag another creature if "it." To restart the game, pick up a gold chip. The ESCape key quits the game.
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