To run the game in Windows, you should click on the Start Menu, then select the Zasx folder, and finally, the Zasx link.
My SpeedHack 2001 entry - It's an Asteroids style game. The goal is simple: clear the asteroid fields wave after wave. Sounds easy? Think again.
Zasx is Freeware, meaning you don't have to pay to play. If you had to pay anything more than the price of the media or transfer, please advise the person or organization you purchased the game from.
Zasx's Home page: http://pages.infinit.net/voidstar/zasx/
The source code for this game is licensed
under the GNU General Public License (GPL). See
the accompanying file copying.txt
for details.
The sound effects and the gray asteroid graphic are under
the Giftware license, and are copyrighted by
Shawn Hargreaves.
The music is copyrighted by Ben Davis, to be used
exclusively with this game. You may not distribute
the music without the entire game package.
The non-asteroid graphics are copyrighted by
Robert J Ohannessian, and are subject to the same
terms as the music (see above).
The other asteroid graphics are copyrighted by
Jonathan Soulard, and are subject to the same
terms as the music (see above).
Running Zasx requires:
Intel Pentium (80586) or equivalent, at 200 MHz.
Video: 2 MB, 640x480x8
12 MB of RAM (Uses 6 MB)
2 MB of hard-disk space.
If you don't know what 'compiling' is, you may skip the rest of this section; it's not for you.
To compile Zasx from source, you'll need the following:
Allegro WIP 3.9.37 or newer
JGMOD 0.98 or newer
DJGPP, Mingw, Linux's GCC, MSVC, or other supported C compiler.
Lots of RAM, hard disk space and patience :)
In Windows, run the Zasx installer, and follow the instructions.
On other platforms, unzip the source distribution in a directory of your choice, and see the next section for building the game's executable.
Read this only if you are interested in recompiling Zasx from the sources. If you do not know what compiling is, you may skip to the next section, as what is described below is not for you. It is not normally necessary to do this to play the game in Windows, as an executable file is already supplied. People using other operating systems however will need to follow the instructions outlined in this section.
The procedure is very similar to the old Allegro WIPs install. First, you'll need to make sure both Allegro and JGMOD are compiled and installed (refer to their documentation in case you have difficulty doing that).
Now, you'll need to run the appropreate fix script, which will configure the makefile system for building the game with your favorite compiler. Run fixmsvc.bat for MSVC, fixming.bat for Mingw, or fixdjgpp.bat for DJGPP. Other systems are not supported by me, although Zasx is known to run on BeOS and Linux. I would also appreciate the additional makefiles.
You can now start the compilation process by running the following command in the Zasx directory:
make
To run the game in Windows, you should click on the Start Menu, then select the
Zasx folder, and finally, the Zasx link.
For other platforms, I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out yourselves. You've compiled the thing, no? :-)
Once the game was loaded, you will be presented with the main menu of the game.
You may use the arrow keys to navigate it, and Enter to confirm your choice.
Alternatively, the first joystick will also be able to navigate through the menus.
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The menu will offer you several choices:
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Selecting a single or dual player game will get you immediately started.
Here's a shot of the interface:
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Use your controls to move the ship around and shoot down the asteroids. Each weapon will have a different effect, so check up the database when you can. Destroying asteroids will release powerups on the field. Touch a powerup to gain its contents.
If an asteroid is damaged enough, it will split in two smaller asteroids, unless the asteroid is already very small, in which case it gets vaporized by your weapons.
Once all asteroids on the field have been destroyed, you will move on to the next level. If you must ask, there is no final level - the game just keeps on going ;)
The status bar indicates the ship's current status.
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Fires a burst of concentrated plasma. This is the default weapon, and you have unlimited ammunition.
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Power: 2 Speed: 2.2 rounds/sec Ammo: Unlimited |
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Fires a rapid series of concentrated plasma bursts. This is a useful weapon in fields of many small
asteroids, since aiming can be done easily. You have limited ammo of this weapon, so use it wisely.
If any laser weapon is currently in use when you pick up the rapid fire powerup, the weapon will change
to the rapid fire gun. You still keep your laser weapons. Once you are out of ammo, the ship will switch
back to the previous weapon you were using.
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Power: 1 Speed: 10 rounds/sec Ammo: 150 shots |
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Fires a short focused light pulse of high energy. This weapon is more powerful than the normal gun, and
doesn't require ammunition either. It can also be shot quicker, meaning large asteroids can be brought
down with ease. If you pick up the laser powerup while having the rapid fire gun on, the weapon will
be automatically changed. If you lose your laser gun, the previous weapon will be automatically selected.
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Power: 3 Speed: 4 rounds/sec Ammo: unlimited |
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Fires two short focused light pulses of high energy synchronously. This weapon outputs twice the energy
of the single laser, but fires more slowly. The total beam span makes it easier to targer smaller
asteroids, and the powerful blast will rapidly demolish larger asteroids. To acquire the dual laser,
you will need to pick up a laser powerup while already having a single laser.
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Power: 6 (2x 3) Speed: 3.3 rounds/sec Ammo: unlimited |
+ => 
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Fires three short focused light pulses of high energy synchronously. This weapon outputs thrice the energy
of the single laser, but fires more slowly. The total beam span makes it even easier to targer smaller
asteroids, and the powerful blast will decimate larger asteroids. To acquire the triple laser,
you will need to pick up a laser powerup while already having a dual laser.
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Power: 9 (3x 3) Speed: 2.5 rounds/sec Ammo: unlimited |
+ + => 
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This will increase the ship's shield strength (green meter) by one. If the shield's power rises above 5, then
the green meter will turn yellow. If you run out of shielding, your ship will be destroyed.
| Power: +1 shields |
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You can easily configure your controls in Zasx. In the Configure menu, You will be able to select
which player you'd like to configure.
The next screen presents the controls on the left, with the key bindings on the right. The first
line lets you select either the keyboard or the joystick as an input device. Pressing enter will
let you switch in between the two. You may have more than one joystick, and in that case, they will
be numbered "Joystick 1", "Joystick 2", and so on.
By pressing Enter on any of the key bindings, a new screen will appear requesting you to press
the new key you'd like to use for this binding. Here's a quick rundown on the different bindings:
Selecting "Default" will set the default controls for the selected player and device.
Select "Back" to save the settings and go back to the previous screen.
In Windows, open the Control Panel, then select "Add/Remove Programs". Select Zasx (you may need to scroll down), then click on the "Remove" button.
On other platforms, simply deleting the directory will suffice.