Kuklomenos-0.4.5
================
Released under the GPLv3 by Martin Bays (mbays@sdf.lonestar.org) 2009

Dependencies
------------
    sdl
    libcurl (optional; required for high score reporting)
    libvorbis (optional; required for sound)


How to play - very short version
--------------------------------

Keys: cursors, 1234.
Aim: to not die.

The rest you can figure out, maybe. If not, see below.


The plot
--------

Peace reigns. We guard the Nodes. Years pass.

Evil comes! Evil seeks the power of the Nodes!

We must defend the Nodes. Evil must not extract their power.

If it is the only way, we must destroy the Nodes ourselves!

It is the only way.


How to play - less short version
--------------------------------

Use the cursor keys to aim, and the numbers 1, 2 and 3 to shoot.

The encroaching Blobs of Evil will kill you if they hit you.

Evil wants to control the triangular Nodes. It will send big blue armoured
Blobs of Evil to infest them.

You can control the Nodes yourself - press '4' to send a Capture Pod out.

Whoever is in control of a Node gets bonuses - see the list below.

Evil extracts from Nodes it controls, filling the cyan bar in the top right.
If it fills the bar, it will launch a deadly Wave of Mutilation!

Disinfect an infested Node by shooting the Blob of Evil before it manages to
put up a shield, or by sending a Capture Pod.

If you keep control of a Node for a while, it will start to pulsate. It is
then primed for destruction, and a red shot will destroy it.

YOUR AIM: to destroy 4 of the 6 Nodes. Evil will then give up and leave.


Further details
---------------

Aiming:
The closer together the red lines, the better your aim.
Your shots will fire between the two bright red lines approximately two thirds
of the time, and between the dark red lines about 95% of the time.
When your aim is sharp, you turn slower and can see less of the arena.
Pressing 'down' will de-aim.
Pressing 'up' will zoom out so you can see what's going on without losing much
of your aim.

Display:
You can toggle zooming with 'z' - though your vision will still be restricted
when aiming. You can toggle rotation of the arena with 'r'.

Heat:
Shooting or sending out a pod increases your heat, as indicated by the
red bar in the top left. You can't shoot while doing so would cause
overheating.

Shields:
While your heat is at 0, you will slowly add to your shield. Each hit
by a Blob will take off one layer of shield. The current level is indicated in
the top left.

Node powerups:
    When you control them:
	Red, Yellow, Green:
	    increases the speed of the corresponding colour of your shots, and
	    decreases the reload time and heat cost;
	Blue:
	    improves your Capture Pods, including decreasing the time it takes
	    to prime a Node for destruction;
	Cyan:
	    increases shield charge rate;
	Magenta:
	    improves aim.
    When Evil controls them:
	Red, Yellow, Green:
	    increases the speed and general nastiness of the corresponding
	    colour of Blob;
	Blue:
	    increases speed and rate of shield-charging and healing of the
	    blue Blobs;
	Cyan:
	    increases rate of extraction from Nodes;
	Magenta:
	    causes the Blobs to occasionally unpredictably reverse their
	    direction of spiraling.

Rating:
The better your rating, the stronger the force Evil will send to fight you.
Your rating improves when you win games and diminishes when you lose them.
You have a rating for each speed setting. Can you make it to Elite? No, me
neither.


Options and Configuration
-------------------------

Press escape to bring up the menu - navigate with direction keys and escape.

Run with -h for a list of command-line options.

Permanent config settings are stored in ~/.kuklomenosrc, or kuklomenos.txt


If you get a low frame rate:
----------------------------

For reasons as yet undetermined, SDL sometimes fails to pick the correct
colour depth for the display, resulting in poor performance. If you have
problems, try adjusting the colour depth either with the '-b' command line
option or in the menus (settings->graphics->display->depth, set). One depth
may run faster than the others. Anti-aliasing and displaying a grid both
adversely affect performance; try 'A' and 'g' respectively.


Default Keybindings:
--------------------

cursor left/right: turn left/right
cursor down: de-aim
cursor up: glance back
1,2,3: fire
4: launch capture pod

p: pause/unpause
q: quit

escape: menu

s: toggle sound
z: toggle zooming
r: toggle rotation
g: toggle grid
a/A: increase/decrease amount of anti-aliasing

[, ]: alter fps

+,-,=: alter game rate (not while playing)


Details of Game Mechanics:
--------------------------
(For those who must know exact details but don't want to sourcedive)

Table of shot stats:

|Colour | Damage | Speed | Delay |  Heat  |
+-------+--------+-------+-------+--------+
| Green |   1    | 20/25 | 20/10 |  40/28 |
|Yellow |   2    | 15/20 | 30/25 |  70/49 |
|  Red  |   3    | 10/15 | 40/30 | 100/70 |

Where there are two numbers separated by a slash, the latter refers to the
value when you are in possession of the correspondingly coloured Node.

"Speed" is rate of travel of the shot, "Delay" is how long (in 100ths of a
second measured on Normal gamespeed) you have to wait after firing a shot
before firing again, and "Heat" indicates how much heat is generated by firing
the shot.

You can fire one pod every 10 seconds.

Table of shootable objects:

|     Name    | Hit Points | Armour |
+-------------+------------+--------+
|   Red Blob  |     1      |    0   |
| Yellow Blob |     2      |    0   |
|  Green Blob |     3      |    0   |
| Blue Meanie |     3      |  1/inf |
|     Pod     |    1/3     |    0   |

A shot with "Damage" d does d-Armour points of damage. Capture Pods normally
have 1 HP, but a Pod launched when you possess the blue Node will have 3 HP.
Blue meanies have armour 1 until they manage to put up a shield; they are then
invulnerable to shots, and can only be destroyed by a Capture Pod.