xref: /dports/games/narcissu2/narcissu2-installer/README

                         -------------------
                          Narcissu Side 2nd
                         -------------------
 CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. System requirements
3. Installing the game
4. Playing the game
   4.1 Translations
   4.2 Controls
   4.3 Auto mode
   4.4 Saved games
   4.5 Configuration
5. Known issues
   5.1 Widescreen displays
   5.2 Fullscreen mode under Compiz
   5.3 Stuttering sound
6. Copyright and license


 1. INTRODUCTION

Thank you for downloading this English edition of Narcissu Side 2nd!


 2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Narcissu Side 2nd should work on any more-or-less-POSIX-compliant
platform that is capable of using SDL.

Ponscripter has been tested on i386, x86-64, and PowerPC
architectures, those being the ones I have access to.  The code should
be reasonably portable, but YMMV on esoteric hardware.

This package is known to run successfully on current versions of
several popular GNU/Linux distributions (including Ubuntu, Fedora, and
OpenSuSE), several BSDs (Free, Open, and Net), and on Solaris 10.


 3. INSTALLING THE GAME

This is a no-frills distribution designed to be usable in generic
Unix-type environments.  As such, installation is a bit more involved
than for packages targeting a specific single operating system.

Please see INSTALL for full details.


 4. PLAYING THE GAME

 4.1 TRANSLATIONS

The first Narcissu game experimentally came in both voiced and
unvoiced versions.  When we localised it, we followed the experimental
spirit and provided multiple translations.  We continue that tradition
in the sequel.

Each translation may additionally be played voiced or unvoiced.  They
are all different presentations of the same games -- finishing a
chapter on one setting unlocks the next chapter for alls settings.
However, any given saved game will be tied to a single setting.

The translation selection takes the form of a brief series of menu
screens each time you start a game.

There are two translations of Narcissu Side 2nd to choose from, and
three of Narcissu:

  Agilis (both games)  -- American English
  gp32 (Narcissu only) -- American English
  Haeleth (both games) -- British English

Each translation is based on different stylistic ideals; if summarized
in a sentence by the translator, they would be:

  Agilis -- "To stay close to the text and recreate the mental
      experience of reading the original."
  gp32 -- Somewhere between the two, in terms of the balance between
      the relationship of the text and rephrasing.
  Haeleth -- "To produce as natural an English script as possible,
      preserving the sense but not always the exact expression."

The translators may provide more details about their translation
ideals for their version in their own notes, which you can find
in-game under the Notes menu.

Also, gp32's script for Narcissu is unchanged from the 2005 insani
release of Narcissu, and had been included for sake of completeness.

 4.2 CONTROLS

 4.2.1 General controls

   Action            Mouse          Keyboard
   -----------------------------------------------
   Quit immediately                 Shift+Q
   Toggle fullscreen                F

 4.2.2 Normal reading mode

   Action            Mouse          Keyboard
   -----------------------------------------------
   Next sentence     Left click     Space, Enter
     or screen       Wheel down     Cursor right
   Enter lookback    Wheel up       Cursor left
   Enter menu        Right click    Escape
   Adjust text speed                1, 2, 3
   Toggle page-at-once              O
   Enter autoplay mode              A
   Skip to unread                   S
   Fast forward                     Control

  Most of these controls only work while the game is waiting for input
  (a rotating cursor will display).  While text is actually being
  printed, only the "Next sentence" and "Fast forward" commands are
  enabled, and "Next sentence" causes the remainder of the current
  sentence to display immediately instead.

  The text speed settings are in ascending order: 1 is very slow and 3
  is almost instantaneous.  The default is 2.

  In page-at-once mode, text is printed at maximum speed, and
  additionally the game only pauses for input at the end of each page,
  ignoring any mid-page pauses.

  Skip-to-unread mode is not instantaneous; it is equivalent to
  fast-forwarding to the correct point.  Unlike other aspects of the
  game, each translation records what you've read separately.

  Autoplay mode is described in its own section below.

 4.2.3 Lookback mode

  Lookback mode is a special menu-type screen used to review previous
  pages of text.  Two arrows are always displayed at the right of the
  screen: these move back and forwards within the text.  If the text
  contains spoken lines, you can also activate those lines to play the
  voice again.

   Action            Mouse          Keyboard
   -----------------------------------------------
   Previous screen   Wheel up       Cursor left
   Next screen       Wheel down     Cursor right
   Select button                    Cursor up/down
   Activate          Left click     Enter
   Exit lookback     Right click    Escape

 4.2.4 Menus

   Action            Mouse          Keyboard
   -----------------------------------------------
   Select button                    Cursor up/down
   Activate          Left click     Enter
   Exit menu         Right click    Escape

 4.2.5 Alternative keys

  Everywhere the cursor keys are mentioned above, you can also use
  some alternative keys.  H and L are equivalent to the left and right
  cursor keys, and K/J and P/N are both equivalent to up/down.

 4.3 AUTOPLAY MODE

The autoplay feature can be used to relieve the tedium of constant
clicking.  Press A at the end of a page to enable it.

In autoplay mode, the game waits a variable length of time at the end
of each chunk of text, then continues automatically.  If the text has
an associated voice clip, then the game waits for the voice to finish
before continuing; otherwise the duration is based on the amount of
text that has been printed.  You can scale these delays in the
configuration menu.

Autoplay mode is disabled if you attempt to take any manual action.

 4.4 SAVED GAMES

You can save up to 20 positions in the text for later reading.  To
save a position, enter the in-game menu (right click or escape) and
follow the prompts.

Many settings are stored with each save, including the translator and
the presence or absence of voices.

Saved games are normally stored in $HOME/.Narcissu_Side_2nd; you can
safely remove this directory if you no longer wish to keep your saves
and settings.

 4.5 CONFIGURATION

The configuration screen can be accessed from the in-game menu.  Most
settings are self-explanatory.

"Autoplay speed" controls the lengths of pauses in autoplay mode,
relative to the number of characters in a page.

By default, the translations include a few explanatory footnotes, and
the opening song in Side 2nd is subtitled.  If you find such things
annoying, you can get rid of them with the Localization options.


 5. KNOWN ISSUES

 5.1 WIDESCREEN DISPLAYS

Currently there is no specific support for widescreen displays.  The
game is fixed at 800x600 resolution, and you should have black bands
down each side.

If the image is distorted, please consult the documentation for your
monitor and graphics card -- one or the other should provide a
facility for aspect ratio correction.

 5.2 FULLSCREEN MODE UNDER COMPIZ

In some tests there have been intermittent problems going fullscreen
under the Compiz window manager.  The game enters fullscreen mode
momentarily, but immediately reverts to windowed mode.

This appears to be an issue with the Workarounds plugin; disabling
that plugin makes the problem go away.  (You may have to install
something like CompizConfig Settings Manager to do this.  See your
OS's Compiz documentation.)

There has also been one case where exiting the game while in
fullscreen mode has apparently broken Compiz: all open windows went
white, and the desktop manager crashed.  We have not been able to
reproduce this, but if it does happen to you, simply restarting Compiz
should fix the issue without any risk of data loss.

 5.3 STUTTERING SOUND

There appears to be an incompatibility between some system-provided
SDL libraries and the Ponscripter game engine that manifests itself in
the form of horribly stuttering sound and music.  We have observed
this most frequently on Fedora.

If you experience this, try recompiling Ponscripter, using the
"--with-internal-libs" configure option to force the use of a
compatible SDL.


 6. COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING

Narcissu is copyright (c) 2005-2007 Stage-Nana.
Narcissu 2 is copyright (c) 2007 Stage-Nana.

  Permission has been granted to anyone to redistribute these games
  by means such as the Internet, provided such distribution is free of
  charge and the contents of the game data are not modified.

This translation is copyright (c) 2005-2009 Insani/Haeleth/Agilis.

  This modified version of the game is distributed with the kind
  permission of Stage-Nana.

  The game data may be redistributed under the same terms as for the
  original version.  If you distribute a package that includes a copy
  of the game engine as well (e.g. the Windows or Mac packages), you
  must additionally meet the requirements of that program's license:

The Ponscripter engine used to play the English version is copyright
(c) 2001-2008 Ogapee, (c) 2006-2009 Haeleth, and (c) 2009-2010 UncleMion.

  Ponscripter is licensed under the GNU General Public License,
  version 2 or later.  A copy of this license is included with every
  copy of Ponscripter, under the name "COPYING" or "COPYING.txt".

  Note that the GPL license applies only to the Ponscripter program,
  which is not actually included in this generic Unix package.  The
  game script and data files are non-free.


Legal notices required by third-party components follow.

This game includes fonts derived from the free Charter Type 1 fonts,
which bear the following notice:

  (c) Copyright 1989-1992, Bitstream Inc., Cambridge, MA.

  You are hereby granted permission under all Bitstream propriety
  rights to use, copy, modify, sublicense, sell, and redistribute the
  4 Bitstream Charter (r) Type 1 outline fonts for any purpose and
  without restriction; provided, that this notice is left intact on
  all copies of such fonts and that Bitstream's trademark is
  acknowledged as shown below on all unmodified copies of the 4
  Charter Type 1 fonts.

  BITSTREAM CHARTER is a registered trademark of Bitstream Inc.

Ponscripter includes the libogg and libvorbis libraries, which bear
the following notice:

  Copyright (c) 2002-2004, Xiph.org Foundation

  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
  modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
  are met:

  - Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

  - Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in
    the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
    distribution.

  - Neither the name of the Xiph.org Foundation nor the names of its
    contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
    from this software without specific prior written permission.

  THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
  ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
  LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
  FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
  FOUNDATION OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
  INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
  BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
  LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
  CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
  LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN
  ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
  POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

This softare is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG
Group.

This software is based in part on the work of the FreeType team.

This software also includes zlib, libpng, libbzip2, SMPEG, SDL,
SDL_image, SDL_mixer, and the Better String Library.