1 2 Xoids v1.5 3 4 An X Window System arcade game 5 6 All files in this distribution Copyright (C) 1996 by Tim Ebling 7 tebling@oce.orst.edu see disclaimer at end of this file 8 9============== 10 11NOTE: This README applies to v1.2 of Xoids. A README for v1.5 should be 12available within a few days. TE (9/10/96) 13 14What is Xoids? 15============== 16 17 Xoids is an asteroids-type game written for X in my (spare) time. The 18 game was originally developed on a Sun4 system while on an oceanographic 19 research cruise. It's by no means finished. 20 21What is the Current Version of Xoids? 22===================================== 23 24 Xoids 1.5 is the latest release, and is dated 9/10/96 25 26Is There An Xoids Home Page? 27============================ 28 29 Why yes, and it's located at http://www.orst.edu/~eblingt/xoids.html 30 31What Are Some of Xoids' Features? 32================================= 33 34 While Xoids is strikingly similar to the original Asteroids game, 35 there are some differences: 36 37 o Full color pixmaps 38 o One or Two Player (duel and cooperative) modes 39 o Can bounce off asteroids instead of dying (if going slow) 40 o Shots have relative speed, and impart intertia to the ship 41 o Asteroids have appropriate "masses": realistic physics 42 o The alien (called the Slurb) tracks players rather than 43 flying around aimlessly 44 o Thrusting and using hyperspace can overheat your engines (boom!) 45 o Co-op mode links players together via a flexible space-cable 46 47Game Play Modes 48=============== 49 50 There are currently three modes of play: 51 52 One Player 53 ---------- 54 55 Start out with five ships. Keep blasting asteroids and 56 accumulating points until you're out of ships. Simple but fun. 57 The alien Slurb can make life difficult. More asteroids get added 58 once you clear a level and move to the next. 59 60 Two Player Duel 61 --------------- 62 63 Go head to head with a friend sitting at the same keyboard 64 (no networking YET - sorry). Blast asteroids and each other. 65 Points are decremented for dying, but there are unlimited lives. 66 First player to reach 20,000 points wins. 67 68 Two Player Cooperative 69 ---------------------- 70 71 Similar to the Duel, except that the players' ships are 72 linked via an elastic cable. I didn't want one player to run 73 out of lives before the other, so there are unlimited lives. 74 Since the first player to 20,000 "wins", it may be more 75 competitive than cooperative, but hey... such is life (and 76 death) in space. It's quite easy to make things difficult for 77 the other player by trying to swing him (or her) into other 78 objects. 79 80Compiling and Installing Xoids 81============================== 82 83 Please see the file 'INSTALL' 84 85Playing 86======= 87 88 For now, the controls are hardwired: 89 90 Player 1 91 -------- 92 93 Thrust Up Arrow (keypad 8) 94 Rotate Right Right Arrow (keypad 6) 95 Rotate Left Left Arrow (keypad 4) 96 Fire Right Shift 97 Hyperspace Return 98 99 Player 2 100 -------- 101 102 Thrust F 103 Rotate Right B 104 Rotate Left C 105 Fire Left Shift 106 Hyperspace Space Bar 107 108 General 109 ------- 110 111 Quit Q 112 Pause P 113 Menu Escape 114 Decrease Clock Speed - 115 Increase Clock Speed + (no shift needed) 116 117Miscellaneous Notes 118=================== 119 120 That's about all for now. Naturally, I've got a lot of big plans 121 for Xoids, including more alien ships, bigger than window playfields, 122 network play, weapons power-ups, etc, etc. 123 124 If you enjoy the game, make any modifications to it, have problems 125 with it, or just want to talk about oceanography or something, then 126 feel free to email me at tebling@oce.orst.edu. 127 128 Thanks, and enjoy!! 129 130 Tim Ebling 131 132Disclaimer 133========== 134 135This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify 136it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by 137the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) 138any later version. 139 140This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, 141but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of 142MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the 143GNU General Public License for more details. 144 145You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License 146along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software 147Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. 148 149