Zaxxon Retro-Remake Readme
Description: Remake of Zaxxon made with Allegro for Linux and Windows
Keywords: Zaxxon, Retro, Allegro

## Zaxxon RetroRemake - ReadMe Zaxxon was a classic game from 1982 that was unusual as an isometric shoot-em-up. I'd never written a game before (ever) and the 2003 Retro Remakes competition made me think of writing a retro game, there are many Pacman and Asteroid clones so I was surprised that no-one had tried to remake Zaxxon. Anyway here is my Work-in-progress so far... Zaxxxon Retro Remake is written in C with the Allegro game library, anyone interested in writing games and has some C experience should have a look at http://www.allegro.cc which is home to the Allegro community and http://alleg.sourceforge.net/ which is the Allegro homepage Thanks Thanks to all at http://www.allegro.cc who have helped me and other newbies Thanks to Index: Keys Install / Running Options/Menus License Keys in the Game :- Up/Down/Left/Right arrows, numpad and Joystick - Movement (vertical and horizontal) Enter, Space, Left Control, Joystick button 0/1 - Fire P - Pause S - Make a snapshot to snap.bmp Esc - Quit Game and return to Menu F1 - Show/Hide timing information F2 - Fancy/Fast shadows F3 - Show/Hide Height map, Sprite id map F4 - Reverse controls : On/Off F5 - Fullscreen/Windowed End - Exit Program immediatly Keys in the Game Menu :- Up/Down arrows, numpad and Joystick - Change option Enter, Left Control, Space, Joystick button 0/1 - Select menu option Esc - Back a menu (or Exit from Main Menu) F1 - Show/Hide timing information F2 - Fancy/Fast shadows F3 - Show/Hide Height map, Sprite id map F4 - Reverse controls : On/Off F5 - Fullscreen/Windowed End - Exit Program immediatly Keys in Hi Score Table Entry :- Left/Right, Keys A-Z - Change Letter Up/Down - Upper/Lower Case (may look the same) Space, Left Control, Joystick button 0/1 - Next letter F1 - Show/Hide timing information F2 - Fancy/Fast shadows F3 - Show/Hide Height map, Sprite id map F4 - Reverse controls : On/Off Esc/Enter - Finish Entering name End - Exit Program immediatly Install / Running Windows Unzip the download and run zaxrr.exe Linux Unzip the download (tar -xfz file) and run zaxrr. This should be noticably better than the old version. I've put alot of time into trying to get it to work as smoothly as the Windows version but with mixed results on my machine, the framebuffer driver (from a graphical console) and the X driver are more playable now, I don't think it'll improve much more unless/until I convert to OpenGL. Game Speed This is a development version and there are quite a few options which change the way the game performs, by default the game should work ok on most computers, if not then the first things to try are Fullscreen and turning Shadows to Fast. There are also some advanced options, the demo mode in the background should indicate if an option has made an improvement or not. The Regulate options should really only change the 'smoothness' of scrolling and should be the same on most modern computers, if you find that these actually change the game speed then I'd like to know about it. Bugs Please Email any bugs that you may spot to me at gpankhurst@hotmail.com (please put zaxxon in the subject somewhere so that I know it's not spam, thanx) Alternatively you can fill out the guestbook at Zaxxon RetroRemake Home Page Options/Menus :- Play - Play the game Options Shadows Fancy/Fast - This will draw shadows, either shaped and faded (fancy) or as a solid colour over ground (fast) Autofire On/Off - You can turn autofire off so that it behaves as the original game did Reverse Alt Logic Off/On - As with a plane joystick by default, forward means dive, back means climb. With this option set to On then it acts more as the key meaning, Up: the plane goes up, Down: the plane goes down, this sounds easier, like riding a bike with one wheele sounds easier than two. Advanced Graphics Mode - This allows you to choose a Graphics driver and then a resolution. If it fails it reverts to the last good mode. Refresh rate - The game is designed for 75hz, other rates may also scroll smoothish (eg 50Hz) if they have common multiples of 75 (or is it divisors?) Colour Depth - The game is designed for 8 bpp but should work in any colour depth. In windowed modes the desktop colour depth is used by default. Screen update method Not all update methods are available or are possible with the available video memory for every graphics driver, the game tries each one in turn. Tripple buffer - this uses three video bitmaps and drawing is done directly to the bitmaps. This should be a good update method if you have an accelerated Graphics card. Page flipping - this uses two video bitmaps and drawing is done directly to the bitmaps. This also should be a good method of update but may drop slightly more frames that tripple buffering. Double Buffer - this uses one normal memory bitmap and a video memory bitmap, the game defaults to this if the methods above are not available. This will probably be a bit slower than the other methods (although shadows will be faster) but it will always work. Time Regulate Method - (see below) The method with which the game regulates speed but also allows you to switch vsync on/off and run game at screen speed on/off. Time Diff - the screen update happens when it happens and distances are calculated on the time. Timer no Vsync - This uses a Timer to regulate game speed (at 75Hz) Timer and Vsync - as above and does a vsync after drawing. Vsync: Game=Screen Hz - this makes a difference when the screen refresh is not 75Hz, it tells the game that you'de prefer to see it scroll more smoothly and adjust the game speed to suit. If your refresh rate is below 75Hz then the game will be slower and if it's above then it will go faster. Back Back Save Settings Back Fullscreen/Windowed - Change between the two if a windowed Grahpics driver is available Hi Score Table Exit License erm, ... will have to look into what you're supposed to put here, probably something like 'use at your own risk and if your computer explodes then it's not my fault', if you hit the keys too hard in rage then same again etc. Fellow game makers are free to use any graphics/sound data from the game. Also, I'm happy for it to go on compilation CD's and distrubuted freely but if this is for comercial gain then I would preferr to be informed first or a donation made on my donation page (if I get around to doing one). The same goes for any other ways of making money from it, and I would love to know what they could be :)