
SPACE GLIDER 
version 0.3a alpha
by 2001-apr-04

(c) Copyright 2000, 2001 Christian Schler

homepage: http://members.tripod.de/cschueler/
email: cschueler@gmx.de

------------
Installation
------------

Unzip all files preserving directory structure.

Windows and DOS executable files are precompiled.
The DOS version runs much faster (at least on my machine)
than the windows version, but I have included a windows
version for compatibility with Win2000.

Any other people may try to recompile it from the sources
as they are included in the distribution. If you are
really serious about porting, and want to redistribute
a port, just contact me.

For trouble shooting see below
For license see below

The next text dates back to Sep 2000:

----------------------------------------------
Quick Sightseeing tour through SpaceGlider 0.3
----------------------------------------------

HI!!!!
After a long time, with many changes and additions,
version 0.3 is out and here we go:

- After the game starts, push 30% thrust and fly straight onto 
  the surface of planet Organy in front of you. Before you're
  crashing onto the ground you may pull up.

- Stop. Did you notice there was no "Planetfall" message?
  This is because there is no mode-switch anymore when entering
  a planet. The game runs one unified procedure from outer 
  space to the planet's surface. This is a fundamental 
  improvement in the game structure because it allows celestal
  objects like asteroids to cast shadows onto the planet or
  big planetary objects beeing visible from space etc.

- Now look around. You can see that your cockpit has a real
  heads up display now. Also you can see that the planet has
  been populated. There are trees; maybe a fighter flying 
  by or a car driving past. The message brabbler is going
  to tell you that you visit someting at +50 +162. So let's
  go there.

- Press TAB. You will see the command menu. Press 1, you should
  see the navigation computer. Now hold down the 1 key and move the 
  mouse until the first number below the word "Dest:" shows +50. 
  Then hold down the 2 key and move the mouse until the second number 
  shows +162. If you did everything alright, you should see a 
  small circle at apx. 14 degrees in the compass bar. This is 
  the heading for your destination. Press TAB again to hide
  the navigation computer.

- Now head for your destination and keep flying straight. With 
  some luck you should arrive at +50 +162. There's the 
  "Polarius Monument" there. If you want, you can stay there 
  and wait for sunset and watch the sun 
  going down through the archs. Hold down F1 for fast time 
  if you're too bored.

- Now lift off and pick the next Matzee (that's the blue 
  fighters flying around) and try to chase him! You will need
  to set the thrust to something about 75% to match speeds,
  but you will see for yourself. If you are having 
  difficulties in spotting the blue bogeys against the blue
  sky, just use the infrared-camera! Sorry but you can't
  shoot them down in this version.
 
- Now we will head for another planet. Press TAB to enter
  the command menu. Press 2. You can see the system map now.
  Except for the map, in the top left corner of the screen 
  you can see a small window of the outside view. In the 
  center of the screen is the sun. Around the sun there are
  it's planets. You can see your own position as a yellow 
  cross. You can orientate the map by holding down 1 and 
  moving the mouse. Press the right mouse button in addition
  to that to zoom the map.

- We will head for planet Acidus. That is the second nearest
  planet to the sun. Look twice and make sure that you have
  understood where to fly. Then press TAB to quit the map
  and search the sky for your destination. Acidus should be
  visible as a tiny bright green spot near the sun. Once
  you found it, head for it, and when you are in outer space,
  press D to activate your interdrive. You are going to
  drive very fast now, and should arrive in a matter of
  seconds. Press D again early enough before you finally
  arrive to turn the interdrive off.

- Gee what a bad weather here. The strange thingies on the 
  ground are mineral crystals. The strage thingies in the 
  air are called "Stratobase". You can fly into the interior 
  of the Stratobases between the two layers. In the finished
  version this planet will be a hazardous place, because 
  of high pressure, high temperature corrosive atmosphere,
  but for now, you are indestructible. Yet you are even 
  bodiless! (Did you notice that there is no shadow cast 
  from yourself?)

- There's more to explore. Look into the file "game.txt"
  to see which planets have data, then fly there.

Ok, there is still a number of glitches in the program,
and things that could be done better. For instance when
the IR-camera is active, only the image should be blurred,
not the heads-up-display! Anyway, I hope you have
as much fun playing SpaceGlider as I had creating it.

unsigned chris;

---------------------------
Otherwise undocumented keys 
in the current version:
---------------------------

- Press O to toggle that outlines are drawn for all polygons

- Hold down F1 for fast-time (10x)

- Press M to listen to music within the game. A raw data sample named 
  "input.raw", in the same format as above will be read and mixed in.
  (see below)

- Press F12 to save a screenshot

- Hold down the key above TAB for an FPS/polygon counter + GFX driver 
  info. The first number of the polygon counter is the number of polygons
  that are sent to the engine. The second number is the number
  of polygons that are actually drawn.
  

--------------------------------------------------
How to get into the right mood with the soundtrack
--------------------------------------------------

The music for SpaceGlider isn't finished yet, but
I have done a short intro-theme so far. The music
isn't implemented directly into SpaceGlider yet,
you must download a separate program and pre-synthesize 
it.

Step 1: Go here and download the synthesizer

   http://europa.spaceports.com/~schueler/synth

Step 2: Unzip the synth and invoke this command
        (will go number-crunching for a while)

   synth -q space01.txt input.raw

Step 3: Copy the file "input.raw" into the SpaceGlider
        directory

Step 4: Start SpaceGlider and press 'm' anytime you
        want to hear the music!


-----
LEGAL
-----

A) This program comes with no warranty. Use it at your own risk. You 
agree to take full responsibility and to not hold the author of this 
program liable for any damage that occurs by or in timely association 
with running of this program.

B) This program is freeware, i.e. copyrighted. This means in particular 
that you are not allowed to make changes in the sources or in the 
data or the documentation, and then redistribute it.

C) Distributors - hands off! This is an alpha version intended for 
personal use only.


---------------
TROUBLESHOOTING
---------------

* It says "Could not load font"
* It says "Could not load welcome message"
* It says "Could not load system data"

Make sure, these files are in the same directory as you are running
Space Glider from:

   - init.txt
   - game.txt
   - objects.txt
   - glider.dat

* It says "-XYZ- driver doesn't support resolution"

Edit init.txt and try another screen resolution. There is a number of 
example resolutions already there. Alternatively you also may change the
graphics card driver. For instance, the mode-x driver just isn't capable 
of 1600 x 1200 :-)


-------
CREDITS
-------

This program uses the Allegro Game Programming Library by Shawn Hargreaves
http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro/
