README file for Atomic Tanks
============================================


What is Atomic Tanks?
========================

Atomic Tanks is a game in which you control an overly-powerful tank and attempt
to blow up other highly powerful tanks. Players get to select a number of
weapons and defensive items and then attack each other in a turn-based manner.
The last tank standing is the winner.



How to I get/install Atomic Tanks?
===================================

To gain a copy of Atomic Tanks, go to our website at
   http://atanks.sourceforge.net
Click on the "Download" link and select the latest version of Atanks.

Note: If you have a pre-compiled (binary) copy of Atomic Tanks, you will need
      the Allegro graphic package.
      See : http://allegro.cc/
      Also, if you are going to compile/build Atomic Tanks from source code, you
      will need the Allegro development package.

If you are using a pre-built, binary copy of Atomic Tanks, please see the next
section on running the game. Next we will cover compiling from source.


To compile Atomic Tanks, please make sure you have the Allegro libraries and
headers installed (see above).
Next, open a command console (shell) and move into the directory containing the
Atomic Tanks package. This file will probably be named "atanks-6.5.tar.gz".
Then run the following commands:

tar zxf atanks-6.5.tar.gz
cd atanks-6.5

Now it depends on your preferences:

1) Default linux installation :
The Binary goes to  : /usr/bin
The data files go to: /usr/share/games/atanks

make
make install

If you are on Ubuntu, or one of Ubuntu's children distributions, and encounter
sound problems, you can try to to fix this by building and installing Atanks
with:

make ubuntu
make install ubuntu

2) Linux User installation, where everything stays in the atanks folder :

make user

3) Windows User installation where everything stays in the atanks folder :

make winuser

4) OSX User installation where everything stays in the atanks folder :

make osxuser
(You may wish to use "gmake osxuser" instead.)


Now we can get to running the game. If you encounter an error while running
"make", then please see the last section of this document, which covers
reporting bugs.


How to adapt build and installation paths
=========================================

There are two different variables which influence how Atanks is built and
installed. Both are important to package managers in the first place:

PREFIX - This defaults to /usr and influences the basic path. If you would like
         to install into /usr/local instead, simply call:
         make PREFIX=/usr/local
         make install PREFIX=/usr/local

DESTDIR - This defaults to an empty string and can be set for build roots, just
          like the prefix. If you do not know what that means, you do not need
          it. ;-)


How do I run Atomic Tanks?
====================================

You can run the atanks file by typing "./atanks" from a command line, or by
double-clicking the file in a file browser.
Atomic Tanks tries to use reasonable defaults, so there is rarely a need to use
the command-line options. However, Atomic Tanks supports the following options:

-h  --help           Show this help screen
-fs                  Full screen
    --windowed       Run in a window
-w  --width <width>  Specify the screen width in pixels
-t  --tall  <height> Specify the screen height in pixels
                     Adjust the screen size at your own risk
                     (default is 800x600)
-d  --depth <depth>  Colour depths, currently either 16 or 32 bit
    --datadir <path> Path to the data directory
-c <path>            Path to config and saved game directory
    --noconfig       Do not load game settings.
    --nosound        Disable sound
    --noname         Do not show player name above tank
    --nonetwork      Disable network connections.
    --nobackground   Do not display the green menu background.

Most of these options can be used together, with the exception of "-fs" for full
screen mode. Simply running "./atanks" is the same as running Atomic Tanks with
the following options:
./atanks --windowed --width 800 --tall 600 --datadir . depth 32


How do I go about creating a player for myself?
================================================

when you first run Atomic Tanks, the first thing you'll need to do is to create
a player/tank for yourself. If you haven't created a human player, yet, the game
will present you with the player creation screen automatically. Otherwise click
on the "Players" button and click "Create New". Enter the name you want and pick
the colour you'd like your tank to be.
The teams "Jedi" and "Sith" mean that their members work (somewhat) together,
while the neutral tanks are all on their own. The "Jedi" AI is a bit more social
and defensive, while the "Sith" AI is a bit more individualistic and aggressive.

That's all you'll need to do. Click the "Okay" button. Then click the "Back"
button and, most importantly, click "Play"!

Once you click play, you'll have a chance to select which tanks you'll be
playing against. You can get anywhere from 2 to 10 tanks on the playing field at
one time. Don't forget to select yourself!

The next screen gives you a chance to buy weapons and defensive items. There is
no perfect combination, so experiment a little.
You can buy an item (assuming you have enough funds) by left-clicking on the
item. To sell the item, right-click on the item. When you've completed your
selection, click "Done".

The final screen you'll see is where the action takes place!
Use the left and right arrow buttons on your keyboard to aim your tank's gun.
The up and down arrow keys adjust the speed (power) of the shot. The space bar
fires the tanks gun. If you want to change which weapon you will be using, press
the TAB button or the BACKSPACE button. The round is over when there is one tank
left standing.


Keyboard Controls
=========================================

Atomic Tanks tries to be keyboard friendly and much of the tank's controls
require the keyboard. Here is a quick overview of which keys do what:

SPACEBAR   -- Fires weapons and selects/toggles menu items.
ENTER      -- Is similar to pressing the OK button on a menu.
UP/DOWN    -- Adjusts tank power, cycles through menu items and scrolls on the
              buying screen.
LEFT/RIGHT -- Aim the tank's gun. Also buys and sells on the buying screen or
              adjusts values in menus.
ESC        -- Cancel out of a menu.
F1         -- Takes a screenshot.
F10        -- Tells the computer to take over your tank for the remainder of the
              round.
              Also saves games when on the buying screen.
V, v       -- The "v" key controls the volume during matches. Pressing
              lower-case "v" decreases the volume and upper-case "V" increases
              the volume.
~          -- Show/hide the scoreboard during rounds. On german (and possibly
              other) keyboards the scoreboard is switched with the key '#'.


How to play a game over a network?
=========================================

Atomic Tanks has just introduced network play and it is still a bit rough.
However, if you'd like to try playing this way, here are a new points to help
you along.

Playing over a network requires two or more people. One person must be the Host
and the other person is the Client. If you are hosting the game, make sure
you have networking enabled. To check this, go into the Options menu and select
the Network option. Make sure "Networking" is set to "On". If it was "Off", then
change it to "On" and then exit Atanks and re-start the game. Congratulations,
you're now running a Host. You can continue to play as you normally would from
this point. Clients will connect to your game and take over computer-controled
tanks. To connect to you, the Clients will need your IP address. To get this,
visit the website whatismyip.com.

For clients, to connect to a host, you'll need to first get the IP address of
your Host. Once you have that, go to the Option menu and select the Network
option. Change the box marked "Server Address" to match the IP address of your
Host. Then return to the main menu and click the button labelled Network Game.
Atanks will then try to connect to the server and introduce you to the game.

Things are still flaky on the Client side. Hopefully it will improve as time
goes on.

If the Client cannot connect to the Host, there are a few possible problems.
Perhaps there is a firewall in the way? Maybe the Host is using a non-default
port number. Perhaps the Client side just isn't working well enough yet. If you
run into problems, please let us know about them on the forum.

When you're playing a game (as the client) you'll notice the various tanks are
in four different colours. The Jedi Team is marked in Green, the Sith are marked
as Purple, Neutral tanks are Blue and the player's tank is indicated with Red.
Hopefully this will prevent you from shooting your team mates.


Known issues
=========================================

There are some known issues which players should be aware of. We are trying to
fix these, but in the mean time, it's best to know they exist and how to work
around them. The issues are, in no particular order.

1. The default sound driver doesn't work on Ubuntu Linux and its related
distributions. If sound isn't working for you, go into the Options menu, select
Sound. Make sure Sound is turned on and that the Sound Driver is switched from
AutoDetect to OSS. Then return to the main menu, Quit and then re-start the
game. If this doesn't resolve the issue, then Quit the game and delete all of
the files and folders in your computer's /tmp folder with the name "pulse".

2. The client side of the network games is buggy. We're working on that.


Where do I report bugs or send requests?
=========================================

Atomic Tanks is a great game, but it isn't perfect.
We, the developers, are always trying to improve the experience our game brings
to you. If you have a problem with installing or playing Atomic Tanks, please
let us know.
We have a bug tracker on xxx, where issues can be recorded, tracked, and
discussed.
Or mail the project lead at jessefrgsmith@yahoo.ca
We encourage you to give your feedback. Please give as many details as possible
so we can help you.

