
Sasteroids v1.0

**INTRO**
	Sasteroids is an asteroids-like game, the whole point to shoot
asteroids and an occasional enemy space ship.  Ok, so its not DOOM, but it
can be amusing.  This started out as a direct port of xasteroids to run
under svgalib (super-vga graphics library by Harm Hanemaayer), but I then
decided that 256 color bitmap graphics would be more fun, then rewrote large
chunks of it in C++, then added a high-score list, a title screen, etc,
anything to avoid school work.  

	There are also millions of tiny changes from xasteroids, eg: When a
new level starts, the new asteroids will always be placed away from your
ship.

	Warning: I can't draw, so the asteroids look more like chunks of dog
food.  Maybe this game should be called "Save the Planet from Killer Alpo",
or something.

Please see the file README.xast for info on xasteroids.

	The game uses 320x200 in 256 colors.  I developed it using svgalib
v1.01, but it may work with earlier versions (such as the one included in
Slackware 1.1.0, but I haven't tested it).  svgalib can also be obtained
from your favorite linux ftp site (eg, sunsite.unc.edu) and is needed to
compile this game.

	The program is written in C++.  I have made no attempt to make this
program portable to any operating systems other than linux (I don't have
access to any others :-).


**INSTALLATION** 
	I recommend gcc 2.4.5 or later, the C++ library stuff (if you can
compile and run a C++ program, you've got it), and svgalib (I used v1.01,
but it probably will work with v0.99 or so).  You also need the ncurses
library, which, by chance, just also happens to be in Slackware.

The game may be slow on 386's, I haven't tested that.  Oh, and a color
monitor would help.

Untar the distribution:
	tar zxvvof sasteroids1.0.tgz

Or if your tar doesn't have the 'z' option:
	gzip -dc sasteroids1.0.tgz | tar xvvof - 

As root, type:
	make

Because of svgalib requirements, the game must be setuid root, so either
'make' the program as root, or after compiling, su to root and type:
	chown root  sasteroids
	chmod a+rs,go-w sasteroids

To play the game, run the program:
	sasteroids

The game consists entirely of the one executable file 'sasteroids', so put
it where you want, e.g. /usr/local/games, or leave it in your home
directory.  

The high score list is stored in .SastScores, created automatically in the
directory your sitting in when you run the game.  Not the best behaviour,
I'll fix that in version 2. (yeah, right :-)


** NOTE: IF THE GAME SEEMS TO RUN TOO SLOW **
	If you press 't' while playing the game, you can toggle the bottom
line between displaying your score/etc, and displaying the time it takes to
generate 1 frame of animation on your computer.  The time is shown in usec
(millionths of a second, probably accurate to within +/- 10,000 usec).

	The time to generate 1 frame of animation depends on the speed of
your computer, your video card, whether you have a FPU or not, and how many
objects are being moved around the screen.

	Since by default, the game is set to 20 frames per second (FPS), 1
frame should take 50,000 or less usec to generate/display.  On my 486DX2 66,
with a nice ATI VLB Graphics Ultra Pro, I get about 12,000 usec at the
beginning of a 'hard' level (press 3 when starting the game).  Since this is
well below 50,000 I know I am getting 20 FPS, with time to spare.

	If the timing on your machine is above 50,000 the game can't
generate 20 FPS on your machine.  Please email me your computer hardware
setup and the approximate timings in usec at the beginning of a skill level
3 game if you have performance probs with this game.

	If performance is a problem for a lot of people, I'll try to
optimize the code (for instance, get rid of the virutal member function
calls!), and perhaps change the game to determine the best FPS for the
computer, instead of using a fixed FPS for all machines.

	A final note, compiling the game with gcc 2.5.8 produced slightly
better timings than with gcc 2.4.5!


**TODO In Version 2**
	-Clean up code!
	-Put the high scores file someplace useful.
	-Sound effects: zip-bam-boom-kapow. Iiieeee.
	-Better bitmap graphics (more dog-food-like?)
	-Maybe joystick support??

----------------------
brad pitzel  Feb 10/94

bugs, patches, better bitmaps, to pitzel@cs.sfu.ca

Long live the Rheostatics!
(back in the studio in march, whoohoo!)
