dangen --- shoot 'em up game where accurate shooting matters
by Oohara Yuuma <oohara@libra.interq.or.jp>
published by Project Geeste

$Id: README,v 1.42 2009/11/10 19:01:43 oohara Exp $

* what is dangen

dangen is a shoot 'em up game that attach importance to accuracy of shooting.
With the combination of the cursor key and the shot button, you can shoot
at your side or even at your back.  Get the bonus point by hitting the
enemy without a miss.  You can choose stages of different difficulty.

* how to install dangen

See the file INSTALL for information about how to install dangen.
In short, install libc, libSDL and libSDL_image, then type
1) ./configure
2) make
3) make install

* command line options

Your play record is not saved if you use cheat option(s).

--free-select
Allow you to select any stage.  You can select the same stage multiple
times if you use this option.  This is a cheat option.

--full-screen
Run the game in the full screen mode.

--help
Print a help message and exit.

--slow
Enable the slow mode.  If you use this option,  you can run the game
at the half speed by pressing the s key.  Press the s key again to play
at the normal speed.  This is a cheat option.

--version
Print version information, license information and the disclaimer, then exit.

* key control

cursor keys     move
space           shoot (see below)
ESC             quit
p               pause/continue

A joystick is also available for move and shoot.  Note that you must
plug the joystick before you invoke dangen.

The game is paused if the mouse cursor leaves the window.  This prevents
you from being killed while you does not have the focus on the window.

* how to shoot

Just pressing the space key is _NOT_ enough to fire a shot.
There are 2 ways to shoot:

  + By pressing one of the cursor keys while pressing the space key,
    you can fire a shot in the direction that cursor key indicates.
    You have 4 alternatives of directions: up, down, left and right.
    Any input of a diagonal direction is ignored.
  + If you press the space key and then release it before pressing
    any cursor key, a shot is fired to the top of the window when
    the space key is _released_.

Your ship can't move while you press the space key.  This applies
whether a shot has already been fired or not.

When your ship fires a shot, it takes a short time to prepare the next shot.
It can't shoot while it is purple or while it is rolling.

Each time you press the space key, one and only one shot is fired.
Once you press the space key, you can't stop shooting.

* tap-tap move

When your ship begins to move, it takes a very short but non-zero time to
reach the top speed.  Therefore, you can adjust the position of your ship
by hitting the cursor key quickly and repeatedly.

* your ship

If your ship gets hit by an enemy shot, an enemy ship or any other obstacle,
your ship is destroyed.  If you have no more ship, you lose the game.
The circle at the center is the only weak point of your ship.
The rest is safe.

You get an additional ship for each 200,000 points. If you clear all of the
5 (not 4) stages, each remaining (unused) ship is worth 30,000 points.

* the shot of your ship

The shot of your ship consists of two parts: the head and the tail.
Only the head of your shot deals damage to enemies.  Its tail is
just a decoration for your convenience; the tail of your shot turns black
if it misses.

The shot of your ship deals damage in 2 ways:

  + If its head hits an enemy directly, it deals 20 damage to that enemy.
  + If it hits something, it explodes.  The explosion deals to each enemy
    it touches 1 damage per frame.  The explosion remains for 30 frames.

Therefore, an enemy gets at most 50 damage per shot (20 damage for a direct
hit, 30 damage for explosion).  The number displayed near an enemy is the
hit point of that enemy.

* the color of a enemy

There are 3 colors of enemies: brown, green and red.  Most of the enemies
are brown and sometimes change their colors to green.  You can get an
additional score by destroying enemies when they are green (see below).
You can't destroy red enemies.

* the boss enemy

A boss enemy appears at the end of each stage.  If you destroy it, you can
go to the next stage.  Note that some boss enemies have 2 or more forms
and some stages have 2 or more boss enemies.

However, you don't have to destroy the boss enemy by yourself to go to
the next stage.  The boss enemy self-destructs if you survive for a few
minutes (don't ask why), and you clear the stage.

The window flashes when the boss enemy is dead.  A white flash means you
killed it.  A blue flash means it commited suicide.

* the chain bonus

You can get an additional score if you destroy green enemies without a miss.
This is called the chain bonus.

  number of chains     bonus point
     1                      1
     2                      2
     3                      4
     4                      8
     5                     16
     6                     32
     7                     64
     8                    128
     9                    256
    10                    512
    11+                  1024

The number of chains increases if one of the following happens:
  + your shot destroys a green enemy
  + your shot hits a green enemy directly
If the direct hit of your shot destroys a green enemy, only 1 is added
to the chain count.

The number of chains is reset to 0 if one of the following happens:
  + your shot misses
  + your ship is destroyed
  + a boss enemy self-destructs
  + you clear a stage
Note that you don't have to shoot only green enemies to keep the number
of chains.  If your shot hits something (even if it is a brown enemy or
an obstacle), it's enough.

* secret stages

Usually, you select 4 stages of difficulty [hard] or lower.  The game
has extra stages for experts:
  + If you clear a stage with difficulty [normal] or greater, you can
    select [very hard] stages.
  + If you clear 4 stages and if at least one of the cleared stages has
    difficulty [hard] or greater, you can play the [hardest] stage as stage 5.
    Note that you can't select other stages as stage 5. 
These restrictions apply to each play.

* license

See the file LICENSE for information about the license.  In short,
the license is GPL exactly version 2 or the Artistic License Version
2.0beta5, whichever you like.

* contact information

Please send bug reports or comments to Oohara Yuuma
<oohara@libra.interq.or.jp>.  Also check the dangen webpage:
http://www.interq.or.jp/libra/oohara/dangen/index.html

* history

The initial version of dangen was released on Thu, 14 Jul 2005.
"dangen" is a Japanese word which has two meanings; one is "the source of
bullets", the place enemy shots come from; and the other is "assertion",
to say plainly and strongly, which is considered rude in Japan.

The stage data, "spqr", was dedicated to shinichiro.h
<s31552@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp>, who is famous for his Parliamentary
Bullet Dodging System.  This was why the stage data was named after
the ancient Roman idiom.
