FREEDROID(6) | User Manuals | FREEDROID(6) |
NAME¶
freedroid - a free Paradroid cloneSYNOPSIS¶
freedroid [ options ]DESCRIPTION¶
Freedroid is a remake of the classic C64 home computer game Paradroid by Andrew Braybrook, including also various extensions.OPTIONS¶
- -v or --version
- Prints out Freedroid version information.
- -q or --nosound
- Suppress all sound output. Very useful if you don't have your sound card configured yet or don't have any sound hardware at all.
- -f or --fullscreen
- Work in full screen mode. Note that fullscreen or window mode can also be toggled from within the game via the options menu.
- -w or --window
- Start Freedroid in a window rather than using full screen mode.
- -j or --sensitivity
- Control joystick sensitivity. Value must lie in between [0:32]. Default is 1.
- -d LEVEL or --debug=LEVEL
- Control debug output of the game. Debug output will be printed to stderr, i.e. in most cases to the console you started Freedroid from. The variable LEVEL controls how much debug output you would like to have. LEVEL 0 is the default and means (almost) no debug output. LEVEL 1 prints the most important debug messages and LEVEL 2 or LEVEL 3 print (almost) all debug output, which might be quite a lot.
HOW TO PLAY¶
Moving and FiringThe influence device can be moved inside the
ship by either using keyboard input or joystick directions. Keyboard control
can be done by either using cursor keys or the Quake and Half-life style
a-w-s-d keys combination. Firing can be done by either using the crosshair and
the left mouse button or by pressing a direction key and pressing space in
addition or by holding a joystick direction and pressing a joystick
button.
Entering Elevators and Consoles
The influence device can move from one deck to
another deck using the elevators of the freighter. To do this, you must step
onto an elevator plate, and then either press the e key or press the middle
mouse button or appropriate joystick button. Entering consoles is done in a
similar way. You have to stand directly in front of a console terminal and
then press the e key to activate the console. Inside the console you will have
access to a small scale map of the current deck, a side elevation of the ship
and to the droid database of the ship. Note however, that access to the droid
database is achieved via the security clearance of the host you currently
control, i.e. you will only be able to view droid data for droids that are
lower or equal to the host you currently control.
The takeover subgame (Taking control of other droids)
To take control of another robot, you must
first enter transfer mode. This is done by either standing still and holding
space bar pressed (and keeping space bar pressed afterwards) or by holing down
the right mouse button or holding town appropriate joystick button. While in
takeover mode, the influence device can try to initiate takeover by touching
the host it wishes to control. As soon as another robot is touched while in
takeover mode, takeover subgame will be initiated and control of the new host
will be seized, provided that the takeover subgame is won.
Playing the takeover subgame
After the takeover subgame was initiated, the
two droids struggling for control will be presented. Then the player gets to
decide which side of the takeover game he wants to play. The player on the
left side takes the yellow color, the player on the right side takes the
magenta color. Note that which side to choose may be the most important
decision of the takeover subgame, cause one side may host strong tactical
advantages over the other. After sides have been chosen, the takeover capsules
will be placed. Each droid has a limited number of capsules to place and must
try to convert the central status bar to his color. The number of capsules you
have at your disposal depends on the clearance of the host you currently
control. Once the takeover subgame is won, the player will have control over
the new bot while the old host is destroyed. Control over the new host also
means inheriting the movement properties and the weapons of this robot. Loss
of takeover subgame results in the current host, if one is present, being
destroyed or the influence itself being burnt out and destroyed if no host was
present.
Notes on energy loss
The influence device depends on hosts to
control. Whether currently controlling a host or not, the influence device
will always lose energy due to construction properties. When taking control of
a new host, the influence device will also take control of the energy this
droid had left, which will be even more the higher the bot you take control
of. However, higher droids also tend to put up more resistance against the
control of the influence device, resulting in faster loss of energy. Therefore
it is recommended to change hosts frequently in order to keep the influence
device well powered. Note that there are some refresh field, where some of the
energy lost so far can be restored. But note also, that only energy loss
due to collisions, explosions and enemy fire can be restored this way,
while energy loss due to host resistance is permanently lost until the host is
changed again.
PROJECT HOME PAGE AND LATEST VERSIONS¶
The Freedroid project features a home page at freedroid.sourceforge.net. The project itself is hosted at the Sourceforge. The project summary page at http://sourceforge.net/projects/freedroid/ can be used to access download and status information. Note that home page and project summary page are shared with the FreedroidRPG development branch as well.FILES¶
~/.freedroidClassic/highscoresThe high scores file of Freedroid.
~/.freedroidClassic/config
The file containing all configuration setting
of this user.
ENVIRONMENT¶
Freedroid does currently not care about any environment variables.DIAGNOSTICS¶
Debug output can be produced by using the -d or --debug command line options as described above.BUGS¶
Freedroid can now be considered pretty stable. However we're sure that there are still some bugs here and there. If you encounter any problems or bugs, please send mail to <freedroid-discussion@lists.sourceforge.net>.AUTHORS¶
Johannes Prix, Reinhard Prix, Bastian Salmela, Lanzz.SEE ALSO¶
freedroidRPG(6),MARCH 2003 | Linux |