xbattle concurrent multi-player battle strategy game Steve Lehar (slehar@cns.bu.edu) Greg Lesher (lesher@cns.bu.edu) DESCRIPTION This is version 4.0 of xbattle, by Greg Lesher, based on the original by Steve Lehar released in 1991 and including certain enhancements, modifications and bug fixes suggested by a number of contributers from all over the world. The new changes are outlined below. The latest version can be obtained by anonymous ftp to park.bu.edu (cd pub/xbattle) in both shar and tar.Z formats. xbattle is a concurrent multi-player battle strategy game that captures the dynamics of a wide range of military scenarios. It is based on X windows, which you must have installed to run this game. Players play from separate displays, and commands are executed concurrently, i.e. the players do not take "turns", they all issue their commands simultaneously. There can be any number of players, and each player is assigned to a color team (or black, white & gray for monochrome monitors). The game board is a matrix of squares that can be occupied by colored troops, and the aim of the game is to eliminate the enemy from the board by attacking squares occupied enemy troops. To get the feel of the game, you can run the tutorials (called "tutorial1" and "tutorial2") that are supplied with the game. These are shell scripts that run on unix systems and start up a series of small example games that you can play around with to learn the various options available with the game. If you are not on a unix system, print out the tutorials and type in the command lines by hand. If you are interested in the philosophical and game design issues of xbattle, or want to get immediate notice of the latest changes bugs, and bug fixes, send email to xbattle_request@park.bu.edu and we will put you on the xbattle mailing list. INSTALLATION After unpacking the shell archives, create a makefile using the command "xmkmf", then compile using the command "make". DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VERSION VERSION 3.2 AND VERSION 4.0 Added option "-hex" whereby the game board comes up as hexagons instead of squares. This makes for a more interesting geometry, but slows the game down noticably. Also, this option will not work with the combination of "-horizon" AND "-wrap", among other restrictions. Changed the options "-fill " and "-dig " to take command line arguments. These options allow you to modify the terrain, raising or lowering hill elevations, or digging and filling seas. With the new arguments, it costs full troopsquares to completely dig or fill a sea. A partially filled sea is displayed as a sea square with a square island in the middle whose size proportional to the number of fills left. The argument for "-dig" and "-fill" must be the same value, otherwise the last argument supplied is applied to both, i.e. the first is ignored. Added option "-attack" whereby hitting 'a' when pointing to an enemy square causes all your adjacent squares to attack that square. This helps synchronize simultaneous attacks. Added option "-area" whereby the troop strength is represented by a troop square whose area is proportional to the strength, rather than the length of the side, which is the default. Established new default that grid appears automatically; replaced "-grid" option with "-nogrid" option if you require no grid. Changed the names of gray1 and gray3 to light and dark, representing light and dark shades of gray. (Gray2, the "stealth" color still exists, but is not documented). Added a new feature- xbattle now prints out the random number seed used in a particular game, to make it easier to reproduce the same game again using the parameter "-seed ". Added a new command key 'z' which cancels all command vectors, like clicking in the center of the gamesquare. This is particularly useful with the new hex option. Allow fractional speed settings like "-speed 0.5". Very slow games favor new players, and make for a more chess-like game of strategy and planning rather than an arcade style shoot-em-up. Defined default board and square sizes more appropriate for beginners (big squares, small boards). Changed the RGB color definitions for Cyan, Yellow and Green to more pleasing combinations, although they are no longer the true colors of those names. Added compile time option MULTIFLUSH (default FALSE) whereby command vectors are displayed immediately after the command is clicked, to give the user immediate confirmation of the command. This feature noticably slows the game however. Bug fix: Previously when playing with colored armies on monochrome monitor (for example color "-red" which appears as black with a letter "R") the team color displayed on the xbattle window was the monochrome color (or black, in this example) instead of the actual color (or red). This has now been fixed. Bug fix: Fixed marching bug which accidentally enabled bounding movement window. Bug fix: Fixed movement bug which shortchanged fractional moves < 1. COPYRIGHT Copied from the GNU Emacs 'copyleft' policy. Basically, you are free to copy, modify and distribute this program as long as you do not sell it or use it in a product that you sell. COPYING POLICIES 1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of xbattle source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy a valid copyright notice "Copyright (C) 1991 Steve Lehar" (or with whatever year is appropriate); keep intact the notices on all files that refer to this License Agreement and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the xbattle program a copy of this License Agreement along with the program. You may charge a distribution fee for the physical act of transferring a copy. 2. You may modify your copy or copies of xbattle source code or any portion of it, and copy and distribute such modifications under the terms of Paragraph 1 above, provided that you also do the following: a) cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change; and b) cause the whole of any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is a derivative of xbattle or any part thereof, to be licensed at no charge to all third parties on terms identical to those contained in this License Agreement (except that you may choose to grant more extensive warranty protection to some or all third parties, at your option). c) You may charge a distribution fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee. Mere aggregation of another unrelated program with this program (or its derivative) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other program under the scope of these terms. 3. You may copy and distribute xbattle (or a portion or derivative of it, under Paragraph 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Paragraphs 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following: a) accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Paragraphs 1 and 2 above; or, b) accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party free (except for a nominal shipping charge) a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Paragraphs 1 and 2 above; or, c) accompany it with the information you received as to where the corresponding source code may be obtained. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or executable form alone.) For an executable file, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains; but, as a special exception, it need not include source code for modules which are standard libraries that accompany the operating system on which the executable file runs. 4. You may not copy, sublicense, distribute or transfer xbattle except as expressly provided under this License Agreement. Any attempt otherwise to copy, sublicense, distribute or transfer xbattle is void and your rights to use xbattle under this License agreement shall be automatically terminated. However, parties who have received computer software programs from you with this License Agreement will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance. NO WARRANTY BECAUSE XBATTLE IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, WE PROVIDE ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE STATE LAW. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE XBATTLE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW WILL STEVE LEHAR OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND REDISTRIBUTE XBATTLE AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST MONIES, OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH PROGRAMS NOT DISTRIBUTED BY STEVE LEHAR) THE PROGRAM, EVEN IF YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.