Index of /atarilibrary/atari_cd07/GAMES/NETHACK
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DOC/ 11-May-2007 21:15 -
NETHACK.CNF 29-May-1993 15:23 1k
NETHACK.PRG 02-Jun-1993 22:48 1.1M
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NetHack 3.1.1
Graphical GEM Version for Atari Computers
REVISION C
by Warwick Allison
warwick@cs.uq.oz.au
No longer do you have to play NetHack with silly character graphics!
OVERVIEW
--------
This port of NetHack 3.1.1 gives you full-colour graphics, plus a
completely GEM user interface. Not to be confused with the hackfnt
technique of simply changing the font, THIS version gives you
16x16 pixel, 16 colour graphic icons for EVERY OBJECT IN THE GAME -
that's about 850 different icons.
REQUIREMENTS
------------
Being a GEM application, this game will run in many graphics modes,
however it is by far the best when played with:
- 16 colours
- AT LEAST 640x480 pixels
This means that the game is not really playable on the standard modes
of old ST, Mega, and STe models. It will, however, run in such modes,
but with most of the playability lost. Run it in ST-medium to the
see basic interface, then run it in ST-low to see the neat graphics...
then try to imagine what it is really like...
and get a Falcon, a TT, or a graphics card.
This version also requires at least 2 MEGABYTES of RAM: the program
itself is more than 1M, and the graphics consumes 350K.
THE DISPLAY
-----------
There are 3 windows, initially placed in the order:
- Message window
- Map window
- Status window
The Message window is a scrolling window of messages. Make sure you
keep an eye of these messages - they mean the difference between death
and maybe death. Note that it works a little different from the normal
NetHack message display: you will always see the 5 most recently
output messages.
The Map window is where all the action happens. It is a scrolling
window, although in 640x480 modes, you can see the full height of
the map, and half of the full width. It scrolls automatically as
your player moves around the map, and can be manually scrolled with
the GEM scrollbars, or by using the arrow keys. You may select to
have a box around your player by choosing the "Map cursor" menu
item - this is most useful if you drink a potion of invisibility!
The Status window is exactly as appears in the traditional character-
based NetHack. I won't go into details of NetHack itself - read the
NetHack documents for that information.
THE CONTROLS
------------
Both mouse and keyboard controls are available at all times.
Experienced NetHack players will generally use the keyboard 95% of
the time, but it is handy to have the GEM menus at the top of the
screen for those less-often used commands.
The GEM menus have the keyboard equivalents displayed with them, so
the beginner can quickly learn the more common commands (selecting
'Get' will drive you crazy if you don't learn that ',' is the
keyboard equivalent).
The map can be clicked on to move the player around, but this gets
VERY tedious. Use the numeric keypad (8 directions) to move the player:
N
|
7 8 9 5 = self / rest
W-4 6-E Shift-number to move in that direction until a corner.
1 2 3
|
S
When scrolling about with the arrow keys or scrollbars, the HOME key
will return the view to your player.
During pop-up dialog boxes, the UNDO key will ALWAYS end the interaction
with a non-response (usually undoing the activity without effect).
The ESC key also ends interaction in MOST pop-ups. It doesn't end
a "get line of text" pop-up, because the standard GEM user interface
uses the ESC key to clear a field. You would agree with me that you
don't want ESC to cancel the pop-up when you are asked to wish for
something...
Also in pop-up dialogs, keypresses can be used to select options - just
use the keys depicted in the pop-up. The RETURN key selects the heavy-
outlined button, as per the GEM user interface.
Pop-up dialogs may be dragged around the screen by clicking and holding
on the background blue area of the dialog. This is especially useful
when you think you've read a create monster - just drag the pop-up
so you can see what happened the instant before it popped-up.
CAVEATS
-------
Currently, if you read a blessed scroll of genocide, you will be asked
what "class" of monsters to exterminate. In the character-based NetHack,
this simply means you get to wipe out all the monsters represented
on the screen by a given character! So, in order to use such a scroll
effectively, you will have to read the on-line help to get a bit of
an idea what monsters are in each "class" if you want to know what to
wipe out.
HISTORICAL NOTE
---------------
You may notice a resemblance in some of the icons to those in the old
EPYX game called "Rogue". I have deliberately drawn similar characters
for some monsters, so as to give a feeling of homeliness to those players
who have spent hours playing the EPYX "Rogue". However, be clear that
this game is not IN ANY WAY endorsed by EPYX, nor is any of the graphics
in this game copied verbatim from the EPYX "Rogue" graphics.
USER SERVICABLE PARTS - for experts
---------------------
The graphics used by the game are contained in 4 Degas Elite picture
files (.PI1) in the data directory. It's probably best not to look
at them too soon - it'll spoil the game a bit to see all the graphics,
but I've provided them in that format so that if you don't like my
picture of a Rust Monster (yes, I know they are supposed to be red),
you can change them.
The resource file for this game may be edited quite extensively to
customize the interface. Of course, ALWAYS keep a backup of the
original RSC if you start changing things. ALL MENU BAR ITEMS may
be moved around, deleted, etc. the keyboard equivalents must remain
unchanged - it is those that are passed on to the NetHack system.
So, for example, if you don't like the way I have ordered items in
the "Here" and "There" menus (I certainly don't like the ordering),
you can move them to under other menus, and change the text of the
item, provided you leave the keyboard equivalents the same.
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