
              .o8                  o8o                            ooooo ooooo 
             "888                  `"'                            `888' `888' 
 oooo    ooo  888oooo.   .ooooo.  oooo  ooo. .oo.    .oooooooo     888   888  
  `88b..8P'   d88' `88b d88' `88b `888  `888P"Y88b  888' `88b      888   888  
    Y888'     888   888 888   888  888   888   888  888   888      888   888  
  .o8"'88b    888   888 888   888  888   888   888  `88bod8P'      888   888  
 o88'   888o  `Y8bod8P' `Y8bod8P' o888o o888o o888o `8oooooo.     o888o o888o 
                                                    d"     YD                 
                                                    "Y88888P'                 

                       Version 2.4 - 22nd Nov 1996


Description
-----------

XBoing is a blockout type game where you have a paddle which you use to
bounce a ball around the game area blowing up blocks with the ball. You win by
obtaining points for each block destroyed and each level completed. The person
with the highest score wins.

XBoing was started like many other projects to learn Xlib better. I had the 
XPM library and was already using it in a Motif application. I thought that it
would be cool to have nice colour pictures/animations in an Xlib game. So I 
did. Without the XPM library I would be still playing with the colours I think.

Please read the manual page as the manual has some important game play 
information. 

WARNING: This game requires a lot of grunt to run well. If someone is doing
         a compile or the load is large then expect the game to be a bit
         bumpy and hard to play. Sorry about that. ;-|

Please see version.doc for information on this version.


Requirements
------------

The XPM library. XPM is currently at version 3.4c I think.

A COLOUR X display. I may fix it to use other visuals later. ie: grey. mono

An ansi or non-ansi compiler. Ansi is better, try gcc.

Also note that if you are on a Sun machine the xnews server is not the
quickest and you may experience delays in the game due to its heavy use
of pixmaps etc. I suggest playing it with the MIT X Server - hassle I know
if you use other Sun software that requires news etc.

Note: It will always be a bit slower on a network so playing on the host
      machine will give the best results. I have tuned the game for my
      SparcStation 2 and it runs very fast. I cannot test the game on
      other machines other the some Xterms and SGI Indigo's.  Disclamier.

This program DOESN'T have an Xdefaults file and does NOT use Motif or Xt. It
is a plain XLIB program. It runs VERY fast on my computer which is a sparc II.
If it is slow then check out the problems.doc doco.


Where do I get it from
----------------------

Via anonymous ftp from [ftp.x.org] in the /contrib/games directory. 

The most recent version is xboing2.4.tar.gz

It may appear on other mirror archive machines  that mirror ftp.x.org or 
whatever. In Australia try archie.au ftp.x.org will always have the latest.

You may like to check out my WWW Home Page for XBoing at the following URL

          http://www.catt.rmit.edu.au/xboing/xboing.html 


Unpacking the Archive
---------------------

There are three files you can get.

xboing2.4.tar.gz  = GNU zipped tar file. Use gunzip or gzip -d, then untar.
xboing2.4.readme  = The README file you are reading!

Once you have uncompressed the archive then you must untar it. It will make
a directory called xboing in your current directory. The way I untar the
file is as follows:

		 tar -xvfo xboing2.4.tar

You should then have the directory xboing and all the source etc. Read on.


Installation/Building game
--------------------------

Please read the file called INSTALL. It is important to read this file.
Don't forget to get the XPM library and compile it up first! Please don't
ask me how to compile XPM as it has really good installation documents.

NOTE: I do NOT SUPPORT the sound code subsystems. Check the source and 
      email the authors for help. They will send me the new code if it
      needs to be updated.

Usage
-----

The game does have command line options so check them out. 'xboing -help'

The colourmap is taken over as I need all the colours. Sorry but thats the
problem with only 256 colourmap entries. I cannot see a problem with this.

The colourmap is released afterwards and should return you to your lovely
colour scheme. If it doesn't please let me know.


Developement
------------

Xboing was developed on a SparcStation 2 with 48meg memory and a 19" colour
display using the MIT X11R5 X server, fvwm window manager. I used x11ups 
which is found on the archives as (UPS) for debugging - excellent tool. 
Sunos 4.1.2/3 sun4c. Compiled using gcc with warnings on and also tested using 
the Sun cc compiler (non ansi).

Reference books: All of O'Reilly Series, X & Motif Quick reference guide
Graphics: Titles done on Amiga using Deluxe Paint IV, converted using pbmplus
          tools and xpm image touch ups with "pixmap".
Sounds:   Mainly from sounds.sdus.edu and also from other places.


Special Thanks
--------------

Really special thanks to Arnaud Le Hors (lehors@sophia.inria.fr) for the
wonderful XPM library and for making it free :-).

Thanks for a some cool backgrounds found in Anthony's Icons - some copyright.
Anthony Thyssen - anthony@cit.gu.edu.au

Please read the COPYRIGHT message in the backgrounds directory as some images
are copyright and must NOT be used in a Microsoft Windows environment.

The comp.windows.x newsgroup netters for help over the past few years. See
the changes.doc doco inline lisitings of the some of the many helpers.

Thankyou to those who have emailed me over the past year reporting bugs :-(
and making me aware of your preferences.


Patches to XBoing
-----------------

Patches are great and welcomed. Please do as others have and either send them
to me or post them to news. Please do NOT place them on ftp.x.org and
make it look like I put it there. 


Suggestions/Bug fixes
---------------------

I have had many suggestions and bug fixes. I cannot list all the names of the
people who have helped as it would be a big list and I wouldn't want to
leave anyone out. Thankyou to all those who have helped - you know. ;-)

See the changes.doc doco for more juicy info.


Grovel Bit
----------

If anyone is feeling really generous or kind they can send money, equipment,
cars, travel vouchers or anything for that matter to my humble self and I 
will be very happy. ;) If that's all a bit much then a friendly email will
do fine. 

Justin Kibell
jck@catt.rmit.edu.au
SnailMail: PO BOX 260, Eltham, Victoria, Australia, 3095
