Andreas Zehender
Copyright © 1999, 2000 Andreas Zehender
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
KSpaceDuel is an space arcade game.
Two ships fly around the sun and try to shoot eachother.
Table of Contents
Introduction
KSpaceDuel is an space arcade game for two players.
Each player controls a ship that flies around the sun and tries to shoot at the other ship. You can play KSpaceDuel with another person, against the computer, or you can have the computer control both ships and play each other.
The Game
The idea of the game is simple (but addictive). You try to destroy your opponent before he destroys you.
Be careful not to hit the sun.
Each ship has an amount of energy (refer to the game options for values).
Ships need energy for rotation, acceleration, shooting and laying mines. A ship gets energy from its solar panels. The amount of energy a ship gets depends on the distance from and direction to the sun. A ship gets more energy near the sun and less energy near the border. It gets the full amount of energy if the sun shines directly on the panels and less or even no energy if the sun shines at an angle to the panel or to the side of the panel.
If a ship has no energy it can't navigate or shoot.
Collisions with own or other bullets or mines decrease the hit points of a ship. If two ships collide, the weaker ship is destroyed and the hit points of the stronger ship are decreased by the hit points of the weaker ship plus an amount (Crash Damage). A ship is destroyed when it flies into the sun.
Bullets fly around the sun like a ship.
Mines have an amount of energy to stay at the same position. When the energy is spent, the mine falls into the sun. Mines near the sun need more energy than those which are further away.
Mines can be destroyed with bullets.
By default a ship can have 5 bullets and 3 mines on the screen.
From time to time powerups appear on the play field.
There are four different powerups:
- Mine
The maximum number of mines is increased for the player.
- Bullet
The maximum number of bullets is increased for the player.
- Energy (yellow sphere)
The player gets energy.
- Shield (blue sphere)
The player gets hit points
You can see that the central part of the KSpaceDuel screen is the playing area. To the left and the right are the Red Player's and the Blue Player's stats.
The top box on the player stats, represents the ‘Hit Points’ of the craft.
The middle box on the player stats, represents the battery power.
The bottom box on the player stats, shows the number of wins.
The top of the playing area is occupied by the menubar and toolbar.
The bottom of the playing area is the status bar.
Game Options
KSpaceDuel has many, many options you can adjust to increase the enjoyment of this game.
All of the game options can be changed using the Settings menu.
Configuration is divided into 5 sections:
KSpaceDuel has a default set of keys to control the game. For a list of default keys see the section entitled Default key bindings.
Keys can be configured by:
Selecting Settings->Player Keys... from the menubar.
This will bring up a dialog box.
You can see that each player (Red and Blue), have 5 keystrokes corresponding to Rotate Left, Rotate Right, Accelerate, Shot, and Mines.
To change a key, click on the button for the correct player. Then press the key you want for that control.
When the key is detected, it will show the new key in the box to the right of the button.
When you are finished configuring your keys, you should click on OK to apply your changes.
If you want to restore the default keys, simply click on the Default button once. To make these changes permenant, press OK.
If you want to abandon the changes you made, and return to your previously selected keys, simply click Cancel, and your changes will be lost.
All game settings of KSpaceDuel are configurable.
If you want to change the game settings, simply select Settings->Game... from the menubar.
This will bring up a dialog box with 7 tabs across the top.
Settings are collected in different configurations. You can choose from several pre-defined configurations.
If you choose the Custom configuration, you can define all settings for yourself.
Note
If you have not selected Custom, you will not be able to make any changes to these options.
Tip
If you have found an interesting configuration, mail it to the author of the game. It can be implemented in a future version (send the part [Game] in the file ~/.kde/share/config/kspaceduelrc).
When you are finished altering the options, you should click on OK to apply your changes.
If you want to restore the default, simply click on the Default button once. To make these changes permenant, press OK.
If you want to abandon the changes you made, and return to your previous options, simply click Cancel, and your changes will be lost.
The settings are:
- Shot speed
The speed of bullets
- Energy need
The amount of energy needed for one shot.
- Max number
The maximum number of bullets a player can have on the screen.
- Damage
The number of hit points damage done when a bullet hits a ship.
- Life time
The maximum life time of a bullet.
- Reload time
The time a ship needs to reload a bullet.
- Mine fuel
The amount of fuel on a mine.
- Energy need
The amount of energy needed for laying a mine.
- Activate time
The time a mine is inactive.
- Damage
The number of hit points of damage done when a ship hits a mine.
- Max number
Maximum number of mines a player can have on the screen.
- Reload time
The time a ship needs to reload a mine.
- Acceleration
Acceleration of the ships
- Energy need
The energy needed to accelerate a ship.
- Rotation speed
The speed at which a ship rotates.
- Energy need
The energy needed to rotate a ship.
- Crash damage
The number of hit points damage done when two ships collide.
- Sun energy
The strength of the sun. The higher the value, the quicker ships will be recharged.
- Gravity
The strength of the gravitational pull of the sun.
- Position X and Position Y
The ships position at the beginning of a new round. The ships start at opposite sides of the sun.
- Velocity X and Velocity Y
Velocity at the beginning of a new round.
You can specify the number of hit points each player has at the begin of a new round by selecting Options->Handicap... from the menubar.
AI
Each ship can be controlled by the computer. You can choose a difficulty for each ship.
The AI is optimized for the default config, but can mamage with other configs. Just try...
To alter the AI settings on either or both players, simply select Settings->AI... from the menubar.
This will bring up a dialog box.
For each player, there is a check box labled Player is AI. If this box is checked, the computer will control that ship.
Below that, is a drop down box, with several levels of AI intelligence. Select the level that is appropriate for you.
When you are done, simply click OK. If you want to leave things as they were before, click Cancel, to abort your changes.
Commands/Keyboard Shortcuts
The following sections briefly describe each menubar option.
The Game menu is used to start and pause the game.
- Game->New Game (Ctrl+G)
Starts a new game of KSpaceDuel
- Game->New Round (Ctrl+N)
Starts a new round, at the current level.
- Game->Pause (Ctrl+P)
Pauses and unpauses the game.
- Game->Quit (Ctrl+Q)
Quits KSpaceDuel
Settings Menu
- Settings->Show Toolbar
When selected, the toolbar will be visible. When not selected, the toolbar will be hidden.
- Settings->Show Statusbar
When selected, the status bar (the bar along the bottom of the screen which gives textual information) will be visible. When not selected, the status bar will be hidden.
- Settings->Save Settings
Saves your current setup to a configuration file. These settings will be reloaded when you start KSpaceDuel again.
- Settings->Configure Shortcuts...
Allows you to change the keyboard shortcuts for KSpaceDuel
Note
Be careful not to confuse this option with configuring players keys. Players Keys are the keys used during the game (Rotate Left, Bullets, etc). This option allows you to change the keyboard shortcuts for “Pause Game”, “New Game”, etc.
- Settings->Player Keys...
Allows you to configure the keys used during game play.
For more detailed instructions, see the section entitled Keys.
- Settings->Game...
Allows you to configure game options
For more detailed instructions, see the section entitled Game Configuration.
- Settings->Handicap...
Allows you to handicap a player to make the game more challenging (or easy).
For more detailed instructions, see the section entitled Handicap.
- Settings->Graphics...
Allows you to change the graphics refresh rate.
For more detailed instructions, see the section entitled Graphics.
- Settings->Ai...
Allows you to alter the nature of the computers play.
For more detailed instructions, see the section entitled AI.
Help Menu
- Help->Contents... (F1)
Invokes the KDE Help system starting at the KSpaceDuel help pages. (this document).
- Help->What's This? (Shift+F1)
Changes the mouse cursor to a combination arrow and question mark. Clicking on items within KSpaceDuel will open a help window (if one exists for the particular item) explaining the item's function.
- Help->Report Bug...
Opens the Bug report dialog where you can report a bug or request a ‘wishlist’ feature.
- Help->About KSpaceDuel
This will display version and author information.
- Help->About KDE
This displays the KDE version and other basic information.
Default Key Bindings
The following tables show you the default key bindings.
Menu bindings
| Key Combo | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+Q | Quit KSpaceDuel |
| Ctrl+G | New Game |
| Ctrl+N | New Round |
| Ctrl+P | Pause Game |
| F1 | Help Contents |
| Shift+F1 | Whats This Help |
| Space | Start Game |
The Menu Key Bindings can be changed by selecting Settings->Configure Key Bindings
Game Play
| Action | Red Player | Blue Player |
|---|---|---|
| Rotate Left | S | Left Arrow |
| Rotate Right | F | Right Arrow |
| Accelerate | E | Up Arrow |
| Shot | E | Down Arrow |
| Mines | A | Insert |
To change these keys, refer to the section entitled Player Keys....
Credits and License
KSpaceDuel
Program copyright 1999-2000 Andreas Zehender <az@azweb.de>
Documentation copyright 2000 Andreas Zehender <az@azweb.de>
Documentation updated for KDE 2.0 by Mike McBride <mpmcbride7@yahoo.com>
This documentation is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
This program is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Installation
KSpaceDuel is part of the KDE project http://www.kde.org/.
KSpaceDuel can be found in the kdegames package on ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/, the main FTP site of the KDE project.
Compilation and Installation
In order to compile and install KSpaceDuel on your system, type the following in the base directory of the KSpaceDuel distribution:
% ./configure % make % make install
Since KSpaceDuel uses autoconf and automake you should have no trouble compiling it. Should you run into problems please report them to the KDE mailing lists.