Critical Mass (aka Critter)
is an SDL/OpenGL space shoot'em up game. It currently runs on Linux, which
is my main development platform. Other platforms supported by SDL/OpenGL
may also work with a bit of work. I've managed to cross-compile the game
for Windows, but haven't tested it much.
My machine is a Cel800 with a GeForce DDR and it runs at well over 100fps
at 1024x768 (16bit), so hopefully it will run acceptable on lower hardware
as well. For those interested in the early history of this game, you can find the
details on my personal webpage.
Running:
If you haven't already done so, just run the critter executable!
A config file will be created the first time you exit the game.
Linux
The config file is called .critter and will be created in your
home directory.
Windows
The config file is called config.txt and will be created in the directory
where critter is started.
You can edit the config.txt file to change resolution, fullscreen mode,
etc. Or you can specify it on the command line. When critter exits it
will write the current configuration to the config file. Some of
the settings can also be changed within the game (See Config menu).
Some examples:
Run fullscreen
critter +fullscreen 1
Run in a window at 640x480
critter +fullscreen 0 +width 640
Run with a sound track (mod, mp3, ogg, what ever SDL_mixer supports)
critter +soundtrack soundtrack.mod
Run with a skill level of EXPERT
critter +skill EXPERT
The skill levels are:
ROOKIE, NORMAL, EXPERT, INSANE.
Keyboard/Mouse Controls:
The default action bindings are:
PrimaryFire
|
SPACE
|
Fire!
| PrimaryFire
| MOUSEBUTTON1
|
Fire!
| SecondaryFire
| MOUSEBUTTON2
| Fire!
| TertiaryFire
| MOUSEBUTTON3
| Fire or Bark!
| Motion
| MOTION
| Move via Mouse
| MotionUp
| UP
| Move up
| MotionDown
| DOWN
| Move down
| MotionRight
| RIGHT
| Move right
| MotionLeft
| LEFT
| Move left
| Confirm
| RETURN
| Confirm selection
| EscapeAction
| ESCAPE
| Cancel selection
| CritterBoard
| TAB
| Show/Hide CritterBoard
| Snapshot
| F12
| Take snapshow (snapNN.png)
| PauseGame
| p
| Pause game
| ChangeContext
| c
| Toggle locked-in / Mouse-look style (for developer)
|
Building the game from source on Linux
You will need a somewhat recent version of gcc. I'm using 2.95.3 (as well
as 3.0.2). Everything should go smoothly with the following lineup of 3rparty
software:
SDL
|
1.2.3
|
SDL_image
|
1.2.0
|
SDL_mixer
|
1.2.0
|
libPNG
|
1.0.12 (v2)
|
libz
|
1.1.3
|
./autogen (if you grabbed the source out of CVS)
./configure
make
You can run critter from within the game directory without having to go through
the installation process. After you install it, it can be run from anywhere.
Installing after building from the source:
make install
This will install the critter executable and the resource file.
Note that it is also possible to run the game right from the game directory.
Go to http://criticalmass.sourceforge.net/ for the latest news, email info, etc.
Have fun,
Frank (crittermail at telus dot net).
| 