A stickman-oriented game against time
Project description
You have no shadow, your limbs are all sticks, and your movements look funny. You have been transformed into a stickman.
You have the ability to run very fast — extremely fast. You can run so fast that you are in a constant risk of hurting yourself. If you don’t slow down, you’re going to run straight into a wall and die.
But how to slow down, you ask?
When you were a stickboy you had trouble learning the alphabet. To this day your stickfriends still tease you. However, you have just realized that letters are everywhere, and that whenever you pass a letter while running, you just have to press that letter on your inner keyboard. This will both make you learn the alphabet and slow down (because you have to concentrate about the letter).
There is a catch: if you press a letter on your inner keyboard when you’re not passing it on your running path, your mind gets chaotic, which makes you run even faster. You are forced to concentrate so that you can come to a complete stop before you reach the wall.
Later on, when you have realized the power of the alphabet, you must learn to accept how numbers behave as well. The thing is, passing through numbers make you go faster for a while. For example, if you cross the number 3, your speed will be greater for 3 seconds, after which it will decrease. The reason why you react this way is because you like numbers. You simply don’t have to concentrate to understand them — and because of that, you speed up, but only until you realize that you should slow down. The higher the number, the longer it takes for you to realize that. If you feel like it, you can always destroy numbers with your laser beam, but sometimes it may be beneficial to speed up temporarily.
License
shadowloss is free software under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 (or any later version). The author of shadowloss is Niels Serup, contactable at ns@metanohi.org. This is version 0.1.0 of the program.
The libraries used by shadowloss are GPL-compatible.
All data (music, sounds, etc.) is available under free licenses. See the details in the file LICENSING.txt.
Installing
Way #1
Just run this (requires that you have python-setuptools installed):
$ sudo easy_install shadowloss
Way #2
Get the newest version of shadowloss at http://metanohi.org/projects/shadowloss/ or at http://pypi.python.org/pypi/shadowloss
Extract the downloaded file and run this in a terminal:
# python setup.py install
Dependencies
Python 2.5+ is probably a requirement.
shadowloss depends on cairo and cairo’s Python bindings for generating images. To install it, do one of these things:
For DEB-based distros (Debian etc.): type apt-get install python-cairo
For RPM-based distros (Fedora etc.): type yum install pycairo
For other distros: do something similar or get it at http://cairographics.org/download/
shadowloss depends on PyGame 1.8.1+ (perhaps earlier versions are also supported) for showing generated images. To install it, do one of these things:
For DEB-based distros (Debian etc.): type apt-get install python-pygame
For RPM-based distros (Fedora etc.): type yum install pygame
For other distros: do something similar or get it at http://pygame.org/download.shtml
shadowloss depends on qvikconfig for parsing config files.
Web address: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/qvikconfig/
License: GPLv3+
Installing: easy_install qvikconfig
Author: Niels Serup
Note that qvikconfig is included with shadowloss, so you don’t really have to install it.
Optional extras
If present, shadowloss will also use these Python modules:
- termcolor
Web address: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/termcolor/
License: GPLv3+
Installing: $ sudo easy_install termcolor
Author: Konstantin Lepa <konstantin lepa at gmail com>
Note that termcolor is included with shadowloss, so you don’t really have to install it.
- setproctitle
Web address: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setproctitle/
License: New BSD License
Installing: $ sudo easy_install setproctitle
Author: Daniele Varrazzo <daniele varrazzo at gmail com>
Using
Simply running shadowloss will start the game with its default options. Running shadowloss --help will show a list of available command-line options. These options can also be specified in config files, but they cannot be changed in-game (that would clutter the interface). Config files use a property = value syntax (e.g. fullscreen = true or size = 640x480) separated by newlines.
Controls
<letter>: letter <SPACE>: when playing: laser beam <SPACE>: when level is finished: next level <RIGHT>: when level is finished: next level <LEFT>: when level is finished: previous level r: when level is finished: restart level ESCAPE: quit program
Creating levels
shadowloss levels are simple config files. They consist of global and local options. Global options:
start speed (what speed to start at, default 1.0)
stop speed (what speed to stop at, default 0.0)
start position (where to start, default 0.0)
length (length of level, default 500)
speed increase (when pressing a wrong letter, default 0.5)
speed increase per second (default 0.0)
stickfigure (what stickfigure to use, currently only ‘zorna’ and ‘bob’, default ‘zorna’)
font height
letter height (default 75, overrides ‘font height’)
number height (default 40, overrides ‘font height’)
default temporary speed increase (during number penalties)
default speed decrease (when pressing a correct letter)
default object duration (the duration of a subobject, default 0.5)
default letter duration (overrides ‘default object duration’)
default number duration (overrides ‘default object duration’)
default object destruction duration (the time it takes for a laser beam to destroy the object, default 0.3)
default letter destruction duration (overrides ‘default object duration’)
default number destruction duration (overrides ‘default object duration’)
letters
numbers
Except for letters and numbers, all of these options need only simple numbers assigned to them. letters and numbers are lists, and they offer support for local options. Syntax:
letters|numbers = <position>:<letter1>(opt1=val1;opt2=val2;...):\ <letter2>:...[opt3=val3;opt4=val4]
Options enclosed in () are local options, while those in [] are global (object-wise). Local options:
letters
dec (overrides default speed decrease)
dur (overrides default letter duration)
ddur (overrides default letter destruction duration)
numbers
inc (overrides default temporary speed increase)
dur (overrides default number duration)
ddur (overrides default number destruction duration)
Example:
letters = 230:A(dec=0.3;dur=1;ddur=0.1):Q:R[dur=0.5]
Developing
shadowloss is written in Python and uses Git for branches. To get the latest branch, get it from gitorious.org like this:
$ git clone git://gitorious.org/shadowloss/shadowloss.git
This document
Copyright (C) 2010 Niels Serup
Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved. This file is offered as-is, without any warranty.
