sodomaLite - Shoot Or Die Online Multiplayer Arcade - Lite version

SodomaLite is Mindnever-group entry for PGD Dog Fight competition. sodomaLite is written using Borland Delphi 7, models and animations are made using Lightwave 8/8.2, and textures are made with combination of Lightwave and Photoshop.

It's multiplayer arcade game. Every player controls a ship, shoots, moves around, shoots, tries to avoid barriers, and... of course, shoots!

License information

All source files are property of alexione/mindnever. You can use any usable information/code you find in them for any kind of non-commercial development. For information about source code, please contact alexione@mindnever.org or alexione@eunet.yu.


Images, object models, scenes and sound effects are property of Mindnever group. You can use any of these files for any kind of non-commercial development, as long as you give credits to theirs authors in your program. For other information, please contact rudy@mindnever.org and greent@mindnever.org. Music files are property of djnick. They cannot be used without his permission. Contact: djnick@verat.net

Installation

Just copy files to whatever directory you want and start bin/sodomaLite.exe.

Configuration

You can choose display mode in which you want to run game using simple utility bin/sodomacfg.exe. Many other options that affect game can be configured using script-files and in-game console. See config/*.cfg. Also, see sections about console commands and variables below. Note: take a look at config/local.cfg to see how you can pre-define your name, ship & color, so you can skip this step in the main game menu.

Troubleshooting

If you have problems with network, try shutting down firewall program. If it looks like you killed someone but you don't get a score-point, the reason is that his death is result of something else but not your shoot (he hit to some obstacle or someone else killed him before you :)

How to play game

When you start game, you're in main menu. Here you can choose:

[Player Settings]
Here you choose your in-game name (Player Name), color for your ship, and the ship you'll drive. There are three ship types:
- Hurricane Monowent - Fast and agile ship, with light arment and shields and laaarge inertia.
- Hurricane Tie - Ship with balanced arment, shields and manuverability.
- Hurricane Tripplestar - Heavy ship, with strong arment and shields, but low speed and manuverability.
You need to specify all three options before starting game.

[Host Game]
With this button, you announce that you want to host game in the network.
ATTENTION: It is not good idea to have two machines in the network that both act as a server unless you use console to connect.
After that, you choose table where fight will occur. There are three tables in Lite version of sodoma.
Then, you wait for clients who want to play to connect, and click on one of FRAG LIMIT XX buttons, which starts deathmatch between players until XX kills, ie. game is played until one of players scores XX kills.
When you start server, [Host Game] button changes to [Stop Server] which you can use to stop started game.

[Join Game]
This button searches for started server in the LAN, and connects to it.
After you connect to server, this button changes to [Leave Game], and you can use it to disconnect from the server.

[Credits]
Simple screen with some info. Check it out :)

Gameplay

The first thing to say is that game implements intertial movements. So, you don't give commands about where you want to go, but you specify how your ship is pushed. Anyway, you'll see when you try :) Here are commands in the game:
Up/Down arrow -> Push ship front/back
O/L -> Push ship front/back
Left/Right arrow -> Turn ship left/right
K/; -> Turn ship left/right
A/D -> Slide left/right
Space -> Hold to fire primary weapon
C -> Change camera view
Other commands are used to customize display (Ctrl+D, Ctrl+M, Ctrl+C), and you can even start server, connect to it, choose table...
All communication between players in the game are done using in-game console, from which you can start any command (even on other computer). Console is shown/hidden by pressing ~. You can press Tab to get list of available commands. Also, by pressing Shift-Tab you get list of available console-variables which can be used to configure game.

Console commands

Here's list of some useful console commands. Note that there are lot more commands, but they are more related to implementation.

General
quit_game
Who would want to call this one!? :)

echo [whatever]
Print its'' parameters

help [cmd]
Gives help for a command or lists commands

set [varname] [varvalue]
Set value for variable [varname]

get [varname]
Print value of variable [varname]


Configuration
key_assign [key] [command]
Assign [command] to [key]; see config/keys.cfg for more info

load_file [file]
[file]: Load & execute commands from [file]

User
set_name [name]
Set user name

choose_ship [shipname]
Chooses ship; not available in gamplay

choose_color [color]
Changes color of ship to [color]; specify color as $RRGGBB; available during gameplay

Client/Server
start_server [port] [timeout/ms] (Alt+H)
Start serverat port [port]

stop_server (Alt+S)
Stop server

connect_to_server [server-ip] [port] [timeout/ms]
Connects to specified server & port

find_and_connect_to_server [port] [timeout/ms] (Alt+F)
Finds local network server and connects to it

abort_connect (Alt+A)
Aborts previously started connection if not connected

ping
:)

start_game [tablename] [gamemode]
Launch game on table [tablename]; [gamemode] is not implemented yet

stop_game
Stop started game.

Console variables
Console variables are used to configure various parts game. Values in brackets denote valid values, type of variable, or units (eg. sec, msec, ...).

Display
display.width [integer], display.height [integer], display.bpp [0/16/32]
Display video mode (bpp = 0 for window mode); only usable in config/setup.cfg

display.texturebits [16/32]
Number of bits used for texture; note: you need 32 bits for sodomaLite to work nicely...

display.nearz, display.farz
Near and far clipping edge.

display.fogenabled (Ctrl+F)
Enable fog?

show_debug_info [0/1] (Ctrl+D)
Show debug information?

show_movement_info [0/1] (Ctrl+M)
Show movement information?

show_cursor [0/1] (Ctrl+C)
Show cursor?

cursor_autohide_time [sec]
Time in seconds until mouse cursor is hidden

Sounds
sound.near [real]
Distance to which all sounds are heard at 100%

sound.far
Distance after which no sound is heard. Volume for sounds between sound.near and sound.far are linearly interpolated.

sound.maxchannels
Max sounds that can be heard at one time.


Game engine
server.updatefps
Rate at which server updates clients' states

server.collisionfps
Rate inside one above update at which collisions are checked.

User interface
There are many variables to configure look&feel of game UI. See ui/ui.cfg.

Ships
Take a look at ships/huricane/register.cfg.

Weapons
Take a look at weapons/primary/shells/register.cfg.

Development team

programming: alexione - alexione@mindnever.org or alexione@eunet.yu
modelling & design: rudy - rudy@mindnever.org
modelling: greent - greent@mindnever.org
music: djnick - djnick@verat.net - www.djnick.org

ENJOY IT! Mindnever CreativeMinds creating for you...
copyright © 2005 www.mindnever.org