README

Cataclysm is a post-apocalyptic roguelike, set in the countryside of New England
after a devastating plague of monsters and zombies.

At present time, Cataclysm is still in early alpha, and is being developed very
rapidly.  As such, there are no formal version numbers, as a new version is
released every day, often several a day.

Source is available at the github repository, http://github.com/Whales/Cataclysm
There is also a tarball available at http://squidnet.ath.cx/cataclysm.tar.gz
Squidnet maintains a public SSH server.  If you cannot play Cataclysm locally,
or if you prefer to play it in a world shared with others, connect to
cataclysm@squidnet.ath.cx (there is no password).

Compiling Cataclysm under linux is straightforward, and only requires the
ncurses development libraries.  Under Ubuntu, these libraries can be found in
the libncurses5-dev package ("sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev" will install
this package).

Cataclysm is very different from most roguelikes in many ways.  Rather than
being set in a vertical, linear dungeon, it is set in an unbounded, 3D world.
This means that exploration plays a much bigger role than in most roguelikes,
and the game is much less linear.
Because the map is so huge, it is actually completely persistant between games.
If you die, and start a new character, your new game will be set in the same
game world as your last.  Like in many roguelikes, you will be able to loot the
dead bodies of previous characters; unlike most roguelikes, you will also be
able to retrace their steps completely, and any dramatic changes made to the
world will persist into your next game.
While this makes for interesting depth of play, and the ability to "save" game
progress even after death, some prefer to start each game with a freshly
generated world.  This can be achieved by erasing the contents of the save
directory, found in the same folder as the executable.  "rm save/*" will erase
these files for you.

Cataclysm's gameplay also includes many unique quirks, and the learning curve is
somewhat steep, even for those experienced with roguelikes.  Included with the
game is a tutorial which runs the player through most of the key features.  The
game also has extensive documentation via the ? command.  Pressing ?1 will list
all the key commands, which is a good place to start.

To submit a bug, complaint, feature request, or praise, please send them via
email to fivedozenwhales@gmail.com.  You can also submit problem reports and
patches at the github repository at http://github.com/Whales/Cataclysm .

I strive to include as many feature requests as possible, and if you submit one
there is a good chance that it will appear in the game within a few days.  Of
course, it is inevitable that I will reject some feature requests, either
because they do not fit my conception of the game, or because they require more
code than I think they're worth.  Feature requests supplied in the form of a
patch stand a better chance of inclusion, of course ;)  For instructions on
making changes to item types, monster types, etc., please see the EDITING file.
Most changes of this variety require no training in C++, or programming in
general.

If you want to take Cataclysm in a new direction, please feel free to create a
branch project--just let me know about it!