README

Aviron 7

by Mike Kramlich
groglogic@gmail.com
http://synisma.neocities.org

revised 2016 June 25
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To start playing:

    ./aviron.py
    
If that doesn't work you may need to adjust aviron.py's shebang line, or invoke with local-appropriate params, or install the missing dependencies (see requirements.txt)

You may need to adjust the "used_size" assignment (inside aviron.py) to ensure the play window fits on your screen. it's hard-coded at moment to work well on my machine. I'll improve that in the future, low priority now.


While playing:

q to Quit

SPACE to toggle Paused -- game starts paused!
D to toggle extra Debug info
I to toggle showing Interiors (of ships and buildings)

TAB to cycle select to next thing
SHIFT-TAB to cycle select backwards
mouse CLICK anywhere to select closest thing to there (using top-left corner)

if ship focused:
    w to fly up
    s to fly down
    i to retract landing gear
    k to extend landing gear
    l to stop landing gear motion

ship will burn fuel to fly up/down each tick
if no fuel left, ship can't fly up/down anymore

if avatar (human PC) focused:
    a to walk west (or stop)
    d to walk east (or stop)

aliens have 3 forms: eggs, adults and Gigan
alien eggs never move or attack
alien eggs will eventually hatch and turn into new alien adults; eggs turn yellow when will hatch soon
alien adults wander
alien adults will try to attack and kill any nearby humans; easier for aliens to kill civs than marines
humans like to verbally express their current feelings/thoughts/plans
civs are human colonists
civs wander unless they see aliens, then they flee; they flee from the nearest alien
marines are human soldiers with a mission of protecting the ships, colony buildings and humans
marines wander unless they see aliens, then they hunt aliens; they hunt the nearest alien
marines will try to attack and kill any nearby aliens; easier for marines to kill eggs than adults
Gigan, the giant alien (statue? queen? cyborg?), seems to never move or attack, and is neither hunted or fled from

....................


DISCLAIMER & ANTI-WARRANTY

This is not a finished product, by intent. Only an experimental spike for exploring a set of related gameplay ideas and techniques. Though it has some fun play value now, and a vision/roadmap and random bag of cool ideas (see: notes/TODO) for how to evolve it further. Expect flaws. Expect scaffolding. I practice an iterative/refactory/sprinty style that allows for rapid development and shipping of prototypes. There are no tests, by intent, so I can develop at a more rapid pace, though agree that tests are ideal in other situations -- this is NOT one of them. What you see here does not represent or apply or include everything I know about the craft of software engineering or game design, because it just did not matter. This code was never intended to be made public. I'm only making this snapshot visible in order to add another public repo to my GitHub profile and provide further evidence that I can, in fact, bang the rocks together. I love programming and I love designing software and new games and so I've made hobby projects like this a possibly ludicrous number of times over the years, ever since childhood.

You have the right to inspect the code, run it, play it and make personal fixes/upgrades/cleanups of your own, which you keep to yourself. You do not have the right to distribute it, sell it, or make clearly derived works which you then distribute or sell. You may not claim it as your own. You are welcome to submit pull requests to me and open issues. You are welcome to email me asking for new features, and I will give priority to those also offering me USD or Bitcoin.