X-Git-Url: https://plomlompom.com/repos/foo.html?a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=3c7727928d372fe670c31a41cd52e1e805f0461c;hb=a25647c0af098bf776337ffade0b4852212bd808;hp=99edb653af9e0cb71e50715d0375fb426d6074bc;hpb=5ae8d71f6b87c0cfc6b3ecf974f2cfbd6a611733;p=plomrogue

diff --git a/README b/README
index 99edb65..3c77279 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -12,15 +12,12 @@ to gain hitpoints. Note that different kinds of movements/actions take different
 numbers of turns to finish.
 
 Enemies' AI is very dumb so far: Each turn, they try to move towards their
-shortest-path-wise nearest enemy. If no enemy is found in their surroundings,
-they just wait.
+shortest-path-wise nearest enemy visible to them. If they see no enemy, they
+just wait.
 
-Diagonal movement is possible, but takes (40%) longer than orthogonal movement.
-
-Once you start a new world, every move of yours is recorded in a file called
-"record". Once you re-start the game, all of your previous moves are replayed
-automatically up to the point wherere you left the game. To start over in a new
-world, simply delete this file.
+Every move of yours re-writes a file "savefile" that describes the new state of
+the world. Once you re-start the game, the game state is recreated from the
+"savefile" file. To start over in a new world, simply delete this file.
 
 System requirements / installation / running the game
 -----------------------------------------------------
@@ -47,8 +44,8 @@ In the client's default window configuration, the window appearing on the left
 sports a list of keybindings available globally, and additionally via the window
 selected as active.
 
-Hit "w" (per default keybindings) to switch the "active" window to a view that
-allows changing its geometry. One more hit on "w" switches the window to a view
+Hit "W" (per default keybindings) to switch the "active" window to a view that
+allows changing its geometry. One more hit on "W" switches the window to a view
 that allows changing its window-specific keybindings. The global keybindings can
 be changed in the "Global keys" window, those of the window geometry
 configuration in the "Window geometry keys" window, and those of the
@@ -69,33 +66,82 @@ in-client window management.
 Replay game recording
 ---------------------
 
-Run "./roguelike -s" to watch a recording of the current game from the
-beginning. Hit any player action key to increment turns (they will not trigger
-the actions usually mapped to them, only repeat the actions done at that point
-in the game as defined in the "record" file). Keys to manage windows, scroll on
-the map and quit the program do their usual thing. Append a number to the -s
-option (like "-s100") to start the recording at the respective turn number.
+Once you start a new world, every move of yours is recorded in a file called
+"record". It gets overwritten when a new game world is started after deletion
+of the "savefile" file. Run "./roguelike -s" to watch the current game's
+recording from the beginning. Hit any player action key to increment turns (they
+will not trigger the actions usually mapped to them, only repeat the actions
+done at that point in the game as defined in the "record" file). Keys to manage
+windows, scroll on the map and quit the program do their usual thing. Append a
+number to the -s option (like "-s100") to start the recording at the respective
+turn number.
 
 Hacking / server internals and configuration
 --------------------------------------------
 
-The movements/actions available to the player and the enemies are defined and
-can be changed in ./confserver/map_object_actions. Each entry consists of a
-first line of a numerical ID used internally to uniquely identify and manage the
-action, a second line of the number of turns the action takes, and a third line
-of a string that maps the action to the game logic to do when it is called.
-Finally, a delimiter line of "%%" ends the entry.
-
-The different map object types, i.e. species (including the player's human one)
-and item types, can be edited in ./confserver/defs. Here the first value is a
-numerical ID that represents the object type, the second one describes what type
-this object decomposes to when it gets destroyed/killed, the third value is the
-ASCII character used to represent the object visually on the map, the fourth
-value is the number of hitpoints the object starts with (items are dead and
-start with zero hitpoints, anything else moves), the fifth is the string that
-names the object in the game log, the sixth defines if the object is consumable
-(it is if it is non-zero) and how many hitpoints are gained if it is. Finally,
-the same delimiter as for the map object action definitions file follows.
+[THIS SECTION IS OUT OF DATE (but kept as long as there's nothing better yet)]
+
+The ./confserver/world file defines the thing types, actions available to them,
+the map geometry and the thing type (species) of the player. Each definition
+consists of a single- or multi-line block wherein each line sets one attribute.
+
+Here's a typical action definition block:
+
+ACTION 1
+NAME move
+EFFORT 5
+
+A line of "ACTION" followed by a number starts an action definition block and
+sets the action's id (must be > 0) for internal use to 1. The number after
+"EFFORT" determines how many turns this action takes for the actor performing
+it. The string after "NAME" names the action. Furthermore, if it is one of
+"move", "pick_up", "drop" or "use", it matches internal functions described by
+these strings to this action. All other names (including "wait") currently are
+matched to a do-nothing wait function.
+
+Here's a typical thing type definition block: 
+
+THINGTYPE 2
+NAME ZOMBIE
+SYMBOL z
+LIFEPOINTS 3
+CORPSE_ID 5
+CONSUMABLE 0
+START_NUMBER 9
+
+A line of "THINGTYPE" followed by a number starts it, and the number sets the
+thing type's internal id. The number after "CONSUMABLE" defines the thing as
+consumable (and to so many hitpoints gain). The character after "SYMBOL" is the
+one shown on the map to represent to thing type. "LIFEPOINTS" is the start
+hitpoints value for this thing type and defines it as animate if it is non-zero.
+The string after "NAME" sets the thing type's name. "CORPSE_ID" sets the id of
+the thing type that things of this type degrade to if their hitpoints drop to
+zero if they start out as inanimate (what is not implemented yet: or if they are
+inanimate, but are otherwise crushed). Note that the "CORPSE_ID" must match the
+id of a thing type defined in the file (before or after, it may even be the
+same). "START_NUMBER" sets the number of things that are to appear of the
+given type on the map on game start.
+
+The map is defined by a single-line block. Its number value sets the map
+square's edge length. It must be >= 1 and <= 256:
+
+MAP_LENGTH 64
+
+The player type / species is also defined by a single line block. Its number
+value sets the player's creature's thing type by its id:
+
+PLAYER_TYPE 0
+
+All these definition block members must be present within their respective
+blocks, but only "ACTION" and "THINGTYPE" must be positioned at their respective
+blocks' first line; the others may appear in whatever order and even multiple
+times. If a thing or action definition block is finished, however, it cannot
+be re-defined by starting a new block with the same thing type or action id.
+
+Tokens in this config file are separated by whitespace. Single quotes can be
+put around string values that are to include whitespace by themslves. Note that
+all numbers must be decimal representations of unsigned 8 bit integers, i.e.
+>= 0 and < 256 and sans preceding "+".
 
 All source files are thoroughly documented to explain more details of
 plomrogue's internals. The ./roguelike-server executable can be run with a -v