  The Hatman README
  James Pharaoh & Tim Fisken
  13th August 1997

  This document gives brief help on installing and getting started with
  Hatman.  Hatman is a Hi-res SVGAlib Pacman clone for Linux, which runs
  on 486 and better computers.

  11..  IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn

  Welcome to Hatman! Oh yes, you're in for a treat and no mistake.
  Hatman is an inevitable Pacman clone. Inevitable indeed. The only
  differences are:

  +o  Hatman wears a hat (sometimes).

  +o  Hatman runs under SVGAlib Linux.

  +o  Hatman runs in a high resolution.

  +o  Err, I'm gonna stop this list before it gets too long.

  Apart from that, its more or less the same.

  One think that it _a_i_n_'_t the same as is luxman. Oh no. We don't like
  luxman round these parts. Where we differ is in the controls - try
  Hatman, we think you'll like it. Actually, we differ in quite a lot of
  stuff. Hurrah.


  22..  IInnssttaallllaattiioonn

  If you don't want to ray-trace the graphics yourself, for example
  because you don't have POV-Ray 3, or can't be bothered, be sure to get
  the graphics distro (Hatman-x.y.z.graphics.tgz, where x.y.z is the
  version number), and unpack it from the directory this file is in,
  after unpacking the normal distribution.

  Next, look at Makefile.cfg. There are a few things in there which are
  important, and some which are just taste. Be sure to look through all
  of the top part of it. BTW, don't play with the features, they don't
  all work... Things like different resolutions are buggy, and stuff
  like that... One day, my friend...

  Run ``make'' in the base directory and wait... If there are any
  errors, first have a quick little go at least of fixing them, and if
  you can't, e-mail us at hatman@pharaoh0.demon.co.uk.

  To test hatman run



       src/hatman -d




  as root. If everything goes fine, run



       make install




  as root, again.


  33..  PPllaayyiinngg HHaattmmaann

  Remember! Hatman is beta. IItt iiss nnoott ffiinniisshheedd,, uunnddeerrssttaanndd?? Good... The
  interface is fairly nasty, but it gets better - trust us!

  Just type "hatman" to run it normally. To see a list of options you
  can specify, type "hatman -h".

  Once you've got it started, feel free to use the arrow keys to move
  around. You have three lives, and you lose a life if you get eaten by
  a ghost. If you eat a big power pellet, you can eat ghosts, for a
  short while. If you eat all the pellets on a level, you go onto the
  next level.  It's easy, and it's great fun.


  44..  CCuussttoommiizziinngg HHaattmmaann

  44..11..  CCrreeaattiinngg lleevveellss

  To add new levels, you must enter the dangerous world of the level
  designer.  The level designer is run by typing



       hatman -Ll <level-file>




  This will bring up a picture of the level, and a menu of the sprites
  along the right-hand side. Press space, and the top most sprite will
  be placed in the white box. You can move around the level using the
  arrow keys and change which sprite you're using can be changed with
  page-up/page-down. Each level must contain:


  +o  Some small yellow pellets - these must be eaten by Hatman

  +o  Some walls - it wouldn't be a challenge otherwise, would it? Eh?

  +o  A ``base'' (the thin wall) - this is where the ghosts go to be
     revived.

  +o  A right-facing open-mouthed hatman - this is where Hatman will
     start off.

  +o  A score-box - be careful.

  +o  Fruit at the edges of the screen where it can appear.

  When you've finished, press s to save your level, and q to quit the
  editor. Or, if you are feeling fairly bold, press t to test your
  level.  We're sure you'll get the hang of it eventually. If you need
  some help, check out our levels (not all of them work currently), or
  feel free to e-mail us.


  44..22..  CCrreeaattiinngg sspprriitteess

  44..22..11..  CCrreeaattiinngg sspprriittee ffiilleess

  Before you edit the sprites you need a file to store it in. To create
  an empty file, use the ggeennsspprr utility, found in the graphics/util
  directory. This command takes three parameters, a width, a height, and
  the number of sprites. It outputs the sprite file in stdout, so it'
  use is basically something like this:



       genspr <width> <height> <number of sprites> > file.spr




  You may then wish to compress the sprite file with gzip, this is fine,
  and should work transparently with the sprite editor, so long as it
  has the .gz extension.

  Adding sprites to a file is a different matter, and taking them ut is
  probably impossible... To add a sprite you can generate a single
  sprite with the ggeennsspprr command of the same size, and use ppuuttsspprr to
  write it into the last sprite slot plus one. Figure it out yourself.

  There are a few other interesting utilities in the graphics/util
  directory - for example ttggaa22sspprr dithers .tga files as generated by
  POV-Ray into .spr files as used by hatman. ddiimm dims a tga file by a
  specified amount, this is used so the backgrounds aren't too
  imposing...


  44..22..22..  EEddiittiinngg sspprriitteess

  The sprite editor is fairly easy to use. Just type



       hatman -Sl sprites-file




  Then you will be faced with a grid, which you can move around on,
  along with a couple of bits on the right. The keys are:


  +o  keypad +/-: select the sprite

  +o  page-up/page-down: select a color

  +o  space: set a pixel

  +o  h: flip horizontally

  +o  v: flip vertically

  +o  r: rotate 90 degrees

  +o  s: save the sprites

  +o  q: quit

  The sprite editor isn't great, but it's come a long way. Trust us. We
  should know. It also edits gzipped files, so there. The sprite editor
  is used to edit fonts, as well. You should probably refrain from
  editing large sprites :) BTW, the default sprites are ray-traced, not
  generated with the sprite-editor (in case you hadn't noticed...)



  44..33..  CCrreeaattiinngg ffoonnttss

  Most people shouldn't need to create fonts (but feel free to send us
  any you do create). To do so, simply create a sprite file with
  whatever size you desire, with 256 elements, as described in
  ``Creating sprites''. The sprite number of a letter should correspond
  to it's character code.


  55..  CCoonnttaaccttiinngg tthhee aauutthhoorrss

  55..11..  BByy ee--mmaaiill

  The simplest way to get help with something is to e-mail us, at
  hatman@pharaoh0.demon.co.uk - you should get a reasonably quick
  response. Don't post any big files there though, firstly because it's
  impolite, and secondly because your message will be bounced. Instead,
  ask if anyyone is interested, and tell them to reply to your address,
  ok? Good.

  Do send us lots of mail, comments, suggestions, bug-reports etc... We
  like to hear from you. But do bear in mind that hatman is not finished
  (not until it gets a 1 in it's version number), and check the TODO
  file before mailing us.


  55..22..  OOnn tthhee WWWWWW

  The web page,  <http://www.pharaoh0.demon.co.uk/hatman/>, contains
  screen-shots, info on how to download, and what the latest version is,
  and all that. Visit it, please. We want you to. We could do with some
  suggestions for stuff to put on the web site to make it more
  interesting.


  55..33..  JJooiinniinngg tthhee mmaaiilliinngg lliisstt

  There is a mailing list for developers, and it gets all the ``help''
  mail too - although to be honest it's throughput is very low (it will
  hopefully start picking up soon). To join the mailing list sending e-
  mail to majordomo@pharaoh0.demon.co.uk, and include the phrase
  ``subscribe hatman'' in the message body. The mailing list is really
  for people who are actually interested in the development of hatman,
  so don't join it if you are not.


  66..  HHeellpp uuss pplleeaassee!! WWee nneeeedd hheellpp!!

  That's right. We need people to test hatman, rigorously, to tell us
  all of it's shortcomings (as if we didn't know). We need artists (ha)
  to design pretty sprite sets, or to design levels, we need
  backgrounds, we need cut-scenes, any code might be useful, extra
  features and the like. If this appeals to you, join the mailing list
  (see ``Joining the mailing list''), and mail us, telling us what you
  can/are willing to do. We want you to help, honest :)


  77..  CCooppyyrriigghhtt

  Hatman is Copyright (c) June 1997 by James Pharaoh and Timothy Fisken.
  It's ours, you hear? See COPYING for more details. Basically, you can
  do what you want, as long as you give us credit. Don't charge for it,
  though, that's a horse of a different colour. Read COPYING. You'll
  feel better for it. COPYING is, BTW, the GNU General Public licence,
  so you can read that instead if you prefer.

  88..  CCrreeddiittss

  Well, all the code in Hatman is our own, although some of it may bare
  a strong resemblance to other peoples. We have not lifted other
  peoples code, but we may have been ``inspired'' by it. If you want to
  complain, email the mailing list (see above).

  All the sprites are our own, too. And very nice they are too, if I do
  say so myself.

  The one thing we _h_a_v_e gratuitously ripped of is the background
  picture.  That is a sample picture from the POV-ray package, created
  by Ville Saari and Copyright (c) 1991 Ferry Island Pixelboys. Or so it
  says. We added a nice hat, of course. You can get POV-ray from
  <ftp://alfred.ccs.carlton.ca/pub/pov-ray> Cheers to Ville Saari, by
  the way. It's a great picture.

  Finally, we think you may have heard of a small company called Atari.
  They wrote some pish game called Pacman a few years back. Nicking our
  ideas eh? Ah well, that's they way the world is.


  99..  EEppiittaapphh

  Is this an epitaph? What is one anyway? Oh well. What next, is what I
  mean, and that is obvious. We shall write such classics as Hatcraft
  II, Hat-invaders, Hatset-willy, and then, only when we have written
  every hatty game in creation, we shall move onto applications, Hat-
  perfect, Hatbase, Hat-publisher, and soon, hatOs, oh yes, the world is
  our oyster, there is nothing they can do to stop us now, nothing. Ha
  ha-ha-ha WA-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA.



































