Help file stuff

git-svn-id: svn://cook.msm.cam.ac.uk:745/thrust3d/thrust3d@44 84d2e878-0bd5-11dd-ad15-13eda11d74c5

3 files changed, 84 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 99ac065..8eaedec 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
-Thomas White <taw27@srcf.ucam.org>
+Design, programming and modelling (c) Thomas White <taw27@srcf.ucam.org>
+
+Source material for some texture images from http://www.cgtextures.com/
 
diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 23e5f25..b47a28b 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -1,3 +1,48 @@
+Short answer:
+
+INSTALLATION:
+============
+
+1. Unpack contents of archive.
+
+2. Open a terminal.
+
+3. $ cd thrust3d
+
+4. $ ./configure
+
+5. Fix any errors which happen.  You need to have a C compiler installed, and development
+    packages for SDL, libpng and a few other bits installed.  Probably these have names
+    in your distro's package management system like 'sdl-dev', 'libpng-dev' and so on.
+    Note that the packages you need to have installed to build a program from source are
+    almost always different to the packages you need to run a program.  This is what the
+    '-dev' or '-devel' bit means.
+
+6. $ make
+
+7. $ sudo make install
+    or
+   $ su -c "make install"
+
+RUNNING:
+=======
+
+8. Check to see if I've done the bit that lets you start the game from the desktop menu yet.
+
+9. Discover that I haven't, and do one or more from:
+
+   $ thrust3d -h   (for command-line usage information)
+    or
+   $ thrust3d      (to play)
+    or
+   $ thrust3d -r 1024    (to play using a different resolution, see thrust3d -h for possibilities)
+    or
+   $ thrust3d -f   (to play in fullscreen mode - can combine with '-r')
+
+
+The FSF's generic installation instructions, or 'the long answer', follow.
+
+
 Installation Instructions
 *************************
 
diff --git a/README b/README
index e69de29..9e28195 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+Thrust3D
+========
+
+Post-apocalyptic Jet Set Willy, set in a 3D nuclear power station.
+
+In the mid 90s, I played a game from a magazine cover disk (Archimedes World I think, but I really can't remember) called
+"Lander".  No, not the demo version of Zarch.  This was a completely different game where you piloted a small 2D spaceship
+round a vast world collecting glowing radioactive debris from over a hundred separate rooms.  The spaceship part was just
+like the many Lunar Lander variants you have probably played, but the exploration of a vast world appealed to me for the
+same reasons that I enjoyed Jet Set Willy many years before.  In Lander, just like in Jet Set Willy. the game would
+theoretically end when all the debris had been collected.  In practice, this was virtually impossible due to the shear
+size and complexity of the game.  The attraction of the game was not in winning it, but in being able to explore a
+seemingly never-ending abstract world of pure imagination.
+
+In creating Thrust3D I wanted to recreate that feeling of exploration and imagination, but using the capabilities of
+modern graphics hardware to heighten the feeling.  I learnt a lot of OpenGL graphics programming and rendering techniques
+in the course of my doctoral studies for visualising my research results, but none of this allowed me to use any of the
+advanced capabilities available.  Thrust3D was an outlet for this, and here is the result.
+
+For installation details, see the 'INSTALL' file.  Basically it's just ./configure / make / sudo make install.
+
+Controls:
+
+	Space       - thrust (upwards)
+	Left arrow  - turn left
+	Right arrow - turn right
+	Up arrow    - thrust forwards
+	Down arrow  - thrust backwards
+
+Aim:
+
+	Fly around the highly radioactive remains of the Mars nuclear power station and collect the coloured flashing
+	radiactive debris.  Don't crash into any walls or other objects or your craft will explode.  Land only on the
+	glowing red landing panels.
+
+