COLOBOT version 1.3 /e
----------------------

COLOBOT combines both a real time strategy game and an
initiation to programming. You are at the head of a space
expedition and you are only assisted by a few robots. Your
mission consists in successive attempts at the exploration
and colonization of various planets.

You will have to search raw materials and energy needed to
survive. As you progress, you will be able to build and
program new types of robots which will prove of an invaluable
help for the completion of your task. You may also want to
know that most of the planets you'll be visiting are crowded
with primitive and insect-like life-forms and that you may be
forced into fighting them if you want to stay alive.


Minimum requirements
--------------------

Processor 300 MHz
64 MB RAM
3D accelerator board with 16 MB RAM
100 Mb free space on the hard disk

If needed, COLOBOT will upgrade your system to DirectX 8a.
After installation, the CD will still be required to play
with COLOBOT.


Missions
--------

The missions are the core aspect of COLOBOT. There are 36
missions, taking place on 9 different planets. They must be
completed successively in a fixed order.

Free game
---------

In the free games, you can play freely without any definite
objective. Only the planets already visited in the missions and
the research already performed are available.

Programming
-----------

In this part of COLOBOT you can learn how to program the bots,
even if you know nothing about programming. The exercises are
structured in chapters, and represent a progressive introduction
to the basic concepts of programming in a structured and object-
oriented language. You can do the exercises in any order, but we
advise you to start with the easier ones.

Challenges
----------

The challenges allow you to apply the skills acquired in the
programming exercises, with fewer explanations than in the
exercises. Challenges allow you to check if you fully understood
the concepts taught in the exercises.


Change player
-------------

After installing COLOBOT on a computer, several players can play
on it. For every player, COLOBOT will keep track of the
completed missions, of the programs written, etc.


Options
-------

Settings of the game, divided in 5 pages.


Options - Device
----------------

- Drivers
Better to choose a driver with the attribute HAL (Hardware
Abstraction Layer), and avoid drivers with the attribute
"Emulation" or "T&L".

- Resolution
The first and the second number indicate the number of pixels of
the screen on the horizontal and vertical axis. The third number
indicates the number of bits used to encode the color: 16 bits
allow to display 65,000 colors, whereas 32 bits allow to display
4 million colors. The higher you set the parameters, the more
detailed the scene will be represented on the screen. However,
if the frame-rate is too low (jerky movements), try a lower
display quality. Start  with 640 x 480 x 16 and climb slowly
higher; most modern graphic cards support at least
1024 x 768 x 16. Just try out the best compromise for your
computer.

- Full screen
Normally COLOBOT uses the whole screen, whatever resolution you
choose. If you deactivate this flag, COLOBOT will be displayed
in a fixed size window of approximately 640 x 480 pixels.

- Apply changes
Hit this key for the changes on this page to be applied.


Options - Graphics
-------------------

- Shadows
Normally, all objects (bots, building, raw material) project a
shadow on the ground. With some older graphic cards, a gray
square appears around the shadow. In this case you can
deactivate the displaying of the shadows.

- Marks on the ground
The marks on the ground accentuate the slopes and allow the
ground to take a different color at some places. If you switch
off this option, the flat zones around the astronaut can not be
displayed.

- Dust
Dirt and dust give a more realistic, dirty aspect to bots and
buildings.

- Sky
If you activate this option, the sky on some planets will show
beautiful clouds pushed by the wind. If your frame-rate is too
low, deactivate this highly time-consuming option.

- Sun beams
Shows realistic sun beams in the sky.

- Planets and stars
On some planets, nearby planets move around in the sky, and
numerous stars adorn the firmament.

- Fog
This option allows you to deactivate the fog near the ground.

- Dynamic lighting
Dynamic lighting appears at explosions or close to power
stations.

- Particles (0% to 200%)
Particles are used to simulate dust, smoke, fire, explosions,
etc.

- Field depth (50% to 200%)
The field depth determines up to what distance the scene is
displayed. This distance varies anyway from planet to planet.
A high value (for example 200%) allows you to see very far, but
requires a powerful 3D graphic card.

- Details (0% to 200%)
Sets the visual quality of 3D objects according to their
distance.

- Number of decorative objects (0% to 100%)
Set the number of purely ornamental objects like plants, trees,
crystals, etc.


Options - Game
-------------

- Film sequences
Small film sequences appear at the beginning and at the end of
most missions. With the Esc key you can always stop these
sequences. If you want these sequences never to appear,
deactivate this option.

- Scrolling
When the camera is behind the astronaut or a bot, the screen
scrolls if the mouse gets close to the edge of the screen. 

- Mouse inversion X
Inverts the scrolling direction when the mouse gets close to the
left or right edge of the screen.

- Mouse inversion Y
Inverts the scrolling direction when the mouse gets close to the
upper or lower edge of the screen in the program editor.

- Quake at explosions
Explosions or unskillful landings will shake the camera.
Deactivate this option in order to keep the camera always
stable.

- Help balloons
The help balloons appear when the mouse stops on a button or
object and display a small text that explains the item.

- Reflections on the buttons
The reflections appear when the mouse flies over a button.

- Particles in the interface
Sparks and steam clouds when the mouse moves over the interface.

- Mouse shadow
When you wish the mouse to have a shadow, the mouse is managed
by COLOBOT, whereas the mouse without shadow is managed by
Windows. When Colobot is executed in a window, the mouse can not
have a shadow.

- Automatic indent
The automatic indent moves the text in the programming editor to
the right according to the number of braces { and }.

- Big indent
The big indent moves the text 4 spaces to the right at every
brace. Otherwise, the indent is 2 spaces.


Options - Controls
-------------------

- Arrows left, right, up, down.
Move the astronaut left, right, forward or backward. In the
programming exercises, the bots cannot be moved with these keys.

- Shirt and Ctrl
These keys control the jet of the astronaut and the bots. Shift
increases the power of the jet (climb), Ctrl decreases the power
(descend). On some planets, flying is impossible.

- Enter
This key starts the main action of the selected bot (grab/drop,
fire, sound, etc.), equivalent to the red-framed button.

- Space bar
Changes the view angle of the camera. For most bots, this
control switches between a rear sight and the onboard camera.

- . (Num pad)
Pauses the game and shows where the last message displayed on
top of the screen was sent from. If several messages were
displayed, a new hit on the key will show the previous message,
and so forth. Hit the Esc key to get back to the game.

- Tab
Selects the next object, according to the order of the small
symbols on top of the screen.

- Home
Selects the astronaut.

- 0 (Num pad)
Selects the bot or building that was previously selected.

- + et - (Num pad)
Moves the camera closer or further away from the selected
object.

- F1
Displays the instruction for the current mission or exercise on
the SatCom.

- F2
Displays the general help about programming on the SatCom.

- F3
When editing a program, this key displays a help text about the
current instruction.

- F4, F5 et F6
Selection of game speed. F4 sets the normal speed (x1).
F5 (x1.5) and F6 (x2) allow you to increase the speed of the
whole game, in order to cut waiting time down.

- Esc
Interrupts the current mission, and displays a menu where you
can choose to quit the mission, save it, load a saved game,
restart the mission, or set the options.


Options - Sound
---------------

- Game sound
The game sound is generated by the current action, i.e. motor,
voice and shooting sounds.

- Background sound
The background sound depends on the planet. Every background
sound corresponds to a soundtrack on the CD. They are made of a
specific musical atmosphere and are independent of the current
action. On the Moon and in the exercises, there is no background
sound.

- 3D sound
Some sound cards allow the positioning of a sound in space with
4 loudspeakers, increasing the realism of the sound effects. If
your sound card does not support this possibility, the button is
gray.


Fine tuning
-----------

In order to allow you to find the best settings for your
computer, you can instruct the computer to display the current
frame-rate. Hit the keys Ctrl+Break, tape the command "showstat"
and validate with the Enter key:

    Ctrl+Break showstat Enter

The frame-rate and some other parameters will then constantly
be displayed on the upper part of the screen, for example:

    32.46 fps T=11558 (640x480x16)

The first number corresponds to the frame-rate (fps = "frames
per second"), i.e. the number of images per second displayed.
The second number indicates the number of triangles displayed in
the scene.
The 3 last numbers in brackets indicate the resolution and the
number of bits per pixel.

All the options are saved in the file colobot.ini. You can edit
this file in any text editor, for example the note-pad in
Windows.


Development team
----------------

- Daniel Roux
- Denis Dumoulin
- Otto Kölbl
- Michael Walz
- Didier Gertsch

Beta tester core team
---------------------

- Adrien Roux
- Didier Raboud
- Nicolas Beuchat
- Joël Roux
- Michael Jubin
- Daniel Sauthier
- Nicolas Stubi
- Patrick Thévoz

Developer
---------

EPSITEC SA
Mouette 5
CH-1092 Belmont

colobot@epsitec.ch
www.colobot.com
