ping

Hi and welcome to Ping! for Linux, a tiny game that we really wanted to see on Linux because we had a lot of fun with it.

Okee ! Before all, here are the prerequisites :

• A Linux kernel,

• The SVGA Library. svgalib-1.3.1 is known to work perfectly with Ping! , but any release should be fine, as Ping! does not need it except to initialize the graphic mode and read the keyboard. If your SVGA library is missing, get it from http://www.svgalib.org . If you are a Redhat geek, do not forget to install the svgalib-devel package in order to compile svgalib apps,

• Gcc. Ping! will not compile with another tool because it heavily relies on their extensions and optimisations.

• LibMikmod. Grab it from http://mikmod.darkorb.net . Any recent version should be fine.

  To compile Ping!, just type :

  make all

  and wait a bit, especially if you got a computer with low memory left or a slow CPU. Some files can be slow to compile, do not panic, just take a cup of coffee.

  After that step, log in as root. Yes, I am aware of buffer overflow problems, but this is related to the svga library. Ping! does not accept any input that might fill in an internal buffer, so no security problem should occur. So, you are root, kewl. Now, be sure you are on a console. Yes, a text console, not a graphic terminal emulator. Yes, the plain text console of Linux. Ping! does not run under X-Window. Now, type :

  ./ping_game

  and enjoy. Yes, the name is 'ping_game' because every Unix has a command called 'ping' that is another game (the goal is to find the right options to crash Windoz machines) .

  If it doesn't work, double check that the svgalib_helper module is installed and loaded:

  modprobe svgalib_helper

  RUN THAT GAME IN ITS OWN DIRECTORY because Ping! needs some other files. And no, there is no installation script nor proper directory management for data because this is not a stable release.

  Here are the keyboard controls :

  AZERTY QWERTY

  Z ................ W ............................. 1st Player up
  X ................ X ........................... 1st Player Down
  Q ................ A ........................... 1st Player Left
  D ................ D .......................... 1st Player Right
  Space .......... Space ......................... 1st Player Shot
  
  8 / up Arrow ..................................... 2nd Player Up
  2 / Down Arrow ................................. 2nd Player Down
  4 / Left Arrow ................................. 2nd Player Left
  6 / Right Arrow ............................... 2nd Player Right
  Enter / Return ................................. 2nd Player Shot
  
  P ................ P ..................................... Pause
  Echap ......... Escape .................................... Exit
  

  Do not abort the game after the first ball : play a bit against the computer or a human player in order to discover bonuses and carebears. When the ball is glued or to serve it, just use the Space or Enter key.

  Credits for this game are going to :

Frank DENIS aka Jedi/Sector One (code) Loukouman AMIDOU aka Deneb/Fantasy (gfx) Karim LOZES aka Remalon/Fantasy (soundtrack)

All sounds were sampled with ST-Replay on Atari, all graphics were draw with Neochrome Master on Atari, code generators were done in GfA Basic and all was coded exactly like we designed demos on Atari. Because the Atari ST will always be our best computing souvenir.

Feel free to send me patches (bug fixes or improvements) and comments about Ping! to @jedisct1

See ya !