## Critical Mass

Critical Mass (aka Critter) is an SDL/OpenGL space shoot'em up game. It currently runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. The latter is my main development platform. Other platforms supported by SDL/OpenGL may also work with a bit of work.

### Running:

If you haven't already done so, just run the critter executable! A config file will be created the first time you exit the game.

#### Linux & Mac OS X

> The config file is called .critter and will be created in your home directory.

#### Windows

> The config file is called config.txt and will be created in the directory where critter is started.

You can edit the config.txt file to change resolution, fullscreen mode, etc. Or you can specify it on the command line. When critter exits it will write the current configuration to the config file. Some of the settings can also be changed within the game (See Config menu).

#### Some examples:

> Run fullscreen
> `critter +fullscreen 1`

> Run in a window at 640x480
> `critter +fullscreen 0 +width 640`

> Run with a sound track (mod, mp3, ogg, what ever SDL_mixer supports)
> `critter +soundtrack soundtrack.mod`

> Run with a skill level of EXPERT
> `critter +skill EXPERT`

> The skill levels are:
> `ROOKIE, NORMAL, EXPERT, INSANE.`

### Keyboard/Mouse Controls:

The default action bindings are:

PrimaryFire | SPACE | Fire!
PrimaryFire | MOUSEBUTTON1 | Fire!
SecondaryFire | LALT | Fire!
SecondaryFire | MOUSEBUTTON2 | Fire!
TertiaryFire | LCTRL | Fire or Bark!
TertiaryFire | MOUSEBUTTON3 | Fire or Bark!
Motion | MOTION | Move via Mouse
MotionUp | UP | Move up
MotionRight | RIGHT | Move right
Confirm | RETURN | Confirm selection
EscapeAction | ESCAPE | Cancel selection
CritterBoard | TAB | Show/Hide CritterBoard
Snapshot | F12 | Take snapshow (snapNN.png)
PauseGame | p | Pause game
ChangeContext | c | Toggle locked-in / Mouse-look style (for developer)

### Building the game from source on Linux

You will need a somewhat recent version of gcc.
`./configure
make`
You can run critter from within the game directory without having to go through the installation process. After you install it, it can be run from anywhere.

### Installing after building from the source:

`make install`

This will install the critter executable and the resource file. Note that it is also possible to run the game right from the game directory.

Go to http://criticalmass.sourceforge.net/ for the latest news, email info, etc.

Have fun,
Frank (crittermail at telus dot net).

Copyright (C) 2001-2005 by Frank Becker