*************** * RetroRocket * *************** http://www.retrorocketgame.org 1. About 2. Installation 3. RetroRocket Game Modes 4. TurboRaketti maps 5. Thrust maps 6. Strategy maps 7. Customization 8. Troubleshooting 1. About ======== RetroRocket is a high paced action game inspired by classic gravity games like Thrust and TurboRaketti. It is a game designed for Nintendo DS and requires a homebrew compatible flash card. RetroRocket allows both single player or multiplayer DS-to-DS gaming. RetroRocket is free and open source (GPL). For distribution terms, see the file COPYING. 1.1 Credits ----------- Game creators and developers Asbjørn Djupdal and Morten Hartmann Additional code Marius Grannæs, Kyrre Glette and Bjørn Magnus Mathisen Original game music Karstein Djupdal Ideas, game testing and documentation Magnus Jahre 2. Installation =============== To install the game, extract the archive to your DS flash card. Make sure the retrorocket_data directory is in the root directory of the flash card. The executeable retrorocket.nds (or retrorocket.ds.gba) can be placed anywhere on the flash card. 3. RetroRocket Game Modes ========================= Currently, RetroRocket support four different game mode: - TurboRaketti Survival (Section 4) - TurboRaketti Kills (Section 4) - Thrust (Section 5) - Strategy (Section 6) These games are described in more detail in the following sections. Your choice of game mode and other settings will affect the maps you can use for your game. 4. TurboRaketti Maps ==================== All original TurboRaketti-II maps (TR) are included. The goal is either to beat your opponent or alternatively try to achieve the best lap times. Two different game modes are supported: - Survival: The player who still has lives left when the others are dead wins the game. - Kills: The first player to reach a certain number of kills wins the game. While playing the game, you can configure your ship by landing on your platform and pressing the select button. Here, you can choose between different weapons as well as modify the amount of fuel and ammunition in your ship. It is also possible to save your favourite configuration to reduce the configuration time as this can be the difference between success and failure in a heated battle. 5. Thrust maps ============== All the levels from the original Thrust game are included. The goal is to pick up the balls and carry them to outer space. In order to pick up balls, the tractor beam needs to be activated while pulling away from the ball. 6. Strategy maps ================ The goal of the real time strategy (RTS) maps is to conquer your opponents by destroying their home platform. Your ship starts as a downgraded version of the TurboRaketti ships. In order to progress in the game, you must earn cash by placing gathering nodes on available resources. Cash can be spent on buying weapons, upgrades and ammunition. Note that you start of with little cash, and respawning your ship is costly. Spend your first cash wisely. 6.1 Weapons ----------- There are two categories of weapons, A and B. Weapons of type A are high capacity fully automatic guns with inexpensive ammunition. Weapons of type B are semi automatic guns with limited capacity and high damage ammunition. The weapon B slot can alternatively be loaded with building seeds (see 6.2). In order to use a weapon, you must first buy the weapon and then ammunition for that weapon. Finally, the ship must be loaded with the correct weapon in the ship configuration menu. Weapons of type A all use the same general purpose ammunition while weapons of type B need specific ammunition. Note: The nuclear bomb and mines are delivered from the back of the ship. Keep this in mind, as nuclear bombs are extremely expensive, and should never be fired unless you are sure you will hit your target. All other weapons are delivered from the front of the ship. 6.2 Buildings you can place --------------------------- Placing buildings is done by buying a building seed (weapon B) and shooting it at the location you want the building to be placed. If you shoot the seed at a location where the building can not be placed, the seed is lost. 6.2.1 Resource Nodes Resource nodes are placed by shooting the seed at an available resource. The node will gather cash as long as it is not destroyed. Note: Resource Nodes are delivered from the back of the ship. 6.2.2 Sentry Guns Sentry guns are placed by shooting the seed into a wall, at a location not too close to existing buildings or resources. The sentry gun will fire at opponents if they get within the guns tracking range. The sentry gun will track targets within a sector defined by the angle at which the building seed hits the ground. 6.3 Upgrades ------------ You can spend your cash on upgrades. All upgrades increase in cost as you achieve higher upgrade levels. Radar and stealth levels affects whether you can see your opponents and their buildings on the map, and whether they can see you and your buldings. 7. Customization ================ RetroRocket uses normal text files defining all game types and parameters. If you make changes to the configuration files, make sure all players have the exact same configuration files. Failing to do so will result in a CRC error. 8. Troubleshooting ================== 8.1 Network issues ------------------ The DS-to-DS networking library used by RetroRocket (liblobby) is work in progress and has some bugs and limitations. Although RetroRocket tries to work around these limitations, some situations may cause problems. The problems are: 8.1.1 Random crashes in network games The library does not fully tolerate alien network traffic on the same wireless channel. If you experience random crashes, change your network channels. Make sure all players use the same channel. 8.1.2 Can not find rooms The library does not fully handle the use of rooms. If you experience problems with finding each others rooms, all players should restart their DS. Also, make sure all players use the same network channel. Channel 11 is the default channel, and not all DS units support changing the channel.