NAME
Maelstrom - an arcade-style game resembling Asteroids
SYNOPSIS
Maelstrom [options]
Maelstrom [-netscores] -printscores
DESCRIPTION
This is a Linux port of the Macintosh game by the same name. This
version is remarkably faithful to the original.
You pilot your ship through the dreaded "Maelstrom" asteroid belt --
suddenly your best friend thrusts towards you and fires, directly at
your cockpit. You raise your shields just in time, and the battle is
joined. The deadliest stretch of space known to mankind has just
gotten deadlier. Everywhere massive asteroids jostle for a chance to
crush your ship, and deadly Shenobi fighter patrols pursue you across
the asteroid belt. But the deadliest of them all is your sister ship,
assigned to you on patrol. The pilot, trained by your own Navy,
battle-hardened by months in the Maelstrom, is equipped with a twin of
your own ship and intimate knowledge of your tactics. The lovely
Stratocaster R&R facility never sounded so good, but as you fire full
thrusters to dodge the latest barrage you begin to think you’ll never
get home...
OPTIONS
-display host:0
Runs Maelstrom on the given X11 display.
-fullscreen
Puts a big black border around the Maelstrom screen, and centers
Maelstrom within it. This help create a "full screen" effect on
large displays.
-privatecmap
Runs Maelstrom with a private (custom) colormap. This prevents
Maelstrom from locking up all of the colors on your display. It
is only useful on 256 color (pseudo-color) displays.
-gamma [0-8]
Sets the gamma correction level for Maelstrom. The higher the
gamma correction, the brighter Maelstrom will appear on your
monitor. If no gamma level is given, Maelstrom will print the
current gamma level saved in your custom configuration. Once
this option is used, the gamma correction level is saved, and
this option doesn’t need to be used later unless you want to
change it again.
-volume [0-8]
Sets the sound volume.
-nofade
Prevents Maelstrom from doing the screen fading. This is useful
if you find the fading annoying.
-realfade
Causes the entire display to fade, not just inside the Maelstrom
window.
-netscores
Tells Maelstrom to use the Internet Maelstrom Score Server for
the high score list.
-printscores
Prints out a list of the current high scores. If used with the
-netscores option, it will will connect to the Internet
Maelstrom Score Server and print out the world-wide Maelstrom
high scores.
-player N[@host][:port]
Tells Maelstrom that it is playing a network game, and that
player N is at host host and/or port port.
-server N@host[:port]
Tells Maelstrom to use a network address server at host host
(and port port) for a multiplayer game with N players.
-deathmatch [N]
Configures a multiplayer game to continue until someone gets N
frags (default = 8). A frag is 3 shots at a player.
-version
Prints the version of the Maelstrom binary.
-speedtest
Runs Maelstrom in a graphics test mode. It prints the number of
milliseconds it takes for your graphics display to display a
full 48-frame, 360 degree rotation of your ship. It is for
comparative information only.
NOTES
maelstrom is an alias for Maelstrom; you may use either to start the
game.
Maelstrom_sound is the Maelstrom sound server. You do not need (nor
should you try) to start this yourself; Maelstrom uses it
transparently.
AUTHOR
The original Maelstrom was written for the Macintosh by Andrew Welch.
The Linux port was done by Sam Lantinga <slouken@devolution.com>.
The author has approved the inclusion of Maelstrom in Debian
distributions, including commercially distributed versions, as long as
Maelstrom is not sold independently and remains freely available.
This manual page was contributed by Robert Leslie <rob@mars.org>.
29-Dec-1996 MAELSTROM(6)