Maelstrom - an arcade-style game resembling Asteroids
Maelstrom [options]
Maelstrom [-netscores] -printscores
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...
- -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. During the game the screen mode can be toggled using
Alt+Return.
- -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.
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.
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>.