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                                NetHack 3.1.1

                  Graphical GEM Version for Atari Computers
                                  REVISION C

                             by Warwick Allison
                                warwick@cs.uq.oz.au


      No longer do you have to play NetHack with silly character graphics!


OVERVIEW
--------

     This port of NetHack 3.1.1 gives you full-colour graphics, plus a
     completely GEM user interface.  Not to be confused with the hackfnt
     technique of simply changing the font, THIS version gives you
     16x16 pixel, 16 colour graphic icons for EVERY OBJECT IN THE GAME -
     that's about 850 different icons.


REQUIREMENTS
------------

     Being a GEM application, this game will run in many graphics modes,
     however it is by far the best when played with:

           - 16 colours
           - AT LEAST 640x480 pixels

     This means that the game is not really playable on the standard modes
     of old ST, Mega, and STe models.  It will, however, run in such modes,
     but with most of the playability lost.  Run it in ST-medium to the
     see basic interface, then run it in ST-low to see the neat graphics...
     then try to imagine what it is really like...

     and get a Falcon, a TT, or a graphics card.


     This version also requires at least 2 MEGABYTES of RAM: the program
     itself is more than 1M, and the graphics consumes 350K.


THE DISPLAY
-----------

     There are 3 windows, initially placed in the order:

          - Message window
          - Map window
          - Status window

     The Message window is a scrolling window of messages.  Make sure you
     keep an eye of these messages - they mean the difference between death
     and maybe death.  Note that it works a little different from the normal
     NetHack message display: you will always see the 5 most recently
     output messages.

     The Map window is where all the action happens.  It is a scrolling
     window, although in 640x480 modes, you can see the full height of
     the map, and half of the full width.  It scrolls automatically as
     your player moves around the map, and can be manually scrolled with
     the GEM scrollbars, or by using the arrow keys.  You may select to
     have a box around your player by choosing the "Map cursor" menu
     item - this is most useful if you drink a potion of invisibility!

     The Status window is exactly as appears in the traditional character-
     based NetHack.  I won't go into details of NetHack itself - read the
     NetHack documents for that information.


THE CONTROLS
------------

     Both mouse and keyboard controls are available at all times.

     Experienced NetHack players will generally use the keyboard 95% of
     the time, but it is handy to have the GEM menus at the top of the
     screen for those less-often used commands.

     The GEM menus have the keyboard equivalents displayed with them, so
     the beginner can quickly learn the more common commands (selecting
     'Get' will drive you crazy if you don't learn that ',' is the
     keyboard equivalent).

     The map can be clicked on to move the player around, but this gets
     VERY tedious.  Use the numeric keypad (8 directions) to move the player:

         N
         |
      7  8  9          5 = self / rest

    W-4     6-E        Shift-number to move in that direction until a corner.

      1  2  3
         |
         S

     When scrolling about with the arrow keys or scrollbars, the HOME key
     will return the view to your player.

     During pop-up dialog boxes, the UNDO key will ALWAYS end the interaction
     with a non-response (usually undoing the activity without effect).
     The ESC key also ends interaction in MOST pop-ups.  It doesn't end
     a "get line of text" pop-up, because the standard GEM user interface
     uses the ESC key to clear a field.  You would agree with me that you
     don't want ESC to cancel the pop-up when you are asked to wish for
     something...

     Also in pop-up dialogs, keypresses can be used to select options - just
     use the keys depicted in the pop-up.  The RETURN key selects the heavy-
     outlined button, as per the GEM user interface.

     Pop-up dialogs may be dragged around the screen by clicking and holding
     on the background blue area of the dialog.  This is especially useful
     when you think you've read a create monster - just drag the pop-up
     so you can see what happened the instant before it popped-up.


CAVEATS
-------

     Currently, if you read a blessed scroll of genocide, you will be asked
     what "class" of monsters to exterminate.  In the character-based NetHack,
     this simply means you get to wipe out all the monsters represented
     on the screen by a given character!  So, in order to use such a scroll
     effectively, you will have to read the on-line help to get a bit of
     an idea what monsters are in each "class" if you want to know what to
     wipe out.


HISTORICAL NOTE
---------------

     You may notice a resemblance in some of the icons to those in the old
     EPYX game called "Rogue".  I have deliberately drawn similar characters
     for some monsters, so as to give a feeling of homeliness to those players
     who have spent hours playing the EPYX "Rogue".  However, be clear that
     this game is not IN ANY WAY endorsed by EPYX, nor is any of the graphics
     in this game copied verbatim from the EPYX "Rogue" graphics.


USER SERVICABLE PARTS - for experts
---------------------

     The graphics used by the game are contained in 4 Degas Elite picture
     files (.PI1) in the data directory.  It's probably best not to look
     at them too soon - it'll spoil the game a bit to see all the graphics,
     but I've provided them in that format so that if you don't like my
     picture of a Rust Monster (yes, I know they are supposed to be red),
     you can change them.

     The resource file for this game may be edited quite extensively to
     customize the interface.  Of course, ALWAYS keep a backup of the
     original RSC if you start changing things.  ALL MENU BAR ITEMS may
     be moved around, deleted, etc. the keyboard equivalents must remain
     unchanged - it is those that are passed on to the NetHack system.
     So, for example, if you don't like the way I have ordered items in
     the "Here" and "There" menus (I certainly don't like the ordering),
     you can move them to under other menus, and change the text of the
     item, provided you leave the keyboard equivalents the same.



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