FlipOut readme


1. Overview

FlipOut is a breakout game with physics.  Everything is affected by gravity,
and collides with everything else.  The paddle can be "flipped" to strike the
ball upwards, much like the flippers in a pinball machine.  There are no speed
limits for the ball, and with a bit of practice it's possible to gain quite
precise control over it.


2. Controls

The default controls are as follows:

Left   Move paddle left
Right  Move paddle right
Shift  Turbo
Z      Flip paddle counter-clockwise
X      Flip paddle clockwise


3. Configuration

This section documents some of the most useful settings.

Video settings
  This section controls all visual aspects of the game.  If you have a low-end
  graphics card, turning off effects will improve performance.

  Simple models
    Render all bricks as simple boxes.  This can significantly improve perfor-
    mance on low-end systems.

  Vertex buffers
    Enable or disable vertex buffers.  Some ATI cards are known to have problems
    with this enabled.

Game settings
  Brick explosions
    If enabled, bricks will explode into numerous pieces when broken by the
    ball.  This causes significant extra physics load and may bog down older
    systems.

  Optimize physics
    Tries to reduce physics load by detecting inactive objects.  Although it
    works well in most cases, there may be some minor glitches.  Turning this
    off is not recommended unless you have a high-end system.


4. Editor

FlipOut has a built-in level editor.  It's accessible either through the main
menu or the --editor commandline switch.

The dropdowns in the upper left corner can be used to select brick type and
color.  Bricks are placed with the left mouse button and erased with the right
mouse button.  Arrow keys rotate the brick and move it along the Z axis.


5. Hardware requirements

           | Minimum         | Recommended
CPU        | 500 MHz         | 2000 MHz
RAM        | 64 MB           | 128 MB
Video card | 3D accelerated  | GeForce 6 or later


6. Troubleshooting

Problem: The game segfaults on startup.  I am using a Radeon with Mesa DRI
         drivers.

Solution: This a a bug in the driver related to vertex buffers.  Add the
          following line to ~/.flipout/conf to disable them:
          vertex_buffers false;
