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vimtronner

vimtronner

A multiplayer, realtime, command-line game that teaches you the core vim keys. Be the last player alive by either controlling your bike safely around obstacles or enter INSERT mode to build walls for your opponents to crash into. Just remember, you can't do both at the same time!

Inspired by Patrick Moody's vimsnake and, of course, TRON.

Quickstart Guide

Greetings, programs! Before we can enter the grid, we need to have node (http://nodejs.org) installed. There are many paths to do so; we like to install it through brew (http://brew.sh/).

$ brew install node

Install the vimtronner module via npm:

$ npm install -g vimtronner

Start a practice game:

$ vimtronner

Press i to start the game. After a countdown, the game starts. Your bike moves continuously. You can control its direction:

  • go left by pressing h
  • go down by pressing j
  • go up by pressing k
  • go right by pressing l

To start creating insert walls, enter INSERT mode by pressing i. BUT remember; you can't change your direction while in INSERT mode. To return to normal press ESC or CTRL-[. Press q to quit anytime.

When you're ready to face other players, connect as a client to the public vimtronner server, stating the number of players you want.

$ vimtronner -C -N 4

Look in the lower left-hand corner for your game name.

Game name found in lower left-hand corner

Then have the other players join that game as a client:

$ vimtronner -G simplistic-trail

The game will start once all players have declared they are ready by pressing i.

Good luck. It's in your hands to see if you're a User ... or a loser!

Controls

Your bike will continually move on its own; you only have control over which direction it is heading in or whether you can build walls. Just remember, you can't do both at the same time!

left...................h
down...................j
up.....................k
right..................l
insert mode............i
normal mode...esc/ctrl-[

Launching

Practice

Launching vimtronner with no options kicks it off in a single-player practice mode:

$ vimtronner

Use this mode to become familar with the vim keys and how to rapidly switch between INSERT mode to build walls and normal mode to control your direction.

Public Multiplayer

To play a multiplayer game, you connect as a client (with the -C or --client flag) to our public multiplayer server, passing in the number of players who want to play with the -N or --number option.

$ vimtronner -C -N 6

A game is created with a random name you can find in the lower left-hand corner.

Game name found in lower left-hand corner

You can also explicitly give a name to a game when you create it through the -G or --game option.

$ vimtronner -C -N 6 -G mygame

Other players can then join your game by starting vimtronner in client-only mode (-C or --client) and passing in the name of the game (-G or --game).

$ vimtronner -C -G simplistic-trail

The game will only start one all players have connected and declared they are ready by entering INSERT mode (pressing i). You can quit at anytime (press q) with the last bike remaining being considered the winner.

At the end of the match, you can all play again by everyone declaring they are ready by pressing i.

NOTE: Games on the public server have a time to live of 3 minutes. This is to ensure system resources are not overwhelmed with dead games. Blame the MCP.

Local Multiplayer

You can start yor own multiplayer on your local network for others to join. Simply launch vimtronner with the number of players you want before starting a game with the -N or --number option and WITHOUT the client flag (-C or --client)

$ vimtronner -N 3

This starts your own vimtronner on your machine, which you are immediately connected to. Like on the public server a random name is given to your game (displayed in the lower left-hand corner)

Game name found in lower left-hand corner

You can explicitly give a name to a game when you create it through the -G or --game option.

$ vimtronner -N 3 -G mygame

Other players can then join your game by starting vimtronner in client-only mode (-C or --client) and passing in the name of the game (-G or --game) and the address of your machine (-A or --address).

$ vimtronner -C -G simplistic-trail -A 10.0.1.144

By default, vimtronner launches and connects to port 8766. You can override this through the -P or --port flag. So when launching a local multiplayer game:

$ vimtronner -N 3 -P 8000

And when others want to join:

$ vimtronner -C -G simplistic-trail -A 10.0.1.144 -P 8000

Note: that if the game host quits, the game ends immediately and everyone is disconnected.

"Headless" Server Mode

You can launch a vimtronner server to host multiple games without also starting a game. Simply pass in the -S or --server flag.

$ vimtronner -S

Now anyone can create a game on the server by connecting as a client (-C or --client flag) to the server's address (-A or --address) to create games:

$ vimtronner -C -A 10.0.1.144 -N 5

And join them:

$ vimtronner -C -A 10.0.1.144 -N 5 -G simplistic-trail

As always they can give games a specific name (-G or --game option) when creating them. You can also set a port number for your server to listen to with the -P or --port option (it defaults to 8766). Players use the same option when connecting.

Listing Games

To see a list of all games running on a server, simply connect as a client and pass the -L or --list flag.

$ vimtronner -C -L

This works in tandem with the -A/--address and -P/--port options to specify the server we are connecting to.

All Options

  Usage: vimtronner [options]

  Options:

    -h, --help                        output usage information
    -V, --version                     output the version number
    -S, --server                      launches in server only mode
    -C, --client                      launches in client only mode
    -A, --address <address>           the address to connect the client
    -P, --port <port>                 the port to launch the server or connect the client
    -G, --game <game>                 the name of the game the client wants to join
    -N, --number <number of players>  the number of players required to play (applies to new game only)
    -W, --width <size>                the grid width
    -H, --height <size>               the grid height
    -L, --list                        list active games on the server

Development

Want to contribute to vimtronner? There are many ways to do. File bugs and features through Github. Or fork the repo to add your own changes and create a pull-request so we can bring them in! Any help is welcome!

Contributors