Remove some of my infamous debugging statements (I keep forgetting

them!) and move the new pdf files around, renaming contact.pdf to
README.pdf since it's the shorter version of readme.txt, also
capitalized now.


git-svn-id: https://crawl-ref.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/crawl-ref/trunk@6435 c06c8d41-db1a-0410-9941-cceddc491573

1 files changed, 162 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/crawl-ref/README.txt b/crawl-ref/README.txt
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+Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
+========================
+
+Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is a game of dungeon exploration, combat and magic, 
+involving characters of diverse skills, worshipping deities of great power and 
+caprice. To win, you'll need to be a master of tactics and strategy, and 
+prevail against overwhelming odds.
+
+Players of versions 0.3.4 and older beware: please read the file
+   034_changes.txt
+in the /docs directory for a list of the interface changes, and how 
+you could possibly retrieve the 0.3.4 standards.
+
+Contents:
+1. How to get started? (Information for new players)
+2. The file system of this version.
+3. Contact and reporting bugs.
+4. License and history information.
+5. How you can help!
+
+1. Getting started
+------------------
+If you'd like to dive in immediately, your best bets are to
+* start up a game and choose a tutorial (press 'T' when asked for race), or
+* read quickstart.txt (in the /docs directory), or
+* for studious readers, browse the manual (see below for all doc files).
+
+Additionally, you may want to print out the file keys.pdf from the /docs
+folder. Besides a full list of command keys (don't bother with it), it contains 
+two pages of help for new players.
+Note that you can read quickstart.txt and the manual when playing; pressing '?' 
+brings up a menu for that.
+
+
+2. File system
+--------------
+The following files in the Crawl's main folder are essential:
+
+* crawl           These start the game. (The actual name depends on your
+* crawl.exe       operating system.)
+
+* macro.txt       Playing Crawl can be made even more convenient by
+                  redefining keys and assigning macros. Ignore early on.
+
+The docs/ folder contains the following helpful texts (all of which can be 
+read in-game by bringing up the help menu with '?'):
+
+* crawl_manual.txt   The complete manual; describing all aspects in detail.
+                     Contains appendices on species, classes, etc.
+* options_guide.txt  Describes all options in detail. The structure of
+                     init.txt follows this text.
+* macros_guide.txt   A how-to on using macros and keymappings, with examples.
+* aptitudes.txt      Some numbers defining certain aspects of the races.
+                     Helpful, but not needed for winning.
+* quickstart.txt     A short introduction for new players.
+* ssh_guide.txt      An elaborate introduction on how to get internet play
+                     to work. For Windows only.
+* keys.pdf           A printable document, listing all commands and it also
+                     contains a very short guide for new players.
+
+The settings/ folder contains, among others, the following files:
+
+* init.txt        These contain the options for the game. The defaults
+* .crawlrc        play well, so don't bother with this in the beginning.
+                  Permanent death is not an option, but a feature!
+
+
+3. Contact and reporting bugs
+-----------------------------
+The official webpage is
+      http://crawl-ref.sourceforge.net/
+and there you can find both trackers to add bug reports, feature requests, or 
+upload patches, as well as sources and binaries. This is the best way to report 
+bugs or mention new ideas.
+
+There is a Usenet newsgroup dealing with roguelikes, including Crawl:
+      rec.games.roguelike.misc
+It is polite to flag your post with -crawl- as other games are discussed over 
+there as well. This is a good place to ask general questions, both from new 
+players as well as for spoilers, or to announce spectacular wins.
+
+You can play Crawl online, together with many others. The main server has its 
+homepage at
+      http://crawl.akrasiac.org/
+where you can also read how to connect. That page also has links to spoiler 
+sites etc.
+
+If you want to chime in with development, you can read the mailing list
+      crawl-ref-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net
+which can get pretty busy on the occasion.
+
+
+4. License and history information
+----------------------------------
+What you have downloaded is a descendant of Linley's Dungeon Crawl. Development
+of the main branch stalled at version 4.0.0b26, with a final alpha of 4.1 being
+released by Brent Ross in 2005. Since 2006, the Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup team 
+has been continuing the development. See the CREDITS in the mail folder for a
+myriad of contributors, past and present; license.txt contains the legal blurb.
+
+Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is an open source, freeware roguelike. It is supported 
+on Linux, Windows, OS/X  and, to a lesser extent, on DOS. The source should 
+compile and run on any reasonably modern Unix.
+Stone Soup features both ASCII and graphical (Tiles) display.
+
+Crawl gladly and gratiously uses the following open-source packages:
+* The Lua script language, see docs/lualicense.txt.
+* The PCRE library for regular expressions, see docs/pcre_license.txt.
+* The Mersenne Twister for random number generation, docs/mt19937.txt.
+* The SQLite library as database engine; it is properly public domain.
+* The ReST light markup language for the documentation.
+
+
+5. How you can help
+-------------------
+If you like the game and you want to help making it better, there are a number 
+of ways to do so:
+
+* Playtesting.
+At any time, there will be bugs -- playing and reporting these is a great help.
+There is a beta server around hosting the most recent version of the current 
+code; the akrasiac page links to it. Besides finding bugs, ideas on how to 
+improve interface or gameplay are welcome as well.
+
+* Vault making.
+Crawl uses many hand-drawn (but often randomised) maps. Making them is fun and 
+easy. It's best to start with simple entry vaults (glance through 
+dat/entry.des for a first impression). Later, you may want to read 
+docs/level_design.txt for the full power. If you're ambitious, new maps for 
+branch ends are possible, as well.
+If you've made some maps, you can test them on your system (no compiling 
+needed) and then just mail them to the mailing list.
+
+* Speech.
+Monster talking provides a lot of flavour. Just like vaults, speech depends 
+upon a large set of entries. Since most of the speech has been outsourced, you 
+can add new prose. The syntax is effective, but slightly strange, so you may
+want to read docs/monster_speech.txt.
+Again, changing or adding speech is possible on your local game. If you 
+have added something, send the files to the list.
+
+* Monster descriptions.
+You can look up the current monster descriptions in-game with '?/' or just read
+them in dat/descript/monsters.txt. The following conventions should be more or
+less obeyed: descriptions ought to contain flavour text, ideally pointing out
+major weaknesses/strenghts. No numbers, please. Citations are okay, but try to
+stay away from the most generic ones.
+If you like, you can similarly modify the descriptions for features, items or
+branches.
+
+* Tiles.
+Since version 0.4, tiles are integrated within Crawl. Having variants of 
+often-used glyphs is always good. If you want to give this a shot, please 
+contact us via the mailing list.
+
+* Patches.
+If you like to, you can download the source code and apply patches. Both 
+patches for bug fixes as well as implementation of new features are very much
+welcome. 
+Please be sure to read docs/coding_conventions.txt first.
+
+Thank you, and have fun crawling!