shit keeps falling - A Game
by Chris Lumens

1. Introduction
===============
shit keeps falling (SKF) is a familiar game where objects of various shapes 
fall from the top of the screen and you have to find a place for them to land.
The object of the game is to fill as many lines as possible.  The game ends
when there is no room at the top of the screen for the next falling block.

This current release is meant as a test of the game play only.  It's fairly
ugly.  There's no pretty intro screens, help screen, pause, and so forth.  When
you start the game, you are immediately launched into the screen where blocks
start falling.  A more polished version will follow.


2. Building and Installation
============================

2.1. Requirements
-----------------
This source release of SKF requires the following to build:

   * A C compiler - Pretty straightforward.

   * libsdl-1.2.x - libsdl is used for the graphics.  You'll need the
                    shared libraries and header files on your system to
                    build SKF.

   * SDL_image - An image loading interface between SDL and various format
                 specific image libraries.

   * libpng - The image library SDL_image needs to load artwork.

2.2. Building
-------------
Building SKF is easy:

   $ make

You can then install the SKF program and other related files like so:

   $ make install

By default, SKF installs into /usr/local.  If you'd like to change that to
some other prefix, set the PREFIX variable:

   $ make PREFIX=/opt/skf install

See Includes.mk for other variables you may be interested in.

2.3. Platforms
--------------
SKF is developed and tested on Linux.  Other platforms with a C compiler and
libsdl may also work, though I have not attempted to do this yet.  You are
encouraged to try building it on another operating system and let me know how
it works.  Patches are accepted.


3. Playing
==========
When you begin the game, you will see a clock at the top of the screen and a
large grey area on the rest of the screen.  The clock displays the elapsed time
of the game, and the large grey area is the playing field where objects will
be falling.  Each object will appear somewhere at the very top of the playing
field.  You may use the following keys to move each object:

   * left/right arrow keys - Move the object side to side.

   * up/down arrow keys - Rotate the object clockwise and counterclockwise,
                          respectively.  Objects that are symmetrical about
                          both their X and Y axes may not be rotated, of course.

   * space bar - Immediately drop the object all the way until it falls.  You
                 will not be able to move the object in any way until it lands
                 somewhere.

When the object lands, you may move it side to side with the arrow keys for a
moment until it is "locked" in position.  If moving it side to side puts it
into a position where the object can continue falling, it will and you can
use any movement keys again.

The game is over when the position where the next new block would appear is
already filled.


4. Quitting
===========
Use the escape or Q key to quit the game.


5. License
==========
SKF is distributed under the terms of the GPL, a copy of which may be found in
the COPYING file in the top level of this source distribution.