Welcome to the World of JZuul ($Revision: 1.7 $)

This file explains what you can do by now, what you can't and how to
do it.

REQUIREMENTS:
To run JZuul you need a JavaVM which can be obtained from any of the
below stated sources:
	http://java.sun.com
	http://www.research.ibm.com/jikes/
	http://www.kaffe.org/ *untested*
	http://gcc.gnu.org/java/ *untested*

After you have installed the JavaVM you have to extract the Zip file
containing the JZuul Files (as you reed this file, you probably
already have).

FILE LOCATIONS:
After you decompressed the file you have a directory called JZuul
which contains:
	lib/ 		Libraries needed by JZuul, see LIBRARIES
	org/jzuul/		JZuul files
	README			this one
	rungamefile(.bat)	a script to run games, see GAMES

The org/jzuul tree has the following subdirectories:
	engine		The JZuul Engine
	engine/guis	JZuul Engine Guis
	games		Example Games
	dtdparser	The JZuul DTDParser
	
GAMES:
The JZuul Engine comes with 2 example games, JKegeln and Zuul. 
Zuul is a simple textadventure, JKegeln is a simple multi-player game.
There are several ways to play these games:
To play the games as the were intended to be you have to run

	java org.jzuul.games.zuul.Zuul 

or

	java org.jzuul.games.kegeln.Kegeln

The games will run in the SwingGui (see GUIS).

For a more dynamic approach you can run the games with the rungamefile
script (if you are on Windows it is called rungamefile.bat).

This script has several command line options which will be displayed
if you run it without any options. Most of the parameters are well
documented, one you might find difficult is -gui, which is therefore
explained in GUIS.

The first parameter is always a Gamefile, i.e. a XML description of a
game situated in the directories under org/jzuul/games. 

GUIS:
The JZuul Engine comes with 3 different GUIs.

	SwingGui: Using SUNs Swing API to provide a mostly ugly and
	slow user interface.

	SwtGui: Using Eclipse's SWT this GUI provides natural look and
	feel on all supported platforms.

	TextUi:	A simple user interface working on a console.

To run a game with a different GUI you have to run

	rungamefile some/gamefile.xml -gui SomeGui

where you have to replace the some/gamefile.xml with a path to a real
Gamefile (look in the games directory, every directory contains a
initial.xml which describes the game) and SomeGui with the GUI you
want to use, e.g. SwtGui.

CREATING GAMES:
There is a start file for Win32 and Linux which starts the gameeditor
just run "gameditor".


TROUBLESHOOTING:
If any of the above mentioned java commands don't work because they
complain about missing libraries and/or classes you have to give Java
some hints where to find the files:

	java -cp lib/xerces.jar:lib/jdom.jar:lib/swt_YOUROS/swt.jar:\
	lib/swt_YOUROS/swt-pi.jar:./
	
will tell Java to take the mentioned Jarfiles and look into them to
find some classes. The YOUROS must be replaced by the actual directory
under your lib path which contains the SWT library stuff.

If this doesn't work either and Java complains about missing SO files
or DLLs you ADDITIONALLY have to provide the path to the native
libraries coming with SWT which is used by the SwtGui and the Gamefile
Editor. 

	java -Djava.library.path=lib/swt_YOUROS

will do the trick here. A combination of the -cp switch and the -D
switch should always lead to a success, otherwise drop me a mail, see
CONTACT. Don't forget to replace YOUROS with the actual directory name. 

CONTACT
More documentation and information can be found at www.jzuul.org

If you have any problems feel free to contact one of the authors,
either marcus@jzuul.org or leh@jzuul.org

LIBRARIES:
JZuul contains the following 3rd level libraries:
	
	JDOM
	http://www.jdom.org
	A XML DOM Implementation

	Xerces
	http://xml.apache.org/xerces2-j
	A XML Parser Library

	SWT
	http://www.eclipse.org
	Standard Widget Toolkit

$Id: README,v 1.7 2004/07/19 15:31:08 marcus Exp $