Player manual

system requirements | downloading | installing | playing

System requirements

The neon roguelike engine is written in the Java programming language. It needs the Java Runtime Environment 6 or equivalent to run. This also means that it should be able to run on any system that supports this runtime.
Concerning hardware, development is done on my laptop. It has 2 GB of ram, a Pentium IV 2.66 GHz (Northwood) and a SiS M650 chipset with integrated graphics (probably one of the crappiest chipsets ever to see the daylight). Anything similar or better than this should be able to run the engine. Less ram is no problem, as the Java Virtual Machine only uses 128 MB.

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Download

Downloads are provided by SourceForge. You have several options:

Full package: This neon.zip file contains all files necessary to run a sample game. Source code is included. This is probably the file you want if you've never used the engine before. It contains the engine .jar file, the Substance and JDOM 1.0 .jar files and game data files.
Data files: Extra data files are available as separate downloads.
Subversion: The latest development versions of source and data files are available from an SVN repository. If you just want to play a game, this is probably not your best option.

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Installation

The installation is very simple:

Make sure you have the right Java Runtime Environment.
Download the engine binary, data files, JDOM 1.0 and Substance Java look & feel (see previous topic).
Place them all in the same directory. It should now contain at least neon.jar, jdom.jar, substance.jar, darkness.jar and neon.ini.
Open a terminal window, dos window, command prompt or whatever it is called on your system and go to the directory containing all the neon files.
Type java -jar neon.jar and the engine should start.
Alternatively, instead of the previous two steps, windows users can just double click the neon.jar file to start.

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How to play

After starting the engine, you will see a first screen with some options. Choose an option with keyboard or mouse.

New game

Follow the instructions on screen. Your mouse will also work. A name is required for now. It must be unique, so if there is already a saved game with that name, it will not be accepted. A profession is not required. The other options don't have much effect for now, except changing the color of your character.

Load game

Two saved games are available for loading. Saving your own game is not implemented yet. Choose the game you want to load with keyboard or mouse.

Playing a game

Use the arrow keys or your numpad to move around. If you run into a friendly npc, you will be asked what you want to do. Hostile npcs will always be attacked. To pick something up or use something (like a door or portal), use space. Pressing m will show the world map. pressing j will show your journal with all your stats, quests and spells. To access your inventory, press ctrl. To look around, press l and use the arrow keys. Press space while looking around to do something (like closing a door). To shoot, talk, or cast a spell, press s, t or c and pick your target with the arrow keys. Then press s, t or c again.

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