atc - air traffic controller game
atc [-lpqstu?] [-fg game name] [-r random seed]
atc lets you try your hand at the nerve-wracking duties of
an air traffic
controller without endangering the lives of millions of
travelers each
year. Your responsibilities require you to direct the
flight of jets and
prop planes into and out of the flight arena and airports.
The speed
(update time) and frequency of the planes depend on the difficulty of the
chosen arena.
-f game Play the named game. If the game listed is not
one of the ones
printed by the -l option, the default game is
played.
-g game Same as -f.
-l Print a list of available games and exit. The
first game name
printed is the default game.
-p Print the path to the special directory where atc
expects to
find its private files. This is used during the
installation
of the program.
-q Play quietly (no bells).
-s Print the score list (formerly the Top Ten list).
The scoring
information is the game time in ``radar updates'',
the wallclock
game time, and the number of planes that
were successfully
dealt with.
-t Same as -s.
-r seed Set the random seed. This option can be used to
replay a specific
game.
-u Print the usage line and exit.
-? Same as -u.
Your goal in atc is to keep the game going as long as possible. There is
no winning state, except to beat the times of other players.
You will
need to: launch planes at airports (by instructing them to
increase their
altitude); land planes at airports (by instructing them to
go to altitude
zero when exactly over the airport); and maneuver planes out
of exit
points.
Several things will cause the end of the game. Each plane
has a destination
(see information area), and sending a plane to the
wrong destination
is an error. Planes can run out of fuel, or can collide.
Collision is
defined as adjacency, horizontal or vertical. A plane leaving the arena
in any other way than through its correct destination exit
is an error as
well.
Scores are sorted in order of the number of planes safe.
The other
statistics are provided merely for fun. There is no penalty
for taking
longer than another player (except in the case of ties).
Suspending a game is not permitted. If you get a talk message, tough.
When was the last time an Air Traffic Controller got called
away to the
phone?
Depending on the terminal used, the atc screen will be divided into 4 areas.
It should be stressed that the terminal driver portion
of the game
was designed to be reconfigurable, so the display format can
vary depending
on the version you are playing. The descriptions here
are based on
the ASCII version of the game. The game rules and input
format, however,
should remain consistent. Control-L redraws the screen,
should it become
muddled.
RADAR [Toc] [Back]
The first screen area is the radar display, showing the relative locations
of the planes, airports, standard entry/exit points,
radar beacons,
and ``lines'' which simply serve to aid you in guiding the
planes.
Planes are shown as a single letter with an altitude. If
the numerical
altitude is a single digit, then it represents thousands of
feet. Some
distinction is made between the prop planes and the jets.
On ASCII terminals,
prop planes are represented by an upper case letter,
jets by a
lower case letter.
Airports are shown as a number and some indication of the
direction
planes must be going to land at the airport. On ASCII terminals, this is
one of `^', `>', `<', or `v', to indicate north (0 degrees),
east (90),
west (270), and south (180), respectively. The planes will
also take off
in this direction.
Beacons are represented as circles or asterisks and a number. Their purpose
is to offer a place of easy reference to the plane pilots. See The
Delay Command under the input section of this manual.
Entry/exit points are displayed as numbers along the border
of the radar
screen. Planes will enter the arena from these points without warning.
These points have a direction associated with them, and
planes will always
enter the arena from this direction. On the ASCII version of atc,
this direction is not displayed. It will become apparent
what this direction
is as the game progresses.
Incoming planes will always enter at the same altitude: 7000
feet. For a
plane to depart successfully through an entry/exit point, it
must be flying
at 9000 feet. It is not necessary for the planes to be
flying in any
particular direction when they leave the arena (yet).
INFORMATION AREA [Toc] [Back]
The second area of the display is the information area,
which lists the
time (number of updates since start) and the number of
planes you have
directed safely out of the arena. Below this is a list of
planes currently
in the air, followed by a blank line, and then a list
of planes on
the ground (at airports). Each line lists the plane name
and its current
altitude, an optional asterisk indicating low fuel, the
plane's destination,
and the plane's current command. Changing altitude is
not considered
to be a command and is therefore not displayed. The
following are
some possible information lines:
B4*A0: Circle @ b1
g7 E4: 225
The first example shows a prop plane named `B' that is flying at 4000
feet. It is low on fuel (note the `*'). Its destination is
Airport #0.
The next command it expects to do is circle when it reaches
Beacon #1.
The second example shows a jet named `g' at 7000 feet, destined for Exit
#4. It is just now executing a turn to 225 degrees (Southwest).
INPUT AREA [Toc] [Back]
The third area of the display is the input area. It is here
that your
input is reflected. See the INPUT heading of this manual
for more details.
AUTHOR AREA [Toc] [Back]
This area is used simply to give credit where credit is due.
:-)
A command completion interface is built into the game. At
any time, typing
`?' will list possible input characters. Typing a
backspace (your
erase character) backs up, erasing the last part of the command. When a
command is complete, a return enters it, and any semantic
checking is
done at that time. If no errors are detected, the command
is sent to the
appropriate plane. If an error is discovered during the
check, the offending
statement will be underscored and a (somewhat) descriptive message
will be printed under it.
The command syntax is broken into two parts: Immediate Only
and Delayable
commands. Immediate Only commands happen on the next update. Delayable
commands also happen on the next update unless they are followed by an
optional predicate called the Delay command.
In the following tables, the syntax [0-9] means any single
digit, and
<dir> refers to the keys around the `s' key, namely ``wedcxzaq''. In absolute
references, `q' refers to Northwest or 315 degrees,
and `w' refers
to North, or 0 degrees. In relative references, `q' refers
to -45 degrees
or 45 degrees left, and `w' refers to 0 degrees, or no
change in
direction.
All commands start with a plane letter. This indicates the
recipient of
the command. Case is ignored.
IMMEDIATE ONLY COMMANDS [Toc] [Back]
a [ cd+- ] number
Altitude: Affect a plane's altitude, possibly requesting takeoff.
`+' and `-' are the same as `c' and `d'.
a [0-9] Go to the given altitude (thousands of
feet).
c [0-9] Climb: Relative altitude change (thousands
of feet).
d [0-9] Descend: Relative altitude change (thousands of feet).
m Mark: Display in highlighted mode. Plane and command
information
is displayed normally.
i Ignore: Do not display highlighted. Command information is displayed
as a line of dashes if there is no command.
u Unmark: Same as ignore, but if a delayed command is
processed, the
plane will become marked. This is useful if you want
to forget
about a plane during part, but not all, of its journey.
DELAYABLE COMMANDS [Toc] [Back]
c Circle: Have the plane circle.
t [ l-r+LR ] [ dir ] or tt [ abe* ] number
Turn: Change direction.
t<dir> Turn to the absolute compass heading given. The shortest
turn will be taken.
tl Left: Turn counterclockwise (45 degrees by
default).
tl <dir> Turn ccw the given number of degrees. Zero
degrees (`w') is no turn; 45 degrees ccw is
`e'. The shortest turn will be
taken; for
instance, if you specify a ccw
turn of 315
degrees (`q'), which should take
several
turns, the plane will really
turn 45 cw,
which takes only one turn.
tr Right: Turn clockwise (45 degrees by default).
tr <dir> Analogous to turn left <dir>.
tL Turn counterclockwise 90 degrees.
tR Turn clockwise 90 degrees.
tt [abe*] Towards: Turn towards a beacon, airport or
exit. The
turn is just an estimate.
ttb number Turn towards the specified
beacon.
tt* number Equivalent to ttb.
tte number Turn towards the specified exit.
tta number Turn towards the specified
airport.
THE DELAY COMMAND [Toc] [Back]
The Delay (a/@) command may be appended to any Delayable
command. It allows
the controller to instruct a plane to do an action when
the plane
reaches a particular beacon (or other objects in future versions).
a/@ At: Do the given delayable command when the
plane reaches
the given beacon.
ab number The letter is redundant to allow
for expansion.
`@' can be used instead of `a'.
MARKING, UNMARKING AND IGNORING
Planes are marked by default when they enter the arena.
This means they
are displayed in highlighted mode on the radar display. A
plane may also
be either unmarked or ignored. An unmarked plane is drawn
in unhighlighted
mode, and a line of dashes is displayed in the command field of
the information area. The plane will remain this way until
a mark command
has been issued. Any other command will be issued, but
the command
line will return to a line of dashes when the command is
completed.
An ignored plane is treated the same as an unmarked plane,
except that it
will automatically switch to marked status when a delayed
command has
been processed. This is useful if you want to forget about
a plane for a
while, but its flight path has not yet been completely set.
As with all of the commands, marking, unmarking and ignoring
will take
effect at the beginning of the next update. Do not be surprised if the
plane does not immediately switch to unhighlighted mode.
EXAMPLES [Toc] [Back]
atlab1 Plane A: turn left at beacon #1
cc Plane C: circle
gtte4ab2 Plane G: turn towards exit #4 at beacon #2
ma+2 Plane M: altitude: climb 2000 feet
stq Plane S: turn to 315
xi Plane X: ignore
+o Jets move every update; prop planes move every other update.
+o All planes turn at most 90 degrees per movement.
+o Planes enter at 7000 feet and leave at 9000 feet.
+o Planes flying at an altitude of 0 crash if they are not
over an airport.
+o Planes waiting at airports can only be told to take off
(climb in
altitude).
+o Pressing return (that is, entering an empty command)
will perform the
next update immediately. This allows the player to
``fast forward''
the game clock if nothing interesting is happening.
The Game_List file lists the currently available play
fields. New field
description file names must be placed in this file to be
playable. If a
player specifies a game not in this file, his score will not
be logged.
The game field description files are broken into two parts.
The first
part is the definition section. Here, the four tunable game
parameters
must be set. These variables are set with the syntax:
variable = number;
Variable may be one of: update, indicating the number of
seconds between
forced updates; newplane, indicating (about) the number of
updates between
new plane entries; width, indicating the width of the
play field;
or height, indicating the height of the play field.
The second part of the field description files describes the
locations of
the exits, the beacons, the airports and the lines. The
syntax is as
follows:
beacon: (x y) ... ;
airport: (x y direction) ... ;
exit: (x y direction) ... ;
line: [ (x1 y1) (x2 y2) ] ... ;
For beacons, a simple x, y coordinate pair is used (enclosed
in
parentheses). Airports and exits require a third value, a
direction,
which is one of ``wedcxzaq''. For airports, this is the direction that
planes must be going to take off and land, and for exits,
this is the direction
that planes will be going when they enter the arena.
This may
not seem intuitive, but as there is no restriction on direction of exit,
this is appropriate. Lines are slightly different, since
they need two
coordinate pairs to specify the line endpoints. These endpoints must be
enclosed in square brackets.
All statements are semi-colon (;) terminated. Multiple item
statements
accumulate. Each definition must occur exactly once, before
any item
statements. Comments begin with a hash (#) symbol and terminate with a
newline. The coordinates are between zero and width-1 and
height-1 inclusive.
All of the exit coordinates must lie on the borders, and all of
the beacons and airports must lie inside of the borders.
Line endpoints
may be anywhere within the field, so long as the lines are
horizontal,
vertical or exactly diagonal.
FIELD FILE EXAMPLE [Toc] [Back]
# This is the default game.
update = 5;
newplane = 5;
width = 30;
height = 21;
exit: ( 12 0 x ) ( 29 0 z ) ( 29 7 a ) (
29 17 a )
( 9 20 e ) ( 0 13 d ) ( 0 7 d ) (
0 0 c ) ;
beacon: ( 12 7 ) ( 12 17 ) ;
airport: ( 20 15 w ) ( 20 18 d ) ;
line: [ ( 1 1 ) ( 6 6 ) ]
[ ( 12 1 ) ( 12 6 ) ]
[ ( 13 7 ) ( 28 7 ) ]
[ ( 28 1 ) ( 13 16 ) ]
[ ( 1 13 ) ( 11 13 ) ]
[ ( 12 8 ) ( 12 16 ) ]
[ ( 11 18 ) ( 10 19 ) ]
[ ( 13 17 ) ( 28 17 ) ]
[ ( 1 7 ) ( 11 7 ) ] ;
Files are kept in a special directory, which can be shown by
using the -p
flag.
/var/games/atc_score Score file.
/usr/share/games/atc/Game_List The list of playable games.
Ed James, UC Berkeley: [email protected], ucbvax!edjames
This game is based on someone's description of the overall
flavor of a
game written for some unknown PC many years ago, maybe.
The screen sometimes refreshes after you have quit.
OpenBSD 3.6 May 31, 1993
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