HISTORY OF KsirK
http://ksirk.tuxfamily.org/

I started this game during 1995 (?) in order to learn C++ and Windows 95 programming.
It was initialy named "Risk". I used a book about WinG, one of the first Microsoft
attempts to give gaming abilities to Windows. But a lot of the examples of this book
were in assembler, that I never learned :-( I used these routines but whithout being
able to fully understand them. This first version never got an acceptable status.

Some time later I heard from Java and decided to learn it. So, I decided to convert
Risk to JRisk. I obtained, if I remember well, a version that was running not so bad,
but really slowly.That was due to the use of an early version of Java but also to
a really uggly programming.

In the meantime, for my work, I learned Smalltalk (VisualWorks), THE OO language (try
it, you really cannot experience higher OO programming pleasure ; I'm addict)and so
discovered all the power of good OOP. I started also to use Linux and KDE. I wanted
to learn KDE programming and so decided to convert back my lovely project to C++ !
KRisk was born ! But with my experience of Smalltalk and the APIs of QT and KDE, my
work has been, I think, quite better.

At the time of 04/24/2002, some architectural problems due to this complex history
remained, but it worked good and I think I could release a public version. I choosed to
rename it in order to avoid copyright problems : welcome to KsirK !

Now, in early 2003, the evolution continue with a minimal AI (for artificial idiot as its
decisions are choosen completly at random) and the themability of the world.
This last point is a direct consequence of the improvements of the overall
architecture of the game.

In parallel, the online tools linked to the game continue to improve: with the
current version appear a mailing list and a CVS repository (See the Contacts and
Download pages of the Web site) !

INSTALLATION
Please read INSTALL

USING KsirK
Please read tooltips on buttons, the statusbars and the KsirK HTML manual
- map scrolling : place your mouse near a window border or use your mouse wheel
  (with the Alt modifier for horizontal scrolling)
- armies distribution : Left-click to put an army, Right-click to remove one
- to setup a move or an attack, click and drag from the source country to the
  target one

CONTACT
mailto:ksirk@tuxfamily.org
