Smibu/Sandbox

Elma 2 is the tentative name of a game that aims to be the (unofficial) successor of Elasto Mania (and EOL), adding many new features. It uses exactly the same physics engine as original Elma 1.11a.

Elma 2 is designed to be multi-platform (Windows, Linux, OS X). The current release is available for Windows and Linux.

The development is in a very early phase, which is why there are not many features implemented yet.

See the list of planned features and the related Mopolauta topic.

IRC channel for Elma 2: #new_elma @ IRCnet. See realtime channel log.

Download & install

Latest update: 28.4.2014

Windows

Elma 2 should work fine on Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. It has been tested on Windows XP and 7.

1. Download and install Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86) (4.8 MB).
2. Download elma2-0.1.0-win32-release.zip. Unzip it to anywhere.

The zip file contains the following files and folders:

• elma2.exe - the main Elma 2 program
• datafiles - contains necessary files for Elma 2 to work
• lev - contains level files
• lgr - contains lgr files
• *.dll files - library files that are required for Elma 2 to work

Note: If you extract the zip to Elma/EOL directory and if you have lots of levels in Lev folder, Elma 2 will be very laggy while the levs are being loaded at startup.

Linux

Elma 2 has been tested on Ubuntu 12.04. Currently, only 32-bit version is available. It has not been tested on 64-bit Ubuntu. The instructions below are for Ubuntu 12.04 32-bit.

1. Download cegui-0.8.3-Linux.sh and elma2-0.1.0-Linux-release.sh.
2. In the directory where you downloaded the files, run the command

   sudo ./cegui-0.8.3-Linux.sh --prefix=/usr/local

   and answer Yes to the first question about licensing and No to the second question about whether you want to include the subdirectory.
3. Run the command

   sudo ldconfig

4. Install FreeImage library:

   sudo apt-get install libfreeimage3

5. Run the command

   ./elma2-0.1.0-Linux-release.sh

   and answer Yes to both questions.

Troubleshooting

If you are having problems in getting Elma 2 to work, download the debug version below. Note that the debug version is somewhat slower than the normal version. Paste the output messages in this Mopolauta topic so we can find out better what's wrong. (If it's very long output, go to Pastebin and just give link in that topic, or upload the text file somewhere.)

• Windows: elma2-0.1.0-win32-debug.zip
• Linux: (not yet available)

Known bugs/issues

See the bug list.

Found a new bug?

If you find some bugs that are not listed in the above link, this is the preferred way to report them:

1. Make sure you have the latest version of Elma 2 (check the date). If you have an older version, the bug may have already been fixed.
2. Report the bugs in this Mopolauta topic. You need to have a Mopolauta account for this.

There will probably be a simpler way of reporting bugs that doesn't require a Mopolauta account.

Planned level format

The following is a list of planned new features and changes to level format. See also the related Mopolauta topic.

• New polygon type: texture polygon. It would be possible to select texture for this polygon, and also whether it is solid (like ground polygons) or hollow (like normal pictures and textures). If it's hollow, clipping type could be chosen (ground/sky/both). This would remove the need for traditional, rectangular textures (and their masks too).
• Choose initial parameters for kuski:
  • Direction
  • Angle
  • Velocity
  • Body and wheel positions
  • Gravity direction
• Increase/remove limits (maximum width/height, number of apples/killers/flowers/vertices/polygons/pictures/textures, level title/filename length).
• Choose amount of apples that need to be taken before flower.
  • More general idea: Set weights for apples (and allow finishing when the total weight of collected apples is at least equal to a specified limit)
• The name of level designer.
• The creation/modification date of the level.
• Level description.
• Allow levels without flowers (all apples collected = finish).
• Rotate, resize and crop pictures.
• Option to force apples to be taken in a specific order.

Planned replay format

The following is a list of planned new features and changes to replay format.

• Name of driver
• Timestamp of the replay (when it was driven)
• Better information about how the ride ended (died by touching ground/killer with head/wheel, finished by touching flower (or the last apple) with head/wheel)
• Save timestamps of brake + gas keypresses? If needed, this could be made optional in case the driver doesn't want to reveal too much information
• Duration (even if the driver didn't finish)
• Allow merging as many replays as needed, not just 2
• One wheel replay or not

What is the "datafiles" folder?

The "datafiles" folder contains some files that are required for Elma 2 to work. The subfolders "looknfeel", "imagesets" and "schemes" contain descriptions about the look and feel of menus. Elma 2 uses the look and feel called "TaharezLook". So by editing the "TaharezLook.*" files, it is possible to customize the look and feel of Elma 2.

Note: The "TaharezLook.looknfeel" file may get modified during development, so try not to edit it too much. You may have to merge the changes if you've edited it.

Screenshots

Elma 2 running on Windows 7:

Elma 2 running on Ubuntu 12.04: