FAQ

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Revision as of 14:38, 24 August 2019 by Alexandre (Talk | contribs) (How can I help?)

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About the game

What is Open Surge?

Open Surge is a fun 2D retro platformer inspired by old-school Sonic games. It is also a game creation system that makes you a powerful creator! Play, hack, create games and unleash your creativity!

Open Surge is two projects in one: a game and a game creation system (game engine). It is released as free and open source software. Also, it is written from the ground up in C language, using the Allegro game programming library.

Where can I download it?

Get it at opensurge2d.org.

Who develops the game?

The game started to be developed by Alexandre Martins, a computer scientist from Brazil. Over time, people from all over the world began to contribute to the project, including artistics, musicians, translators and more! Check out the developers page for more information.

Can I create my own games with Open Surge?

Absolutely! See Introduction to Modding.

How can I help?

Do you feel inspired by this project? If you have artistic skills, marketing skills, speak multiple languages or have other talents, you can contribute! Contact Alexandre via Discord (alemart#7553) or e-mail.

I love Surge!

Marry him.

Playing the game

How can I control the characters?

Using the keyboard, the important keys are: Arrows (move), Space Bar (jump), Left Ctrl (change character), Enter (pause) and ESC (quit). You can also use a joystick.

How do I play using a joystick?

Simply plug your joystick and have fun! Make sure that "Use gamepad" is set to to "YES" in the options screen.

How can I reconfigure the controls?

If you want different buttons for tasks like jumping, pausing the game, etc., you need to reconfigure the controls. Open config/input.def using a simple text editor like Notepad or gedit. Follow the instructions there.

How can I make my own levels?

See: How to make a level.

Are there additional levels?

Yes, you can find new levels on the forums!

What is a MOD?

It's a game made by users with the Open Surge game engine. MODs can be surprisingly different from the original Open Surge game: early modifications ranged from simple sidescrollers to platformers with ninjas and RPG elements. See Introduction to Modding.

How can I play MODs?

MODs come in a package (usually a .zip file). Simply decompress it and run the executable (.exe file). If you use Linux, you can use the command line to install a new MOD. For detailed instructions, run:

opensurge --help

How do I take a screenshot?

Press the "=" (equals) key. A screenshot will be saved to the screenshots/ folder. In Linux, it should be saved to ~/.cache/opensurge2d/opensurge/screenshots.

Troubleshooting

The screen size is too small!

Go to the options screen (at the main menu) and increase the size.

The controls are strange! My character keeps going left or right!

Disable joystick input.

The game is slow!

Before taking any further action, we highly recommend that you close any other programs running on your computer. Restart the game after that. If this doesn't solve it, try the following:

  • At the options screen, decrease the graphic resolution to the minimum.
  • Still slow? Run the game via command line and pass the following parameters:
opensurge --tiny --no-font-smoothing
  • (advanced) You can play around with other command line options. Type
opensurge --help

Technical questions

I've found a bug!

If you've found a bug you think had escaped our attention, make sure you have as much information about when it occurred as possible. Tell us the steps to reproduce the bug, situations where the error won't show, etc. You can report the bug on the forums or contact the developers directly.

How do I run a level than isn't on the stage select?

You can simply go to the DEBUG (SECRET) stage select screen, where all .lev's (level files) will show up - cutscenes and everything. Here's how you access it:

  1. Go to the options screen
  2. Highlight stage select
  3. Press RIGHT three times; you'll hear a sound
  4. Enter

Since Open Surge version 0.5.0, you can also access the debug screen if you press RIGHT 3x in the splash screen (initial screen).

Advanced command line options

There are a few advanced options that are not directly available to users. It's worthwhile exploring them if you're a creator. Open a console/terminal and type:

opensurge --help

How can I compile the source code?

See: Compiling the Source Code.