MAELSTROM(6)

💫 MAELSTROM 💫

okay bestie, buckle UP — this is the Games Manual page for Maelstrom, section 6, and it's giving arcade chaos in the best way possible 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

Maelstrom — an arcade-style game resembling Asteroids 🪨💥

🚀 SYNOPSIS 🚀

Maelstrom [options]

Maelstrom [-netscores] -printscores

like. that's it. that's the whole vibe check 🦋

🌌 DESCRIPTION 🌌

This is a Linux port of the Macintosh game by the same name. This version is remarkably faithful to the original — no cap, they really did that 💅

so picture this: you pilot your ship through the dreaded "Maelstrom" asteroid belt — and suddenly your best friend thrusts towards you and fires, directly at your cockpit 😭 You raise your shields just in time, and the battle is joined. The deadliest stretch of space known to mankind has just gotten deadlier. Everywhere massive asteroids jostle for a chance to crush your ship, and deadly Shenobi fighter patrols pursue you across the asteroid belt. But the deadliest of them all is your sister ship, assigned to you on patrol. The pilot, trained by your own Navy, battle-hardened by months in the Maelstrom, is equipped with a twin of your own ship and intimate knowledge of your tactics. The lovely Stratocaster R&R facility never sounded so good, but as you fire full thrusters to dodge the latest barrage you begin to think you'll never get home...

not me getting emotionally invested in an asteroid game 🫶

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -display host:0 — Runs Maelstrom on the given X11 display. yes queen, pick your screen 💖
• -fullscreen — Puts a big black border around the Maelstrom screen, and centers Maelstrom within it. This helps create a "full screen" effect on large displays. During the game the screen mode can be toggled using Alt+Return. lowkey iconic ✨
• -privatecmap — Runs Maelstrom with a private (custom) colormap. This prevents Maelstrom from locking up all of the colors on your display. It is only useful on 256 color (pseudo-color) displays. so like, retro monitor energy only 💀
• -gamma [0-8] — Sets the gamma correction level for Maelstrom. The higher the gamma correction, the brighter Maelstrom will appear on your monitor. If no gamma level is given, Maelstrom will print the current gamma level saved in your custom configuration. Once this option is used, the gamma correction level is saved, and this option doesn't need to be used later unless you want to change it again. set it and forget it fr fr 💅
• -volume [0-8] — Sets the sound volume. turn it up bestie 🔊
• -nofade — Prevents Maelstrom from doing the screen fading. This is useful if you find the fading annoying. no more dramatic transitions, we're keeping it snappy 😤
• -realfade — Causes the entire display to fade, not just inside the Maelstrom window. main character energy, the whole screen is involved now 🌈
• -netscores — Tells Maelstrom to use the Internet Maelstrom Score Server for the high score list. global leaderboard moment 👑
• -printscores — Prints out a list of the current high scores. If used with the -netscores option, it will connect to the Internet Maelstrom Score Server and print out the world-wide Maelstrom high scores. (the original page says "it will will" — that's a typo, but I'm keeping it because I'm not out here editing the manpage, I'm out here vibing 😌)
• -player N[@host][:port] — Tells Maelstrom that it is playing a network game, and that player N is at host host and/or port port. squad up 🫶
• -server N@host[:port] — Tells Maelstrom to use a network address server at host host (and port port) for a multiplayer game with N players. the server is the main character here ngl 🧚
• -deathmatch [N] — Configures a multiplayer game to continue until someone gets N frags (default = 8). A frag is 3 shots at a player. it's giving competitive 🍓
• -version — Prints the version of the Maelstrom binary. receipts, bestie 💜
• -speedtest — Runs Maelstrom in a graphics test mode. It prints the number of milliseconds it takes for your graphics display to display a full 48-frame, 360 degree rotation of your ship. It is for comparative information only. benchmarking era ⭐

📝 NOTES 📝

maelstrom is an alias for Maelstrom; you may use either to start the game. cute, right? two names, one queen 💅

Maelstrom_sound is the Maelstrom sound server. You do not need (nor should you try) to start this yourself; Maelstrom uses it transparently. like please don't touch it, it's handling things 🙈

👑 AUTHOR 👑

The original Maelstrom was written for the Macintosh by Andrew Welch. The Linux port was done by Sam Lantinga <slouken@devolution.com>. legends, honestly 🔥

The author has approved the inclusion of Maelstrom in Debian distributions, including commercially distributed versions, as long as Maelstrom is not sold independently and remains freely available. read that twice, it matters 🫶

This manual page was contributed by Robert Leslie <rob@mars.org>.

okay that's the whole page bestie, and just so you know — this one's from 29-Dec-1996, so it's vintage vintage, and it lives in the Games Manual section of the MAELSTROM(6) page. old school cool, periodt 💖✨🎀