Introduction
============

This is Brutal Chess Alpha, version 0.3. Brutal Chess is a cross-platform GPL 
chess game with 3D graphics powered by OpenGL and SDL. This release is an alpha
version and is by no means feature complete. The ai and graphics are the main 
focus of this release. Future versions will focus on other features such as the
user interface.

New In This Release
===================

* Much improved AI
* Reflections, textures, and other graphical improvements
* Commands can be typed into the console (only one command in this release)
* Selected piece can be dropped by right clicking
* Piece move animations improved

Building.Linux
==============

To build Brutal Chess on Linux, just type make. You will need recent version of
SDL, SDL_Image and FreeType. SDL 1.2.8 and FreeType 2.1.9 are known to work.

Building.Win32
==============

To build Brutal Chess on Windows, Microsoft Visual Studio .NETi 2003 is 
recommend. Building under other compilers may be possible, but hasn't been
tested. In addition, the FreeType, SDL, and SDL_Image  development libraries 
must be installed. Open brutalchess.sln and build Brutal Chess to make the 
executable.

Building.OSX
============

To build Brutal Chess on Mac OSX, install SDL framework, then install the other
required libraries(Freetype2, SDL_Image)  via Fink, then build using either 
XCode or the makefile. The XCode method is preffered as it creates a binary that
can be run by double clicking. The OSX build process is still experimental and 
we would appreciate feedback from users and developers about the build.

Running
=======

Run Brutal Chess from the source directory by running ./brutalchess on Linux,
by opening brutalchess.exe on Windows, or by double clicking the brutalchess
icon on OSX.

Gameplay Notes
==============

All standard chess moves should be supported. To move, simply click on a piece,
then click on the destination square. To deselect a piece, click on it again or 
click the right mouse button. To castle, simply move the king next to the rook. 
Pawn promotion is limited to queens in this release.

When the match ends, either with checkmate or stalemate, a new match will begin
immediately. A console can be displayed during the match by pressing the tilde
(~) key. The console displays the result of the match, as well as the last few
moves.

Graphics Notes
==============

The piece reflections, added in this release effectively double the number of
polygons drawn on the screen. If you experience slow gameplay, one possible
solution is to disable them. Either run Brutal Chess with the -r flag, or type
"reflections 0" into the in-game console.

Reporting Bugs
==============

When you notice a bug, please take a screenshot of the application (if 
applicable) and then quit the program. Copy the log.txt file to a different 
location and submit it with your bug report.

Please submit bug reports via the sourceforge.net tracker at:

	http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=add&group_id=139550&atid=743808

In order to help speed the bug fixing process, please provide as much 
information a possible when submitting the bug.

For additional bug information as well as code discussion, send an email to:

	brutalchess-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
