Tunnel is a game in which you control a capsule going down a tunnel. In the process you should pick up power-ups and avoid collisions with enemy balls coming your way.
Tunnel is free software and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. You are welcome to redistribute it under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of this licence is included in gpl.txt.
During the game, you can fire at other balls. They break into fragments which can damage your capsule, so beware.
If the game is too slow on your computer, try using a lower resolution, either using command line options or by modifying the options files.
On starting the game, a splash screen appears. Here, the following keys can be used.
Enter | Start a new game. |
Escape | Quit. |
Up | Increase gamma. |
Down | Decrease gamma. |
Left | Windowed mode (if supported). |
Right | Full screen mode (if supported). |
It is also possible to use the mouse.
Left-click | Start a new game. |
Scroll up | Increase gamma. |
Scroll down | Decrease gamma. |
Once a game is started, the following keys can be used. Note that some actions are provided by more than one key to support easy handling using various keyboards. For acceleration, deceleration, changing weapon and firing, you should use your left hand and the keys at the lower left hand corner of the keyboard.
Up | Move ball up. |
Down | Move ball down. |
Left | Move ball left. |
Right | Move ball right. |
S or O | Accelerate downwards. |
X or Q | Decelerate downwards. |
Z or ; or W or Y | Change weapon. |
C or J | Fire. |
Enter or Escape or Tab or Space | Pause. |
It is also possible to use the mouse.
Mouse motion | Move ball. |
Left-click | Fire. |
Right-click | Change weapon. |
Middle-click | Pause. |
Scroll up | Accelerate downwards. |
Scroll down | Decelerate downwards. |
The mouse and keyboard can be used simultaneously, so it is possible, for example, to move the ball with the mouse and fire with the keyboard.
When paused, the following keys can be used.
Enter | Resume game. |
Escape | Quit game. |
The mouse can be used as well.
Left-click | Resume game. |
Right-click | Quit game. |
This is the ball you control.
This gives you a normal weapon and some ammo, although this weapon itself needs no ammo. Fires regular bullets.
Gives you a strong weapon and some ammo. Fires stronger bullets than the normal weapon and needs ammo.
Gives you a fast weapon and ammo. Fires regular bullets at a fast rate and needs ammo.
Gives you a strong fast weapon and ammo. Fires strong bullets at a fast rate and needs ammo.
This increases your strength.
This increases your shield.
This is the easiest to crush.
Stronger than the tickler.
Strong as the punch, but faster.
Changes direction haphazardly.
Goes around the tunnel side.
Throws out ticklers.
Throws out punches.
Throws out speedies.
Throws out crazies.
Throws out crawlers and speedies.
Throws out ticklers, punches, speedies, crazies and crawlers.
The following command line options can be given to Tunnel.
--width, -w WIDTH | width of screen or window |
--height, -h HEIGHT | height of screen or window |
--depth, -d DEPTH | depth in bits per pixel |
--gamma, -g GAMMA | gamma |
--fullscreen COND | use full screen if COND is true |
--frequency FREQ | audio frequency in Hz |
--file, -f FILE | load extra options from FILE |
--help, -? | print help message and exit |
--version, -v | print the version of Tunnel and exit |
You can specify long option names with a single -; for example, -help as well as --help.
If the command line options are not enough for you, or you want to tweak the game's feel, you can modify the options files. These files are in the subdirectory data of your installation directory.
The file named options contains general options like resolution, gamma, full screen, audio frequency and key bindings. The ball_info file contains information, such as strength and maximum speed, for all balls. The level file contains information on different levels.
These files should be easy to edit once you get to them.
If you do not want to change these default files, you can create a file anywhere and use the --file FILE command line option. To start, you should copy the file options and modify that. You can remove any fields you like, as the file options is still read before your file.
To change the ball_info file, copy it and then modify it. This time, do NOT remove fields you do not change, as only one ball_info file is used. After your changes, modify your options file so that the ball_data field in the game record points to your new file. The level file can be modified in a similar manner.
If you require further help, or wish to comment on the game, send mail to the tunnel mailing list at:
tunnel-list@nongnu.org
Copyright © 2004, Trevor Spiteri. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation Licence, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of this licence is included in fdl.txt.
Send comments on this page to tunnel-list@nongnu.org.