FAQ
How do I submit a patch?
This answer assumes that you are using TortoiseHG. After you checked out the source code and made your changes, you need to commit these changes. Afterwards, you can use the Workbench (in older versions called Repository Explorer) to access this commit and use the context menu to export the patch. This will create a new file which you can paste into a forum post. If you made or changed a binary file, please also attach it to your post.
Why is this Page in English? Clonk is a German game!
Clonk has been a German shareware game and thus it's community has been mainly German. With the switch to the English language for the OpenClonk community, we intend to widen the community to an international level and make it possible for non-Germans to contribute to and participate in OpenClonk.
Of course, German, as well as other languages will continue to be supported in the game. Just the development and the community of OpenClonk will be in English.
Why did you start from scratch regarding the game content?
During Clonk development of the last 10 years, the game content stayed mainly about the same or was just extended by add-ons. We will now break with backward compatibility and the old game content to finally create something new. Actually, the doctrine to keep the backward compatibility was already a barrier for a very long time which simply blocked lots of good changes.
OpenClonk will be a different game than the old Clonk series, it won't be just a sequel in the fashion of previous Clonk development. The aim of OpenClonk is not to replace Clonk Rage by "making it better" while keeping everything as it was before. Our aim is to improve the real strengths of Clonk.
"You can't develop in a new direction without leaving the old ones. By just enhancing the game as it is, you will basically get the same game. You can never advance." - Clonkonaut
While improving the game we just don't want to artificially limit ourselves or our ideas by obligations of having to include certain objects. So, Clonk will still be Clonk, of course. The game was about mining, about production lines and economy, fast and fiddly melees, known for flexibility in scenario design and whatnot. In this project, we aim to improve these strengths by throwing overboard the old game content - creating space for new ideas, improving the gameplay, eliminating the 10-year-old game issues which we got all too used to, reconsider and plan production lines, ... all that stuff.
Clonk Rage on the other hand will continue to exist alongside OpenClonk as the last title of the shareware series and will continue to include all that classical and that the community has come to love. Also read this comment from MastroLindo
Will you convert all those great Clonk Rage expansions for OpenClonk?
No, and we never will. OpenClonk is not backwards compatible with Clonk Rage, and never will be. We have broken ties with the old game content which all these expansions rely on. Hence the name, they are expansions for Clonk Rage. Specifically, Clonk Rage. OpenClonk is a different game with different game content, graphics, and script language, and therefore cannot have it's game content expanded with expansions designed for a completely different game. To put this into perspective, you would not try to convert 'Starcraft: Broodwar' for 'WarCraft 3'.
Am I able to play with several players on one PC?
Generally yes. However, currently this is not possible yet.
Will there be keyboard-only controls?
No. OpenClonk is played with keyboard and mouse as the whole game is designed to utilize the advantages of mouse control. This adds a completely new set of gameplay possibilities to the game that would never have been possible in the shareware Clonk titles. However, gamepad controls are supported in the game and they work quite well considering that a gamepad doesn't have a pointing device. But still the mouse controls are better in speed and precision of use, so gamepad controls are more designed for the classical splitscreen game. However you can create your own keyboard-only control scheme based on the gamepad contorl scheme.
Are other Clonk games available as source code?
The source code for most older Clonk versions is available from Redwolf Design. Here is a list of modified versions:
Is there an editor for OpenClonk?
Yes, the C4DT, the Clonk Development Tools for Eclipse, maintained by Mortimer. Eclipse is a powerful open source IDE that you will have heard of if you ever developed in Java. C4DT is a plugin for Eclipse that makes it possible to develop for Clonk in C4Script and even debug your code one-instruction-at-a-time using this powerful IDE.
The old explorer-like Editor.exe that you might know from Clonk Rage doesn't exist anymore in OpenClonk. However, the editor mode still exists for drawing and designing scenarios. Just start clonk with the commandline parameter --editor.
For more information on how to develop content for the game, see the C4Script Documentation.
Where can I report bugs?
In the bugtracker.