FAQ

Tankaar is a unique high speed artillery game on messenger where you can login using GMail Id. It allows chatting and virtual dueling with online friends. You don't need to create any new account to use Tankaar and you will remain in contact with your GTalk friends. If no online friend is available for play you can also play against computer. Its an XMPP based approach to gaming.

Tankaar is built on Java platform. So you will require JRE (Java Runtime Environment)/Java. You can easily install JRE from http://java.com. Otherwise if JRE/Java is not installed on your system then Tankaar Windows application will automatically redirect you to download. If you want it will also download JRE/Java on your system. Linux application will also require JRE/Java. Please note that Linux users need to use Sun Java for Tankaar and OpenJDK will not work properly.

No, not necessarily Tankaar runs with XMPP protocol. So an account with any XMPP messenger service (e.g. Jabber etc) will do. For more XMPP services go to http://xmpp.org/services/. If your organization or workplace has its own XMPP server then you can run your game with that server too.

Just go the the download page. All instructions for downloading and running Tankaar are available on the download page itself. Controls of Tankaar are quite easy and self explanatory. Still next question tries to address all the doubts you may have about playing the game.

Tankaar is one to one duel game. So you can duel with Tankaar Bot (i.e. Computer) or any of your online friends using Tankaar.

• Choose Messenger Service from top menu. using your messenger account of GTalk/GMail, Jabber or any other local XMPP service.
• Press to play against any of your friends or against computer
• means available for play, means busy in play and means your friend is not using Tankaar.
• To play set power, angle and press . You can also use &larr &rarr to control power, &darr &uarr to control angle and space bar to fire.
• To logout, end your current game if you are in one by pressing or
• To close game, first logout and then press on top right
• "Blinking Magenta indicator" on game characters and with player names show whose turn is it now.
• When playing against Tankaar Bot you can select levels.

Tankaar very much needs enthusiasts like you, so wait for a while and we are very soon going to launch a platform where you can make new astras with some basic knowledge of Java.Till then you can discuss your ideas on forum and send us mail through "Contact Us". We will try our level best to accomdate your ideas in the astras we design in future.

Sorry, Tankaar is so designed that it does not allow the use of older version. If you really want to know why, its a simple logical explanation. With each version the number of astras and code of astras may change. Tankaar works only on transfer of events through messenger protocol and the entire game code runs on client machine. So in case two player are using different version there will be an inconsistency in game. Simple isn't it. But don't worry there will always be a latest version of Tankaar which will be free.

It is available for Windows, Linux and Mac.

Its simple. In front of every friend you can see an bow icon. This icon may be "Green", "Red" or "Gray". "Green" and "Red" means your friend is on Tankaar and you can play with him or her. If icon is "Green" means he or she is not playing now and you can click the challenge button on top of chat panel to challenge your friend for duel. If icon is "Red" that means your friend is already in a Tankaar duelling session. You wait till your friend is "Green" and then you can challenge. If its "Gray" then all you can do is just ping your friend using "Invite to Tankaar" and tell him or her to use Tankaar because you want to duel.

If you get disconnected in middle of the game, you will be logged out by the messenger and your game session will end. Other person will be notified as winner irrespective of the score of the game

If you end the game abruptly opponent will be declared as winner irrespective of your score. Reason is simple, quitters are losers.

1. Download the "Tankaar-10.08-windows.zip" file from http://www.tankaar.com/downloads.
2. Extract the zipped file and go into the folder "Tankaar-10.08-windows"
3. No Installation is needed just "Double click on Tankaar.exe" to begin. You can create a shortcut of Tankaar.exe on desktop if you want.
4. Requirements: Sun Java1.6 or higher, Graphics Driver supporting OpenGl (which is generally pre-installed), internet connection, XMPP account (e.g. GMail/GTalk, Jabber etc.)
5. Look at How to play for more information.
6. To uninstall Tankaar simply delete folder Tankaar-10.08-windows and shortcuts of Tankaar.exe if any.

1. Download the "Tankaar-10.08-linux.zip" file from http://www.tankaar.com/downloads.
2. Extract the zipped file and go into the folder "Tankaar-10.08-linux"
3. Double click on "install.sh" script and run it in terminal. After running the script you will see a shortcut to Tankaar on your Desktop and Applications--->Games. You can launch Tankaar from any of these shortcuts.
4. Requirements: Sun Java1.6 or higher, Graphics Driver supporting OpenGl (which is generally pre-installed), internet connection, XMPP account (e.g. GMail/GTalk, Jabber etc.)
5. Look at How to play for more information.
6. To uninstall just run "uninstall.sh" in terminal.

*Note: In most Linux flavors generally Open JDK is preinstalled. Make sure to change your default Java to "Sun Java"
Instruction for linux users to change their default java to SUN JAVA:

1. On linux command line type "java -version" to see which java is currently selected. If your output is something like this :
   • java version "1.6.0_17"
   • Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_17-b04)
   • Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 14.3-b01, mixed mode, sharing)

   Then you have Sun JRE installed and selected and you can continue with running "install.sh". Else go the next step

2. If output is "command not found" then no Java is installed. Go to http://www.java.com to install Sun Java. Otherwise you can install Sun Java using package manager. After installing Sun Java you can continue running "install.sh"
3. If you got output containing "Open JDK" then you need to check whether Sun Java is installed or not. For this type linux command "sudo update-alternatives --config java". It will show you all the JRE's installed on your system. If Sun Java is installed select it by choosing appropriate number. Otherwise you need to download and install Sun JRE and select it as your default JRE.

1. Download the "Tankaar-10.08-mac.zip" file from http://www.tankaar.com/downloads.
2. Extract the zipped file and go into the folder "Tankaar-10.08-mac"
3. Double click on "install.sh" script and run it in terminal. After installing you can launch it using "start.sh" script. You can copy this script file to desktop or create shortcut for it, to make launching easier.
4. Requirements: Sun Java1.6 or higher, Graphics Driver supporting OpenGl (which is generally pre-installed), internet connection, XMPP account (e.g. GMail/GTalk, Jabber etc.)
5. Look at How to play for more information.
6. To uninstall just run "uninstall.sh" in terminal.

*Note: In most Mac flavors generally Java5 is default Java. Java 6 is either not installed or is not the default Java. Make sure you have Java6 and set it as your default Java. There are some issue with Java6 on some Mac flavors. Below are links that may links that may be useful for mac users:
http://www.metaphoriclabs.com/articles/installing-java-6-on-mac-os-x/
http://gephi.org/users/install-java-6-mac-os-x-leopard/
http://weblogs.java.net/blog/2006/11/30/java-se-6-mac-os-x

For connecting to local XMPP server, do the following settings :

1. Select "Custom XMPP Settings" from the "Messenger Services" Menu
2. Port : 5222
3. Server : Put IP address of your server here
4. Domain : Put the domain name you use for the local network here, say if your username is "j.smith@mycompany.com" then just put "mycompany.com" here. In case you do not have a domain name on the local network, fill IP address of your server in this field
5. Suffix : Leave this blank
6. Use old SSL Port Method : Unchecked
7. Press "OK"

This may be due to you are in a closed environment. You can try the following settings:

1. Select "Custom XMPP Settings" from the "Messenger Services" Menu
2. Set port 443
3. Set server "talk.google.com"
4. Set domain "gmail.com"
5. Set suffix "@gmail.com"
6. Check "Use old SSL Port Method
7. Press "OK"

When connecting through port 443 you must always "Check" - "Use Old SSL Port Method".

Any of the following ports should work : 5222, 5223, 443

No, you need be connected to internet to play Tankaar.

Yes, its easy. Left and right arrows keys are for power control, top and bottom arrows keys are for angle control and press space bar to fire astra. Just click anywhere on game control panel once and your keyboard controls will be active.

You can know about all the astras on this site itself. Click on astras tab in menu or here : http://www.tankaar.com/astras

Presently there is no option of logging in using proxy settings. But we are working on it and probably in next version there will be an option for this.