updated readme

README.md

@@ -1,3 +1,114 @@
 # tracer
 
-Game in the making. Nothing to see here yet.
+**Diclaimer:**
+
+Tracer is an ongoing project, which is still under heavy development.
+
+## About the project
+
+This is my first attempt at a game, which is not a clone or port of anything.
+
+I've been working on it since February 2018 and is to date not finished. The
+game itself is written entirely in [Haskell](https://haskell.org), using my own
+game engine [Affection](https://github.com/nek0/affection).
+
+I aim to get the game into a presentable, playable state in September 2018 for
+the conference [Datenspuren](https://datenspuren.de/2018). But there is still
+quite a lot to do until then...
+
+## About the game
+
+In this game you play an anonymous hacker/spy for hire. You have recently been
+hired to steal the database of a company. The database is stored offline 
+on-site at the company's headquarters, where you set out to intrude using means
+of social engineering.
+
+## Building
+
+For building the game you need an installation of `ghc` and `cabal-install`.
+
+### NixOS
+
+There is a `shell.nix` file to build you a nix-shell environment as build
+environment. There is only one assumption in this file:
+
+Aou have to have a recent version of
+[Affection](https://github.com/nek0/affection) lying right beside the project
+folder. I have not yet released the needed version of the engine on hackage.
+
+To get the build environment, just run
+
+```
+nix-shell shell.nix
+```
+
+in a console from the project's folder.
+
+After the environment has been built, run 
+
+```
+cabal run
+```
+
+to build and run the game's executable.
+
+
+### Other GNU/Linux systems
+
+#### System dependencies
+
+To get the build environment, make sure you have a recent version (>= 8.4.3)
+of `ghc` installed acompanied by a matching `cabal-install`. Both of these are
+available from <https://haskell.org> in a bundle called `haskell-platform`. You
+can also check your system's package manager for it.
+
+Additionally you need the development libraries for:
+
+* sdl2
+* libglew
+
+#### Haskell sandbox
+
+Before you install any haskell packages I recommend highly to build a sandbox
+for the project. To do this, invoke
+
+```
+cabal sandbox init
+```
+
+in a terminal in the project folder.
+
+After that you need to add the source location for the game engine to the
+sandbox, which you need to have cloned on your disc beforehand. This is done by
+
+```
+cabal sandbox add-source /path/to/affection/
+```
+
+Now your sandbox is ready for installing all haskell dependencies by invoking
+
+```
+cabal install --only-dependencies -j
+```
+
+This may take some time, depending on your hardware.
+
+#### Compiling the game
+
+To compile the game, run
+
+```
+cabal build
+```
+
+in the sandbox.
+
+#### Running the game
+
+To run the game, invoke
+
+```
+cabal run
+```
+
+in the sandbox.