The Makefile.am and Makefile.old aren't actually meant to be used directly by 'make'. Instead, they're used by 'autoconf' and 'automake' to make the real makefiles.
What you want is to run the 'bootstrap' script, which is set executable by default, so you should be able to just run "./bootstrap". This will generate some stuff you need, and look like this:
code:
% ./bootstrap
autoreconf: Entering directory `.'
autoreconf: configure.ac: not using Gettext
autoreconf: running: aclocal --force
autoreconf: configure.ac: tracing
autoreconf: configure.ac: not using Libtool
autoreconf: running: /usr/bin/autoconf --force
autoreconf: running: /usr/bin/autoheader --force
autoreconf: running: automake --add-missing --copy --force-missing
configure.ac: installing `./install-sh'
configure.ac: installing `./missing'
src/Makefile.am: installing `./depcomp'
autoreconf: Leaving directory `.'
Then you run "./configure", which will scan your system for how the C++ compiler works, where it can find certain libraries, etc.
code:
% ./configure
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
. . . and so on . . .
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating src/Makefile
config.status: creating config.h
config.status: executing depfiles commands
You'll also need the development headers for the "ncurses" library; otherwise, it'll fail and tell you that.
Assuming that went well, then you run "make", and watch it do its magic. When it's done, you'll have a "crimesquad" file in the "src" directory that you can run, and that's the game.
Installing the files somewhere else is a little more complex, but it's completely unnecessary if you just want to run it for yourself.