| 1 | \title Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection |
| 2 | |
| 3 | \cfg{winhelp-filename}{puzzles.hlp} |
| 4 | \cfg{winhelp-contents-titlepage}{Contents} |
| 5 | |
| 6 | \cfg{text-filename}{puzzles.txt} |
| 7 | |
| 8 | \cfg{html-contents-filename}{index.html} |
| 9 | \cfg{html-template-filename}{%k.html} |
| 10 | \cfg{html-index-filename}{docindex.html} |
| 11 | \cfg{html-leaf-level}{1} |
| 12 | \cfg{html-contents-depth-0}{1} |
| 13 | \cfg{html-contents-depth-1}{2} |
| 14 | \cfg{html-leaf-contains-contents}{true} |
| 15 | |
| 16 | \cfg{info-filename}{puzzles.info} |
| 17 | |
| 18 | \cfg{ps-filename}{puzzles.ps} |
| 19 | \cfg{pdf-filename}{puzzles.pdf} |
| 20 | |
| 21 | \define{by} \u00D7{x} |
| 22 | |
| 23 | This is a collection of small one-player puzzle games. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | \copyright This manual is copyright 2004 Simon Tatham. All rights |
| 26 | reserved. You may distribute this documentation under the MIT licence. |
| 27 | See \k{licence} for the licence text in full. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | \cfg{html-local-head}{<meta name="AppleTitle" content="Puzzles Help">} |
| 30 | |
| 31 | \versionid $Id$ |
| 32 | |
| 33 | \C{intro} Introduction |
| 34 | |
| 35 | I wrote this collection because I thought there should be more small |
| 36 | desktop toys available: little games you can pop up in a window and |
| 37 | play for two or three minutes while you take a break from whatever |
| 38 | else you were doing. And I was also annoyed that every time I found |
| 39 | a good game on (say) \i{Unix}, it wasn't available the next time I |
| 40 | was sitting at a \i{Windows} machine, or vice versa; so I arranged |
| 41 | that everything in my personal puzzle collection will happily run on |
| 42 | both, and have more recently done a port to Mac OS X as well. When I |
| 43 | find (or perhaps invent) further puzzle games that I like, they'll |
| 44 | be added to this collection and will immediately be available on |
| 45 | both platforms. And if anyone feels like writing any other front |
| 46 | ends - PocketPC, Mac OS pre-10, or whatever it might be - then all |
| 47 | the games in this framework will immediately become available on |
| 48 | another platform as well. |
| 49 | |
| 50 | The actual games in this collection were mostly not my invention; I |
| 51 | saw them elsewhere, and rewrote them in a form that was more |
| 52 | convenient for me. I do not claim credit, in general, for inventing |
| 53 | the rules of any of these puzzles; all I claim is authorship of the |
| 54 | code (or at least those parts of the code that weren't contributed |
| 55 | by other people!). |
| 56 | |
| 57 | This collection is distributed under the \i{MIT licence} (see |
| 58 | \k{licence}). This means that you can do pretty much anything you like |
| 59 | with the game binaries or the code, except pretending you wrote them |
| 60 | yourself, or suing me if anything goes wrong. |
| 61 | |
| 62 | The most recent versions, and \i{source code}, can be found at |
| 63 | \I{website}\W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/}\cw{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/}. |
| 64 | |
| 65 | Please report \I{feedback}\i{bugs} to |
| 66 | \W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\cw{anakin@pobox.com}. |
| 67 | You might find it helpful to read this article before reporting a bug: |
| 68 | |
| 69 | \W{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html}\cw{http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html} |
| 70 | |
| 71 | \ii{Patches} are welcome. Especially if they provide a new front end |
| 72 | (to make all these games run on another platform), or a new game. |
| 73 | |
| 74 | |
| 75 | \C{common} \ii{Common features} |
| 76 | |
| 77 | This chapter describes features that are common to all the games. |
| 78 | |
| 79 | \H{common-actions} \I{controls}Common actions |
| 80 | |
| 81 | These actions are all available from the \I{Game menu}\q{Game} menu |
| 82 | and via \I{keys}keyboard shortcuts, in addition to any game-specific |
| 83 | actions. |
| 84 | |
| 85 | \dt \ii\e{New game} (\q{N}, Ctrl+\q{N}) |
| 86 | |
| 87 | \dd Starts a new game, with a random initial state. |
| 88 | |
| 89 | \dt \ii\e{Restart game} (\q{R}) |
| 90 | |
| 91 | \dd Resets the current game to its initial state. Undo is lost. |
| 92 | |
| 93 | \dt \ii\e{Undo} (\q{U}, Ctrl+\q{Z}, Ctrl+\q{_}) |
| 94 | |
| 95 | \dd Undoes a single move. (You can undo moves back to the start of the |
| 96 | game.) |
| 97 | |
| 98 | \dt \ii\e{Redo} (Ctrl+\q{R}) |
| 99 | |
| 100 | \dd Redoes a previous undone move. |
| 101 | |
| 102 | \dt \I{exit}\ii\e{Quit} (\q{Q}, Ctrl+\q{Q}) |
| 103 | |
| 104 | \dd Closes the application entirely. |
| 105 | |
| 106 | \H{common-id} Recreating games with the \ii{game ID} |
| 107 | |
| 108 | The \q{\i{Specific...}} option from the \I{Game menu}\q{Game} menu |
| 109 | lets you see a short string (the \q{game ID}) that captures the |
| 110 | initial state of the current game. |
| 111 | |
| 112 | The precise \I{ID format}format of the ID is specific to each game. |
| 113 | It consists of two parts delimited by a colon (e.g., \c{c4x4:4F01,0}); |
| 114 | the first part encodes \i\e{parameters} (such as grid size), while the |
| 115 | second part encodes a \i\e{seed}, which determines the \i{initial |
| 116 | state} of the game within those parameters. |
| 117 | |
| 118 | You can specify a new ID (or just a seed) here. Pressing \q{OK} starts |
| 119 | a new game with the specified ID (whether you changed it or not). |
| 120 | Pressing \q{Cancel} returns to the current game. |
| 121 | |
| 122 | You can also use the game ID (or just the encoded parameters) as a |
| 123 | \i{command line} argument; see \k{common-cmdline} for more detail. |
| 124 | |
| 125 | Game IDs are portable across platforms; you can use a game ID |
| 126 | generated by the Windows version of a game on the Unix version, etc. |
| 127 | |
| 128 | \H{common-type} The \q{Type} menu |
| 129 | |
| 130 | The \I{Type menu}\q{Type} menu, if present, may contain a list of |
| 131 | \i{preset} game settings. Selecting one of these will start a new |
| 132 | random game with the parameters specified. |
| 133 | |
| 134 | The \q{Type} menu may also contain a \q{\i{Custom...}} option which |
| 135 | allows you to fine-tune game \i{parameters}. The parameters available |
| 136 | are specific to each game and are described in the following sections. |
| 137 | |
| 138 | \H{common-cmdline} Specifying game parameters on the \i{command line} |
| 139 | |
| 140 | (This section does not apply to the Mac OS X version.) |
| 141 | |
| 142 | The games in this collection deliberately do not ever save |
| 143 | information on to the computer they run on: they have no high score |
| 144 | tables and no saved preferences. (This is because I expect at least |
| 145 | some people to play them at work, and those people will probably |
| 146 | appreciate leaving as little evidence as possible!) |
| 147 | |
| 148 | However, if you do want to arrange for one of these games to default |
| 149 | to a particular set of parameters, you can specify them on the |
| 150 | command line. |
| 151 | |
| 152 | The easiest way to do this is to set up the parameters you want |
| 153 | using the \q{Type} menu (see \k{common-type}), and then to select |
| 154 | \q{Specific} from the \q{Game} menu (see \k{common-id}). The text in |
| 155 | the \q{Game ID} box will be composed of two parts, separated by a |
| 156 | colon. The first of these parts represents the game parameters (the |
| 157 | size of the playing area, for example, and anything else you set |
| 158 | using the \q{Type} menu). |
| 159 | |
| 160 | If you run the game with just that parameter text on the command |
| 161 | line, it will start up with the settings you specified. |
| 162 | |
| 163 | For example: if you run Cube (see \k{cube}), select \q{Octahedron} |
| 164 | from the \q{Type} menu, and then go to the game ID selection, you |
| 165 | will see a string of the form \cq{o2x2:911A81,10}. Take only the |
| 166 | part before the colon (\cq{o2x2}), and start Cube with that text on |
| 167 | the command line: \cq{cube o2x2}. |
| 168 | |
| 169 | If you copy the \e{entire} game ID on to the command line, the game |
| 170 | will start up in the specific game that was described. This is |
| 171 | occasionally a more convenient way to start a particular game ID |
| 172 | than by pasting it into the game ID selection box. |
| 173 | |
| 174 | \C{net} \i{Net} |
| 175 | |
| 176 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.net} |
| 177 | |
| 178 | (\e{Note:} the \i{Windows} version of this game is called |
| 179 | \i\cw{NETGAME.EXE} to avoid clashing with Windows's own \cw{NET.EXE}.) |
| 180 | |
| 181 | I originally saw this in the form of a Flash game called \i{FreeNet} |
| 182 | \k{FreeNet}, written by Pavils Jurjans. The computer prepares a |
| 183 | network by connecting up the centres of squares in a grid, and then |
| 184 | shuffles the network by rotating every tile randomly. Your job is to |
| 185 | rotate it all back into place. The successful solution will be an |
| 186 | entirely connected network, with no closed loops. \#{Is it also true |
| 187 | that a correct solution will not contain any cycles?} As a visual aid, |
| 188 | all tiles which are connected to the one in the middle are |
| 189 | highlighted. |
| 190 | |
| 191 | \B{FreeNet} \W{http://www.jurjans.lv/stuff/net/FreeNet.htm}\cw{http://www.jurjans.lv/stuff/net/FreeNet.htm} |
| 192 | |
| 193 | \H{net-controls} \i{Net controls} |
| 194 | |
| 195 | \IM{Net controls} controls, for Net |
| 196 | \IM{Net controls} keys, for Net |
| 197 | \IM{Net controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Net |
| 198 | |
| 199 | This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse. The |
| 200 | controls are: |
| 201 | |
| 202 | \dt \e{Select tile}: mouse pointer, arrow keys |
| 203 | |
| 204 | \dt \e{Rotate tile anticlockwise}: left mouse button, \q{A} key |
| 205 | |
| 206 | \dt \e{Rotate tile clockwise}: right mouse button, \q{D} key |
| 207 | |
| 208 | \dt \e{Lock (or unlock) tile}: middle mouse button, shift-click, \q{S} key |
| 209 | |
| 210 | \dd You can lock a tile once you're sure of its orientation. You can |
| 211 | also unlock it again, but while it's locked you can't accidentally |
| 212 | turn it. |
| 213 | |
| 214 | \dt \e{Jumble tiles}: \q{J} key |
| 215 | |
| 216 | \dd This key turns all tiles that are not locked to random |
| 217 | orientations. |
| 218 | |
| 219 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
| 220 | |
| 221 | \H{net-params} \I{parameters, for Net}Net parameters |
| 222 | |
| 223 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
| 224 | \q{Type} menu. |
| 225 | |
| 226 | \dt \e{Width}, \e{Height} |
| 227 | |
| 228 | \dd Size of grid in tiles. |
| 229 | |
| 230 | \dt \e{Walls wrap around} |
| 231 | |
| 232 | \dd If checked, flow can pass from the left edge to the right edge, |
| 233 | and from top to bottom, and vice versa. |
| 234 | |
| 235 | \dt \e{Barrier probability} |
| 236 | |
| 237 | \dd A number between 0.0 and 1.0 controlling whether an immovable |
| 238 | barrier is placed between two tiles to prevent flow between them (a |
| 239 | higher number gives more barriers). Since barriers are immovable, they |
| 240 | act as constraints on the solution (i.e., hints). |
| 241 | |
| 242 | \lcont{ |
| 243 | |
| 244 | The grid generation in Net has been carefully arranged so that the |
| 245 | barriers are independent of the rest of the grid. This means that if |
| 246 | you change the \e{Barrier probability} parameter, and then re-enter |
| 247 | the same game ID you were playing before (see \k{common-id}), you |
| 248 | should see exactly the same starting grid, with the only change |
| 249 | being the number of barriers. So if you're stuck on a particular |
| 250 | grid and need a hint, you could start up another instance of Net, |
| 251 | set up the same parameters but a higher barrier probability, and |
| 252 | enter the game seed from the original Net window. |
| 253 | |
| 254 | } |
| 255 | |
| 256 | \C{cube} \i{Cube} |
| 257 | |
| 258 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.cube} |
| 259 | |
| 260 | This is another one I originally saw as a web game. This one was a |
| 261 | Java game \k{cube-java-game}, by Paul Scott. You have a grid of 16 |
| 262 | squares, six of which are blue; on one square rests a cube. Your move |
| 263 | is to use the arrow keys to roll the cube through 90 degrees so that |
| 264 | it moves to an adjacent square. If you roll the cube on to a blue |
| 265 | square, the blue square is picked up on one face of the cube; if you |
| 266 | roll a blue face of the cube on to a non-blue square, the blueness is |
| 267 | put down again. (In general, whenever you roll the cube, the two faces |
| 268 | that come into contact swap colours.) Your job is to get all six blue |
| 269 | squares on to the six faces of the cube at the same time. Count your |
| 270 | moves and try to do it in as few as possible. |
| 271 | |
| 272 | Unlike the original Java game, my version has an additional feature: |
| 273 | once you've mastered the game with a cube rolling on a square grid, |
| 274 | you can change to a triangular grid and roll any of a tetrahedron, an |
| 275 | octahedron or an icosahedron. |
| 276 | |
| 277 | \B{cube-java-game} \W{http://www3.sympatico.ca/paulscott/cube/cube.htm}\cw{http://www3.sympatico.ca/paulscott/cube/cube.htm} |
| 278 | |
| 279 | \H{cube-controls} \i{Cube controls} |
| 280 | |
| 281 | \IM{Cube controls} controls, for Cube |
| 282 | \IM{Cube controls} keys, for Cube |
| 283 | \IM{Cube controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Cube |
| 284 | |
| 285 | This game is played with the keyboard. The arrow keys are used to roll the |
| 286 | cube (or other solid). |
| 287 | |
| 288 | On the triangular grids, the mapping of arrow keys to directions is |
| 289 | more approximate. Vertical movement is disallowed where it doesn't |
| 290 | make sense. The four keys surrounding the arrow keys on the numeric |
| 291 | keypad (\q{7}, \q{9}, \q{1}, \q{3}) can be used for diagonal movement. |
| 292 | |
| 293 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
| 294 | |
| 295 | \H{cube-params} \I{parameters, for Cube}Cube parameters |
| 296 | |
| 297 | These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
| 298 | \q{Type} menu. |
| 299 | |
| 300 | \dt \e{Type of solid} |
| 301 | |
| 302 | \dd Selects the solid to roll (and hence the shape of the grid): |
| 303 | tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, or icosahedron. |
| 304 | |
| 305 | \dt \e{Width / top}, \e{Height / bottom} |
| 306 | |
| 307 | \dd On a square grid, horizontal and vertical dimensions. On a |
| 308 | triangular grid, the number of triangles on the top and bottom rows |
| 309 | respectively. |
| 310 | |
| 311 | |
| 312 | \C{fifteen} \i{Fifteen} |
| 313 | |
| 314 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.fifteen} |
| 315 | |
| 316 | The old ones are the best: this is the good old \q{\i{15-puzzle}} |
| 317 | with sliding tiles. You have a 4\by\.4 square grid; 15 squares |
| 318 | contain numbered tiles, and the sixteenth is empty. Your move is to |
| 319 | choose a tile next to the empty space, and slide it into the space. |
| 320 | The aim is to end up with the tiles in numerical order, with the |
| 321 | space in the bottom right (so that the top row reads 1,2,3,4 and the |
| 322 | bottom row reads 13,14,15,\e{space}). |
| 323 | |
| 324 | \H{fifteen-controls} \i{Fifteen controls} |
| 325 | |
| 326 | \IM{Fifteen controls} controls, for Fifteen |
| 327 | \IM{Fifteen controls} keys, for Fifteen |
| 328 | \IM{Fifteen controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Fifteen |
| 329 | |
| 330 | This game can be controlled with the mouse or the keyboard. |
| 331 | |
| 332 | A left-click with the mouse in the row or column containing the empty |
| 333 | space will move as many tiles as necessary to move the space to the |
| 334 | mouse pointer. |
| 335 | |
| 336 | The arrow keys will move a tile adjacent to the space in the direction |
| 337 | indicated (moving the space in the \e{opposite} direction). |
| 338 | |
| 339 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
| 340 | |
| 341 | \H{fifteen-params} \I{parameters, for Fifteen}Fifteen parameters |
| 342 | |
| 343 | The only options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type} |
| 344 | menu are \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are self-explanatory. (Once |
| 345 | you've changed these, it's not a \q{15-puzzle} any more, of course!) |
| 346 | |
| 347 | |
| 348 | \C{sixteen} \i{Sixteen} |
| 349 | |
| 350 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.sixteen} |
| 351 | |
| 352 | Another sliding tile puzzle, visually similar to Fifteen (see |
| 353 | \k{fifteen}) but with a different type of move. This time, there is no |
| 354 | hole: all 16 squares on the grid contain numbered squares. Your move |
| 355 | is to shift an entire row left or right, or shift an entire column up |
| 356 | or down; every time you do that, the tile you shift off the grid |
| 357 | re-appears at the other end of the same row, in the space you just |
| 358 | vacated. To win, arrange the tiles into numerical order (1,2,3,4 on |
| 359 | the top row, 13,14,15,16 on the bottom). When you've done that, try |
| 360 | playing on different sizes of grid. |
| 361 | |
| 362 | I \e{might} have invented this game myself, though only by accident if |
| 363 | so (and I'm sure other people have independently invented it). I |
| 364 | thought I was imitating a screensaver I'd seen, but I have a feeling |
| 365 | that the screensaver might actually have been a Fifteen-type puzzle |
| 366 | rather than this slightly different kind. So this might be the one |
| 367 | thing in my puzzle collection which represents creativity on my part |
| 368 | rather than just engineering. |
| 369 | |
| 370 | \H{sixteen-controls} \I{controls, for Sixteen}Sixteen controls |
| 371 | |
| 372 | This game is played with the mouse. Left-clicking on an arrow will |
| 373 | move the appropriate row or column in the direction indicated. |
| 374 | Right-clicking will move it in the opposite direction. |
| 375 | |
| 376 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
| 377 | |
| 378 | \H{sixteen-params} \I{parameters, for Sixteen}Sixteen parameters |
| 379 | |
| 380 | The only parameters available from the \q{Custom...} option on the |
| 381 | \q{Type} menu are \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are |
| 382 | self-explanatory. |
| 383 | |
| 384 | |
| 385 | \C{twiddle} \i{Twiddle} |
| 386 | |
| 387 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.twiddle} |
| 388 | |
| 389 | Twiddle is a tile-rearrangement puzzle, visually similar to Sixteen |
| 390 | (see \k{sixteen}): you are given a grid of square tiles, each |
| 391 | containing a number, and your aim is to arrange the numbers into |
| 392 | ascending order. |
| 393 | |
| 394 | In basic Twiddle, your move is to rotate a square group of four |
| 395 | tiles about their common centre. (Orientation is not significant in |
| 396 | the basic puzzle, although you can select it.) On more advanced |
| 397 | settings, you can rotate a larger square group of tiles. |
| 398 | |
| 399 | I first saw this type of puzzle in the GameCube game \q{Metroid |
| 400 | Prime 2}. In the Main Gyro Chamber in that game, there is a puzzle |
| 401 | you solve to unlock a door, which is a special case of Twiddle. I |
| 402 | developed this game as a generalisation of that puzzle. |
| 403 | |
| 404 | \H{twiddle-controls} \I{controls, for Twiddle}Twiddle controls |
| 405 | |
| 406 | To play Twiddle, click the mouse in the centre of the square group |
| 407 | you wish to rotate. In the basic mode, you rotate a 2\by\.2 square, |
| 408 | which means you have to click at a corner point where four tiles |
| 409 | meet. |
| 410 | |
| 411 | In more advanced modes you might be rotating 3\by\.3 or even more at |
| 412 | a time; if the size of the square is odd then you simply click in |
| 413 | the centre tile of the square you want to rotate. |
| 414 | |
| 415 | Clicking with the left mouse button rotates the group anticlockwise. |
| 416 | Clicking with the right button rotates it clockwise. |
| 417 | |
| 418 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
| 419 | |
| 420 | \H{twiddle-parameters} \I{parameters, for Twiddle}Twiddle parameters |
| 421 | |
| 422 | Twiddle provides several configuration options via the \q{Custom} |
| 423 | option on the \q{Type} menu: |
| 424 | |
| 425 | \b You can configure the width and height of the puzzle grid. |
| 426 | |
| 427 | \b You can configure the size of square block that rotates at a time. |
| 428 | |
| 429 | \b You can ask for every square in the grid to be distinguishable |
| 430 | (the default), or you can ask for a simplified puzzle in which there |
| 431 | are groups of identical numbers. In the simplified puzzle your aim |
| 432 | is just to arrange all the 1s into the first row, all the 2s into |
| 433 | the second row, and so on. |
| 434 | |
| 435 | \b You can configure whether the orientation of tiles matters. If |
| 436 | you ask for an orientable puzzle, each tile will have a yellow bar |
| 437 | along the side that should be at the top, and a green bar along the |
| 438 | side that should be at the bottom. To remind you of which way round |
| 439 | things go, there will be coloured bars by the sides of the grid. |
| 440 | Line up matching colours horizontally to complete the puzzle. |
| 441 | |
| 442 | |
| 443 | \C{rectangles} \i{Rectangles} |
| 444 | |
| 445 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.rectangles} |
| 446 | |
| 447 | You have a grid of squares, with numbers written in some (but not all) |
| 448 | of the squares. Your task is to subdivide the grid into rectangles of |
| 449 | various sizes, such that (a) every rectangle contains exactly one |
| 450 | numbered square, and (b) the area of each rectangle is equal to the |
| 451 | number written in its numbered square. |
| 452 | |
| 453 | Credit for this game goes to the Japanese puzzle magazine \i{Nikoli} |
| 454 | \k{nikoli-rect}; I've also seen a Palm implementation at \i{Puzzle Palace} |
| 455 | \k{puzzle-palace-rect}. Unlike Puzzle Palace's implementation, my version |
| 456 | automatically generates random grids of any size you like. The quality |
| 457 | of puzzle design is therefore not quite as good as hand-crafted |
| 458 | puzzles would be (in particular, a unique solution cannot be |
| 459 | guaranteed), but on the plus side you get an inexhaustible supply of |
| 460 | puzzles tailored to your own specification. |
| 461 | |
| 462 | \B{nikoli-rect} \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/7/index_text-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/7/index_text-e.htm} |
| 463 | |
| 464 | \B{puzzle-palace-rect} \W{http://www.puzzle.gr.jp/puzzle/sikaku/palm/index.html.en}\cw{http://www.puzzle.gr.jp/puzzle/sikaku/palm/index.html.en} |
| 465 | |
| 466 | \H{rectangles-controls} \I{controls, for Rectangles}Rectangles controls |
| 467 | |
| 468 | This game is played with the mouse. |
| 469 | |
| 470 | Left-click any edge to toggle it on or off, or click and drag to draw |
| 471 | an entire rectangle (or line) on the grid in one go (removing any |
| 472 | existing edges within that rectangle). |
| 473 | |
| 474 | When a rectangle of the correct size is completed, it will be shaded. |
| 475 | |
| 476 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
| 477 | |
| 478 | \H{rectangles-params} \I{parameters, for Rectangles}Rectangles parameters |
| 479 | |
| 480 | The \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type} menu offers you \e{Width} |
| 481 | and \e{Height} parameters, which are self-explanatory. |
| 482 | |
| 483 | \q{Expansion factor} is a mechanism for changing the type of grids |
| 484 | generated by the program. Some people prefer a grid containing a few |
| 485 | large rectangles to one containing many small ones. So you can ask |
| 486 | Rectangles to essentially generate a \e{smaller} grid than the size |
| 487 | you specified, and then to expand it by adding rows and columns. |
| 488 | |
| 489 | The default expansion factor of zero means that Rectangles will |
| 490 | simply generate a grid of the size you ask for, and do nothing |
| 491 | further. If you set an expansion factor of (say) 0.5, it means that |
| 492 | each dimension of the grid will be expanded to half again as big |
| 493 | after generation. In other words, the initial grid will be 2/3 the |
| 494 | size in each dimension, and will be expanded to its full size |
| 495 | without adding any more rectangles. |
| 496 | |
| 497 | Setting an expansion factor of around 0.5 tends to make the game |
| 498 | more difficult, and also (in my experience) rewards a less deductive |
| 499 | and more intuitive playing style. If you set it \e{too} high, |
| 500 | though, the game simply cannot generate more than a few rectangles |
| 501 | to cover the entire grid, and the game becomes trivial. |
| 502 | |
| 503 | \H{rectangles-cmdline} \I{command line, for Rectangles}Additional |
| 504 | command-line configuration |
| 505 | |
| 506 | The expansion factor parameter, described in \k{rectangles-params}, |
| 507 | is not mentioned by default in the game ID (see \k{common-id}). So |
| 508 | if you set your expansion factor to (say) 0.75, and then you |
| 509 | generate an 11\by\.11 grid, then the game ID will simply say |
| 510 | \c{11x11:}\e{numbers}. This means that if you send the game ID to |
| 511 | another player and they paste it into their copy of Rectangles, |
| 512 | their game will not be automatically configured to use the same |
| 513 | expansion factor in any subsequent grids it generates. (I don't |
| 514 | think the average person examining a single grid sent to them by |
| 515 | another player would want their configuration modified to that |
| 516 | extent.) |
| 517 | |
| 518 | If you are specifying a game ID or game parameters on the command |
| 519 | line (see \k{common-cmdline}) and you do want to configure the |
| 520 | expansion factor, you can do it by suffixing the letter \cq{e} to |
| 521 | the parameters, followed by the expansion factor as a decimal |
| 522 | number. For example: |
| 523 | |
| 524 | \b \cq{rect 11x11e0.75} starts Rectangles with a grid size of |
| 525 | 11\u00d7{x}11 and an expansion factor of 0.75. |
| 526 | |
| 527 | \b \cq{rect 11x11e0.75:g11c6e5e4a2_4e9c3b3d3b5g2b6c4k4g30a8n3j1g6a2} |
| 528 | starts Rectangles with a grid size of 11\u00d7{x}11, an expansion |
| 529 | factor of 0.75, \e{and} a specific game selected. |
| 530 | |
| 531 | |
| 532 | \C{netslide} \i{Netslide} |
| 533 | |
| 534 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.netslide} |
| 535 | |
| 536 | This game was submitted by Richard Boulton. It combines the grid |
| 537 | generation of Net (see \k{net}) with the movement of Sixteen (see |
| 538 | \k{sixteen}): you have a Net grid, but instead of rotating tiles back |
| 539 | into place you have to slide them into place by moving a whole row at |
| 540 | a time. |
| 541 | |
| 542 | As in Sixteen, \I{controls, for Netslide}control is with the mouse. |
| 543 | See \k{sixteen-controls}. |
| 544 | |
| 545 | \I{parameters, for Netslide}Game parameters are the same as for Net |
| 546 | (see \k{net-params}). |
| 547 | |
| 548 | |
| 549 | \C{pattern} \i{Pattern} |
| 550 | |
| 551 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.pattern} |
| 552 | |
| 553 | You have a grid of squares, which must all be filled in either black |
| 554 | or white. Beside each row of the grid are listed the lengths of the |
| 555 | runs of black squares on that row; above each column are listed the |
| 556 | lengths of the runs of black squares in that column. Your aim is to |
| 557 | fill in the entire grid black or white. |
| 558 | |
| 559 | I first saw this puzzle form around 1995, under the name |
| 560 | \q{\i{nonograms}}. I've seen it in various places since then, under |
| 561 | different names. |
| 562 | |
| 563 | Normally, puzzles of this type turn out to be a meaningful picture |
| 564 | of something once you've solved them. However, since this version |
| 565 | generates the puzzles automatically, they will just look like random |
| 566 | groupings of squares. (One user has suggested that this is actually |
| 567 | a \e{good} thing, since it prevents you from guessing the colour of |
| 568 | squares based on the picture, and forces you to use logic instead.) |
| 569 | The advantage, though, is that you never run out of them. |
| 570 | |
| 571 | \H{pattern-controls} \I{controls, for Pattern}Pattern controls |
| 572 | |
| 573 | This game is played with the mouse. |
| 574 | |
| 575 | Left-click in a square to colour it black. Right-click to colour it |
| 576 | white. If you make a mistake, you can middle-click, or hold down |
| 577 | Shift while clicking with any button, to colour the square in the |
| 578 | default grey (meaning \q{undecided}) again. |
| 579 | |
| 580 | You can click and drag with the left or right mouse button to colour |
| 581 | a vertical or horizontal line of squares black or white at a time |
| 582 | (respectively). If you click and drag with the middle button, or |
| 583 | with Shift held down, you can colour a whole rectangle of squares |
| 584 | grey. |
| 585 | |
| 586 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
| 587 | |
| 588 | \H{pattern-parameters} \I{parameters, for Pattern}Pattern parameters |
| 589 | |
| 590 | The only options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type} |
| 591 | menu are \e{Width} and \e{Height}, which are self-explanatory. |
| 592 | |
| 593 | |
| 594 | \C{solo} \i{Solo} |
| 595 | |
| 596 | \cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.solo} |
| 597 | |
| 598 | You have a square grid, which is divided into square or rectangular |
| 599 | blocks. Each square must be filled in with a digit from 1 to the |
| 600 | size of the grid, in such a way that |
| 601 | |
| 602 | \b every row contains only one occurrence of each digit |
| 603 | |
| 604 | \b every column contains only one occurrence of each digit |
| 605 | |
| 606 | \b every block contains only one occurrence of each digit. |
| 607 | |
| 608 | You are given some of the numbers as clues; your aim is to place the |
| 609 | rest of the numbers correctly. |
| 610 | |
| 611 | The default puzzle size is 3\by\.3 (a 9\by\.9 actual grid, divided |
| 612 | into nine 3\by\.3 blocks). You can also select sizes with |
| 613 | rectangular blocks instead of square ones, such as 2\by\.3 (a |
| 614 | 6\by\.6 grid divided into six 3\by\.2 blocks). |
| 615 | |
| 616 | If you select a puzzle size which requires more than 9 digits, the |
| 617 | additional digits will be letters of the alphabet. For example, if |
| 618 | you select 3\by\.4 then the digits which go in your grid will be 1 |
| 619 | to 9, plus \cq{a}, \cq{b} and \cq{c}. |
| 620 | |
| 621 | I first saw this puzzle in \i{Nikoli} \k{nikoli-solo}, although it's also |
| 622 | been popularised by various newspapers under the name \q{Sudoku} or |
| 623 | \q{Su Doku}. |
| 624 | |
| 625 | \B{nikoli-solo} \W{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/1/index_text-e.htm}\cw{http://www.nikoli.co.jp/puzzles/1/index_text-e.htm} |
| 626 | |
| 627 | \H{solo-controls} \I{controls, for Solo}Solo controls |
| 628 | |
| 629 | To play Solo, simply click the mouse in any empty square and then |
| 630 | type a digit or letter on the keyboard to fill that square. If you |
| 631 | make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press |
| 632 | Space to clear it again (or use the Undo feature). |
| 633 | |
| 634 | (All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.) |
| 635 | |
| 636 | \H{solo-parameters} \I{parameters, for Solo}Solo parameters |
| 637 | |
| 638 | Solo allows you to configure two separate dimensions of the puzzle |
| 639 | grid on the \q{Type} menu: the number of columns, and the number of |
| 640 | rows, into which the main grid is divided. (The size of a block is |
| 641 | the inverse of this: for example, if you select 2 columns and 3 rows, |
| 642 | each actual block will have 3 columns and 2 rows.) |
| 643 | |
| 644 | You can also configure the type of symmetry shown in the generated |
| 645 | puzzles. More symmetry makes the puzzles look prettier but may also |
| 646 | make them easier, since the symmetry constraints can force more |
| 647 | clues than necessary to be present. Completely asymmetric puzzles |
| 648 | have the freedom to contain as few clues as possible. |
| 649 | |
| 650 | Finally, you can configure the difficulty of the generated puzzles. |
| 651 | Difficulty levels are judged by the complexity of the techniques of |
| 652 | deduction required to solve the puzzle: each level requires a mode |
| 653 | of reasoning which was not necessary in the previous one. In |
| 654 | particular, on difficulty levels \q{Trivial} and \q{Basic} there |
| 655 | will be a square you can fill in with a single number at all times, |
| 656 | whereas at \q{Intermediate} level and beyond you will have to make |
| 657 | partial deductions about the \e{set} of squares a number could be in |
| 658 | (or the set of numbers that could be in a square). None of the |
| 659 | difficulty levels generated by this program ever requires making a |
| 660 | guess and backtracking if it turns out to be wrong. |
| 661 | |
| 662 | Generating difficult puzzles is itself difficult: if you select |
| 663 | \q{Intermediate} or \q{Advanced} difficulty, Solo may have to make |
| 664 | many attempts at generating a puzzle before it finds one hard enough |
| 665 | for you. Be prepared to wait, especially if you have also configured |
| 666 | a large puzzle size. |
| 667 | |
| 668 | \H{solo-cmdline} \I{command line, for Solo}Additional command-line |
| 669 | configuration |
| 670 | |
| 671 | The symmetry and difficulty parameters (described in |
| 672 | \k{solo-parameters}) are not mentioned by default in the game ID |
| 673 | (see \k{common-id}). So if (for example) you set your symmetry to |
| 674 | 4-way rotational and your difficulty to \q{Advanced}, and then you |
| 675 | generate a 3\by\.4 grid, then the game ID will simply say |
| 676 | \c{3x4:}\e{numbers}. This means that if you send the game ID to |
| 677 | another player and they paste it into their copy of Solo, their game |
| 678 | will not be automatically configured to use the same symmetry and |
| 679 | difficulty settings in any subsequent grids it generates. (I don't |
| 680 | think the average person examining a single grid sent to them by |
| 681 | another player would want their configuration modified to that |
| 682 | extent.) |
| 683 | |
| 684 | If you are specifying a game ID or game parameters on the command |
| 685 | line (see \k{common-cmdline}) and you do want to configure the |
| 686 | symmetry, you can do it by suffixing additional text to the |
| 687 | parameters: |
| 688 | |
| 689 | \b \cq{m4} for 4-way mirror symmetry |
| 690 | |
| 691 | \b \cq{r4} for 4-way rotational symmetry |
| 692 | |
| 693 | \b \cq{r2} for 2-way rotational symmetry |
| 694 | |
| 695 | \b \cq{a} for no symmetry at all (stands for \q{asymmetric}) |
| 696 | |
| 697 | \b \cq{dt} for Trivial difficulty level |
| 698 | |
| 699 | \b \cq{db} for Basic difficulty level |
| 700 | |
| 701 | \b \cq{di} for Intermediate difficulty level |
| 702 | |
| 703 | \b \cq{da} for Advanced difficulty level |
| 704 | |
| 705 | So, for example, you can make Solo generate asymmetric 3x4 grids by |
| 706 | running \cq{solo 3x4a}, or 4-way rotationally symmetric 2x3 grids by |
| 707 | running \cq{solo 2x3r4}, or \q{Advanced}-level 2x3 grids by running |
| 708 | \cq{solo 2x3da}. |
| 709 | |
| 710 | |
| 711 | \A{licence} \I{MIT licence}\ii{Licence} |
| 712 | |
| 713 | This software is \i{copyright} 2004-2005 Simon Tatham. |
| 714 | |
| 715 | Portions copyright Richard Boulton. |
| 716 | |
| 717 | Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person |
| 718 | obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files |
| 719 | (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, |
| 720 | including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, |
| 721 | publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, |
| 722 | and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, |
| 723 | subject to the following conditions: |
| 724 | |
| 725 | The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be |
| 726 | included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. |
| 727 | |
| 728 | THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, |
| 729 | EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF |
| 730 | MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND |
| 731 | NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS |
| 732 | BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN |
| 733 | ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN |
| 734 | CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE |
| 735 | SOFTWARE. |
| 736 | |
| 737 | \IM{specific...} Specific..., menu option |
| 738 | \IM{custom...} Custom..., menu option |
| 739 | |
| 740 | \IM{game ID} game ID |
| 741 | \IM{game ID} ID, game |
| 742 | \IM{ID format} ID format |
| 743 | \IM{ID format} format, ID |
| 744 | \IM{ID format} game ID, format |
| 745 | |
| 746 | \IM{keys} keys |
| 747 | \IM{keys} shortcuts (keyboard) |
| 748 | |
| 749 | \IM{initial state} initial state |
| 750 | \IM{initial state} state, initial |
| 751 | |
| 752 | \IM{MIT licence} MIT licence |
| 753 | \IM{MIT licence} licence, MIT |