\dd Starts a new game, with a random initial state.
-\dt \ii\e{Restart game} (\q{R})
+\dt \ii\e{Restart game}
-\dd Resets the current game to its initial state. Undo is lost.
+\dd Resets the current game to its initial state. (This can be undone.)
\dt \ii\e{Undo} (\q{U}, Ctrl+\q{Z}, Ctrl+\q{_})
\dd Undoes a single move. (You can undo moves back to the start of the
-game.)
+session.)
-\dt \ii\e{Redo} (Ctrl+\q{R})
+\dt \ii\e{Redo} (\q{R}, Ctrl+\q{R})
-\dd Redoes a previous undone move.
+\dd Redoes a previously undone move.
\dt \ii\e{Copy}
\i\cw{NETGAME.EXE} to avoid clashing with Windows's own \cw{NET.EXE}.)
I originally saw this in the form of a Flash game called \i{FreeNet}
-\k{FreeNet}, written by Pavils Jurjans. The computer prepares a
+\k{FreeNet}, written by Pavils Jurjans; there are several other
+implementations under the name \i{NetWalk}. The computer prepares a
network by connecting up the centres of squares in a grid, and then
shuffles the network by rotating every tile randomly. Your job is to
rotate it all back into place. The successful solution will be an
-entirely connected network, with no closed loops. \#{Is it also true
-that a correct solution will not contain any cycles?} As a visual aid,
+entirely connected network, with no closed loops. \#{The latter
+clause means that there are no closed paths within the network.
+Could this be clearer? "No closed paths"?} As a visual aid,
all tiles which are connected to the one in the middle are
highlighted.
also unlock it again, but while it's locked you can't accidentally
turn it.
+The following controls are not necessary to complete the game, but may
+be useful:
+
+\dt \e{Shift grid}: Shift + arrow keys
+
+\dd On grids that wrap, you can move the origin of the grid, so that
+tiles that were on opposite sides of the grid can be seen together.
+
+\dt \e{Move centre}: Ctrl + arrow keys
+
+\dd You can change which tile is used as the source of highlighting.
+(It doesn't ultimately matter which tile this is, as every tile will
+be connected to every other tile in a correct solution, but it may be
+helpful in the intermediate stages of solving the puzzle.)
+
\dt \e{Jumble tiles}: \q{J} key
\dd This key turns all tiles that are not locked to random
}
+\dt \e{Ensure unique solution}
+
+\dd Normally, Net will make sure that the puzzles it presents have
+only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more
+difficult and more subtle, so if you like you can turn off this
+feature and risk having ambiguous puzzles. (Also, finding \e{all}
+the possible solutions can be an additional challenge for an
+advanced player.)
+
\C{cube} \i{Cube}
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.cube}
\IM{Cube controls} keys, for Cube
\IM{Cube controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Cube
-This game is played with the keyboard. The arrow keys are used to roll the
-cube (or other solid).
+This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse.
+Left-clicking anywhere on the window will move the cube (or other
+solid) towards the mouse pointer.
+
+The arrow keys can also used to roll the cube on its square grid in
+the four cardinal directions.
On the triangular grids, the mapping of arrow keys to directions is
more approximate. Vertical movement is disallowed where it doesn't
make sense. The four keys surrounding the arrow keys on the numeric
number written in its numbered square.
Credit for this game goes to the Japanese puzzle magazine \i{Nikoli}
-\k{nikoli-rect}; I've also seen a Palm implementation at \i{Puzzle Palace}
-\k{puzzle-palace-rect}. Unlike Puzzle Palace's implementation, my version
-automatically generates random grids of any size you like. The quality
-of puzzle design is therefore not quite as good as hand-crafted
-puzzles would be (in particular, a unique solution cannot be
-guaranteed), but on the plus side you get an inexhaustible supply of
-puzzles tailored to your own specification.
+\k{nikoli-rect}; I've also seen a Palm implementation at \i{Puzzle
+Palace} \k{puzzle-palace-rect}. Unlike Puzzle Palace's
+implementation, my version automatically generates random grids of
+any size you like. The quality of puzzle design is therefore not
+quite as good as hand-crafted puzzles would be, but on the plus side
+you get an inexhaustible supply of puzzles tailored to your own
+specification.
\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}
\H{rectangles-params} \I{parameters, for Rectangles}Rectangles parameters
-The \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type} menu offers you \e{Width}
-and \e{Height} parameters, which are self-explanatory.
+These parameters are available from the \q{Custom...} option on the
+\q{Type} menu.
+
+\dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
+
+\dd Size of grid, in squares.
-\q{Expansion factor} is a mechanism for changing the type of grids
-generated by the program. Some people prefer a grid containing a few
-large rectangles to one containing many small ones. So you can ask
+\dt \e{Expansion factor}
+
+\dd This is a mechanism for changing the type of grids generated by
+the program. Some people prefer a grid containing a few large
+rectangles to one containing many small ones. So you can ask
Rectangles to essentially generate a \e{smaller} grid than the size
you specified, and then to expand it by adding rows and columns.
+\lcont{
+
The default expansion factor of zero means that Rectangles will
simply generate a grid of the size you ask for, and do nothing
further. If you set an expansion factor of (say) 0.5, it means that
though, the game simply cannot generate more than a few rectangles
to cover the entire grid, and the game becomes trivial.
+}
+
+\dt \e{Ensure unique solution}
+
+\dd Normally, Rectangles will make sure that the puzzles it presents
+have only one solution. Puzzles with ambiguous sections can be more
+difficult and more subtle, so if you like you can turn off this
+feature and risk having ambiguous puzzles. Also, finding \e{all} the
+possible solutions can be an additional challenge for an advanced
+player. Turning off this option can also speed up puzzle generation.
+
\C{netslide} \i{Netslide}
As in Sixteen, \I{controls, for Netslide}control is with the mouse.
See \k{sixteen-controls}.
-\I{parameters, for Netslide}Game parameters are the same as for Net
-(see \k{net-params}).
+\I{parameters, for Netslide}The available game parameters have similar
+meanings to those in Net (see \k{net-params}) and Sixteen (see
+\k{sixteen-params}).
\C{pattern} \i{Pattern}
make a mistake, click the mouse in the incorrect square and press
Space to clear it again (or use the Undo feature).
+If you \e{right}-click in a square and then type a number, that
+number will be entered in the square as a \q{pencil mark}. You can
+have pencil marks for multiple numbers in the same square.
+
+The game pays no attention to pencil marks, so exactly what you use
+them for is up to you: you can use them as reminders that a
+particular square needs to be re-examined once you know more about a
+particular number, or you can use them as lists of the possible
+numbers in a given square, or anything else you feel like.
+
+To erase a single pencil mark, right-click in the square and type
+the same number again.
+
+All pencil marks in a square are erased when you left-click and type
+a number, or when you left-click and press space. Right-clicking and
+pressing space will also erase pencil marks.
+
(All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.)
\H{solo-parameters} \I{parameters, for Solo}Solo parameters
a large puzzle size.
+\C{mines} \i{Mines}
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.mines}
+
+You have a grid of covered squares, some of which contain mines, but
+you don't know which. Your job is to uncover every square which does
+\e{not} contain a mine. If you uncover a square containing a mine,
+you lose. If you uncover a square which does not contain a mine, you
+are told how many mines are contained within the eight surrounding
+squares.
+
+This game needs no introduction; popularised by Windows, it is
+perhaps the single best known desktop puzzle game in existence.
+
+This version of it has an unusual property. By default, it will
+generate its mine positions in such a way as to ensure that you
+never need to \e{guess} where a mine is: you will always be able to
+deduce it somehow. So you will never, as can happen in other
+versions, get to the last four squares and discover that there are
+two mines left but you have no way of knowing for sure where they
+are.
+
+\H{mines-controls} \I{controls, for Mines}Mines controls
+
+This game is played with the mouse.
+
+If you left-click in a covered square, it will be uncovered.
+
+If you right-click in a covered square, it will place a flag which
+indicates that the square is believed to be a mine. Left-clicking in
+a marked square will not uncover it, for safety. You can right-click
+again to remove a mark placed in error.
+
+If you left-click in an \e{uncovered} square, it will \q{clear
+around} the square. This means: if the square has exactly as many
+flags surrounding it as it should have mines, then all the covered
+squares next to it which are \e{not} flagged will be uncovered. So
+once you think you know the location of all the mines around a
+square, you can use this function as a shortcut to avoid having to
+click on each of the remaining squares one by one.
+
+If you uncover a square which has \e{no} mines in the surrounding
+eight squares, then it is obviously safe to uncover those squares in
+turn, and so on if any of them also has no surrounding mines. This
+will be done for you automatically; so sometimes when you uncover a
+square, a whole new area will open up to be explored.
+
+(All the actions described in \k{common-actions} are also available.
+Even Undo is available, although you might consider it cheating to
+use it!)
+
+\H{mines-parameters} \I{parameters, for Mines}Mines parameters
+
+The options available from the \q{Custom...} option on the \q{Type}
+menu are:
+
+\dt \e{Width}, \e{Height}
+
+\dd Size of grid in squares.
+
+\dt \e{Mines}
+
+\dd Number of mines in the grid. You can enter this as an absolute
+mine count, or alternatively you can put a \cw{%} sign on the end in
+which case the game will arrange for that proportion of the squares
+in the grid to be mines.
+
+\lcont{
+
+Beware of setting the mine count too high. At very high densities,
+the program may spend forever searching for a solvable grid.
+
+}
+
+\dt \e{Ensure solubility}
+
+\dd When this option is enabled (as it is by default), Mines will
+ensure that the entire grid can be fully deduced starting from the
+initial open space. If you prefer the riskier grids generated by
+other implementations, you can switch off this option.
+
+
\A{licence} \I{MIT licence}\ii{Licence}
This software is \i{copyright} 2004-2005 Simon Tatham.
~mdw / sgt / puzzles / blobdiff