\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
\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
\cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.netslide}
-This game was submitted by Richard Boulton. It combines the grid
-generation of Net (see \k{net}) with the movement of Sixteen (see
-\k{sixteen}): you have a Net grid, but instead of rotating tiles back
-into place you have to slide them into place by moving a whole row at
-a time.
+This game combines the grid generation of Net (see \k{net}) with the
+movement of Sixteen (see \k{sixteen}): you have a Net grid, but
+instead of rotating tiles back into place you have to slide them
+into place by moving a whole row at a time.
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}).
+Netslide was contributed to this collection by Richard Boulton.
\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. If you step on a mine, the program will only reveal the mine
+in question (unlike most other implementations, which reveal all of
+them). You can then Undo your fatal move and continue playing if you
+like. The program will track the number of times you died (and Undo
+will not reduce that counter), so when you get to the end of the
+game you know whether or not you did it without making any errors.
+
+(If you really want to know the full layout of the grid, which other
+implementations will show you after you die, you can always use the
+Solve menu option.)
+
+\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.
+
+
+\C{samegame} \i{Same Game}
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.samegame}
+
+You have a grid of coloured squares, which you have to clear by
+highlighting contiguous regions of more than one coloured square;
+the larger the region you highlight, the more points you get (and
+the faster you clear the arena).
+
+If you clear the grid you win. If you end up with nothing but
+single squares (i.e., there are no more clickable regions left) you
+lose.
+
+Removing a region causes the rest of the grid to shuffle up:
+blocks that are suspended will fall down (first), and then empty
+columns are filled from the right.
+
+The game generator does not try to guarantee soluble grids;
+it will, however, ensure that there are at least 2 squares of each
+colour on the grid at the start (and will forbid custom grids for which
+that would be impossible).
+
+Same Game was contributed to this collection by James Harvey.
+
+\H{samegame-controls} \i{Same Game controls}
+
+\IM{Same Game controls} controls, for Same Game
+\IM{Same Game controls} keys, for Same Game
+\IM{Same Game controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Same Game
+
+This game can be played with either the keyboard or the mouse.
+
+If you left-click an unselected region, it becomes selected (possibly
+clearing the current selection).
+
+If you left-click the selected region, it will be removed (and the
+rest of the grid shuffled immediately).
+
+If you right-click the selected region, it will be unselected.
+
+The cursor keys move a cursor around the grid. Pressing the Space or
+Enter keys while the cursor is in an unselected region selects it;
+pressing Space or Enter again removes it as above.
+
+\H{samegame-parameters} \I{parameters, for Same Game}Same Game parameters
+
+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.
+
+\dt \e{No. of colours}
+
+\dd Number of different colours used to fill the grid; the more colours,
+the fewer large regions of colour and thus the more difficult it is to
+successfully clear the grid.
+
+\dt \e{Scoring system}
+
+\dd Controls the precise mechanism used for scoring. With the default
+system, \q{(n-2)^2}, only regions of three squares or more will score
+any points at all. With the alternative \q{(n-1)^2} system, regions of
+two squares score a point each, and larger regions score relatively
+more points.
+
+
+\C{flip} \i{Flip}
+
+\cfg{winhelp-topic}{games.flip}
+
+You have a grid of squares, some light and some dark. Your aim is to
+light all the squares up at the same time. You can choose any square
+and flip its state from light to dark or dark to light, but when you
+do so, other squares around it change state as well.
+
+Each square contains a small diagram showing which other squares
+change when you flip it.
+
+\C{flip-controls} \i{Flip controls}
+
+\IM{Flip controls} controls, for Flip
+\IM{Flip controls} keys, for Flip
+\IM{Flip controls} shortcuts (keyboard), for Flip
+
+Left-click in a square to flip it and its associated squares. That's
+all!
+
+\H{flip-parameters} \I{parameters, for flip}Flip parameters
+
+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.
+
+\dt \e{Shape type}
+
+\dd This control determines the shape of the region which is flipped
+by clicking in any given square. The default setting, \q{Crosses},
+causes every square to flip itself and its four immediate neighbours
+(or three or two if it's at an edge or corner). The other setting,
+\q{Random}, causes a random shape to be chosen for every square, so
+the game is different every time.
+
+
\A{licence} \I{MIT licence}\ii{Licence}
This software is \i{copyright} 2004-2005 Simon Tatham.
-Portions copyright Richard Boulton.
+Portions copyright Richard Boulton and James Harvey.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files
~mdw / sgt / puzzles / blobdiff