rather than literal grid descriptions, which has always faintly
annoyed me because it makes it impossible to type in a grid from
another source. However, Gareth pointed out that short random-seed
game descriptions are useful, because you can read one out to
someone else without having to master the technology of cross-
machine cut and paste, or you can have two people enter the same
random seed simultaneously in order to race against each other to
complete the same puzzle. So both types of game ID seem to have
their uses.
Therefore, here's a reorganisation of the whole game ID concept.
There are now two types of game ID: one has a parameter string then
a hash then a piece of arbitrary random seed text, and the other has
a parameter string then a colon then a literal game description. For
most games, the latter is identical to the game IDs that were
previously valid; for Net and Netslide, old game IDs must be
translated into new ones by turning the colon into a hash, and
there's a new descriptive game ID format.
Random seed IDs are not guaranteed to be portable between software
versions (this is a major reason why I added version reporting
yesterday). Descriptive game IDs have a longer lifespan.
As an added bonus, I've removed the sections of documentation
dealing with game parameter encodings not shown in the game ID
(Rectangles expansion factor, Solo symmetry and difficulty settings
etc), because _all_ parameters must be specified in a random seed ID
and therefore users can easily find out the appropriate parameter
string for any settings they have configured.
[originally from svn r5788]
various things:
- if you haven't fully understood what a game is about, it gives
you an immediate example of a puzzle plus its solution so you can
understand it
- in some games it's useful to compare your solution with the real
one and see where you made a mistake
- in the rearrangement games (Fifteen, Sixteen, Twiddle) it's handy
to be able to get your hands on a pristine grid quickly so you
can practise or experiment with manoeuvres on it
- it provides a good way of debugging the games if you think you've
encountered an unsolvable grid!
[originally from svn r5731]
constructed at the same time as an internally generated game seed,
so that it can preserve any interesting information known by the
program at generation time but not physically contained within the
text of the game seed itself. (Such as, for example, the solution.)
Currently not used for anything yet, but it will be.
[originally from svn r5729]
as text. This is used by front ends to implement copy-to-clipboard.
Currently the function does nothing (and is disabled) in every game
except Solo, but it's a start.
[originally from svn r5724]
definitions, so let's move it so that it's just next to the
functions it relates to. This also opens the way for me to add more
booleans next to other functions without getting confused as to
which is which.
[originally from svn r5723]
functions and a couple of variables, now each one exports a single
structure containing a load of function pointers and said variables.
This should make it easy to support platforms on which it's sensible
to compile all the puzzles into a single monolithic application. The
two existing platforms are still one-binary-per-game.
[originally from svn r5126]
argument `dir' which tells them whether this redraw is due to an undo, rather
than have them second-guess it from game state.
Note that none of the actual games yet take advantage of this; so it hasn't
been tested in anger (although it has been inspected by debugging).
[originally from svn r4469]
parameters as a string, and decode it again. This is used in
midend.c to prepend the game parameters to the game seed, so that
copying out of the Specific box is sufficient to completely specify
the game you were playing.
Throughout development of these games I have referred to `seed'
internally, and `game ID' externally. Now there's a measurable
difference between them! :-)
[originally from svn r4231]
addition to the `game_state'. The new structure is intended to
contain ephemeral data pertaining to the game's user interface
rather than the actual game: things stored in the UI structure are
not restored in an Undo, for example.
make_move() is passed the UI to modify as it wishes; it is now
allowed to return the _same_ game_state it was passed, to indicate
that although no move has been made there has been a UI operation
requiring a redraw.
[originally from svn r4207]
is (a) pretty feeble, and (b) means that although Net seeds transfer
between platforms and still generate the same game, there's a
suspicious discrepancy in the typical seed _generated_ by each
platform.
I have a better RNG kicking around in this code base already, so
I'll just use it. Each midend has its own random_state, which it
passes to new_game_seed() as required. A handy consequence of this
is that initial seed data is now passed to midend_new(), which means
that new platform implementors are unlikely to forget to seed the
RNG because failure to do so causes a compile error!
[originally from svn r4187]
mechanism I've just invented (the midend handles the standard game
selection configuration). Each game is now required to validate its
own seed data before attempting to base a game on it and potentially
confusing itself.
[originally from svn r4186]
