between on the one hand generating indeterminate game descriptions
awaiting the initial click, and on the other hand generating
concrete ones which have had their initial click. This makes `mines
--generate' do something useful.
[originally from svn r5869]
indicates whether a particular game state should have the timer
going (for Mines the initial indeterminate state does not have this
property, and neither does a dead or won state); a midend function
that optionally (on request from the game) prepends a timer to the
front of the status bar text; some complicated midend timing code.
It's not great. It's ugly; it's probably slightly inaccurate; it's
got no provision for anyone but the game author decreeing whether a
game is timed or not. But Mines can't be taken seriously without a
timer, so it's a start.
[originally from svn r5866]
blank grid until you make the first click; to ensure solubility, it
does not generate the mine layout until that click, and then ensures
it is solvable starting from that position.
This has involved three infrastructure changes:
- random.c now offers functions to encode and decode an entire
random_state as a string
- each puzzle's new_game() is now passed a pointer to the midend
itself, which most of them ignore
- there's a function in the midend which a game can call back to
_rewrite_ its current game description.
So Mines now has two entirely separate forms of game ID. One
contains the generation-time parameters (n and unique) plus an
encoding of a random_state; the other actually encodes the grid once
it's been generated, and also contains the initial click position.
When called with the latter, new_game() does plausibly normal stuff.
When called with the former, it notes down all the details and waits
until the first square is opened, and _then_ does the grid
generation and updates the game description in the midend. So if,
_after_ your first click, you decide you want to share this
particular puzzle with someone else, you can do that fine.
Also in this checkin, the mine layout is no longer _copied_ between
all the game_states on the undo chain. Instead, it's in a separate
structure and all game_states share a pointer to it - and the
structure is reference-counted to ensure deallocation.
[originally from svn r5862]
both get passed a pointer to the game_ui. This means that if they
need to note down information for the redraw function about what
_type_ of flash or animation is required, they now have somewhere to
do so.
[originally from svn r5858]
puzzles, rather than just doing its nondeterministic number
placement thing. This enables the use of the `Solve' menu option on
externally entered game IDs, provided of course that they aren't
_too_ difficult.
[originally from svn r5852]
(Adding modifier+cursors handling has had minor knock-on effects on the other
puzzles, so that they can continue to ignore modifiers.)
(An unfortunate side effect of this is some artifacts in exterior barrier
drawing; notably, a disconnected corner can now appear at the corner of the
grid under some circumstances. I haven't found a satisfactory way round
this yet.)
[originally from svn r5844]
- fix documentation of Net's unique solution option (should have
tested before last checkin)
- make unique solutions optional in Rectangles too (same reasons)
- tidy up various issues in parameter encoding in both games.
[originally from svn r5818]
puzzles. I generate the grid of rectangles as normal, but before I
place the numbers I run it through a non-deterministic solver
algorithm which tries to do as much as it can with as little
information about where the numbers are going to be. The solver
itself narrows down the number placement when it runs out of steam,
but does so as little as possible. Once it reaches a state where it
has ensured solubility, and then the generation algorithm chooses
random number placement from whatever's left.
Occasionally it paints itself into a corner and can't ensure a
unique solution no matter what happens; in that situation we just
have to give up, generate a fresh grid, and try again.
[originally from svn r5809]
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]
of puzzle. Configurable option, turned off by default, and not
propagated in game IDs (though you can explicitly specify it in
command-line parameters, and the docs explain how).
[originally from svn r4461]
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]
to maintain the `visible' array accurately and hence actually switch
it on. This prevents us having to redraw the entire playing area on
any move, which means really big grids are now sensibly playable
without display lag.
[originally from svn r4221]
feature to arrange a mechanism that allows you to draw a whole
rectangle at a time by dragging rather than having to click each
edge individually.
[originally from svn r4209]
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]
