/xlv1/freeware/1998.Oct/icon/9.3.1/icon-9.3.1.diffbuild/ipl/gpacks/xtiles
X-TILES(6) UNIX System V (16 February 97) X-TILES(6)
NAME
X-Tiles - X windows game, remove connected tiles
SYNOPSIS
X-Tiles [-v] [-help|-h] [-bw] [-reduced] [-pastel] [-darker]
[-lighter] [colors] [columns] [lines] [seed] [background]
DESCRIPTION
GAME PRINCIPLE
X-Tiles is a time-waster disguised as a puzzle. When you
start X-Tiles, it displays a rectangular playfield filled
with sets of colored rectangles (tiles). The aim of X-Tiles
is to zap all tiles. You can only zap a 4-connected set of
tiles of the same color. When you click on such a set, it
vanishes, and all tiles above fall down to fill the gap.
When this creates empty columns, other columns slide
leftward to fill the hole. X-Tiles ends when there is no set
left that you can zap, or in other words, when no two
remaining adjacent tiles are of the same color.
SCORING AND WINNING
Each set you zap may reward you with some points. Take the
number of tiles of the set, substract two, and square the
result. Notice that a set of 2 tiles doesn't get you
anything ! A sets of 3 tiles scores 1 point, a set of 4
tiles scores 4 points, a set of 5 tiles scores 9 points, and
so on.
When the game ends, the score is adjusted as follows:
substract one point for each remaining lonesome tile. If you
managed to zap all tiles, add 1,000 points.
GAME CONTROLS
During the game, moving the mouse pointer will highlight the
corresponding set of tiles. Any mouse click will zap that
set. The bottom line of the window displays your score,
along with the point value of the highlighted set.
You can undo the last move by clicking on the smiley face or
by hitting u.
At any point, hitting q will prompt you for quitting the
game. Hitting c will offer you another choice of colors.
When the game ends, you may hit q to quit, n to play a new
game, or r to replay the current puzzle.
OPTIONS
-v Displays the version number.
-help|-h
Short help message
Page 1 (printed 6/16/98)
X-TILES(6) UNIX System V (16 February 97) X-TILES(6)-bw Start the game in black and white mode, even on colors
display.
-reduced
Start the game using less colors. May help with
background pictures with lots of colors.
-pastel
Uses less aggressive colors.
-darker
Uses lighter colors.
-lighter
Uses darker colors.
colors
Number of distinct colors. Should not be more than 12.
Interesting games usually involve 3 to 6 colors.
Defaults to 4 when no parameters are given.
columns
Number of columns. Defaults to 10, limited to range
4..40.
lines
Number of lines. Defaults to the columns value, limited
to range 4..40.
seed Random seed. Will be chosen randomly if you don't
specify it. This is the value displayed by the game on
startup. Write it down if you want to replay a given
game later.
background
File name of background image. Available formats depend
on the actual Icon implementation used. gif should work
alright. This image should leave enough entries in the
colormap for X-Tiles's own use.
BUGS AND FEATURES
The game is mostly unplayable on slow machines or at large
sizes. Not all combinations of board size/number of colors
provide for an interesting game. There is no provision for a
high-score table.
Some color backgrounds may leave you with white on white
game play or such non-sense.
AUTHOR
Marc Espie (Marc.Espie@ens.fr)
Page 2 (printed 6/16/98)
X-TILES(6) UNIX System V (16 February 97) X-TILES(6)
Based on the Amiga puzzle game Tile Fall, originally written
by Adam Dawes (Adam@darkside.demon.co.uk)
Page 3 (printed 6/16/98)
