Ubuntu Manpage: gtkballs - A simple logic game

NAME

       gtkballs - A simple logic game

SYNOPSIS

       gtkballs [options]

DESCRIPTION

       This  manual  page  documents GtkBalls.  GtkBalls is a simple logic game. The goal of this
       game is to make the highest score by matching a number of balls of the  same  color  in  a
       horizontal,  vertical  or  diagonal line. For further information on how to play this game
       refer to the rules section in this manual page.

OPTIONS

       --display [hostname:dpy]
              Specify what display GtkBalls should use. See X (1x) for more  information  on  the
              syntax of hostname and display.

RULES

       The standard play area of GtkBalls is a 9x9 grid (it can be changed through "Rules" option
       in ingame menu). When GtkBalls is first started a number of balls are placed in  a  random
       manner  on  the  grid. Balls are in different colors (and/or shape). You may move balls on
       the grid by selecting them and selecting an empty square on the grid  as  destination  for
       the  ball  you selected. Balls will only move if they are not blocked by other balls. Each
       time you move a ball, unless you score some points, new balls appear in a random manner on
       the grid. If the grid is full then the game is lost. However this is bound to happen, your
       goal is to make the highest score. In order to do this you must make lines in a  vertical,
       horizontal  or  diagonal  way with balls of the same color. By default a line must have at
       least five balls of the same color (it can also  be  changed  through  "Rules"  option  in
       ingame  menu). Making a line of minimum amount of the balls, specified in rules, will earn
       you twice the points for your score. If you make lines over minimum amount of the balls it
       will  earn  you  even more points. In order to help you decide which ball you are going to
       move, there is an indicator on top of the grid that shows what colors the next balls  that
       will appear on the grid will be.

USING THE INTERFACE

GtkBalls is a graphical program using the Gtk+ windowing toolkit. This section describes
it's user interface.

THE GAME MENU
New Selecting this menu entry will abandon the current game and start a new one or
start another game if you just finished one. You may use the keyboard shortcut
CTRL-N to do this also.

Rules Selecting this menu entry will open "Rules" dialog box, where you can set board
width and height, number of different objects to appear on the board, number of
objects that will appear on the board after each turn and number of objects that
must form the line to eliminate it. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-R to do
this also.

Save Selecting this menu entry will open "Save game" dialog box, where you can save
current game to play it later. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-S to do this
also.

Load Selecting this menu entry will open "Load game" dialog box, where you can load
previously saved game. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-L to do this also.

Hall Of Fame
Selecting this menu entry will open a dialog box showing the high scores. Only the
ten best scores are shown. This dialog also displays the name of the person who
achieved a high score and it's date. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-H to do
this also. Please note that you have to add your user to group games to be able to
save high scores. For instance this can be achieved by using the command
sudoadduser<your_user>games

Quit Selecting this menu entry will quit GtkBalls. You may use the keyboard shortcut
CTRL-Q to do the same thing.

THE EDIT MENU
Undo Selecting this menu entry will undo your last move. You may use the keyboard
shortcut CTRL-U to do this also.

THE SETTINGS MENU
Preferences
Selecting this menu entry will open the "Preferences" dialog box. You may use the
keyboard shortcut CTRL-P to open it also. This dialog box allows you to set some
options. Click on a check box to activate or deactivate them. Click on the theme
name to select it. Then click on the Apply button to save your settings or click
on Ok button to save your settings and close this dialog box. You can disable the
showing of footprints, path of the ball, color of the next balls indicator,
animation of disappearing of the ball and set time limit per move from this dialog
box.

THE HELP MENU
Rules Selecting this menu entry will display a dialog box describing rules of the game.
You may use the keyboard shortcut F1 to open it also.

About Selecting this menu entry will display a dialog with the logo and the copyright
information of GtkBalls. You may use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-A to open it also.
For more details on the license, click on the Show license button. This will open
another dialog box where you can read the GNU General Public License.

AUTHORS

       GtkBalls  was  created by Eugene Morozov <jmv@online.ru>.  This manual page was created by
       Christoph Thompson <obituary@freshmeat.net>.  Current  maintainer  of  GtkBalls  and  this
       manual page is drF_ckoff <dfo@antex.ru>.

COPYRIGHT

       GtkBalls  is  copyright  1998,  1999  Eugene V. Morozov under the terms of the GNU General
       Public License.  GtkBalls is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
       the  terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
       either version 2 of the license, or (at your option) any later version.