Provided by: gfpoken_1-4build2_amd64 bug

NAME

       gfpoken - Recreate a grid of mirrors from clues

SYNOPSIS

       gfpoken

INTRODUCTION

       Suddenly,  you  attain consciousness.  You are faced by a grid of tiny squares, all alike,
       and a sign, which reads as follows:

       ACHTUNG!  ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!  Das rollenballenmachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken  und
       widgetmoven.   Ist  easy  flippen  der  mirrorwerk,  losenballen  und  shovenmirroren  mit
       slippensliden.  Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.  Das rubbernecken  sichtseeren
       keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das rollenballen.

       Unable  to  decipher it, you begin rolling balls at the grid, having nothing better to do.
       And thus begins your pathetic adventure deep into the bowels of Nihilism.

DESCRIPTION

       The idea for this game comes from a Windows game called "Marble,"  by  Analogue  Software.
       GFingerPoken is basically Marble, rewritten from scratch for GTK.

       The game starts with the configuration dialog.  Here you can set the relative abundance of
       the different mirror types, the size of the grid, the amount of mirrors  in  it,  and  how
       much the mirror density should vary.

       In  the  top  left,  there are load and save buttons to load and save existing games.  The
       save button is not visible if no game is in progress.  Press OK when you're happy with the
       settings to start the actual game.

       You  can throw balls into the grid by clicking around the edges.  There are 4 of them, but
       they all work the same way.  You'll see your ball roll through the  empty  corridor,  then
       you'll  see  a  white in arrow and an out arrow.  Your job is to drag the mirrors from the
       side into the maze and set up your maze to be the same as the output indicates,  i.e.,  so
       your  ball  always  goes  out where the arrow says it should.   You have to use all of the
       mirrors on the side.  If an item has a some arrows in the center, it is  flippable;  click
       on it, and it will change between its states.  Furthermore, every time these items are hit
       within the maze, either yours or the computer's, they will be flipped also.  So your  maze
       must  be  synchronized  with  the  invisible one.  When you think that your maze perfectly
       matches the output, click the check button and see if you were right.

       If you right-click on a grid square, you will cycle through a picture that appears in  the
       corner:  a  circle,  a triangle, a square, and nothing.  These symbols do nothing, but you
       can use them to indicate what you think may be in the square.  For example, a circle could
       mean  you  think nothing is there, a triangle something is there, and a square that you're
       pretty sure whatever's there is right.

       The button in the top left lets you abort the current game and start a new one.   This  is
       what  you  should  do if you want to save the game.  If you want to continue playing after
       saving, cancel the creation of the new game.

MIRROR TYPES

       Simple mirrors
              The ball rolls toward it.  The ball  hits  it.   The  ball  rolls  in  a  different
              direction.  Very simple.  They are shaped / and  .

       Flipping mirrors
              The  ball  hits  it and rolls in a different direction, but then the mirror changes
              shape according to its little indicator.  There are  two  cycle  mirrors  which  go
              between  / and  shapes, and four cycle mirrors which cycle this way: / o  o .  (The
              little "o" representing a box, coming up next.)

              This is where  the  game  begins  to  get  devious.   Your  setup  must  match  the
              functionality  of the invisible one exactly.  Meaning you have to get the alignment
              of these precisely perfect.  To change the alignment of one, click on it.

       Box and sink
              Basically they are opposites.  A box will repel the ball in the opposite  direction
              that it came from, and a sink will "eat" the ball, resulting in NO output arrow.

       Axial mirrors
              They  will  let the ball come through on one axis (i.e. vertically or horizontally)
              but bounce it back on the other.  There are both simple and flipping axial  mirrors
              for your amusement.

       Rotators
              These  are  quite  similar  to  normal  mirrors,  only  they redirect the ball in a
              different sort of way.  There are clockwise and counterclockwise varieties as  well
              as a flipper.

       One Way Mirrors
              Only  one  order  away  from  pure  evil,  one way mirrors will boggle the mind for
              centuries if used liberally.  They are just like normal static mirrors, except they
              only  let  the  ball  travel right through it in two (perpendicular) directions and
              bounce it off in the  other  two.   These  can  cause  an  infinite  loop  if  used
              wrecklessly, which the random computer is fairly likely to do.  In that case, there
              is no output arrow, just like when the ball falls into a sink.

       PURE EVIL
              There are two varieties: fllipping one way mirrors, and moving  mirrors.   Flipping
              one  way  mirrors  can  flip  in  either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.
              Moving mirrors, when hit, will travel one square in the direction  they  were  hit,
              after  being hit, so your ball will travel as if a simple mirror had been where the
              mirror was just sitting.

NETWORK GAME

       Network games work a lot like single player games.  To setup a network game, you  must  be
       in  the  game window (so create a game, the settings don't matter).  Then click the "start
       network game" button.  That opens a new dialog window.  You can leave the type  at  "Auto"
       unless  you've  picked  out  who  you  want to be client and server.  Auto will try client
       first, and if it doesn't work it will go to server.   Server  gets  to  choose  the  level
       layout  and also gets to go first, so you could give it to your opponent if you want to be
       nice.  Going first isn't really an advantage though, as you'll soon find out.  You  should
       probably  leave the port unless it's used so it can become a defacto standard.  If you are
       server, the address restricts connections to only ones originating from this  address;  if
       you  are  client,  it  will  connect  to this address.  Similarly, server sets the port to
       listen on and client connects to this port.

       Also, you'll have to choose the game type.  The server overrides whatever the client  has.
       With  "Shared  board,"  both  players  manipulate the same board and both see changes made
       immediately.  (It's graphically much cooler.)  Players take turns manipulating the  board.
       With  "Individual boards," each player has his own board and cannot see the other player's
       board.  Players each perform one manipulation to their board  simultaneously.   Otherwise,
       the games are similar.

       A manipulation consists of these steps:

       1)  Rearrange the pieces however you'd like.  (This includes moving them in and out of the
       sidebar.)  This may be zero rearrangements.

       2) Perform exactly one test (i.e. click along the border to toss in a ball)

       3) Again perform as many rearrangements as you'd like.

       4) Click on the right arrow to indicate that you're done.

       Either before or after a manipulation, if the board is potentially solvable, you may click
       the check button if you think it's solved.  If you're right, you win; if you're wrong, you
       lose.

       Note that you *must* perform a manipulation  during  each  of  your  turns,  which  should
       discourage a standoff in shared board mode.

       Finally,  the half balls that appear next to the board are your history.  The whole reason
       for the 4 different ball colors is to differentiate your last 4 moves in the history.   So
       the  black  in  arrow  superimposed  atop the purple ball half should have a corresponding
       black out arrow also superimposed atop a purple ball half.   If  not,  that  part  of  the
       history  must  have  been  erased  because  another out move went on top of it, or perhaps
       because the ball was eaten somehow and thus never came out.

SEE ALSO

       "blinkenlights" in the Jargon File.

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Bas Wijnen <wijnen@debian.org>, based on documentation  by
       Martin Hock.

                                                                                       GFPOKEN(6)