README
1 TextMaze v1.2
2 by Kirk Baucom <kbaucom@schizoid.com>
3 http://www.robobunny.com
4
5TextMaze generates random mazes on a text terminal and lets you traverse
6them using the arrow keys.
7
8If you play with TextMaze and enjoy it, I'd appreciate an email letting me know
9that you liked it.
10
11Installation
12------------
13
14It's just a perl script, so all you have to do is make sure it's executable
15and put it somewhere convenient, like /usr/local/bin or /usr/local/games.
16After you run it the first time, it will create a .textmaze config file in
17your home directory.
18
19
20Requirements
21------------
22
23You must have the Curses module, which you can get from
24http://www.cpan.org.
25
26
27Contributors
28------------
29Kyle Guilbert <kguilber@coe.neu.edu>: maze solve code
30Juan Orlandini <jorlandini@DATALINK.com>: move count, additional move keys
31
32
33Arguments
34---------
35
36 -r <num> sets the rows of the maze to <num>
37 -c <num> sets the columns of the maze to <num>
38 -m generate a maze that is the maximum size allowed by your screen
39 -d generate the maze in "dissolve" mode, slower but fun to watch
40 -s <num> provide a seed value for generating a maze\n";
41 -a use ANSI color
42 -h prints a summary of the command line options, along with
43 default and maximum maze sizes
44
45Default Keys while playing
46------------------
47
48 Movement: Arrow keys, or vi movment keys (h,j,k,l)
49 Redraw the screen: r
50 Toggle ANSI color: c
51 Solve the maze: s
52 Quit: q
53
54
55A Note on TERM settings
56-----------------------
57
58Certain features depend on the capabilities of your terminal, and your TERM
59setting. Specifically, the three features you might not have are:
60
61 - Hiding the cursor
62 - Doing color
63 - Drawing underlined characters
64
65If you can't hide the cursor, dissolve mode looks kind of goofy. If you
66can't do underlines, you can't tell if there is a wall beneath your
67cursor.
68
69
70Maze Sizes
71----------
72
73Running textmaze without arguments will generate a maze that is either the
74default of 20 by 20, or the largest size it can fit on your screen if it is
75smaller than that. Each cell in the maze requires 1 row and 2 columns, plus
761 row and 1 column for the border. so a maze that is 20 units high will use
7721 rows, and a maze that is 20 units wide will use 41 columns. So the largest
78maze you can fit on an 80 x 24 terminal window is 39 x 23.
79
80
81Score
82-----
83
84The formula for calculating your score is:
85
86 ( Maze Height * Maze Width ) *
87 ( Minimum Moves / Total moves ) *
88 ( ( Minimum Moves / ( Time Take * 2 ) )
89
90So a "perfect" score is the same as the area of the maze (eg. a perfect
91score for a 5 by 5 maze would be 25). You can get a "time bonus" by
92finishing the maze faster than two moves per second.
93
94End Screen
95----------
96
97I didn't do the ASCII art that appears when you finish the maze. I got it
98from someone else several years ago, and unfortunately I can't remember who
99it was. If you happen to know, or happen to be them, let me know.
100