tworld(6)tworld(6)NAMEtworld - Tile World
SYNOPSIS
Tile World is a reimplementation of the game "Chip's Challenge". The
player controls Chip, navigating him through his challenges. The object
of each level of the game is to find and reach the exit tile, which
takes you to the next level. The levels contain many different kinds of
obstacles, creatures both hostile and indifferent, tools, protective
gear -- and, of course, chips.
OVERVIEW OF THE GAME
The main display shows Chip in the current level and his immediate sur‐
roundings. To the right of this display is shown the basic information
about the current level. The most important data shown here are how
many seconds are left on the clock, and how many chips still need to be
collected. (On some level the clock does not show a time. These levels
have no time limit.)
The object of every level is to find and reach the exit before the time
runs out. The exit is frequently (but not always) guarded by a chip
socket. To move past the chip socket, Chip must collect a certain num‐
ber of computer chips; the amount needed is different in each level. As
you play a level, the information display on the right shows the number
of chips that still need to be collected in order to open the socket.
(Remember that getting enough chips to open the chip socket is only a
subgoal, not the main goal. Some levels do not require any chips to be
collected; some levels have no chip socket at all.)
Also occupying many of the levels are other creatures. Most (but not
all) of them move about in simple, predictable patterns, and without
regard for Chip's presence. The creatures know enough to avoid running
into each other, but a collision with Chip is fatal. The complete tax‐
onomy of creatures is: tanks, balls, gliders, fireballs, walkers,
blobs, teeth, bugs, and paramecia.
In addition to the socket and the main exit, there are also four dif‐
ferent kinds of doors. These doors can be opened with the right kind of
key. The doors and the keys are color-coded -- red, green, blue, and
yellow -- so you can tell them apart. Like the chip socket, a door that
has been opened stays open. Keys are picked up simply by stepping upon
them. The key disappears from the map and appears in your possession.
Keys in your possession are displayed on the right-hand side of the
window.
Besides keys and chip, there are also four kinds of special footgear
that Chip can collect. Like keys, boots can be picked up simply by
walking over them. (There is no limit to the number of boots you can
have.) These boots permit Chip to walk across four different kinds of
surfaces, just as if they were normal flooring. Fire and water are two
kind of tiles that are normally fatal to Chip, but fire boots and water
boots will permit safe passage across these. Stepping onto ice sends
Chip sliding at high speed unless he has a pair of ice boots. Finally,
there are force floors that push Chip along in a specific direction;
these can be counteracted with force boots.
Two other types of surfaces are more useful to Chip, in that they keep
other creatures out. These are dirt and gravel, and they are special in
that Chip is the only one who can walk on them. However, when Chip
steps onto a dirt tile, it is cleared away and becomes normal flooring.
Gravel, on the other hand, is permanent.
There are numerous other objects scattered around the various levels,
which Chip can interact with, although he cannot pick them up. Bombs
are one kind of object which should always be avoided, as they explode
when stepped on. The thief tile should also generally be avoided;
entering this tile will cause Chip to lose any footgear he has col‐
lected.
Dirt blocks are large, movable squares of dirt. Chip can push them
about, and use them to wall off areas or to safely detontate bombs.
Furthermore, if a block is pushed into water, the tile will turn into
dirt (which will become normal flooring when Chip steps on it).
Finally, note that blocks can sometimes be resting on top of other
objects, both helpful (such as a key) and harmful (such as a bomb).
Some levels have teleports. Entering a teleport causes Chip to vanish
and instantaneously reappear at another teleport.
Even some of the walls can demonstrate surprising behavior. The so-
called blue walls can either be actual walls, or empty mirages. The
only way for Chip to tell which is which is to attempt to walk through
one. There are also popup walls -- Chip can walk across these only
once, for they turn into walls as he walks over them.
There are four different types of pushbuttons. Like keys and boots,
they are color-coded. Stepping on a pushbutton activates it.
The green buttons control the toggle walls. Toggle walls have dotted
green outlines, and they change between being open (passable, like any
other floor) and open (unpassable, a wall). When a green button is
pressed, the closed toggle walls are opened and the open toggle walls
are closed.
Brown buttons control bear traps. Anything that wanders into a bear
trap will be stuck there until the brown button connected to it is
pushed.
Blue buttons exercise some control over the tanks. Normally, a tank
moves directly forward until it hits an obstacle, whereupon it stops.
But when a blue button is pressed, all tanks turn around 180 degrees
and begin moving again.
The objects with the most potential for help and hindrance are the
clone machines, which are controlled by red buttons. Every clone
machine contains a dirt block, a tank, or some other creature. When the
clone machine's red button is pressed, a duplicate of whatever the
clone machine contains is created and set loose.
Once in a while there will also be hint buttons. These have a question
mark displayed on them. When Chip steps onto a hint button, a short bit
of information will be displayed in the lower right-hand area of the
window.
Here are some general hints for successful play:
* When moving dirt blocks around, take care not to shove them into cor‐
ners where you can't get them out again.
* On some of the more mazelike levels, you may need to sketch out a map
in order to solve it.
* Many of the creatures move in specific patterns (for example, as with
the tanks mentioned above).
* A number of the objects in the game will affect other creatures in
the same way they affect Chip.
* Remember that if you get trapped somewhere, you can always use Ctrl-R
to restart a level.
* When you find a level to be unusually difficult, take some time to
examine it carefully. Make sure you truly know what options are
available to you. In any case, keep trying. Occasionally the game
will give you the opportunity to skip a level that seems too hard.
PASSWORDS
Every level has a four-letter password. The password for a level is
shown in the information display at the upper-right of the window. The
obstensible purpose of passwords is to allow you to come back to a
level. Howver, normally you will never need to remember passwords, as
Tile World will automatically store the passwords for you. However, if
you somehow manage to learn the password of a level that you have yet
to achieve, you can use the password to gain early access to that
level.
SCORING
For each level in a set that you complete, the game awards 500 points
times the level's number. Furthermore, if the level is timed, an extra
10 points is added for every second left on the clock when you finish
the level. You can thus sometimes improve your score by returning to
already-completed levels and playing them again.
KEY COMMANDS
During game play, the arrows are the most important keys; they move
Chip through the level. The keys 2 4 6 8 on the numeric keypad can also
be used for the same purpose. Other keys have the following functions:
Bkspc pauses the game; press any key to resume play.
Ctrl-H same as Bkspc.
Ctrl-N stops the current game and moves forward to the next level.
Ctrl-P stops the current game and moves back to the previous level.
Q quits the current level.
Ctrl-R starts over at the beginning of the current level.
? pauses the game and displays a list of topics for which help is
available within the program.
V decreases the volume level. (If the volume level is reduced to
zero, then the program will display sound effects textually, as
onomatopoeia.)
Shift-V
increases the volume level.
At the start of a level, before game play begins, the following key
commands are available:
Q returns to the list of available level sets.
Spc starts the current level without moving (i.e., standing still).
N moves to the next level.
P moves to the previous level.
PgUp moves ahead ten levels.
PgDn moves back ten levels.
G displays a prompt and accepts a password, then jumps to the
level with that password.
Tab plays back the best solution for that level.
Shift-Tab
verifies the best solution for that level. If the solution is no
longer valid (e.g. because the level has been altered), the
solution will automatically be deprecated.
Ctrl-I same as Tab.
Shift-Ctrl-I
same as Shift-Tab.
O toggles between even-step and odd-step offset.
Shift-O
(Lynx-mode only) increments the stepping offset by one.
Ctrl-X deprecates the best solution for that level. If the level is
then succesfully completed again, the saved solution will be
replaced with the new one, whether or not it had a better time.
Shift-Ctrl-X
deletes the saved solution for that level. If confirmed, the
solution will be immediately removed from the solution file.
S displays the list of known levels and the score for each, as
well as the overall score for the level set. The score list dis‐
play also permits changing the current level by moving the
selection and pressing Enter.
Ctrl-S displays the list of solution files in the save directory whose
names start with the name of the current level set. From here a
different solution file can be selected.
? displays a list of topics for which help is available within the
program.
At every point in the program, the Q key will abort the current activ‐
ity and return to the previous display.
Finally, the program can be exited at any time by pressing Shift-Q.
(Ctrl-C or Alt-F4 will also force an immediate exit.)
RULESETS
Tile World contains emulators for two different versions of "Chip's
Challenge". They are referred to as the Lynx ruleset and the MS rule‐
set. The Lynx ruleset recreates the original implementation of the
game, and the MS ruleset recreates the version that was implemented for
Microsoft Windows (cf HISTORY).
The most notable difference between the two rulesets is that in the MS
ruleset, movement between tiles is instantaneous, whereas under the
Lynx ruleset motion occurs across several "ticks". (This probably
reflects the fact that the latter ran on dedicated hardware, while the
former ran on 33 MHz PCs under a non-preemptive multitasking OS.)
Although the basic mechanics of the game are the same under both rule‐
sets, there are also a host of subtle differences between the two.
Each level set file includes a flag that indicates which ruleset it is
to be played under. Some level sets can be played under both rulesets
(most notably, the original set of levels), but this is the exception.
ADDING NEW LEVEL SETS
Level sets are defined by data files. By convention these file are
named with a .dat extension. Typically the name proper contains the
author's first name, last initial, and a single digit -- for example,
EricS1.dat. (The digit is used to give the sequence in case the author,
for whatever reason, stores their creations in more than one file.)
When a new data file is obtained, it may simply be copied into the
level set directory (cf DIRECTORIES), and Tile World will then make it
available for playing.
An alternate method is to use a configuration file (see CONFIGURATION
FILES below).
COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS
tworld is normally invoked without arguments. The program begins by
displaying a list of the available level sets. After a level set is
chosen, the program jumps to the first unsolved level to begin play.
The available command-line options are enumerated in the following ta‐
ble. (Windows users: The options that cause the program to display
information on standard output actually go to a file named stdout.txt
instead.)
-a Double the size of the audio buffer. This option can be
repeated, so for example -aaa would increase the audio buffer
size eightfold.
-b Do a batch-mode verification of the existing solutions and exit.
Levels with invalid solutions are displayed on standard output.
If used with -q, then nothing is displayed, and the program's
exit code is the number of invalid solutions. Can also be used
with -s or -t to have solutions verified before the other option
is applied. Note that this options requires a level set file
and/or a solution file be named on the command line.
-D DIR Read level data files from DIR instead of the default directory.
-d Display the default directories used by the program on standard
output, and exit.
-F Run in full-screen mode.
-H Upon exit, display a histogram of idle time on standard output.
(This option is used for evaluating optimization efforts.)
-h Display a summary of the command-line syntax on standard output
and exit.
-L DIR Look for level sets in DIR instead of the default directory.
-l Write a list of available level sets to standard output and
exit.
-n N Set the initial volume level to N, 0 being silence and 10 being
full volume. The default level is 10.
-P Turn on pedantic mode, forcing the Lynx ruleset to emulate the
original game as closely as possible. (See the Tile World web‐
site for more information on emulation of the Lynx ruleset.)
-p Turn off all password-checking. This option allows the normal
sequence of levels to be bypassed.
-q Run quietly. All sounds, including the ringing of the terminal
bell, are suppressed.
-r Run in read-only mode. This guarantees that no changes will be
made to the solution files.
-R DIR Read resource data from DIR instead of the default directory.
-S DIR Read and write solution files under DIR instead of the default
directory.
-s Display the current scores for the selected level set on stan‐
dard output and exit. A level set must be named on the command
line. If used with -b, the solutions are verified beforehand,
and invalid solutions are indicated.
-t Display the best times for the selected level set on standard
output and exit. A level set must be named on the command line.
If used with -b, the solutions are verified beforehand, and
invalid solutions are indicated.
-V Display the program's version and license information on stan‐
dard output and exit.
-v Display the program's version number on standard output and
exit.
Besides the above options, tworld can accept up to three command-line
arguments: the name of a level set, the number of a level to start on,
and the name of an alternate solution file. If the name of an installed
level set is specified, then Tile World will start up in that set,
skipping the initial level set selection.
If the specified level set is not a simple name but is a pathname (rel‐
ative or absolute), then Tile World will use that level set only, with‐
out requiring that it first be installed. No solutions will be saved
unless an explicit solution file is also supplied on the command-line.
(If the command-line only specifies a solution file, then Tile World
will look up the name of the level set in the solution file.)
CONFIGURATION FILES
Configuration files are used to override some of the settings in a data
file, or to set values not provided for by the data file format. Con‐
figuration files are by convention named with a .dac extension. A con‐
figuration file is stored in the level set directory in the place of
the data file, which then goes into the data directory (cf DIRECTO‐
RIES).
The configuration file is a simple text file. The first line of a con‐
figuration file must have the following form:
file = DATAFILE
where DATAFILE is the filename of the data file. (Arbitrary whitespace
is permitted around the equal sign, but there cannot be any whitespace
embedded at the beginning of the line.) After this initial line, the
configuration file can contain any of the following lines:
usepasswords = y|n
This line permits password-checking to be enabled/disabled when playing
the levels in the set. The default is y.
ruleset = ms|lynx
This line allows the configuration file to override the ruleset setting
in the data file. This is mainly useful in the case where one level set
is playable under either ruleset (as is the case with the original
level set). The author can then provide one data file and two configu‐
ration files to make both versions available.
lastlevel = levelnum
This line marks an arbitrary level as being the last level in the set.
The game will stop when this level is completed, instead of proceeding
to the next level. (Note that if the data file contains any levels
beyond this one, they will only be reachable via a password.)
fixlynx = y|n
This line is specifically for use with the original level set. It is
not generally useful, and is described here only for completeness. The
chips.dat file that MS distributed with their version of "Chip's Chal‐
lenge" contained a few minor differences from the original level set as
appeared on the Lynx. A positive value for this entry instructs the
program to undo those changes, so that the original Lynx level set is
obtained. (The changes made in the MS version were: an extra level was
added; four passwords were garbled; and four or five levels' maps had
minor alterations.)
RESOURCES
Tile World loads various resources at runtime from its resource direc‐
tory (cf DIRECTORIES). These resources include the program's font,
graphic images, and sound effects. The actual file names are determined
by the contents of a file named rc (short for "resource configuration",
not "runtime commands") in the same directory.
The rc file is a plain text file, and contains lines of the form
resource = filename
where resource is a symbolic resource name, and filename is the name of
a file in the resource directory.
The resources can be set differently depending on the ruleset that the
program is using. A line in the rc file of the form
[ ruleset]
indicates that the lines that follow only apply when that ruleset is in
effect (where ruleset is either MS or Lynx). Resources that are defined
before any such line apply to both rulesets, and are also used as fall‐
backs if a ruleset-specific resource could not be loaded. (The font and
the text-color resources also need to have ruleset-independent values,
as these are needed when displaying the initial file list, before a
ruleset has been chosen.)
A line of the form
TileImages = FILENAME
identifies the file that provides the images used to draw the game.
These images are stored in a Windows bitmap. (See the Tile World web‐
site for more information about this resource.)
A line of the form
Font = FILENAME
identifies the file that provides the program's font. The font is
stored as a Windows bitmap. (See the Tile World website for more infor‐
mation about this resource.)
A line of the form
UnsolvableList = FILENAME
identifies the filename for the database of unsolvable levels. See
DATABASE OF UNSOLVABLE LEVELS below for more information about this
file. Note that this resource must be defined independent of the rule‐
set, or else it will be ignored.
Four resources define the colors used in rendering text:
BackgroundColor = RRGGBB
TextColor = RRGGBB
BoldTextColor = RRGGBB
DimTextColor = RRGGBB
The value of RRGGBB is a string of six hexadecimal digits defining the
red, green, and blue values of the color (as with the color specifica‐
tion used in HTML or X Windows, but without the preceding octothorpe).
The remaining resources all define the game's sound effects. The sounds
are stored as Microsoft RIFF files (so-called wave files). Unlike the
tile images, each sound effect is defined as a separate file. The com‐
plete list of symbolic resource names is as follows:
Sounds used in both rulesets
* LevelCompleteSound
* ChipDeathSound
* BlockedMoveSound
* PickupToolSound
* ThiefSound
* TeleportSound
* OpenDoorSound
* SocketSound
* SwitchSound
* BombSound
* SplashSound
Sounds used only under the MS ruleset
* TickSound
* ChipDeathByTimeSound
* PickupChipSound
Sounds used only under the Lynx ruleset
* TileEmptiedSound
* WallCreatedSound
* TrapEnteredSound
* BlockMovingSound
* SkatingForwardSound
* SkatingTurnSound
* SlidingSound
* SlideWalkingSound
* IceWalkingSound
* WaterWalkingSound
* FireWalkingSound
(Note that the symbolic names for the shared and MS-only sounds match
the names in the entpack.ini file used by the Microsoft program. This
makes it easy for someone with a copy of Microsoft's "Chip's Challenge"
to use the sound effects that were provided with that version of the
game.)
DATABASE OF UNSOLVABLE LEVELS
Of the many thousands of user-created levels that are publicly avail‐
able, there are some that are not possible to complete. Some of these
are intentionally so (e.g. requiring the player to deduce the password
to the next level). The remainder, however, are simply due to poor
design, and there is typically no indication that attempting to solve
these levels is fruitless.
To help alleviate this, Tile World comes with a database of levels that
have been identified by the community to be definitely unsolvable. When
the player visits a level that appears in this database, a warning is
displayed, and the password to the next level is automatically sup‐
plied.
The main database of unsolvable levels is stored in the resource direc‐
tory. In addition, a player can keep a separate database in a file of
the same name in the directory for solution files. If present, Tile
World will use the information from both of these files.
The offending levels are identified by content as well as by name and
number, so that updated versions will no longer be identified as
unsolvable. See the Tile World website for more information about the
format of this file, and to check for updates to the database.
DIRECTORIES
Tile World uses four different directories for storing external files.
The following list enumerates the directories and describes their pur‐
pose. The default directories that the program uses can be configured
at compile time. The directories can also be changed at runtime via
command-line options and/or environment variables (see below).
Sets This directory is used to hold the available level sets. The
files in this directory are either data files or configuration
files. (default for Linux: /usr/local/share/tworld/sets)
Data This directory is used to hold the data files that are refer‐
enced by configuration files. (default for Linux:
/usr/local/share/tworld/data)
Res This directory stores the graphics and sound files used by the
program. (default for Linux: /usr/local/share/tworld/res)
Save This directory is used for saving solution files. (default for
Linux: ~/.tworld)
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
Two environment variables can be used to override the program's built-
in defaults for which directories to use. They are as follows:
TWORLDDIR
Specifies a top-level directory, in which the program will look
for the resource, level set, and data file directories.
TWORLDSAVEDIR
Specifies a directory for saving solution files.
LICENSE
Tile World is copyright (C) 2001-2006 by Brian Raiter.
This program 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.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of mer‐
chantability or fitness for a particular purpose. See the GNU General
Public License for more details.
Please send bug reports to breadbox@muppetlabs.com.
HISTORY
"Chip's Challenge" was created by Chuck Sommerville, and was originally
written for the Atari Lynx handheld game console. ("Tile World" was his
working title for the game.) "Chip's Challenge" was published by Epyx
(the company who designed the Lynx before selling the rights to Atari)
in 1989, and was among the first set of games made available for the
Lynx.
"Chip's Challenge" was subsequently ported to several other platforms:
MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows (16-bit), Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, and
the Commodore 64. (A NES port was also planned, but never completed.)
The Windows port was different from most (perhaps all?) of the others
in that it was not done by the original team at Epyx. Instead it was
done by Microsoft and sold as part of Windows Entertainment Pack 4 (and
later as part of Best of Windows Entertainment Pack). In the process of
recreating the game for the 16-bit Windows platform, Microsoft intro‐
duced a surprising number of changes to the mechanics of the game. Some
were clearly intentional, some were done through ignorance or indiffer‐
ence, and others were simply bugs in the program. The programs in WEP4
came pre-installed on many PC computers sold during the 1990s, which is
part of the reason why this particular version became the most popular.
A small but fanatically loyal community of adherents to the game con‐
nected via a MSN chatroom (and later through the internet). A few mem‐
bers of this community managed to decipher the format of the MS game's
data file, and John K. Elion subsequently created a freeware level edi‐
tor, called ChipEdit. As a result there are now dozens of new level
sets, created by fans of the game and all freely available.
Atari discontinued support for the Lynx in 1994. When Epyx went under,
the rights to their games were purchased by Bridgestone Multimedia.
Responding to the success of "Chip's Challenge", Chuck Sommerville cre‐
ated a sequel ("Chip's Challenge 2"). The sequel included the original
game as a proper subset, and the company held the rights to both games.
Bridgestone Multimedia, who has now become Alpha Omega Publications,
unfortunately did not see fit to actually release "Chip's Challenge 2",
and by now it is highly unlikely that it ever will be released. Since
Chuck Sommerville no longer has rights to either game, and Microsoft no
longer sells either of the Entertainment Packs, the original "Chip's
Challenge" is no longer available except by purchasing a used copy of
one of the aforementioned Entertainment Packs (or by downloading an
illegal copy).
In 2001, the author began writing "Tile World" with the intention of
recreating a version of the MS game for the Linux platform. At the
encouragement of Chuck Sommerville, this project was expanded to
include the goals of recreating the original Lynx game as well, and
also making the program work under MS Windows in addition to Linux.
APPENDIX: NOTES ON NOMENCLATURE
"Chip's Challenge" has seen several incarnations. Each had its own
graphical rendering, and thus many of the objects in the game are known
by more than one name. For example, the four types of boots in the MS
version of the game were known as fire boots, flippers (for water),
skates (for ice), and suction boots (for force floors). In the original
Lynx version, however, they were not even boots -- the four tools were
fire shields, water shields, cleats, and magnets, respectively.
Several of the creatures have seen a variety of names. The list of
creatures given in OVERVIEW OF THE GAME corresponds to the MS version
of the game. In the original Lynx version, the paramecia were cen‐
tipedes instead. In still other versions of the game, gliders were
referred to as ghosts or sharks, fireballs were flames, and teeth were
called frogs. (You will also occasionally see bugs referred to as bees,
and walkers referred to as dumbbells.)
Finally, the thief tile was called a spy in the MS version.
None of this information is needed in order to play the game, but it
helps to explain the titles of some of the user-created levels.
Tile World Mar 2006 tworld(6)
