Feature info

From Sokoban Wiki

Multi-player mode

This modality is useful for the competitions, each user can have his own configurations. As the personalization, with their scores, personal information, as the option of sending their solutions via e-mail.

These are options for the soko-programs that point, to give the option for competitive players that participate in the challenges of internet.

A program with this feature is Sokonline.

Compare high-scores

At first, this feature is focused to put in a list to all the high-scores of the users. Specify for the programs, with multi-player mode.

A program with this feature is 'Sokoban for Windows'.

Level scrolling

levels larger than window: scrolling
levels larger than window: scrollbars

Briefly, the first line is there to give a program the chance to tell that it has a scroll feature, and the second line is there to tell if the program does it the right way - with scrollbars.

Since the first graphical user interfaces emerged, scrollbars have been used for depicting the situation where a document doesn't fit in the window, so the user can rightfully expect to find that logic (or something equally user-friendly) in a Sokoban program as well.

Therefore, it's embarrasing for programs that requires scrolling if they don't have scrollbars or something equivalent. The line "levels larger than window: scrollbars" must be listed so readers can see this major design flaw, and so new programmers are reminded that they definitely should do better.

On the other hand, Sokofan deserves credits for at least having a scroll feature, despite the fact that it's not done the right way with scrollbars. The user doesn't get any visible clue that the board is bigger than the window, and the user must read the instructions to find the keyboard and mouse/key combinations that controls the scrolling.

So the line "levels larger than window: scrolling" is there to give Sokofan a chance to tell that it indeed has a scroll feature, even though it's not as user-friendly as the user rightfully can expect from a good Sokoban clone.

-bd

Dynamic background

Explanation: This is for the users that look for to always have a different background.
It is applied to the following events in the program:
1) Change background on program start.
2) Change background after solving to level.
One can also choose the mode in that the background will be changed, taking the next, previous and random image of the backgrounds directory.

The program that innovated with this feature is SokoMind.

Choice points

A choice point in the game is when the player changes from one box to another, or finishes a series of moves that pushed a box in a single direction.

Several programs have replay features related to choice points. Sokofan, for example, has replay buttons (called "smart do/undo") to move from one choice point to another. Another example is the game history browser in Sokoban YASC which works with choice points instead of individual moves.

Simple deadlock detection

Simple deadlock detection deals with deadlock types that require rather simple analysis of the board and the game state. Good examples are:

• Dead squares

• Freeze deadlocks

Advanced deadlock detection

Advanced deadlock detection deals with deadlock types that require quite sophisticated computations. Good examples are:

• Bipartite deadlocks

• Corral deadlocks

Import levels from internet

HTML files
Really, it is only to open or import from the clipboard, html pages that they have inside, code xsb(levels).
This option, is not very frequent, but this inside 'Import of level(s) from internet'.

Export levels to internet

This feature can be used to publish level(s) in a web-site.
The export can have different variants:

Generating the strings with code HTML:
to be copied to the clipboard, or directly to save a page.

Saving as page, this can contain :
- only hyper-links for the level download.
- miniatures or images snapshots of each level.

Maximal boxes limited by map size

There is no limit to the number of boxes. The limit is that imposed by the size of the map.

(The table uses the term "unlimited" here. In this context, it means the same, and it avoids burdening the reader with unnecessary details like "limited by mapsize".)

Lowerbound of solution length regarding pushes

For solving a level all boxes have to be pushed to goals. A program can calculate the distance of every box to the nearest goal. While doing this it's persumed only one box is on the board (hence the box hasn't to be pushed around other boxes or something like that). The sum of all these box distances to their goals results in a lowerbound - no matter how the boxes are pushed to their goals the level can never be solved with less than the calculated number of pushes. Some programs can calculate a lowerbound for the solution length (in pushes):
number of pushes so far + sum of all box distances to their nearest goals (persumed no other boxes are on the board).
This lowerbound can be useful in levels like the "Kobus Theron"-levels.