This is the manual for Sokoban 3D. Information on registering your copy, contacting the author, version history, reporting bugs, distribution permissions, and other stuff is located in the "Read Me" file that accompanies this game.
If you're already familiar with 2D implementations of Sokoban, you should skip to Getting Started or just start up the game and figure it out on your own. You may want to read the "Tips" section if you're running on a slow Mac or if you're having trouble finishing some levels.
Contents
•Overview
•System Requirements
•What is Sokoban?
•What is Sokoban 3D?
•Getting started
•Players and the Players Menu
•Sets and the Sets Menu
•Levels and the Game Menu
•Map Mode
•Preferences
•Writing Your Own Levels
•Tips
•What to Do If You're Addicted
Overview
Sokoban 3D is a game in which you are a warehouse manager trying to push a bunch of boxes in your warehouse onto some pallettes. The problem is that the boxes are very heavy, and your warehouse has a strange, maze-like layout. Since the boxes are so heavy, you can only push them and not pull them. And since the warehouse is so poorly designed, you have to do some tricky logical negotiating to get the boxes onto their pallettes.
System Requirements
Sokoban 3D requires System 7 or higher and Color Quickdraw. It is a fat application so it will run on 68K Macs and native on PowerMacs. It requires at least 256 colors to run. Because of the graphically-intensive nature of the game, it requires at least 1.5 megs of RAM, depending on your monitor's number of colors. On older Macs, like those with a 68030 or earlier processor, the game may run a bit slowly but it should still work (I've tested it on a IIci running System 7.1 and it works fine).
Here are the specific memory requirements. You can change the partition size appropriately if Sokoban 3D uses too much memory for your monitor or doesn't have enough memory:
•Less than 256 colors: Sokoban 3D is not optimized for any monitors using less than 256 colors. It should still run on such monitors but the graphics won't look right.
•256 colors: Set the partition size to at least 1600K.
•Thousands of colors: Set the partition size to at least 2500K.
•Millions of colors: Set the partition size to at least 4500K.
If you are using Sokoban 3D on a high-resolution monitor with, for instance, millions of colors, and the game crashes, you should make sure that the partition is set to at least the value given above. To set the partition size, select the Sokoban 3D icon from the Finder and choose "Get Info" or press command-I. In the lower right corner of the info box you can type in a new partition size.
What is Sokoban?
Sokoban means "warehouse manager" in Japanese. As described in the "Overview" above, the game involves pushing boxes around a maze until they end up on pallettes. Since you can only push (not pull) the boxes, if you push one into a corner you won't be able to get it out again and you must either undo the push or restart the level.
Sokoban comes with a series of levels, each level having a different warehouse layout. There are several "sets" of levels that are commonly used and users can also design their own levels in most implementations.
According to Scott Lindhurst, the author of one of the Macintosh implementations, Sokoban was originally a commercial game on NEC computers in Japan. It was then ported to Unix machines and MS-DOS. There are at least two Windows versions of the game and three Macintosh versions. The Macintosh versions are all excellent and I encourage people to download them and try them out. They are "Sokoban" by Scott Lindhurst, "MacSokoban" by Ingemar Ragnemalm, and "JSokoban" by Jason Townsend. The latest versions are all available at the InfoMac archives and other Macintosh shareware and freeware archives.
What is Sokoban 3D?
Sokoban 3D is a more challenging and more graphically intense version of the classic Sokoban game. It has the same goal as the classic game (pushing boxes to their pallettes) but you view the warehouse from a first-person, three-dimensional perspective rather than the classic top-down, two-dimensional perspective. This makes the game more challenging since you can't see all of the warehouse at the same time.
Getting Started
Double-click on the Sokoban 3D icon and the game will start. It may take a couple seconds to load up and then, if this is your first time playing Sokoban 3D, it will ask you to enter your name. Enter your name and the game will start.
You will see a picture of your view from inside the maze. Use the arrow keys or the numeric keypad to move around. If a box is in front of you and you move forward, that box will be pushed forward one square if there isn't a wall or another box on the other side. Try exploring the warehouse and pushing some boxes around.
Somewhere in the warehouse there are a bunch of grey squares on the floor. These are pallettes. If you are just starting on the first level, the pallettes are located in a room that is forward and to the right of the starting position.
The goal of the game is to push the boxes on top of these pallettes. When a box is pushed onto a pallette, the pallette will change from gray to green. When all of the boxes are on the pallettes, you will have completed that level and the next level will begin.
Many times while you're playing Sokoban 3D, you might accidentally push a box into a position from which you can no longer push the box, such as a corner. If this happens, press command-Z or choose "Undo" from the Edit Menu. This will undo your move. You can Undo all your moves back to the beginning if you want, although it is easier to just press command-R or choose "Start This Level Over" from the Game Menu to begin again. (Note: there is currently a limit of 8100 Undos so on a complicated or large level that requires lots of moves, you may not be able to Undo them all.)
If you get confused by the layout of the warehouse, you may want to press command-M or choose "Map" from the Game Menu. If you do this, a little map will be displayed to the right of the main screen. This map will show you a top-down view of all the parts of the warehouse that you have seen in the 3-D view.
Players and the Player Menu
Sokoban 3D stores information on how which levels you've completed in player files. These files are located in the "Players ƒ" folder which should be in the same folder as the Sokoban application itself. All the player files in the "Players ƒ" folder are listed in the Player Menu. To add a new player file, choose "New Player" from this menu. To delete a player file, choose "Delete Player." The player you are currently using is marked with a check mark in the menu. To use a different player, just select that player from the Player Menu.
Sets and the Sets Menu
The levels in Sokoban 3D are organized into sets. Each set is a collection of levels. When you first start playing Sokoban, it will automatically load the "Original" set. This set is built-in to the game and consists of the 50 levels that were part of the original Sokoban game. If you want to use a different set, you can choose that set from the Sets Menu.
The Sets Menu lists all the sets that Sokoban 3D currently knows about. Two sets are built-in to the game: "Original," and "Extra." In addition, sets can be added to Sokoban 3D using set files. Set files are located in the "Sets ƒ" folder which, like the "Players ƒ" folder, should be located in the same folder as the game itself.
If Sokoban 3D finds any set files in the "Sets ƒ" folder, it will add them to the Sets Menu. You can use these sets by selecting them from the menu. This release of Sokoban 3D should come with a couple extra set files.
Levels and the Game Menu
Within each set, there is a list of levels. You start playing the set at the first level and once you've completed that level you move up to the next level, etc. If you want to move back to a level you've already completed, you can choose "Go Back a Level" from the Game Menu. To go forward to a level you've already completed, you can choose "Go Forward a Level." To go to a specific level, choose "Go to Level" and type the number of the level to which you want to go. You can not go to levels that are beyond your highest completed level.
You can start a level over by choosing "Start this level over," and you can turn on and off the map by choosing "Map".
Map Mode
When the map is on, the screen will be extended to the right and you will see a little map of the warehouse from a top-down, two-dimensional perspective. You'll also see some information on the set, level, number of box-pushes you've done and number of moves overall.
The map will only give you information about areas of the warehouse you've already seen in the 3D view. The advantage of the map is that it remembers what you've already seen so you can get some idea of the overall layout without having to write it all down on a piece of paper.
If you feel you must use the map mode (real Sokoban 3D players don't use the map mode -- just kidding), then when you start a new level you should explore around without pushing boxes to establish as much of the map as you can before beginning. In some levels, you still won't be able to see some critical information you need to complete the level. In these cases, you should try exploring around, pushing a few boxes and then undoing -- the map will remember what you saw before the undo.
Preferences
There are three preferences that you can change by selecting "Preferences" from the File Menu. The first is the sound which you can turn on and off. The second preference determines whether the map will be on or off when you start the game. The third determines whether or not the screen scrolls when you turn right or left. On slower Macs, you may want to turn off the scrolling preference because it will speed up game play. Also, if your machine is slow, the scrolling can look kind of weird.
Writing Your Own Levels
In this version, I have not yet implemented a program for editing set files and writing your own levels. However, if you're handy with ResEdit, you can do it anyway. See the accompanying "Writing your own levels" file for more information.
Tips
Some of these tips are mentioned elsewhere in the manual but I thought I should highlight them here.
If you're playing on a slower machine, the scrolling that happens when you turn right and left in the warehouse might not look very good and might slow down game play quite a bit. You can turn it off in the preferences (choose "Preferences" from the file menu).
On some levels, you won't have all the information you need to complete the level the first time through because you won't be able to see some critical part of the warehouse. You can overcome this through either trial-and-error with a lot of undoing or you can turn on the map mode and explore around while pushing boxes and, again, undoing. The map will remember where you've been even if you've undone the move.
Some extra tips:
•Never push boxes so that two of them are next to each other along a wall -- you'll never be able to push them anywhere again.
•Don't always try the shortest path from the box's position to the pallette. Sometimes you have to do counter-intuitive things.
•Be aware of areas that could get blocked-off. Sometimes if you push a box into a hallway, you'll never be able to move through that hallway again.
•Try to determine how many boxes can fit into a room so that they can all be pushed out again. Never put more than that number of boxes in a room. For instance, a three-by-four room can hold at most three boxes and possibly fewer depending on where the entrance(s) is(are). Also, in a room, be aware of the placement of the boxes: don't put any against a wall unless you can push it to the entrance from that position.
•Four boxes in a square formation can never be unstuck; always try to keep large numbers of boxes in a line formation or a "T" or "L" shape away from a wall.
•When stuck, look at all the pushable boxes and what will happen if you push each one. Sometimes you'll find that there is only one push that won't mess you up.
What to Do If You're Addicted
Warning! Sokoban 3D can be extremely addictive! If you find that you are spending WAY too much time playing Sokoban 3D, you should follow these steps:
First, acknowledge you have a problem.
Second, pay the shareware fee since it has obviously provided you with hours of fun and enjoyment. See the accompanying "Read Me" file for information on how to do that.
Third, download a copy of "Addiction Manager" from your favorite Macintosh archive. Addiction Manager is a program I wrote that helps people manage addiction to computer games, the internet, and other stuff by allowing you to set time-of-day restrictions on your games and applications. The latest version (when I wrote this manual) is Addiction Manager 1.0. You can send me e-mail at gherrick@kagi.com for more information.
This was the manual for Sokoban 3D. Information on registering your copy, contacting the author, version history, reporting bugs, distribution permissions, and other stuff is located in the "Read Me" file that accompanies this game.
