figure 1: The Main Screen

The Main Screen

You should be able to run HMCS by simply double clicking on the jar file. When you do, the program will open a blank set of levels as shown in figure 1. As you can see, a Holeman set is made up of 8 levels. When playing the applet version of Mr. Holeman the levels must be completed in order with a limited number of lives. Details on setting up a Holeman applet will be covered in the Open Source Release of Mr. Holeman (which will be released sometime in 2005 so keep checking the BlazingGames.com site if you are interested in the applet version). The construction set also allows you to play through levels, but you are able to select any level within a set to play. Of course, before you can play a level from a set, you need a set to be loaded. This requires the use of the game’s menus so let’s go over the menu bar.

 

The File menu has all the options for managing files and has half a dozen commands:

• New Creates a new set. This is a blank set which consists of eight empty levels. This happens to be an identical state to when the program has been started.
• Open Set... Lets you open an existing set. It does this by bringing up a file selection dialog box. This is the standard file dialog box that your operating system uses. If you need information on how to use this, read the manual for your operating system.
• Save Set Saves the current set using the last saved filename. This will overwrite the previous save. If you have not previously saved the set, this command acts the same as the Save Set As command. I should point out that as a safety mechanism, when you open a file, the program treats it as if you have not provided a save file so you are forced to explicitly overwrite existing files that you have just opened. When I develop levels I tend to keep historic versions of the file so that I can always fall back on a previous version if something bad happens.
• Save Set As... Lets you save the current set. It does this by bringing up a file selection dialog box. This is the standard file dialog box that your operating system uses. If you need information on how to use this, read the manual for your operating system. If you name the file as something that already exists, you will be prompted to verify that you wish to overwrite the existing file.
• Quit Lets you exit the program. You can also quit the program by closing the window.
• List This is a special menu item that lets you return to the main game screen.

The second menu item is the size menu. It is a holdover from the original applet version as the original applet version of this game used a 320x200 frame as opposed to my current standard frame size of 640x480. The application version supports both a small and large size, with the large size being the default. Both sizes work the same, but the larger size is bigger so it is easier to work with. A checkmark should be beside the currently selected mode.

The speed menu lets you control the speed of the game for the test mode and play mode. A checkmark should be beside the currently selected speed. It is best to set the speed to what speed you would normally play the game.

That covers the menu. The main window of the game is broken into eight rows of buttons. Each row consists of an information button that shows the name of the level followed by edit, test and play buttons. The information button contains details about the level (the details that would be shown to people playing the applet version between each level) and will be discussed in the last section. The edit button is used for editing levels. If a level has been locked, you can not select this button for that level (more on locking levels in the last section). Testing and playing are fairly similar. The big difference is that when you are testing a level, trap doors are visible. This leads nicely into the next section on playing the game.