[Kde-games-devel] Module policy for kdegames4

[Ian Wadham]

On Thu, 1 Feb 2007 05:12 am, Matt Williams wrote:
> On Wednesday 31 January 2007 00:42:34 Ian Wadham wrote:
> > On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 07:53 am, Matt Williams wrote:
> > > On Tuesday 30 January 2007 02:08:43 Ian Wadham wrote:
> > > > On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:42 pm, Matt Williams wrote:
> > > > > I was wondering if it would be possible for KSquares to be looked
> > > > > at for inclusion in KDE Games 4? ... <snip> It's currently residing
> > > > > in /trunk/playground/games/ksquares and is fairly mature already.
> >
> > I'll build it and try it out.
>
OK, I've done that.  I checked out /trunk/playground/games, made a
games_build directory, entered it and did "cmakekde".  KSquares
compiled, built and installed perfectly ... even the Handbook got
installed ... so you obviously have a good grasp of such things,
much better than mine ... ;-)

The rules of the game are very simple and are stated in the
two-line description, but the game itself is quite tricky and
addictive, as Mauricio has confirmed ...  You can also play a
4x4 game in under a minute, but presumably the length of
a game goes up proportionally to the area of the board.

As a game ... it is fun, exercises the mind, can be played in a
short time, is a classic, has a long history and has a background
in recreational mathematics, so I think it would be a worthy
candidate for inclusion in KDE Games.  I'm not sure if it should
go in Board Games or Puzzles, but probably the latter, along with
KJumpingCube.  Attached is a screenshot.

The game is not complex, so it has a simple user interface.  That said,
I think there is quite a bit of room for improvement.

1. In KDE Games, Game->New means a new round of the same game
and there is often another menu item to choose a game with different
parameters or rules (see Solitaire, KMahjongg, KShisen).  It is irritating
to have the dialog box come up every time you hit New. 

2. KSquares seems to be using KConfig to remember settings between
sessions and that's good.

3. Light bulb is the standard icon for Hint, so should not be used for
"AI" in Settings->Configure KSquares.  Also "AI" is not a good term from
a translator's or user's point of view.  We seem to use "Computer Player"
in other games.

4. Re hints, it might be nice, but not vital, to have a Hint action.

5. I think your settings menu items and startup dialog could be revamped and 
re-organised somewhat.  KJumpingCube has quite a good example, though
others might disagree ;-)  It is also nice to have commonly-changed settings
on a line by themselves in the Settings menu, even if they also appear in
Settings->Configure KSquares.  BTW, I prefer "KSquares Game Settings"
to "Configure KSquares".  I think it would be more understandable to
end-users, such as my wife or grandchild.

6. When the computer plays, it would be nice if it would appear to take
some time and highlight its move (e.g. by blinking for a second).

7. In the score dialog, I could not work out what "Global Score" means.
Don't tell me, but please make it something anyone could understand.
Also, that column gets chopped off when the dialog box opens.

8. A High Scores facility would be good, but I am not sure how you would
organise it when there are so many possibilities for board size and players.

9. Network play would be possible, but I have no feel for this, having
never played a game on a network.  It might be an overkill.  Would you
really hook up with someone just to play a game of KSquares?  What
do others think?  Dmitry ... Mauricio ... how about a 3-cornered contest:
Australia, Russia and Brazil? :-)

10. Save and load games might be an overkill.  Games do not last long.

11. Some specifics re the UI:
      a. "Fit board to view" is unnecessary.  It should be always on, IMO.
      b. "Draw lines in player's color" doesn't seem to do anything.  Should
          it be possible (desirable) for each player to draw lines in a
          different colour?
      c. I'd like players to have a choice of what colour, symbol, initial or
          whatever, to use as a marker for the squares they have captured.
      d. Should there be a keyboard mode of play?  I'd say no, but then
          I like to use the mouse for games ... :-)

12. Some specifics re the code:
     a. I hate the use of tabs for every indentation.  Some people in KDE
         use all-spaces, but it gives me RSI.  I prefer tabs with the UNIX
         default of 8 spaces and 4 spaces for indentation in between, but
         that is probably heresy ... ;-) NO correspondence entered into!
     b. You seem to have done Doxygen stuff, which is good.
     c. You seem to have i18n where required, which is good.
     d. I believe #include <config.h> is deprecated.
     e. You can use "foreach" to scan QLists now, but it is not mandatory.
     f. Have you done a "valgrind" check for memory leaks lately?

13. There's a Handbook (incomplete) in XML Docbook, as required.
I could not get it to open, but that's probably because of my incomplete
KDE4 setup.

All in all, a good job, Matt, and it should not be very difficult to polish
it up if the other KDE Gamers agree to accept it into the collection.

All the best, Ian W.




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