Petris

1. SYNOPSIS
2. REQUIREMENTS
3. FILES
4. INSTALLATION
5. CHANGES
6. COPYRIGHT
7. NOTES


1. SYNOPSIS

Standard tetris clone with extra options.

This is the classic version of tetris. It has some enhancements (which can be
switched off), including patterns (layouts) of predetermined blocks already on
the board, changeable board sizes, changeable speed and extra shapes. You can
add new layouts and shapes easily.

On-line help is provided - start up the game and click the Help button or press F1. 


2. REQUIREMENTS

Perl 5.004
Tk 400.202
Linux/X windows or Win32

MesgBox.pm (available from wherever you got petris)

The game was developed under Debian GNU/Linux 2.0.

~60K disk space.


3. FILES

README
debian-menu
tk-text.pl
petris
petris-action.pl
petris-board-commands.pl
petris-board.pl
petris-button-commands.pl
petris-buttons.pl
petris-consts.pl
petris-help.pl
petris-icon-16x16.xpm
petris-keys.pl
petris-layouts.pl
petris-options.pl
petris-opts.pl
petris-shapes.pl

Petris will create a directory in your home directory called '.games' and a
file in that directory called 'petrisrc'. On Win32 machines it will create
a file called 'PETRIS.INI' in the directory it is invoked from.


4. INSTALLATION

Note that Petris can be installed pretty well anywhere - the only restriction
is that all the petris* files must be together in the same directory.

# Create the directories.
mkdir /usr/games
mkdir /usr/games/petris

# Copy the tar.gz to the game directory.
cp petris-VERSION.tar.gz /usr/games

# Change to the games directory.
cd /usr/games

# Unpack the archive using method A or B:
# Method A for those using GNU tar
tar xvfz petris-VERSION.tar.gz
# Method B for those not using GNU tar
gunzip petris-VERSION.tar.gz
tar xvf petris-VERSION.tar

# Change to the petris directory.
cd petris

# Make sure petris is executable.
chmod a+x petris

# If this is an upgrade from a previous version and you're not using Win32
# then keep your options.
mv ~/.games/petris-opts ~/.games/petrisrc

# Optional. If you want petris to appear on your X menu do the following:
cp debian-menu /etc/menu/petris
update-menus

# Note that the name of the file supplied, 'debian-menu', is changed in the
# move to 'petris'. Note also that if you haven't used the paths given here you
# must change the command path in /etc/menu/petris. The addition to the menu
# will only appear when the window manager is restarted.

# To run petris from the command line:
/usr/games/petris/petris &

# You could always either alias this or use a soft link to a directory on the
# path to save typing the whole path. Note that 'deprecated' error messages
# which appear are harmless and can be ignored.


5. CHANGES

1999/01/23  Modified options so that the program need not exec itself when the
            board size is changed. Also improved modularisation.

1999/02/02  Corrected a mistake that stopped buttons working with the mouse.
            Made the game 'friendlier' to Win32 machines.

1999/02/23  Changed to use MesgBox dialog - should now work properly under
            Windows.

1999/03/13  Minor tidying to Help and Options dialogues; added the option
            which allows you to decide whether or not to intersperse random
            layouts between predefined ones if using layouts.

1999/03/18  Minor documentation changes to suit CPAN scripts area.

1999/04/21  Included MesgBox.pm to make the .tar.gz file complete.

1999/08/07  Minor fixes for Win32. Also Linux options file has been renamed
            .petrisrc to be more conventional.

1999/08/08  Changed licence to GPL.

1999/08/28  Added `left handed' keystrokes; changed help into pod and now use
            my standard render pod routines from tk-text.pl.

1999/09/06  Removed MesgBox.pm at Lupe Christoph's (CPAN) request. You must
            pick this module up separately now (although old versions will
            work fine if you've already got one).


6. COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) Mark Summerfield 1998/9. All Rights Reserved.
Petris may be used/distributed under the GPL.

Contact: <summer@chest.ac.uk> - please include 'petris' in the
subject line. 


7. NOTES

When I installed Debian Linux I was surprised to find that no Tetris was
supplied. I felt this was a gap that I would like to fill. After developing
Snake in a way that I felt would lend itself to the development of other
'graph-paper' games, I decided to put it to the test and so developed this
version of Tetris. I have called the game Petris because Andreas Koenig
pointed out that Tetris was probably a trademark - the name Petris was
suggested by Jarkko Hietaniemi. I think that the code supplied here could be
adapted to many other 'graph-paper' games. 

To customise by adding new shapes edit the petris-shapes.pl file (after making
a backup and reading the comments first of course!) Similarly to add new
layouts edit petris-layouts.pl.


