SUPERBREAK(6D) SUPERBREAK(6D)
NAME
superbreak - A three dimensional version of the popular
breakout video game
SYNOPSIS
/usr/demos/superbreak [h][-r <bricks/side>][-l <layers>] [-c
<chances>][-p
DESCRIPTION
This game was designed as an extension of the popular video
game, breakout. In this game the player controls a paddle
with the mouse. A ball is released upon pressing the left
mouse button. Once the ball is in play, the player must
keep it from reaching the bottom of the playing area by
manuvering the paddle underneath the ball. If successful the
ball will reflect up toward a multi-colored wall made of
square bricks. When the ball hits a brick the brick vanishes
and the ball reflects back the way it came. Each brick is
worth a fixed number of points.
When the player misses a ball the bell is rung and the
number of balls left is decremented. A new ball may be put
into play by pressing the left mouse button. The player is
given five balls with which to score the most points. After
all five balls are depleated the game is reset and all the
options, except the number of windows, are brought back to
their initial values.
Because of the three dimensional aspect of this version of
breakout, many options are provided to assist the player.
The options controling the overall "difficulty" of the game
are set on the command line. The options controlling the
visual quality of the game are set through pop-up menus
displayed upon depressing the right mouse button. In addi-
tion, the ball may be frozen at any time by holding down the
middle mouse button.
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
The following options are provided to the player on the com-
mand line. Any, none, or all of them may be used when invok-
ing the game. If you get confused just stick with the de-
faults by running superbreak with no options.
h this prints a usage help statement
-r <bricks/side> this sets the ratio of the number of
bricks per side. The default is 5, the range is from 1 to
7.
-l <layers> this sets the number of brick layers. The de-
fault is 4, the range is from 1 to 4.
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-c <chances> this sets the number of chances, or balls, a
player gets. The default is 5, the range is from 1 to 10.
-p <paddle %> this sets the size of the paddle relative to
the size of the bounding cube. The default is 20, the range
is from 1 to 100.
-b <ball %> this sets the size of the ball relative to the
largest possible ball size. The default is 10, the range is
from 1 to 100.
-f <friction %> this sets the friction of the paddle. The
default is 20, the range is unbounded.
POP-UP MENU OPTIONS
The following options are provided to the player using pop-
up menus:
stay still - this maintains the current viewing position,
regardless of viewing mode. This is most helpful when using
the follow mouse viewing option described below. Once the
viewing position is held fixed, the player is free to mani-
pulate the paddle without altering the current viewing posi-
tion. The stay still option can also be used in other view-
ing modes to create interesting effects.
follow mouse - this allows the player to circle around the
playing area using the mouse. Moving the mouse left and
right, circles left and right. Likewise moving the mouse up
and down, circles up and down.
follow paddle - in this mode the player views the playing
area from the paddle's perspective. This is often a excel-
lent viewing position. In this mode, and whenever the play-
ing field is viewed from behind the paddle, the paddle ap-
pears transparent in order to judge its position relative to
the ball and bricks.
follow ball - in this mode the player views the playing area
from the ball's perspective. This viewing position makes it
entirely impossible to play, but looks really neat. A player
should only use this option in conjunction with the auto on
option described below.
three views/one view - this option toggles between having
one viewing mode in one window (the default), and three
views in three separate windows. When in three views mode
the main window will show the follow mouse view, the second
window will show the follow paddle view, and the third win-
dow will show the follow ball view. The player may switch
between these options as often as wanted. Because of the
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added computation, having three views on the screen does
slow down the game, but again looks really neat.
auto off/auto on - this toggles between automatic, computer
controled, mode (the default), and player controled mode. In
automatic mode the computer automatically keeps the paddle
directly under the ball at all times. This significantly
reduces the difficulty of the game, but frees the user to
demonstrate various display modes, features and views while
keeping the ball in play. Automatic mode is almost in-
dispensible when using the follow ball option.
clear bricks/opaque bricks - this toggles between opaque
bricks (the default), and transparent bricks. Transparent
bricks allow the player to see the ball even when positioned
behind bricks. The effect is quite pleasing.
reset - this option resets the game.
exit - this option exits the game. The player must confirm
the intention to exit before the game is terminated. The
game may also be exited at any time, without confirmation,
by hitting the escape key.
AUTHOR
Eric Brechner - 07/29/86
ORIGIN
Silicon Graphics, Inc.
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