KGoldrunner"> ]> Ian Wadham

ianw@netspace.net.au

Marco Krüger 2003 Ian WadhamMarco Krüger &FDLNotice; 2005-12-10 2.0 &kgoldrunner;, a game of action and puzzle solving. Run through the maze, dodge your enemies, collect all the gold and climb up to the next level. KDE KGoldrunner &kgoldrunner; is an action game where the hero runs through a maze and dodges enemies You must guide the hero with the mouse or keyboard and collect all the gold nuggets, then you can climb up into the next level. Your enemies are also after the gold. Worse still, they are after you! They will kill you if they catch you! The problem is you have no weapon to kill them. All you can do is run away, dig holes in the floor to trap them or lure them into some area where they cannot hurt you. After a short time a trapped enemy climbs out of their hole, but if it closes before that, they will die and reappear somewhere else. If you have never played before, try the Tutorial game, which teaches you the rules and basic skills. Then try the Initiation game. Experts might enjoy the Challenge or Vengeance of Peter W games, but the Initiation game has 100 levels and some are very difficult. It is a good game for achieving a High Score. As you move to more advanced levels, you will find that &kgoldrunner; combines action, strategy, tactics and puzzle solving — all in one game. Good luck! Below is a typical game in progress. The hero (green) is at level 4 in the Advanced Tutorial game. The window's status bar shows how many lives they have left and how many points they have scored. It also shows that there is a hint available for this level (as there always is in tutorial games) and that the action is stopped (while taking this snapshot), but can be continued by pressing P or Esc. The hero started at the top left, dug a hole and dropped into a line of false bricks and gold where you can now see them falling. The enemy above them will fall into the hole, then climb out and be trapped up there till the end of the level. They could cause the hero some problems then, because that is where the hidden ladders appear when all the gold is gone. The hero has to use them to get to the next level. &kgoldrunner; typical game &kgoldrunner; typical game The enemy on the right is falling and carrying some gold. Notice their gold outline. The third enemy is about to come down a ladder to chase the hero. They will have to dodge both enemies when they reach the floor ... This level also shows diggable bricks and undiggable concrete and has lots of traps (false bricks), which look just like ordinary bricks. When the &kgoldrunner; window appears, click on the name of one of the games in the list displayed, then click on the Start Game button. Level 1 of the game you selected will appear and the mouse pointer will be over the hero. You start play by moving the mouse, clicking the mouse or pressing any key that can control the hero (⪚ Space), but avoid using Q, S, P or &Esc; at this stage. You start each level in the same way. You have five lives at the start and gain a bonus life for each level completed. By default you control the hero (green) with the mouse, but you can also control them with the keyboard (see below). They move towards wherever you place the mouse pointer. They cannot move as fast as you can move the mouse, but they will try hard to catch up. If the mouse pointer is above or below their level, they will always go up or down when there is a ladder available or a place to fall into. Otherwise they will move horizontally until they are above, below or right at the mouse pointer. You can make them follow simple paths (like _ | L or U), but be careful not to get too many twists and turns ahead of them. You can move left or right over bricks, concrete, ladders or bars and up or down over ladders. If you are on an empty square or a gold nugget and there is no brick, concrete, ladder or bar to hold you up, gravity takes over and you fall. You can also fall by moving down from a bar or the bottom of a ladder, so keep the mouse pointer up there if you want to hold on. If you prefer, you can use the keyboard to control the hero. The default keys are the arrow keys and I, J, K and L (in honor of the original Apple II game), with the keys Z and C or U and O for digging. You can play one-handed by using U, I, O, J, K, L and Space (on a QWERTY keyboard) or two-handed by using the arrow keys, Space, Z and C. You can also choose other keys, on the Settings menu, if you have the &kde; desktop version of &kgoldrunner;. You enter keyboard mode by pressing one of the keys that can control the hero or by selecting Keyboard Controls Hero on the Settings menu. The movement keys (I, J, K, L or arrows) start the hero moving up, down, left or right. They continue moving in that direction, if they can, until you press another movement key or Space to stop. In mouse mode, they stop automatically when they gets to the mouse pointer. A word of warning: using the keyboard is much harder, in the long run, than using the mouse. Think of the mouse as a joystick. You can stop the game at any time by pressing a Pause key (either P or &Esc;). You can resume by pressing the P or &Esc; key again. There is also a Pause option in the Game menu, but the problem is to get up there without moving the hero and getting into trouble. When you want to use the &kgoldrunner; menu or do some work in another window, always press a Pause key and stop the game. Otherwise the hero will go on following the mouse pointer and might get into trouble. The object of the game is to collect all the gold, by moving or falling onto it. When there is none left, you must move to the top of the playing area to get to the next level. Often, as you collect the last piece of gold, hidden ladders will appear and you can use them to climb to the top. False bricks, otherwise known as fall-through bricks or traps, are the other hidden feature of the game. They look just like ordinary bricks, but if you run over one you fall. This can be bad if there is an enemy or a pit down there, or good if there is some gold. Enemies move in very much the same way as the hero. The main difference is when they fall into a hole the hero has dug (see Rules of Digging below). They will pick up gold either always or at random, depending on the game settings, and will drop gold at random on brick, concrete or the top of a ladder. An enemy who is carrying gold has a gold outline. You must get the gold away from them before you can finish the level. If an enemy touches you or you move down onto one, you die and must start the level again, if you have any lives left. However, it is possible to walk or stand on an enemy's head and you can ride an enemy down when they are falling. Some advanced levels require such a move. As explained above, you can lose a level and a life by touching an enemy. You can also lose by getting caught in a dug brick when it closes. Otherwise you can commit suicide by pressing key Q or using the menu item GameKill Hero. Why would you want to do that? Well, sometimes you can get trapped in a place from which you cannot escape. You will stay imprisoned for ever unless you commit suicide! Digging is one of the most powerful tactics you have. To dig a hole in a brick to the left or right, just click the Left or Right mouse button, or use one of the digging keys (defaults Z, C, U, O.) You can dodge an oncoming enemy by digging a hole, waiting for him to fall in and then running quickly over their head. At the same time you can collect any gold they were carrying. Usually you can dig two holes to capture and run over two enemies who are close together, but this rarely works if the enemies are separated or there are more than two of them. You can kill enemies by digging enough holes in their path. It usually takes two or more holes to kill one enemy and up to eight or more holes to kill four or five. When enemies die, they reappear immediately, either where they started the level or near the top of the playing area, depending on whether the game follows &kgoldrunner; or Traditional rules and settings (see Choice of Rules). You click the Left or Right mouse button, to dig a hole to the left or right, or use the Z, C, U or O keys. Only bricks can be dug, not anything else. The hole will appear in the floor on one side or the other (&ie; below and to the left or right of the hero). You can be running, standing or falling when you dig. There must be an empty space or hole above the brick (&ie; no digging under a ladder, bar, gold, brick, concrete, false brick or enemy). The hero can move in any direction through dug holes, including falling right through a hole to escape an enemy. After a short time, dug holes close up, so you must use them quickly. Plan your digging in advance. There is no time to stop and think while you dig. Enemies are always captured if they fall into a dug hole and will always climb UP to get out of it. Their time in the hole is less than the time the hole stays open, so to kill enemies you usually have to dig several holes in quick succession. Enemies always give up gold as they fall into a hole, so you can quickly run onto the enemy's head and grab the gold before they climb out. Enemies will never fall down through a hole from above, but depending on the game rules and Settings, they can run horizontally into a dug hole and not be captured and can fall from there or run into another hole or run out of the hole. Several levels that follow Traditional rules depend on an enemy being able to run through a hole. You win by completing the last level in the game. You lose when your last life is gone. Either way, if you have achieved one of the ten highest scores for that game, you can record your achievement in the KGoldrunner Hall of Fame Start with 5 lives. Lose a life and repeat a level when the hero dies Gain a life when you complete a level 75 points for trapping an enemy 75 points for killing an enemy 250 points for collecting gold 1500 points for completing a level Most of the rules of &kgoldrunner; are covered in the section How to Play, however there are two major rule settings that affect the style of play: known as Traditional and &kgoldrunner;. It is important to know which settings are in force when you are playing a game. Many Traditional levels are impossible with &kgoldrunner; settings. Most &kgoldrunner; levels are easier with Traditional settings, but the Traditional games are no pushover. To make life easier, &kgoldrunner; automatically chooses the correct settings for a game when you go into it, but you can can change them if you wish. The main difference between Traditional and &kgoldrunner; settings is the method by which the enemies choose a path to the hero. In the Traditional search method, enemies look for vertical paths (ladders and falls) and they try to stay above the hero or at the same height. They go below them only as a last resort. The enemies make no attempt to chase the hero in the horizontal direction until they are at the same height and can find a horizontal path. This leads to situations where you can control enemies who are far away from you and make them work for you or at least keep out of your hair. The &kgoldrunner; method searches alternately for horizontal and vertical paths, which tends to keep the enemies over your side of the playing area and at about the same height (&ie; they are more aggressive and not so easy to manipulate). That leads to a more action-packed game, but with less opportunity for strategy and puzzle-solving. The other differences are listed below: In &kgoldrunner; play the enemies and hero always move at the same speed and bricks always take the same time to close. In Traditional play the game speed depends on the number of enemies in a level. The more enemies, the slower they run. The hero also becomes slower, but not so noticeably. In Traditional play, enemies always collect gold nuggets when they run into them. In &kgoldrunner; play it is a random choice. The enemies drop nuggets after a random time in both types of play. Enemies can run horizontally through holes in Traditional play but not in &kgoldrunner; play. The trick in several Traditional levels depends on releasing an enemy from behind a brick wall. When you dig away the bricks, they run out through the hole. When enemies die in &kgoldrunner; play, they go back to where they started the level. In Traditional play, they reappear at a random place near the top of the playing area. This makes a big difference, especially in levels where you have to get enemies to fetch nuggets down for you, but also because the enemies keep falling down onto you as fast as you can kill them. The Level Selection dialog The Level Selection dialog This box appears when the game starts and also when you select options from the Game or Editor menus. You use it to choose a game and a level to play, edit, save, move or delete. The main button at the bottom is the OK" button. Its label changes according to what you are doing: in this case choosing a game and level to edit. There are several System games that come with the &kgoldrunner; release and they appear at the top of the list box. If you have composed games and levels yourself, they appear below the System games. To select one of the games in the list, just click on its name. When you select a game, the dialog automatically shows what rule settings apply (see Choice of Rules) and how many levels there are. The More Info... button shows you further information about the game. When you are starting a game, the level is fixed at 001. In other cases, such as this example, you can choose a level. The default selection will be something reasonable, such as the last level you played or edited. You can select a level either by typing it in or by moving the slider. The arrows at the end increase or decrease the number by one. Also you can drag the slider with the left mouse button held down and change the number rapidly or you can change it by 10 if you click in the space to the left or right of the slider. As the level number changes, a preview of the level appears in the small preview window and the level's name (if it has one) appears below the slider. When you have chosen a game and a level, just click the main button at the bottom to proceed with your edit or play. Until you do that, nothing changes, so you can always click Cancel and go back to what you were doing earlier. Note that the game action is frozen while this dialog box appears, so you can continue playing where you left off if you choose Cancel. If you select an action on the Game or Editor menu and you were previously editing and had not saved your changes, you will get a message asking you to save, abandon or continue your work. The level selection dialog box for the new action will not appear until you have made a decision about your previous work. Note that the menus allow you to select and play or edit any level. If you start a game after level 1, that is OK, you will just not get such a high score. Dedicated players often prefer to play high-numbered levels for fun, rather than go for a high score, or they might like to train on higher levels before attempting a high score. If you select a System level for editing, that is OK too, but you must save it in one of your own games: not back in the System game. If it is a very difficult level, you might want to change it so that you don't go back to the start of the level every time you die. To see what this means, try the Challenge game, level 16, The Three Musketeers. That level has about ten difficult puzzles in it. When you have solved puzzle 1, you don't want to keep repeating it while you work on puzzle 2. The secret is to make an editable copy, then keep updating it and changing the hero's starting point, until you have solved all the puzzles. Then you can attempt the real thing. Game This menu contains options affecting game play, such as starting and finishing games, saving games, loading saved games, showing high scores and getting a hint (if available). The Game Menu also contains the Quit option. You can also quit by clicking the X at the top right of the &kgoldrunner; window. Editor This menu has everything you need to create your own games and levels and maintain them, including features to help you re-order levels or move them between games or to delete them when no longer needed. When you reorganize your levels, the level numbers in your game remain consecutive (no gaps) and the levels are automatically renumbered. When you are using the Game Editor a graphical toolbar with tool tip text appears under the menu bar. See the Game Editor for more details of how to create and edit &kgoldrunner; levels. Landscapes This menu offers you a choice of landscapes (actually color schemes) in which to play. All the landscapes have keyboard shortcuts, so you can actually change the landscape as the game is playing. Try Shift+A, to switch to the nostalgic Apple II landscape. Settings This menu has four groups of settings: the choice of mouse or keyboard control, the game-speed options, the choice of of &kgoldrunner; or Traditional playing rules (see Choice of Rules) and lastly the options to increase or decrease the size of the playing area. The current selections are checked. The settings are automatically selected when you start playing, but you can use this menu to vary them if you wish. On the &kde; desktop version of &kgoldrunner;, there is also an option to re-assign keyboard shortcuts and hero-control keys. Help The Help menu contains an option to get a hint (if available), access to the &kgoldrunner; Handbook (this document), About &kgoldrunner; and About &kde; (or About Qt Toolkit). In the &kde; desktop version, there is also an option to report a Bug or Wishlist item. If you would like to make a suggestion or you have some new levels to contribute, the current author's email address is in the About &kgoldrunner; menu item. &Ctrl;N GameNew Game... Shows the level selection dialog box, where you choose a game (which will start at level 1). &Ctrl;O GameLoad Saved Game... Brings up a table of previously saved games, sorted with the latest first. Each line lists the game, level, number of lives, score, day of week, date and time. If you select a line and click the OK button, that game starts at the beginning of that level, with the lives and score you saved. GamePlay Any Level... Shows the level selection dialog box, where you choose a game and a level to play. GamePlay Next Level... Shows the level selection dialog box with the game and level set to one more than previously. You can then choose to play that level or another. S GameSave Game... Saves the current game, level, lives and score. The option will only save the position and score as at the start of the current level. You can save when you are mid-way through a level, but &kgoldrunner; will still save the position (and score) as it was at the start of the level. You will receive a warning message about that. Before using this option, you must press a Pause key (P or &Esc;) to freeze the game as you move the mouse, but it is much easier to use the S key as a short-cut. &Ctrl;S GameSave Edits... This option is enabled only if you have been using the Game Editor. It brings up the level selection dialog box and lets you choose a level number and game in which to save your work. Its action is exactly the same as the Save Edits option on the Editor menu and the disk icon on the Editor toolbar. P or &Esc; GamePause Stops or restarts the game action. &Ctrl;H GameShow Highscores Shows a table of up to ten high scores for the currently selected game. Each line shows the player's rank and name, the level reached, the score achieved, the day of the week and the date. GameGet Hint If the current level has a hint, this option pops it up. The option is grayed out if there is no hint. The status bar also has a section to show you whether there is a hint for the current level. It is customary for championship and tutorial games to have a hint on every level. Q GameKill Hero Kills the hero when they are in a position from which they cannot escape. &Ctrl;Q GameQuit Terminates &kgoldrunner; immediately. If a game is in progress, it disappears forever (unless you have just saved it) and there is no check for a high score. If you were editing a level, you are given an opportunity to save your work. EditorCreate Level Shows the Editor toolbar and a blank playing area on which you can draw a new level. When done, use Save Edits to assign the new level to a game and level number. EditorEdit Any Level... Shows the level selection dialog box, where you choose a game and level to edit. You can choose a System game and level, but you get a warning that you can only save the edited level in one of your own games. EditorEdit Next Level... Shows the level selection dialog box with the game and level set to one more than current. You can then choose to edit that level or another. &Ctrl;S EditorSave Edits... Shows the level selection dialog box with appropriate default settings for saving a new or edited level. You can change the game and level number and achieve a Save As... effect. This dialog box has a special button, Edit Level Name and Hint, which shows a dialog box where you can add an optional name and hint to your level. EditorMove Level... This is a two-part operation. Before using Move Level, you must load a level to be moved by selecting it for play or edit. The Move Level option then shows the level selection dialog box, where you choose a new place for the loaded level. You can change both the game and the level number to move a level to another game or you can just change the level number to re-order levels within a game. You cannot move a System level. EditorDelete Level... Shows the level selection dialog box, where you choose a level to delete. You cannot delete a System level. EditorCreate Game... You need to use this option before you start creating your own &kgoldrunner; levels. It shows a dialog box where you can enter the name of a new game, a 1-5 character prefix for level-file names, the default rules for your game (&kgoldrunner; or Traditional) and an optional description or comment about the game. EditorEdit Game Info... Shows the level selection dialog box, where you choose a game to be edited, then shows the game information in a dialog box where you can edit the name, rules and description, but not the file name prefix, in case you have saved some levels. That is because the prefix is used in level-file names internally. &Shift;G Landscapes&kgoldrunner; Gives you the default &kgoldrunner; landscape, with red bricks and wooden ladders. &Shift;A LandscapesApple II Gives you a nostalgic look at the original Apple II game, as it was when you plugged your Apple II into your TV set — otherwise you had a monochrome monitor. Actually, the hero was white, the enemies had white pants and orange (flesh-tint) tops and the gold was white boxes with orange panels. The whole effect was fuzzier (a sort of hardware anti-aliasing), which made the bricks look almost three-dimensional — difficult to recreate on today's pin-sharp monitors. &Shift;I LandscapesIce Cave For fans of the movie Superman or the James Bond movie Die Another Day — or you can use it on a hot day. &Shift;M LandscapesMidnight For real &kgoldrunner; addicts, on those late-night sessions. &Shift;K Landscapes&kde; Kool Inspired by the icon colors on the &kde; desktop. SettingsMouse Controls Hero Sets mouse control of the hero (see Moving Around). SettingsKeyboard Controls Hero Sets keyboard control of the hero (see Keyboard Control). SettingsNormal Speed Sets normal game speed (12 units). SettingsBeginner Speed Sets beginner game speed (6 units, half of normal speed). SettingsChampion Speed Sets champion game speed (18 units, 1.5 times normal speed). + SettingsIncrease Speed Increases the game speed by one unit, up to a maximum of 24 units (twice normal speed). You can use the + key as a shortcut. - SettingsDecrease Speed Decreases the game speed by one unit, down to a minimum of 3 units (a quarter of normal speed). You can use the - key as a shortcut. SettingsTraditional Rules Sets Traditional default playing rules (see Choice of Rules). Settings&kgoldrunner; Rules Sets &kgoldrunner; default playing rules (see Choice of Rules). SettingsLarger Playing Area When &kgoldrunner; starts, it chooses the size of the playing area (in pixels), based on your screen's resolution (e.g. 1024x768). This option allows you to expand the playing area, up to a maximum, and enlarge all the corresponding graphics. SettingsSmaller Playing Area When &kgoldrunner; starts, it chooses the size of the playing area (in pixels), based on your screen's resolution (e.g. 1024x768). This option allows you to reduce the size of the playing area, down to a minimum, and shrink all the corresponding graphics. SettingsConfigure Shortcuts... In the &kde; version only, this item allows you to change the keyboard assignments (⪚ for keyboard control of the hero) or to assign your own shortcut keys for menu items. In addition to the standard items listed below, &kgoldrunner; has the following special entry: HelpGet Hint If the current level has a hint, this option pops it up. The option is grayed out if there is no hint. The status bar also has a section to show you whether there is a hint for the current level. It is customary for championship and tutorial games to have a hint on every level. The following are standard items: &help.menu.documentation; Before you create or edit a &kgoldrunner; level, you must create a game in which to save it. Use Create Game on the Editor menu. If you forget, you will be reminded. The most important decisions to make when creating a game are to choose the rules you are going to follow (Traditional or &kgoldrunner;, see Choice of Rules) and to choose a unique 1-5 character file name prefix for your game and levels. You also need a name and description for your game, but those can easily be changed later. The prefix is used internally by &kgoldrunner; to identify level files, high score files and saved games. You can use your initials as a prefix provided they are not the same as a &kgoldrunner; prefix. So far, the prefixes level, plws, wad, plwv, tute and tutea have been used and trad and chmp are reserved for future use. The four-letter tute prefix is reserved for tutorial games, which show the game description and hints on levels as they play. If you compose your own Tutorial game you could use the prefix tutex, to make it run as a tutorial but not get its files confused with those of the basic Tutorial or Advanced Tutorial (prefixes tute and tutea). When you have a game set up, use Create Level on the Editor menu to start creating a level. It provides you with a blank playing area of 28x20 squares, with the hero at the top left. You can put the hero somewhere else if you prefer and you do not have to use the whole 28x20 area. Lots of interesting levels use smaller areas. The minimum requirement for a level to be playable is to have a hero, a gold nugget they can get to and a visible or hidden ladder leading to the top of the playing area. You do not have to have enemies, bars or even bricks. There are many challenging levels that have no enemies or no bricks. Use Edit Any Level or Edit Next Level on the Editor menu to start editing an existing level or use Create Level to start editing a new level. If you choose a System level, you are warned that you will have to save it in one of your own games. Otherwise, the default is to save the level back where it came from, but you can vary that. The picture below shows the menubar and the edit toolbar, which appears when you first choose Create Level, Edit Any Level or Edit Next Level from the Editor menu and so change from Play to Edit mode. It disappears when you go back to Play mode. Note also that, in Edit mode, false bricks and hidden ladders are made visible in the playing area. The three icons on the left of the edit toolbar have the same actions as the menu options Create Level, Edit Any Level and Save Edits. The other eleven icons are for editing and painting objects in your level. From left to right the other eleven icons are Edit Name/Hint (light bulb), Empty space (background), Hero, Enemy, Brick (can dig), Concrete (cannot dig), Trap (can fall through), Ladder, Hidden ladder, Pole (or bar) and Gold nugget. Editing a level Editing a level The Edit Name/Hint icon pops up a dialog in which you can create or edit your level's name and hint. Both are optional, but they are essential for tutorial levels and it is usual to provide them with very difficult levels (see the Vengeance of Peter W game). When you click on one of the other 10 icons, the mouse becomes a brush that paints that icon. Initially the brush is set to brick. You paint either by pointing and clicking the &LMB;, to place a single object in a square, or by holding the &LMB; down and dragging the mouse, to fill a line or area, such as a long ladder, a large block of bricks or a concrete floor. Painting stops wherever you release the mouse button. If you make a mistake, you can use the Empty space icon to erase it. The hero icon works differently, because there can be only one hero. When you paint the hero, they move from their previous position to wherever you release the mouse button. When you have finished painting, save your work using the disk icon or Save Edits in the Editor menu or Save Edits in the Game menu. You must always save into your own games, never into the System games. If you are creating a level, you use the Level Selection Dialog to assign it to a game and level number. You use the same dialog if you have been editing a level, but the default is to save it where it came from. You can change the game and level, to get a Save as... effect. If you have been editing a System level you must save it as a copy in one of your own games. On the Save version of the Level Selection Dialog box is a button marked Edit Level Name & Hint. You can use this to put the finishing touches on your level by adding a name and hint. Both are optional, but they are essential for tutorial levels and it is usual to provide them with very difficult levels (see the Vengeance of Peter W game). Of course you can also use the Edit Name/Hint icon, at any time, to add or edit a name and hint. After saving an edited level, you can test it by using Play Any Level in the Game menu. By default the game and level number are remembered and you can get straight into the level with just a few clicks. If you then want to edit some more, the same is true when you use Edit Any Level again. You can use Move Level on the Editor menu to re-order or re-number the levels in a game or to move a level from one game to another. Move Level is a two-part operation. You must first load a level by selecting it for editing or play, then when you use Move Level, the Level Selection Dialog box appears and you can select the new level number and game (as required). Moves leave no gaps in the sequence of level numbers in a game. For example, if you move level 10 of game A to level 3 of game B, levels 11 and above in game A are re-numbered down by one (to close the gap) and levels 3 and above in game B are re-numbered up by one (to make room for the newcomer). You can use Delete Level on the Editor menu to remove an unwanted level. The other levels are re-numbered so as to close the gap in the sequence. This chapter presents some general hints for playing &kgoldrunner;, as opposed to the specific hints you will find on the levels in tutorial and championship games (see The Help Menu). The hints are grouped as follows: Dealing with Enemies Digging Puzzles Tricks with Gold Solving Difficult Levels You can always trap a single oncoming enemy in one hole, get their gold and run on over them without killing them. It is often a good idea to dig behind you and delay them further, but that might kill them. In some levels it is not a good idea to kill enemies. You can usually trap two oncoming enemies in two holes, get their gold and run on over them, but this is dangerous if the enemies are separated by two or three spaces. Sometimes two holes kill one of the enemies and the other escapes and sometimes both escape. It is nearly always impossible to trap three oncoming enemies and run on over them. You will have to kill them, dig and drop through the floor or simply run away. Try to get all the enemies running together in one group. That way you will not get surrounded and you can do such fun things as collect gold while they run along behind you. Sometimes you can kill an enemy with two holes, but it often takes three to nine holes to kill one to five enemies. It is possible to kill an enemy with one hole if they are far enough away when you dig it. In the Traditional game, you can trap an enemy permanently in a pit of brick or concrete. Stand near the edge of the pit on the opposite side to the enemy. As they approach the pit, move down one square (to the level of the floor of the pit) and the enemy will usually run into the pit. In some levels in the Traditional game, you can force an enemy to climb a ladder ahead of you if you stand somewhere above the bottom of the ladder. To dig through more than one layer of bricks, start by digging as many bricks as there are layers, jump in, dig one brick less and so on. If you dig next to a ladder or a succession of bars, you can dig down through any number of layers and up to five or six bricks horizontally. Just return to the ladder or bars after digging each layer, then move down one square, run out and dig the next layer. If a digging puzzle looks impossible, consider that there might be some false bricks in it. Maybe the bottom layer is false or maybe you can stand in a false brick and dig next to it. Think about the order in which you will collect the gold. If you pick the right order, the digging might be easier. Some levels require you to dig away a brick walll, run in, collect some gold and run out again before the bricks close up and trap you. If you cannot get to a piece of gold, think about getting an enemy to go there and get it. Even think about using an enemy's head as a bridge to get across a pit or precipice. In some levels there is a nugget that must be collected last of all, because you will need the hidden ladders to get away from that position. In some situations an enemy can be killed without giving up the gold they are carrying. The gold becomes a lost nugget. You score no points for making an enemy lose a nugget, but at least you can finish the level. If there is nowhere to dig, keep the enemies running over concrete and the tops of ladders and so make them release their gold at random. Try changing the speed settings to Beginner or even lower. Use the Editor feature to peek at where the false bricks and hidden ladders are. Use the Editor feature to save the level in one of your own games, then you can edit it so that you do not always have to start at the beginning when you die. This allows you to develop the solution in easier stages. In digging puzzles, look for false bricks you can fall into and thus have one less brick to dig. Or consider using an enemy to go ahead of you, so that you can stand on their head and dig. Look for a theme or trick in the level, such as riding down on an enemy's head, trapping all the enemies in a pit, luring the enemies to a corner where they will stay and not chase you, luring the enemies into pits you must cross to get to some gold, getting the enemies to fetch gold for you or finding spots where you can stand and make an enemy move to where you want them. &kgoldrunner; copyright 2003 Ian Wadham and Marco Krüger. &kgoldrunner; is inspired by an early computer game called Lode Runner which was written in the USA by Doug Smith and first released in 1983 by Broderbund Software. It appeared originally on the Apple II and Commodore 64 computers, which was where the Wadham family and Marco Krüger got hooked. It was a major best-seller in its day and is one of the all-time great computer games. You can find out more about Lode Runner and the various versions that have come out since 1983, on the website Jason's Lode Runner Archive (http://entropymine.com/jason/lr/). That site also has the story of the game's original development, in the file misc/ldhist.html. &kgoldrunner; is an attempt to preserve the spirit of the original classic game on a platform that will be portable and will last more than a few years. It is available as free software in source code form. Copies of the original game are unobtainable now and the machines it ran on are going into museums. Marco Krüger developed &kgoldrunner; as far as v0.3, out of nostalgia for the original Commodore 64 game. Ian Wadham added several features and levels and created the current version. Ian's elder son Peter composed the 100 levels in the "Initiation" game and the 20 tricky levels in "Vengeance of Peter W". The other levels were composed by Ian, Peter, Marco Krüger and friends and Ian's other children, Simon and Genevieve. &underFDL; &underGPL; &install.intro.documentation; &install.compile.documentation; &kgoldrunner; is written in C++, using &Linux; and the free-software version of the portable &Qt; object and &GUI; library. The current version can be compiled and run either with &kde; 3 and &Qt; 3 or with &Qt; 3 alone. The &Qt;-only version of &kgoldrunner; is intended to be almost independent of &Linux; and the &kde; desktop. That means it should be fairly easy to port to other operating systems, such as &Windows; and Macintosh, because the &Qt; library and C++ language are portable to other operating systems and the &kgoldrunner; source code is available as free software. If you would like to port &kgoldrunner;, please email Ian Wadham at ianw@netspace.net.au, to obtain the latest version of the &Qt;-only code and the Technical Details document. Of course, you must have your own C++ development setup on your target machine. Also, the &Qt; library is not free software on &Windows; and Macintosh, so you will need to have access to a system with a paid &Qt; Development licence.