# &app; Manual V&manrevision;

2000
Kevin Breit
GNOME Documentation Project

&legal;

Kevin
Breit
GNOME Documentation Project

     battery841@mypad.com

&appname; Manual V&manrevision;
&date;

Kevin Breit battery841@mypad.com

GNOME Documentation Project

This manual describes version &appversion; of &appname;.

## Feedback

To report a bug or make a suggestion regarding the &app; application or this manual, follow the directions in the GNOME Feedback Page.

## Introduction

Gnibbles is a game where the user controls a snake . The snake moves around the board, eating diamonds while avoiding the walls placed around it.

To run Gnibbles, select games Gnibbles from the Main Menu, or type `Gnibbles` on the command line.

Gnibbles is included in the `gnome-games` package, which is part of the GNOME desktop environment. This document describes version &VERSION; of Gnibbles.

## Gnibbles Objective

The objective of Gnibbles is quite simple. You control the snake and if the snake runs into a wall or runs into itself, you die. You get three lives before your game is over. You win by either beating your own high score (or a friends) or by completing all the levels.

## Using Gnibbles

Gnibbles is a simple game to play. The only keys that are needed are the arrow keys.

### Basic usage

Starting Gnibbles opens the main window shown below.

#### Gnibbles Introduction Window

Gnibbles Introduction Window.

To start the game, select Game New Game.

When the game starts, the snake will come out of the left side of the screen. You use the up arrow to make the direction of the snake go up. Use the right arrow to turn the snake right, left arrow to turn the snake left, and down arrow to turn the snake down.

#### Gnibbles During Gameplay

Gnibbles During Gameplay.

### Menus

The menu bar, located at the top of the Main Window, contains the following menus:

Game

  This menu contains:

  - Ctrl+N New Game — This starts a new game of Gnibbles

  - Pause game — This will pause your game. Click on the Pause Game menu option to resume game.

  - Scores — This shows the high scores.

  - End Game — End the current game and return to the title screen.

  - Ctrl-Q Exit — This quits the application.

Settings

  This menu contains:

  - Preferences — This opens your window to edit preferences.

Help

  This menu contains:

  - F1 Contents — Display this manual.

    About — This opens the About dialog which shows basic information about Gnibbles, such as the author's name, the version number of the game.

### Diamonds

Gnibbles has numerous different diamonds to eat. They are each a different color and serve a different function. Only the pale purple diamond is guaranteed to be around long enough for you to eat it (in fact, you have to eat them to finish the level). The other diamonds are all bonuses, but they only stick around for a short time. We'll leave it up to you to discover just what the bonus each colour gives, but they all affect either the score, the length of the worm, or both. Be careful when going for these bonus diamonds, don't cut yourself off from the ordinary diamonds that you need to finish the level.

## Customization

To change the application settings, select Settings Preferences . This opens the Preferences dialog. All preferences are automatically saved and applied as you change them.

### Game Preferences Tab

Game Preferences Tab.

The properties in the Game tab are:

Speed

  This controls the speed of the snake.

Play levels in random order

  Selecting this causes the level advancement to happen in random order.

Enable fake bonuses

  When enabled, this allows for two blue diamonds on the screen at a time. One diamond makes you shrink instead of grow when eaten.

Enable sounds

  Controls the use of sound in the game.

Starting level

  Which level to start with. Use this if you want to jump immediately to a challenging level.

Number of players

  There is room for up to four players.

### Appearance Preferences Tab

Graphics Preferences Tab.

The items in the Appearance tab control the size of the playing field. Choose the size that best fits your screen and your eye-sight.

### Worm Preferences Tab

Worm Preferences Tab.

The properties in the Worm 1 through Worm 4 tabs let you set individual preferences for the different worms.

Up, Down, Left and Right

  These buttons let you change the keyboard controls for the given worm. To change a control, click on the appropriate button and then press the key you want to use for that control.

Use relative motion

  Rather than left sending your worm toward the left of the screen, right toward the right and so on, the left and right keys make the worm perform a left or right turn. For example, if the worm is moving to the left and you press the left control it turns to head toward the bottom of the screen.

Worm color

  Customize the color of your worm so you can tell it from your opponent's worm in multi-player mode.

## Known Bugs and Limitations

This application has no known bugs.

## Authors

Gnibbles was written by Sean MacIsaac (sjm@acm.org) and Ian Peters (itp@gnu.org). Please send all comments, suggestions, and bug reports to the authors. (Instructions for submitting bug reports can be found on-line.)

This manual was written by Kevin Breit (battery841@mypad.com). Please send all comments and suggestions regarding this manual to the GNOME Documentation Project by sending an email to docs@gnome.org. You can also add your comments online by using the GNOME Documentation Status Table.

## License

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

A copy of the GNU General Public License is included as an appendix to the GNOME Users Guide. You may also obtain a copy of the GNU General Public License from the Free Software Foundation by visiting their Web site or by writing to

        Free Software Foundation, Inc.
        59 Temple Place - Suite 330
        Boston, MA 02111-1307
        USA