3. Configuration
At this juncture all of KPacman's parameters cannot be configured graphically.
To change those parameters for an individual user you should edit the user's
KPacman configuration file (this file should be located at ~/.kde/share/config/kpacmanrc).
Alternatively, you can affect the default configuration of all users by
editing the global KPacman configuration file (this file should be located
at /opt/kde/share/config/kpacmanrc).
3.1 Timings
The parameters under the standardgroup heading [KDE Setup] listed
in the table below control the timing of the game. Keys ending in
"MS" (e.g., "DyingAnimationMS") have their values expressed in milliseconds,
whereas Keys ending in "Ticks" have their values expressed in cycles.
Some values below are expressed as a comma-separated list of numbers,
each of which corresponds to a different level. Keys which have a default
value of more than one number or of a number followed by a comma may be
set for each level. The first number in a list is used for the demonstration
level, and the following numbers are for the interactive game levels (the
second value is used for level 1, the third for level 2 and so on). The
maximum number of levels is defined by the value of the key "Levels".
Key |
Description |
Default Value |
SpeedMS |
Duration of a single cycle (a "Tick"), in milliseconds. All other timings
in the game are multiples of the single cycle duration. Decreasing
the value speeds up the game and increasing the value slows down the game. |
20, |
PacmanTicks |
Number of cycles until the next move of the pacman. Increasing
the value makes the pacman move slower and decreasing the value makes the
pacman move faster. |
3, |
RemTicks |
Number of cycles for a monster to return to prison after being eaten
by the pacman (the R.E.M. -- rapid eye movement -- phase). Increasing
the value increases the time until a eaten monster returns to prison and
decreasing the value decreases the time until a monster returns to prison. |
1, |
DangerousTicks |
Number of cycles until the next move of the monsters when they are
dangerous and will eat the pacman. Increasing the value makes the
monsters move slower and decreasing the value makes the monsters move faster. |
3, |
HarmlessTicks |
Number of cycles until the next move of the monsters when they are
harmless and can be eaten by the pacman. Increasing the value makes
the monsters move slower and decreasing the value makes the monsters move
faster. |
7,6,,5,,4, |
HarmlessDurationTicks |
Number of cycles during which the monsters remain harmless and can
be eaten by the pacman after the pacman eats a switch. Increasing
this value makes the monsters stay harmless longer and decreasing this
value makes the monsters return to being dangerous sooner. |
375,,,300,,250,200,150, |
HarmlessWarningTicks |
Number of cycles in which the user is warned of the upcoming end of
the harmless-phase by the monsters blinking. This value must be less at
each level than the corresponding "HarmlessDurationTicks". Increasing
this value increases the length of the warning and decreasing this value
shortens the length of the warning. |
135, |
ArrestTicks |
Number of cycles until the next move of the monsters when they are
in prision. |
6, |
ArrestDurationTicks |
Number of cycles in which monsters remain in prison after being eaten.
This value will be multiplied by the id of the monster eaten ( 0 for first
monster eaten after the pacman eats a switch, 1 for the second, and so
on), so that the first monster will be freed immediatly and the other monsters
have to wait longer (by way of exception the second monster is also freed
immediatly during the initial stage of the game). Increasing this
value increases the prison time of the monsters, and decreasing this value
frees the monsters sooner. |
200,,,150, |
FruitAppearsTicks |
Number of cycles between the appearence of fruit. Increasing
this value causes fruit to appear less frequently and decreasing this value
causes fruit to appear more frequently. |
1000,,1500,2000,2500,
3000,3500,4000, |
FruitDurationTicks |
Number of cyles for which fruit remains. Increasing this value
causes the fruit to be available for consumption longer and decreasing
this value causes the fruit to disappear sooner. |
500,,,400,350,300,,250,
200,150, |
FruitScoreDurationTicks |
Number of cycles for which the score for eating a fruit is displayed
after a fruit is eaten. |
150, |
MonsterScoreDurationMS |
Number of milliseconds for which the score for eating a monster is
displayed after a monster is eaten. |
1000 |
PlayerDurationMS |
Number of milliseconds for displaying "PLAYER ONE" at the start of
the game. At the moment only one player is supported. |
3000 |
ReadyDurationMS |
Number of milliseconds for displaying "READY!" at the start of the
game. |
2000 |
GameOverDurationMS |
Number of milliseconds for displaying "GAME OVER" at the end of the
game. |
3000 |
AfterPauseMS |
Number of milliseconds until play is resumed after cancelling a "Pause". |
1000 |
DyingPreAnimationMS |
Number of milliseconds for which the monsters dance after catching
the pacman. |
1000 |
DyingAnimationMS |
Number of milliseconds in which the scenes (other than the first and
last scenes) of the pacman's death are displayed after he is caught by
a monster. |
100 |
DyingPostAnimationMS |
Number of milliseconds in which the first and last scenes of the pacman's
death are displayed after he is caught by a monster (this permits emphasis
of these scenes). |
500 |
IntroAnimationMS |
Number of milliseconds between the scenes of the introduction. |
800 |
IntroPostAnimationMS |
Number of milliseconds between the introduction and the beginning of
the demonstration. |
1000 |
LevelUpPreAnimationMS |
Number of milliseconds between completing a level and the beginning
of the animation for the next level. |
2000 |
LevelUpAnimationMS |
Number of milliseconds for which the animation for changing levels
is displayed. |
2000 |
MonsterIQ |
The intelligence of the monster (currently not fully implemented).
Increasing the value makes the monsters more clever and decreasing the
value makes them dumber. |
0,170,180,170,180,
170,180, |
Levels |
Number of different levels (without the demonstration). If you
increase this value be sure all the parameters for that level are defined
above! |
13 |
HallOfFameMS |
The hall of fame is displayed this amount of milliseconds. |
7000 |
CursorBlinkMS |
Number of milliseconds the cursor, used for editing your name in the
hall of fame, keeps his states (on or off). The repeating of keystrokes
for scrolling (Key_Up and Key_Down) also depends of this value. |
250 |
If there are insufficient values in a list for the number of levels
(including the demonstration level), or if there is an invalid or missing
(e.g., ",,") in the list, then the previous (valid) value is used for that
position. If no valid values are listed, the value will be 0. For
example "HarmlessTicks=7,6,,5,,4" is equivalent to "HarmlessTicks=7,6,6,5,5,4,4,4
(if Levels=7)". That means 7 cycles for the demonstration, 6 cycles for
level 1 and so on.
3.2 Points (Scoring)
Scoring during the game is controlled by the following key/value-pairs
in the standardgroup [KDE Setup] (see the section Timings
for information on how to interpret comma-separated values):
Key |
Description |
Default |
PointScore |
Number of points awarded for eating a small point. |
10 |
SwitchScore |
Number of points awarded for eating a switch (the large points that
convert the monsters from hunters to the hunted!) |
50 |
FruitScore |
Number of points awarded for eating a fruit. |
100,300,500,,700,,
1000,,2000,,3000,,5000, |
MonsterScore |
Number of points awarded for eating a monster, with each point value
in the list being awarded for each successive monster eaten after eating
a switch (the values are reset if a new switch is eaten even if the prior
switch has not expired yet). Since there are four monsters you should include
four values. Using the default values specified at right, 200 points
are awarded for eating the first monster, 400 for the second monster, and
so on. |
200,400,800,1600 |
ExtraLifeScore |
Number of points needed to earn another pacman life. |
10000 |
3.3 Graphic schemes
The graphics schemes are controlled by the following two key/value-pairs
of the standardgroup [KDE Setup]:
Key |
Description |
Example |
SchemeCount |
Number of defined schemes. For every scheme a separate group with the
name [Scheme n] exists. n stands for a number between 0 and SchemeCount-1. |
3 |
Scheme |
Selected scheme. Possible values are between 0 and SchemeCount-1 (this
value can also be set using the game's menu). |
0 |
Each graphic scheme is defined in a seperate scheme-group using the
group designation [Scheme N], where N is the number of
the scheme being defined. Each scheme-group may have the following
keys:
Key |
Description |
Example |
Font |
Filename of the xbm-font. Names without an absolute path (a leading
"/" or "~") are relative to $TDEDIR/share/apps/kpacman/fonts.
The structure of the fontfile will be explained in one of the next releases,
but you should be able to figure it out by opening one of the fontfiles
included with KPacman using a bitmap-editor. |
font.xbm |
FontFirstChar |
Defines the numeric value of the first character in the bitfont. |
14 |
FontLastChar |
The last character in the bitfont, is giving here by its numeric code.
If you extent the fonts by adding the lowercase characters, this value
must be changed. |
95 |
PixmapDirectory |
Directory in which the pixmap-files for the figures are located.
Direcotry names without an absolute path (a leading "/" or "~") are relative
to $TDEDIR/share/apps/kpacman/pics. The names of the individual
xpm-files are fixed in the code at the moment (this will be changed) and
are ''down.xpm" for an arrow pointing down, "fruit.xpm" for the series
of fruit for the various levels, "lifes.xpm" for the image to display at
the bottom of the screen for each pacman life remaining, "point.xpm" for
the small points which the pacman eats, "switch.xpm" for the switch points,
"dying.xpm" for the sequence of images for a dying pacman, "left.xpm" for
an arrow pointing left, "monster.xpm" for the various monsters, including
their appearance during the "switch" and "warning" cycles, "prison.xpm"
for a series of images put together to draw the prison walls, "up.xpm"
for , "eyes.xpm" for the series of eyes for the monsters when they move
up, down, right and left, respectively, "level.xpm" for the row of fruit
at the bottom of the screen indicating the current level, "pacman.xpm"
for the series of pacman images (gobbling and normal x moving up, down,
left and right), "right.xpm for a right arrow, and "wall.xpm" for a series
of images put together to draw the non-prison walls. |
tiny |
Description |
The name of the scheme, which will be displayed in the menu "Select
Graphic Scheme". Use the '&'-character in front of a character in the
name to set the accelerator-key to that character (that means pressing
that key when the Select Graphic Scheme menu is down will select that scheme).
You may add a location tag to the key (e.g., Description[de] to indicate
that the description is in German). |
MIDWAY MFG.CO. (&tiny) |
3.4 Miscellaneous
Key |
Description |
Example |
LevelPosition |
Defines the position of the levelsymbols (fruits) on the statusline.
It is possible to show to different levels on the same position to save
room. The first position (rightmost) has the value 0. |
0,1,2,3,,4,,5,,6,7, |
HighscoreFilePath |
Specifies the path (directory and filename) to the "highscore"-file.
If only a directory (".../") is given, the default-filename ("highscore")
will be used. |
/tmp/kpacman.highscore |
|