Rocks'n'Diamonds
Encyclopedia
Rocks'n'Diamonds is a scrolling
tile-based
computer puzzle game
that can be described as a combined Boulder Dash
, Supaplex
, Emerald Mine
, and Sokoban
clone. It is a freeware
and open source
video game created
by Artsoft Entertainment and designed by Holger Schemel. With its release in 1995, it is one of the earliest games available for Linux
, and it also runs on MS-DOS
, Windows
, Unix
, and Mac OS X
systems. The DOS version is based on code by Guido Schulz.
There are currently more than 50 000 levels available on Rocks'n'Diamonds-related pages.
Rocks'n'Diamonds can also read native levels from the games Emerald Mine, Supaplex and Diamond Caves II.
The native Emerald Mine game engine is based on an older version of Emerald Mine for X11 by David Tritscher, which is used to read and play all native Emerald Mine levels.
can feature combinations of elements from any of the games mentioned above, as well as new ones.
s after which an exit door opens through which the player can enter the next level. The levels are filled with dirt which can be dug simply by moving through it. This creates empty space. Diamonds can be collected by moving into them. Rocks
and diamonds can rest on dirt, walls (only indestructible and slippery/magic walls), or other rocks and gems, but once these are removed (or the space next to them), they will fall down. This is sometimes useful, as the player can drop things on top of monsters (butterflies and fireflies) roaming the levels. Some destroyed monsters drop gems necessary to achieve the necessary number to complete the level. Amoeba can be dangerous and unpredictable, but also occasionally useful for several reasons of too few diamonds, or if you need to destroy a monster.
Rocks'n'Diamonds provides a download of approximately 50000 Emerald Mine levels, however, it can only play a very limited amount of them under its primary engine; because of this, it also includes a [now] obsolete copy of Emerald Mine for X11 to play those levels.
One significant feature missing from this implementation (but present in Emerald Mine for X11) is wrap-around movement
.
, and can be considered to be viewed from above, as its elements are not affected by gravity
. This game lets the player push giant light bulbs into sockets in order to finish the level.
that lets the player create his/her own levels. The game also supports custom graphics
, as well as whole new level elements (custom elements, also called CEs, see below), which can be created without any programming
knowledge.
and Linux Magazine
.
Scrolling
In computer graphics, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display. "Scrolling", as such, does not change the layout of the text or pictures, or but incrementally moves the user's view across what is...
tile-based
Tile-based game
A tile-based game is a game that uses tiles as one of the fundamental elements of play. Traditional tile-based games use small tiles as playing pieces for gambling or entertainment games...
computer puzzle game
Computer puzzle game
Puzzle video games are a genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles to be solved can test many problem solving skills including logic, strategy, pattern recognition, sequence solving, and word completion....
that can be described as a combined Boulder Dash
Boulder Dash
Boulder Dash, originally released in 1984 for Atari 8-bit computers, is a series of computer games released for the Apple II, MSX, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and ColecoVision home computers, and later ported to the NES, BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, PC, Amstrad CPC, Amiga and many other platforms...
, Supaplex
Supaplex
Supaplex is a video game created by Philip Jespersen and Michael Stopp, two Swiss students, and published by Digital Integration in 1991. It is an extended clone of Boulder Dash.-History:...
, Emerald Mine
Emerald Mine
- Emerald Mine :In Emerald Mine, the player must collect a minimum count of gems in a labyrinth and reach the then-opened gate. Gems, stones, bombs and drips are subject to a vertical gravitation. Furthermore, elements exist which guide the movement of the player like different wall types, and a...
, and Sokoban
Sokoban
is a type of transport puzzle, in which the player pushes boxes or crates around in a warehouse, trying to get them to storage locations. The puzzle is usually implemented as a video game....
clone. It is a freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
and open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
video game created
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by Artsoft Entertainment and designed by Holger Schemel. With its release in 1995, it is one of the earliest games available for Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, and it also runs on MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
, Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
, and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
systems. The DOS version is based on code by Guido Schulz.
There are currently more than 50 000 levels available on Rocks'n'Diamonds-related pages.
Rocks'n'Diamonds can also read native levels from the games Emerald Mine, Supaplex and Diamond Caves II.
The native Emerald Mine game engine is based on an older version of Emerald Mine for X11 by David Tritscher, which is used to read and play all native Emerald Mine levels.
Gameplay
Rocks'n'Diamonds features gameplay elements from all the games mentioned above, usually in the form of sub-games, although levelsLevel (computer and video games)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
can feature combinations of elements from any of the games mentioned above, as well as new ones.
Boulder Dash
The Boulder Dash game involves collecting a set number of diamondDiamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
s after which an exit door opens through which the player can enter the next level. The levels are filled with dirt which can be dug simply by moving through it. This creates empty space. Diamonds can be collected by moving into them. Rocks
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
and diamonds can rest on dirt, walls (only indestructible and slippery/magic walls), or other rocks and gems, but once these are removed (or the space next to them), they will fall down. This is sometimes useful, as the player can drop things on top of monsters (butterflies and fireflies) roaming the levels. Some destroyed monsters drop gems necessary to achieve the necessary number to complete the level. Amoeba can be dangerous and unpredictable, but also occasionally useful for several reasons of too few diamonds, or if you need to destroy a monster.
Supaplex and Emerald Mine
The Supaplex and Emerald Mine games can be considered clones of Boulder Dash themselves, although they have added elements, including explosives, acid, locked doors with matched keys, and more.Rocks'n'Diamonds provides a download of approximately 50000 Emerald Mine levels, however, it can only play a very limited amount of them under its primary engine; because of this, it also includes a [now] obsolete copy of Emerald Mine for X11 to play those levels.
One significant feature missing from this implementation (but present in Emerald Mine for X11) is wrap-around movement
Wraparound (Video Games)
Wraparound, in video games, is a gameplay variation on the single-screen in which space is finite but unbounded; objects leaving one side of the screen immediately reappear on the opposite side, maintaining speed and trajectory...
.
Sokoban
The Sokoban game is a transport puzzleTransport puzzle
Transport puzzles are logistical puzzles, which often represent real-life transport problems.-Description:In transport puzzles you move persons and/or objects through a given landscape. As in rearrangement puzzles, no piece is ever lost or added to the board...
, and can be considered to be viewed from above, as its elements are not affected by gravity
Gravitation
Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
. This game lets the player push giant light bulbs into sockets in order to finish the level.
Level editor
The game includes a level editorLevel editor
A level editor is a software tool used to design levels, maps, campaigns, etc and virtual worlds for a video game. In some cases the creator of a video game releases an official level editor for a game, but other times the community of fans step in to fill the void...
that lets the player create his/her own levels. The game also supports custom graphics
Graphics
Graphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings,or...
, as well as whole new level elements (custom elements, also called CEs, see below), which can be created without any programming
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
knowledge.
Custom Elements
Custom Elements (also known as CEs) are elements created in the level editor. There are only a few things impossible to accomplish with them, although some things are more difficult to do than others nearly anything can be made. New custom element techniques are being discovered by users every once in a while.Reviews
The game has been praised and noted by Free Software MagazineFree Software Magazine
Free Software Magazine is a website which produces a mostly free-content e-zine about free software....
and Linux Magazine
Linux Magazine
Linux Magazine is a European professional journal. It addresses itself to readers who work professionally with operating systems based around the Linux kernel. Linux Magazine is published by Linux New Media AG and was born after the great success of Linux-Magazin...
.
See also
- Boulder DashBoulder DashBoulder Dash, originally released in 1984 for Atari 8-bit computers, is a series of computer games released for the Apple II, MSX, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and ColecoVision home computers, and later ported to the NES, BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, PC, Amstrad CPC, Amiga and many other platforms...
- SupaplexSupaplexSupaplex is a video game created by Philip Jespersen and Michael Stopp, two Swiss students, and published by Digital Integration in 1991. It is an extended clone of Boulder Dash.-History:...
- Emerald MineEmerald Mine- Emerald Mine :In Emerald Mine, the player must collect a minimum count of gems in a labyrinth and reach the then-opened gate. Gems, stones, bombs and drips are subject to a vertical gravitation. Furthermore, elements exist which guide the movement of the player like different wall types, and a...
- SokobanSokobanis a type of transport puzzle, in which the player pushes boxes or crates around in a warehouse, trying to get them to storage locations. The puzzle is usually implemented as a video game....
- ReptonRepton (computer game)Repton is a computer game originally developed by 15-year-old Briton Tim Tyler for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron and released by Superior Software in 1985. The game spawned a series of follow up games which were released throughout the 1980s. The series sold around 125,000 copies between 1985...
External links
- Artsoft Entertainment - Rocks'n'Diamonds Official website
- Forum Official forum
- Rocks'n'Diamonds page A complete overview