Eric Sunshine

SokoSave Mobile Documentation

About SokoSave Mobile
Rules
Game Play
Playback
Navigation
Highlighting
Scoring
Puzzles
Configuration
Customization

About SokoSave Mobile
www.sokosave.org

Sokoban is a popular logic puzzle game devised in 1980 by Hiroyuki Imabayashi and first published in 1982 by Thinking Rabbit. Sokoban is the Japanese word for warehouse keeper. In a game of Sokoban, you are a warehouse keeper responsible for pushing a collection of boxes to designated areas within a warehouse.

SokoSave Mobile is a version of Sokoban for Windows Mobile. It features crisp, simple graphics, intuitive game controls, and computer-assisted movement which makes game play fluid and enjoyable. SokoSave Mobile was written by Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sokosave.org>.

Rules

The rules of Sokoban are very simple, however, Sokoban puzzles can be quite challenging. To play, use the pusher to to push boxes across the floor into designated goal areas.

pusher Pusher
box Box
floor Floor
goal Goal
wall Wall

Boxes can only be pushed; they can not be pulled. Only a single box can be pushed at a time. Boxes can not move through walls. The puzzle is solved when all boxes have been pushed onto goals.

Game Play

Tap on a pusher or box to select it, and then tap on the desired destination. If the destination can be reached (see rules), the pusher or box will move there automatically by the shortest path.

pusher Pusher selected
box Box selected

If you select the wrong piece, tap again to remove the selection, or tap a different piece.

The game also can be played via the up, down, left, and right buttons on the directional keypad when the move or cursor navigation mode is active.

Playback

If you make a mistake during game play, the playback history allows you to undo (take back) one or more moves. If you undo too many moves, you can redo one or more. Use the Playback Panel to manipulate the playback history.

playback

Undo All: Undo all moves, returning the puzzle to its starting position.
Undo: Undo a group of moves and pushes related to a single box.
Undo Step: Undo a single move.
Redo Step: Redo a single move.
Redo: Redo a group of moves and pushes related to a single box.
Redo All: Redo all moves.
Jump: Drag the trackbar knob to any position within the playback history.
Replay: Replay, in slow motion, all moves from the puzzle's starting position. This is useful for reviewing the moves you made to arrive at a solution. If you do not want to watch all moves, tap on the puzzle to stop replay.

The playback history also can be manipulated via the playback navigation mode and from the Game menu.

Navigation

As a convenience, the arrow keys on the directional keypad perform different functions depending upon the current navigation mode. The center action key on the keypad cycles through the navigation modes.

Puzzles: Left and right arrows, respectively, move to the previous and next unsolved puzzle within a collection. Down and up move to the previous and next puzzle whether solved or not.
Playback: Left and right arrows manipulate the playback history by performing undo and redo. Down and up perform single-step undo and redo.
Move: Arrow keys move the selected pusher or box one step in the indicated direction.
Cursor: A cross-hair cursor is displayed which can be moved with the arrow keys. The cursor acts as a stylus for non-touch-screen devices. The cursor is green at locations where it is legal to tap with the stylus, and red at illegal locations. To tap at the cursor's location, press the center action button when either green or red. The cursor becomes gray after a short amount of inactivity. When gray, the action key reverts to its normal behavior of cycling through navigation modes.

Highlighting

As a puzzle-solving aid, portions of the puzzle board can be highlighted to indicate reachable locations. Highlighting is shown when a pusher or box is selected, and hidden when no piece is selected. Highlighting can be configured via Menu > Options... > Highlight.

Several highlighting modes are available.

Box Moves: When a box is selected, locations to which the box can be pushed are highlighted.
Movable Boxes: When a pusher is selected, boxes which can be pushed are highlighted.
Pusher Moves: When a pusher is selected, locations to which the pusher can move are highlighted.

Scoring

Several different scores are computed for each game.

Moves (M): Number of pusher moves.
Pushes (P): Number of box pushes.
Pusher Lines (L): Number of straight lines during moving sequences.
Box Lines (R): Number of straight lines during pushing sequences.
Transitions (T): Number of transitions from moving to pushing.
Box Focus (B): Number of times focus changes from one box to another.
Pusher Focus (F): Number of times focus changes from one pusher to another. (Applies only to multiban puzzles, a variation with multiple pushers.)

Puzzles

Game > Choose... displays the Puzzle Browser, from which you can choose a puzzle for play.

Other items on the Game menu — Next, Next Unsolved, Previous, and Previous Unsolved — allow you to browse through puzzles within a collection without using the Puzzle Browser.

The puzzles navigation mode also provides a convenient way to browse quickly through puzzles within a collection.

Configuration

Menu > Options... displays the options dialog, from which you can configure SokoSave Mobile.

Accessories: Puzzle board controls and game-related information.
Animation: Animation speed.
Background: Image or color of the puzzle board background.
Folders: Folders for custom puzzles, skins, and backgrounds.
Highlight: Reachable location highlighting.
Orientation: Portrait / landscape display switching via hardware application button.
Skin: Appearance of pusher, boxes, walls, and floor.
Updates: Automatic product update checking.

Customization

SokoSave Mobile can be customized by copying files into several folders on your device, usually under \My Documents\SokoSave, but alternate locations can be configured.

Puzzles: Many additional Sokoban puzzles and puzzle collections can be downloaded from the Internet. You can add these puzzles to SokoSave Mobile's My Puzzles folder by copying them into \My Documents\SokoSave\puzzles. Puzzle files and collections can have any of the standard extensions .xsb, .sok, .txt, and .zip. There is no need to unpack ZIP archives since SokoSave Mobile can read from them directly.
Skins: The appearance of the pusher, boxes, floors, and walls can be changed by choosing a different skin. Many additional Sokoban skins can be downloaded from the Internet. Add custom skins to SokoSave Mobile's My Skins folder by placing them in \My Documents\SokoSave\skins. Skins made for other Sokoban programs, such as YASC and YSokoban, are supported.
Backgrounds: Custom images for the puzzle board background can be added to SokoSave Mobile's My Backgrounds folder by placing them in \My Documents\SokoSave\backgrounds. Standard image formats, such as JPG, PNG, BMP, and others, are supported.