[Cuis] Solitaire AGAIN ready for prime time

[Phil (list)]

On Sun, 2015-03-29 at 13:14 -0700, Ken.Dickey wrote:
> On Sun, 29 Mar 2015 14:30:06 -0400
> "Phil (list)" <pbpublist at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, 2015-03-23 at 19:57 -0700, Ken.Dickey wrote:
> > > On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:50:27 -0400
> > > "Phil (list)" <pbpublist at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > The fix looks good.  I think I found another gameplay bug: given a run
> > > > of say 8D, 7S, 6D, 5S the game will let me drag the stack from 7S on
> > > > down but not from 8D on down... iirc the rules, I believe the entire
> > > > sequence should be draggable.
> > > 
> > > Hmm.. Need a screen shot.
> > > 
> > > The Freecell rules are (I believe) the number of free cells plus one, free cells being empty columns and spares.
> > > 
> > > Perhaps you have some cards in the 'spare' slots?
> > > 
> > 
> > Sorry for the delay... was having problems rendering the video:
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xjsiP_eI_A&feature=youtu.be
> 
> Wow!  Many thanks for taking the trouble to make the video!
>  

No problem... thought it was simpler than trying to explain it with
screenshots.

> > In this example, it is not possible to drag the stack from the 10 or
> > higher.  However, based on the other times I ran into this issue, it
> > doesn't seem specific to card value or the number of cards in the stack
> > (perhaps related to suits or some other game state?)
> 
> Right.  The HELP button shows the rules:
> ..."
>   Cards in columns build up by alternating color and increasing sequence.
>   You can move such "runs" up to the number of free cells plus 1.
>   Free Cells are the spares and columns which contain no cards.
>  "...
> 

That explains it... who reads help? :-)  You are correct, my
recollection of the freecell rules is at fault.

> The video shows 2 "free" spares and 1 "free" column.  This gives 3 "free cells".  Add 1 gives 4 as the _maximum number of cards_ in a run which can be moved.
> 
> This is meant to give more of a challenge to the game and is different than other Solitaire games (e.g. Klondike) where one can move any sized run of cards.
> 
> Some Solitaire rule sets seem pretty wacky.  You can help me out by suggesting a better/clearer explanation for the help text.  Perhaps an example.
> 
> How could we best explain the "free cell" limitation?
> 

A notification message would have been been great.  (i.e. 'Not enough
free cells to move this run'.  I'm thinking something along the lines of
a 'toast' on Android that disappears after a bit rather than a dialog
that needs to be dismissed.  Another option might be a beep/buzz sound
could work as well.)  In general, some sort of indication that the card
you're trying to move can't be due to a rule check violation (you could
reuse your exception text perhaps?) to let the user know what's going
on.

That said, I just tried a different freecell implementation (kpat) and
it behaved similarly in this scenario.  It had one advantage in that it
animates the free cell usage on valid moves so that it is more obvious
when you can't make a move as to why.


> Thanks much,
> -KenD