Running Ricochet is straight forward since there are currently only 10
preset choices. Future versions will include the posibility of more user
interaction with the settings of the simulations. A
menu screen lets you choose from the following:-
- 10, 25 or 50 large spheres moving at
random.
- 5 large and 25 small spheres, or 25 large and 5 small spheres. The large
spheres have approximately 10 time the mass as the small spheres, and so
move at a relatively leisurely pace compared to the small spheres.
- 20, 100 or 200 spheres of mixed sizes
from small to large. When 200 spheres are displayed, the frame rate will be
lower than when only 20 spheres are on the screen.
- a preset pattern of All in a Row,
Circles, Billiards or The Wall. A
single sphere is fired at the pattern to start the simulation. When all the
spheres are in motion then the simulation automatically restarts.
Pressing the Space Bar at any time returns the user to the menu.
Pressing Q at any time ends the program.
There are several keys that can be used while the simulation is running.
- Pressing I toggles the display of the
frame rate information at the top left of the screen. This value is
recalculated every time the program goes through the display loop, but it is
only updated on the screen four times a second to make the figures easy to
read.
- S, F and N change the speed of the simulation to
Slow, Fast or back to Normal. This does not affect the
frame rate as it is simply a multiplier used in calculating the possion of
the spheres e.g. if a sphere is moving at 36 pixels per second then the slow
setting gives 36 / 4 = 9 pixels per second, and the fast setting gives 36 x
4 = 144 pixels per second.
- Pressing G toggles the display of graphic circles instead of
sprites. Since the graphics card takes over the processing of sprites, the
frame rate will be higher than when circles must be drawn by the computer.
- The display of coloured spheres or monochrome spheres can be selected by
pressing C. This gives an interesting alternative view, especially
for some of the set patterns.
