Bubble Pop Puzzle
(c) 2001 Doron Kramarczyk
http://www.doron.com/palm/

Table of Contents


(c) 2001 Doron Kramarczyk



About Game

Bubble Pop Puzzle is a action puzzle game for the Palm OS platform.

Features include:

[ TOP ]


Installation

Installation of Bubble Pop Puzzle depends on your handheld.

For Color Devices (Palm IIIc, HandSpring Visor Prisim):

For B&W Devices (OS Version 3.2 or above):

[ TOP ]


Registration

If you like this game please register it. Registration is only $5 and can be done at Palm Gear. When registering you must provide your HotSync ID. To find your HotSync ID in the game hit the MENU icon on your organizer, then select the "About Program" option. You will see a REGISTER button, click on it then hit the "REGISTER" again on the bottom left. You will be shown your HotSync name as seen on the screen to the left (Joe User for example).

Once registered from PalmGear you will be given a UNLOCK code, enter it in the "Code:" area then hit the ENTER CODE button. This will unlock all the features in the game.

[ TOP ]




Basic Game Rules

You control the shooter (triangle) on the bottom of the screen. You do so by moving it left or right. Once you point the shooter to the position you want push the fire button to shoot the current bubble in the shooter. Bubbles come in different types and colors. For most cases you will be firing color bubbles from the 7 different colors (shapes in black-and-white version of game.) If you shoot your bubble and it touches 2 or more bubbles of the same color, then the shot bubble and the bubbles it touched pop and disappear from the playfield. Once those bubbles pop, any bubbles that were attached to the popped bubbles left in mid-air are called "dropped" bubbles, and they will pop as well.

For example, in the picture on the left, if you shot a GRAY bubble in between the two GRAY bubbles on the top-right of the screen, then the GRAY bubbles will pop, leaving the 3 blues and the 1 green bubble in mid-air. Those bubbles will then pop as well.

In most game modes, you lose the game when a bubble is placed under the lose line on the bottom of the screen. (Seen as the horizontal white line over the shooter [see picture on left]). A bubble under the playfield occurs either if shot there, or if the playfield shifts down and bubbles that were above the line fall under it.

The screen shifts down at different intervals, depending on the play mode and level. In Puzzle and Rescue mode, you are given a warning before the playfield shifts down. This warning is seen via the flashing down arrow on the right of the shooter. When you first see it, you are told that you have two shots to make before the play shifts. After the second shot, the playfield will shift down.

For each shot you are given a set time to shoot before the bubble is auto-shot. Before the bubble in your shooter is auto-shot you will see a FIRE text with a countdown warning to the left of the shooter.

The current ball you are about to shoot is under your shooter, and the NEXT bubble is shown to the left of the screen. Use the NEXT bubble to help plan your next move.

Winning a level is dependent on the play mode. See the help for each play mode for more information on winning a level.

[ TOP ]




Puzzle Mode Game Rules

Please read the
Basic Game Rules section first.

In puzzle mode you move up the branch system by completing different branches. Each branch contains 6 puzzle levels. To beat a puzzle level you must clear the playfield of all bubbles (except blocks and sticky blocks ). Once you clear the playfield you win the level and move on to the next. After you beat 6 levels you are given a choice of what branch to play next.

If you lose on a level, you can restart form the same level (score gets reset though), and based on your difficulty level, you get a easier chance to beat the level.

To exit puzzle mode hit the MENU button on your organizer and select "Exit to Title".

[ TOP ]




Rescue Mode Game Rules

Please read the
Basic Game Rules section first.

In Rescue mode you must free the trapped people on the playfield. Do so by popping bubbles that surround the trapped people. You free them by making their bubble drop. Once you free all the people on a level you move on to the next level. The game ends when a bubble goes below the lose line.

[ TOP ]


Marathon Mode Game Rules

Please read the
Basic Game Rules section first.

In Marathon mode you race against time to pop as many lines as possible. This mode has no ending, and keeps going until you lose by having a bubble go below the lose line. New lines come onto the playfield when the timer on the right reaches the bottom, or when you clear the playfield of all bubbles (NOTE: You get a BONUS when you do this!). As more and more lines come down, the mode gets harder and harder. The difficulty level you selected at the start of the game determines the game's starting difficulty, and how fast the difficulty increases.

[ TOP ]


Level Editor

Bubble Pop Puzzle allows you to create your own puzzle mode databases and release them as shareware (or better FREEWARE!! (-:). To start the level editor once in the main menu, click on the MENU button of your organizer and select level editor.



Figure 1


Figure 2


Figure 3


Figure 4


Figure 5


Figure 6

DataBase Manager (Figure 1)

DataBase Information (Figure 2) Main Edit View Screen(Figure 4)
Releasing Your Database (for FREE or Shareware) You may release your database to the public as long as you include somewhere in your readme information on where players can get Bubble Pop Puzzle. A example would be:

This database is designed for use with Bubble Pop Puzzle. The latest version
of the game can be found at http://www.doron.com/palm/ or Palm Gear. Please
install the latest version of Bubble Pop Puzzle to use this database.

For problems with this database please address support to: [your e-mail]

To get the database to your users, you will need to get it out of your Palm device. To do so hotsync you organizer and look for your database in the backup directory. On PC's it will be something like: C:\Palm\[YOUR HOTSYNC NAME PART]\backup. The file will be called PBP-[DBASE NAME]-DZK2.PDB.

[ TOP ]


Version History

Version 1.0 - 02/05/2001 Version 1.0a - 02/07/2001 Version 1.0b - 02/07/2001

[ TOP ]