The game itself is very simple to play, but to get the most from it you should read this documentation. Once you understand how the scoring system works, you will be able to compete with your friends to see who is the best Tile Fall player around.

Before I start, I would just like to mention that this game is "FiverWare". The program is supplied for your enjoyment and is completely uncrippled; however, if you enjoy the game and find yourself playing it a lot, you should send me 5 UK Pounds (or the equivalent amount in your own currency) to say thanks for the game. Full information can be found in the Registering section below. Thank you!

The object of the game is to remove as many tiles from the playing area as possible. As you move the mouse over the tiles, connected groups of the same tile will become highlighted. All the highlighted tiles will be removed when you click the mouse button.

The main strategy of the game is to remove as many tiles in a single group as you possible can. The scoring system dramatically rewards you when you remove large numbers of tiles at once. Small number of tiles will score very little, or even nothing.

As tiles are removed, tiles above will fall down to fill the space left. If you manage to remove all the tiles from a column, the tiles to the right will be pushed over to join with the remaining tiles.

The game continues until there aren't any sets of 2 or more tiles of the same type left in the game.

If you make a mistake whilst playing, you can undo the last move that you made. However, you can only undo just one move at a time, so be careful where you click!

Tile Fall first subtracts 2 from the number of tiles removed in a single click. It then squares the result and adds it to your score. So:

As you can see, adding just a single tile to the number removed in one click significantly increases the score gained from the tiles. So try to remove as many tiles in one go as you can! Also note that removing a group of 2 tiles doesn't actually score any points at all. If you can avoid removing groups of 2, then try to do so...

While you are playing, Tile Fall will display the value of the currently highlighted blocks on the status line at the bottom of the screen. You can use this to see how much the tiles are actually worth before you remove them from the game.

When the game is finished, some other adjustments are made to calculate your final score. The number of tiles left is subtracted from your score. If you managed to clear *all* the tiles, you'll get a 1000 point bonus.

Each of the combinations of game size and numbers of tiles has its own high score table. So there are 12 high score tables in total: small game with 2 types of tile, small game with 3 types of tile, etc.etc. You will automatically have high scores added to the appropriate table, and if you select to view the high scores, you'll see the table for the currently selected game combination.

The format used for saving highscores is exactly the same as that used on the Amiga and Psion versions of the game, and so the high score files are completely interchangeable. The high score file on the Windows version of the game is called TileFall.scr, and will normally be found in the same directory as the Tile Fall executable resides.

Registration costs 5 UK Pounds, or the equivalent in your own currency (10 US dollars, DM15, 50 French Francs, etc.) Money can be sent either as cash, or as a cheque in UK Pounds Sterling. I am happy to accept your country's native cash if you are unable to send UK currency. If sending cash, please try to surround the money with coloured paper so that the contents of the envelope is not obvious without first opening it.

Your registration should be sent to the following address:

Please do consider registering if you like Tile Fall; 5 pounds is a small price to pay. The availability of future pieces of software will depend to a certain extent on the response from Tile Fall. My sincere thanks in advance.

If you are interested in joining the list, send an email message to Nick Waterman, the list administrator, at nick@leonet.co.uk. He will send you details of how to join the list. Details can also be found at http://www.leonet.co.uk/~nick/tilefall/

Speak to you there!

InterNet:

Adam@electrolyte.demon.co.uk

http://www.electrolyte.demon.co.uk

Snail Mail:

Adam Dawes

47 Friar Road

Brighton

BN1 6NH

ENGLAND

• Initial public release.

 
Planned improvements to Tile Fall:

• Proper integrated online help
• Option to switch the sound-effects on and off
• Multiple tileset graphics
• Highscore merging facility, so you can really compete with your friends!

New versions of Tile Fall will be released to my web site, as detailed in the Contacting the Author section above.

Tile Fall and its associated files are not public domain. They may be distributed freely as long as no unreasonable charge is imposed. They may not be included within any commercial package without express written permission from the author.