Table of Contents
Features include:
For Color Devices (Palm IIIc, HandSpring Visor Prisim):
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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 ] |
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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.
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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 ] |
In Rescue mode you must free the trapped people 
on
the playfield. Do this by popping bubbles that surround the trapped people,
and dropping thier bubble. 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 ]
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 game 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.
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In vs. CPU mode, you battle computer opponents to see who can last longer in a match. Whoever goes below the lose line first loses the match, giving the other player (CPU) the victory.
In the vs. mode, you send bubbles to the other player (CPU), by popping many bubbles at a time. Any number of bubbles popped over the initial three (including dropped bubbles) get sent over to your opponent (CPU). Sent bubbles come from the bottom of the screen in groups of up to 7 bubbles. The amount of bubbles you about to be sent is shown via a small counter to the right of your shooter.
NOTE: If you are aiming and bubbles are sent to your side, they will not be sent up to you until you shoot your current bubble. Also, if there are more then 7 bubbles waiting to be sent up. they will be done in sets of 7 per shot.
The bubbles sent up are placed in random locations, but are based on a set pattern of bubbles depending on who you are battling. Before you start battle with a opponent (CPU), their bubble pattern will be shown. This is the pattern of bubbles that will be sent up to your side, starting from the first bubble in the pattern and continuously looping through the pattern.
Beat all the CPU opponents and win the game!
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In vs. IR mode, you battle other human opponents via the Infrared port on your PDA. The battle is to see who can last longer in a match. Whoever goes below the lose line first loses the match, giving the other player the victory.
To start a IR game, you must have two palm units with a infrared port with Beam Receive turned on (Go to your System Prefs to check if Beam Receive is on). On one of the palm units select HOST, and on the other select CLIENT. Make sure that both units' Infrared ports are pointing to each other. Also, make sure that the HOST player selects HOST before the CLIENT player selects CLIENT on their Palm unit. Once the HOST is waiting on the CLIENT Palm, hit CONNECT. This will try to establish a connection on the other Palm unit. If no connection can be established, hit CANCEL on the CLIENT and try again. If there still is no connection, make sure that Beam Receive is set to ON on both Palm units (see above for info).
In the VS. mode, you send bubbles to the other player by popping many bubbles at a time. Any number of bubbles popped over the initial three (including dropped bubbles) are sent to your opponent. Sent bubbles come from the bottom of the screen in groups of up to 7 bubbles. The amount of bubbles you about to be sent is shown via a small counter to the right of your shooter.
NOTE: If you are aiming and bubbles are sent to your side, they will not be sent up to you until you shoot your current bubble. Also, if there are more then 7 bubbles waiting to be sent up, they will be done in sets of 7 per shot.
The sent bubbles are placed in random locations, but are based on a set pattern of bubbles depending on who you are battling. Before you start battle with a opponent, their and your bubble patterns are shown. This is the pattern of bubbles that will be sent up to your side, starting from the first bubble in the pattern and continuously looping through the pattern.
The battle ends when either player loses by having a bubble under the lose line. Once that happens, you will go to the win/loss screen, where information regarding your game is shown (WIN/LOSE totals, and Post-Fight Text).
This game mode goes on until both players select the EXIT TO TITLE option.
To change the Pre/Post fight text, do so in the CONFIGURATION/VS.Text area before starting the IR mode.
[ TOP ]
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)
To create a new database, type in the name of the database you wish to create in the field area (says "New DB" on screen), then hit the CREATE DATABASE button. You will be taken to the MAIN EDIT VIEW SCREEN.
To load or delete a database, first select it from the Pop-Down list (PBP-Blah) shown above, then hit the SELECT DATABASE button to load it, or DELETE DATABASE to delete it. You will be then taken back to the MAIN EDIT VIEW SCREEN. (After a delete, a default database will be loaded.)
Modify the database name (text seen when a player starts to play your database), and the name of who made it (hey you!!!).
Each default Puzzle database consists of 15 branches with 6 levels each in them. Before releasing a database to the public it is recommended you have all 15 branches complete. If you do not wish to do so, or want to release only a limited level # demo as shareware, use the Max branch option to set the maximum completed branch number. For demo levels, it is recommended that you leave it at 1, so you only need to create the first 6 levels.
If the max branch is reached and the player reaches a branch that is over the Max Branch setting, they will see a screen such as shown in Figure 3. If releasing a demo database, it is recommended that your registration/info file be called README as stated in the dialog the player sees.
When a database is released, you may also opt to write-protect the database with a password. Do this by entering a password and hitting LOCK. Now your database will be read-only, until it is unlocked by putting in the password in the field and hitting UNLOCK.
After you set all your settings, hit OK to exit and save, or CANCEL to abort any changes you have made.
To edit the playfield, just select which bubble or shape you wish to place via the LEFT and RIGHT arrows, then click on a grid location to place that shape there. To erase a bubble or shape just use the LEFT and RIGHT arrows until you get to the blank space, then click on the grid to erase what is currently there.
From this screen you can get access to the MORE PROPERTIES screen. To do so hit the MORE button and a screen such as Figure 5 will be shown.
In this screen you can name your level, set the number of bubbles shot until the playfield shifts down, and set the initial bubble order a player gets before random bubbles are given.
To set the initial bubble order via the LEFT and RIGHT arrows, select the bubble you wish to add to the queue then hit "ADD" (9 max!). To delete the last bubble in the queue hit "DELETE".
When done in the MORE PROPERTIES screen hit PREV to return to the MAIN EDIT VIEW area.
When you wish to SAVE/UPDATE your level, just hit MENU on your organizer and select the "Save/Update" option. This will show the level location screen (Figure 6) where you can select where you wish to place that level in your database.
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 PalmGear. 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 this, 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.
