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0. Introduction |
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0.1 Overview |
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Tilerama is a
tile-based puzzle game. Your objective is to
slide the tiles from
a given initial pattern (called IP) to an objective pattern
(called OP). The game allows you to play a wide variety of
puzzles; from the classic picture-slide square, to complex
patterns of colored tiles. |
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0.2 Game Features
(and some history) |
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The idea of this
game was born with the well-known 'Sliding Puzzles' in which you
must slide the tiles to their original location, to rebuild a
scrambled picture. Movements in these kind of puzzles
are possible because of an empty space located, generally, in
the right-bottom corner of the board, and the level of
difficulty is achieved by varying the dimensions of the
board. A variation of this game, in which there's no
empty space and the tiles slide vertically or horizontally
from one side of the board to the opposite, was also an
inspiration. The first attempt of Tilerama included both variations,
with a few board dimensions allowed.
Then, several features were added to the original game
concept: |
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- Multiple shapes :
Initially, only 'square pictures' of different dimensions
were available (3x3, 4x4 and 5x5 tiles). A newer version
of Tilerama allowed any shape formed by tiles. At
this point, the 'board editor' is born to edit and manage
the different boards of the game. Today's board editor
(not included in the game, but available for free in the
game's web site) is almost the same. (read 'The
Board' for more details)
- Jumps and Turns :
In the variation of the 'Sliding Puzzle' described above
(without empty spaces), small bars positioned outside the
board indicated that a tile that came out in that side
re-entered in the opposite side. This bars were called
'Jumps', and in a newer version of the game, the 'Jump In'
and 'Jump Out' could be positioned anywhere, not only in
opposite sides. Then 'Turns' were created as small points
(also outside the board) to allow tiles to turn their
direction in the corners (read 'Flow
Elements' for more
details).
- Colored Tiles :
Thanks to the features mentioned above, the puzzles became very hard to solve, and then colored tiles were
created to make things easier. When you have to rebuild a
scrambled picture, there is a specific position for every
single tile, but when you have to rebuild a pattern of
colored tiles, several tiles may be positioned correctly
in several positions, making the same pattern.
- Compound Pieces :
To make things harder again, newer versions included
'Compound Pieces', that is, several tiles linked together
making 'poliminoes' (as the pieces in Tetris-like games).
- Time and Moves Limits
: Finally, 'Time' and 'Moves' limitations were added to
make the game even harder. This feature also introduced
the difference between 'board' and 'puzzle' files. (read 'Game Files'
for more details).
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None of these
improved versions of Tilerama were ever published (that's why
the version available today is just 1.0).
As you can see, the game is extremely flexible; enough to
become a platform for a lot of different 'Sliding Puzzles',
which is its main purpose. |
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0.3 Other Features |
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Besides the game
features, Tilerama offers : |
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- 3 Game Modes :
'Single Game' , 'Against Computer' (in turns) and
'Campaign' (several puzzles played successively).
- Skin support : The
graphics of the board and tiles can be customized
individually, and if the puzzle includes a picture, this
can be replaced with any external JPG or BMP image.
- Customizable Sounds and
Music : The user can change the WAV files used for
sound effects, and the MIDI file used as ingame music.
- Top 10 Scores :
Every puzzle and every game-mode have their own 'Top 10
Scores' in two categories : 'Fewest Moves' and 'Fastest
Times'.
- Player's Log File :
The game writes a 'Log File' for every player, to keep
track of all their events.
- Official Web Site :
In Tilerama's web site you can find a lot of extra
resources, including more puzzles, skins and sounds. There
are also available the editors, as free as the game, to
create your own puzzles and campaigns.
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