0. Introduction
0.1 Overview
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.
0.2 Game Features (and some history)
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:
  • 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 This bars were called 'Jumps', and in a newer version of the game, the 'Jump In' and 'Jump Out' could be positioned anywhere, not only in opposite sides.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).
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. 
0.3 Other Features
Besides the game features, Tilerama offers :
  • 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.