Bert is my Q*Bert-sort-of-clone game, which means a game that resembles the old arcade classic Q*Bert without any ambitions of being identical. That way, I can put in any additional features I feel like, and I don't run any risk of getting sued for copyright infringements.
THE GAME
The general idea is that the hero - Bert - is jumping on boxes, changing their colors, and the goal is to change all boxes into the goal color (which is green). A number of other characters or objects appear in the same grid, for better or worse.
The game board is a pyramid to begin with, but that will change on other levels. Don't jump off the boxes - except onto the CD's!
There are a fair bunch of different objects appearing during the game. They include:
• The spinning disk (CD). It always appears in open air. Bert can jump on it, and it will then transport him to the to of the game board and the disappear.
• The ball. It just roll down, and kills Bert if it hits him.
• Ingvar The Shoe. He wanders around in the game board, trying to track Bert down, and will kill him if it hits him. He can be fooled to jump off the game board.
• Calle, the blue guy. He jumps downwards like the ball, but is harmless to Bert. However, it re-colorizes all boxes it steps on, undoing Berts hard work. Bert can hit him to get rid of him.
• The magnet. It is perhaps the most dangerous enemy, since it move straight towards Bert all the time, and will drop him off the game board if it hits him.
• Righty and Lefty: Two guys jumping around on the wrong sides of the boxes. Due to the conflicting gravitation, the boxes they step on get really hot - too hot for Bert to step on at the same time!
• The box. This is a bonus object that you want to catch. Really! Everything gets SO easy - for a while!
When Bert enters the game, or has taken a trip with a spinning disk, he is invulnerable until he makes his next move. When in this state, Bert flickers.
CONTROLS
You control Bert from the keybord, with keys you choose in the "Set keys…" dialog. You can't use any control keys (shift, alt, command, ctrl).
COMPATIBILITY
Bert should work on any Mac with enough memory, and in any screen depth, and almost any system version. (Tested under System 6.0.7 and 7.1.) I'm not sure you can make it run on a 512k Mac, but it should run on anything better than that. It looks best in 256 colors (or better). If it won't run on your Mac, let me know. It might run a little slow sometimes on some slower Macs (16 MHz or slower). In such cases, try running with fewer colors, if possible, and make sure "allow background tasks" isn't checked. It will work, but be unplayable, in grayscales. If your Mac is grayscale only (e.g. most PowerBooks), switch to B/W.
THE COST
Bert is part of my Shareware Pack #2, together with Ingemar's Skiing Game (and a few minor things), which means that they go in a bundle for $10. Pretty fair price, isn't it? There is also a Shareware Pack #1 ($15) with my older games. Both packs: $20.
Cash preferred (by recommendation of several swedish banks). My address:
Ingemar Ragnemalm
Plöjaregatan 73
S-58330 Linköping
SWEDEN
For swedish users/för svenska användare: 10 dollar är ungeför 75 kronor. Mitt postgirokonto är 620831-2014. Ange tydligt vad du betalar för.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to:
- the people who helped me remembering the game mechanics of the original Qbert, including Roy M. LeCates, David Plumpton and Kevin J. Podsiadlik.
- the beta testers, of which Roy Dictus and Mike Bafour have been the most active ones.
- Eva L. Ragnemalm for sound effects. (All sound effects are made by ourselves. Some are taken from my older games, though.)
- Christer "Chrisp" Petterson, piano.
- Mikael Pawlo, made some of the graphics, including the welcome screen, game over picture and more.
