pBobble v. 1.0 BETA3 ==================== pBobble is a clone of the old arcade game Puzzle Bobble, or Bust-a-Move, for the PalmOS platform. Your goal is to clear each level by collecting at least 3 balls of the same color. Features: - 30 original arcade levels - 1,2 and 4 bpp and color graphics - Stylus and button control - Highscores - Multiple ball sets Requirements: - PalmOS 2.0 or above - 42K - 142K free space pBobble is freeware - hope you like it. niboan (Niels Bo Andersen) Installation: ============= The zip-file contains 6 different prc files. The only difference is the display modes they support. Name Size Display support -------------------------------------------------- pbobble.prc 142K color and 1, 2 and 4 bpp pbobble_col.prc 86K color pbobble_grey.prc 94K 1, 2 and 4 bpp pbobble_4bpp.prc 66K 4 bpp pbobble_2bpp.prc 50K 2 bpp pbobble_1bpp.prc 42K 1 bpp You can only install one of them, and which one you install depends on your hardware and software, and how much memory you are willing to sacrifice. If you have enough free memory, you can just install pbobble.prc, and you're up and running. If you want to save a little space, you can install pbobble_col.prc if you're the lucky owner of a color device, and pbobble_grey.prc if you're not. If you have a monochrome device, you can save even more space by determining your device's graphic capabilities, and installing one of pbobble_4bpp.prc, pbobble_2bpp.prc or pbobble_1bpp.prc. Below is a table of PalmOS versions and the greyscale screen modes they support. 1bpp 2bpp 4bpp ----------------------------------- Palm OS 2.0 X Palm OS 3.0 X X Palm OS 3.1 X X Palm OS 3.3 X X X Palm OS 3.5 X X X Note that it is possible that your hardware does not support all the modes, even though your OS version does. The easiest way to find out what mode your device supports, is to install pbobble_grey.prc, go to the options screen, and check what modes you can select ('GFX MODE'). If you don't see this option, your device probably only supports black and white, and you can install pbobble_1bpp.prc over the already installed version. If you see this option, your device supports more screen modes, and you can switch through the modes to find the highest (or the one you like best), and install the corresponding version. Notes to the color version: --------------------------- I don't have a color device myself :-(, so I've only tested the color version on the Palm OS Emulator. Because of that, I don't know how it actually looks on a real color screen, so if you're having trouble seeing what's on the screen, please drop me a note. Screens: ======== Main menu: ---------- Tap the menu items with the stylus. 'PLAY': Play the game. 'OPTIONS': Various options. 'HIGHSCORES': Show the highscores. Game Options screen: -------------------- The Game Options screen lets you control the game you're about to play. You switch between the possible values by tapping the arrow on either side of the value. To start the game, tap 'PLAY'. Currently, the only thing you can control is: 'START LEVEL': The level at which you want to start the game. You can only choose from the levels you've already played. Game screen: ------------ The launcher is controlled by either the stylus or with the hardware buttons. Stylus control: To aim the ball, put the stylus down in the grafitti area, move the stylus until the launcher points in the right direction, and lift the stylus. Button control: | | Fire | | | |________________________________| | | __ __ __ | | / \ __ / \ __ / \ | | \__/ / \ | | / \ \__/ | | Step \__/ | | \__/ Step | \ Left Left \__/ Right Right / \____________________________________/ During gameplay, the grafitti area is used to control the game, so the buttons (App launcher, Menu, Calculator and Find) doesn't work. Instead of the App launcher and Menu buttons, you can use the two buttons on the right side of the screen. To use the Calculator and Find buttons, you'll have to go to the main menu or the App launcher first. Options screen: --------------- The Options screen lets you control certain features of pBobble. You switch between the possible values by tapping the arrow on either side of the value. When you're done, tap 'OK'. 'GFX MODE': This option lets you control the screen mode used by pBobble. If you don't see this option, your device only supports one screen mode, or you installed a version of pBobble that only supports one screen mode. Possible values are: 1BPP: 1 bit per pixel, black and white. 2BPP: 2 bit per pixel, 4 levels of grey. 4BPP: 4 bit per pixel, 16 levels of grey. COLOR: 8 bit per pixel, Color. DEFAULT: Automatically selects the highest screenmode available. Note that only supported modes are shown. 'BALL SET': Just select the one you like best. 'TXT INPUT': A lot of people got frustrated about the way you entered highscores in the first BETA. This option lets you choose the input method. Possible values are: ARCADE: Letters are entered by sliding the stylus left and right in the grafitti area until the right letter shows up, and then lifting the stylus. This is kind of the way it's done on the arcade version, and is nice for people who doesn't know grafitti. (If you should be careless enough to let your kids play with your Palm) PALM: The Palm way of entering text: Grafitti. Highscores screen: ------------------ Shows you the name, level and score. Just tap 'OK' when you've seen enough. Highscore name input: --------------------- When you first enter this screen, the name that appears is the first part of your 'HotSync name'. If that's ok, just tap 'OK'. If not, enter the name you want, using the input method chosen in the options screen, and tap 'OK'. The next time you get a highscore, the name you entered will be the default. The default input method is 'ARCADE'. The 'ARCADE'-way of entering text works like this: Put down the stylus in the grafitti area, and you will see a letter appearing. Change the letter by sliding the stylus left or right. Once you've found the letter you want, lift the stylus, and the cursor moves to the next field. If you screw up, just slide the stylys all the way to the right, and you'll see an arrow. Lift the stylus, and the previous character will be deleted. Note that if you have chosen the 'PALM' input method, only a subset of the normal character set is available, and you can't use the onscreen keyboard. Planned features: ================= Here is a list of the features that I have in mind for future versions of pBobble: - Customized hardware button layout - Random levels - Sound - User levels + level editor - Highscore submission Please don't expect them all to come in v. 1.1 ;-) Vote for new features at: http://niboan.dhs.org/pbfeatures.shtml NOTE: This release of pBobble is BETA! ====================================== This means that there might still be bugs that I haven't found through my own testing, and there might be bugs that I'll never find on my own. That's why I let you try out the game, and my hope is that if you find any bugs, you'll take the time to describe the bug and mail it to me (niels@niboan.dhs.org). In other words: Don't expect this to work ;-) Contact: ======== New releases and updates: http://niboan.dhs.org/pbobble.shtml Main site: http://niboan.dhs.org/ email: niels@niboan.dhs.org