Notes

Outline

Candy is Dandy v. 1.5 A fun game with plenty of options to while away some hours

Attributions I received much help with this program, especially: Vik, for much help with programming stuff I didn’t get Randy Winch, for graphics, and general support My children, Alexander and Savannah, who played the game and pointed out lots of cool stuff I could do, and even a couple bugs.

Basic Game Play Basic game play can be summed up in a few words: try to get three or more candies in a row horizontally or vertically. That’s it. When you do so, the candies will disappear, and those above will move down to fill the space created. If more three-in-a-rows are created by this, those will disappear also.

Graphics Set 1

Graphics Set 2

Graphics Set 3

Additional Graphics Sets Candy is Dandy version 1.5 can handle up to 99 different graphics sets. To install an additional graphics set, just make a new folder “Set X,” where X is any number from 4 to 99 under your main Candy is Dandy folder. Just keep in mind that you need to have a Set 4 folder before you can have a Set 5, etc. You can download new graphics sets from the Graphics Set website. We’re always adding new ones for your gaming pleasure! You can even make your own!

Changing Graphics Sets

Making Custom Graphics Sets If you want to make custom graphics sets, either to submit to the web site or to use on your own, follow these instructions: There are eight basic candies in a set, named C1.bmp through C8.bmp. They must be 64x64 pixels, any resolution, 24-bit color, and uncompressed. You must also make a selected set, named C1S.bmp through C8S.bmp, based on the above set, but with some way to show that they are selected. I usually use an orange border, but you can get creative, as long as it’s obvious the candy is selected. The lower-left hand corner pixel determines the background, or “transparent” color. You should attempt to make sure that there is no “anti-aliasing” around the candy, as this can look real ugly with different colored background, and appear as a “halo.” You may add a “Description.txt” to your candy set which describes it in a single line.

The Options Dialog This is the dialog that allows you to change the various game options. Uncheck Background Music to turn off the theme song. Uncheck Sound Effects to turn off the game sounds. Uncheck Auto Hint and the game will no longer show how many moves you have available. Press the Change button and you can edit all sounds. The Graphics Set may be any number from 1 to 99 (assuming you have that many sets). You may change graphics sets graphically by using the Change Graphics button.

The Music Options Dialog This is the dialog where you can choose the various sounds that the game makes. Please note that only MIDI and WAV sounds are currently supported. MP3s are explicitly NOT supported. The Background Music is where you choose your background music. To play one song repeatedly, type a name in the File box or use Browse to select. To have songs play randomly from a folder of many MIDIs or WAVs, use the Folder box or choose Browse to select. The Move Sound is the sound heard when moving pieces. The Bad Move Sound is the sound heard when you try to move somewhere you can’t. The Drop Sound is the sound heard when pieces are dropping down. For the three sound effect types, you can choose “Reset” to reset it to the game default, or uncheck its checkbox to selectively turn off that sound.

The High Scores Dialog There’s not really much to say about this one. This is what you see when you successfully get a high score in the game and/or press the “High Scores” button. Press the clear button to clear all scores (as shown below). The clear button is irreversible.

Save/Load Game Button Version 1.5 of Candy is Dandy has the ability to save your game in progress and/or load an older game. Press the Save/Load Game button and a dialog (below) will pop up. Click what you want to do, then load or save the file from the standard open or save dialog box.

The Hint Button When you press the Hint! button, one of the candies that you can legitimately move will flash for approximately ¾ second. All you have to do is look around it to see where you can move it. There is a price extracted from pressing the Hint! button, however: your score is reduced by 3 times the Move Per Score value currently in effect for the level you are on.

The “Boss” Switch If you minimize the game (either by pressing minimize on the game or by pressing ESC on your keyboard), the game will “hide” on your taskbar, and look (more or less) like the Windows Calculator. I have been told reliably that does not always work correctly under WinME, however, I have determined that this is probably a bug in Windows ME, not my program. For this reason, and several others, I made it an Option now.

A Little Bit About Levels The levels in the game go from 1 to 99 (good luck getting to level 99 ;-). If you actually *do* get to level 99, the game is over. At level 1, you get 10 points for every candy removed from the board. At levels 2 - 4, you get 20 points for every candy removed from the board. At levels 5 – 8, you get 30 points for every candy removed from the board. Also, at level 5, a new candy is introduced to make the game a bit harder. At levels 9 – 14, you get 40 points for every candy removed from the board. Also, at level 9, a new candy is introduced to make the game a bit harder. At levels 15+, you get 50 points for every candy removed from the board.

More About Levels The levels are as follows: Level 1: Score 0 Level 2: Score 1,500 Level 3: Score 4,000 Level 4: Score 6,500 Level 5: Score 9,000 Level 6: Score 13,000 Level 7: Score 17,000 Level 8: Score 21,000 Level 9: Score 25,000 Level 10: Score 32,000 Level 11: Score 39,000 Level 12: Score 46,000 Level 13: Score 53,000 Level 14: Score 60,000 Level 15: Score 67,000 Level 16 to 98: 68,000+10,000 per level from there on

Tips and Tricks Save your game at the start of every level and at the 50% point. Then, if you get “No More Moves,” play again, and load the last game. Make different choices as to moves, or even the same choices, and different candies will drop down. Chances are, you’ll succeed the next time. Leave a single move at the bottom and don’t play that one unless you absolutely have to. That way, your game will go on. . .

If You Need More Help . . . The primary place to get help for the Candy is Dandy game is at the Candy is Dandy forum at AnswerView. You can visit Micro Innovators/Ernest Fairchild’s website at http://www.public.asu.edu/~ernestf You can also e-mail me at efairchild@home.com if you wish.