The bottom line: if you enjoy playing this game and plan to keep it for a while, the cost is $7. The total registration cost for both this game and my forthcoming follow-up, "3d Paddle Bash!", is $10. You can send less or more than my asking price, but if you do I would appreciate a short comment as well.
Of course, if you don't like this game you should not pay for it. But if you don't pay for it, you shouldn't continue to play it either.
Send fee/comments to: Matthew Diamond, 620 Brewster Sq., Norristown PA 19401.
The next section describes the origins of 3d Brick Bash! The last section describes some advantages of shareware, for those who are unfamiliar or undecided about it.
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[A brief history of the game.]
I got the idea for this game when the Macintosh was first released. I have always been a fanatic for just about every electronic ball-and-brick game invented: hand-helds, Atari, stand-up arcade, you name it. We also had an Apple II+ at home, a computer which was SHIPPED with a break-out program. The first time I played with a Mac, I immediately knew two things. One, I had to have one. Two, it needed a break-out game.
Not just any break-out game. It had to showcase the resolution, sound, and everything else that would convince the rest of the world, that hey, they had to have Macs too. Heck, maybe Apple would ship a copy of my game with every Mac! But if not, shareware would be a fitting way to distribute it... it fit with the power-to-the-people image that Apple was presenting.
I got a 128K Mac the next year when I went to college. The core of this game was written in Pascal that first year, but nothing I did after that made it fast enough. I changed compilers, ported it to C, changed compilers again, upgraded to a Mac Plus (we were talking POWER now!), dabbled in 68000 assembly, rewrote the ball code, quantized the paddle movement... The few significant speed-ups I got I quickly frittered away by increasing the accuracy of the ball's movement and adding sound.
Only 7 years later, here it is (thanks to faster CPU's and Think C's optimizing C compiler) I regret the fact that it doesn't run on b/w Macs, the machines I always intended it for. It also could stand to be a little faster for certain machines, and one day I may add some "goodies" that you can collect and use during the play of the game. But in all other respects, what you see here is what I dreamed up all those years ago (except with color!)
I'm proud of this game, of how closely it resembles my original idea, and that this game only exists on the Mac and not on any other computer. And I STILL think Apple should ship a copy with every Mac. I suspect that you'll have to be a break-out fanatic to enjoy this game as much as I do, but maybe not. Let me know.
And if you think this is interesting, you should see the other ideas I have!
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[Why create/buy shareware?]
Shareware has advantages for both the author and the consumer. Without advertisers, package designers, or costs of traditional distribution channels, more money goes to the people who created the products. The author also gets the benefit of direct feedback from the users.
The consumer can also benefit. The cost of the software is usually cheaper (since the savings listed above get passed on.) The software can be tried before it is bought, and is typically not copy-protected. Plus, the user gets a warm, fuzzy feeling from being trusted by the author.
There are less-tangible benefits, too. Shareware allows ideas to be developed that software publishers would not consider. And, shareware is based on the idea that some consumers can be trusted... radical, but kinda nice.
What's this got to do with you? You should send money if you enjoy and wish to own the game. Or if you just plain feel sorry for me as a struggling shareware author, go ahead, send that money. I'm not proud. If you like, you can forward comments to me as well. I'll use them to decide whether to enhance this game or work on something new.
