 |
|
 |
|
Game Play
Turt's Puzzle Blocks is very easy to understand, you just need to find groups of three or more blocks and click on that group to remove it. Once a group is removed the blocks above will fall or squeeze to the center to fill any gaps that may have been left from the blocks that where removed.
During the game lines will be added to the bottom of the blocks, the goal is to continually remove groups of 3 to gain points and to stop the blocks from reaching the top of the game area. If the blocks reach the top the game is over.
A group of three does not need to be in a straight line, the blocks just need to be touching each other. Touching each other only qualifies if they are to the right of, to the left of, on top of, or below the other blocks. Blocks touching on a diagonal do not count towards the group.
The game is divided into levels; during the level you must remove 60 blocks from the game board. Since you can only remove blocks in groups of three each group is worth at least three points towards this count. Each level will get faster, and for every 3 levels you complete a new color of block will be added to the mix. The more colors in play the least likely you'll find a match so you must act quickly as time goes on.
For a more detailed description on how to play and for instructions on each of the screens that you will see while playing please continue reading
Title Screen
 Title Screen |
The title screen is the first screen you will see when you start Turt's Puzzle Blocks. The title screen is basically the Main Menu of the game, from this screen you can go to all of the other sections of the game. The first set of links will help you start a game. You have the option of starting a 1 or 2 player game, in any of the 3 modes, easy, medium or expert. The 2 player mode is you verus the computer currently (Version 0.5.3). The different modes will be explained in more detail later.
The other sections that you can go to are the help screen, the options screen and the highscores screen, each of these will also be explained later on.
Level Start Screen
 Level Start |
In a one player game this screen will appear between each completed level. This screen gives you a chance to rest, or set up for the next level. You can also see how well your doing as far as you score goes. When your ready to start the next level you just have to click the "Continue Game" button.
The 2 player version of the game does not have this screen because each player will reach a new level at different times. There is no real way to tell what level you are on when playing the 2 player version, but you shouldn't worry about that. More details on the 2 player version can be found below.
1 Player Game Screen
 1 Player Version |
This is what the screen looks like while playing the 1 player version. As mentioned before there are 3 modes to the game easy, medium and expert. First I'll explain the basic rules of the game at apply to all of the modes and then I'll explain the special features of the different modes
The whole point of the game is to remove groups of 3 or more so that you can get the highest score. The trick is you can't let the blocks reach the top of the screen or your game is over. The point system works so that the more blocks you remove at the same time the more points you get for example 3 blocks = 9 points, 10 blocks = 100 points. As you can see there is an advantage to removing larger groups.
The new blocks are added to the bottom of the game area, you will see the new line being created below, when the line is finished its added to the game area. The blocks are added in a completely random fashion starting with 4 different colors (or shapes) in level 1, an additional color is added every 3 levels. As well as having new colors added to the mixed the game will go just a little faster every level. So the farther you go the harder it will get.
Because the blocks are added at random there may be times when matches are hard to find. In these cases the flips and bombs are very useful. You will earn these items as you play the game based on how many point you earn. You can see how many of these items you have under your score, the up and down arrow represent flips and you can probably guess that the bomb represents the bombs. In order to use a flip you will have to use the "F" key on your key board. This will take the game board and flip it over this will cause the blocks to be slightly jumbled and will hopefully create a few more groupings. You will recieve quite a few flips, but you will not collect too many bombs. Bombs will allow you to remove all the blocks of a certain color, to do this you need to use your right mouse button and click on a block of the color you wish to remove.
Thats about all the rules you need to know to get started, its also exactly how the medium mode works. Easy and Expert are the modes with extra features
Easy Mode
This mode is meant for begineers because it helps you find groups that can be removed. As your searching for groups the computer looks as well, since the computer is really quick they almost always spot groups before you do. The computer will show you the groups that it finds by highlighting them with rotating stars. You don't need to follow what the computer says but its a good way to learn how the game works and its even fun when your skilled and just want to have an easy game.
Expert Mode
Before you play this mode you better know what your doing. Expert mode is designed so you don't get any help, actually it doesn't the opposite. If you click a block that can not be removed (ie. a block that is not part of a group of three or more), that block will become locked. A block that is locked will have a little pad lock over it. These blocks can not be removed anymore. No more clicking like mad in hopes that you will click on a group.
2 Player Game Screen
 2 Player Version |
In gerenal the 2 player version follows the exact same rules that the 1 player version does. Currently the only real difference is that you play along side a computer player. As I said before there is no level changing screen, but the levels will change and more colors will be added.
*Note* The current 2 player version will probably not be the final version I have plans to make it more story oriented with ways to effect the other players game board and/or make the computer player smarter.
Game Over Screen
I'm sure you can guess when you'll see this screen. This screen will give you your final score and will also give you your score code which can be used to submit your score to the site. For more information on how to submit your score please click here to get the full instructions.
*Note* For now (Version 0.5.3) thats all that this page does, however in future version this page may allow you to enter your name to submit your highscore to your personal highscore list and/or the highscore list of the site.
Options Screen
 Options Screen |
The options screen allows you to change a few of the settings in the game, currently (Version 0.5.3) the fullscreen and windowed toggle only works in Linux, if you hit the fullscreen button in windows you will be left with a blank screen and will have to press ESC to return to windows.
Changing the tiles used in the game works on both windows and linux, this allows you to change the blocks that are used to different shapes or colors including the newest set the Christmas blocks. None of these settings are currently saved (Version 0.5.3) so you will have to change the blocks each time you load Turt's Blocks if you prefer a different set.
Help Screen
 Help Screen |
This screen will basically hold a copy of all the information found on this page, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard or the up and down arrows on the screen to move through the content. One little tip about this page is since there is currently (Version 0.5.3) no pause feature in the game you can use this page to pause the game in the middle of a level.
Highscore Screen
 Highscore Screen |
* This screen is not active in the current version (Version 0.5.3) of Turt's Puzzle Blocks, the current view is just a place holder. *
If your looking for more screenshots then please take a look at the screenshots page
If something is unclear or you just have a comment or suggestion please email me at admin@turt99.com
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
