NAME

xjewel - X windows droping jewels game

SYNOPSIS

xjewel

DESCRIPTION

Jewel is a droping block game akin to tetris.

It is played by controling the motion of blocks which continue to fall from the top of the screen. One can move them left and right, as well as rotate the jewel segements. The object is to get the most points before the grim reaper ends the fun.

Death happens when the screen is no longer capable of holding any more blocks. To make high scores more interesting, you are given but three attempts to get points -- use them wisely.

As the game progresses, and more jewels are removed, the speed of the game will increase. This is measured in seconds of delay between steps of block motion.

KEYS

There are three sets of keys that can be used:
( or any combination )

Option 1:

J	K	L
\|	\|	\|
move block left	rotate block	move block right

SPACE

<- drop block

Option 2:

4	5	6
\|	\|	\|
move block left	rotate block	move block right

0	<- drop block

Option 3: (cursor keypad)

	↑	- rotate block
←	↓	→
\|	\|	\|
move block left	rotate block	move block right

ROTATIONS

The folowing rotations are possible: ( there are no others )

1		3		2
2	☞	1	☞	3
3		2		1

SCORING

The basic way to get points is to unite the jewels to form triplet (or higher) matches. This can be done in any direction, and can be accomplished in more than one part of the board at one time. As the jewels are removed, the board falls to fill the spaces -- matches may again occur.

These teritiary matches provide an interesting part to the game due to the formula for calculating points:

( 300 (for base triplet) + 150 * (each additional jewel) ) * 2^order

where order is the number of the repeition from which the match occured.

As a light at the end of the bleak tunnel, a WILD CARD is available. The wild block will be given at infrequent intervals, and will give the user the points for one triplet by removing all the jewels of a particular shape/color.

To add some interest to the game, points are awarded for dropping the block from a height above its resting place. This is accumlated at 10 points per level above the place it will rest.

STAGES

There are no changes for the higher levels, although the speed increases, proportionaly to the level. Stage increases with the successful completion of the 50 jewels required per level. The current status is shown in the REST field.

NOTES

This game was originally written by Yoshihiro Satoh of HP. I have made a modest attempt to replicate Domain/JewelBox under X.

I have somewhat rudely taken the bitmaps from the original game and created this version. I hold the copyright for the code, as I created it, but I hold no claim to the bitmaps which were freely distributed with the Domain version.

NOTE: I have attempted to reach the holder of the original copyright to ascertain his acceptance for the release of this game, he did not, or was not able to reply.

REDISTRIBUTION in source or binary from is permited as long as adequate notation of the originators is retained, including the developer of the original Domain/Jewlbox, Yoshihiro Satoh.

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK AND PERIL, I MAKE NO CLAIM OF USEABILITY OR WARANTY.

ORIGINAL NOTATIONS

>Authors
>-------
>
> Programming Yoshihiro Satoh
> Font Design Yoshiharu Minami
> Document Writing Nancy Paisner
>
>Copyright
>---------
>
> This software is in the Yoshihiro's Arcade Collections.
> Domain/JewelBox is a trade mark of Yoshihiro Satoh.
>
> Copyright @ 1990 by Yoshihiro Satoh
> All rights are reserved by Yoshihiro Satoh.

AUTHOR

David Cooper
Jose Guterman

BUGS

It does not currently accept any X arguments, including the -display argument.

The DISPLAY environment variable must be set for it to work.