Well, finally, here it is. The response to Glypha 2.0 has been so positive, I had to get around to it and at least clean up some of the little annoying aspects of 2.0. So, 3.0. I want to thank all of the people who have sent me their shareware payments - you own this version! Bad news though, I highly doubt there will ever be another update to Glypha. If you choose to send me shareware payments for Glypha, you'll probably instead be supporting the future games I develop.
What's new? Well, a whole number of things. How's this for some of the major changes:
- now should run on a 512 KE
- soft dorothy logo window closes by itself when program is ready
- all text/edit items are automatically hilighted
- "Configure Game" window now shoes (1..99) range
- four speeds to choose from
- speed is more 'consistent' throughout game
- can flush the high scores now from menu
- 'Cancel' works now in dialog boxes
- new 'lightning animation' at start-up
- new player appears instantly (no more flip-flip-flip...)
- can no longer cheat with the eye (some of you know...)
- eye appears with a lightning flash
- ahnks flip when displaying score
- new "About" dialog box
- all default buttons have borders around them
- game now saves your 'Sound' setting
- some sounds were replaced with better sounds
- bottom stones now slide off acid pit
- screens now center on large monitors
- enemies are 'smarter' now
- game should run a wee bit faster now
- manual screen refresh with the 'r' or 'R' key during play
- now recognizes update events and should refresh screen after
screensavers kick out
- hi scores will save scores in the billions (good luck)
- first 5 waves are a little easier
- in 'mouse mode' idle-mode bug fixed; button will launch you
- hidden keys when not playing; try the 'l', 'L', and 'm' keys
Well that covers most of it. Have fun!
One last note. Why did I write this not-too-original game? Well besides being a fan of the original game, I wrote this as more of a challenge to my programming skills. When I had just finished Glider 2.0 I thought, "Well, Glider works pretty good, but I made a lot of compromises so that it would work well on a Mac. What if I try to write a game where the 'rules' of the game are already established. Could I write it in the spirit of the original game without cutting too many corners?" Well, I like the way Glypha turned out, but NEVER AGAIN! Writing a game to behave just like another game takes all the fun out of it. You get caught in this trap where you become obsessed with making your version EXACTLY like the original. It throws all creativity out the door and becomes more like work than enjoyment. So, just a warning to anyone who thought they would write the Mac version of "Tempest" or other such.
