The game is freeware: may be copied and used without charge for non-profit purposes. Commercial distribution without written permission is prohibited.
You are allowed to make changes for personal use, e.g. replace sounds if you don't like the present ones, but do not spread modified copies, please! If you want something changed, tell me and I might include it in the next release. You don't have to keep this document, but you must not remove my name from the game! (Then I wouldn't get any fan mail!)
Tetris is ™ Spectrum Holobyte. The only connection between this game and Tetris is the latter inspiring me to make the former.
2. Another Tetris... So what?
Yes, this is yet another Tetris clone. Sure. To be precise, it is a hexagonal tetris. Some of you might scream "Hextris" when I say that. Yes, I know about Hextris, even though I didn't when I wrote the game. The two games are just about as different as two games can be while still being "hexagonal Tetrises". Here are the major differences betweeen this game and Hextris:
— The hex grid is not oriented in the same direction. This removes some annoying problems with Hextris, like pieces "jumping" up and down when you move them sideways, and rows being zig-zag, so it is hard to tell if two hexes are on the same line or on two adjacent lines. It also means that the pieces do not fall straight down, but that is a feature. :-)
— High score list. Just a plain one, with 10 entries. Oh, yes, there is a small secret feature too...
— Color. It works on B/W Macs too.
— Configurable controls, including support for arrow-keys and other special keys: just type the ASCII number instead of the key.
Enhancements in version 1.2:
— Multifinder awareness. The game is paused if switched out. (Thanks, Paul! I had never thought of that myself.)
— Next piece option. (There is a small penalty for having it turned on.)
— Sound off option.
— "Real" hexagons.
— Changed scoring. Dropping pieces from high heights, clearing the game area completely and removing several lines with one piece now give bonuses.
— More settings are saved, including grid, name of last player who made the highscore list and next piece.
— Saves window positions, so you can rearrange the windows once and for all. Important note: if you hold down the mouse button while launching, the windows will reset to default (good if you move the game from a 21" screen to a Classic and had moved the windows to some place not showing on the 9" screen).
— Verbose high scores option, shows more than just the name and the score.
— "Start at level" entry, to start at levels 1 to 5 (where 5 is very fast). Beginners who find level 1 too fast can practice on level 0, but the scores achived there are very small. (I hope level 5 is hard enough for you to start at, Kent! It should be.)
— A menu option to auto-start on launch (which was always the case before). If you don't agree that a game should start immediately you launch the game, uncheck it.
Enhancements in version 1.3:
- Better color! It now uses Color Quickdraw rather than the older 8-color graphics that I used up to version 1.2. The choice between different colors is removed. The colors on the color pieces were chosen to look good in 16 colors.
- Added a "piece freeze sound" (can be disabled), played when a piece is fixed to the grid and no longer moveable.
In case someone wonders, the reason I wrote this was that I was writing some subroutines for processing and displaying hexagonally sampled images, and then I just couldn't resist throwing them together to a game. It is a simple hack, really - but it works.
One of the reasons that I took the time to add "real" color was that I wanted to learn Color QuickDraw. Since then, I have proceeded to make MacSokoban in color. Who knows, I might be able to make a color Bachman one day...
The word "bikaka" is, of course, swedish. The word is related to "honeycomb".
3. Compatibility
Bikaka 1.3 has been tested on several different Mac models, especially SE, LC and IIsi. Bikaka 1.2 was been tested on a wide variety of Macintoshes, from Mac 512 to Mac IIfx, in various screen depths, various INIT assortments etc. No problems anywhere! It runs with the same speed on all machines.
Version 1.2 and up also should work under all system versions. If the Sound Manager is present, it plays sampled sounds when appropriate. If it is not available (system version 5 or older), it uses SysBeeps instead.
In short: Works on all Macs, all system versions.
4. Version history, credits and future.
Early October 1990: First working version (0.2), not distributed.
October 1990: 1.0 alpha. Added high scores. Distributed locally.
May 1991: 1.0. Added grid, nicer colors, general cleanup for release. Distributed through comp.binaries.mac, Info-Mac and other sources.
May 1991: 1.1 alpha. Changed scoring to encourage "dropping". Options menu choices saved between sessions. Checks for presence of Sound Manager, so it will not bomb under old system versions.
June 1991: 1.1 beta. Added sound on/off.
September 1991: 1.1 "bx": True hexagons instead of the small disks.
November 1991: 1.2 alpha. Added MultiFinder awareness, next piece option, bonus for clearing the game field and for removing more than one line with one piece, storing last highscore name.
Late november: 1.2 beta. Remembers window positions. Verbose high scores option, shows level and number of lines and pieces. Possible to start at other levels than 1. Beginners level.
February 1992: 1.2 final. Fixed a bug in the high score list. (Thanks, Efrem!)
April 1992: 1.3 alpha. Color QuickDraw and "piece freeze" sound.
The following persons have had the most influence on the game:
Folke Söderström, Susanne Ragnemalm: lots of playtesting.
Stefan Wrammerfors: Found an ugly bug in "Configure Keys".
Christer "Chrisp" Pettersson: Suggested grid and scoring to encourage dropping of pieces.
Bengt Ragnemalm: Suggested use of arrow keys.
People who have sent me suggestions and/or honey jars, most notably Paul Durrant, John Doe, Kent and Claire Bach.
Gabriel M. Schuyler: Suggested better color, designed and sent me a suggestion for better pieces. I didn't use exactly his pieces (they were nice in 8-bit color, but not in 4-bit), but they definitely influenced the final result.
Future versions:
I thought 1.2 would be the final version, but then I saw that when people asked for Tetris-stylegame on the Internet, responders still recommended Hextris on the net and didn't mention Bikaka. I made the conclusion that Bikaka still needed to be a little bit better. So, 1.3 had to be done. We'll see if it is good enough. I have some more enhancements in mind, but I don't think this little game is worth much more of my time now.
5. Final words.
Perhaps you wonder what scores are "really good"? Well, if you get more than 10000 points, it is very good. It is possible to get more than 30000, but not very much more than that (without cheating). (The scores are about 10 times higher than in version 1.0, due to all the new bonuses.)
If you enjoy Bikaka, then it has served its purpose. If you really like it, send me a small jar of fine honey. (I'm only in it for the honey.) If you don't like it just *that* much (or the postage cost is too high for your taste), send me a postcard or E-mail.
Again, I do not demand money, but if you send me at least $10 (or honey as mentioned above), I will send you a diskette with the latest versions of my games: Bikaka, Hexmines, Skiing Game, Slime Invaders, Classic Daleks, MacSokoban, Bachman (registered version).
