This program is FREE. I hope your children (and you too!) all have fun.
System Requirements
Ñ Any Macintosh with a 68020 or better processor (includes all Power Macintoshes)
Ñ System 7 or greater
Ñ 256 colors
Ñ 12" or larger monitor
The Game
Josh's Apple Game is about as straight forward as a game can get. Josh is a little doggie. He needs your help to catch the apple's falling from his apple tree. You lead him back and forth across the screen to catch apples, using your mouse. Whenever he catches an apple, points are awarded, adding to his "Catch" total.
Red Apples earn 1 point
Green Apples earn 5 points
Golden Apples earn 10 points
If Josh misses an apple╨ SPLAT! It splatters on the ground and Josh loses a basket. Josh starts with 5 baskets to catch apples. Bonus baskets are awarded for high scores.
Levels of Play
There are 35 levels of play. Each level is a little harder than the last. The apples come down faster, more frequently, and in greater numbers as the game progresses. If you should by some miracle survive to level 35, the game will stay at level 35 perpetually for the duration of play.
There are also three levels of game difficulty, depending on how you choose to begin a new game. After launching the game, a window will appear with the options for beginning a new game. To begin a game you may click on a Turtle for easier play, click on a Rabbit for somewhat harder play, or click on "Choose Level" to choose a game level (1-35) to begin play at that level.
Turtle Play - Turtle Play is best suited to younger children. This level of play begins at game level 1. It differs also in the difficulty of play. Bonus baskets are awarded every 500 points scored. Green and Golden apples also fall more frequently.
Rabbit Play - Older children will prefer Rabbit Play. This level of play begins at game level 7. Bonus baskets are awarded every 2000 points scored. Green and Golden apples fall less frequently, but as you advance game levels, the numbers Green and Golden apples falling increases.
Choose Level Play - Children 9 and above, and parents, will find they need to start at a higher level than level 7 to be challenged. Level 18 is a good place to start if you want a bigger challenge. If that proves to be a fast start, pick the level where you feel comfortable. Play is essentially the same as Rabbit Play, except that you choose the game level to begin playing at.
Menu Commands
Some menu commands are available, which you may find helpful.
Quit - [Command (Apple key) - Q]
Abort Game - [Command (Apple key) - E]
Pause Game/Continue Game - [Command (Apple key) - F]
Josh's Best Catches
The top ten high scores are saved and may be viewed at any time by clicking on the apple in the upper right corner of the window where you begin new games. These scores are also displayed at the end of every game. When a game is paused, it is also possible to view them by selecting "High Scores" from the File menu of the game.
When a new high score is recorded, a prompt appears exclaiming, "You are one of Josh's best helpers!" The player may enter his or her name as the high scoring player. Small children, who may not be ready to do this, should just click the "Continue" button. The player name will be set to "Josh's Helper" by default.
Changes in version 1.0.1
Fixed a bug causing all of Josh's yet to be used baskets not to be drawn, as well as all apples when they would spat on the ground. This bug did not appear on my system until I upgraded to MacOS 8.5. Another bug which could result in a crash was also fixed.
About Josh's Apple Game╔
This game was written for my daughter, Allie, who just turned 5. It is the first game I've written for Macs. If you are using an older Mac, you may find that the play is a little choppy and sluggish. If you are using a Power Macintosh, you won't see any problems like that. There are optimizations that can be made to accelerate drawing on older Macs, but as I am new to the game genre, I haven't yet acquired that knowledge.
Allie's picture appears in the About dialog, presented when "About Josh's Apple Game╔" is selected from the Apple Menu in the game, or by clicking on the apple with the question mark on it, in the upper left corner of the window where new games are begun.
Thanks to Allie for so much joy. Thanks to Donna, my wife and Allie's mother, for all of her love.
Thanks to Kevin Quigley, for introducing me to game programming. (Check out Kevin's games, "Space Cab" and "Fantastic War" available as shareware on the Internet.)
Note: Josh is the name of a wonderful dog I had from age 10 until he died 18 years later. He was loved by many, a great dog. I still miss him terribly.
⌐1998 Eric Long - All rights reserved.
Distribution of this program and documentation are unrestricted, so long as the documentation and program are maintained together, unmodified, in the distribution.
