Skittles is an action/puzzle game for one or two players! You control genetically altered Skittles which fall from the sky, trying to keep them from stacking up to the top of the screen.
The Skittles engineers have recently been experimenting with new flavors and colors. One of the more psychopathic scientists decided to alter the Skittles' formulas through genetic mutation. The first test batch was produced, and a teeming, jiggly mass of coagulated, living Skittles appeared. They quickly began to multiply and pile up into large groups. As the scientists fled screaming from the building, a few clever minds noticed that the Skittles were highly reactive. When four of the same type of Skittle touched, they would instantly vaporize.
There's only one hope left for the Skittles plant, its workers, and the small city that they inhabit. Vaporize the Skittles before they run rampant and destroy everything in their path! You are the only hope left before they crush the entire city.
• How do I play?
Ready to start a game? Good! Once you open Skittles, a demo game will begin and the computer will face off against itself. You might want to watch what it does to gain a few strategies or ideas.
Next, click the mouse button to show the menu bar, and choose "One Player." You will begin a game of Skittles against the computer. Don't let your Skittles pile to the top of the screen! When four identical Skittles are stuck together, they will vaporize. They don't need to be in a line—any direct contact causes them to stick. Your goal is to position your Skittles so that four of the same color will touch one another. They will immediately disappear in a flash of Skittle glop, allowing nearby Skittles to drop down, and causing nasty Skittle residue to drop onto your hapless opponent. As soon as each pair of Skittles starts dropping from the top, rotate them into position and slide them into place.
Chain reactions are essential to getting rid of pesky Skittles. Setting off a chain of vaporizations not only rewards you with heaps of points, but it also drops tons of Skittle residue on your opponent. This residue quickly hampers progress and isn't easy to get rid of. The only way to melt the residue is to vaporize some Skittles directly next to the residue.
Dark skittles will also fall from the sky. These pieces like to take on the color of a nearby Skittle, which is often very helpful for setting up chain reactions. Beware, though, because they're unreliable and like to play tricks.
You can also choose Two Player mode, and face off against a partner.
• How do I control these Skittles?
By default, you can use the numeric keypad or the A, S, D and X keys to move, rotate, and drop the Skittles pieces. These controls, however, are customizable. Choose Keyboard Setup from the Options menu to change these settings to whatever makes you comfortable!
• I'm a registered user, and I just downloaded this new version. How do I upgrade?
Upgrading Skittles to the most recent version without losing the registration bonuses—high scores and extra characters—is easy. All new upgrades in Skittles occur in the application file, not the "Data" folder. The "Data" folder contains the extra graphics and audio data for registered bonuses. Just keep the new Skittles folder, but replace the "Data" folder with your old Data folder from the registered version.
• Special thanks to…
• All of my registered users! I appreciate your support and comments—your thoughts and ideas have made Skittles even better. (If you don't believe me, take another look at Skittles 1.0.0!)
• My testers! Andy Cheng has had the role of being chief tester of Skittles, and he's done an excellent job of reporting all those pesky little bugs.
• My moral support! Leanne Barber took on the arduous task of coming up with the name "Skittles," and she put up with me as I hurled profanities at my Power Mac while designing this thing. Also, she's mighty cute.
• What do I get if I register?
By now the game's probably started to pester you with those registration boxes opening up every time you start the game. Registration of shareware is important: shareware isn't free. In the shareware system, you need to register Skittles only if you enjoy playing it. If not, go ahead and discard it. The registration dialog is just a reminder for you to pay if you play!
However, there are more advantages to registration than just making that annoying little box go away. The first advantage to registration is that you get eight full levels of action! The computer's intelligence progressively increases for each level, with the final boss challenging even Skittles experts. Trust me, even if you beat the Skittles demo in ten minutes, you will not be able to breeze through the registered version.
The second advantage to registration is the high score table, which becomes unlocked when you register. The most meaningful benefit to registration, though, is that you've done the honest, upright thing by supporting and encouraging a young shareware author to create new, exciting games.
(One small note. A lot of users seem to think that there will be some magic registration code to enter that unlocks everything. Skittles doesn't work that way—the registered version is separate from the shareware version. It has a lot more stuff in it! That's why I can't handle registration via e-mail—the registered Skittles Installer is fairly large.)
• What's the matter?
• I don't get any sound! Check to make sure that Sound Manager 3.0 or later is installed in your machine. Sound Manager 3.2 or later is highly recommended—not only does it provide cleaner audio, it provides a huge speed boost to Power Macintosh sound in all software.
• I don't get any music! Check to make sure that QuickTime 2.0 or later is installed in the machine. QuickTime 2.5 or later is highly recommended; this provides optimal audio quality.
•I get music, but it sucks! QuickTime music benefits immensely from the installation of the QuickTime Musical Instruments extension. For some peculiar reason, many Macs (especially recent Performas) are bundled with the Musical Instruments extension in the Apple Extras folder, still uninstalled. If you have it, drop it in your System folder and reboot. If not, it is always available as an inclusion with QuickTime 2.5, which you can download from Apple.
•Fast Graphics doesn't work (or crashes)! Sorry. Fast Graphics is not 100% compatible with all Macintosh configurations—accelerated graphics cards and odd external monitor configurations can confuse it. Not only that, but it might not work unless you are using 32-bit addressing. You'll probably need to live without it.
•I can't use the High Scores! You need to register the shareware with the author before High Scores become active. They're an incentive to register.
•Where can I find these funky system extensions like Sound Manager and QuickTime? Check http://www.apple.com/ on the Internet, and you should be able to find everything you need.
• How can I ever thank you?
That's easy! Choose Register Skittles from the Apple menu for details.
JOHN STILES jstiles@uclink4.berkeley.edu
8800 ST. CLOUD LN. http://www.komkon.org/~stiles/skittles/
BAKERSFIELD, CA 93311
This software is not in the public domain. You may freely copy and distribute this software, provided that you do not charge for it. This software MAY be included in any disk or CD-ROM library of public domain and shareware software sold by a NON-PROFIT organization WITH THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR. This software MAY NOT be included in any disk or CD-ROM library of software collection sold for profit, nor may it be bundled with any commercial software, hardware, books, or other media, without the prior written consent of the author. All magazines and publications such as MacFormat and CD-ROM Today must contact the author prior to publishing the software on any compilation CD. This software is not guaranteed in any area. Although I believe that this software will function without any problems, I will not be responsible for any damage caused by this program, for any reason, even if I have been informed of these problems. You bear all risks of using this program. If distributed, all included documentation and supplementary files must be included with this software. Also, please don't write me snail-mail and expect a reply. I really don't have enough time to write a formal reply to each person that sends me a snail-mail. However, if you send me something I enjoy or appreciate, you might get lucky. Caveat emptor.
No riders under 4'0", or persons with heart conditions. You must be free from injury. Please keep your hands in the car at all times.
