
Manticore
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(C) Copyright 2005 Codejedi Inc.
Jeff Mitchell
http://www.codejedi.com

Version 003 beta

Manticore is a little puzzle game I've been putting together in bits of
spare time here and there for the last few days. Some of you might recognize
some puzzle similarities to the Palm OS classic 'Vexed', and you'd be right
on -- Manticore is in partial an homage to that great little gamelet. I'm
also throwing in some of my own spices (exploding bricks will show up later,
for instance) so it should be a fun new experience for everyone!

How to Play
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In Manticore, the goal is to remove all the pieces (bricks) from the playfield,
or as many as you can at any rate. In the regular gameplay mode, you remove
bricks by sliding them up against each other -- any two or more bricks
of the same kind that are resting beside each other will be removed from play.
The trick of course is to slide the bricks around in the right sequence so
that they can be removed - this can be as difficult or easy as the level
designer is devious!

Controls
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Manticore is designed around a non-stylus interface, but I've built in stylus
support so it should be fairly comfortable for PDA players.

When playing with buttons only, you'll find that some of the devices buttons
move a virtual mouse around, while others perform a 'mouse click' type
operation on bricks. If your device has a 5-way control, that too will try
and be honoured as a controller of the virtual mouse. Simply maneauver the
mouse over a movable brick, 'click' the virtual mouse, and then press the
direction in which you'd like to push the brick.

When playing with a stylus just tap on the brick you'd like to select; once
selected, simply tap to the right or left of it (a few millimeters off to a
side) and the brick will be pushed in that direction. If you tap near the
selected brick, it will unselect. If you tap on a button (such as Quit), the
game will end, of course.

The Future
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Early versions of the game do not feature sound; I'm working on that :) I'm
also planning on adding an extension system so you can build and share your
own level designs, artwork, and background music etc. Stay tuned!

I hope you enjoy the game!

jeff
