BeTetris was designed to be a clean, entirely native implementation of Tetris for the BeOS, and I hope that you enjoy playing it as much as I've enjoyed creating it!
Launch
BeTetris by double clicking the icon. When you launch the program you will
be presented with a splash screen and two buttons: "Not Yet" and "Register...".
If you're not ready to register, click the "Not Yet" button when it becomes
active and you will be able to try BeTetris. If you'd like to register
click the "Register..." button and the registration application will be
launched (See How To Purchase below).
Below is a picture of the main BeTetris screen:
The large black field on the left side of the window is the place where actual Tetris takes place. The long purple piece falling on the left is about to complete four rows. Completing these rows will result in their removal from the board. The randomly distributed gray blocks along the bottom are debris and were automatically generated when the game began. The number of debris rows is configurable via the "Rows of Debris" submenu in the "Options" menu. Debris rows allow you to give yourself a greater challenge by beginning with less room to play.
In the upper right corner of the window, a smaller black field with a green Tetris piece can be seen. This field indicates which piece will be next to fall. This field can be toggled on and off by selecting "Show Next Piece" from the "Options" menu.
Below the next piece indicator, are the score, rows, and level displays. In BeTetris your score is incremented every time a piece touches down. Additionally, when you complete a row your score is incremented by a larger amount. In fact, the more rows you complete at once, the larger the amount that is added to your score. Every time you complete 10 rows, your current level is increased by 1, the speed of the falling pieces is increased slightly, and the point value of your actions is increased. If you achieve a high score, the High Score window will pop up and you'll be presented with a flashing cursor. Type your name and either hit return or close the window.
The bar graph in the lower-right of the window indicates the relative frequency of the pieces that have fallen so far. Each graph is normalized to the piece that has fallen the most so that the most frequently occurring piece has a completely full bar, and the other bars are filled to indicate their relative occurrences. For instance, in the above game, the purple L-like piece indicated near the bottom has appeared the most often. The blue L-shaped piece indicated immediately below it has appeared a little more than half as many times.
The key configuration window (available by selecting "Configure Keys..." from the "Options" menu) containing the default keys can be seen below:
The individual key icons should be self-explanatory except for perhaps the bottom two keys. The second key setting from the bottom (indicated by the downward arrow) increases the speed of a falling piece. The bottom key setting (indicated by the arrow pointing at a horizontal bar) drops a falling piece to the bottom instantaneously.
All options are saved when you quit BeTetris.
By registering and paying for BeTetris you are not only supporting this product but also future ones. Without user support I cannot justify the large investment of time that is required to produce quality software, and will eventually stop producing software.
Rampage
Softworks utilizes the Kagi Service to
handle payments. This means that you can pay using a variety of methods including
credit card. You can also register via email, U.S. Mail and fax. In the near future you
will even be able to register via the web (visit Rampage Softworks for the latest news along this front).
To Purchase BeTetris, launch the "Register BeTetris" application and follow the directions. It's quick and easy! After you've paid, select "Preferences..." from the "Options" menu and check the "I Paid" box. After doing this you will no longer have to wait for the splash screen when you launch the application.
