3D Blockout®  ver. 4.1 pre-release
                                                                                                                            Blockout® is a registered trademark of Kadon Enterprises,  Inc.

actual screenshot

3D Blockout
The only 3D falling blocks game for PalmOS!
Support Color&Gray. any device.
min. Palm OS 3.0
actual screenshot

Try 3D Tennis  - the Top20 Tour
Rated 5 stars at ZDNet! The only tennis for PalmOS!
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Find more products at www.pda3dware.com!
3DBingo – the only bingo for PalmOS ever. For 1-20 Palm devices. 60+ levels (bingo shapes).
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3DLotto - game&checker&filler
more coming soon ....



General info
Copyright information : This software and the source code are copyright of Stefan Komilev. This trial version may be distributed by/to anyone.
website: www.pda3dware.com                                        (mirror site) : pda3dware.cjb.net
e-mail: dev@pda3dware.com
Your feedback is highly appreciated.

Need a high qualified PalmOS & Windows developer? contact me

Blockout® is a registered trademark of Kadon Enterprises,  Inc. , used by permission for this PalmOS application.
http://www.gamepuzzles.com.
The USA company Kadon Enterprises, Inc., has designed and produced over 100 beautiful,
challenging gamepuzzles since 1980. These are "math as art" in playable form. Kadon's website,
"gamepuzzles for the joy of thinking", is a showcase of all their games, with secure ordering, and includes
a Puzzle Parlor for online play plus a philosophical journal, "The Life of Games".
Kadon's president is Kate Jones.

Credit to Joe Stadolnik for PToolboxLib color&grayscale graphics library.
the official PToolboxLib site:  http://www.geocities.com/retro_01775/PToolboxLib.htm



Description
The only three-dimensional falling blocks' game for Palm. The all times 3D fun favorite Blockout meets Palm.
Supports COLOR , GRAY SCALE (4 & 16 shades) ,  min. requirements  PalmOS  3.0.
We promiss you the most colorfull game you ever saw for Palm!

Game options adjustable from the main Preferences screen:
- various Pit's dimensions- from (3,3,3) to (7,7,7)
- rich Blocks' set - 40 3D pieces in 3 categories
- holds high score table for a every game's type, indexed by pit's size and the blocks type (Uses just 0.6 K of
  Palm RAM)
- 7 falling speeds, Practice mode=[PR] (non-falling mode)
  you can change the speed even during the game!
- Initial filling with blocks (trash)
Advanced controls
- control with the stylus and the toolbar
- alternative control with Palm hard buttons
Fully configurable even during the game:
- cool sounds (on/off)
- Shadow on the ground for better navigation (Show/Hide)
- Next piece preview (Show/Hide)
- Screen options (press "Screen" button) play it on the Small or Big Screen, Black or White background, Patterns on top of each level (Show/Hide)

Future plans: We plan to add a full support for "Blockout WebTour" in the next few months. You will be able to test your skills against thousands of players all over the world. Every month thousands of downloaders from all Palm related websites will try to reach your records. Like this idea? So sponsor 3D Blockout now.
The Blockout WebTour will be announced on the following two games: (pit's dimensions:W5-H5-D7 blocks:Flat and Complex.) Your HiScore results from ver. 4.0+  will be WebTour compliant so begin from now!

Updates:
ver. 4.1

ver. 4.0 ver. 3.0 ver. 2.0 some major optimizations (drop piece 60%, redraw pit after a drop 60%, rotation & translation 20%)
changed appearance of the shadow
 



Installation
Install 3DBlockoutCG.prc (Color&Grayscale) file only
to your Palm device, using the Install tool, provided by the PalmDesktop application at your PC/Mac. Put the
handheld on the cradle and press the hotsync button.

System requirements: any hardware (Palm, Sony, Handspring etc.) , min. Palm OS 3.0

be sure to read  upgrade.txt  if you upgrade an old version of 3D Blockout!

General installation instructions for newbies:
Start your Palm Desktop application on the PC.
To install the file to your handheld, choose the game file, for example,
 3DBlockoutCG.prc
and run it using Explorer, command line, or your favorite file manager. Palm Software Installation utility will prompt you with other installation options.  Repeate this for the all 3 files.Then put your Palm in the cradle and press the hotsync button there. The "3D Blockout" icon will appear when you start your PDA.

3D Blockout, especially the game is not working properly on the Emulator application. It's not buggy but the
Emulator refreshes the screen too slow for it.

You may beam this application to a friend. Beam both 3DBlockout and PToolboxLib applications

Uninstall
If you decide to deinstall 3D Blockout, we regret your decision. Please think again that you just won't find any other 3D puzzle game for PalmOS. Yes, 3D Blockout is not just the only 3D falling blocks game, but and the only 3D puzzle game for PalmOS at all!
Press Menu | Delete from the Application launcher:
1. Delete 3DBlockout itself.
2. Delete PToolboxLib shared library if there are not other color games that require it



How to play?
This application has a short but effective built-in help about the controls.

The player must place 3D pieces (polycubes) by translations and rotations in order to fill the game floor.
When the piece is in the right position you can drop it down (click on the correspondent toolbar button, or double-tap the Graffiti area).
The game ends when there is no space for a new piece
By default the game starts at the slowest Speed No 1. You can change this by selecting faster speed.
The falling speed increases on every 100 cubes been dropped.
The screen shot at the begining of this file explanes everything better.

New gaming features in ver 4.0
We have two game modes in this release - a "Tour game" and a "Practice game".
The difference between them is that the "Tour game" scoring results are qualified for the High Score,but the "Practice game" not.
By default you start each new game as a "Tour game".
Only if you invoke the Preferences panel during the game (using the 9-th toolbar button) and change the falling speed to [PR] (Practice - non-falling mode), this game becomes a "Practice game".

Scoring (new bonuses in 4.0)
The scoring system is simple. We have decided not to bother our customers with 100000s of scoring points, which are difficult to be tracked.
Point and bonuses are awarded for clearing the 3D layers (levels) as follows:


Tips & Tricks. Important features:
1. N.B. So you may use the first slow speed levels for earning more bonuses (see up). When you reach Speed No 5 and Speed 6 - just try to survive as long as possible.
2. N.B. The beta tests showed that if you adjust to control the piece with Palm hard buttons instead of the "toolbar&stylus" it is easier! You can control this unique game with just one hand, walking!
3. If you decide to play "Practice game" you are are able to stop the piece in a hard situation. Just launch Preferenses Panel during the game.
4. If the rotation or translation is not possible, because  neighborhood blocks obstrude, 3DBlockout protests with a short sound and displays "Do-not-enter" traffic sign at the last line of the screen. Move the piece around to find enought place for the rotation you need.
5. The game difficulty increases if you descrease pit's dimensions, select next more complicate "Blocks" set, increase "Speed".
6. This application saves state on exit (when you click the "Home" Palm silk-button) so you can play your favorite game for days.
7. To clear the highscore of the current game, press "Menu" (Palm's silk-button at the down-left corner of the screen), then "Clear highscore" item from the menu that will apear.

Great ideas




How to register?
The registered version costs only 8.95 dollars. This small fee helps our small company ("PDA 3Dware.com")  to continue development for PalmOS.

You can purchase a licensed version at www.palmgear.com (PalmGear H.Q) directly here:
 http://www2.viaweb.com/pilotgearsw/palmdepot.html
There are also detailed instructions at the developers' site how to register.
PalmGear H.Q maintain a secure server to accept credit cards for all registrations, as well as taking telephone
orders.
You can order 3D Blockout from PalmGear H.Q. by phone: 817.640.6558 or by fax: 817.640.6614.
You will receive an e-mail from developer with the Registration Code based on the Hotsync user name of your
Palm device. Start 3D Blockout. Click on the "Register" button at the first screen.
Please, allow 1-2 days for processing/e-mail of the registration info.

Important! You must be aware of what is your exact Palm username when purchasing!
If not, click on the "Register" button at the first screen of "3D Blockout". You will see it. Note that it is case-sensitive so "John" is not like "john".
Write it exactly as you see it.



License
"3D Blockout" is a commercial shareware.
By installing this Product on you PDA you ("the user") are agreeing to be bound by all of the terms and conditions of this license agreement:

1. The unregistered version of this application may be distributed by/to everyone, but only in its entirety.
2. Unauthorized use, copying or reproducing of the "Blockout" trade mark without a prior consent of Kadon Enterprises, Inc. is a crime and is prohibited by US and international law.
3. Unregistered users have the right to use the product on a PDA provided that they conform to the present license. They may not try directly or indirectly to gain the features a registered user has.
4. The Product is owned and is the exclusive property of Stefan Komilev, as an independent developer.
5. You may not modify, adapt, transfer, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or create derivative work without the prior consent of  the developer.
6 .You may not remove or modify any proprietary notice, labels or marks on the product.

Legal disclaimer
This software is provided AS IS, with no guarantee of fitness for any particular task. The user assumes all responsibility for its use.

Troubleshooting
If you see the messages:
"Could not load PToolboxLib library" or "The version of PToolboxLib library is too old!"
- 3D Blockout will not start
3D Blockout and every other Color&Grayscale game by "PDA 3Dware.com" requires this shared library.
Do not delete it!
Install 3DBlockoutCG.prc file and start it again.
 

This game is dedicated to my lovely wife Svetlana.