Sugar Smash =========== Introduction ------------ Welcome to Sugar Smash, a grid-based confection game for the BBC Model B/Master 128. There's one aim in Sugar Smash - to destroy all of the sweets that are encased in jelly. Do that and you proceed to the next level. Each level of fun takes place on a 9 x 9 grid. All the jellied squares in the grid must be destroyed within a set number of moves. You can see how many moves you have left by referring to the Moves counter at the bottom left of the screen. You can see how many jellies remain by either looking at the grid itself (jelly squares are unmistakeably dithered in blue) or referring to the Jelly counter at the bottom middle of the screen. Destruction ----------- On each level, sweets are placed at random within the grid. You can only destroy the sweets within the grid by lining up three or more of them either horizontally or vertically. Sweets will be automatically reshuffled if such lining up is not possible. Move your cursor to the sweet you wish to move. Any sweet (providing it is not in a cage) can be moved one space up/down/left/right as long as that move will connect it to two or more of the same sweet types in a row or column of three or more. As soon as you create a row or column of three or more sweets, the destruction commences. Explosions ---------- Explosions occur whenever three or more sweets of the same type are lined up. The explosions wipe out: a) the sweets themselves b) any jellies that were in the grid places occupied by the sweets, and c) any cages that were in the grid places occupied by the sweets. Explosions can also affect certain sweets that are adjacent. We'll say a bit more about that later. When explosions wipe out sweets, the empty spaces left behind will be filled by the sweets from the rows above. As they will fall into their new positions, they can of course kick-start yet further explosions. Sometimes the most innocuous of moves can create a chain reaction that wipes out huge sections of the grid. Part of the skill of playing Sugar Smash is to try to predict exactly what effect any move will have. Jelly ----- Be aware that jelly does *not* move with a sweet. The aim in each level is to wipe out all the jelly. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you can move a square containing jelly in any direction to create a row or column of three. The sweet will move but the jelly will not. You must set up your fruits around the jelly. Cages ----- More advanced levels contain cages. You will be able to see which sweet is contained within a cage and must bring two or more of the same type over to it to destroy both the sweets and the cage. No matter what happens around them, cages *do not move* from their position in the grid. They also prevent the cascading of sweets from the rows above flowing into the grid areas below them, so if you wipe out fruits in the area underneath a cage, you will find that section of the grid remains empty. This can cause you real difficulties in clearing grids so be careful. Liqourice Whirls ---------------- Liquorice Whirls are the special sweets that we mentioned under Explosions. These sweets do not need to be lined up to be destroyed. Instead, they will be destroyed only when an explosion occurs in the grid left/right/overhead/underneath them. Until they are wiped out, they only serve to get in the way! Super-Charged Sweets -------------------- Whether by accident or design, every now and then you will get a super-charged sweet. They occur when you manage to get four or five sweets in a row rather than the more usual three. A super-charged sweet is denoted by a white horizontal or vertical stripe. This type of sweet will, when moved into a position that creates a three-or-more row or column of the same type, explode the entire row (horizontal) or column (vertical). A super-duper-charged sweet is denoted by a black sparkling bonbon bomb. This very powerful sweet can be swapped with any sweet on the grid (whether or not it will create any sort of combination). It will then wipe out all sweets of the type it was exchanged with - wherever they may be. Game Controls ------------- Use Cursor Keys to move, RETURN to select a sweet. After selecting, tap a Cursor Key to swap the sweet with the one to its left/right/overhead/underneath position. Loading ------- Sugar Smash is only compatible with the BBC Master 128 and requires Sideways RAM. Insert the disc. Hold down SHIFT and tap BREAK. The message 'Loading' will be displayed. At this point, the game is loading the code from the disc. The message 'Loading ROM' will then be displayed. At this point, the game is storing the code in Sideways RAM (so if you don't have any, you can expect the game to crash). The message 'Press SHIFT-BREAK' will then appear. Hold down SHIFT and tap BREAK again. The game will now attempt to boot the Sideways RAM. If playing via the BeebEm emulator: Click Hardware > BBC Model > BBC Master 128 Click Hardware > SW RAM Board On/Off (to enable the SW RAM Board) Click Hardware (to check that the SW RAM Board now has a tick next to it to show it's enabled) Follow the loading instructions above.