Pluvia Release Notes

February 17th 2002

Pluvia is a Windows Desktop based freeware computer game for rainy days. It's main target is to gain the highest score by keeping a steady growing pile of stones from reaching the top of the screen.
In a Pluvia game, stones of different colour drop from above onto each other to form gradually a heap that will eventually reach the top of the screen and end the game. Each stone that drops into the game screen increments the score one point.
Whenever two or more stones of the same colour land on top of each other, they vanish and leave space for more stones to drop.
Whenever two or more stones of the same colour land beside each other, they glue to each other and form a bar. Bars are very annoying and you will end up trying to avoid them.
Each time some stones have dropped into the game screen, you can interact with the heap; You can click on one of the stones with the left or right mouse button to push it to the left or right. The stone will move into that direction as long as there is room, pushing any other stones with along with it.
This way you can heap stones of same colour on top of each other to make room.
If you do not want to move any stone, you can press the space key to force new stones to drop.
You can exit any game using the escape button and selecting 'Exit' in the 'Game Menu'. You can always continue such a game.

The Pluvia Game Modes

Pluvia has 4 different modes: Bird, Rabbit, Turtle and Dragon.

Bird is the mode for beginners that will help learn the tactics necessary to reach higher scores in the other modes. In a bird game up to 3 stones can drop simultaneously into the game screen the size of 4x9 stones. There exist stones of only 6 different colours. Each bird game starts with a score count of
-4x9 = -36.

Rabbit is complex and fast. Only up to 2 stones can drop simultaneously into the game screen the size of 4x12 stones. There exist stones of 8 different colours. Each rabbit game starts with a score count of
-4x12 = -48.

Turtle is the mode for people that have time. A good turtle player can spend hours in one game. Same as in the Bird mode up to 3 stones can drop simultaneously into a game screen size of 5x13 stones. There exist stones of 8 different colours. Each turtle game starts with a score count of
-5x13 = -65.

Dragon is the mode for the expert. Different than in all the other modes, a Dragon game can be won. The game starts with a game screen full of stones. You win the game if you can reduce the stone heap height to only one level. The score reflects the minimum heap size you accomplished. A score of 60 is in this case the maximum you can reach. If you win the game, you will be awarded with a symbolic total score of 100.
Same as in the Turtle mode up to 3 stones can drop simultaneously into the game screen the size of 5x13 stones. There exist stones of 8 different colours.
Needless to mention, that it is very difficult to win a Dragon game. Only Pluvia experts will ever reach this goal.

High Score

The high score is saved automatically for the highest 3 games of each mode: Bird, Rabbit, Turtle and Dragon. Only games with a score higher than zero are actually saved.

Minimum System Requirements

Pentium 200 MHz processor
DirectX 3
32 MB RAM
Video screen size of 1024x768
4 MB RAM video card using 16bit colour depth
8 MB RAM video card using 32bit colour depth

Installation

Pluvia comes with a self-extracting installation created with the free Nullsoft NSIS installer generator.

Tested on Following Systems

Athlon 800
256 MB RAM
Nvidia GeForce2 GTS
Windows 2000 Professional
DirectX 8.0
32bit, 1280 by 1024 pixels Desktop setting

Athlon 1200
256 MB RAM
Matrox Millennium G200
Windows 2000 Professional
DirectX 8.0
32bit, 1024 by 768 pixels Desktop setting

Pentium 200
32 MB RAM
Nvidia Riva 128
Windows 98
DirectX 8.0a
16bit, 1024 by 768 pixels Desktop setting

Not Supported Hardware

  • 16/256 colour video modes are not supported by the graphic engine.

Support

None. You can send us your problem description and we might try to solve it.

You can download the current version from

http://home.kamp.net/home/abdalla.bushnaq/

Ideas and Suggestions

If you like the game and would like to tell us so, or have suggestions for the next release, feel free to mail us. But do not expect an answer.

A & J Bushnaq
abdalla.bushnaq@d.kamp.net