Instructions

Basic Game Play
Scoring
Undo, Memorize, Recall, Replay, Restart, Block Check
Game Options
Level Packs
Solutions
Menus
Screen Layout

Basic Game Play

Vexed is a puzzle game in which your goal is to move similar blocks together, which causes them to disappear. Once all the blocks are gone, you've solved the level and you're presented with a new level to solve.

You move blocks by putting the stylus on them and dragging to either the right or left. If an empty space is encountered, "gravity" takes over and the blocks fall towards the bottom.

You can move more than one block left or right with a single drag of the stylus. The block move stops on the first block in which an action can occur, or where you ended dragging the stylus.

New with Version 2.1 is a "tap" method of moving blocks in addition to dragging. Use your stylus to tap the block you wish to move. Then tap the open space where you want the block to move to. The destination must be an open space to be valid. The tap method lets you tap on a row different from the block.

Scoring

The Vexed scoring is based on a golf-like "par" concept. The level pack has a solution stored for each level. If you solve the level in the same number of moves as what is stored in the level pack, you get a score of 0, or par, for that level. Note that the stored solution may not be the most efficient one, so you can beat "par" and have a negative score.

The score displayed in the title bar is a cumulative score for the entire level pack.

Using the Solution feature adds five to your score.

Undo, Memorize, Recall, Replay, Restart, Block Check

Undo

There is a 15-move undo facility. Once you've made a move a "U" icon appears at the bottom of the screen. Tapping it will undo the previous move. The buffer holds 15 moves. The undo buffer is not saved across invocations of Vexed.

Memorize and Recall

Solving a difficult level might take many attempts involving many moves. The memorize feature lets you save where you are in a level, and restart from that point. Tap the "M" icon at the bottom of the screen, and an "R" icon appears. Tap the "R" (recall) icon to restore the game board to its status when you memorized it.

Level Replay

You can replay all of the moves made in the current level, and also of the previous level. These options are under the "Game" menu.

Note! The replay functions use the memorize buffer described above. If you replay a level, your current memorize buffer will be emptied.

Restart

Tap the restart icon at the bottom right of the screen to restart a level from the beginning.

Note! The Undo, Memorize, and Replay data is not saved when you exit Vexed!

Block Check

You can display just one type of blocks in order to help you solve the puzzle. Hold the stylus down on a block while pressing the page up key, and only blocks of that type will be displayed. Once you lift the stylus, the game board is redrawn.

Game Options

The preferences options you set in the preferences menu option are saved in something called the "saved preferences." This data is also saved back to your PC when you hotsync, so if you do a hard reset, you'll be able to restore this information.

The state of the current level is also saved in preferences, but this time in the "unsaved preferences."

This means that when you re-invoke Vexed, it'll go to your most recent level and you won't start the level from the beginning. Instead, it will go to the point at which you left off. But this data is not included with your hotsync to your PC, so you'll have to restart the level from the beginning in the event of a hard reset / restore sequence.

Preferences

You can set the following settings affecting how the program works in the preferences screen found in the Game menu (or the "/R" shortcut):

Piece move animation

This animates (and slows down) the movement of blocks as they move sideways. Unselect this to speed up game play.

Gravity animation

This animates (and slows down) the movement of blocks as they fall due to gravity. Unselect this to speed up game play.

Piece elimination animation

This animates (and slows down) the erasing of blocks as they disappear. Unselect this to speed up game play.

Blinds Effect

This is the animation effect you see when a level is first loaded or reloaded. Unselect this to speed up game play.

Skip Intro

Select this option to skip the animated introduction each time you run Vexed. You can also tap the screen or press the page up / page down keys to interrupt the animated introduction.

Sound

Select this option to turn on sound effects.

Block Set

This is a pop-up menu to let you select between 3 monochrome or 6 different block sets.

Note! If you turn off the first three animations, the replay and solution functions will be very fast, so you probably need to keep at least one of them on if you use Solution or Replay.

Level Packs

There are now many more level packs available. The Classic and Classic II levels are no longer built-in to the Vexed prc file, and they are all now installed on the Palm separately. Use the Level Packs option from the Levels Menu to work with level packs. The level packs screen will display which level packs you have installed on your device. For each level pack it also shows your current score, the highest level you've solved, and how many levels are in the level pack, for example:

Confusion Pack:10 (4/60)
The level packs screen also gives you information about the source of the level pack and types of levels found within.

See the Level Packs page under More Info for more on the level packs.

Solutions

You can elect to see the solution for a level. Select the Show Solution option from the Levels Menu to view the solution. Viewing solutions adds 5 to your score!

Selecting the Show Solution option saves your current level state and the solution screen is drawn. It automatically starts displaying the solution and will continue unless you tap the screen or press the page up / page down keys. If you interrupt it, use the arrow icons at the bottom of the screen or the page up / page down keys to step forward and back through the solution.

Tapping the restart icon in the bottom right corner of the screen restarts the solution from the beginning.

Tap the Done button to exit the solution and return to the level where you left off.

Menus

Tapping on the title bar will open up the two pull down menus available, Game and Levels.

Game Menu

The Game Menu has the following options:

Preferences

Use this option to set the Game Options described above. They are stored in the Palm's "saved preferences."

Replay Current Level

Show all the moves made so far in the current level from the beginning.

Replay Previous Level

Show all moves made in the previous level. If you haven't solved a level yet in your current session this option is not available.

Beam Vexed

This menu option lets you beam the Vexed program to another device. Go into the Level Packs menu form to beam individual level packs.

How To Play

This displays some brief instructions on how to play the game.

About

Displays information about Vexed. Tap the Credits button for information about the authors of Vexed.

Levels Menu

The Levels Menu has the following options:

Level Packs

This option opens up a screen to deal with level packs. Move the cursor up and down through the list to see information about each level, including the author and a description of the level pack.

This is the format of the level packs in the list:

name:level pack score (highest level completed / number of levels in the pack)

For example, "Confusion Pack: 10 (4/60)"

To load a level pack, move the cursor to the pack desired and tap on OK.

You can beam level packs to another device by selecting the pack to beam with the cursor and tapping on Beam.

You can delete a level pack by moving the cursor to the level pack you wish to delete and tapping on Delete.

Blocks Remaining

This option displays how many blocks there are remaining of each type.

Clear Solved Levels

The program remembers which level you were playing and how many levels were solved when the program exits. Use this option if you want to reset this and have the program think you're starting over on the very first level.

Show Solution

Select this option to see how to solve the current level as described above. Viewing the solution will add 5 to your score.

Screen Layout

Refer to the icon at the top right of this page for an example of the Vexed screen.

Title Bar

This is the format of the information on the title bar:

Level number

The number of the level within the level pack, starting with level 0.

Level name

Each level pack has a theme used to assign names to individual levels. For example, the Children's Pack uses ice cream flavors. It's more fun to be stuck on level Chocolate Chip than level 23, isn't it? If you wish to modify the level names there is a tool to add titles to the level pack databases within the source code zip file.

Current number of moves

How many moves you've taken so far in the level.

Par moves

The number of moves for this level in the solution stored in the level pack ("par"). Note that the solution stored may not be the most efficient, so it is possible to beat par and get a negative score.

Score

Your total score for the entire level pack. It is the sum of your moves above or below par for each level completed. The lower the number, the better your score.

Gameboard

Under the title bar is the game play area, a grid of blocks 10 by 8.

Control Icons

Underneath the game board are a set of control icons. From left to right, here are their functions:

First

The left-most icon jumps to the first level in the level pack, level 0.

The second icon with the arrow pointing to the left moves to the previous level. If you're on level 0 this does nothing.

Level Select

The magnifiying glass icon brings up a form to let you select exactly which level you want to select. Use the up and down arrows or the page up / page down keys to select the new level. It will display all levels in the level pack, but you cannot select a level higher than one past the highest level you've solved.

The right-hand pointing arrow will move up to the next level past your current level. You are only allowed to move to levels up to one past the highest level you've solved.

Last

The fifth icon jumps to the one past the highest level you've solved.

Undo

The sixth icon from the left is an uppercase "U" character. This icon appears after you've made your first move in a level. Tapping this icon moves back one move. The buffer for the undo function holds 15 moves, so you may only go back that many moves.

Recall

The seventh icon from the left is an uppercase "R" character. It appears when you tap the "Memorize" icon, discussed next. Tap the Recall icon to return the gameboard to the state it was in when you memorized it.

Memorize

The eighth icon from the left is an uppercase "M" character. Use this function to memorize the current state of the gameboard in order to return to it later.

Restart

The icon in the bottom right erases all moves taken in the current level and lets you start the level over from the beginning.