New Tetris Freeware clone - Skin Edit

[NAVY SEAL]

Hi all,

My name is Ilia Mandev from Aylin.biz.

I have posted the resources of the 320x320 color skin, plus the pilrc compiler and short instructions on the web page.

Here is the url (http://www.aylin.biz/download/rcp_free_blocks_320_256.zip) or check the download list of the Free Blocks web page- http://www.aylin.biz/products.php?productID=1.

Feel free to send any questions - mandev at aylin dot biz.

Would you like other skin resources posted the same way?

Finally, please send new skins so we could post them online!


Best regards,
Ilia.

[spradlinb]

First skin for Clie users, 320x320 screen (might work on 320x480 screens, just no minimized graffiti, not sure):

http://www.LaunchPlug.com/FreeBlocks/FBSkin_LunarCity7.zip

Let me know what you think :)

Cheers.

http://www.LaunchPlug.com/FreeBlocks/LC7_320.gif

[NAVY SEAL]

Yes, the skin will work on HiRes+ devices!

It (and the game itself) will work on a Tungten T, too.

[GoldenTiger]

Can you make a zip for 320x480 skinmaking?

[NAVY SEAL]

It's there. http://www.aylin.biz/download/rcp_free_blocks_480_256.zip

Btw, you can easily make 320x320 and 320x480 skins: the difference is in the palyground bitmap only.

After you make one of the skins, copy the \bmp folder contents to the other project, change the playground bitmap (ID 2203) and build again.

[spradlinb]

Another skin for 320x320 color screens. This one is called "Scribble" because it's exactly that... I just drew the images on paper, scanned them and put them into a new skin. I will be making 320x480 versions of my skins in a little while, once I have time.

http://www.LaunchPlug.com/FreeBlocks/FBSkin_Scribble.zip

Cheers.

http://www.LaunchPlug.com/FreeBlocks/Scribble_320.gif

[GoldenTiger]

Can you give a quick guide on how to do the skins? Do I just replace all the bitmaps with themed ones of my own?

BTW, great job, spradlinb!

[spradlinb]

Thanks, glad you like them!

Here's a quick description for using the skinmakers at the Free Blocks website:

When you unzip the file you download to your PC you will find one file and one folder that you want to work with to make your skins; the "BMP" folder contains all the images from the default skin that you simply open and replace with your own graphics program, and the "FreeBlocks_320_256.rcp" file (or _480_, depending on the resolution you're working on) which contains all the information about transparencies and font colors.

To make your own very first skin, simply replace the images in the BMP folder with your own (make sure you don't rename the files, just save over the originals with your new ones), then double click the "build.bat" file. This will recompile the graphics into your very first skin!

Now, for the detail work, when you really want to make things look the way you want, you need to edit the "FreeBlocks_320_256.rcp" file with any text editor. I use Windows Notepad. You will see some text like:

BITMAPFAMILYEX ID MainBonus50BitmapFamily
BEGIN
BITMAP "BitmapID2293Bitmap.bmp" BPP 8 COMPRESS DENSITY 1 TRANSPARENTINDEX 0
END

In the above blocks of text, the only part you'll ever need to worry about or want to change is the "TRANSPARENTINDEX 0" value. This sets one color in your images to be transparent based on a 216 color index... to make it simple:
0 = white
255 = black
210 = green (red=0 green=255 blue=0 in RGB palette)
There are obviously more colors that you can use, but those are the three that I always use. Just change the number right after the TRANSPARENTINDEX to the new number and recompile your skin.

Not all of the items in the .rcp file have a transparent option in them but all of them CAN have one if you want to add one. For instance, the items for the blocks does not have a transparent color defined, but if you want parts of them to be transparent you simply need to add the TRANSPARENTINDEX 0 into the spot for your image in the .rcp file... after a little practice you'll get the hang of it and be able to find your images pretty quickly in the .rcp file.

The last thing I'll mention is at the very bottom of the .rcp file... there are several lines there that allow you to change the color of your text in your skin. If you want to change the color of the "Level, Score, Next" text, for instance, just change the number at the bottom of the file next to

STRING ID MainColorString "108"

to your new color. It uses the same index values as your transparent colors, so 0 is white, 255 is black, 210 is green, 114 is yellow, etc.

Hope that helps you out, can't wait to see what you come up with! :)

Cheers.

[NAVY SEAL]

There are the resources to compile a160x160 256 colors skin file - http://www.aylin.biz/download/rcp_free_blocks_160_256.zip.

For everybody feeling creative...

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

[GoldenTiger]

Happy valentine's day, NAVY SEAL!

[GoldenTiger]

Spradlin... can you change your skin to 320x480 (new version) :)? I'm working on my skins tonight... I'll put out a bunch over the weekend.

[spradlinb]

Originally posted by GoldenTiger
Spradlin... can you change your skin to 320x480 (new version) :)? I'm working on my skins tonight... I'll put out a bunch over the weekend.

I haven't had a chance to create a 480 skin from my bitmaps yet... I tried it once quickly with Festus440's skinmaker and ran into errors opening it in POSE, so I'll have to get back to it someday. Right now I'm too busy to work out the kinks though, so hopefully in a few days.

Cheers.

[NAVY SEAL]

Spradlinb, please use the compiler from www.aylin.biz and check the following:

You can easily make 320x320 and 320x480 skins: the difference is in the palyground bitmap only.

After you make one of the skins, copy the \bmp folder contents to the other project, change the playground bitmap (ID 2203) and build again.

So, you just have to change the playground bitmap (keep backgrounds 320x320) and recompile with the 320x480 project from aylin.biz - it sets some additional settings that are most probably missing in fetus's compiler and that help to properly load the skin.

All the best,
Ilia.

[rhart00]

A Navy Seal playing tetris on a clie. Now that I gotta see!

[NAVY SEAL]

Be my guest ;-)))

[Massman82]

Great game! Have you thought of adding enhanced sound support?
...this should be the official tetris game for the Palm OS! :)

[NAVY SEAL]

Hi, this is a great idea! We'll have this done.

Thanks! And thanks for the rating :)

[GoldenTiger]

Enhanced sound would make this great! Add a donation link on palmgear and I'll donate! Make it in $2-3 increments maybe...

[Spiral]

Oh yeah, if 320x480 didn't work on anybody's NR (didn't work on mine) there is a fix.

[NAVY SEAL]

Hi,

The 320x480 loading has a bug on pre-OS5 devices. It has been fixed and the download will be posted in a few hours. I'll add a message here when it is available.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Best regards,
Ilia.

[NAVY SEAL]

Hi all,

New version that properly works with 320x480 skins on pre-OS5 devices is available. Check the game's web page http://www.aylin.biz/products.php?productID=1

There are also other fixes for better handling of different devices.

Also, there are 2 320x320 color skins by Mr. Brian Spradlin available for download on the same page.


Regards and have more fun!

[Massman82]

One more request...
Could you make it easier to post high-scores? (Without a downloadable conduit!)
Astraware and others are able to do it...Thanks!!!

[NAVY SEAL]

Hi,

We discussed this and decided this way will be easier – just sync. Of course, there are drawbacks, too.

As this is a larger task, we cannot do it overnight and can consider it for the next month. And every score will be entered on a page on our website, manually – is this what you mean?

All the best,
Ilia.