Three's 3.1

Written in Java, so it will hopefully run nearly everywhere...

Contact

Email: tadpol@kagi.com
Web: http://tadpol.org/projects/active.html
WebDAV: http://idisk.mac.com/tadpol/Public/

About

A simple puzzle game where you try to line up each of the different colors of pegs. The trick is that once the pegs of the same color are in a row or column, they lock in place and cannot be moved anymore. Once all of the pegs are thus locked, you have won. It is a simple idea that is harder to do than it sounds.

Running it

The difference between the Mac and Any archives, is that the Mac archive comes with the extra resources to make Three's into a MacOSX application. The Any archive comes with a few icon files that you can use. (I'm not sure how since I don't have those platforms, but I'm sure you can figure it out.)

For MacOSX you can just run the application.

For other systems, you can double click the Threes.jar file, or run java -jar Threes.jar from a command prompt. If you don't see the jar file, it is because you grabbed the Mac archive. Either go get the Any Archive, or dig into the folders until you find the jar file.

Rules for playing

The black dot is a `hole'
Click on pegs next to hole to move them to the hole. Thus swapping them and the hole.
Or Click on a peg in the same row or column as the hole to slide all of the pegs over.
When all of the pegs of the same color are in a row or column, they lock and connot be moved.
The goal is to get all of the pegs locked in thier rows or columns.

Disclaimer

Three's should not cause any damage, but you're using it at your own risk. As an independent software developer, I cannot make any warranties on it.

Distribution

Three's is ©2001-2002 by Michael Conrad Tilstra. It can be distributed as long as the package is not modified and there is no charge for the package. (You may, of course, charge for the media that the package is on.) You also must send me an email telling me where and how you are planning to distribute it.

Shareware fee

Three's is shareware; the fee is $10. You owe someone this amount, either a local charity, some other shareware author, or me. If you decide to pay me, you can do that online with Kagi. (as long as I have a real job, I really don't need the extra income from shareware, but I figure someone else does. So that's my reasoning for the above.)

Where it came from

Three's is a fairly simple puzzle game I thought up years ago in highschool. The `original' version was played with a handful of M&Ms on my mom's tablecloth, which had a grid like pattern. Then a physical version was made, since this was still before I did any programming. Sometime after that, a Hypercard version was made, and then soon after, the Mac version that was done in FutureBasic. After that there have been a few unreleased version in various languages and platforms. (Its a nice program to use to learn a language.) Sometime when I first heard of Java, I decided I should write Three's in that. And so here we are, four years later, I finally got around to it. ^_^

The name Three's comes from the fact that there are three pegs of each color in the smallest board size. The 4x4 game board size was the only size for some time, until I was asked if it could be extended into larger sizes. So the name doesn't apply much any more, but why change it?

BUGS

It seems that on some installs of the Blackdown-1.3.1-FCS jvm, the Highscore window doesn't work. Since this works on other installs, and on other jvms, I'm not going to concern myself with it too much. (appears to be a problem with the jvm, not Three's.)
Broken stuff in the Blackdown-1.3.1-FCS jvm. After picking a new boardsize, or opening a saved game, the window is minized. Kinda irritating, and as far as I can tell, not my problem.

Revisions

3.1: Fixed the typing of saved game file under MacOS. The files now get the pretty little icon I gave them.
Played with using Java Web Start. Decided not to use it.
3.0.1: Simplified the AboutBox. Some JVMs couldn't find the html file it was based off. And since it just was this readme, I decided it wasn't worth the extra effort.
3.0.0: Ready for distribution. (i think.)
3.0.0d9: Use the JFileChooser for non-mac, because it is more correct. Use the older FileDialog for the mac still, because, again, it is more correct. (You probably have to see both on a mac to understand.)
Made the main content of the HighScore window scrollable. Touched up borders and what not. Still not quite done. Some of the stuff still feels wrong.
Mac icons for saved games and application.
Saved games now go by the file extension of "3sg"
Links in AboutBox are clickable. Clicking on website should send the URL to your browser. Clicking on the mail address should sent it to your email program.
3.0.0d8: Fixed the menu thing. Didn't see it on my mac due to the way menus are drawn. I would imagine this is written down somewhere, but appearently mixing AWT and Swing is very bad. So I stopped doing that.
Should also have fixed bug where after clearing a game, it continually pops up the highscore dialogs.
3.0.0d7: Line slides. Click in the same row or column as the empty spot, but not next to it, and all of the pegs slide over. Same move count as if you moved each peg by itself. Makes the large board sizes less painful.
3.0.0d6: The `hole' peg is now smaller. gives a better visual difference.
As more pegs of the same color get into a line, a connection between them becomes thicker.
When all of the pegs are in line, the connection is as thick as the pegs, and the pegs are locked.
The ReadMe is now in html, and is embedded in the jar file so it can be the AboutBox text.
3.0.0d5: Save games; open them later. Good for those crazys that play the 11x11 sizes...
HighScores, only best four of each size is kept.
Added another starting class (Threes_broken) for those with messed up menus.
3.0.0d4: Revamped the AboutBox. Now holds almost what the final version will.
Fixed the need for hard calculating the size of the game window. If you call show() or setVisible(true) before you call pack() it won't pack the contents correctly. How annoying.
3.0.0d3: Drawing to the frame is bad, offsets are all wrong.
Created a Canvas object, and moved game into that.
Still cannot get the window to resize correctly.
3.0.0d2: Game logic works. Attempts to get both real java and mac specific java working from one jar.
3.0.0d1: The first attempt in Java, OSX, and new development environment.
2.1.2: The old Mac-only, FutureBasic version.