Brick Ball

About Brick Ball	Brick Ball is a something like racketball, but played on a computer. And at the back of the court, there are bricks which disappear when hit by the ball. Sometimes bricks release extra items which, if you can catch them, will give you extra powers (or sometimes, cause you grief). As you play, you gradually reveal a picture on the back wall, and when all the bricks are gone advance to the next level with new bricks, a new picture, and new bonuses and hazards. Brick Ball features: increasing challenges with each level full screen or in-window play "Mini-Mode" for older Macs numerous goodies and hazards WARNING: Playing Brick Ball may be addictive!	[Large JPEG] [Large PNG]
System Requirements	Brick Ball requires a PowerPC running MacOS 7.6.1 through 9.1, with QuickDraw 3D 1.6 installed. Versions of Brick Ball for Microsoft Windows and for Mac OS X are in the works -- please let me know if you're interested!
Download	You can download BrickBall here: http://www.strout.net/files/brickball.sit.hqx (3 MB) The current version is: 1.0 . If you have any difficulty with it, contact Joe Strout at <joe@strout.net>.
License	Brick Ball is shareware (US$20). Try it out, but if you like it, please register. This costs about the same as a movie for two including snacks, but should provide many more hours of enjoyment.
How to Play	When you launch Brick Ball, you'll see a window that looks very much like the screen shot above. To begin, just position the mouse over the game arena, and click the button. Use the mouse to control the paddle -- line the paddle up with the ball as it reaches the front of the arena, to hit it back towards the bricks. Tip: look at the shadows on the floor of the arena to help you see how close the ball is to the paddle. Note that, if the paddle is moving when it hits the ball, it will give the ball a "kick" in that direction. This can be to your advantage or disadvantage -- to keep the ball under control, try to have the paddle stationary when the ball hits it. If you get the gun, click the mouse button to fire. You have unlimited ammo, so fire at will -- but don't forget to keep hitting the ball! Press Tab to pause the game, then click again to resume. Catch a power-up by lining the paddle up with it as it reaches the front of the arena. Avoid catching hazards. See the table below for what each one does.

Bonuses & Hazards
	100-Point Bonus -- gives you 100 extra points. Always handy if you can catch it.
	500-Point Bonus -- gives you 500 extra points. A couple of these can really put you on the high score list!
	Extra Ball -- an extra life. Sometimes this is worth catching even if it means you'll miss the (current) ball, since the next ball will start out at a nice steady pace and reasonable angle.
	Wider Is Better -- changes your paddle from the normal square size to a wider version, which makes it considerably easier to hit the ball. This change lasts until you miss the ball. Also worth 100 points.
	Gun -- this powerup adds a gun to your paddle. Fire with the mouse button; bullets wipe out bricks but don't affect any bonuses or hazards that may be in the way. The gun rotates from one corner of your paddle to the next after each shot. This bonus also lasts till you miss the ball, and is worth 100 points.
	Slow -- when you catch this, the ball's speed will be reduced by one third. Very handy when things start to get out of control!
	Fast -- catching this causes the ball to speed up by 50%. This is usually not a good thing. But you can undo its effects by catching a Slow.
	8-Ball -- if you see an 8-Ball, you must catch it or you'll lose a life exactly as if you had missed the regular ball.
	Spikey -- this is the exact opposite of the 8-Ball; you must not catch this, because if you do, it's like missing the ball.
	Blinder -- watch out for this one; when you catch it, your paddle turns opaque, making it difficult to see the ball before you hit it.