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NOTE: IT IS RECOMMENDED TO READ ALL OF THIS INFORMATION THROUGH BEFORE PLAYING THE GAME, AS IT WILL BE EASIER TO UNDERSTAND HOW EVERYTHING WORKS.
Hello there! My name is Mew, and may I firstly thank you for visiting my game's page! A lot of hard work has been put into the game, and I'm glad people appreciate that! Now, let me give you some info on it:
THE CONCEPT:
Based on the ancient real-life puzzle, you start out with 3 pegs, the first one having a chosen amount of layers stacked decreasing in size on it. Your job is to move that stack, in the same order, from the first peg onto the last one, obviously following the rules.
THE RULES:
These are the rules you have to follow while solving the puzzle. Obviously it isn't possible to not do that anyway, since I programmed them in.
I also included a shortened version of the rules (along with the controls) in the game itself, so that when somebody needs them but doesn't have access to this page, at least they have that.
1. Thou shalt not move more than 1 layer at a time. This is pretty obvious, because otherwise you would be able to just move the whole stack at once.
2. Thou shalt not move non-atop layers. Together with rule 1 this means that you can only move a layer if it is the upmost layer on its stack.
3. Thou shalt not put big layers on small ones. This rule makes it so that at any given moment in time, there are no layers forming an upside down cone shape in the game.
CONTROLS:
While in the menus, you navigate using the arrow keys and the Enter key. While in the game itself, you use the left and right arrow keys to move your cursor, the up arrow key to lift a layer and the down arrow key to drop it. At any time in a game, you can restart by pressing 2nd, or Alpha to return to the main menu.
Also, so that you don't forget what peg you are taking from/adding to (due to e.g. distraction), there are arrows designating your choice of movement.
FAQ
Q: Why is there no leaderboard for highscores?
A: There are 3 reasons for this: 1. I ran out of space on the menu screens, so I would have to redesign the whole menu system (which I'm not going to do) just to add a single extra option, 2. Because it would mean that for every number of layers I would need to have a leaderboard for time and amount of moves, meaning I would need 8 different leaderboards. I can't imagine how much extra navigating-code would have to be put into that… Finally reason 3: as I said already, I would need 8 different leaderboards, which obviously need to be stored somewhere outside of the program. I don't want to infest people's calculators with extra memory-consuming parts, which they may not know are taking memory. I don't want anyone thinking they have just the right amount of memory to use my program, but eventually get an out of memory message. I've had it happen before, it's not cool. So why are there time and move counters then? Well, you could use it just for personal measure, but if you really wanted to compete with friends (assuming you have them) you could always make a leaderboard yourselves.
Q: Why is there a sentence on my homescreen when I quit, what does it mean and how do I get rid of it?
A: The reason it is there is because it's my signature. Every program I write in TI-Basic I give a fitting phrase when it gets stopped. You can delete it like you delete your history, put your cursor on it and press delete.
As far as the meaning is concerned, it's a reference to the legend about the temple of Hanoi, where the priests guarding the temple have the same game (but in real life), which uttilises 64 golden rings. When the priests complete that puzzle (following the same rules as you have to in this game), it is said that that will be the end of the universe, or at least of humanity*.
Q: Did you implement easter eggs?
A: Maybe… It TOTALLY does not involve a secret code starting with K that rhymes with "thee" that has to be typed on the main menu using the arrow keys, 2nd, Alpha and Enter…
Q: I can't use any of the options, is that a bug?
A: Nope. To use an option, you first have to select it by pressing Enter, which will lock the cursor. Then, you can customize your options.
Q: What do I do if I accidentally choose a wrong peg to take from/add to?
A: Since there isn't an undo button for your last action, I would suggest selecting that same peg in the other direction: this makes the layer stay put, although it does add +1 to your move count.
Q: Why does lifting a layer up and dropping it on the same peg count as a move?
A: Because if you were to pick up a layer in real life and then put it on the same peg again, it would rather be seen as doing something as opposed to nothing.
Q: I found a bug! What do I do?
A: Post it below! I'd love it if others would like to help me improve my game by notifying me of bugs! After all, I'm only one person, and there might be flaws I didn't notice that others have.
Q: What do I do if I have a question that's not listed in the FAQ?
A: Like with the bugs, don't hesitate to post them below! I'll try to reply to everyone as well as I can.
*This might not be such a crazy idea if you think about it. The minimum amount of moves required to solve the puzzle is 2^n-1, where n is the amount of layers in the puzzle. This means that for the puzzle the legend is talking about, that would be 2^64-1~1,844674407e19 moves! So, let's say hypothetically that from start to finish there's not a single interruption, every move is the right move to eventually finish with the minimal amount of moves possible, and let's say a move takes at least 2 seconds to complete. That means it would roughly take 1.169.884.835.000 years to complete! Technically, we can't really predict that far into the future, but the chances of that being "the end" are definitely not unexisting…
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