Section 7.6. Frozen Bubble

7.6. Frozen Bubble

Some of the most fun games, the games that have the highest replay value, are often the simplest ones. Frozen Bubble is a puzzle game similar to Puzzle Bobble or Bust-a-Move. The object of Frozen Bubble is to remove all of the different colored bubbles that are arranged on the top of the screen (Figure 7-10). Your player is given a single colored bubble, and you aim from the bottom of the screen and attempt to hit a bubble at the top of the screen that has a matching color. If you hit a bubble with a matching color, it and all of the bubbles connected below it will disappear. If you don't hit a match, your bubble becomes another bubble to eliminate. You beat a level by eliminating all of the bubbles from the level. If you don't remove bubbles fast enough, the board shifts down closer to the bottom. Once a bubble hits the bottom of the board, you lose.

Frozen Bubble is a common game and should be packaged by your distribution. Otherwise, you can download and compile the source from the official site at www.frozen-bubble.org. Start Frozen Bubble from a menu or type frozen-bubble on the command line. You can choose one- or two-player games, and can even create your own levels from the included level editor.

The single-player game pits you against the clock. The controls are basic and easy to pick up. Left and right arrows adjust your aim to the left and right, respectively, and the up arrow launches your bubble. Take advantage of the fact that bubbles bounce from the side walls to get bubbles to hard-to-reach places. If your aim is good you can sometimes complete a level with a single well-placed bubble.

Figure 7-1. Frozen Bubble

The double-player games pits you head-to-head against another player (Figure 7-11). Both players use the keyboard, so player 1 aims left with X, right with V, and launches with the C key. The second player uses the standard arrow keys. In two-player mode both players are playing side by side at the same time with their own puzzle. The first player to complete the level wins that round.

The included level editor allows you to customize your own levels so you can arrange the number, color, and location of bubbles however you choose. Right-click on a bubble to remove it, and click on the colored bubbles on the side of the screen to choose the color to use. You can change any of the 100 included levels with the level editor.