Kye
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kye is a real time puzzle game. Some puzzle games, like Sokoban, work around a very simple idea, an extremely limited set of objects and rules - Kye does not follow this approach, because it contains a variety of different object types and these interact is a variety of ways. It takes ideas from puzzle games like Sokoban and Crystal Mines, but the inclusion of active objects gives it a real time component, and it can also produce arcade-game levels like Pac-Man. Anyone can create new levels for the game.
First released in 1992 by Colin Garbutt of Towednack, it was charity shareware - registering the game got you the latest version, a larger collection of levels, and the money went to Save the Children.
The Kye is also the object controlled by the player in the game, from which the game takes its name. This was the name of Colin's dog, according to the help file.
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[edit] History
Version 1 of Kye was released in 1992, and was widely distributed in the UK in collections of shareware games. This version contained all the main features of the game, including mouse control, real-time movement of objects, and the active monsters. It was possible to create your own levels, but there was no editor provided - the levels are text files, so can be edited with any text editor.
Version 2 was released probably in 1993. People who registered version 1 got version 2, and a larger collection of levels. Version 2 included a WYSIWYG editor integrated into the game (although this editor could only edit one level at a time). It also added new objects which increased the scope of the game for arcade style puzzles - black holes, shooters and timer blocks.
Both of these versions are for Windows only, and are old 16-bit applications. They still run on a modern Windows system, but should be installed in a directory with a short (<=8 characters in the filenames) path, otherwise there will be problems opening levels.
[edit] The game
The player controls the Kye, either with the mouse or keyboard. The only action in the game is movement - Kye interacts with the game by pushing objects, pulling them, or consuming/collecting them (by stepping onto them). Each level is a single screen, of 30x20 squares, each of which can contain a single object. The objective in the game is to collect all the diamonds in each level. Levels are grouped into sets of levels, and later levels can only be reached by completing earlier ones.
The main objects are the Kye, diamonds, solid walls, soft blocks (which are consumed by walking through them), and solid, moveable blocks (which can be pushed around). There are also sticky blocks, which in fact behave more like magnets, since they pull moveable objects towards them (and can be pulled by the Kye, enabling it to pull as well as push). Combinations of these objects alone gives an entirely non-real-time puzzle, enabling puzzles like Sokoban to be constructed (although Kye lacks a fillable-hole object, it is possible to combine the sticky blocks with some traps to enable a sokoban like gameplay).
There are also real time moving objects - sliders and rounders. these have some similarity with falling-rocks puzzle games, but since in Kye they can go in any direction, and there are also turning blocks that can redirect a stream of sliders or rounders, it is possible to construct circular flows and periodic mechanisms. And the bouncers, which are the only non-player-controlled actor that can push other objects, allow mechanisms to be constructed.
There are also monsters: spikes, blobs, twisters, gnashers, and snakes. The Kye loses a life (it has 3 for each level) if it is caught by a monster; and the monsters move to catch the Kye. This gives the game its arcade element.
Version 2 added timer blocks (making it easy to add time-delay mechanisms to levels), black holes (which destroy objects that flow, wander or are pushed into them), and shooters (which create new sliders or rounders). These take Kye further from the puzzle game area where it started, and more into the arcade game genre.
[edit] Other Versions, Clones
There have been clones written for calculators and handheld computers by various people.
There was a Christmas Kye release (christmas 1993) which was official - a collaboration between Colin Garbutt and a software company. This included a reduced set of levels.
The main alternative version is Amazing Kye by Terminal Studios. This includes a limited set of levels, with more available on registration. The objects are all recognisable by their properties as being almost the same as the original Kye, but the graphics are entirely different and some objects are missing (namely the monsters and one way doors). The levels are no longer in a text format, so are not interchangeable with other versions of Kye. And to make it worse, there is no level editor nor any way to easily create levels.
There have been some other attempts to bring out a new PC version of Kye, and there are several incomplete projects on the 'net. The only complete version available is Python Kye, which supports all levels for the original Kye, and includes a level editor - but currently supports Linux/Unix systems only.
A cross platform (windows, linux, freeBSD, etc), Free version is Xye it also includes more objects. It is in development state and lacks a level editor although it can open original kye levels and you can, in theory, make your own .xye levels.
