Bike or Die! v1.6b

(C)2004-2008 Szymon Ulatowski @ toyspring.com

Introduction - Changes - Shareware - Rules - Controls - Installation - External Card Usage - Performance - Level Editor - Hall of Fame - Support

Introduction

The goal in "Bike or Die!" is simple: drive your bike through the obstacle course, get all red checkpoint flags and struggle for the best time.
You can ride on everything - stones, logs, walls or even the ceilings as long as you are able to balance the bike and protect your head from touching the ground.
As the difficulty level increases, you have to perform wild jumps, flips and near-impossible stunts.
You can carefully calculate your route to the finish flag or trust your riding instinct and drive spontanously.
There are no fixed rules how to win a certain level. Often you discover shortcuts and some levels can be solved in many different ways.

Changes

New in v1.6b: Hall of Fame compatiblity, required for the Planet level (Winter Pack)
New in v1.6a

Added "Bike or Die 2 Title" level so anyone can try it without purchasing the full version
Fixed a card-handling bug (affected levelpacks having long file names)
"Submit best times" no longer fails to find your games when called from the title screen
Tells you what version is needed (or recommended) for a particular levelpack instead of just not working when faced with a file it cannot handle

New in v1.6

Radial gravity - you fall towards the center point rather than down. Play the Gravity Fun levelpack to see the difference.

New in v1.5

New gameplay features:
- Sticky surfaces (be like a Spiderman!)
- Portals ("spacetime tunnels" connecting distant locations)
- Dynamic checkpoints and obstacles (appear/disappear during the game)
"Zoom out" option for a wider view (High resolution only)
Improved recording management:
- "Public recording" setting can be made default
- Enter the comment immediately after completing a level
- Edit the recording details (player name, public status, comment)
- "Current level" filter is not reset each time you enter the recording list
Analog controller can be used to move the view (Zodiac only)

This package includes the Supernatural levelpack - the first levelpack utilising v1.5 game features - try it!

Changes since 1.3

New gameplay features:
- Updraft (can work as an elevator, trap, create antigravity and weightlessness effects)
- Variable friction (some surfaces can be marked as "slippery" or "reduced friction")
- Selectable number of mandatory checkpoints (increases the number of ways one can solve a level)
Ghost bike - it's like if you were on race, chasing your previous incarnation!
Levelpacks and Recordings on card (which means you can free a lot of internal memory and still have dozens of levels at hand)
Better, more detailed map
A lot of bugs fixed, eg: power management (does not run on full power when not needed, eg. in pause, map), pause automatically when the device is turned off

Shareware

This game is shareware. You should register if you use it often. The demo version is restricted to 5 levels. After registering, you will get your personal unlocking code, which will allow you to play all 25 builtin levels and hundreds of additional 3rd party levels.
Use this link to purchase the registration code on bike.toyspring.com.

Rules

Get the required number of checkpoint (red) flags
Finish the race by the checkered flag as soon as possible
Avoid obstacles

On some levels there is no finish flag - just get all red flags to complete the race. Similarly, when there are no red flags you can go to the finish flag immediately.

Controls

There are 5 game buttons:

Forward: push the pedals
Brake: stop the bike
Balance Left & Right: push the bike slightly to maintain balance and help with freestyle tricks
Flip: allows you to go in the opposite direction.

Use the Menu -> Options -> Control to redefine those keys. "Disable other keys" will deactivate unused application buttons.
Additional controls:

Click and drag on the screen to look around
Use the Up/Down keys to restart the game

Installation

Please install one of the 3 supplied "BikeOrDie-1.6b" PRC files. Any of the 3 versions will work on any device, but you will miss some features if you install the wrong file.

BikeOrDie-1.6b-Hires.prc - Will use the enhanced display capabilities of the high resolution PalmOS 5 devices. It requires most memory. Use this file if you own a PalmOS 5 device with the High Resolution screen.
BikeOrDie-1.6b-Lowres.prc - Doesn't use the high resolution, even if it's supported by the device. It has lower memory requirements. You should install it if you have a color enabled but not high resolution device.
BikeOrDie-1.6b-BW.prc - Doesn't use the color display. It is the smallest version, suitable for the oldest PalmOS devices.

Optional files:

BikeOrDie-Sound.prc - Required for enhanced sound effects (OS5 only).
For you convenience, this package contains selected 3rd party levelpacks (see the Levelpacks folder). You can browse and download over 100 additional levelpacks from the "Bike or Die" website!

How to upgrade:

When installed in the main memory - Just install the new prc file, don't delete the previous version.
When installed on the card - Delete the previous version from the card and install the new prc file

Note: Some older OS4-based Sony CLIE devices have the High Resolution screen, but the game will not use it. These devices are too slow to provide the acceptable framerate on a 320x320 display.

External Card Usage

Starting with v1.4 "Bike or Die" can use external memory card for storing levelpacks, recordings and high scores. This can be very useful, as the number of recordings can easily reach several thousands if you play numerous 3rd party levelpacks and keep all your scores. Huge number of recordings mean a lot of wasted space in your device's precious internal memory and degraded hotsync performance.

Levelpacks on external memory card:

"Bike or Die" levelpack selector can be used to move levelpacks between the internal memory and external cards. Use "Move to ..." command from the card icon menu to change the levelpack location.
If you prefer to install levelpack directly on card, place them in "/PALM/Programs/BikeOrDie/Levelpacks".

Recordings on external memory card:

The "Location" switch in "Recording Options" (Menu -> Options -> Recording) is the most important setting. When set to "Internal memory" everything works as before and the card is not used. Change this to "Card" and "Bike or Die" will be saving all new recordings to the card automatically. Upon switching to "Card", you will be asked if your existing recordings should be moved to the card. In most cases you just answer "yes" (as what we want is to free some internal memory and keep as much as we can on the card).
"Bike or Die" keeps your recordings in separate folders for each levelpack, in "/PALM/Programs/BikeOrDie/Recordings".

Performance

You can try different display settings to tune the game performance. Use the Menu -> Options -> Display to change the display setting. Basicaly, you will gain performance by disabling the high resolution (OS5), additional details, textures or switching to the black and white mode.

Level Editor

Create your own levels for "Bike or Die!". See the 'Bike or Design' homepage for more details.

Internet Hall of Fame

You can send your best scores to the Internet Hall of Fame. Just use the Menu -> Rec -> Submit my best times if your palm is configured for the internet. Visit http://bike.toyspring.com/ to see your current position in the Time Trial and Freestyle Competition.

Support

Use the following e-mail address if you have any questions about this software: support@toyspring.com