Volcano is an exciting, frustrating and addictive game, which requires good spatial awareness and quick reactions.
The scenario (bearing little relation to reality) is that there is a volcano known to be close to eruption. The dark, smoke-filled, brooding sky emphasizes the imminence of the danger. The volcano has a crater, and seismologists believe that eruption can be prevented by completely filling the crater, i.e. by plugging the volcano. This is a delicate and dangerous operation. You are in control of a flying craft (the white block) designed to catch blocks (light blue) being dropped from above, so that you gradually build up a plug that will fill the crater, with no gaps, up to the level of rim of the volcano. As the falling blocks are incorporated into the plug, they change colour to become brown, so that you know which blocks form the body of the plug. Once you have formed a plug of the right shape, you must then lower the plug into the crater and prevent the eruption.
If a block is not caught by the craft and, instead, falls into the crater (denoted by purple blocks), the impact destroys part of the natural plug (a purple block is removed) - and, of course, also changes the shape of the plug required to fill the crater. And if the falling blocks break through the plug material to expose the magma (red) an eruption takes place and the game is over. Any blocks that fall onto the rim of the volcano or the mountain side (green blocks) are themselves destroyed, but the mountain itself is not destroyed by the impact. However, each impact, whether onto the mountain or into the crater, increases the chance of eruption. If fifty blocks crash to the ground an eruption takes place - and, again, the game is over.
You are also able to launch missiles (yellow blocks) from the missile launchers at the sides (magenta blocks). These can be used both to destroy falling blocks, and so prevent dangerous impacts on the ground, and to remove blocks that form part of the plug you have created, if the shape is wrong. But make sure you don't accidentally shoot down the craft as the explosion caused by this will trigger an eruption. Note: if you remove a block from the plug and this leaves other blocks in the plug no longer with a means of connection, direct or indirect, to the craft, then these unattached blocks are also removed.
Objective
Your primary objective is to plug the volcano by creating the right-shaped plug and moving it into the crater so that it fits perfectly, with no missing blocks up to the level of the volcano rim. The plug may have additional blocks attached to it above the rim level. This plugging must be carried out before an eruption takes place. When you successfully prevent eruption, the sky turns blue and the sun comes out.
Overall, there are three ways in which an eruption can be triggered, which ends the game and fills the sky with red magma:
- falling blocks pierce the natural plug and expose the magma underneath;
- the craft is shot down by a missile;
- there are 50 impacts from falling blocks on the mountain and crater.
A secondary objective is to minimize the number of impacts on the crater and mountain before the volcano is plugged. The score indicates how many impacts remain before an eruption will be triggered from these, so you should try to maximize the score. The score is shown in the bottom-right field (initially 50).
Controls and actions
There are seven control buttons. One set of these is found on each side.
After starting the game (by pressing the New button), you move the plug (initially just the white craft) by pressing the up-, down-, right- or left-arrow buttons to change its position in the direction of the arrow. You can also rotate the plug by 90 degrees by pressing the clockwise or anticlockwise rotation buttons. The pivot point for the rotation is the white block representing the craft.
You can move the plug in a given direction only if there is space to do so (you can move into the path of a missile, but this will damage the plug). One point to note is that if you try to move the plug onto a falling block, there must be space for the plug including the newly attached block to move in the required direction.
You can rotate the plug only if there is nothing in the way of the rotation. This means not only that the final position after rotation should be free of obstructions (including falling blocks and missiles),
but that the space passed through during the rotation should also be free of obstructions.
These spaces are simplified by assuming that the plug has a simple rectangular shape (which just covers the plug) and considering the complete rectangle that encompasses the initial and final positions, and making the assumption that the
corners passed through by the rotation must be free of obstructions. So, if the initial position is as shown by the blue rectangle (with a white pivot block), and the final position by the red rectangle, with the overlap shown in brown, then, if the rotation is clockwise, the corners passed through by the rotation are shaded grey. These and the blue and red rectangles must be free of obstructions.
Note: for a block to become part of the plug, or to have an impact on the crater or mountain, it is necessary for relative motion of the block and the other surface to cause overlap, not for the two just to be next to each other. The same is true for missiles to affect the plug or falling blocks. This means that, for example, even when a block or missile appears to be adjacent to the plug it may have no effect if the plug is moved away. It also means that blocks or missiles can slide past other objects.
To fire missiles, press on one of the red buttons. This fires missiles from all the missile launchers at the same time - so be wary.
You can also change the speed of the game by pressing on one of the numbers representing speed (1 =lowest, 4=highest). To access these, press on the More button (and press Back to return to the main screen afterwards). Volcano always starts off with a default speed setting of 2.
New Game
A new game, with a new crater shape, may be generated at any time by pressing on the
New button. The initial crater varies in shape, but always requires a total plug size of 16 blocks to fill it.
Volcano is an original game devised by Dr. David Wolstenholme
Terms of use
This software may be used for personal purposes only. It may not be used for commercial purposes.
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Version: 3.0 (20170327) Scale:
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