Emerald Mine for the iPad
Ported in 2011 by Les Bird
About Emerald Mine for the iPad
Emerald Mine was a fantastic puzzle game for the Amiga. It is also known by several other names on other platforms - Boulderdash (C64), Rocks-n-Diamonds (multiplatform), Diamond Caves (Win32). This particular port is based on the Amiga version that I played back in the day.
The goal is to collect the required number of gems and then find the exit. There are 2 different types of gems that you can collect, emeralds and diamonds. The gems are scattered throughout the level but in some cases you actually need to destroy some of the hazards, which will turn into gems. For example, crushing the bugs will sometimes spawn several gems.
For a detailed explanation of the original game visit the wiki page here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Mine
About the Port
My particular port is based on the classic Amiga version of Emerald Mine. I was going to rewrite all the logic to mirror the original game but I found that it has already been done by David Tritscher in an easy to use portable format:
http://www.emeraldmines.net/?emeraldx11
I then decided to use David's logic.c, reademc.c and convert.c to handle loading the original levels and running the game and used Cocos2D to handle the graphics, input and audio.
The art and resources were taken from the Emerald Mines archive:
http://www.emeraldmines.net/?home
Support for Apple's Game Center was added to track the overall highscore.
Levels were taken from the Emerald Mine archive (see link above). There are more than 50,000 levels but I used only the archives from the original Emerald Mine sets. Those are based on the original Kingsoft levels along with some nice additional sets provided by 3rd parties.
How To Play
Emerald Mine for iPad has several options for controller the player. Select any of these by tapping the [?] question mark button in the lower right corner from the main menu.
SLIDE: Just move your finger in the direction you want to go.
DPAD: Touch an arrow on the d-pad to move in that direction.
JOYPAD: Download the Joypad Elite App to your iPhone and move that way.
There are two actions you can perform:
1. Grab a nearby item in an adjacent block.
To do this, just tap the block next to you with your finger or on the Joypad Elite hold down the A or B button and touch the up, down, right or left directional arrow.
2. Plant dynamite.
This is accomplished by touch and hold anywhere on the screen. After a short delay dynamite will be planted where the player is standing. Run away quickly to avoid getting blown up. If using the Joypad Elite press and hold any button until the dynamite is planted then run away quickly.
iPad Screenshots
Emerald Mine for the iPad ported by Les Bird in 2011
Emerald Mine for the iPad uses the Cocos2D game engine for the iPhone and iPad.
July 4, 2011
