How to play
Placing tiles
Slide tiles scroll through the palettes at the left and right of the screen, in random order and orientation. Click and drag any tile to grab it and place it in the playing field. You can only place a slide tile so that it links-up with another slide piece - either at the start or the end. The tile will automatically rotate and snap to valid locations. Keep moving the cursor to try different snapping options. Release the tile once it's snapped in-place to drop it in.
You can use the same tile from the tile palette again if it hasn't yet left the list.
The slide can cross over and under itself, but can't run parallel over itself. Tiles can't overlap the starting platform, end pool, or obstacles like trees, planters, or low parts of the stairs.
Removing tiles
Tiles with a free end can be removed, repositioned, and replaced. You can't remove a tile in the middle of the slide without removing one of its neighbours first.
Completing the slide
When you join the start of the slide to the end, the slide is complete and will fill with water, and the sliders will slide down, scoring points. When all the sliders are done, the round ends and the next can begin.
Time limit
In later stages, the sliders will begin climbing up the stairs from the start, and will try to slide down the slide whether it's completed or not. This creates a time limit in which to finish the slide, and the staircase serves as a progress bar showing how much time is remaining.
Game Flow
The game currently plays in three levels, each with three rounds.
This is now exposed via XML, so it can be easily customized.
Each level can be introduced with a message, and can have a distinct set of tiles, power-ups, background, etc.
As it stands currently:
Level 1 - sliders do not climb stairs on their own (there is no time limit). There are very few power-ups and only one obstacle in each round. Only score power-ups appear.
Level 2 - sliders climb on their own. All three power-up types can appear. There are more obstacles and power-ups.
Level 3 - sliders climb on their own. There are many obstacles and power-ups.
If you beat all 3 levels, you will be shown a victory screen and have an opportunity to submit a high score if you are logged-in.
Scoring
You are scored based on the enjoyment the sliders have on their way down the slide. Each tile that a slider crosses earns you points.
More curvy tiles are both more fun, and trickier to build with, so they are worth more points:
straight: 10
corner: 25
s-curve: 50
u-turn: 75
question-mark: 100
You take a 500 point penalty when a slider falls off of a slide.
Lives
Every time a slider falls off of a slide, you lose a life - that slider's face becomes unhappy. That slider will not join in riding the next slide until you cheer him or her up, by gaining a life. If at any time all five sliders are unhappy, the game ends.
You can gain an extra life by touching the slide to a Life power-up, or by attaining a score of 5000, 10000, 15000, etc. When you gain a life, one slider immediately re-joins the group and will begin climbing the stairs or sliding down the slide, so you can score points for the new slider immediately, even if the slide is already finished.
If you already have five lives when you gain a new one, the new life is converted to 1000 bonus points in your score.
Power-ups
Score, Time, and Life power-ups appear randomly in the playing field.
Build the slide out to touch a power-up in order to collect it. Score power-ups give you points. Time power-ups force the sliders to wait a few seconds before continuing to climb or slide. Life power-ups restore a lost life. After collecting a power-up, you can remove the tile that collected it and build the slide in a different direction, without losing the power-up.
Have fun!