Purble Place
Purble Place |
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Developer: Oberon Games This game has unused graphics. This game has a prototype article This game has a notes page |
Purble Place is one of the new games (or, rather, a collection of games) included with Windows Vista and 7. The collection is intended for very young children and it shows.
To do:
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Contents
Sub-Pages
Prototype Info |
Notes |
Media Center Purble Place A full-screen version of the game embedded into the game's executable that can be launched from Windows Media Center. |
Unused Sounds They didn't even bother deleting sounds from the prototypes! |
Debug Menus
As with most other games shipped with Vista and 7, it has an internal g_debugEnabled variable. However, the debug menus aren't seen until entering one of the mini-games.
Purble Shop
The only part of the menu that appears to work is "Toggle Curtain", allowing the player to see behind the curtain. The rest appear to have been for the figure the player has to guess for, but they don't appear to be functional. The options consist of trying to pick the graphics currently available.
Comfy Cakes
The only option that appears to work is "Win Game", which does indeed let the player win. "Reload Variables" doesn't appear to do anything on the surface, while "Time Attack Mode" would have toggled the automatically sliding conveyor belt mechanic.
Purble Pairs
This menu is comparatively intact, with almost all of the options working. The options included in this menu are:
- Sneak Peak - Lets the player look at all the tiles, but only if none of them are flipped.
- Force Win - As you'd expect, the player automatically wins the game.
- Mixer - Mimics the sundae dessert "power-down"; the tiles are moved all across the playfield.
- Force Lose - Automatically makes the player lose in timed games. Does not work on untimed games.
- Time - Doesn't work. Possibly would have controlled the timer.
Revisional Differences
To do: Are there more to find? |
The Windows Vista version has the main menu's logo and the loading screen written in Comic Sans MS. In Windows 7 (starting from build 6931), it is now in Segoe UI.
Windows Vista | Windows 7 |
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Early Minigame Titles
Internally, Purble Pairs and Purble Shop are called "Concentration" and "BuildAPurble" respectively.
XInput Support
An interesting feature that isn't documented anywhere (Help Menu-wise) is XInput (gamepad) support - if the game detects an Xbox 360 controller plugged into a USB port, the P1 corner on the controller will light up, signifying the controller can be used. Possibly undocumented because Oberon Media thought people were too used to the traditional controls, and little kids wouldn't be using a controller.
It's a neat little feature, nonetheless.
Controls
Button | Effect |
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Left analog stick/D-Pad/Shoulder Buttons/Triggers | Moves the cursor. Oddly, they can also be used to navigate the menu bar. |
B/Back | Varies. |
A/X | Selects whatever the cursor is on. |
Y/Start | Opens the Game Menu. |
Unused Graphics
ui/buildapurble
features/icons
Alongside the icons for the used Purble Shop eyes exist these icons of the early versions of the Red/Pink eyes. These eyes were used in prototype builds pre-Windows Vista Build 5308.
features
Inside the parent directory where the aforementioned Red Eye icons are buried contains these Green Mouth and Yellow Nose graphics. GreenMouthX2.png, however, is never seen in any of the available prototypes, and has been inside the game's files since the Windows Vista Build 5219 prototype.
shelffeatures
The shelffeattures directory contains a shelf graphic for one of the Green Hair features seen in early prototypes.
Comfy Cakes
Within the sheets for Comfy Cakes contains an early version of the filling machine, which was seen in the Build 5219 prototype.
Compared to the one used in the final build, this version notably features a less-detailed appearance.
Unused Dialogs
Leftover Texture Pack Dialog
The other Windows Vista games allow the player to choose a texture pack, but since Purble Place doesn't use texture packs, this dialog goes unused.
CONTROL "OK", 1, BUTTON, BS_DEFPUSHBUTTON | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP | WS_TABSTOP, 236, 278, 72, 14 CONTROL "Cancel", 2, BUTTON, BS_PUSHBUTTON | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_TABSTOP, 310, 278, 72, 14 CONTROL "Select Card Deck", 5002, STATIC, SS_LEFT | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 7, 7, 234, 8 CONTROL "", 5000, "SysListView32", LVS_ICON | LVS_SINGLESEL | LVS_SHOWSELALWAYS | LVS_SHAREIMAGELISTS | LVS_ALIGNLEFT | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_BORDER | WS_GROUP | WS_TABSTOP, 7, 17, 380, 108 CONTROL "Select Background", 5003, STATIC, SS_LEFT | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP, 7, 135, 234, 8 CONTROL "", 5001, "SysListView32", LVS_ICON | LVS_SINGLESEL | LVS_SHOWSELALWAYS | LVS_SHAREIMAGELISTS | LVS_ALIGNLEFT | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_BORDER | WS_GROUP | WS_TABSTOP, 7, 145, 380, 101 CONTROL "&Randomly choose deck and background", 5004, BUTTON, BS_AUTOCHECKBOX | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_GROUP | WS_TABSTOP, 7, 253, 233, 10
Media Center Purble Place dialogs
purbleplace.exe.mui contains dedicated dialogs, tips, scripts, etc., but there's also unused fullscreen dialog boxes of these.
Unused Tips
Comfy Cakes
Ingredient-on-top-of-Ingredient Tips
In the final build, you are able to place a decoration on top of a decoration, replacing it. The same applies for batter, and thus, leaves both of these tips unused.
<Message>|42768|CCTips|Oops, you can't correct batter. You're allowed some mistakes, work on the other cakes on your line. // When you try to put batter on a batter already there.</Message>
<Message>|57636|CCTips|There's already a decoration there! // When you put a decoration on top of another decoration.</Message>
Game Over Tip
This tip would have appeared when you "clog" the production line. It is unknown how you would do so.
<Tip> <Id>GameLoseLineClog</Id> <Title>|54450|CCTips|Lost Game//Tip title</Title> <MinWidth>350</MinWidth> <Message>|58004|CCTips|You've clogged the production line. Too bad! I'm sure you can do better next time. // When you clog the line and lose.</Message> <Type>Intro</Type> <Duration>10</Duration> </Tip>
Rotating Cake Requirement
These tips relate to the rotate cake mechanic, which for unknown reasons was cut after the Build 5219 prototype.
<Tip> <Id>ContextualPreDecorationTurn</Id> <Title>|65202|CCTips|Cake Incorrect//Tip title</Title> <MinWidth>350</MinWidth> <Message>|61750|CCTips|You may have to turn the cake before putting on a decoration in order to get it in the right spot. Use the turn arrows. // When you have a decoration of the wrong orientation.</Message> <Type>Intro</Type> </Tip> <Tip> <Id>ContextualPostDecorationTurn</Id> <Title>|65202|CCTips|Cake Incorrect//Tip title</Title> <MinWidth>350</MinWidth> <Message>|61700|CCTips|You may have to turn the cake after putting on a decoration in order to get it in the right spot. Use the turn arrows. // When you have a decoration of the wrong orientation.</Message> <Type>Intro</Type> </Tip>
Purble Pairs
Blank Card Flipping
This tip would have displayed when trying to select an already-matched tile. You cannot do that in the final game, so this tip goes unseen.
<Tip> <Id>BlankCard</Id> <Title>|64710|TIPS|Matched Tile// Tip title</Title> <Message>|65388|CON_Tip_GamePlay|This tile has already been matched. Clear the entire board to win.</Message> <MinWidth>175</MinWidth> <Type>Error</Type> <NoTimeout>false</NoTimeout> <Duration>10</Duration> </Tip>
Obscured Sprites
Full head of Professor's head, without any face.
A full faceless head of Chef Purble.
Undocumented Comfy Cakes Keyboard Binds
Interestingly, there are undocumented Comfy Cakes keyboard binds for moving the cake. W is for backwards movement, and E is for forwards movement.
Unused Purble Pairs Cards
UI/CONCENTRATION/CARDS/CARDS.XML contains a bunch of unused card entries. The entire file could be unused since the files that are referenced by most of the entries do not exist.
Purble Shop
Entries for cards that likely relate to prototype versions of Purble Shop.
<Card> <id>1</id> <type>0</type> <chefitem>0</chefitem> <path>UI\Concentration\Cards\EggPurbleHead.xml</path> <internalName>EggPurbleHead</internalName> </Card>
<Card> <id>24</id> <type>4</type> <chefitem>0</chefitem> <path>UI\Concentration\Cards\LumpyPurbleHead.xml</path> <internalName>LumpyPurbleHead</internalName> </Card>
<Card> <id>25</id> <type>4</type> <chefitem>0</chefitem> <path>UI\Concentration\Cards\RoundPurbleHead.xml</path> <internalName>RoundPurbleHead</internalName> </Card>
<Card> <id>27</id> <type>4</type> <chefitem>0</chefitem> <path>UI\Concentration\Cards\PearPurbleHead.xml</path> <internalName>PearPurbleHead</internalName> </Card>
<Card> <id>14</id> <type>0</type> <chefitem>0</chefitem> <path>UI\Concentration\Cards\PurpleHat.xml</path> <internalName>PurpleHat</internalName>
<Card> <id>16</id> <type>0</type> <chefitem>0</chefitem> <path>UI\Concentration\Cards\RedBowTie.xml</path> <internalName>RedBowTie</internalName> </Card>
Comfy Cakes
Entries for unseen Comfy Cakes cards. What the Sad Chef card does, is unknown.
<Card> <id>19</id> <type>0</type> <chefitem>0</chefitem> <path>UI\Concentration\Cards\Trash.xml</path> <internalName>Trash</internalName> </Card>
<Card> <id>20</id> <type>0</type> <chefitem>0</chefitem> <path>UI\Concentration\Cards\TV.xml</path> <internalName>TV</internalName> </Card>
<Card> <id>36</id> <type>2</type> <chefitem>0</chefitem> <path>UI\Concentration\Cards\SadChef.xml</path> <internalName>SadChef</internalName> </Card>
Oddities
Filling Internal Name Oddities
The files for the filling ingredients have several name oddities.
- The mint and raspberry filling files in the UI/ComfyCakes/Layers are named "raspberry" and "fudge" respectively.
- There are animation scripts in UI/ComfyCakes/Machines named FILLINGMACHINECHOCOLATEBASEANIM.xml, FILLINGMACHINELEMONBASEANIM.XML, and FILLINGMACHINESTRAWBERRYBASEANIM.XML.
- A button for a lemon filling can be seen on the reflection in the background of Comfy Cakes in the Build 5219 prototype.
Purble Shop Icon Oddity
The Purble Shop seen in the menu has a oddity; the window which has Purble on it smiling uses early versions of Purbles seen in some prototypes.
Unused Sad Chef Constant
To do: Are there functions of the Sad Chef card? |
UI\Concentration\ConcentrationGame.xml has an entry named "MatchPointsSadChef" which is set to 10 like the other match points entries.
Introduced in Windows 1.0 | Reversi (1985) |
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Introduced in Windows 3.x | Hearts (1993) (Prototypes) • Minesweeper (1990) (Prototypes) • Solitaire (1990) (Prototypes) |
Introduced in Windows 95 | FreeCell (1991) • Hover! (1995) (Prototypes) |
Introduced in Windows 2000 | 3D Pinball: Space Cadet (Prototypes) • Spider Solitaire (1998) (Prototype) |
Introduced in Windows XP | InkBall |
Introduced in Windows Vista | Chess Titans • FreeCell (2007) • Hearts (2007) • Minesweeper (2007) • Purble Place (Prototypes) • Solitaire (2007) • Spider Solitaire (2007) |
Introduced in Windows 8 Developer Preview | 5 in a Row • Labyrinth • Treehouse Stampede! • Zero Gravity |
Introduced in Windows 10 | Microsoft Solitaire Collection |
Other | GeoSafari for Bob |
See also | |
Microsoft Entertainment Pack |
- Pages missing developer references
- Games developed by Oberon Games
- Pages missing publisher references
- Games published by Microsoft
- Windows games
- Pages missing date references
- Games released in 2007
- Games released in January
- Games released on January 30
- Games with unused graphics
- Games with unused sounds
- Games with unused text
- Games with debugging functions
- Games with hidden bonus content
- To do
- Bundled Windows Games
Cleanup > Pages missing date references
Cleanup > Pages missing developer references
Cleanup > Pages missing publisher references
Cleanup > To do
Games > Games by content > Games with debugging functions
Games > Games by content > Games with hidden bonus content
Games > Games by content > Games with unused graphics
Games > Games by content > Games with unused sounds
Games > Games by content > Games with unused text
Games > Games by developer > Games developed by Oberon Media > Games developed by Oberon Games
Games > Games by platform > Windows games
Games > Games by publisher > Games published by Microsoft
Games > Games by release date > Games released in 2007
Games > Games by release date > Games released in January
Games > Games by release date > Games released in January > Games released on January 30
Games > Games by series > Bundled Windows Games