Grotic

Grotic is Impression89's hex-grid action-puzzle game; this catalogue entry is the PowerPC-native v3.2 build distributed through Info-Mac as grotic-32-ppc.hqx, sibling to the 68K upload at grotic-32.hqx (node 10577). Macintosh Garden lists the title as a Puzzle Bobble lineage game with both 68k and PPC support.

Same game, native binary

The BinHex headers on the 68K and PowerPC uploads are byte-identical in the readable description: "A field of balls have to be cleaned up by various balls. You aim with the mouse and if there are more than two same balls they will disappear. You play against time and from level to level there are more various games." Only the compiled binary differs - the PPC build avoids the 680x0 emulator on PowerMacs of the era.

Hex grid, mouse aim

Macintosh Garden classifies the perspective as hexagonal grid. The mouse drives aim, chains of three or more matching balls clear from the field, and a per-level timer adds pressure. Successive levels introduce new "various games" - the readme is light on detail but implies puzzle variants beyond the base match-three rule.

v3.2 changes

From the Info-Mac upload: "better graphics and no bugs, clear scores, easier registration." A maintenance release aimed at existing registrants - the clear-scores reset wipes prior high-score tables, and the registration flow was simplified to lower friction on the shareware fee.

Provenance

Author Rene Bauer (Impression89 / Imp89), University of Zurich, rebauer@studi.unizh.ch. Homepage www.unizh.ch/~imhof/rene/. Macintosh Garden mirrors the title once at games/grotic, covering both 68K and PPC builds in one page; this catalogue node tracks the PowerPC binary specifically.