A Charming Guide to Piper Panic

General Information

Control Cobralls around a carpet of baskets to collect jewels and coins for Jub Zambra! Don't be afraid if this game looks daunting at first. In fact, the game is extremely easy once you familiarize yourself with the levels! With just a little bit of practice, you'll walk away with a shiny trophy in no time.

How to Play

In this game, you have two options of moving the Cobralls: using the mouse or the arrow keys. You may either click with a mouse on the route you wish the Cobralls to take, or simply press the arrow keys in the direction of the route you wish to take. I highly recommended that you use the arrow keys, as they are faster, as well as being more fail-proof than a mouse.

Gameplay

Your object in this game is to hit each of the baskets exactly once without going off the carpet's edge. Once you hit a basket, it will disappear. You start out with three lives, and you will lose a life each time you fly off the carpet.

As you will notice, there are two kinds of baskets! Starred ones, and normal ones. The starred baskets, if collected last, will give you bonus points at the end of the game. The amount of bonus points correlates to the level you are on. The amount of potential points you will get for hitting star baskets consecutively can be calculated with the following formula: points = 5l * n, where l is the level you are currently on, and n, the number of baskets you hit consecutively to finish the level. As you can see, you have the potential to accumulate vast amounts of points if you smash into star baskets to finish the level!

As you play through the game, there are other pieces that will appear on the carpet.

Red Gems: These will be spread out through the game. As you progress through the game, more and more gems will appear. Each gem is worth the number of points of its corresponding level. For example, a gem on level 5 would yield 5 points, while a gem on level 9 would yield 9 points each.

In addition, there are three kinds of red gems: non-moving non-transparent, moving non-transparent, and non-moving, transparent. The first kind, the non-moving non-transparent red gems are, as the name implies, not moving! If these are in your path, you will automatically collect them. The second kind, moving non-transparent are, though not transparent, constantly moving so you may miss them if you are too fast or slow. Lastly, the third kind, non-moving transparent gems, will fade in and out with time. You will only collect the gem if it is a solid color as you pass through it; if not, then you simply breeze past the gem.

Ankh: There will be one Ankh that appears each time you open the game. The ankh grants you one extra life! It appears on level 5, and is absolutely crucial if you want to reach a trophy spot.

Scarabs: These green scarabs will increase your time by five seconds, which will ultimately result in a higher score at the end of the round.

Headdresses: These will appear throughout the game, and will increase your multiplier every time you collect one. Note that the max multiplier you can have is 4; after that, your multiplier will go back down to 1. Multipliers will increase your score at the end of each round.

Tips and Tricks!

Think levels through! Don’t just go with the first route you see; look around if there are any better routes. Remember, hitting star baskets last will increase your score significantly!

Don’t move too fast! Make sure your Cobrall is on the next basket before moving the Cobrall again. If you try to move it too fast, it can be very easy to mess up and accidentally move it in the wrong direction!

If you find a path to complete the level that works very well for you, feel free to write it down (I actually recommend you do so)! That way, you can always refer to that level again if needed. Each level is always the same; however, every time you play the game, the level might be rotated into a different view. Furthermore, while the board might be rotated, the gems, specifically the moving ones, are not rotated. Thus, in some rotated versions of the board, you will not be able to collect certain gems.

Concentrate! As a beginning, it is imperative that you concentrate while playing. Doing so will allow you to find paths faster, and ultimately finish the level with more time remaining.

Although it is important to finish levels as quickly as possible, it is also absolutely imperative that you collect as many gems as you can without wasting too much time. I recommend that up until level 8, you should collect gems if you can get to them by wasting one second or less. You should not wait for gems in the later levels, as time becomes a much more important factor on your score.

In an ideal game, you would want to start level 10 with four lives. That gives you four spare lives to collect gems and baskets WITHOUT finishing the game. These lives will give you quite a big point boost depending on how you use them. You should collect all but one basket, and then purposefully lose a life, so you can earn more points (very similar to the game of Meepit vs. Feepit)!

...and that's it! That's how you score well in Piper Panic. As I have mentioned earlier in this guide, this game might seem very hard at first. But with some practice and determination, you will definitely excel at this game in no time. Best of luck snagging that shiny trophy! ;)