Tidalis:Getting Started

First Run

The first time you launch Tidalis, it will ask you a few questions to go ahead and get the basics set up the way you want:

Step 1: Screen Resolution

The very first time you run Tidalis, it will ask you if the screen looks okay, or if you want to change the screen resolution to a windowed mode or a different size.

Choosing A Screen Resolution

If the graphics look stretched or pinched, most likely the game is running at a resolution that is too wide or narrow for your monitor. Simply try selecting other screen resolutions until you see one that looks large enough to suit your tastes, while not looking stretched or pinched. It's very fast to try new ones.

Fullscreen or Windowed?

Most people prefer to play games in fullscreen mode, because then they can see only the game, and the game fills the entire screen. However, if you also like to use chat programs while playing games, or want to be able to check your email or web pages or similar while playing, you might prefer windowed mode.

You can set your preferred window mode on this initial screen, or later by clicking into the Settings screen, or at any time later by using the Fullscreen Toggle button that shows up at the very top right corner of the screen most of the time during gameplay and on the main menu, etc.

Special Note For Mac OSX

Tidalis runs on the Unity 3D game engine, which is a wonderful engine and in fact started out on the Mac before becoming wildly more cross-platform. Unfortunately, the latest official version of Unity 3D (2.6.1) at the time that Tidalis was initially released has a bug that prevents us from being able to set your resolution or your fullscreen/windowed status from in-game.

When future versions of Unity comes out, we'll update Tidalis to use the new version so that this problem goes away for Mac players, but in the meantime there is fortunately a pretty simple workaround, and the Screen Resolution popup in the game will tell you about this: simply hold the Option key while clicking to open the game, and you can use the default Unity 3D screen-resolution-configuration interface to set your resolution and your fullscreen status.

Step 2: License Key

If You're Playing The Trial

If you're just playing the trial version of the game, then you don't have a license key -- that's fine. Just hit "Cancel - Continue Trial" and you'll be able to continue into the trial mode of the game. Functionality is limited while in trial mode, but it should be more than enough to let you try things out and see if this is a game that you'd want to purchase for yourself or a friend or family member. Thanks for trying out our game!

If You Already Bought A License Key

If you already bought a license key, then first of all: thanks for supporting our work! We're a tiny company, and your support really means a lot. When you start the game, you'll start out in trial mode -- don't worry, this is normal. When the license key screen comes up, simply type in your license key and hit "OK - Unlock From License Key." Assuming the key was entered correctly, the trial restrictions will go away and you'll be playing the full version of Tidalis!