[ANN] Bizzy's Spelling Bee released

[Desktop Gaming]

Site is up and running also. Took a while as I had to learn HTML, PHP and MySQL. :confused:

More info, demo and screenshots here (http://www.desktopgaming.net/product.php?id=101).

[edit] For anyone who happened to download the borked version, please download again! Its been updated at 08:45GMT.

[gearface]

Didn't download because I'm at work, but from the screenshots it looks well polished. Good job! :)

- Jeremiah

[redito]

I tried to play it but when I went into the My Profile section (something like that) it locked up. I had first changed my options to turn the music off as I do with all games. Then I went into the next thing up on the menu which turned out to list games played, etc. And I couldn't get out no matter what I did.

Also, in my options I tried to turn Profanities on but couldn't. What determines who can or can't do this? Is there a parental control somewhere I couldn't find?

Anyway, I haven't tried the game again because usually if something locks up on me once I'm kind of done with it. And a lot of casual gamers will be too.

Anyway, isn't there a Beezly's Buzzwords game out there that looks a lot like this one?

I may try it again another day when I have more time.

[Desktop Gaming]

Gah. I updated the demo a few days ago cos of this!

I've got demos on four or five different servers. I'll rebuild the demo and re-upload to them all to be sure.

[Desktop Gaming]

OK, the correct version of the demo is now there.

Re: your comment about profanities etc; I've also added a note about the demo version in the options screen, as a couple of options are disabled in the demo.

You shouldn't even have been able to get into the 'My Profile' screen - the button should be disabled for the demo! Game statistics are not stored in the demo, so the page would be largely pointless (you can also password-protect your profile in there, too). ;)

Anyhoo, sorry for wasting your time with the last demo. Please give the correct one a go!

[redito]

The new demo worked much better. Thanks!

It's a nice looking game and I didn't run into any bugs with the new demo.

As for the game play - I played 2 rounds of 15 mins each. BTW, I didn't like the demo stopping like that. Is there a limit to how many 15 minute games you can play?

I didn't really find anything new in the game. I thought the sounds were good. Very clear and clearly let the player know when they had a good word or not.

But there was no real reward for making larger words. I could do just as well making 3 letter words quickly as I could taking my time and making larger ones. There is a bomb but it takes over a minute and a half to explode. I wondered why the long wait. And is it a bad bomb? Does it block off a portion of the board or does it just clear old letters?

Why do some bricks just sit there and can't be used? Are they frozen? Can I clear them somehow? I understood the stone blocks fine but not these others.

There didn't seem to be any end either. I played 15 mins without really any reward. I went from round to round but with no end in sight there wasn't any real point. And the game didn't get harder as I went along. Or at least it didn't seem to.

Unfortunately, there are loads of word games out there competing for the same market as this game. I have just recently trialled a whole bunch of them to try and find a good game for a friend. Honestly, most of them just pass in one brain cell and out the other. Only 2 or 3 out of dozens actually made an impression on me. I'm sorry to say that, for me, your is one of the ones I would soon forget.

That said, there is a really good base here. The graphics and in-game sounds are good (at least the ones I heard). But the game needs excitement. It needs clearly defined goals and rewards. It needs to have a sense of urgency and the feeling that you are headed for something. It should get harder as the game progresses.

One other thing. From the hints I didn't understand the purpose of "marking" certain letters. I didn't try it since I wasn't sure what it was for.

Sorry if this isn't the feedback you were looking for. And it's all just my opinion. I could be seriously full of crap! ;)

[adamqkane]

Overall, it looks very polished.

Suggestions:

I think the main thing you need to work on is better support for the newbie player. Someone who has no idea of what the controls are.

Instructions: in addition to the text that explains what you're supposed to do, it'd be nice to see an animation demonstrating what you're supposed to do. With a game like this, I think it'll be a barrier for some folks if they have to think too hard about how to play.

Submit Button: Once I completed a word, I didn't know how to "submit" it. For example, I click "R", "U", "N", but then what is the user supposed to do?

Right-Click: I discovered, by experimentation, that right-clicking deselects a selection. This should be stated somewhere.

Newb Auto-Detect: If a user hasn't successfully submitted their first word after X minutes, and Game Hints are on, start really helping them out in regards to what they need to do next.

[Desktop Gaming]

Thanks for the reply. :) Will try to answer a few Q's.



As for the game play - I played 2 rounds of 15 mins each. BTW, I didn't like the demo stopping like that. Is there a limit to how many 15 minute games you can play?There's no limit to how many games you can play. The limitation is how far you can progress within the time limit. The difficulty curve is also a little steeper in the demo than it is in the full version.

I didn't really find anything new in the game.Yeah, but I can live with that. I've noticed a lot of word games released over the last year or so, and its taken me longer than that to write it. Maybe if I'd done it quicker... :)

But there was no real reward for making larger words. I could do just as well making 3 letter words quickly as I could taking my time and making larger ones.You can at first. As you progress further through the game, it becomes less 'tolerant' to sequences of three-letter words and will throw more penalties at you.

There is a bomb but it takes over a minute and a half to explode. I wondered why the long wait. And is it a bad bomb? Does it block off a portion of the board or does it just clear old letters?Yes its a bad bomb. Are there ever good ones? ;)

There's quite a long delay on the bombs at first. This becomes rapidly shorter on later levels, down to about 20 seconds. When they explode they destroy all the tiles around them, which can be a hinderance if you've spent ages trying to build up a long word.

Why do some bricks just sit there and can't be used? Are they frozen? Can I clear them somehow? I understood the stone blocks fine but not these others.Yeah, they're locked. They can be unlocked by using the same letter anywhere else on the board. There is a game hint that appears on screen the first time a locked tile appears - I guess you missed it. I'll add something to draw the player's attention in future updates.

There didn't seem to be any end either.The only thing thats going to end the game in the demo, is the rocks. They don't appear to probably around level five, tho. I might tweak the difficulty curve a little to cover this.

One other thing. From the hints I didn't understand the purpose of "marking" certain letters. I didn't try it since I wasn't sure what it was for.Some of the testers suggested this. It really comes into a lot of use on later levels when you're making longer words. If you have most of the letters in place for a long word, you can mark them so you don't accidentally use them, or if a bomb appears next to one you instantly know you need to do something about it.

Sorry if this isn't the feedback you were looking for.Its constructive, so fair play. ;) A lot more useful than "meh, its like beeslies buzzwords".

[Desktop Gaming]

Sorry Adam - didn't see your post.


Instructions: in addition to the text that explains what you're supposed to do, it'd be nice to see an animation demonstrating what you're supposed to do. With a game like this, I think it'll be a barrier for some folks if they have to think too hard about how to play.Some tips do, but these don't extend much beyond demonstrating which mouse buttons to press.
Submit Button: Once I completed a word, I didn't know how to "submit" it. For example, I click "R", "U", "N", but then what is the user supposed to do?The very first game hint you get at the start explains this....
Right-Click: I discovered, by experimentation, that right-clicking deselects a selection. This should be stated somewhere.....and I *think*that's hint number 2. :)

Newb Auto-Detect: If a user hasn't successfully submitted their first word after X minutes, and Game Hints are on, start really helping them out in regards to what they need to do next.Nice idea - I'll stick that in a future update.