[ANN] Cindy's Sundaes Released!

[chanon]

Viqua Games (http://www.viquagames.com) has just released our third game "Cindy's Sundaes (http://www.viquagames.com/games/cindyssundaes/)".

Cindy's Sundaes is our second independent effort after "Tommy and the Magical Words (http://www.viquagames.com/games/tommy/)" which was a 2006 IGF finalist in visual arts. It is our third game after "SandScript (http://www.playfirst.com/game/sandscript)" which we did with PlayFirst.

The coolest (pun intended) part of Cindy's Sundaes is that players can customize their experience by designing their own sundaes. The game includes a sundae designer with lots of ice cream flavors and toppings to choose from. Players can even send their sundaes as e-cards to friends. I made one as an example for you guys here (http://www.viquagames.com/games/cindyssundaes/ecards/viewEcard.php?card=21453653246c5c2bb23a709.5522540 9Q2hhbm8=.jpg)!

If anyone tries it and has suggestions on improving the game, let me know! We have some time before it goes on to portals.

Also I'd be curious to see any sundaes you make in the game :)

You can view the game's trailer at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i_ZDD5r6C4

Screenshot links:
http://www.viquagames.com/screenshots/cindyssundaes/cindys1.jpg
http://www.viquagames.com/screenshots/cindyssundaes/cindys5.jpg

Game info link:
http://www.viquagames.com/games/cindyssundaes/

Download link:
http://www.viquagames.com/games/cindyssundaes/download/

Thanks!

[lakibuk]

I don't want to download, looks too casual for my personal taste.
Is it some kind of match-3 game? Hard to tell from the youtube video.
The sundae creating looks cool though.

[John Cutter]

I haven't tried the actual game yet, but the concept is awesome for the casual market. (I like the art, too!) Plus, the whole e-card thing is very clever.

Well done!

Damn... now I want a Sundae. (Which is, of course, exactly what you want your audience to say.)

[chanon]

Well done!


Thanks!


Is it some kind of match-3 game?

Yes, it is :)

[Nikos Beck]

Overall, a good game.

There are two things that I wasn't a fan of.

Everything on the screen is bright and colourful which means the buttons blend in very well to the background. The menu buttons are fine, it's more the in-game buttons that didn't stand out. In the map screen the store was brightly highlighted and the cone was floating but neither were clickable. If they're moving around and look different I should be able to use those to get into the game. It might be that the buttons on the bottom of the screen should be set off the background with a thick, dark border or a glowing border so that they stand out.

The in-game goal is a little bit of a disconnect. My goal is a single scoop of vanilla so I slide to match vanilla and I'm not done. I have to match about a dozen different scoops to sell vanilla. And then when I finished it showed me a chocolate cone. I understand the need to ramp up the difficulty. It just seems a little weird that my goal is vanilla but matching vanilla won't solve the problem. One solution would be to not have vanilla on the board. Maybe the board starts with no vanilla so I need to match chocolate and mint to fill the meter. If, at some point, vanilla is matched, it's an instant win for the level. Later when there are three flavours, I can quickly match one, then have to keep matching for the others since they're not on the board.

Again, it was a good game overall.

The art style was good. The theme was great. I wish I had thought of it. It seems to ramp up the difficulty nicely. One hour wasn't enough. I could have kept going.