Xmas Bonus V1.03 Released

[Grey Alien]

F.A.O. Buyers of Xmas Bonus, and those who haven't tried it yet ...

Have released a new version which is easier on the first few levels, so if you found it hard before, have another go. This version also stores which level you got to, and your score, then lets you resume next time you play. Hoping these things will boost the conversion rate even more. Pros keep tweaking, amateurs give up.

http://cloverleafgames.com/game.php?id=1025 (Now rated 5 stars)

FREE 8 level Demo (~5Mb). Full version with 25% discount is only $14.95 or £8.99! Go on ... treat yourself.

http://www.jbcomputersolutions.com/misc/screenshot1small.jpg
http://www.jbcomputersolutions.com/misc/screenshot3small.jpg

V1.03 changes:

- Made first 8 levels have more lenient time limits and paint pot/brush bonus to make completing them easier.
- When you click Start Game you will now be asked if you want to resume your last game.
- Changed Exit to Menu to read Save and Exit because the player's progress is now saved.
- Pop-up leaf dialogs will no longer reappear if you exit and restart the game.
- Fixed black outline problem on yellow font X,Y,Z chars.

Anyway it's doing good. Loads of downloads from Cloverleaf and tons from Reflexive. Will be on Big Fish Games soon ... these portals have a bit of a queue you see.

GreyAlienGames.com has run out of bandwidth and my supplier is away for 4 days, how naff is that!

Also if any of you have games nearing completing and want a really cool, understanding, helpful publisher go to http://www.Indiepath.com (cloverleaf games)

[Leper]

Congrats Grey!! :) I'm glad that you are getting your game on more portals! I see that you are making adjustments and they appear to be wise ones. I will download the latest version when I get home. ;)

[Grey Alien]

Matt: enyoy! I listened to feedback and made it easier plus save/resume is always a nice option so I added it.

[redito]

I already bought the old version of the game. Is there a way to update to the newer version? Do I just download the demo and then put my licence key/password in again?

Glad to hear about the save game feature. It's something I really appreciate in all the games I play. But what if someone else wants to play their own game? Can I save more than one game at a time or is there a way I can have 2 copies of the game loaded to let at least one other person in my household play their own game?

Also, making the earlier levels easier is great too. Other members of my family found it hard to get started and this should help.

Have you considered a bonus that adds time? Maybe a clock that adds 5 seconds to your candle?

I'm up to level 60 something so I hope once I get to 100 you'll have a bunch more new levels for me to try. (hint, hint)

[Grey Alien]

Redito: Really nice to hear from you, level 60 is good going! If you bought the game from cloverleafgames, simply download the "demo" again and install it over your current game. You won't need to renter keys or anything it will simply work and will be an upgraded "full" version and should let you carry on from level 60.

Although the code is in place for multiple profiles, the interface isn't so there is only one profile. However, if you want to get a tiny bit techie try this: Go into the data\profiles folder and rename Guest.dat as Redito.dat and rerun the game, the other person can then play their own game as a new Guest file will be made for them. When you want to play your game, pop into the profiles folder and rename their guest.dat file as whatever.dat and rename your redito.dat back to guest.dat. Make sense? It will only take you 20 seconds. Drop me an email if you need help.

Regarding more time, yeah I thought of the clock power up but simply didn't have enough time to implement it (*I* needed a clock powerup too ;-)), expect to see it in future games or a level pack.

[redito]

Thanks, the download worked great.

I do like the new title screen much better than the old grey box. Much cooler.

But I'm not crazy about the new font for the level and score during the game. They look fuzzier to me now. And was there always a level title at the bottom of each round? I'm up to Mushroom and I don't remember seeing a title before this.

I also think the candle is a little better. I still say an audible warning at 10 secs would be nice but since you haven't figured out how to warp time to produce your own personal clock powerup, I'll let it slide this time. ;)

I'm looking forward to more levels and maybe even a few really hard ones with loads of squares.

[Leper]

Finished the Demo. Got to level 8 or so, and I had no lag issues at all! It ran very smooth, I wonder if you changed anything? Because the 1.0 version lags on my comp.

I enjoyed the game for what it was.. I'm not much of a Match-3 Fan, but I do see the quality in the game and I love xmas! :)

Was thinking maybe you could have a special swap feature that lets you swap two guys no matter where they are (even if frozen)

Also, the bonuses you get are lots of fun but at first I didnt know they were bonuses and ignored them lol. Maybe you could have them glow on their first appearance, something that gets the players attention.

Above all, its well worth the price for any puzzle fan!

[Grey Alien]

Wow thanks guys for the feedback, always worthwhile.

Redito: The level name was added in v1.02. the font is different and anti-aliased so maybe looks more fuzzy, sorry, I thought it was an improvement. Perhaps it's the colours. Candles IS better and audible warning would be great but if I do anymore coding in the next couple of weeks, my partner will kill me, sorry! Some levels get really tough towards the end, but not impossible, I completed them all myself (some needed tweaking) and thus they passed my test.

Matt: Glad you liked it. This lag thing is weird as I have made no changes at all to the core code, but perhaps the wrapper has changed, that may have been it (unless you were running something heavy in the background!), really pleased it runs OK now though! Funny as you were positive at first, then posted that blog on Blitzbasic, which, along with other input, made me make the first 8 levels easier, and now you are positive again! Ironicly, this may all help my sales! I know it is a clone but aside from improving the graphics I really think I have the interface and gameplay really smoothly done, I hope you agree. The swap any two was originally how it was coded, but of course I had to add in the rule of only valid matches allowed. An idea I had was to have a bonus item that allows any matches for 30 seconds or so. Wait for future games or upgrade... The instructions tell you about the bonuses but I guess you don't read them ;-) I could have pop-ups explaining but lots of people dislike pop-ups. A glow is a good idea, I had noted to change the background colour to red or something, but it's all extra code time. Thanks anyway :-) Enjoy! I shouldn't tell you this but if you download the demo from Reflexive, you'll get another 60 minutes free demo, but I expect a sale after that ;-)

[Leper]

Yeah I dont read instructions naturally, I take the hands on approach and just dive right in and start playing around :) If you add subtle "hints" (glowing, sounds, etc) that usually is enough "cue" to get me to comprehend the game without even reading instructions. Since I'm not the only one who skips the instructions, this could boost your sales.

It would look very sharp if you added a thin, light blue/cyan particle glow effect around the sprites (instead of the squares) that pulsed in brightness with the beat of the music. Or not with the beat :) Or you could add a little sparkle flash when they first appear. Lots of neat things you could do that would be delightful to the eyes instead of just a red backround for specials. Probably too much code though but it would be rather nifty.

[Grey Alien]

Yeah thanks Matt, the glow seems a good idea (pulseing in beat with music could be hard but general pusling is doable!). If I'm allowed by the missues, I'll look into this. After all the main point of the game is the bonuses (which the blog guy missed!) . You sent me a private message about hijacking a thread, but my browser IE blocked it and I couldn't get it back again, was it about this post?

[Leper]

No I wanted to tell you something but I dont want to make it public because I dont want to hijack your thread :) You should be able to still read it because it's in your Private Messages (http://forums.indiegamer.com/private.php) panel.

[Grey Alien]

Thanks, I never knew about that feature and have replied. I'll let you into a little secret, some of the shape graphics were bought in "very cheap" as vector graphics and edited in Corel Draw and then exported and others were made by me in the same style, can you tell which are which? (probably not). I emailed the original artist and she was thrilled.