If you know Bejeweled ...

Fangbeast · Post by **Fangbeast** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 12:45 pm

Well, I have the same problem, Fangbeast Can't stop it.

Good. If i have to suffer, so do you. Seriously, I like this game, very addictive.

I wonder why nobody tells me his Highscore here. I'm currently working on the highscore-routine and think, maybe the scoring-system should get another thought, so what do you think?

Do you mean an online scoring system where the game could offer to upload it and have a ranking table? If so, sounds like a good idea.

The clues-function is a great improvement for the game in my opinion.
I plan on using it only when the player did no selection for 99 Seconds
Then the computer will look if he can give the player a clue.
Thoughts about buying a clue or something, i find not so useful.

Don't know, I haven't played with a clue system at all, too busy trying to get a high score.

Any more bugs found or thoughts/improvements from you there all over the world?

Just one idea but it could be because of my old eyes. When I play for any length of time, I start to have trouble focusing on the board because the blocks are so close together and the colours are not distinctive enough to separate them,

Would it be possible to have larger blocks with thicker borders to separate them to make it easier on the eyes or perhaps fancier blocks instead of just plain colour?

Maybe not everyone will have my problem.

Moskito · Post by **Moskito** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:02 pm

Hello Fangbeast

>>> Do you mean an online scoring system where the game could offer to
>>> upload it and have a ranking table? If so, sounds like a good idea.

No, I was thinking about the Scoring-System. 15 Points for 3 Reds Block horizontal but
only 10 Points for that if it is diagonal. The readme tells you all the scores you can
get. I was thinking about the points for all the bonuses and extras. But still I think
that it is o.k. for the moment.
But when it comes to Highscores, it would be silly to change the scoring system after
including a Highscore List. (If I find out how to make online Highscores i'll do that)

>>> Would it be possible to have larger blocks with thicker borders to separate them to
>>> make it easier on the eyes or perhaps fancier blocks instead of just plain colour?

Surely. Fancy Blocks are cosmetics and come when i find the time to do them. (Or could you?)

On my todo-list is the point: 3 different sized gamefields
The reason why the actual field is 16 x 16 is, Bejeweled only has 8 x 8 with only 7 Gems.
My Plan for 0.9 or even later is the selection of 3 difficulties.
Easy will maybe have a field 10 x 10 (tiles and border more eyefriendly)
Medium could have a field of 13 x 13 (tiles and borders a little smaller)
And Hard would be a field of 16 x 16 (where one block MUST HAVE 48 x 48 Pixels)

until then

Thomas

Moskito · Post by **Moskito** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:41 pm

Hello there

I have a little problem.
I do not really trust my Clue-function (that looks for valid moves)
On my website you can find a screenshot(bottom) with a no more moves situation.
I can't find one, too. But maybe i'm to blind or something...
Maybe one of you, who knows 99 Seconds, could have a look?
And please let me know, if you find a valid move...

until then

Thomas

Moskito · Post by **Moskito** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 5:13 am

Hello there

Version 0.7 is there. I'm sorry the Joker didn't make it until now. (Will come to Play in 0.

What's new:
-----------

03.03.09 Version 0.7
Small corrections and some improvements.
* New Clues-Function should help the Player with some Tips.
* 4 different Gamespeeds from relaxed up to hectic gameplay.
* Right Mousebutton is an alternative to the <ALT>Key from now on.
* The <M>Key switches the Background Music on and off.
* The just moved Stones will have a higher priority than the search-from-
* bottom-to-top for the Computer. Especially Horizontal and Vertical.
* The Joker will come into Play. But sorry, not until Version 0.8
* The Graphics have their own Directory from now on. The Format is BMP.
So, draw your own Tiles and mail me if you did some beautiful ones.

Some Graphics are added from Adra. Thanks alot.

http://people.freenet.de/ThWit

until then

Thomas

Demivec · Post by **Demivec** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 7:58 am

The keyboard doesn't seem to function at all. None of the keyboard functions work, not even pausing. Here's a screen shot of me getting to level 8 without any free moves or special moves being used (because the game wouldn't let me) :

How would you select alternate graphics for the tiles?

Moskito · Post by **Moskito** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 11:25 am

Hello Demivec

Strange, very strange. Here works everything fine on the machines i could test it on.
So what could be the reason none of the keys are working for you? Did the keys work
in 0.5 or 0.6 for you?
What about the Alternative, the Right Mouse Button? Did you try this already?

Fangbeast · Post by **Fangbeast** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:31 pm

Moskito, I keep playing your game and forget to sleep!!!

Demivec · Post by **Demivec** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:27 am

Moskito wrote:Hello Demivec

Strange, very strange. Here works everything fine on the machines i could test it on.
So what could be the reason none of the keys are working for you? Did the keys work
in 0.5 or 0.6 for you?
What about the Alternative, the Right Mouse Button? Did you try this already?

I am still not sure what the source of the non-working keyboard was, but it is functioning now though. The Right Mouse Button does not function, and it didn't function before either.

The game is addictive. I have two suggestions. Allow the use of either "Alt" key and implement a splash screen. The splash screen is so that the program can be Ok'ed with a firewall, otherwise if an alert is displayed you can't respond to it white the game is using a fullscreen. The game would benefit from a replay option (if a person is fortunate enough to have that much time

).

Something that needs to be corrected, one of the in-game messages says that using the Right Mouse Button is the same as pressing [Esc] .

Moskito · Post by **Moskito** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:48 am

Hello Demivec

>>> I am still not sure what the source of the non-working keyboard was, but it is
>>> functioning now though. The Right Mouse Button does not function, and it didn't
>>> function before either.
Then the chances are good, that tommorow your right mouse button will work again, i think.
If not, try this: Press the Right Mouse Button and keep it pressed until you have selected
the 2 Stones with the left mouse button. If you have 1 free/special-move, it should work.

>>> The game would benefit from a replay option (if a person is fortunate enough to have that much time ).
Yes, reminds me of the <record>function in Age of Empires II. Good idea, but what about an
undo-function that would allow you to undo your last move?
Do you think the gameplay is to long? Should it better start with 10 instead of 7 Stones?

>>> Something that needs to be corrected, one of the in-game messages says
>>> that using the Right Mouse Button is the same as pressing [Esc] .
Yes, you got me, I forgot that. Thank you.

until then

Thomas

akj · Post by **akj** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 1:37 pm

Suggestion:

When the points countdown timer is nearly exhausted (i.e. <99), permit an absolutely unlimited number of free moves (but not special moves).

This should produce a VERY hectic end game, a final burst of activity to accumulate more points.

Moskito · Post by **Moskito** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:41 pm

Nice Idea, akj

But that would not be fair, I think. There will be another goodie soon, the Joker.
I'm just adjusting his power and the abilities to get him. One of them is for example;
if you have collected 99 red blocks (or yellow,green,blue and all of the first 10 Colors)
you will get one (so 10 chances for a Joker). Also you will get him, if you get a combo
of 6 (and of 5) blocks. (any better ideas?) He will stay for 99 Seconds and the chances
are good, he will once or twice appear in the endplay.

But i will keep the Idea in my mind.

Another point is (for me) that i find, the game is running longer than I ever thought.

The starting levels are soooo easy and you get very much points for end endphase. And when
you are in Level 8, 10, 13 or whatever, there are not many matches you can find.
Some Free-Moves could give you only a few seconds more until the end.

until then

Thomas

Moskito · Post by **Moskito** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:16 pm

Hello there

Finished writing the HowToPlay today.
Version 0.8 of my little game is ready. (18 MB)

What's new:
-----------

Many small and some big Changes need about 32 MB now.
The Background Music are Tracker Modules that need less Memory
then MP3 or OGG. Version 0.8 comes with 22 Modules. ( 18 MB)
The Game Sounds need 4 x the Memory then the Versions before.
Mono 22050 Hz turned to Stereo with 44100 Hz. ( Needs 11 MB)

* The Music Volume can be changed with the Mousewheel.
* "Inti" wanted more Combinations. Now he has them.
So far ONLY ONE valid Move after the other was scored. Now
ALL valid Moves score at once. Read more about in the Manual.
* Because of that, the Gameplay has become slighty faster now.
* 2 Clues will be shown from now that can be called with <C>.
If available, the Move with the most Tokens and another, with
the best Combinations will be shown. If not, 2 normal, valid
moves will be displayed and also the amount of Moves found.
* The Joker and the Special Moves where changed slightly to
be more effective in the higher Levels.
* The Tokens have become nice little Textures. I spent Weeks
playing around with them. It's all a matter of taste but there
are so much things you can try out. Had to make a decision.

Hope you enjoy it

until then

Thomas

dsw · Post by **dsw** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:32 pm

Great game Moskito and I like the improvements over v0.7. You have obviously spent a lot of time on this.
I do have some trouble with the different pink colours (the plain pink and the textured pink) but that's probably just my age

Possibly a bug. When playing and having got some free moves and some special moves, if I use all my special moves when there are some free moves left, I am not allowed to use the remaining free moves. I hope that makes sense.

Thanks

Moskito · Post by **Moskito** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:06 pm

Hello dsw

I started a new Thread in Applications - Feedback and Discussion and
cannot delete this one, this is why I overlooked your post until now.

>> I do have some trouble with the different pink colours
>> (the plain pink and the textured pink) but that's probably just my age

I must learn to be more sensible with colors and brightness. I spent weeks
with texturing, alone a block looks good, but on the gamefield he is to bright.
There will be some changes in the next days for the blocks if I find better ones.

>> Possibly a bug. When playing and having got some free moves and some special moves,
>> if I use all my special moves when there are some free moves left, I am not allowed
>> to use the remaining free moves. I hope that makes sense.

Well, we'll see if I understand it right.
With the Special-Move you can swap 2 Blocks that are neighbours in any direction. (h/v/d)
With the Free-Move you can swap 2 Blocks that are NOT Neighbours. Left Top with bottom right
for example. In other words; the smallest distance for a Free-Move is 2 Blocks. (XXOOX)
Hope my interpretation was right.

Until then

Thomas

Btw: The latest compile (of today) for the exe can be downloaded from my Site.
Small Improvements, but maybe in the next days new Blocks could be in it, also.