tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049448606365208872024-02-19T12:55:45.556+01:00Nontrivial GamesThe best iPhone and iPad games for logic puzzles enthusiastsNicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comBlogger151125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-84322015294374417342015-12-28T19:58:00.000+01:002015-12-28T19:58:15.005+01:00The 10 Best Puzzle Apps That You Haven't Played in 2015Hello puzzlers,<br />
<br />
I haven't been updating the blog this year, but I have kept playing iOS puzzle games, and giving brief heads up on <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria">Twitter</a>. It's now time to pick the best, for the customary end-of-year top 10 list.<br />
<br />
While I must say that I felt 2015 was, for puzzle apps, a worse year than the preceding ones, there were still many excellent games released, and it was difficult picking just ten of them.<br />
<br />
<br />
#10 <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/kaodoku/id923859724?mt=8">Kaodoku</a><br />
<br />
A variation of Sudoku which is a lot more difficult and interesting. Excellent hint system, which gently points to the logic deduction needed to proceed. The puzzles are randomly generated, favoring the ones that remain interesting until the end.<br />
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<a href="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple49/v4/78/db/f0/78dbf0c9-12dc-91b3-7b8d-c51cf087c02f/screen322x572.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple49/v4/78/db/f0/78dbf0c9-12dc-91b3-7b8d-c51cf087c02f/screen322x572.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />#9 <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/patchmania-puzzle-about-bunny/id807323207?mt=8">Patchmania - A Puzzle About Bunny Revenge!</a><br />
<br />
This could very well be the final word in "path finding" puzzles, extending the mechanics in several ways and putting cute animations on top. I think it might even have too many levels, so it can get a bit repetitive after a while.<br />
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<a href="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple6/v4/5e/c7/34/5ec734fd-6d4a-c7ae-4d45-c2347304585f/screen322x572.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple6/v4/5e/c7/34/5ec734fd-6d4a-c7ae-4d45-c2347304585f/screen322x572.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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#8 <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/divide-by-sheep/id953946902?mt=8">Divide By Sheep</a><br />
<br />
I like the dark humor of this one. Don't be put off by it being pitched as a "math puzzler": the math is elementary. There's a lot of variety, because the mechanics change in many ways as you progress. Easy to play through if you don't care about earning 3 stars, but if you want to find the perfect solution to each puzzle you have a lot of thinking to do.<br />
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<a href="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple69/v4/78/23/3b/78233ba6-8cc0-7624-019f-26728601994c/screen640x640.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple69/v4/78/23/3b/78233ba6-8cc0-7624-019f-26728601994c/screen640x640.jpeg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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#7 <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/the-sequence/id1035217840">[the Sequence]</a><br />
<br />
A "visual programming" game with novel ideas and very good level design. You essentially need to put together an assembly line of different robots, then watch it run as they move items from start to finish. Unlike other games of the genre, it doesn't leave much freedom to create your own solutions, because you have a limited number of elements in each level.<br />
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<a href="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple69/v4/73/72/81/73728126-4b76-ebdb-92a5-46567ce469c0/screen322x572.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple69/v4/73/72/81/73728126-4b76-ebdb-92a5-46567ce469c0/screen322x572.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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#6 <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/good-fences/id1023517819?mt=8">Good Fences</a><br />
<br />
This game oozes mathematical depth--in a good way. The aim is to completely surround a shape with identical copies of itself, which gets complicated as the shapes become irregular and difficult to tightly pack together.<br />
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<a href="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple1/v4/15/9c/2f/159c2fb5-225e-06ad-b6c3-9aec360f75e2/screen640x640.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple1/v4/15/9c/2f/159c2fb5-225e-06ad-b6c3-9aec360f75e2/screen640x640.jpeg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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#5 <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/inch-by-inch/id995317104?mt=8">Inch By Inch</a><br />
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A rare instance of a single-tap puzzle game, where timing is essential, but isn't everything: to ensure that your worm doesn't die a violent death, you need to carefully plan your moves. At the beginning you might think that you are just timing your moves wrong, but eventually you realize that you are doing the wrong moves.<br />
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<a href="http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple5/v4/55/ce/df/55cedf48-ee43-203d-7d56-871421ca1693/screen640x640.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple5/v4/55/ce/df/55cedf48-ee43-203d-7d56-871421ca1693/screen640x640.jpeg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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#4 <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id965680122?mt=8">Manowar</a><br />
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One of the best physics puzzlers ever. While physics do play a major role, the core of the game actually requires a lot of logical thinking. In some cases you also need good dexterity and precise timing, but more often than not, the main difficulty is figuring out the right sequence of actions to do.<br />
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<a href="http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple4/v4/0f/72/16/0f7216a4-b94d-b96f-7783-86e34fe06924/screen322x572.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple4/v4/0f/72/16/0f7216a4-b94d-b96f-7783-86e34fe06924/screen322x572.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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#3 <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id955684188?mt=8">Test Chamber - Mind-bending Puzzles</a><br />
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A "block pushing" puzzle set in a mysterios "wraparound" world. Clever mechanics and doubly clever level design. with many surprising solutions. Takes a while to grasp, and is well worth it.<br />
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<a href="http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple3/v4/a4/57/ab/a457abee-e33d-d6b8-f9fe-b455e1f73dc4/screen640x640.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple3/v4/a4/57/ab/a457abee-e33d-d6b8-f9fe-b455e1f73dc4/screen640x640.jpeg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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#2 <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/a-good-snowman-is-hard-to-build/id1040930654?mt=8">A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build</a><br />
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Another "block pushing" puzzle which features some incredibly simple mechanics used in creative ways. One of the best examples of videogames as a form of art. It might seem short, but there's a hidden meta-puzzle after the end which raises everything you did previously to a different level.<br />
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<a href="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple69/v4/eb/89/6c/eb896c5b-1739-9207-2b6d-47ddff5ea317/screen640x640.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple69/v4/eb/89/6c/eb896c5b-1739-9207-2b6d-47ddff5ea317/screen640x640.jpeg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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#1 <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/tetrobot-and-co./id927950678?mt=8">Tetrobot and Co.</a><br />
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One of the largest collection of "a-ha!" moments in a puzzle game. Great mechanics, explored in lots of different directions by making all kinds of variations to the world. Large, very well designed levels. The basic solutions are reasonably approachable, but requires careful thought in order to achieve the 3 "stars". And after you've done that and think you're clever, you need to bend over backwards if you want to unlock the extra achievements.<br />
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<a href="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple1/v4/85/52/4c/85524c8b-2834-a2ce-4355-ab4f0efae64b/screen640x640.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple1/v4/85/52/4c/85524c8b-2834-a2ce-4355-ab4f0efae64b/screen640x640.jpeg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2015 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-90861265497878294532015-07-06T23:05:00.000+02:002015-07-10T20:53:49.621+02:00Strategy guide for SubaraCity, or how to achieve a score above 200 million!<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">If you don't know <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/subaracity/id988621911?mt=8" target="_blank">SubaraCity</a> you can check <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com.es/2015/07/review-subaracity.html#more" target="_blank">my review of the game here</a>. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">My highest score is 232,788,070 and you can check the <a href="https://twitter.com/RCanogar/status/612320751681728513" target="_blank">final state of the board here</a>.</span> I am ranked 284 of a total of 153,279 players so I suppose I have a few tricks that some people don't, so I'll try to share them.</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-weight: normal;">First, three terms I'll use often.</span><br />
<b>Region</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">: two or more colored tiles joined together.</span><br />
<b>Mayors</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">: the guy with the bowler hat, you use them to destroy isolated tiles.</span><br />
<b>Cycles</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">: a convenient way to divide a game into smaller parts. A cycle starts when you build a golden tile and ends with the construction of the next one.</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">So let's start with the basics and them go with more advanced stuff:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Always scan your possible moves from top to bottom. Be disciplined, one small error can put you in trouble later on.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="p1">
<span class="s1">
</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Once you have a blinking region that can be merged to a level-10-building, wait, don’t always merge it right away. If you can do a bigger region easily, do it. It is a good idea in general.</span></div>
</li>
<li><b>Sink</b>: this picture shows what I call a sink. The picture was taken just after a merge was done, and immediately a colored tile will fall where the yellow arrow is. Observe that for any tile that is dropped, the sink can absorb it. If a light-green tile is dropped, then you have to merge the dark-green pair first.<br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibh7ZZ-dsTOe_yKxIvLKOjO6DSMOe888bkkHbNvLvW7llBUFxWBcpuSeX7Ay0hMN503OCIrg0aqxZ1Y5ViuuKtXUY_VxzwgVGywzxARjSsg8-sz3XsPa_GQwrjCEha3YlrSjyPKBQ4Akle/s1600/IMG_2186+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibh7ZZ-dsTOe_yKxIvLKOjO6DSMOe888bkkHbNvLvW7llBUFxWBcpuSeX7Ay0hMN503OCIrg0aqxZ1Y5ViuuKtXUY_VxzwgVGywzxARjSsg8-sz3XsPa_GQwrjCEha3YlrSjyPKBQ4Akle/s320/IMG_2186+2.PNG" width="320" /></a><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: center;">Sinks are very desirable because normally they last for a while and they increase the levels of all the tiles involved. Also the moves in a sink are obvious, so there is no thinking involved. But sinks tend to clog, its just a matter of time. In the case above, imagine you get a dark-green tile and you tap the lower right corner of the region to maintain the structure, then you leave two empty spaces to be filled:</span> <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYnkHUqRApHiWcyLoLRcS5-dWvFrFopN-ILee2TbVab2fKl8hBVdYGh9MRtAEOhxAP1GxJy1hkII7s0l6bEDxsVnAIKmcKEaWsEZChSmTTSewCr8FCmtlXgiRaPzdUdXxlTaFu8cA37XP/s1600/Captura+de+pantalla+2015-07-06+a+las+17.50.31.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYnkHUqRApHiWcyLoLRcS5-dWvFrFopN-ILee2TbVab2fKl8hBVdYGh9MRtAEOhxAP1GxJy1hkII7s0l6bEDxsVnAIKmcKEaWsEZChSmTTSewCr8FCmtlXgiRaPzdUdXxlTaFu8cA37XP/s320/Captura+de+pantalla+2015-07-06+a+las+17.50.31.png" width="320" /></a><br />
This is the weakness, because if the first tile that drops is a grey or brown tile, then your sink will be clogged. If the tile below the sink is grey or brown then the sink will be a bit more resilient, but nevertheless a weakness will remain (as it should). Sinks can vary quite a lot but when you find one exploit it.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
If you have a choice, try to bring new tiles one row at a time. If you do this it is easier to match them. In other words, most of the bad things that happen, happen because a horrendous combinations of tiles falls in a hole of two or more that was left after doing a match. This is an important concept and applicable in many situations. For example we just saw it as the weakness of sinks.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
What is the best place to stack level-10-buildings? Well, I believe that the best place is the bottom row. If possible complete the bottom row before filling the next one. The next best place is to build them on the sides and as connected as possible. So, ideally the level-10-buildings should connect in a U-shape.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
What is the worst place to stack level-10-buildings? Never, never, never pile level-10-buildings in the middle of the board. This splits the available space in two areas, and everything starts to clog very fast.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: left;">
Don’t use mayors at the end of a cycle, normally you just waste them. It's better to use them during the middle section of each cycle. There is a skill that one can learn of "knowing" when it's a good time to use a mayor. As a rule of thumb, after using a mayor at least two new merges should be possible. Learning how to use mayors effectively is probably the most important skill you have to develop.</div>
</li>
<li> How many mayors do you get at the end of a cycle? Well, here is the answer:<div class="nobrtable">
<table border="2" bordercolor="#0033FF" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: #99ffff; border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="background-color: #0033ff; color: white; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 5px;">
<th>num of matched<br />
level-10-buildings</th>
<th>num of mayors earned</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>7 and less</td>
<td>-</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td>8</td>
<td>+1</td>
</tr>
<tr class="alt">
<td>9</td>
<td>+1</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>10</td>
<td>+1</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>11</td>
<td>+2</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>12</td>
<td>+3</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>13</td>
<td>+4</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>14</td>
<td>+5</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>15</td>
<td>+6</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>16</td>
<td>+7</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>17</td>
<td>+8</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>18 and more</td>
<td>+9</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</li>
<li> If you want to get very high scores then your first objective is to improve your skill until you are able to earn more mayors than the number of them that you use in each cycle. So you need to consistently have a net profit of mayors in each cycle. You should have a net profit of 2 mayors or more. Most of the time you will want to destroy the golden tile you just constructed at the end of the cycle (you can wait for a good time to destroy it, of course). Remember that space is very valuable.</li>
<li>After you feel confident with the bullet above you have to go through many cycles and collect a lot of mayors (I think that the game does not allow more than 99 mayors). Then the next step is to try to build the highest possible building, using all your mayors. For example, with 15 mayors I was able to merge 21 level-10-buildings and obtain a level-30-building worth 95 million points (that is my record). Of course your mileage may vary.</li>
<li>When you are satisfied with a high level building you preserve it and go for the second one in the same way as described. Of course you will have less space so probably your next building will be of a lower level.</li>
</ul>
<div>
With these strategies and patience you will be able to beat me!</div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Acknowledgement</b>: I thank Nicola Salmoria for his help on writing these posts about SubaraCity. And also thank him for letting me write in his blog!</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2015 Roberto Canogar. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Roberto Canogar and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Roberto Canogarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11481927198760823878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-19371783218156473112015-07-06T22:58:00.000+02:002015-07-06T23:06:56.488+02:00Review: SubaraCity<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/subaracity/id988621911?mt=8" target="_blank">Subaracity</a> is a FREE <span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">"match-by-combining"</span> game recommended by Nicola Salmoria <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria" target="_blank">@NSalmoria</a> on his tweeter feed. Matching games in all their flavors is a venerable genre on the AppStore and one I am particularly fond of. The reason of their popularity in my opinion is that they tend to be casual games and perfect for mobile. Other good examples of match-by-combining games are: <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com.es/2013/06/stickets-review.html" target="_blank">Stickets</a>, <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com.es/2014/02/threes-review.html" target="_blank">Threes!</a> and <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/triple-town-fun-addictive/id490532168?mt=8" target="_blank">Triple Town</a>. Triple Town is the most similar one to SubaraCity, but they play quite differently.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9-uoJzCzn0CnYhbNKBUGn8Q0QTFdebm6lUYM1DrXLfNi7jJ2Rcjrlwk4nR_5DWwN70EGtjJgiHlb_sZFr6rgddZlNh_4HNqaEUITBAUrHIF8AYCQYu7DX8EtRHsHvIeKTBUpPk4xNrva5/s1600/SubaraCity_screen1136x1136.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9-uoJzCzn0CnYhbNKBUGn8Q0QTFdebm6lUYM1DrXLfNi7jJ2Rcjrlwk4nR_5DWwN70EGtjJgiHlb_sZFr6rgddZlNh_4HNqaEUITBAUrHIF8AYCQYu7DX8EtRHsHvIeKTBUpPk4xNrva5/s400/SubaraCity_screen1136x1136.jpeg" width="387" /></a></div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
<a name='more'></a>In SubaraCity your aim is to build a city with the biggest possible buildings. Let's have a quick look at the first buildings you encounter. They are ranked by a level number and these are the first 12 (although there are many more):<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXWx4ln-2YMKTOgl4Gdo3lSAe9cEKFKhNHaHIns25cTCHMK-2wAi7LSv6Q1hXuYvld_X10cIkuu61i4C3HA3FqfMyf0y78t9fweJGtvNQKCiFfo5DCs2hNjAr43xazp1EoV9Bg9q4suRGF/s1600/IMG_2183.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXWx4ln-2YMKTOgl4Gdo3lSAe9cEKFKhNHaHIns25cTCHMK-2wAi7LSv6Q1hXuYvld_X10cIkuu61i4C3HA3FqfMyf0y78t9fweJGtvNQKCiFfo5DCs2hNjAr43xazp1EoV9Bg9q4suRGF/s400/IMG_2183.PNG" width="337" /></a></div>
<br />
The game is played on a 5x5 board. Each tile has a building on top of it (initially of levels from 1 to 9) and it can have one of 4 colors (initially 3, to make the beginning of the game easier).<br />
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If you have two adjacent tiles of the same color they form a <b>region</b> of that color. Your moves consist of tapping a tile inside a region; the effect is that all the region merges into the single tile you tapped. The new tile will contain a building of higher level than the merged buildings. After that the remaining tiles fall down to take up the available space, and the freed space at the top of the screen is filled by new random tiles. This might cause new regions to form, so the next move will have to merge a new region. You loose when you run out of moves, that is when all tiles are isolated.<br />
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When you reach a level 10 building then you get a white tower and the color of the tile automatically changes to white. When you have a region of level-10-buildings and merge it, you get a higher than 10 level building. For example, when you merge two level-10-buildings you get the hotel shown above (level 11), and by merging three level-10-buildings you get a Japanese castle (level 12). The more level-10-buildings you merge the more impressive building you get, and the more population your city will have, which is the score.<br />
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Buildings above level 10 have golden tiles and they are immutable, they do not form regions and do not merge any more... they are the final buildings of your city. In the picture below, you can see the Shangai tower (golden tile) at the bottom left and a level-10-building in the middle.<br />
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Just one more thing... at any point in the game you are allowed to use <b>mayors</b> (the guy with the bowler hat in the lower-left corner) to destroy <u>isolated</u> tiles. You start with 2 mayors, and for each 100 moves you get an extra mayor. You also get extra mayors when you construct very high level buildings. Mayors are very important because usually you have annoying tiles that can't otherwise be combined in any way.<br />
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It's very easy to get the hang of the game and start merging and merging into bigger and bigger buildings. Constructing high level buildings is very rewarding, each one has its own character and its a pleasure to discover them.<br />
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All the rules of the game seem just right and simple to grasp in my opinion. But also the size of the board, the number of colors a tile can take (four), and the amount of randomness built into the game all seem perfect. As Nicola Salmoria describes it, playing feels relaxing. The music is equally relaxing. As he also reported to me: "<i>The fact that you can decide to temporarily lower your score by destroying a gold tile </i>(using a mayor)<i> in order to make a bigger one later is cool. It makes it an 'evolving' game</i>".<br />
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I do have a few critiques though. First of all, the arithmetic of merging buildings is not clear. If you merge a level 5 building and a level 6 building, what do you get? I have no idea, there must be a rule but even after playing quite a lot I haven't figured it out. You can play without knowing the arithmetic, but it would be very helpful in some situations.<br />
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The second issue is that when you become proficient in the game the difficulty curve becomes flat. It needs some expertise, but if you are able to construct high level buildings then you get enough mayors to sustain yourself indefinitely. I think it is useful to think of the game in terms of <b>cycles</b>, each cycle starts when you construct a golden tile and ends with the construction of the next one. So, if you manage to earn more mayors than the ones you use in each cycle, then with patience you can collect lots of them (double figure number of them). With lots of mayors you are able to get very high leveled buildings (by this I mean joining at least 16 level-10-buildings). All this process can take hours. For me its too time consuming. I think that the number of mayors you get for high level buildings should be balanced better, by giving less of them for example. I did write a separate <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com.es/2015/07/strategy-guide-for-subaracity-or-how-to.html" target="_blank">strategy guide</a> with details on how to get very high scores.<br />
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Finally, I wish there was a leaderboard in GameCenter where players are ranked according to the highest level building they have constructed. It just makes sense to me. There are some players that have managed to merge 24 white tiles (the maximum), and if I am not mistaken, this alone gives you around 250 million in population.<br />
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Anyway, these are minor things. SubaraCity is a great game and I highly recommend it. It's just a perfect game to distract yourself for a while, but at the same time it gets you highly involved.<br />
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My thumbs up to the developer Ryuji Kuwaki <a href="https://twitter.com/torunodev" target="_blank">@torunodev</a>. He has been able to do an original and rewarding game in a highly competitive genre, SubaraCity deserves a wider audience in my opinion.</div>
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<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★☆☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: green;">✔</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2015 Roberto Canogar. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Roberto Canogar and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Roberto Canogarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11481927198760823878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-64376278693279563862014-12-27T16:08:00.000+01:002014-12-27T16:10:46.631+01:00The best puzzle apps that I didn't review in 20142014 was a great year for puzzle apps. While I reviewed a good number of them on this blog, there are many more which were undeservedly left out. I did mention them on Twitter, so make sure to <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria">follow me</a> to be always up to date.<br />
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I list them here as a holiday shopping list, strictly in alphabetical order. Many are truly excellent, so make sure to give them a try.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id931396304?mt=8">Alcazar</a><br />
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<a href="http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple3/v4/d7/d2/60/d7d2604c-1d59-46ad-e2d1-a31cc734088a/screen568x568.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple3/v4/d7/d2/60/d7d2604c-1d59-46ad-e2d1-a31cc734088a/screen568x568.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/causality-classic-puzzle-game/id793844553?mt=8">Causality</a><br />
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<a href="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple3/v4/f1/34/c7/f134c7c7-e974-ef1e-839d-43a77f93b84d/screen568x568.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple3/v4/f1/34/c7/f134c7c7-e974-ef1e-839d-43a77f93b84d/screen568x568.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/cube-mix-3d-sudoku-twist/id737655481?mt=8">Cube Mix</a><br />
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<a href="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple/v4/e2/ce/5e/e2ce5e70-3930-946d-339c-3903f3dfb68b/screen568x568.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple/v4/e2/ce/5e/e2ce5e70-3930-946d-339c-3903f3dfb68b/screen568x568.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/colored-paths/id909067768?mt=8">Color Lines!</a><br />
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<a href="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple4/v4/20/32/0c/20320ce3-fdfc-aeb2-793b-4d728cbc2fd0/screen480x480.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple4/v4/20/32/0c/20320ce3-fdfc-aeb2-793b-4d728cbc2fd0/screen480x480.jpeg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/colorazy-unique-puzzle-game/id936480035?mt=8">Colorazy</a><br />
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<a href="http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple1/v4/f0/98/6f/f0986fa0-f243-8a9d-a60d-b37fcb5f0223/screen322x572.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple1/v4/f0/98/6f/f0986fa0-f243-8a9d-a60d-b37fcb5f0223/screen322x572.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id936513961?mt=8">Colour Dots</a><br />
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<a href="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple1/v4/b4/e5/c7/b4e5c797-36a3-4753-0a26-799077c9a3fe/screen322x572.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple1/v4/b4/e5/c7/b4e5c797-36a3-4753-0a26-799077c9a3fe/screen322x572.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/cubot-complexity-simplicity/id905935289?mt=8">Cubot</a><br />
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<a href="http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple4/v4/cc/71/6a/cc716af2-4da3-7dfa-7342-db568cf8c862/screen520x924.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple4/v4/cc/71/6a/cc716af2-4da3-7dfa-7342-db568cf8c862/screen520x924.jpeg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id740593142?mt=8">Digits</a><br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/discolor/id887461970?mt=8">Discolor</a><br />
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<a href="http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple5/v4/95/77/62/957762ed-5de0-9a3c-abb6-cc52143d3d6f/screen568x568.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple5/v4/95/77/62/957762ed-5de0-9a3c-abb6-cc52143d3d6f/screen568x568.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/dwelp/id935201107?mt=8">Dwelp</a><br />
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<a href="http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple5/v4/b8/e2/b9/b8e2b97d-5ab4-3854-dfb6-38a786900154/screen322x572.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple5/v4/b8/e2/b9/b8e2b97d-5ab4-3854-dfb6-38a786900154/screen322x572.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/fruit-dating/id918243413?mt=8">Fruit Dating</a><br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/hearts-unique-puzzle-experience/id917781155?mt=8">Hearts</a><br />
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<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/huerons/id807576033?mt=8">Huerons</a><br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id928921157?mt=8">Isomorphism</a><br />
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<a href="http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple3/v4/36/e5/63/36e56335-9bba-3596-f3a8-d1ef8f4679b1/screen640x640.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple3/v4/36/e5/63/36e56335-9bba-3596-f3a8-d1ef8f4679b1/screen640x640.jpeg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/noda/id925990663">Noda</a><br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/numberino/id884974344?mt=8">Numberino</a><br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id891099609?mt=8">Panal</a><br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id908308532?mt=8">Partyrs</a><br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/quickroute-the-game/id882744410?mt=8">Quick Route</a><br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/robots-need-love-too/id805694615?mt=8">Robots Need Love Too</a><br />
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<a href="http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple3/v4/ae/e5/82/aee58227-d994-bd7b-2059-a1b40c94c65f/screen520x924.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple3/v4/ae/e5/82/aee58227-d994-bd7b-2059-a1b40c94c65f/screen520x924.jpeg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/slidercrash/id770145513?mt=8">Slidercrash</a><br />
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<a href="http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple6/v4/97/d8/b1/97d8b146-cec0-ea56-6c6c-6fe2d43eaf03/screen568x568.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple6/v4/97/d8/b1/97d8b146-cec0-ea56-6c6c-6fe2d43eaf03/screen568x568.jpeg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/theseus-3d/id931212487?mt=8">Theseus 3D</a><br />
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<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id912123418?mt=8">UNION Dots</a><br />
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<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/zengrams/id924061101?mt=8">Zengrams</a><br />
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<a href="http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple5/v4/f1/b9/b6/f1b9b6b2-c886-ce79-5777-2ae6387fd671/screen640x640.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple5/v4/f1/b9/b6/f1b9b6b2-c886-ce79-5777-2ae6387fd671/screen640x640.jpeg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/zero-age/id921584182?mt=8">Zero Age</a><br />
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<a href="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple5/v4/32/74/f1/3274f17e-f894-4a19-9546-f7aff03bca9b/screen480x480.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple5/v4/32/74/f1/3274f17e-f894-4a19-9546-f7aff03bca9b/screen480x480.jpeg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/ZooTurn/id895401858?mt=8">Zoo Turn</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-24967578736364496642014-11-30T19:06:00.002+01:002014-11-30T19:06:29.892+01:00Review: Pair Solitaire for iPhone and iPad<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/pair-solitaire/id903704186?mt=8">Pair Solitaire</a> by Vitaliy Zlotskiy played a nasty trick on me. I got my best score on the very first game, and haven't been able to replicate it since.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Irmrtmh9aivOwMz3eMZeezVKQNNCFiTY2PDe4ree6v984NSIiLXgaY895MUKyCM-iDCl8dXnlDTzgIfPMqeYXpKGNlPn354dYiqiXY4y4FxI3holv3tYXH23Pw0P2btVjfOMWfOmP90m/s1600/IMG_3234.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Irmrtmh9aivOwMz3eMZeezVKQNNCFiTY2PDe4ree6v984NSIiLXgaY895MUKyCM-iDCl8dXnlDTzgIfPMqeYXpKGNlPn354dYiqiXY4y4FxI3holv3tYXH23Pw0P2btVjfOMWfOmP90m/s1600/IMG_3234.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
I like this game because even if it has the mechanics of a classic card solitaire, luck is not particularly involved. At the beginning, you have full knowledge of the position of all the cards, so it can be approached like a puzzle.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The goal is pretty simple. All 52 cards are put in a single line. You have to remove them one by one, until you have no more valid moves to make.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiesVwZKWA_JbBfHVcoygFrwoWA__lKrN0xYfOo9AMleMFMivo3eBr7SBD7ED4fjq76A4Vo106AXd73RdrUHd2K-jOEtx_H67LqKsEStJzYXptSYXgFq4h8qyoUHMzFXrwOvjHe4tlAa-pc/s1600/IMG_3239.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiesVwZKWA_JbBfHVcoygFrwoWA__lKrN0xYfOo9AMleMFMivo3eBr7SBD7ED4fjq76A4Vo106AXd73RdrUHd2K-jOEtx_H67LqKsEStJzYXptSYXgFq4h8qyoUHMzFXrwOvjHe4tlAa-pc/s1600/IMG_3239.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
A valid move consists of removing a single card which is the same suit or same value of another cards two places away from it.<br />
<br />
For example, in the position above you could remove the Ace or the 6 of diamonds because they are the same suit, but also the 5 of hearts or clubs, because they are the same value. The 5 of spaces cannot be removed, even if it is beteween two other 5s, because only the cards two places away matter.<br />
<br />
When you're out of moves, the game calculates a score which depends on how many cards you removed, and on which specific ones (aces are the most valuable). Note that if you manage to remain with just two cards, they can't be removed because there is no longer a card two places away. So even if that means "finishing" the game, you won't necessarily get the maximum score. The maximum score would be when you remain with just two 2s.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure it this is an original idea or a solitaire with these rule already existed. It might be original, because this is the kind of game that would be inconvenient to play with a real deck of cards, while it works very well on a digital device.<br />
<br />
There are many things in the style of the tutorial, user interface, and promotional material that remind of <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2014/02/threes-review.html">Threes!</a>, and indeed Asher Vollmer is mentioned in the credits.<br />
The user interface is nice, and I liked that you can also play in landscape mode. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlE1S0HLZ1MNsxZXKlNvgGSgzQqxe2e2YFx8LK2muq6zgeRiukjr_y0-crG7WDR1EXTHAumIzc90bthhq9JZfOII9tq4cKPbJwvLFaSB_KfMrTq0YhvF3fU1vino7aovZ1gWJrnD6v9vlA/s1600/IMG_3236.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlE1S0HLZ1MNsxZXKlNvgGSgzQqxe2e2YFx8LK2muq6zgeRiukjr_y0-crG7WDR1EXTHAumIzc90bthhq9JZfOII9tq4cKPbJwvLFaSB_KfMrTq0YhvF3fU1vino7aovZ1gWJrnD6v9vlA/s1600/IMG_3236.PNG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
There is however an annoyance in how touching a card and then scrolling is handled. The iOS convention is that in such a case the touch should be cancelled, and only the scrolling performed. In Pair Solitaire, instead, if you touch a card that can be removed and then scroll, the card will be removed anyway. This is more of a problem in landscape mode since when playing in portrait you'll tend to scroll by touching the empty background rather than the cards. It's not the end of the world because you can undo your last move (and only the last one). But it breaks the flow.<br />
<br />
The game is free, but with a single in-app purchase you can unlock extra features like additional decks of cards and, more interestingly, the ability to compete on a daily challenge. In this game mode, all players are given the same shuffle of cards, and two attempts to make the best score. The following day, you can see the best 50 scores. Actually this doesn't seem to always work, since sometimes instead of the scores all I get is a cross.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIOhINYj_ze3tSPa0wK6hcN2OyaSzcZ7teZY-VhyphenhyphenGduKs647Hvsm6-tK5ohX39deOEsBilxWF0VxCj3pEnRi5luuLWv98p6aLtJem8VxGIyWAmEUXpjpZFbMJsGW3q3_TFEu7agCpfzkw6/s1600/IMG_3237.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIOhINYj_ze3tSPa0wK6hcN2OyaSzcZ7teZY-VhyphenhyphenGduKs647Hvsm6-tK5ohX39deOEsBilxWF0VxCj3pEnRi5luuLWv98p6aLtJem8VxGIyWAmEUXpjpZFbMJsGW3q3_TFEu7agCpfzkw6/s1600/IMG_3237.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
I suspect this might happen when your score isn't among the best 50, but if that's the case, it doesn't make sense. Surely even if my score was lousy, I should be able to see what other people did.<br />
<br />
Usually I do my first attempt starting from the top and the second starting from the bottom, though I haven't seen much difference in my scores, so I probably need to improve my strategy.<br />
<br />
The funny thing is that I don't quite see what a good strategy could be. In a stroke of beginner's luck, I got my best score so far (remaining with just 4 cards) in the very first game I played. So I thought well, this is a nice game but it's a bit too easy. I haven't repeated that yet.<br />
Looking at the results of the daily challenges, some people regularly end with just 2 cards, so clearly a good strategy must exist.<br />
<br />
My main complaint is that when you quit the app, the current position isn't saved and you need to start a new game. I would like to be able to resume from where I left.<br />
This is certainly a good addition to any collection of puzzle games. Thanks to the limited length of the games, it's perfect to play on short commutes.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-68991079380104191632014-11-22T16:20:00.001+01:002014-11-22T16:20:31.850+01:00Review: Andy's Trains for iPad<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_shunting_puzzle">Train shunting</a> is a classic puzzle genre, but for some reason the App Store seems to be lacking that kind of games. The recently released <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/andys-trains/id929799895?mt=8">Andy's Trains</a> attempts to fill that void.<br />
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The game's title screen surprises, showing an animated railway full of switches, semaphores, and tunnels, where several trains are presumably on their way to solve some complicated puzzle.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEGh40isaYdwiC5VX4pxaL9nTSgLhIPUMLy_itpFkA0WTcJMmQMXAp057fNdH5ffkQEDJPDSAW93sEMIeJfs7JuyxUP9zYm8Xn0eMQBFZh7UR2RwQjmzd3P-53EJfHgsgXYcEo3s6xKE7Y/s1600/IMG_1688.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEGh40isaYdwiC5VX4pxaL9nTSgLhIPUMLy_itpFkA0WTcJMmQMXAp057fNdH5ffkQEDJPDSAW93sEMIeJfs7JuyxUP9zYm8Xn0eMQBFZh7UR2RwQjmzd3P-53EJfHgsgXYcEo3s6xKE7Y/s1600/IMG_1688.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Developed by the German Andreas Guenther, this is clearly a work of passion, and even if it looks a bit amateurish in places, or perhaps precisely because of that, it stood out amonge the weekly deluge of new puzzle games.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>The objective is a standard one for shunting puzzles: you need to operate a switching engine to move rolling stock around the tracks, bringing them to a given destination, in the required order.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6YpTDA10oBmyBkS_sJrX7NX5OZEarDq0buYjpLlfTSvJT1SRK5JkQmoQeCJDp4oqOrXLtdhBfrbENUlpwdKgrW9ROUloAeluGaAtfVuaSnklLYYYD-4J8s4Epm9cKOQv0ByfMY2SBx9sS/s1600/IMG_1689.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6YpTDA10oBmyBkS_sJrX7NX5OZEarDq0buYjpLlfTSvJT1SRK5JkQmoQeCJDp4oqOrXLtdhBfrbENUlpwdKgrW9ROUloAeluGaAtfVuaSnklLYYYD-4J8s4Epm9cKOQv0ByfMY2SBx9sS/s1600/IMG_1689.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
It goes without saying that you can operate the switches; the blue outlines indicate the area that must not be occupied by a wagon in order to let the switch toggle.<br />
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The care that has been put in the movement of the wagons is apparent. They closely follow the tracks and move very smoothly. Perhaps even too smoothly, as there is a certain amount of inertia that can make it difficult to move precisely.<br />
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An interesting twist is that there can be more than one train to put together. Here you have a green and a red wagon, but you must form a train with green and blue wagons.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdPOLnMo664G3xw6R3Af6euxIWIFgqBn1wJdn4CvZVH9K6V6KkCV_szEeJyWdk2EX-svZ6E1jXdeYBqgj8Lr0Fagixq8byP345HpZI0zPK6fDdsngH0SE8IRsWR6UnLbB2PfkvMSKsoOB5/s1600/IMG_1690.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdPOLnMo664G3xw6R3Af6euxIWIFgqBn1wJdn4CvZVH9K6V6KkCV_szEeJyWdk2EX-svZ6E1jXdeYBqgj8Lr0Fagixq8byP345HpZI0zPK6fDdsngH0SE8IRsWR6UnLbB2PfkvMSKsoOB5/s1600/IMG_1690.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
What will happen is that after you take those two wagons away from the
top section of track, another train will arrive bringing two more
wagons.<br />
<br />
Your solutions are measured by the total distance travelled by the engine, and you are challenged to take that below a given value. This is a deeper challenge than it might seem at first sight. The following puzzle, for example, had me stumped for a while.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifI57kdqNLlHOKKINDyCTA8uAPmKH4Q4j1J5uY0zNYlCILxQDtLy63i0MeriWrgtZ9iHEGDgTe3gvlthfEMXL_IimvhKN40ZYbiA8r4RlFxSYWGwrpOYc3Wf2q3D-n7ZMWJuZl8ICPSlE-/s1600/IMG_1687.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifI57kdqNLlHOKKINDyCTA8uAPmKH4Q4j1J5uY0zNYlCILxQDtLy63i0MeriWrgtZ9iHEGDgTe3gvlthfEMXL_IimvhKN40ZYbiA8r4RlFxSYWGwrpOYc3Wf2q3D-n7ZMWJuZl8ICPSlE-/s1600/IMG_1687.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Solving it was a piece of cake, but my first attempt was well over 1km, with the target being only 550m. After many attempts, I was convinced that I had optimized my solution as much as possible, but I was still over the target by a few meters. It just seemed impossible.<br />
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Eventually, I had an <i>a-ha!</i> moment and figured it out.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSMenY-JumqELMyJPmARYC9bnsCyTguOrIS0yuz4saVWleE1x8gpy_68BucMP7rbA8xzpttOo3vE2U1Hr7XBShphk8rXHH_pa_na6uS0Tn5-YRnM2wTqqlhpluFwFJ_X9UjIkjnoGUEKI/s1600/IMG_1686.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSMenY-JumqELMyJPmARYC9bnsCyTguOrIS0yuz4saVWleE1x8gpy_68BucMP7rbA8xzpttOo3vE2U1Hr7XBShphk8rXHH_pa_na6uS0Tn5-YRnM2wTqqlhpluFwFJ_X9UjIkjnoGUEKI/s1600/IMG_1686.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
I'm not an expert of shunting puzzles, so I had to invent my strategies, and solving this puzzle made me feel smart. That's what I'm looking for in puzzle games: apparently simple challenges, that however require a significant, conscious effort to be mastered. <br />
<br />
The game contains 36 puzzles, which must be played strictly in order.
Currently I've done a bit less than half of them, and finding a non-optimal solution was reasonably simple even for an uninitiated like myself. Judging from the screenshots on the App Store, however, difficulty will significantly ramp up as the game progresses.<br />
<br />
Apart from bridges and tunnels, which should just be cosmetical, I'm curious about the<br />
humps that the App Store description talks about. It looks like those will allow the wagons to be moved by gravity while the engine is somewhere else. Should be fun.<br />
<br />
The one thing I don't like about this game is that to get the shortest distance you need not only to find an optimal sequence of moves, but also to implement it with pixel perfect accuracy, fighting with the inertia of the simulation. This can be repetitive and frustrating. However, that's a fair choice, and fits well with the realistic simulation feel of the game.<br />
<br />
What definitely should be added, however, is Game Center support! I'd like to compare my scores with the ones of other players.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-7551241698704344392014-11-15T17:33:00.000+01:002014-11-16T01:17:14.392+01:00Review: Euclidea for iPadTo put it briefly, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/euclidea-geometric-constructions/id915419101?mt=8">Euclidea</a> is a game that every math student should have and, in an ideal world, every adult should like.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezvbKBiL10JeZC-M_MtgHqgI48OSB7cXOr-Bmdj08RSporgocul3Nq0XlTVN-8t3Fng6L65hjv_xroakpchbvS3DgOYcJbq4CeMqmGkWk7DXH0q-EdX_sdusRRE31u7P2Ip1JD3catvMe/s1600/IMG_1625.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgezvbKBiL10JeZC-M_MtgHqgI48OSB7cXOr-Bmdj08RSporgocul3Nq0XlTVN-8t3Fng6L65hjv_xroakpchbvS3DgOYcJbq4CeMqmGkWk7DXH0q-EdX_sdusRRE31u7P2Ip1JD3catvMe/s1600/IMG_1625.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
The game was developed by the Russian <a href="http://www.hil-hk.com/">Horis International Limited</a>, which seems to be specialising in apps with a strong maths background. Some time ago they also released <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/quickroute-the-game/id882744410?mt=8">Quick Route</a>, a nice puzzle based on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_salesman_problem">Travelling Salesman Problem</a>.<br />
<br />
The concept isn't new; we have seen it for example in the browser game <a href="http://euclidthegame.com/">Euclid: The Game</a>. However, the implementation in Euclidea is perfectly done, making it an absolute joy to play.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The idea of the game is to solve geometric problems by using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass-and-straightedge_construction">compass and straightedge constructions</a>. For example here you are asked to construct the perpendicular bisector to a segment.<br />
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Most of these constructions are things that all of us should have done in school; however, at least in my case, they were thought more to learn how to follow instructions and use the drawing tools precisely, than to understand why the constructions worked.<br />
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In Euclidea, you are on your own, and have to figure out what to draw to reach the requested goal. The user interface works beautifully, and as you draw your circles and segments they precisely snap to the reference points nearby.<br />
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A brilliant feature, not found in other similar games, is that you can freely move all the arbitrary points in your constructions, to verify that they work in general. For example, here I constructed the bisector of an angle.<br />
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The game has already highlighted it in yellow, to indicate that my solution is correct. But I can make angle smaller...<br />
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... or larger, and see how the circles I constructed change accordingly.<br />
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Some of the constructions you have to make are particularly significant, and after you do them they are added as shortcuts to the toolbox. For example you'll learn to draw a circle of given radius. This is equivalent to fixing the opening of the compass, something not directly allowed in pure compass and straightedge constructions.<br />
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The additional tools are just shortcuts that allow you to make common operations without explicitly doing all the steps, but their cost is still computed considering all the fundamental steps (in the case above, 5 moves). This is important because the funniest part of the game is not just to solve the problems, but to do it in the optimal number of moves.<br />
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For example, one of the problems is to translate a segment. Using the parallel line tool, this is trivial to do:<br />
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But with the parallel line costing 4 moves, this took us 9 moves. To do it in 6 moves as requested, we'll have to be more creative.<br />
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Some of the problems are even move restrictive, requiring to make constructions that use only the straightedge and not the compass, or the other way around. Those can be challenging. Find the instersection of a circle and a segment <i>without</i> drawing the segment? I haven't solved that one yet.<br />
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The game has been updated several times since the initial release and currently contains 36 challenges, plus some tutorials. Initially the levels must be solved in order, but after some point (I think after unlocking all the additional tools) everything is unlocked. The last few problems are not easy.<br />
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My main gripe is that the game doesn't store your constructions, so if you go back to a puzzle you played previously you have to start from scratch. I would have liked to be able to see my best effort, instead of having to reconstruct my steps every time.<br />
I also don't like the horizontally scrolling list of puzzles, which is cumbersome to navigate and wastes a lot of space. A grid might have worked better.<br />
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But those are really minor things! The best part of all this is that the game is totally free, with an optional in-app purchase to turn off banner ads. It is so rare to see a game like this so well done, that I gladly made that purchase, hoping that the developers will continue to improve this gem.<br />
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<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: green;">✔</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-31636587095830810592014-11-01T13:28:00.003+01:002014-11-05T12:57:27.751+01:00Review: Fallin Love for iPhone and iPadWhat best time to talk about a game about love than... Halloween?<br />
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Surely <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/fallin-love-the-game-of-love/id887809246&mt=8">Fallin Love</a> will have a big promotion for Valentine's Day, however an update was released recently, featuring new levels and significantly improved performance on older devices, so it's worth talking about it now.<br />
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Technically, this game by the Italian <a href="http://www.chestnutgames.com/">Chestnut Games</a> should be considered an action game: a platformer, where the usual ability to jump has been replaced by tilt mechanics. However, the action elements are minimal, and it plays more like a puzzle game.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Your goal in every level is to collect a costume (in this case, the astronaut suit in the top right), and reach the exit. Optionally, you can try to collect all three hearts.<br />
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You can walk by touching the sides of the screen, but you can't jump. Instead, you can rotate the whole world by turning the device. So if you rotate it clockwise you get this...<br />
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... and turning it upside down you get this. Note that as you turn the device your character and the blue block fall according to the new direction of gravity. You must be careful to not make the block fall on your head!<br />
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If you don't like turning around your device, there is an alternate control scheme where you only use swipes. However, I found the default controls more intuitive and fun, at least on an iPhone. Playing on an iPad is a bit more cumbersome.<br />
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You might wonder why you should be collecting costumes. The reason, sadly, is unrequited love. You're trying to impress a girl, but every time you approach her in your new disguise, she comes up with a new desire. This means that every level has a different costume. That's a really nice touch.<br />
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A small number of levels also include enemies that you must avoid. This adds an additional action element, but since your movement abilities are limited, it's more effective to deal with them strategically. They can die in the same ways as you: crushed by blocks, falling on spikes, etc. However, a new one will respawn shortly afterwards, so it's more effective to try and trap them in places where they cannot harm you.<br />
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The second world introduces new orange blocks which act like balloons: they float to the top of the screen.<br />
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The third world adds the yellow blocks, which join with other blocks when they touch them.<br />
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So if in the above level you turn the device clockwise, you end up in this position:<br />
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which isn't good at all, because you are now permanently trapped, because the block in the bottom left can't be moved! So you need to be careful of how you let those blocks join.<br />
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The fourth world added in the recent update doesn't seem to introduce new elements, but it makes you play with blocks of different type at the same time.<br />
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Playing this game is a pleasant digression from the kind of pure puzzles that I usually play. Even if it's a platformer, it doesn't require dexterity, and just using a bit of logic to plan your actions is usually enough. The average difficulty isn't high, but getting all three hearts requires some extra effort and can be tricky in a few cases.<br />
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If you want an extra challenge, there's an additional "Hardcore" world which I think can only be unlocked with an in-app purchase. It contains levels which are definitely harder than the rest of the game. The in-app purchase also unlocks all levels so you can play them in any order.<br />
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The graphics are cute and polished, with a very peculiar style which I really like. The're also a catchy background music which however might feel too repetitive after a while.<br />
<br />
I would have recommended this game anyway, but currently it's also free, so there's really no reason not to get it.<br />
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<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-91405157064780469692014-10-26T01:36:00.000+02:002014-10-26T13:19:17.334+01:00Review: Transmission: Connect to communicate for iPhone and iPad<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/transmission-connect-to-communicate/id917778256?mt=8">Transmission: Connect to Communicate</a> by <a href="http://loju.co.uk/">Loju</a> technically is a promotional app for the <a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/">Science Museum</a>, so it might even be confused for an "educational" app. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In reality, it is one of the best puzzle games relased this year.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOqTJ35-sqauY7WvwzUZ95C5RFRWQT8-A7xyzX5AdV53HtjG0F2OkaZo5ob1r2aiVpwFs1QGQQ8wA7ePPPXhBaOVvs6ecIs8HVdJZwAAvFDDzbTJi-0FmUks65FBpYk8Ic5oJuoErX1fap/s1600/IMG_1522.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOqTJ35-sqauY7WvwzUZ95C5RFRWQT8-A7xyzX5AdV53HtjG0F2OkaZo5ob1r2aiVpwFs1QGQQ8wA7ePPPXhBaOVvs6ecIs8HVdJZwAAvFDDzbTJi-0FmUks65FBpYk8Ic5oJuoErX1fap/s1600/IMG_1522.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Launched last week as part of the campaign for the opening of the new <a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/Plan_your_visit/exhibitions/information_age.aspx">Information Age</a> gallery, it received <a href="https://twitter.com/efeprat/status/524522973089525760">many</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Split82/status/524486268470951936">praises</a> from my Twitter followers, and for good reason.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>From the first moment, Transmission is captivating thanks to its gorgeous visuals and audio. The people involved are really talented: from the Loju founders, <a href="http://www.jonmallinson.co.uk/">Jon Mallison</a> and <a href="http://lukeholland.me/">Luke Holland</a> (check their portfolios!) to <a href="http://www.davidkanaga.com/">David Kanaga</a>, author of the music.<br />
<br />
The mechanics initially look like something already seen many times: your goal is to connect the nodes on the screen, passing the small cubes from one to the next. The circular nodes are transceivers: you can go to them and them move on to another node. The square nodes are receivers: they always terminate the path.<br />
The number of cubes inside each node indicate how many signals you must send to them.<br />
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The interaction is wonderfully presented, with connections that lively animate as you drag from one node to another, accompanied by telecommunication sounds like phones ringing, modems, and so on.<br />
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The connections you make can cross, but cannot go through another node. For example in the level below, the node in the top left cannot directly connect to the one in the bottom right.<br />
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While playing was fun, during the first few levels it didn't look like things could get really interesting: yes, I was getting more signals to deliver, but it was only a matter of laying down the path. There didn't seem to be anything else to it. <br />
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At that point, the game surprised me, introducing an unexpected new concept: loops! <br />
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See, in the above level you only have one signal; all the nodes need to receive two signals, so at first glance it might seem impossible. But if you make a loop, that single signal will continue travelling along the connections you had already placed, eventually filling all the nodes.<br />
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This is a sensational mechanic, which took me a while to fully understand. The key observation is that a signal can only move to a node if the node has an empty cube, otherwise it stops. You therefore need to set up the loops in ways that allow the signals to travel as long as possible.<br />
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After the core mechanic is introduced, the game can also add multiple objectives. One of them is to finish the level with a signal orbiting the node marked with a star. Needless to say, the star is rarely on the node where the most intuitive solution would lead. Other kinds of objectives including solving the level without crossing connection, or using only a limited number of connections.<br />
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The levels become even more interesting as new forms of communication are introduced. For example broadcast antennas send the signals they receive to all the nodes around them. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFzEu_ehEFqVOfnX8LntRjN6Y8ogdqQyUAuHTbBFhAfhT6HMfOOcFDqlScrKdcVH4Mq_OjHkJfG9US9_-1a8VY2OnIBuWoEPFOJIoQyZSNWwbKyJv5aX0AAefXuNYsOVsFVMkMLw2oPI1/s1600/IMG_1529.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLFzEu_ehEFqVOfnX8LntRjN6Y8ogdqQyUAuHTbBFhAfhT6HMfOOcFDqlScrKdcVH4Mq_OjHkJfG9US9_-1a8VY2OnIBuWoEPFOJIoQyZSNWwbKyJv5aX0AAefXuNYsOVsFVMkMLw2oPI1/s1600/IMG_1529.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
And there's many more; I'm not going to list them all.<br />
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Rarely have I felt so challenged by a puzzle game, in such a stimulating way. The puzzles are not difficult because they are hard, but because you really need to stop and understand how things work. The mechanics are both accessible and impenetrable at the same time. This is really an achievement on the designer's part.<br />
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Judging by the Game Center leaderboards, the number of people playing this game is nowhere near what it deserves. That's an injustice which needs to be rectified. Download it, now.<br />
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<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-34495304850876202622014-10-19T01:03:00.000+02:002014-10-19T01:03:06.086+02:00Review: Pokergreen Puzzles for iPhone and iPad<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/pokergreen-puzzles-next-sudoku/id906543727?mt=8">Pokergreens</a> is not quite "the next Sudoku", as its author <a href="http://ronald.gl/">Ronald Stewart</a> calls it, but it successfully manages to mix the mechanics of classic pen-and-paper puzzles with the rules of poker.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkZOJbgOTRzKUzBRENTFCcMUf1nOsuFR0smXkaAW2E29ZWmaAp9TJGZbb61DnhdOblqiiNEOk_Oxbvp0KEPxg4irxKTXfSNTKqiQUpa7CqmLIb-QGaJA3kZoz5Q1syoINtmEFQEmIrNryi/s1600/IMG_3208.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkZOJbgOTRzKUzBRENTFCcMUf1nOsuFR0smXkaAW2E29ZWmaAp9TJGZbb61DnhdOblqiiNEOk_Oxbvp0KEPxg4irxKTXfSNTKqiQUpa7CqmLIb-QGaJA3kZoz5Q1syoINtmEFQEmIrNryi/s1600/IMG_3208.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
This is the kind of puzzle game that was common in the early days of the App Store: a simple, lackluster user interface, but very clever mechanics. It reminded me of games like <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/02/counterbalance.html">CounterbalancE</a> and <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/04/combination-review.html">Combination</a>, which I reviewed when I started this blog.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Here is how it works: you are given a few cards laid out over a 5x5 grid, and for every row and column you are told what kind of poker hand it should contain. At the bottom of the screen you have the cards to use . The solution is always unique.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKFAnov2gLSbwhokfb76vDJd2mnk-SrHtnu9tj5RuvjWBB7ET3-lx_hjvesGXt2aeWsqH5J88v2ghfCmxBczDrw6laGXboo-mJgM5_RgSUAUt9vmbHW5NWfXTKWM5_VmmQJWis-qPVuZg/s1600/IMG_3209.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKFAnov2gLSbwhokfb76vDJd2mnk-SrHtnu9tj5RuvjWBB7ET3-lx_hjvesGXt2aeWsqH5J88v2ghfCmxBczDrw6laGXboo-mJgM5_RgSUAUt9vmbHW5NWfXTKWM5_VmmQJWis-qPVuZg/s1600/IMG_3209.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
The great thing about this concept is that the each type of poker hand provides different information, so you need to come up with all kinds of logic deductions to make use of it. This is quite different from Sudoku, where the rule is always the same.<br />
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For example in the puzzle above, the second row needs to contain two pairs. There are no 5s available, so the pairs must be two 7 and two Jacks. The last column must be a flush, so all cards must be hearts, so the 7 of spades cannot go there; similarly, you can't put there the Jack of clubs. The only possible combination is therefore this one:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKWr9rUncbWb2rf5rTQSc_dQZEWWgx0s9aeLwifCIsghzMz8p1ZK2XtX_kexEYXtaND4EM80n_R2C5Z0CBig7AhCZ-H0qOXNEKzasIZZg1ubljkFD58ISnBZhxWlDeGY6roHTzmpYe_Qlb/s1600/IMG_3210.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKWr9rUncbWb2rf5rTQSc_dQZEWWgx0s9aeLwifCIsghzMz8p1ZK2XtX_kexEYXtaND4EM80n_R2C5Z0CBig7AhCZ-H0qOXNEKzasIZZg1ubljkFD58ISnBZhxWlDeGY6roHTzmpYe_Qlb/s1600/IMG_3210.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
Applying only rigorous logical deductions like this one, you always arrive at the unique solution.<br />
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The game also has a tutorial to introduce you to the rules, though I found it a bit confusing and lacking focus. It starts like this:<br />
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So I diligently followed the advice, placing cards on the grid, not noticing that after a single move the message at the bottom had already changed:<br />
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The information about the poker hands is actually well done, and interactive: you can try bringing any of the three cards over the question mark, and it will tell you what kind of hand you created.<br />
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This concept is not new, though I haven't found any other app on the App Store implementing it. I found a couple Windows apps, called (no prizes for originality) <a href="http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/poker-sudoku/058334d1-5c1a-4ff0-be2b-63d18346c519">Poker Sudoku</a>, and <a href="http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/sudoku-poker/ac7641c8-e2e1-4735-96e9-4cb8ee55ec91">Sudoku Poker</a>. They appear to be very similar, though from the screenshots it looks like a high card hand is simply called "High", without specifying which card is the highest. In Pokergreen, you are told whether the high card is an Ace, or a King, etc. Many logic deductions can be based on that additional information.<br />
<br />
The oldest mention I could find of this concept is in the 1999 World Puzzle Championships, as reported on <a href="http://www.janko.at/Raetsel/WPC/016.a.htm">janko.at</a>. Note that in that case you are also told the hand in the two major diagonals, while you are <i>not</i> told which cards to add to the grid (you have a 28-card set and need to leave out 3 cards). Again, I prefer the Pokergreen version, because not relying on the diagonals is more elegant, and knowing which cards to use is more intuitive and allows for more deductions.<br />
<br />
I found another interesting one on a <a href="http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/wpc/">New York Times blog</a>, which also has a detailed step-by-step solution by Nick Baxter. The interesting thing about that one is that some clues only show the suit of the card, others only its value. That's a nice twist that I don't think Pokergreens implements, even in the later puzzles.<br />
<br />
The user interface of the app works well, though it could use some improvements. I think the most obvious shortcoming is the lack of a proper reward for solving a puzzle. You just get a standard iOS alert, which looks more like an error message than a reward. Some celebratory animation would be in order here.<br />
<br />
The solved alert says the time it took you to solve the puzzle and, oddly, gives no way to move to the next puzzle. You have to go back to the main menu and pick a new one. The puzzle selection is odd too, using a horizontally scrolling list.<br />
<br />
The time taken also doesn't seem to be paused when you send the app to the background, so in a few cases I was told it took me hours to solve the puzzles, which certainly wasn't true.<br />
<br />
Another thing I disliked about the user interface is the behavior of the Sort button. It cycles among many different ways to sort the cards, when sorting by value first, suit second, or suit first, value second would have been more than enough.<br />
<br />
The game contains 13 free puzzles, which are not many but should be enough for at least an hour of play, because it takes a few minutes to solve each one. You can buy more puzzles using in-app purchases, but that's implemented in a strange way: you can only buy the "next" 13 puzzles, without being able to see a list of how many packs are available or their difficulty, and no option to buy multiple packs at a discount. I think this is something that needs to be addressed to allow the users to make informed purchases.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, if you like strict logic puzzles, this is definitely one to try.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★☆☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: green;">✔</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: green;"><span style="color: red;">✘</span></span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-8098378527591764602014-10-13T02:20:00.002+02:002014-10-13T02:20:44.748+02:00Review: Khaba for iPhone and iPad<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/khaba/id657312819?mt=8">Khaba</a> by the Swedish <a href="http://www.hellothere.se/">Hello There</a> was released last year, but I only played it recently. I was surprised by it because it has high production values, including full voice acting, but it is relatively unknown.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCyoi1S1e4p9Wi5wYWNYWOzy6bid_zlQvgaDF38j0WL-KWRzvBIFR3H7mr6NztYJpVkqKHvcz6wiNU_Qf8C_1OOBcw-irKmD5F1BXVlfP_57ueYENLbxcLOK-wU1E6KevDrN79BEFrp8C-/s1600/IMG_1465.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCyoi1S1e4p9Wi5wYWNYWOzy6bid_zlQvgaDF38j0WL-KWRzvBIFR3H7mr6NztYJpVkqKHvcz6wiNU_Qf8C_1OOBcw-irKmD5F1BXVlfP_57ueYENLbxcLOK-wU1E6KevDrN79BEFrp8C-/s1600/IMG_1465.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
I downloaded the game while it was free for a couple of days. I promptly <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria/status/515787072284946432">tweeted</a> about that; make sure to <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria">follow me</a> to not miss these opportunities!<br />
<br />
I really enjoy the overall atmosphere and the mechanics of the puzzles. Unfortunately, it looks like most of the development effort went into the aesthetics and too little on usability testing.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The premises are a bit of a stereotypical B-movie plot, which doesn't make them less appealing. You are an explorer trapped in a pyramid, and need to use a beam of light to advance through it. Everything is presented in a top-down perspective view, rendered in full 3D, though the 3D is only for presentation because the puzzles are strictly bidimensional.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE7UQbcDfxAhneWzF1gzfatmzexdQK01bmueqGv6xc2iJ-7fnLPresz8KAqK59RsUEUrdXpoq4cbo3AalS9EAZ__Cx1fjH7gFp0hvbPSiPpDJ4e1Of47yTXujHXv2Fqa65rdJWyt6-El0X/s1600/IMG_1466.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE7UQbcDfxAhneWzF1gzfatmzexdQK01bmueqGv6xc2iJ-7fnLPresz8KAqK59RsUEUrdXpoq4cbo3AalS9EAZ__Cx1fjH7gFp0hvbPSiPpDJ4e1Of47yTXujHXv2Fqa65rdJWyt6-El0X/s1600/IMG_1466.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
To control the beam you use some poles which, when struck by the light, can deflect it in any direction. There are also mirrors on the walls, which are fixed in place and can only be used to reflect the beam at a fixed angle.<br />
<br />
In the image above you see two types of poles: the one in the center can only be rotated, while the other two (the most common) can both be rotated and moved around. There is also a third type which splits the beam in two.<br />
<br />
When moving poles around, you are constrained by the environment. E.g. if there is a closed door, you can't move a pole through it unless you first open the door.<br />
<br />
After warming up for a few levels, the game introduces its main mechanic: when the beam hits the blue orb, you can tap the button on the bottom left and enable an "alternate plane" of light. That starts a beam of blue light, and transforms the screen from this...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBsWQQ98WlfZ2GRpKGjAdQdSwBa-JKdtCyQFDbVmDubd9paoAX3WpMHH6qenbldbpUx58Aq8q07K622enSzQeZkt2_BrPrMLBdncy1fcCUdagfm8184mEMf-w8frIdXYmLsMQyDloWK9WY/s1600/IMG_1468.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBsWQQ98WlfZ2GRpKGjAdQdSwBa-JKdtCyQFDbVmDubd9paoAX3WpMHH6qenbldbpUx58Aq8q07K622enSzQeZkt2_BrPrMLBdncy1fcCUdagfm8184mEMf-w8frIdXYmLsMQyDloWK9WY/s1600/IMG_1468.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
... to this.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROmWRjBMXhSXzeL7k6x_AVCvKekRBTrAstRrDgABK64qIFmMb3vcFiDqm0Nt1YXv38CxmWLJ-Quq8Xlm7LbngdHPbJIP1Yn5cJHXbT5RuEUT_Zdqzx_QCDSEbBoYrBfKhTNCcG8CD6n1g/s1600/IMG_1469.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjROmWRjBMXhSXzeL7k6x_AVCvKekRBTrAstRrDgABK64qIFmMb3vcFiDqm0Nt1YXv38CxmWLJ-Quq8Xlm7LbngdHPbJIP1Yn5cJHXbT5RuEUT_Zdqzx_QCDSEbBoYrBfKhTNCcG8CD6n1g/s1600/IMG_1469.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
There are two things to note in that image. The first is that, contrary to common physics, the blue beam <b>cannot</b> cross the yellow beam. So in the above example, to let the blue beam reach the left of the screen you'll need to make the yellow beam hit the orb from the other side.<br />
<br />
The other thing to note is that when the alternate plane is enabled, three green scarabs appear. Your secondary objective is to touch all three scarabs at the same time with the blue light. When you do that, you'll learn more about the pharaoh's story, and if you do it for all levels you'll get a different ending at the end of the game.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJvsPEP70trg4MrroDYc6jsUzTOmvaWPx4-gpSu6eZ-2caOhjyoKZGRvCjpsDU03dU_QEX0wXIGx_fBn8utl8IKDCnpIYKeyRUU6P0iJZqQU9F1K-gIeqIjgiXjdkYSBY_vlagi8XH8kv/s1600/IMG_1471.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJvsPEP70trg4MrroDYc6jsUzTOmvaWPx4-gpSu6eZ-2caOhjyoKZGRvCjpsDU03dU_QEX0wXIGx_fBn8utl8IKDCnpIYKeyRUU6P0iJZqQU9F1K-gIeqIjgiXjdkYSBY_vlagi8XH8kv/s1600/IMG_1471.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
As the game progresses, the levels become more and more complicated, containing glass doors that can only be crossed by light of the same color, and lots of switches to trigger. It's important to note that switches are of two different kinds: ones that need to be kept lit to keep the door open, and ones that need to be hit only once to permanently open the door. That's crucial to allow progression through a level.<br />
<br />
There are 28 levels in total, but if you're thinking that's not many, think again: completing a single level requires many steps and takes several minutes. If you go for all three scarabs (which you definitely should), even more.<br />
<br />
Having long levels is great, but in this case it's also a problem because your progress isn't saved: every time you launch the game, it starts again from the intro, and you have to go through the level selection menu, restarting the level from the beginning. This is an incredible oversight for a mobile game, and extremely annoying. Essentially, when you start playing, you'd better make sure to have enough time to finish a level.<br />
<br />
But as annoying as that might be, it pales in comparison to how frustrating the controls are. Directing the beams often requires extreme precision, which is very hard to achieve given how the controls have been implemented.<br />
<br />
First of all, every time you touch a pole the direction of the bem is reset to the position of your finger, which makes it impossible to do incremental adjustments. Second, as soon as you lift the finger, more often than not the beam direction will be altered, messing up your alignment and forcing you to do it again.<br />
<br />
I'll not even mention how often you move a pole instead of rotating it, or the other way around, or you pick the wrong pole when there are two next to each other. Those are minor issues compared to the one above.<br />
<br />
And all this is while playing on iPad Mini. I can imagine that the game must be totally unplayable on iPhone.<br />
<br />
This is a <i>huge</i> issue. Such poor controls wouldn't have been adequate for an early prototype, let alone a published game.Since I'm not the only one to complain about this, I would have expected the developers to hurry to fix it. Instead, the only update in the past six months was just to add more languages.<br />
<br />
I like this game, I really do; but I can't recommend spending money on it unless the controls are improved.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>☆☆☆☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★☆☆☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-67612603476843592014-10-07T00:32:00.001+02:002014-11-05T21:48:09.202+01:00Review: RGB Express for iPhone and iPad<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/rgb-express-mini-truck-puzzle/id887362336?mt=8">RGB Express</a> is captivating from the beginning. It has cute graphics and animations, an everyday theme that can be related with, and it just feels light and joyful.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKl3_4g7CsD5qD9nI6KCocGOyo_y9NWQhtPO8w1S8YuUc0zwrPqDzHRWo4kc1jlawNfnuccZatqo8huLVgODhRPNNGLrSe3Y8HozvWiPBx2Bm-xxpHQjy8TgB5QjcT5cYfimCk-oCEOxp1/s1600/IMG_1452.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKl3_4g7CsD5qD9nI6KCocGOyo_y9NWQhtPO8w1S8YuUc0zwrPqDzHRWo4kc1jlawNfnuccZatqo8huLVgODhRPNNGLrSe3Y8HozvWiPBx2Bm-xxpHQjy8TgB5QjcT5cYfimCk-oCEOxp1/s1600/IMG_1452.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
The Finnish-German developer <a href="http://badcrane.com/presskit/index.php">Bad Crane</a>
has clearly been targeting the young and casual audience with this game, and I think they've been quite successful. The mechanics are deeper than a simple casual game would require, but expert puzzlers will need a lot of perseverance before getting
to the interesting parts. <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>You control some trucks on a city map. Your objective is to collect some colored boxes and bring them to their destination. You do that by drawing the paths that each truck should follow; when you are satisfied with the paths, you tap the Play button to check if the solution works or not. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZR7fLiKbFPkKnXAl1LRxhMKNg6PF1_dmzWOYAoIUdkqNzDqwPBWZ-vYdyd6VCP5AGRSqO9Diw5BfFw4Mu9K5algm5M6bP5ST1u5LDuHPjHoDOdA74SzrPQtqQ0XbRz9RmXZSXWARDPBN/s1600/IMG_1456.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZR7fLiKbFPkKnXAl1LRxhMKNg6PF1_dmzWOYAoIUdkqNzDqwPBWZ-vYdyd6VCP5AGRSqO9Diw5BfFw4Mu9K5algm5M6bP5ST1u5LDuHPjHoDOdA74SzrPQtqQ0XbRz9RmXZSXWARDPBN/s1600/IMG_1456.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
The paths can cross, or touch in a corner, but you cannot pass through the same straight section of road more than once. This limitation implies that you cannot pass in front of a house without carrying a box addressed to it: the game immediately stops in that case, because it would not be possible to pass in front of the house a second time to deliver the package. Actually, as Federico Prat Villar <a href="https://twitter.com/efeprat/status/519267539978039297">showed me</a>, this isn't entirely true, because when the house is in front of a 3-way junction you would be able to pass in front of it twice. But the game doesn't allow you anyway.<br />
<br />
Also, there is a timing element because the trucks can crash into one
another, so you have to be careful to not make two paths cross at the
wrong moment.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAxwt_hge2vGFRlh4HD8-Zd0Tj03STtU6D8DTauncTL8nPRx42SAjGpAfSh2nFgZqJG2_CeLZqHLCmT0QNny7pm0T5fdqaJQ47aCD97TtpUs0fCFgYwjR1Iwa5yvpmlfrEaRfhfekURtft/s1600/IMG_1457.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAxwt_hge2vGFRlh4HD8-Zd0Tj03STtU6D8DTauncTL8nPRx42SAjGpAfSh2nFgZqJG2_CeLZqHLCmT0QNny7pm0T5fdqaJQ47aCD97TtpUs0fCFgYwjR1Iwa5yvpmlfrEaRfhfekURtft/s1600/IMG_1457.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
The trucks can pick up more than one box at the same
time, but no more than three. That's an important limitation in a few
cases, where you might like to pick up four or five boxes at the same
time and deliver them later.<br />
<br />
The colored trucks can only deliver boxes to houses of their color, but they can pick up boxes of any color. There are also white trucks which can deliver boxes of any color. In that case, your load acts as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_%28abstract_data_type%29">stack</a>, so the last box picked up is the first to be delivered. You cannot pick a red and a green box and then pass in front of the red house: you need to deliver the green first.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMTjWQT0iLkZiRrGAOrcJT6gY7-TvgOTdou1xpFJN8G0qIDdgdiueI44Ktdn6PW7QZlb92c8zedVHLo3ukuEuVO9V7CK9VJ6UybkYTblNPsSr4lfg3iK7qVzkx-jC9M_G_KoRu9RrTnskp/s1600/IMG_1458.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMTjWQT0iLkZiRrGAOrcJT6gY7-TvgOTdou1xpFJN8G0qIDdgdiueI44Ktdn6PW7QZlb92c8zedVHLo3ukuEuVO9V7CK9VJ6UybkYTblNPsSr4lfg3iK7qVzkx-jC9M_G_KoRu9RrTnskp/s1600/IMG_1458.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
Another element is movable bridges. When they are open, the trucks cannot pass over them. They are operated by buttons of the same color, found in other parts of the puzzle; sometimes there are two buttons, one to open and one to close.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV59C5VI1TX3lGHlv8xwqW4Khggu1yLPBd1Him3KwJyh7UfJWHJlUo6oqXn9T6WGKLjSOrbGdVkVsM5Cio2STVTruzhPocKYotRl-DdJQu_Zf5e08ysV53LEhP30_V6hqhZZQD0WE9YcV5/s1600/IMG_1459.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV59C5VI1TX3lGHlv8xwqW4Khggu1yLPBd1Him3KwJyh7UfJWHJlUo6oqXn9T6WGKLjSOrbGdVkVsM5Cio2STVTruzhPocKYotRl-DdJQu_Zf5e08ysV53LEhP30_V6hqhZZQD0WE9YcV5/s1600/IMG_1459.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
The most interesting element is drop points at intersections. You can activate them while designing the solution. When they are active, the first truck that passes over them drops its top box, and the second truck picks it up again (of course, the game rules imply that no more than two trucks can pass through the same intersection). This allows you to exchange boxes of different colors.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgczCBdazmK6I0x2g-GooxUqp1yoAp1pR_cVZs7FSQpCyTNBEYE2N8g4Ljt9NazDRkRafTvuLk1J53gQ7qgLrPTTshTspPxt3cDkkBU5qh6KOWR0tHninJdYp4YTh5r0blUI-HGLmBjlFhV/s1600/IMG_1460.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgczCBdazmK6I0x2g-GooxUqp1yoAp1pR_cVZs7FSQpCyTNBEYE2N8g4Ljt9NazDRkRafTvuLk1J53gQ7qgLrPTTshTspPxt3cDkkBU5qh6KOWR0tHninJdYp4YTh5r0blUI-HGLmBjlFhV/s1600/IMG_1460.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
The game sports 240 levels, but my main criticism is that most of the first half of them are nothing short of trivial, really too simple to be interesting.<br />
<br />
There's nothing wrong in being easy, but even then, there should be <i>some</i> challenge, something that makes the player feel smart for finding the solution. When there is no perception of challenge, there is also no satisfaction for solving a puzzle. I didn't feel challenged at the beginning, because in many cases I could literally draw the first paths that I could think of and they would just work. It felt more like grinding than thinking. I kept playing, confident that eventually the puzzles would become more stimulating, but I would have preferred if the game contained half the levels but of higher average quality and with a better difficulty curve.<br />
<br />
The first impact with the game has been carefully polished; I was impressed by details like the way how the clouds move in the city selection screen. I think some corners have been cut with the in-game animations, in particular when the trucks take a turn, which feels a bit jarring. I think there's also a bug in the animation of the bridges opening or closing. It doesn't look right.<br />
<br />
The user interface is good, but it's intrinsically complicated because of the many paths that you might have to draw. It requires some precision so I found it a bit too difficult to control on a small screen. On iPad Mini it's a lot better. It still doesn't feel completely intuitive, and correcting paths often seems to require more taps than should be needed.<br />
<br />
A very nice touch is that while you draw the path for one truck, the game shows how the other trucks will be moving along the paths you have already drawn. This makes it a lot easier to check that the timing is right and avoid crashes.<br />
<br />
Overall, this game is entertainment for the whole family so it's an easy recommendation. Be warned that it might require some patience before it becomes really rewarding.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-65415674337936967462014-09-28T00:39:00.001+02:002014-09-28T00:39:55.519+02:00Review: The Weaver for iPhone and iPadThe other day I noticed the polished icon of <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/the-weaver/id915862412?mt=8">The Weaver</a> among the new releases, and I was thrilled to see that it was developed by the Portuguese <a href="http://pyrosphere.net/">Pyrosphere</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKqJiTn_vUrJBNM9VUVM4eQcv7nMMAZd7QdbhrC79dnqEl3rfy7VTaIctrEPUvNJRHk0lkQyYjFVYQYyF5JXkQVR6cM8tnva_71PaGpLv8q0ciOYx44tHMwXBvIZv9gr4NRcX3PUO-gQIH/s1600/IMG_3198.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKqJiTn_vUrJBNM9VUVM4eQcv7nMMAZd7QdbhrC79dnqEl3rfy7VTaIctrEPUvNJRHk0lkQyYjFVYQYyF5JXkQVR6cM8tnva_71PaGpLv8q0ciOYx44tHMwXBvIZv9gr4NRcX3PUO-gQIH/s1600/IMG_3198.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
Pyrosphere might not be as well known as other big names in the industry, but I think it is one of the best developers of puzzle games in the world. I've reviewed other great games by them in the past: <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/02/lazors-review.html">Lazors</a>, <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2014/02/chess-light-review.html">Chess Light</a>, and <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/06/bloom-box-review.html">Bloom Box</a>.<br />
<br />
I wasn't disappointed; The Weaver is excellent, and I couldn't stop playing until I had <i>almost</i> finished it.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>There is a remarkable number of ribbon-weaving puzzle games: clearly it has something that appeals to our playful side. I reviewed <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2014/09/tapes-review.html">TAPES</a> just last week, but the obvious precursor of this game is <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/09/strata-review.html">Strata</a> In my review, I criticized Strata because it was possible to solve all its puzzles using a mechanical procedure. I'm glad to say that while The Weaver looks remarkably similar at first glance, it doesn't have a similar weakness.<br />
<br />
The play area consists of a few colored ribbons entering from above. Their paths are blocked by colored squares; your objective is to route the ribbons in such a way that each ribbon exits the screen passing over a square of the same color.<br />
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One move consists of tapping one of the intersections. That folds the two ribbons passing there, making them go in the opposite direction. For example here my first move is on the blue and green ribbons, which produces this result:<br />
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The blue ribbon was able to exit the screen because it's now passing over a blue square.<br />
<br />
Note that the fold only happens along a vertical line: this means that the ribbons always enter from the top, change direction a number of times, and exit from the bottom. You cannot send a ribbon back to the top. This fact can be used for many logic deductions.<br />
For example in the position above if I let the green ribbon go over the red one, there's no way to make it climb back to the green exit. Therefore, I must put a fold on the red/green intersection, like this:<br />
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And with a final move, the puzzle is solved.<br />
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In this case the solution was unique, but in general the puzzles can be solved in multiple ways. The number of stars you get depends on how many folds you did. Note that you can do as many moves as you want while solving the puzzle; the only thing that matters is how many folds are left at the end.<br />
<br />
I haven't verified this, but knowing the quality of Pyrosphere's puzzles I'm pretty sure that every puzzle has only one 3-star solution.<br />
<br />
As you progress through the game, there are no additional mechanics: the only things that change are the sizes of the puzzles (which aren't necessarily square), and the number of colors shown on each exit. Interestingly, having more options on each exit actually makes the puzzles harder, not easier, because it adds uncertainty, and the optimal solution is only one.<br />
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But there are logic deductions that can be applied to this additional uncertainty, too. For example in the above puzzle there is only one purple ribbon, which must exit from the bottom left. All the other purple exits are just decoys that can be ignored.<br />
<br />
Things get more and more complicated and in the later puzzles it becomes difficult to solve the puzzles solely through logic; like in Lazors, you have to also rely on intuition and experimentation.<br />
<br />
Often times, you can reach a suboptimal solution rather quickly but then have to spend a lot more time improving it if you want to get three stars.<br />
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One thing to note is that, unlike in other games, in this one the ribbon metaphor wouldn't be really needed. Instead of ribbons, you could have had light beams and vertical mirrors: the effect on the puzzle mechanics would have been identical.<br />
<br />
However, it wouldn't have been nearly as fun: the use of ribbons is a major element in the appeal of this game. The way how the animate as you make your moves is relaxing and almost hypnotic. I think this game is a perfect application of a game design principle well explained by Ted Brown in an <a href="http://gamasutra.com/blogs/TedBrown/20140331/214321/Commercially_Viable_Design_on_Mobile.php">article</a> I read some time ago:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Give [your players] a clear goal, give them a
simple way to achieve that goal, give them fantastic feedback, and stop
there. It might be enough.</blockquote>
I'd also like to mention that while I've been growing used to recent games running poorly on my old 4th Gen iPod Touch, this one runs beautifully. So don't waste any more time and go download this little treasure.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-76305427867453440432014-09-20T23:48:00.001+02:002014-09-20T23:48:30.667+02:00Review: TAPES for iPhone and iPadI like discovering good puzzle games that might be overlooked by most people. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id904554578">TAPES</a> by <a href="http://qudan.net/">Yohei Sato</a>, a brilliant game with a user interface mostly in Japanese, is certainly one of them.<br />
People that <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria">follow me</a> on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria/status/500679715708207104">knew it first</a>; now let's talk about this little gem in more detail.<br />
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It's no mystery that I like <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/search/label/path">path finding puzzles</a>. <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/08/blockpath-review.html">BlockPath</a>, for example, made into my list of the <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.it/2013/12/the-10-best-puzzle-apps-of-2013.html">10 best puzzle games of 2013</a>. I have been even <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TwistyTrip">developing one of my own</a> in the past months—though that project is currently on hold.<br />
<br />
I thought I had seen everything about this concept. I was amazed, then, to be totally surprised by the rules of TAPES.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The game begins in the easiest way. Start from the dot and fill the grid. Piece of cake.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR-fX3Yl8je2kK37wZcRRgGRZ5NX5B9d5fmzHL8fquuktUKpkP6n5Dh60sRlq-8eEoxrWFzcSsDth9zPWgqYqSxEj01TOsmPTmbdMq6SkM-4rrl8yzV6uWtP54CrhzfiDz_PxxxJ7b_hEy/s1600/IMG_3182.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR-fX3Yl8je2kK37wZcRRgGRZ5NX5B9d5fmzHL8fquuktUKpkP6n5Dh60sRlq-8eEoxrWFzcSsDth9zPWgqYqSxEj01TOsmPTmbdMq6SkM-4rrl8yzV6uWtP54CrhzfiDz_PxxxJ7b_hEy/s1600/IMG_3182.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
But soon, something different happens: unlike most other similar puzzles, the paths <i>can</i> instersect. So from here...<br />
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... you need to do this.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdcPNw8rb81hf9TDOr2Hs_oniB7a2cJDJZpIN-jSe2LmGtb7GLv1dXimaddxCDpA8jwX91GTpSXp-OkF64VhDaCxCPbiiVM8GW5V8eZAuFoWkRYqfXNDOiNzYyRUp7ohX5lRmm3shVfb1/s1600/IMG_3184.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdcPNw8rb81hf9TDOr2Hs_oniB7a2cJDJZpIN-jSe2LmGtb7GLv1dXimaddxCDpA8jwX91GTpSXp-OkF64VhDaCxCPbiiVM8GW5V8eZAuFoWkRYqfXNDOiNzYyRUp7ohX5lRmm3shVfb1/s1600/IMG_3184.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
There is a subtlety in the rules: two paths can go over the same cell
only if they pass straight through it, crossing each other. When a path
makes a turn on a cell, no other pass can use that cell. So in the above case, it wouldn't be possible to go down with the green path and right with the blue one.<br />
<br />
The other surprise is that a path can intersect itself, and this is often required to solve the puzzles. Look at this one for example:<br />
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there's no way you would be able to fill the grid without going through the same cell twice. Allowing that, the solution is still unique.<br />
<br />
Did you notice that there is a number inside the dots? That's the final brilliant rule. The number indicates over how many more cells the path must pass before filling the board; not one more and not one less. Look at this for example:<br />
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It would be trivial to fill the grid doing an obvious path, but you'd end in this position:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXB_bzNHiReSBVjVxja5OKR2hUMbWmeWlDRNTRnBLBJ612X9edcUmiTYsxQvOBhYt7y8MCIYgM5IrGcNE9y-478VHi2twcxVu8BrgrzNaoi0lGL_PkX5jdHQvkMa6enjLvSMBpp6lZ7Zl9/s1600/IMG_3188.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXB_bzNHiReSBVjVxja5OKR2hUMbWmeWlDRNTRnBLBJ612X9edcUmiTYsxQvOBhYt7y8MCIYgM5IrGcNE9y-478VHi2twcxVu8BrgrzNaoi0lGL_PkX5jdHQvkMa6enjLvSMBpp6lZ7Zl9/s1600/IMG_3188.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
That's not a solution because you still have 4 more cells to go over. To use those extra cells, you need to make the path intersect itself.<br />
<br />
These rules work perfectly to produce delightfully enjoyable puzzles; 108 of them, in the current version. Most of them are not too hard, but they are very fun, and I think that a major reason for that is because the solutions are simply beautiful to look at; I've talked about "paths" so far, but as you have seen, the game represents them as ribbons, which is a perfect metaphor for the rules.<br />
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When you solve a puzzle it scrolls away automatically, but you can pull down the screen to look again at the pattern you just created; something that I've done more than once. I think it would have been more rewarding to give full relevance to the solutions and let the player move on when they want.<br />
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The puzzles can be surprisingly challenging to solve. The rules controlling the intersections require a different approach from many similar concepts. You can also use a good amount of logic: for example the cells where a path must end are often obvious, and you can use reasonings about parity to rule out certain combinations.<br />
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My main regret with this game is that the user interface is not as good as it could be. Drawing the paths is not very smooth, because if you don't move your finger very precisely it's easy to leave the dots behind. Additionally, I would have liked to simply tap a cell in the middle of a path to erase the rest of it and start drawing a new one. Instead, the only way to erase a path is by drawing it backwards, which can get tedious when the path is long.<br />
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But those are minor inconveniences when compared to the fun I had. Highly recommended.<br />
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<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-30693481297181239092014-09-14T03:16:00.001+02:002014-09-14T12:56:24.195+02:00Review: Go To Gold for iPhone and iPadWhat drew me to <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/go-to-gold/id843836275?mt=8">Go To Gold</a> by Timur Nigmetzianov was its very nice graphics. I didn't expect that the puzzles would be even better.<br />
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I downloaded this game while it was free for a day, and promptly <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria/status/507816426606821377">tweeted</a> about it. Make sure to <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria">follow me</a> to not lose these opportunities!<br />
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Go To Gold is based on the classic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokoban">Sokoban</a> puzzle, so it doesn't need many explanations. It has however some aces up its sleeve in terms of originality.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>But first, the basic rules, in case you don't know them. Your goal is to move some blocks to the indicated positions on the board. You can move the blocks only by pushing them, not pulling; and you can push only one block at a time.<br />
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The first level helps getting acquainted with the mechanics and controls, but it also shows what this game is not: it is not one of those games that hold the player by their hand with an endless series of trivial puzzles at the beginning, fearful to scare away the less confident players.<br />
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No, here we start with a puzzle which, while very easy, still requires a fair amount of work.<br />
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And then the second level already requires <i>a lot</i> more work. At this point, I was already hooked.<br />
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What I like about the selection of puzzles in this game is that they are compact, don't contain many objects, but they are very satisfying to play. There aren't many levels in total—they are 64 divided in four groups of 16—but each one provides its own challenge, and after playing the game for a week I'm still fighting through it. Most of the levels are requiring me multiple sittings, because I just can't figure them out. The <i>a-ha!</i> moments when I finally <i>see</i> how it's possible to navigate around the seemingly impossible position are some of the best ones I've experienced in a while.<br />
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I found logic to be very useful in approaching these puzzles. The tight spaces mean that there is very little freedom of movement, and in most cases even getting a block on its goal and out of the way doesn't make things any easier. It helps to think backwards from the goal position: there is often only one way to push a block onto a goal tile, which gives valuable hints on what needs to be done before.<br />
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I would be happy just having this kind of puzzles for the whole game, because they are that good. But the author has done more: there are four different settings, with slightly different rules.<br />
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In the second group, the blocks are colored, and each one needs to go to the goal of the same color.<br />
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In the third group, there are no clear goal positions. Instead, your objective is to use some mirrors to reflect a beam of light and make it hit a certain block.<br />
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In the last group, there are colored walls which need to be lowered by pushing blocks over the corresponding colored buttons.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvqQD2OO1JJnimr9Mq-jsCBOpXfCxRp2vJMGfWUfzRjtaV0a2Fc0JKDaKZA08cUf55L5nIvhdSHg3JGm3PVZ3BZqX3aejMGIGsIQf83HPDR5l39wABQt56jteQOW7YhKZ1pBQQDq3hE9Ll/s1600/IMG_3177.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvqQD2OO1JJnimr9Mq-jsCBOpXfCxRp2vJMGfWUfzRjtaV0a2Fc0JKDaKZA08cUf55L5nIvhdSHg3JGm3PVZ3BZqX3aejMGIGsIQf83HPDR5l39wABQt56jteQOW7YhKZ1pBQQDq3hE9Ll/s1600/IMG_3177.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
Also, extra points for making all levels playable from the start. No frustration if you get stuck on a level: just try another one.<br />
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As can be seen from the screenshots, the graphics are very well done. The animations are very good too, and the music is on the same level. This is really an excellent presentation, possibly the best I've seen for a Sokoban game.<br />
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My initial reaction to the controls was that your man moves a bit too slow, and it's tiring to have to swipe for every step.<br />
In Sokoban puzzles, how you walk around isn't really important, the only thing that matters is which sides of the blocks you can reach and push. Therefore, some games have implemented interfaces where you just tap where you want to go and the character moves automatically.<br />
However, I must say that the controls grew on me after a while. Swiping requires less precision, so it's easier to play one handed. Also, the game intelligently queues every swipe you make, so you can issue multiple commands quickly and then wait for the character to complete them. I just wish that he moved a bit faster.<br />
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I consider this one of the best puzzles games of the year and I strongly recommend it for the quality of its levels.<br />
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<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: green;">✔</span></span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-40354693002830378772014-09-02T00:52:00.001+02:002014-09-02T00:52:17.830+02:00Review: Watercolors for iPhone and iPad<i>I'm glad to host another review by Roberto Canogar. Hopefully more will follow!</i><br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/watercolors/id875838755" target="_blank">Watercolors</a>, developed by ADONIS SOFTWARE from Romania, is a Free game that was released a couple of months ago. It reached the #1 position in the Education category in 77 countries, and in the Puzzle category in 13 countries (including big countries like USA, UK and Canada to name a few).<br />
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At the moment the number of players in Game Center is close to one million. So, we can say it has been a successful game. But, is it a good puzzle game? What are the reasons behind its success? Lets try to answer these questions.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Watercolors is a game about mixing colors and also about drawing. I think that games that let you draw with colors have an immediate gratification. All of us secretly would love to know how to paint.<br />
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This game lets you mix colors effortlessly and with a clear objective, something that in real life is much more smudgy. Also, this theme seems to be a good match for the Education category as the numbers above suggest. Other puzzles inspired by these ideas come to mind: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/flow-free/id526641427" target="_blank">Flow Free</a> and especially <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/puzzle-restorer/id599259794" target="_blank">Puzzle Restorer</a>.<br />
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Well, now let's talk about the game mechanics of Watercolors. This game is about mixing three elementary colors: blue, red and yellow. So first we have to get very familiar on how they mix.<br />
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Bellow we see a detail of Level 1 and Level 2. The first one (on the left) shows us that we have to drag colors from filled circles to glowing and hollow circles of the same color by following a path of connected white circles.<br />
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The second level (on the right) tells us that we can combine colors by dragging a color on top of another one. So we can make a first stroke from the yellow filled circle to the empty spot indicated by the arrow, and then we can make a second stroke from the blue filled circle all the way to the bottom because as we pass the yellow circle the stroke changes to green (Blue+Yellow=Green).<br />
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But level 2 can be drawn with one stroke! We start it from the yellow filled circle and we go to the blue filled circle which will change color to green (see left). Then without lifting the finger we go all the way to the hollow green circle (see right).</div>
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By solving levels with the minimum number of strokes we gain 3 stars, and for suboptimal solutions we receive 2, 1 or even 0 stars. I enjoy finding the minimum number of moves.<br />
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It is quite rewarding to do all the steps that are involved in the resolution of a puzzle. First we have to look at the picture, recognizing the elementary colors and the compound colors and their relative positions. Second we plan our strokes, and third we execute them. Many times the strokes are long and go back and forth the screen, and change several times of color as they pass through different solid circles. Like the next one, that can be solved with one long stroke.<br />
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But then, the next level is essentially the same, even the same colors. OK, instead of Snakes (look at the title of the levels) we have to draw a Fancy Glass, but that's it.<br />
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The next one, level 10, is almost the same again. This happens often. Level 5 and 6 are equally similar. Then level 11 and 12 are also the same. I often think "<i>OK, I've got it... don't bore me, please!</i>". But this repetition is done purposely, and it probably makes more good than harm. I don't like repeating puzzles, but there must be a lot of people who prefer it this way.<br />
<br />
Apart from the tiresome learning curve I would say that the level design is dull. One is rarely surprised by a cleverly designed level. Sporadically, one gets a very tough one (e.g. level 17 of the Three-Colors pack). There is a Pro-Pack which is challenging, but the levels look messy and chaotic. The result is that the levels are not enticing at all.<br />
<br />
To add more variety there is a time mode, where we have to solve as many levels as possible in a specific amount of time. But the selection of levels presented in the time mode seems like a random selection of levels from the standard mode. So we may start with a trivial level, followed by a very complex one. There is so much luck involved in the random selection that I don't enjoy it, frankly.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I have to give a thumbs up for the presentation of the game. It is mostly white, very clean, nothing groundbreaking but simple and effective. The omnipresent white is a perfect backdrop for all the colorful strokes that you do. Then the user interface is quite good in general, but there are two things I dislike. First, the undo button doesn't discount the number of strokes, so if one wants to get three stars it is useless.<br />
<br />
The second problem is that the figures that you paint resemble objects (Snakes, Fancy Glass), so they tend to have many connected circles very close together, much more than otherwise required. So it is very easy to paint a wrong circle, which often implies starting over. This is more of a problem on the iPhone, and it is a big problem when you are under time pressure. In this sense the Grid-Pack worked better for me, because in this pack the connections are made through a grid so it very easy to follow a path.<br />
<br />
So, in summary, this is mostly an easy game, and thus very <b>approachable</b>. And even after all my criticism, playing it is an <b>enjoyable</b> experience. Probably these are two of the reasons of its success. But as a puzzle game it could have been better.</div>
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★☆☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Roberto Canogarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11481927198760823878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-20657510841153548182014-08-25T19:24:00.002+02:002014-08-25T19:24:53.889+02:00Review: Game About Squares for iPhone and iPad<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/gameaboutsquares.com/id908464540">Game About Squares</a> by Andrey Shevchuk is, sadly, both an exceptionally good puzzle game, and another story of shameless cloning on the App Store. There are actually so many clones that it's almost impossible to find the official version using iTunes, so make sure to use the link above.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1CVkzdpQNrOHZeRHkfq4XRy6pjQ12yPPsFkG-EgDVKPe8y5PU2CwdXk1PdI0vEgqGI8ecdzy8N-ijZ9MNH55a1ARrkUljJv3dnkV__N4Q75Qtc9Y0h057t1hIEOgYaJIKesg_Td7rOrn2/s1600/IMG_3161.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1CVkzdpQNrOHZeRHkfq4XRy6pjQ12yPPsFkG-EgDVKPe8y5PU2CwdXk1PdI0vEgqGI8ecdzy8N-ijZ9MNH55a1ARrkUljJv3dnkV__N4Q75Qtc9Y0h057t1hIEOgYaJIKesg_Td7rOrn2/s1600/IMG_3161.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
Born as a <a href="http://gameaboutsquares.com/">HTML5 app</a>, it was online for some time without gaining much visibility. Interestingly, like <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7373566">2048</a> before it, it seems to have become viral after it appeared on <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8092566">Hacker News</a>. Immediately after that, after the week or so needed to pass Apple's review, the App Store was flooded with clones.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>And for good reason! This is one of those rare cases of an idea brilliant in its simplicity, but at the same time capable of deep complexity.<br />
Your goal is to bring each square over the dot of the same color. To move the squares, you just tap them, and they move by one step in the direction of the arrow.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwOcMfmobYB7er_jdQOv5tlMvB6u28JQOVey6Q33tBlE1NdoOMyy6ac96Ubr6SuEXeblGWzXerIgI36W_S2Vl80Kt0SDoGM6dFEeW80ZCj3LR3HGLd7oGzp-dQxc2qptpni7p5aC3ktCV3/s1600/IMG_3162.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwOcMfmobYB7er_jdQOv5tlMvB6u28JQOVey6Q33tBlE1NdoOMyy6ac96Ubr6SuEXeblGWzXerIgI36W_S2Vl80Kt0SDoGM6dFEeW80ZCj3LR3HGLd7oGzp-dQxc2qptpni7p5aC3ktCV3/s1600/IMG_3162.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
Of course the squares aren't always finely aligned like in the above case, so you'll have to nudge them in the right position, by pushing them with other squares.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidABRuNTmoaNP0MOhVtdZkAeqBk77aOJz7FXg8Lusg-OY853OCpD6yEqfJGeKethvpFQfC8sxzMMyckafCjXAYwABvOj-PlTI0az7lw-iSuBC8YmrJXxGGvVEtIcnEWqVnetbRKkv-1fv0/s1600/IMG_3165.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidABRuNTmoaNP0MOhVtdZkAeqBk77aOJz7FXg8Lusg-OY853OCpD6yEqfJGeKethvpFQfC8sxzMMyckafCjXAYwABvOj-PlTI0az7lw-iSuBC8YmrJXxGGvVEtIcnEWqVnetbRKkv-1fv0/s1600/IMG_3165.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
To add more dynamicity to the movement of the squares, the board can also contain some dark arrows. When a square goes over one of those arrows, its movement direction changes. This is somewhat reminiscent of another great game released this year, <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2014/05/perfect-paths-review.html">Perfect Paths</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvnES4SeUFAUxvV0Uqv7zGRX4P-hrHAhRXU4M5XzPY8tIc-OI9dzUEh68bx1Prmq1-jX6hJFZ52EAY0UXSIoZZ3VUgvzZfR0_00oYyMxhZEruH_Ww8Z_NU3adZOiM1FrxmBWlSgxNlE8Z/s1600/IMG_3163.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvnES4SeUFAUxvV0Uqv7zGRX4P-hrHAhRXU4M5XzPY8tIc-OI9dzUEh68bx1Prmq1-jX6hJFZ52EAY0UXSIoZZ3VUgvzZfR0_00oYyMxhZEruH_Ww8Z_NU3adZOiM1FrxmBWlSgxNlE8Z/s1600/IMG_3163.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
And that's all! There are no other mechanics added to the mix.<br />
<br />
The game contains 36 puzzles, and be assured that it will keep your interest high until the end. The first few puzzles wonderfully teach the mechanics without need for any tutorial, then the puzzles start to get intriguingly simple and complex at the same time.<br />
This is some of the best level design I've ever seen, and I think it is the final proof that to make a puzzle game varied you don't need to add a lot of different mechanics, but you just need good mechanics that can be pushed to their limits in different ways.<br />
<br />
For example I got stuck for a while on this puzzle. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to be impossible, until it eventually clicked. Think outside the box. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZZk4eeuspgAbqoDhndlv4vM2wN_tD45-WFgsUMI37CDsJTd-GG9-AiZ5W8m1DM7e3GlEXShw8G1t4iNw8rEIm8vYxv-VP77U31Ogxsgwz6A66Ih6K-_goOcCqFy0OfzLnyvktWTAX4DK/s1600/IMG_3164.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZZk4eeuspgAbqoDhndlv4vM2wN_tD45-WFgsUMI37CDsJTd-GG9-AiZ5W8m1DM7e3GlEXShw8G1t4iNw8rEIm8vYxv-VP77U31Ogxsgwz6A66Ih6K-_goOcCqFy0OfzLnyvktWTAX4DK/s1600/IMG_3164.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
Inbetween the levels the author has added some jokes which made me smile a few times. Other people hated them.YMMV. Puzzled by the flowery dots in the above screenshot? You'll have to play the game to understand what's going on.<br />
<br />
The user interface is minimalist and works perfectly. The only minor issue I had was that the app is simply a wrapper of the HTML5 game done using <a href="http://phonegap.com/">PhoneGap</a>, so the frame rate is poor on older devices. But this isn't certainly the kind of game that requires 60fps to be enjoyed.<br />
<br />
This is without a doubt one of the best puzzle games of 2014, and its author is smart and witty. I hope to see more from him in the near future.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-7395632593926935162014-08-24T19:11:00.001+02:002014-08-24T19:12:26.561+02:00Review: iON Bond for iPhone and iPad<i>Apologies for the infrequent updates. I've been tied up by family matters and by contract work on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/puzzlium/id562785450?mt=8">Puzzlium</a>. So many great puzzle games have been released in the past few months! Even if I don't have time to write full reviews, I always talk about the best games on Twitter, so make sure to <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria">follow me</a>.</i><br />
<i> </i> <br />
It's rare for me to like puzzle games that have a real time element, but <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/ion-bond/id877613755?mt=8">iON Bond</a> by <a href="https://twitter.com/StewHogarth">Stewart Hogarth</a> caught my interest, probably because the timing is very relaxed and doesn't require deadly accuracy nor lightning fast reflexes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKmFpxg4QvAKBwzeSh5gUcGfrWzg5TD27Mfsp8EKWCCiJbmqyCTSxtQqhG_NYjXZIKobVFZz93wUgPI-ofRIR0AxVQwxqY24iLBytePjX2vgSFHtjo0yChIXU4NttozTZqL69tFFR4ysR1/s1600/IMG_1399.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKmFpxg4QvAKBwzeSh5gUcGfrWzg5TD27Mfsp8EKWCCiJbmqyCTSxtQqhG_NYjXZIKobVFZz93wUgPI-ofRIR0AxVQwxqY24iLBytePjX2vgSFHtjo0yChIXU4NttozTZqL69tFFR4ysR1/s1600/IMG_1399.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Those ?????? you can see above intrigued me enough that I made it a point of honor to see what was hiding there before writing this review. I succeeded, which should be good proof that the game is interesting enough, and the difficulty properly balanced.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The premises of the game are pretty simple. There are some particles on the screen, which you can't control directly, but only through bonds that you can form with other particles. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifmaeyxRQ-DJIcoHQvAv_tA_EqMH8cr7JFzCtf-VkK-bxsQbh68nmtFGJcXPeXr6W9LbDWtuk1I43CnyJClbv9RuA5NrijWXgD1WESEeULk0QLNOD5fJt9V6aem47Ae9GxxVxSw_50CZ_/s1600/IMG_1430.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifmaeyxRQ-DJIcoHQvAv_tA_EqMH8cr7JFzCtf-VkK-bxsQbh68nmtFGJcXPeXr6W9LbDWtuk1I43CnyJClbv9RuA5NrijWXgD1WESEeULk0QLNOD5fJt9V6aem47Ae9GxxVxSw_50CZ_/s1600/IMG_1430.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
You use your finger to draw bonds. When you connect two particles, they start to interact depending on their sign. Opposite signs attract, equal signs repel. The particles have lots of intertia and they move rather slowly, so you have time to form complex interactions between multiple particles. You can also break the bonds you formed by swiping through them; this is something that you'll need to do often as the game progresses.<br />
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When two particles collide, they leave traces reminiscent of the ones we are used to see when reading about particle accelerators. Your primary goal is to make all particles collide. The secondary goal is to collect all the small grey dots (which represent neutrinos).<br />
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The particles can have different colors; only particles of the same color will react during a collision, particles of different colors will just stop.<br />
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Charged particles are the most common, but there are also neutral particles like the red ones below. They don't interact with other particles, so you need to find other ways to move them.<br />
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Normally the walls are friendly: they just stop the particles, but you can draw bonds over them without limitations. Dark walls, however, will destroy particles that hit them, which isn't a good thing, because to complete a level you must destroy the particles only through collisions. Additionally, bonds cannot pass through dark matter, so e.g. in the level below you can't bond the two red particles.<br />
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There are many other elements introduced later, like "uncertain" particles, energy fields, unstable particles. This helps keep the game varied through its 60 levels.<br />
<br />
The game plays in real time, however it doesn't feel like an action game, because the speed is quite slow. The levels feel more like proper puzzles, because figuring out what to do is harder than timing your actions correctly. Many of the levels have an easy, obvious solution which unfortunately isn't enough to collect the neutrinos. To get those, you often have to go significantly out of your way.<br />
<br />
The user interface is improvable. I found it annoying that there isn't a button to immediately restart a level: you need to go through an intermediate menu. I was also put off by the very long fades and unskippable splash screen that happen when you launch the game. It all gives a feeling of a "console" game, instead of a mobile game that one wants to load as quickly as possible.<br />
<br />
The game doesn't work well on phones, because everything is very small and difficult to interact with. Additionally, on my 4th gen iPod Touch it ran at a rather low frame rate, making it sluggish and difficult to control. On iPad Mini it works fine.<br />
<br />
Curious about what the ?????? button I mentioned at the beginning does? I'm not going to spoil the surprise: you'll need to collect three neutrinos in all levels to see for yourself. However, I think that to make the effort really worthwhile there should be Game Center integration, which sadly is missing.<br />
<br />
All in all, this is a nice relaxing game which is worth a try. <br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★☆☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★☆☆☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-56183044601169621222014-07-31T19:49:00.000+02:002014-08-05T00:54:23.002+02:00Review: J-Fizo for iPhone and iPad<i>In what I hope will be the first of a long series, I'm delighted to host a review written by Roberto Canogar, one of the authors of <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/08/sky-scramble-review.html">Sky Scramble</a>. Roberto is a mathematician and we have frequent email exchanges about our future games and puzzles in general. I can't wait to read what he has to say about this game. — Nicola</i><br />
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First of all, this is my first post here and I am really happy to contribute.<br />
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/j-fizo/id855386909?mt=8">J-Fizo</a> (Free) was developed by Adam Błaszkiewicz. A couple of weeks ago, Nicola <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria/status/489780811714285568">tweeted</a> about this game and compared it to my game <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/sky-scramble/id662516130?mt=8">Sky Scramble</a>, so I had to try it! Indeed, there is some resemblance but there is a big difference: while my game is geometrical (the distances are important), in J-Fizo the game is topological (distances are not important).<br />
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Let's get into business, J-Fizo (Free) was developed by Adam Blaszkiewicz. The game presents us with a network (or graph in mathematics), and on each node of the network we have a black token or nothing at all. The links of the network are colored, and for each color there is a button.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>In this game you have to move, split and join the black tokens by pressing any of the colored buttons. Your objective is to leave exactly one token on the network. When you press a colored button, the tokens move to adjacent <b>empty</b> nodes connected by that color. </div>
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As an example, let's consider the three possible moves for the above position:</div>
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<li>If you press the RED button, the bottom-left token moves up. </li>
<li>If you press the BLUE button, the upper-right token would SPLIT and two tokens would move along the blue links to end up on the two nodes at the left side. </li>
<li>If you press the YELLOW button, the right most token would move to the central node. Note that nothing else moves or splits because tokens block each other.</li>
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One last thing, if two tokens move to the same empty node they JOIN. Actually this is the only way you can diminish the total number of tokens. So, in the above example if you press yellow the two tokens join in the center-right node and you win because there in only one token left. So the first trick you learn in this game (and the only I did learn for a long time) is that you have to look for a configuration of two links of the same color that meet at a node (in the above example the two yellow links), we will call them V-configurations. These V-configurations are a sink of tokens so to speak. But V-configurations are also the only ones that create new tokens by splitting (recall that we saw this splitting in the first example when we pressed blue).</div>
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The game concept is very interesting and original, these days this is something very valuable in my opinion. The game could not be simpler: there is basically one rule and one objective and things can get difficult with small configurations. Actually too difficult. This must be one of the most difficult games I have tried on the App store.<br />
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Let us talk about the levels. You begin with a very clear and easy Tutorial with 5 levels. Then you have the Campaign with three packs of levels: "J-Fizo's ABC" (with 26 levels), "Hexpack" (33 levels) and "Hardcore" (14 levels). But for free you can only play the first 7 levels of the ABC pack, that's it, not very much but it will take you some time to solve those bloody hard levels! Then for a unique In-App-Purchase (the Ultra-Pack $1,99) you can continue playing the rest of the levels. In any pack only two levels that haven't been solved are open to play, so basically you have to solve them in order, except you can skip one level.</div>
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<a href="http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple2/v4/1f/97/7c/1f977c4f-96a5-4df4-74c0-55f923c24eae/screen1136x1136.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple2/v4/1f/97/7c/1f977c4f-96a5-4df4-74c0-55f923c24eae/screen1136x1136.jpeg" height="200" width="112" /></a></div>
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The style of the game is amateur. For example, the menus are done with the default style of a very common UI element (UITableView). The playing screen is also lacking. First of all, the background image is always the same. Then there is no information about how many moves you did and how long you are taking to solve the level, but your score depends on both. Talking about buttons, you only have two, and they are difficult to press: the hint button and the restart/exit button. In my opinion "exit" and "restart" should have their own dedicated buttons, and a button to take back moves should be available since in many situations it's impossible to retrace your steps. But one nice feature is that you can drag the nodes around to a configuration you like, this makes it very clear that the distances are not important, what is important is which nodes are connected. Anyway, the UI is too barebones but at least it lets you play the game without a fuss and at the end of the day that's what you really want with a puzzle.</div>
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A more annoying problem is that the game should warn you if you get into an unwinnable configuration, the tutorial shows you one and warns that you should restart, the problem is to recognize that you are in one of those configurations. I believe I did get into them a few times, and it is very frustrating because it takes time to realize what is happening.<br />
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You can use hints, but a hint is just a clue for only one move. Since solutions of medium levels have at least 10 moves, and you are given initially 10 hints you will run out of hints very quickly, which is a shame for such a hard game. But you earn a free hint for each level you pass, and also you can buy hints with an IAP.<br />
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The game prompts you to login to facebook, this is because the leaderboards work through facebook. Sorry, but for me this is not acceptable. Game Center works well, and that should be the default scoring system in my opinion. It's a pity because I would have loved to check my score against others, I have to say.</div>
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This game has a fatal flaw. The levels are too hard too quickly. Probably this is because of a lack of play-testing. In this game you are left in the wild from the beginning. What happened to me while playing most of the first 10-12 levels was this: after making some moves I returned to the starting position and this repeated several times (as if I was lost in the desert), then I started to more or less memorize the configurations I had already visited and when some new configuration could be reached I went ahead, many times it failed, but eventually I succeeded. This is a very painstaking process. For a long time I was not learning any tricks, and couldn't find any other strategy. Then half way the ABC pack, things started to change little by little. At long last, after I had built my own toolbox of tricks the game started to make sense and I started to proceeded with a sense of purpose. Now, after solving 30 levels (with the use of the free allotted hints) I do enjoy the game.<br />
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For example, a trick that you learn is how important it is to block moves. It often occurs that you have two token that move simultaneously in different parts of the network and when you try to bring them together they move closer just in the wrong way and can do nothing, its a parity problem. Many times the way to get out of the jam is to split one of the tokens so that one side of the network is so crowded that you block moves, while the other part remains empty and the token can move. This way you break the parity problem. Another trick, which is common in puzzles and applies here, is to find a configuration from which the solution follows easily. Then take that configuration as your objective.<br />
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To make things more visual and <b>see</b> how difficult a level can be, I analyzed the first level of Hexpack, which looks easy.</div>
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So, I encoded the above position with a binary number: 100001. The first 1 indicates the token at 3 o'clock, the next 0 is the empty spot at 5 o'clock and I continue clockwise until the last 1 that corresponds to the token at 1 o'clock. Then I did put all binary numbers in the diagram below (click to enlarge) and where the colored arrows describe the transition from one position to the another by pressing the corresponding color while playing the game. Sometimes when you press a colored button the configuration does not change, that would correspond to an arrow beginning and ending at the same position, I did delete those circular arrows for clarity.<br />
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In the diagram below I marked with "Begining[sic]" the initial position and with "End positions"the solution positions.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHZUVUxLWhSn5jmlKxX2gL6PQX5gUkj64UXWWkGsMlWRi5ToSsP5FrUe7Mp6DPGSug9Jqxad3Ee8Qu48MppHbvpqCPe5EwOGHT9eLX4CZwUMsdeeDNqShC-eygxs0Rep4DWpAoqIroAWEU/s1600/J-Fizo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHZUVUxLWhSn5jmlKxX2gL6PQX5gUkj64UXWWkGsMlWRi5ToSsP5FrUe7Mp6DPGSug9Jqxad3Ee8Qu48MppHbvpqCPe5EwOGHT9eLX4CZwUMsdeeDNqShC-eygxs0Rep4DWpAoqIroAWEU/s1600/J-Fizo.png" height="200" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(click to enlarge)</td></tr>
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To get to the "End Positions" you have to go necessarily through any of the two "Gateways" positions, and those gateways have also just one entry each (another position). So basically you have to go through very narrow paths to solve this level, and still there are several chances of doing the "wrong" move and just loose your opportunity because you can not undo your move (although sometimes you can). If you play the level without the diagram, one would typically just go around and around through the center positions, sometimes getting close to the gateways but without even being aware of it. If you don't know how this puzzle really works, if you don't know its tricks it is difficult to solve.</div>
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So my conclusion is that this is a very interesting puzzle, with barebones UI, but ruined by a poor level design. If you are patient enough you will be rewarded. But you should take this game as a really tough challenge. I did solve the whole ABC and I feel like a hero. At the moment I have only solved 4 of the Hexpack, but I will continue. The nightmare pack makes honor to its name, I was not able to solve even one of them. If you play this game please write a comment, I am really curious.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Comments</b>: maybe you have noticed the vertical mirror like symmetry in the diagram. It is no coincidence, for any other level you will see the same symmetry. That is, playing from position 100001 or from the complementary position 011110 will be completely equivalent. If you think about it for a while you will understand why, this is the kind of musings that mathematicians like :-) </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">And for the really mathematical oriented readers, I should say that this game reminds me of a mathematical object used to visually represent groups: </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayley_graph" style="font-size: small;">Cayley graph</a><span style="font-size: x-small;">. You could play this game in a Cayley graph, but tokens would never split or join, so it wouldn't be very fun.</span></div>
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<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
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<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★☆☆☆</td>
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<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★☆☆☆☆</td>
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<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
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<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
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<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: green;">✔</span></td>
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</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Roberto Canogar. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Roberto Canogarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11481927198760823878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-8490913411299203322014-07-20T01:52:00.002+02:002014-07-20T01:52:18.623+02:00Review: Stroke! for iPhone and iPadIt's become very difficult to browse through the daily new releases on the App Store: there are just too many apps released <i>every day</i>. For me, the reward is discovering, every once in a while, an indie game made with very limited resources but a good idea behind. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id890725690?mt=8">Stroke!</a> is one of those.<br />
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Developed by the Japanese <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ryo.takanezawa.5">Ryo Takanezawa</a>, a puzzle lover who has many other puzzle apps under his belt, is one of those games that Tom Cutrofello calls "<a href="http://gottasolveit.blogspot.com/search?q=topology+puzzle">topology puzzles</a>", and which I'd like to call "weakly constrained mazes". By that I mean that the goal of the game is to find a way through a maze where your movements are not limited by walls, but by other, less strict, rules.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>In Stroke's case, the rules are that your path must go through every cell exactly once, and when you pass on a colored cell, the color must match a predetermined order. This is what it looks like:<br />
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The row of squares at the top of the screen shows the color order. The arrow is pointing at the first square because you still have to make the first move. So your first move must be either on a red cell, or on a white one. Same with the second, while the third and fourth moves must be on either a blue cell or a white one.<br />
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I had seen puzzles with similar mechanics, where some cells contain a number and you need to go through the numbers in order. One of them is called <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/chemin/id634515088?mt=8">Chemin</a>, for example, but there are many others. Stroke, however, is notable because the clues are so vague and ambiguous. I think the greatest difficulty is that you don't know where to start. Luckily, if you get stuck, you can tap the question mark and the game will tell you where to start and end, which makes things a lot more straightforward:<br />
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Of course the 2x2 example was easy, but as the size of the puzzles and the number of colors increase, they can get quite difficult to figure out.<br />
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Note that the solution to the puzzles is often not unique, which makes them a lot less interesting to my eyes. Creating this kind of puzzles without caring about solution unicity is easy: you just pick a random path, select some random cells and assign them random colors. Done. Solving such puzzles, however, is often not as fun as it could be, because you can't use logic to guide you towards the solution. You cannot say "I must make this move because there is no other way to do it", because when there are multiple solutions, there isn't only one way!<br />
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The game contains a good number of puzzles, which are arranged in a "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-similar">fractal</a>" hierarchy. That is, the first pack has 2x2=4 puzzles of size 2x2, the second has 3x3=9 puzzles of size 3x3, and so on. I got to 5x5, I'm not sure how many more there are.<br />
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After you solve enough puzzles, the game rewards you with two more buttons on the title screen, which lead to puzzles with different rules.<br />
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The blue ones contain cells with an arrow, which point in the direction that you must exit the cell. I think this adds very little interest to the basic mechanics.<br />
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The yellow ones are a bit odd. They contain cells with a double arrow, whose effect is to swap two colors.<br />
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Initially, this seems pointless. Since you must travel through every
cell, and the double arrow cell affects the whole board, the net effect
is simply that you need to solve the puzzle pretending that the colors
are already swapped from the beginning. This makes the puzzles more cumbersome to play, but doesn't really add anything. However, when you start having more than one double arrow on the board, things change because the order in which you pass over them changes the final order of the colors.<br />
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The user interface is quite poor. For starters, this is a iOS 7-only app, but it uses that skeuomorphic linen background, which I found a bit odd. Apart from that, the transitions, especially in the pack selection screens, are extremely slow, making it painful to navigate to the pack you want to play.<br />
<br />
It's a tough battle, but this is possibly the most underrated game I've ever reviewed. When I <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria/status/483901319720472576">tweeted</a> about it. I was the <i>only</i> player on the Game Center leaderboards. There are still only nine players at the time of writing, so it can't really be called a success. While this surely isn't a masterpiece, I don't think it deserves such harsh results either. The mechanics are unusual enough to keep the puzzles interesting for a while, and they are challenging even at small sizes. Worth a try. Yes, even if it's so <a href="https://twitter.com/themeatly/status/490138513459785728">expensive</a>. If you do try it, please leave a comment and let me know what you think about it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★☆☆☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★☆☆☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-62991469059686666582014-06-20T17:47:00.002+02:002014-06-26T10:34:45.722+02:00Review: Titanic for iPhone and iPad<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/titanic-by-smartgames/id520096352?mt=8">Titanic</a> (also <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/titanic-lite-by-smartgames/id520097116?mt=8">free</a>) is a very original, hardcore logic puzzle game, a kind which nowadays is rarely seen on the App Store.<br />
<br />
Originally released in 2012, it recently received a major update, which doubles the number of levels. But not only that: the new levels are based on a new mechanic, which turns it into a very different puzzle. So this effectively more than doubles the value of the game.<br />
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Developed by SmartGames, like their other two games <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/03/roadblock-review.html">Roadblock</a> and <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/10/temple-trap-review.html">Temple Trap</a>, it's a digital adaptation of a clever <a href="http://www.smartgames.eu/en/smartgames/titanic">physical puzzle</a> with the same name.<br />
<br />
Like most of <a href="http://smartgamesandpuzzles.com/inventor/SmartGames.html">Raf Peeters</a>' puzzles, Titanic's theme is not just cosmetical, but it is strongly tied to the mechanics.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The setup is a shipwreck. There are passengers in the water, and lifeboats that must pick them up. In the first few puzzles there is plenty of space, so navigating around seems easy, however the strict movement rules make it more difficult.<br />
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The first rule is that to pick up a passenger, a boat must be placed in such a way that the passenger is beside the boat's seat. As you can see, the boats above are two units long, but they have only one seat. Additionally, the boats can move in all directions, but they cannot rotate. This means that the boat at the top cannot pick up the passenger in the bottom left corner, because there's no way to get him next to the seat.<br />
<br />
You'd therefore be tempted to move the other boat to the left and pick up that man. Unfortunately, that's prevented by the second rule: when passengers can climb on a boat, they must do it. You cannot pass by them and not pick them up. So as you moved the boat to the left, you'd pass next to the right passenger, and would be forced to pick him up.<br />
<br />
Things get quickly more crammed up, with more boats and passengers populating the board. In this puzzle there are three boats, and it's pretty clear by exclusion which passenger should be picked by each, but it's not that simple.<br />
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You can't simply move the bottom boat to pick up a passenger, then move it out of the way to be able to pick up the other one, because there's a third rule which prevents that: when a boat is full, it drops anchor and cannot be moved again. So you would end up in this position, with no way to pick up the passenger on the left.<br />
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This rule is crucial to the game balance. At the beginning, the passengers in the water limit the movement possibilities; as you pick them up, they free up space, which can be used to make moves which were impossible before. This is perfectly exemplified in the puzzle above, where one of the passengers cannot be saved until you get another one out of the way.<br />
<br />
If the boats continued to move freely after being loaded, the puzzles would become too easy after saving a couple of passengers. With the boats forming new barriers, instead, things remain interesting until the end. This restriction is made a bit less limiting by the presence of boats that can carry two passengers. In that case, the boat can save a single passenger and keep moving until it is fully loaded.<br />
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This process of moves becoming more limited as you proceed reminds me of an exceptionally hard puzzle game, <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.it/2013/03/tilemall-review.html">Tile'm all</a>, though in that case things are made even harder by the fact that no more space frees up as you move.<br />
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But don't worry, because the board can be <i>very</i> crowded anyway. There's remarkably little free space in the hardest puzzles, which makes it somewhat surprising that a solution even exists.<br />
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There's an additional rule, which I don't particularly like. In some cases, you can move a boat in such a way that it could load more than one passenger on the same seat. In that case, you have to choose which one to pick up, as indicated here by the ring buoys.<br />
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I think that this makes the rules less "clean", and I might have preferred if the puzzles were designed to make this occurrence not possible. However, given how crowded the board can be, this was probably just not possible.<br />
<br />
What I described up to now are the rules of the standard Titanic game. As I said at the beginning, the update recently released adds a new mechanic. Consistently with the game's theme, the new elements are iceberges.<br />
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Ice blocks can be moved, but not directly: they can only be pushed by the boats. For example, in the puzzle above the three blocks near the top are isolating a passenger, so you need to push them out of the way, while being careful to not pick up the right passenger ahead of time. The new element works very well with the theme, and does a good job of mixing the classic rules with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokoban">sokoban</a>. Note that, unlike sokoban, you <i>can</i> push multiple blocks at the same time.<br />
<br />
The paid version contains 204 puzzles, which can be played in any order. The free version generously contains 42 puzzles. You'll want to take advantage of the ability to play out of sequence, because the "iceberg" and "classic" puzzles are in separate groups, but alternating between the two helps keeping the gameplay more varied.<br />
<br />
What distinguishes this game from the average puzzle game on the App Store is the complexity of the rules. It's not that they are outrageously complicated, but they need attention and it's easy to get confused the first few times you play. It is even more surprising that this was born as a physical game: I can imagine people making mistakes and forgetting to pick up a passenger. The nice thing about the digital version is that it keeps track of the rules for you.<br />
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These are also not the kind of puzzles where you can play but just moving around carelessly. You need to think from the very beginning, because a wrong move will leave you blocked. Basic logic will help immensely, especially in the easier puzzles, because you can rule out all the impossible and remain with a handful (possibly just one) of options to try. The harder puzzles do seem a bit overwhelming.<br />
<br />
The graphics are nice. The water in the background is not animated, but everything else is; the boats gently rock, and the passengers turn to follow the movement of the boat you are interacting with. Sound effects are sparse but adequate.<br />
<br />
Input handling could be better: the boats can only move on a straight line, so if you want to move on a L shaped path, you have to make the first part of the move, release the finger, then drag again on the second part.<br />
<br />
The tutorial section could be improved. It has many pages of text, followed by a couple of interactive sections which don't really add much. It would benefit from being interactive from the start, and could probably omit some details, like the fact that boats cannot move diagonally.<br />
<br />
I can certainly recommend this game, along with all the other SmartGames. As I've said other times in the past, my only regret is that there aren't more of them on the App Store.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-49524158164217481862014-06-16T14:23:00.003+02:002014-06-16T14:23:32.088+02:00Review: SpinIn for iPhone and iPad<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id345302029?mt=8">SpinIn</a> (also for <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id882777295?mt=8">iPad</a>) by Klogia is a new release but looks old—and for good reason.<i></i><br />
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Confused by the splash screen? Well, don't worry. The actual game looks nothing like that. Actually, there is no "<b>Spin</b>" mechanic at all! Instead, it's a "<b>Tilt</b>" maze.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>I've reviewed other <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/search/label/tilt+maze">tilt mazes</a> in the past, so you know the drill. You can move in any direction, but when you do, all the pieces move in the same direction until they hit a wall. The goal is to make the block with a jewel on top go out from the side.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVKS6p71RryeU5zGD_ZOHwb7WPb7PeAbDFl0N_81IHoPmePONrqQTrpm5Ii_vlxhBlDmU6IBOuxK5Ag7cikXWHxaDdhXJz7z__mFXvlxxcR-JNzMnb1W_JH0xUx35PC7HAwNUZuldlKqV1/s1600/IMG_3135.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVKS6p71RryeU5zGD_ZOHwb7WPb7PeAbDFl0N_81IHoPmePONrqQTrpm5Ii_vlxhBlDmU6IBOuxK5Ag7cikXWHxaDdhXJz7z__mFXvlxxcR-JNzMnb1W_JH0xUx35PC7HAwNUZuldlKqV1/s1600/IMG_3135.PNG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
What makes this game apart is that the puzzles are very compact, never more than 5x4, and use a small number of pieces, usually just three. Despite that, they are challenging and rewarding. Often times I
played carelessly for a while, getting nowhere. Then I stopped to think and had a good "a-ha!" moment as I figured out the trick needed. This is a perfect example of how this kind of puzzles should be designed.<br />
<br />
Note that all the pieces can be removed, not just the jewel one. This is actually needed in some of the puzzles, like the above one.<br />
Of course the L-shaped pieces cannot be completely removed, but they can go out partially, which is a key part in many of the puzzles, like this one:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWfwwfteW329aaxeoUu2ObOZmPbrAUbZQEdGl5TGyUNwoPDgSGQVW9hFmnmFdKrQi6zH7QCUdrblMe3i_7gAUKM3rLvhmqVEk2otyQIGEZYkITfZYakmmVBdAd6DWGDb1kc7QewcaJ-lRv/s1600/IMG_3126.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWfwwfteW329aaxeoUu2ObOZmPbrAUbZQEdGl5TGyUNwoPDgSGQVW9hFmnmFdKrQi6zH7QCUdrblMe3i_7gAUKM3rLvhmqVEk2otyQIGEZYkITfZYakmmVBdAd6DWGDb1kc7QewcaJ-lRv/s1600/IMG_3126.PNG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
On the other hand, the fact that you can remove a piece doesn't mean that you should: for example to sove this puzzle you need the green block to remain on the board.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib0a7gRpkWc1y-6YvTCnX8T4-oW2subs2LmCAHIwA4Qq-BAfGB8dKOhBoXnJ9ZtPl6MxKObikNgKTCIh9ibOZxJo6YMEvHt3zDPcHe-P0XMEbaqiSOyi0ji5OwGpxTeVpyBckNBQIbhQNZ/s1600/IMG_3134.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib0a7gRpkWc1y-6YvTCnX8T4-oW2subs2LmCAHIwA4Qq-BAfGB8dKOhBoXnJ9ZtPl6MxKObikNgKTCIh9ibOZxJo6YMEvHt3zDPcHe-P0XMEbaqiSOyi0ji5OwGpxTeVpyBckNBQIbhQNZ/s1600/IMG_3134.PNG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
What I just said indicates that, unlike <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/03/review-blockhouse-puzzle-game-for.html">Blockhouse</a>, you <i>can</i> get stuck in an unwinnable state, so you need to be careful about what you do, and restart (or undo) if needed.<br />
<br />
As I said in my earlier <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria/status/478128792620503041">tweet</a>, this game was a pleasant surprise in the sea of clones that are currently devastating the App Store. However, it isn't really a new game: it was originally released in 2010.<br />
Some time ago it was removed from the App Store, and now it's back with a refurbished interface, new puzzles (I think), and updated with some free-to-play mechanics.<br />
<br />
The graphics really look outdated. All those textures and skeuomorphism make everything look heavy and overcomplicated. Ironically, if you look at Tom Cutrofello's <a href="http://gottasolveit.blogspot.com/2010/05/spinin-iphone-puzzle-app.html">review</a> of the original version, the graphics were less refined but a lot clearer.<br />
<br />
The user interface is terrible. It's confusing, difficult to navigate and interact with. There are just too many options!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9AfuSh1cmEOitrLhm7EMrE0tsJFKD0wdKTXz6fKcRnwu9f_8iuR1vGz_avv3Fj-roQOXqNxeuj-7_IwHzTQy42e1pSQqKbcudV2wFM8ocbNOPYL5T3W0vfsDPK05Q-46TCwkbLbWbTfz/s1600/IMG_3131.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9AfuSh1cmEOitrLhm7EMrE0tsJFKD0wdKTXz6fKcRnwu9f_8iuR1vGz_avv3Fj-roQOXqNxeuj-7_IwHzTQy42e1pSQqKbcudV2wFM8ocbNOPYL5T3W0vfsDPK05Q-46TCwkbLbWbTfz/s1600/IMG_3131.PNG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
Input handling during the game is ok, but there is an area at the bottom of the screen which is used for the undo functionality and often gets in the way.<br />
<br />
There's a total of 132 puzzles, which must be solved strictly in order, unless you want to pay to skip one.<br />
<br />
The most ridiculous thing is how a free-to-play timer has been added to the puzzle progression. After solving the first 24 puzzles, you have to wait 90 minutes before unlocking the next puzzles, or you can pay $0.99 and unlock them right away. Frankly I don't think this kind of mechanic can work in a game like this: the best thing it can accomplish is turn people away.<br />
<br />
Get this game for the good puzzles. However, it would probably benefit from a complete redesign of the user interface and presentation.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★☆☆☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★☆☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-51279772468662494702014-06-10T16:12:00.001+02:002014-06-10T22:21:58.536+02:00Perfect Paths: Score 900 in AndromedaA few people asked me: how can you score 900 in the Andromeda levels of <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2014/05/perfect-paths-review.html">Perfect Paths</a>?
They are simple puzzles, with an apparently obvious solutions; there
doesn't seem to be much freedom in order to gain extra points. But on
closer inspection, you can.<br />
<br />
If you <a href="https://twitter.com/NSalmoria">follow me</a> on Twitter, you should have seen a <a href="https://twitter.com/Split82/status/475917341403148288">retweet</a> about a <a href="https://mumwithanipad.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/perfect-paths-solutions-andromeda/">blog</a> which shows solutions for (almost) all the levels in the game. Of course you'll not want to spoil the game by peeking at solutions, but if you're seriously stuck, this will get you going. Even if you do copy a solution, there's still a lot of fun to be had by making it better and shorter to earn extra points.<br />
<br />
I already gave a few tips in my review of the game, but let's look at those again with specific examples.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfoXjqcdzixzzRDeGuo_DfeTpobJB24kfcKzOoPZ2r4hCZ7YHRD16URPzJgipPh0foM4XErYO-_wdZ6XUl3Ns0rvfhpqUsO_SB4Qij6_VkJtBWJ6kkVdkqJMYzi87CwK_MNXYhYGFfSt3D/s1600/IMG_1310.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfoXjqcdzixzzRDeGuo_DfeTpobJB24kfcKzOoPZ2r4hCZ7YHRD16URPzJgipPh0foM4XErYO-_wdZ6XUl3Ns0rvfhpqUsO_SB4Qij6_VkJtBWJ6kkVdkqJMYzi87CwK_MNXYhYGFfSt3D/s1600/IMG_1310.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<a name='more'></a>The solution to the above puzzle seems obvious: just draw straight paths to the goals and be done with it. However, this is inefficient. The score you get depends on only two things: the number of arrows you use, and the number of steps taken by the solution. In the above case, the number of arrows is optimal: you can't do better than that. However, the order of the arrows is not optimal.<br />
<br />
The blocks move following a 4-phase rhythm: UP, DOWN, RIGHT, LEFT. When for example you have two UP arrows one after the other, followed by a RIGHT arrow, this requires 7 steps: the block goes UP, then it stays still during the DOWN, RIGHT, LEFT phases, then it goes UP again, stays still during DOWN, finally goes RIGHT. So 4 steps are "wasted". <br />
If instead the order of the arrows is UP, RIGHT, UP, the block ends in the same position as before, but in only 5 steps: goes UP, stays still during DOWN, goes RIGHT, stays still during LEFT, and finally goes UP. So you save 2 steps, potentially worth 2 extra points. Which is what happens if you change the solution to this one:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG6qW-0fMWD_e5eV8uIAXM0BaZBV6SWrlqXAnu8qRF3L4vUnQ-LqTDjbGj9ltvt1QU3oHC7qIdWn6ghE-QMLczn-ru5a8mzqGcrJ9OpD8Nt88iSbIBNu267T0QV8-AWkvXFxgmnfRP-iuP/s1600/IMG_1307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG6qW-0fMWD_e5eV8uIAXM0BaZBV6SWrlqXAnu8qRF3L4vUnQ-LqTDjbGj9ltvt1QU3oHC7qIdWn6ghE-QMLczn-ru5a8mzqGcrJ9OpD8Nt88iSbIBNu267T0QV8-AWkvXFxgmnfRP-iuP/s1600/IMG_1307.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
I said potentially, because the only thing that matters is how long it takes for the <i>last</i> block to reach the goal. If in a puzzle there are two blocks, and one of them does a very short path while the other takes a longer route, it doesn't matter how short the first path is. It's better to keep the paths balanced and make the blocks reach the goal at about the same time. Look at this for example:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdPCOIGiAOMDGPtPxfe3_ZxPu6kez2Z_kCIxDskBv6mw8Py12TvlTl2RfLqDcPXUv-54e9svI9ylHdX0jmPqVkbZzwUJlT9FgHWmiZvfBBPurZNjMlKUcVTc6KmxSW5cDAvt-bZrniqoFu/s1600/IMG_1313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdPCOIGiAOMDGPtPxfe3_ZxPu6kez2Z_kCIxDskBv6mw8Py12TvlTl2RfLqDcPXUv-54e9svI9ylHdX0jmPqVkbZzwUJlT9FgHWmiZvfBBPurZNjMlKUcVTc6KmxSW5cDAvt-bZrniqoFu/s1600/IMG_1313.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
Here the yellow block does an optimal path, but the blue block goes all over the place. It's possible to do better than this.<br />
<br />
And to do really well in this level you have to take advantage of the most important element of the game: the ability to join and split blocks. Joining blocks is a major advantage because it allows you to move multiple blocks with a single command, saving on the number of arrows; but more importantly, it allows you to do things that are simply not possible for blocks moving alone. Look at this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih7oZV7Xl-07_e3OdvRFuyprLuD6bcAGDI9P2Rgw79FQrT4zS9mboUNOdvE9xlff2AnltuWy2cFnX1WivynNhtl-bDU2xGIrhEWMBf4c8TVuhex87X7B6L6xFk-5RlDjIdr0GiWMtG_zdm/s1600/IMG_1309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih7oZV7Xl-07_e3OdvRFuyprLuD6bcAGDI9P2Rgw79FQrT4zS9mboUNOdvE9xlff2AnltuWy2cFnX1WivynNhtl-bDU2xGIrhEWMBf4c8TVuhex87X7B6L6xFk-5RlDjIdr0GiWMtG_zdm/s1600/IMG_1309.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
Here the two blocks will join, move together to the left, split; then the yellow block goes up pushing the blue one into its goal, and finally move to its goal. This solution is both more compact and shorter of the previous one, giving 13 extra points.<br />
<br />
If you follow all these directions, you should easily be able to beat Andromeda with the remarkable score of... 899. That final extra point to reach 900 is still up to you. Try to find a different solution for the last puzzle which still uses joins and splits, but needs one less arrow.<br />
<br />
See you on the leaderboards!<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-5527590150517294202014-06-02T14:44:00.001+02:002014-06-02T14:44:54.835+02:00Update: Qvoid 1.8What a nice surprise! The best cube rolling puzzle game on the App Store, <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/05/qvoid-review.html">Qvoid</a>, has just been updated, adding 20 new puzzles.<br />
<br />
The new puzzles are elegantly small and challenging, as usual for this game. Here is the first one.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuS63tfuQHmYGhNKkZ-FvMr93TbsoZUzO8r6iWIMqds7-Ok6k0crps1SJfkyiAEyHUtSPIvzvtj4gUT5NbpqwdgIApA9rhboh8GerrROLvjT0MM_AON4Px8o5PQLPYQ-w_FtkPX5jI8Cr7/s1600/IMG_3123.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuS63tfuQHmYGhNKkZ-FvMr93TbsoZUzO8r6iWIMqds7-Ok6k0crps1SJfkyiAEyHUtSPIvzvtj4gUT5NbpqwdgIApA9rhboh8GerrROLvjT0MM_AON4Px8o5PQLPYQ-w_FtkPX5jI8Cr7/s1600/IMG_3123.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
My first attempt? 63 steps. Second attempt? 59 steps. The creator's? 13 steps. Classic.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Having new puzzles would be enough to rejoice, but this update does more: it also adds a new cell type!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnb1JR_Hg4FHIKncJaxTxlHuhaFuu0OTFysesPlju2mpPzZlt8ZGrbuLKFwk8dW4t7QtC1FCE5Bn5nIjAOW_pP2vt3_szTwXc5X9AMKoXC3rLVcv2ctqBNRkkkBbkBaqNnKuLi-fe6h45/s1600/IMG_3124.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnb1JR_Hg4FHIKncJaxTxlHuhaFuu0OTFysesPlju2mpPzZlt8ZGrbuLKFwk8dW4t7QtC1FCE5Bn5nIjAOW_pP2vt3_szTwXc5X9AMKoXC3rLVcv2ctqBNRkkkBbkBaqNnKuLi-fe6h45/s1600/IMG_3124.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
You need to enter these new cells following the direction of the arrow. You can then leave the cell in any direction. This allows to make some nice compact puzzles like this one, which took me a while to solve (also because I had forgotten what the white cells do...)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqe96OE6LHMn-qgSLrw8ICnnIBI1NsGeEe8ITr1howNRSzTgoYnBw2WNKjgscnjUKyp2zdugp0RGp3D2r-1zc6g_8aWOAuGDu4mCUKodgngEWB6vsbUzh7v02GsLeXQfo6QVUuTbsKPL0w/s1600/IMG_3125.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqe96OE6LHMn-qgSLrw8ICnnIBI1NsGeEe8ITr1howNRSzTgoYnBw2WNKjgscnjUKyp2zdugp0RGp3D2r-1zc6g_8aWOAuGDu4mCUKodgngEWB6vsbUzh7v02GsLeXQfo6QVUuTbsKPL0w/s1600/IMG_3125.PNG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
It's great to see this beautiful game still updated from time to time, years after its initial release. I can only expect that more updates will come out in the future, further extending the use of the new cell type.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-904944860636520887.post-45205335420983141532014-05-29T18:03:00.000+02:002014-09-22T12:48:36.140+02:00Review: Perfect Paths for iPhone and iPad<a href="http://www.hyperbolicmagnetism.com/">Hyperbolic Magnetism</a>, in the person of <a href="https://twitter.com/Split82">Jan Split Ilavsky</a>, surely knows how to make puzzle games that stand out from the crowd. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/perfect-paths/id856029362?mt=8">Perfect Paths</a> is his best so far.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr_Zbjamjy3OH1MQwZO1a3w0T3fXoQbS2Xk3HKgEoyvKL1-ahIZ1R6wSGu9SGMIVY7l4D4By9-8DyzhbQFaE_N200faYSWkaIyQSxucN-qtO6P4Ecj09JRC8M8wJfxe6aDUjs2VLygxwws/s1600/IMG_1295.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr_Zbjamjy3OH1MQwZO1a3w0T3fXoQbS2Xk3HKgEoyvKL1-ahIZ1R6wSGu9SGMIVY7l4D4By9-8DyzhbQFaE_N200faYSWkaIyQSxucN-qtO6P4Ecj09JRC8M8wJfxe6aDUjs2VLygxwws/s1600/IMG_1295.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
Perfect Paths is based on the previous <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id664311997?mt=8">Trappped</a>, an iPad-only game which I think was let down by the layout of the user interface. While they share the basic mechanics, everything else has been improved so much that it can be considered a wholly new game.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Since the launch of <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2014/02/threes-review.html">Threes</a>, I've seen more and more developers make animated gifs to showcase their game, which is great because it makes it so much easier to explain what the game is about. So here is Perfect Paths in all its glory:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCs2M8acBEWSwQ3AhgvPRsSXYbdt1dysPpgaJUv0tSh-zDqkpXsIn93J4lC_qF8c6N8y4a5DKTjyw37U-uHOd07dw1__g3BBKzV57a6Q3D7lJyQPwMeY19Sz9HQNN7WDJyAO4H35j05mbC/s1600/Game.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCs2M8acBEWSwQ3AhgvPRsSXYbdt1dysPpgaJUv0tSh-zDqkpXsIn93J4lC_qF8c6N8y4a5DKTjyw37U-uHOd07dw1__g3BBKzV57a6Q3D7lJyQPwMeY19Sz9HQNN7WDJyAO4H35j05mbC/s1600/Game.gif" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
If you feel a bit overwhelmed, that's fine: the mechanics are complex. The game does a good job of introducing the concepts one at a time, so let's start from the beginning.<br />
<br />
Your goal is to bring the blocks over the circles of the same color. To do that, you use arrows. You draw the whole path in advance, then when you are satisfied tap the play button. The blocks then start dancing an elaborate dance, underlined by very appropriate sound effects and elegant animations. It's fun to watch just for that, even if your plan fails, as will happen most of the time.<br />
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The immediate comparison that springs to mind is the classic <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/trainyard/id348719156?mt=8">Trainyard</a>. That is, however, a very different game; in many ways, easier and more intuitive. The key concept of Trainyard is the railroad switches which toggle every time a train passes through them. Once you understand how those work, you can do pretty much anything, and solving the puzzles is mostly a matter of adjusting the initial position of the switches.<br />
<br />
Parfect Paths, however, has nothing like that. Once you set an arrow, every block that passes through that cell will go in the same direction; you can't make one block turn left and the next one turn right. The only slight exception to this is crossroads, shown as diamonds on the board.<br />
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When a block passes through a crossroad, it just goes straight through it. This allows the paths to intersect, but there's not much else you can do without the other mechanics.<br />
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One important limitation is that you cannot put arrows on the goal squares (which makes sense because otherwise after reaching the goal the block would be sent away!) nor on the dashed squares. This creates configurations like the following one where some goals are apparently unreachable.<br />
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The solution to this is to use one block to push another. If you line up the blocks vertically so that the yellow one is on top and the red one is below it, when the red block moves up it will push the yellow one, and they can both reach their goals at the same time.<br />
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The extension of pushing is the other weapon you have at your disposal: by placing on the board the chain symbols that you can see at the bottom left of the screen, you can join blocks, so that when one of them moves the other will move together with it. Using this possibility can also be a requirement of the puzzles, like in this one, where the white lines between some of the goals indicate that the blocks over those cells must be joined (and note that like with arrows, you can't simply put a chain command over a goal cell).<br />
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The other two icons you can see at the bottom are the inverse command: they let you separate blocks which had previously been joined.<br />
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If you have been following carefully, you might have wondered about a possible loophole in the rules: what should happen if two blocks are joined and they are on two arrows with conflicting directions, e.g. one up and one down? Which direction should they go?<br />
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The answer lies in the most subtle element of the game: the phase timeline. The arrows are not all active at the same time: instead, one direction is processed at a time. After you tap the play button, you can see the phase timeline scroll at the bottom of the screen, showing the order of things: first UP, then DOWN, then RIGHT, then LEFT.<br />
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When the blocks start pushing and linking, the phase order becomes very important to make things work as you want, and can lead to unexpected results.<br />
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As you can see, the game's rules are surprisingly deep, and despite all the efforts that have been made to give it a gentle learning curve, the mechanics can take a while to get used to, especially if you have played Trainyard. You need a completely different mindset to solve these puzzles; the lack of control over the arrows can be extremely frustrating until something finally "clicks" in your head. I have to say that I was stuck on the Alpha Pegasus level for a long time before getting it. (Hint: remember what you did in the Cassiopeia levels).<br />
<br />
I liked the premises and the style of one of the Jan's previous games, <a href="http://nontrivialgames.blogspot.com/2013/09/escapology-review.html">Escapology</a>
(developed with Vladimir Hrincar), though I marked it down in my review for having many puzzles but of erratic quality. It has to be said, however, that since then I haven't found
any better game with similar mechanics.<br />
<br />
Perfect
Paths, if anything, has the opposite problem, being a bit light on
content. I was lucky enough to play a beta version of the game, and I've
already solved all the puzzles. However, the pack selection screen shows a couple of important things.<br />
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The first one is the promise of new puzzles to be released every week. This will be done using app updates, so if the author can keep his promise, this will be an absolutely great and novel way to keep players engaged over time without flooding them with annoying push notifications. While a few games have provided content updates from time to time, I think this would be the first time it would be done so frequently.<br />
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The second important thing on that screen is how prominently the Game Center leaderboards are displayed. They are right there on the same screen as the puzzles, instead of being tucked away inside the standard Game Center pages. This is useful because the solutions to the puzzles are totally open to your creativity, and the game doesn't provide any reference to judge how good they are, so comparing with other players is the only way to put them in context.<br />
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It is a testament to the quality of the game that despite having solved
all the puzzles, I keep coming back to it attempting to further improve
my score. The name Perfect Paths is very
fitting, because for a programmer's mind like mine, just finding a
solution isn't enough: you want it to be the best one possible, and
compete on the leaderboards to prove it. Which isn't that easy if one of your friends is <a href="https://twitter.com/efeprat">Federico Prat Villar</a>. <br />
<br />
The user interface works fine, though I found the erase button to work
a bit counterintuitively and require too many taps to correct your
path. Also, since most of the playing time is spent looking for
optimisations, I wish the puzzle list showed thumbnails (to find quickly
the puzzle you think you can improve) and there was a quick way to move
to the prev/next puzzle instead of going through the puzzle list every
time.I also wish that the back button had a bit larger hit area
because it's difficult to tap it when the iPad is inside a case covering part of the bezel.<br />
<br />
If you want to try and improve your leaderboard standings, let me spend a few words on how the scoring works. There are only two things that affect the score: the number of arrows you use, and how many steps it takes for the solution to run. In both cases, the less, the better.<br />
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Optimizing the first parameter is obvious: just try to use as less arrows as possible. A nice thing is that after being introduced to the advanced mechanics later in the game, you can go back to the first few levels, which you solved naively, and try to improve them using the new elements at your disposal. So do use those combinators in Andromeda!<br />
<br />
Optimizing the solution run time is subtler. Clearly, a shorter path should be quicker. However, because of the phase timeline, blocks are slow to travel in a straight direction: 4 phases (up, down, right, left) need to pass between one move and the next. So for example if you need to move 2 cells up and 2 cells right, doing UP, UP, RIGHT, RIGHT isn't the fastest option: it needs 1+4+2+4=11 steps. If you do UP, RIGHT, UP, RIGHT instead, you need only 1+2+2+2=7 steps.<br />
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It's important to note that you get a lot of points for just solving the puzzles, while what you get for optimizing them is peanuts in comparison. When you look at the leaderboards, a difference of just one point means a lot more than it seems.<br />
<br />
Without a doubt this is one of the best puzzle games of the year, and it promises to only get better over time, so stop wasting time and go buy it. And beat my score if you can :-)<br />
<br />
<h3>
Summary</h3>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>Nontrivialness</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Logical Reasoning</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>User Interface</b></td><td>★★★☆☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Presentation</b></td><td>★★★★☆</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Loading Time</b></td><td>★★★★★</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Saves Partial Progress</b></td><td><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: green;">✔</span></span></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><b>Status Bar</b></td><td><span style="color: red;">✘</span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">©2014 Nicola Salmoria. Unauthorized use and/or duplication without express and written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicola Salmoria and nontrivialgames.blogspot.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
</span>Nicolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08907289982537901905noreply@blogger.com