# Please test our new game for Mac



## _sergey_ (Jan 6, 2004)

Hi guys!  

We have been developing games for PC (Windows) and PDAs (Pocket PC and Palm) for 4+ years, and now we decided to try making computer games for Mac's too.

Our first Mac game turns beta today, so we're very interested in your opinions.  

It's a logical game BrickShooter. Its PC versions have lots of fans all over the world. Hope you'll find it addictive too.  

Please take a loot at it at:  
The descriptions, screenshots & download (there're no public links to this page yet)
Direct download link 

*Any* comments are welcome!   
Was the dmg package easy enough to use? Did it run well on your computer? Did you like the game?  

This version is a demo. If you really like the game just drop me a note by e-mail (sergey@terminalstudio.com) and you'll get a 30% discount.  

Looking forward to your comments.  

Regards,  
Sergey


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## Arden (Jan 6, 2004)

I downloaded it, but I'm too tired to test it now... I'll put up some comments later.

Although the program icon could use some spicing up.


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## brianleahy (Jan 6, 2004)

I'll give it a try when I get home tonight


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## Sogni (Jan 6, 2004)

Took me a few rounds to get it.
Pretty good, keeps you thinking.
I liked it. 
Except that nag screen interrupts your concentration! heh


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## Jmassey79 (Jan 6, 2004)

Not bad looking, I am a bit tired to play it tonight but it looks like it will get some play tomorrow.  .dmg works fine more to come


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## brianleahy (Jan 6, 2004)

Pretty slick, smooth animation, good sound, good screen design.

Oh, and I suck at the game.


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## _sergey_ (Jan 7, 2004)

brianleahy said:
			
		

> Oh, and I suck at the game.



Try lowering the number of colors in Preferences. This will make it easier to play.


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## Giaguara (Jan 7, 2004)

Hi _sergey_

I will try that game one of these days! Great to know there are developers who want mac testers and feedbck to their games..


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## edX (Jan 7, 2004)

i'm enjoying it. i'm not getting sound effects on every move though. seems to come and go randomly. i suggest you either use a reminder or a time limit. both is a bit much. mac users are not used to being treated like thieves.


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## Giaguara (Jan 7, 2004)

Reminder is better, if you ask me.  That's on most mac games / demos. Those who like the game, will just pay the licence.


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## _sergey_ (Jan 7, 2004)

edX said:
			
		

> i'm enjoying it. i'm not getting sound effects on every move though. seems to come and go randomly.



What version of Mac OS are you using?
What is your Mac?



			
				edX said:
			
		

> i suggest you either use a reminder or a time limit. both is a bit much. mac users are not used to being treated like thieves.



Oh, we just used to do so under Windows  
We'll consider changing the limitations, thanks.



			
				Giaguara said:
			
		

> Those who like the game, will just pay the licence.



And those who dislike the game will not be affected by the trial period, will they?


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## edX (Jan 14, 2004)

sorry, i somehow missed your reply sergey. i've been playing quite a bit actually. very adictive game. my best so far is level 19, 34,743 pts with the default 7 colors. 

my specs are in my sig. 

other things i've noticed - sometimes i click one and have 2 fire out - the one behind it goes at the same time. still having issues with sound - mostly no noise when i click a square sometimes. the black and brown colors are hard to disguinsh sometimes. 

things i would expect to see in this game to make it closer to the value charged - ability to choose your own colors for a game. it shouldn't be too hard to incorporate the color wheel into this. also a choice of a game that adds more squares at certain levels. this would probably make a better default - escalating difficulty. one of the problems i see with the fixed method is that many levels are not really that much more difficult than the ones next to them. some of the higher levels were actually easier than the ones before them. 


also - i agree with gia - a reminder is probably the better choice as much as i hate it. however it appears to be completely random. it appears 20 - 30 secs apart sometimes and goes for several mins others. it does not appear to be tied to moves as it appears when i move the game to the background as well. setting it to go off between levels would make it easier to judge the game without interfering with playing it and still be a nag. if you choose a trial, be sure it resets with every new beta.


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## drunkmac (Jan 14, 2004)

Didnt work. Running Panther.


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## Cat (Jan 14, 2004)

EdX said:
			
		

> my best so far is level 19, 34,743 pts with the default 7 colors


Good heavens! I just barely made it to level 10 with five colors! *blush* ... but I'll try harder!
The music is awesome  but sometimes it doesn't loop clearly, there's a skip when it comes around. 
On a G3 (Panther, 192 MB RAM, 4 MB video, 366 MHz) it is a bit slow, slower than on my PowerBook (see sig for spec), but playable nevertheless.

Great game! At least as addictive as Tetris or Mah-Jongg (that's a compliment)


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## edX (Jan 14, 2004)

made level 14 with 5 colors the very first time i played this game. was way too easy. it took me several tries to get past level 1 in 7 colors at first though. in fact, i think level 1 is often one of the hardest. if i get past it, i can reach level 6-9 pretty quickly.  

if it will make you feel any better Cat, i scored in the 98 point something percentile on the spatial relations part of the SAT when i was younger. natural gift i suppose.  

ok, i also think there is a small memory leak in it. i get the signs of one when i leave it up and running for many hours (which is my only alternative to continue a game on the beta). and i think a fully registered version should come with multiple or unlimiited redoes. a level reset would be helpful as well.

actually this is more like a demo than a beta. a real beta should be FULLY functional and have an expiration date, and a demo should have a reminder window.


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## Ricky (Jan 14, 2004)

Very cool...  Along the same premise as a puzzle with the sliding blocks; sometimes you need to be a bit destructive on your work to get to where you want.

Graphics need a slight makeover, but very cool.


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## _sergey_ (Jan 19, 2004)

There must me a problem with the forum's mailing system: I managed to miss the last 4 replies too 




			
				drunkmac said:
			
		

> Didnt work. Running Panther.


Please try the new beta:
http://www.brickshooter.com/files/BrickShooter_beta2.dmg 
Some compatibility issues are fixed there. Hope it will work on your Mac this time. Please let me know whether it does.




			
				Cat said:
			
		

> Great game! At least as addictive as Tetris or Mah-Jongg (that's a compliment)


Thanks 




			
				edX said:
			
		

> ok, i also think there is a small memory leak in it. i get the signs of one when i leave it up and running for many hours (which is my only alternative to continue a game on the beta)


Yes, this is a known problem: for some reason the Core Audio Music Player does not release memory after a music sequence has been disposed. If we find a solution, we will definitely fix that.
Currently the leak can be avoided by disabling the music.




			
				edX said:
			
		

> actually this is more like a demo than a beta. a real beta should be FULLY functional and have an expiration date, and a demo should have a reminder window.


Well, according to this classification this is a demo of a beta  I mean this is a demo version as it will look after the release, but it may have bugs still, so we call it beta.


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## edX (Jan 19, 2004)

i already have music disabled. so there would seem to be an additional leak as well. like i said, not a real major one, but annoying just the same.

and it would make it a beta of a demo. 

will download the new one and see how it goes.


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## Arden (Jan 20, 2004)

2 things:

Please, please PLEASE make the green bricks darker than they are now!  I find it nearly impossible to tell the difference between them and the yellow bricks.  I think R0 G150 B0 would be a good shade.
Why, exactly, does the tutorial show a Windows cursor? ::evil::
Other than that, you're doing great!


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## _sergey_ (Jan 20, 2004)

Arden said:
			
		

> Please, please PLEASE make the green bricks darker than they are now!  I find it nearly impossible to tell the difference between them and the yellow bricks.  I think R0 G150 B0 would be a good shade.


Would this (see below) be OK?





It's about R0 G190 B0. G150 is too dark.




			
				Arden said:
			
		

> Why, exactly, does the tutorial show a Windows cursor? ::evil::


Uhm...   
We recorded the movie under Windows and use it for all versions of the game...


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## Cheryl (Jan 20, 2004)

I am running 10.2.8 and I can't get it started. I get the error message The Application Brickshooter has unexpectedly quit. Without even starting but I hear some music. 
Permissions are set to me.


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## _sergey_ (Jan 20, 2004)

Cheryl said:
			
		

> I am running 10.2.8 and I can't get it started. I get the error message The Application Brickshooter has unexpectedly quit. Without even starting but I hear some music.
> Permissions are set to me.


Could you please send me the crash-log? (my e-mail is sergey@terminalstudio.com)


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## Arden (Jan 20, 2004)

_sergey_ said:
			
		

> Would this (see below) be OK?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Much better.  Thank you.  That's one of the things that bugs me about these kinds of games: when people use green and yellow values that are really close together.


> Uhm...
> We recorded the movie under Windows and use it for all versions of the game...


Yeah, I figured, it's just more of a (very slight) annoyane than a bug.


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## edX (Jan 21, 2004)

well, i guess my beta testing days are over. the last one did not update my expiration date - it suddenly quit in the middle of a game and then relaunched as expired. conisdering i was on level 11 i was not very happy. not very friendly to your beta testers. this is a beta, right?


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## _sergey_ (Jan 21, 2004)

edX said:
			
		

> well, i guess my beta testing days are over. the last one did not update my expiration date - it suddenly quit in the middle of a game and then relaunched as expired. conisdering i was on level 11 i was not very happy. not very friendly to your beta testers. this is a beta, right?


Didn't the trial period reset with BrickShooter beta #2?


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## edX (Jan 22, 2004)

no


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## _sergey_ (Jan 22, 2004)

edX said:
			
		

> no


Did you install BrickShooter beta #2?


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## Cheryl (Jan 22, 2004)

I must admit that this game is very addictive.


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## edX (Jan 22, 2004)

i'm not sure i understand what you mean by 'install'. it's drag and drop. yes, i downloaded and used beta #2 and it has not reset. i've actually been running them off their dmg disks rather than moving them to my applications folder since i knew they were temporary. that shouldn't make a difference as a drag and drop app should be able to reside anywhwere on the HD.


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## edX (Jan 22, 2004)

ok, i had both versions mounted at the same time. so i trashed the original and now the beta 2d version will not start up. it attempts to launch, the music starts (which i had turned off before), and then i get the 'unexpectedly quit' message.


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## _sergey_ (Jan 23, 2004)

edX said:
			
		

> ok, i had both versions mounted at the same time. so i trashed the original and now the beta 2d version will not start up. it attempts to launch, the music starts (which i had turned off before), and then i get the 'unexpectedly quit' message.


Yes, there was such bug in one of the versions. It crashed on Mac OS X 10.2.x. Please download the latest version from http://www.brickshooter.com/files/BrickShooter.dmg


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## edX (Jan 23, 2004)

ok, this version works. the color changes look great - maybe not as 'colorful', but certainly easier to distinguish. i still think letting people choose thier own colors would be a good idea though. i'll report back with more after i've played it a bit.


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## Cheryl (Jan 23, 2004)

I have noticed that the last release is not saving my preferences. Every time I start it, I need to reset my colors (I am starting on 5 first and slowing working up).


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## _sergey_ (Jan 23, 2004)

Cheryl said:
			
		

> I have noticed that the last release is not saving my preferences. Every time I start it, I need to reset my colors (I am starting on 5 first and slowing working up).


Did the previous one save them?


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## Cheryl (Jan 23, 2004)

Good question. I didn't pay attention.


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## Cheryl (Jan 23, 2004)

Not saving the preferences must be just the demo. Once the activation code was entered, the preferences were saved.


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## _sergey_ (Jan 24, 2004)

Cheryl said:
			
		

> Not saving the preferences must be just the demo. Once the activation code was entered, the preferences were saved.


Ah, you're right. The game difficulty is a part of the game record which can be saved only in the full version.

I think we should allow saving the difficulty level even in the demo. It is displayed in the Preferences window, therefore must be saved anyway.


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## Arden (Jan 25, 2004)

_sergey_ said:
			
		

> Ah, you're right. The game difficulty is a part of the game record which can be saved only in the full version.
> 
> I think we should allow saving the difficulty level even in the demo. It is displayed in the Preferences window, therefore must be saved anyway.


 Yes, that would be a good idea...

I'm in OS 9 right now, so I can't test the latest version, but when I boot back into OS X I'll let you know how it goes.


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## Arden (Jan 28, 2004)

Well, I've been playing the game a bit recently, and I've got a few comments:

How about a bit more audio feedback?  Like something to alert us that we can't make a certain move and some sort of "ding" at the end of a level (and a short pause, like .5 seconds).
We should get more points each time we get rid of several successions of bricks without moving anything.  Like when by clicking only one brick several colors disappear, we should get 1 point per brick for the first color, 2 for the second, etc. or add 2 points each time, or something.  Give a little reward for getting rid of more stuff with less effort.
What about mystery bricks that do random things, like destroy several bricks around them, or complete the nearest chain, or change colors randomly, or something?
Perhaps make the green bricks slightly darker and the brown ones slightly lighter?  Not necessary, though.
Besides that, this is quite a great game.  I'm having trouble stopping (until I get to level 21whew!)l


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## Cheryl (Jan 29, 2004)

How far can you go?  
I am at level 23.... and still going


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## Arden (Jan 29, 2004)

Level 21 on 5 colors and yet I get the "Please register" popups.  Odd, I thought it only went to 11 in demo mode.


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