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A few points: I'm trying to play this on my iPod without wifi. Touching "Puzzles" from the main menu left the application hanging on "Syncing with server..." -

A few points: I'm trying to play this on my iPod without wifi. Touching "Puzzles" from the main menu left the application hanging on "Syncing with server..." -- I have to quit the app, start over and figure out to disable server sync. Then, when I go to "Puzzles" only one shows up -- is this because more need to be downloaded from the server? I tried playing the puzzle before going through the tutorial. I managed to figure out the controls through trial and error, but the incrementing and decrementing by performing consecutive taps in a particular direction is awkward / unintuitive. No simpler control scheme jumps to mind though. When I complete the puzzle the options are "Try Again" and "Scorecard". I don't want either of those -- what I want is "Next puzzle". It's hard to tell from playing only one level, but the emphasis on achieving a high score seems a little misguided -- IMHO the process of solving a puzzle for the first time should be the "meat" of the game -- beating a high score should be extra value / replay value. Brainstorming: Because the moves are all reversible, it seems like it would be trivial to procedurally generate an unlimited number of levels of gradually increasing difficulty -- start with a blank slate of zeroes and transform the level from there by a certain number of moves (like a Rubick's Cube). In any case the levels should come built into the app -- I'm left wondering why there seems to be only level available. If I had paid money for this app I would be disappointed for that reason alone. At this point I'm not sure the best way to spend your time is by improving this app -- maybe take what you've learned from this and apply it to your next project. My advice would be to focus on simplicity of user interface -- that means controls as well as game logic. One of the pitfalls of my first app (http://www.itrioapp.com http://www.itrioapp.com) was that for people who weren't already familiar with the game Set they had to figure out the game based on the examples I gave them, which didn't seem too hard for me but ended up being an impediment for a lot of people. All else being equal the iPhone is a casual platform, so people expect a very shallow learning curve and immediate satisfaction -- ideally you should be able to stick the first level in front of any idiot and have them enjoy the game right away. The upside is you don't have to provide an engaging experience that lasts for terribly long -- 5 or 10 minutes is generally fine. Hope this didn't come across as terribly critical -- I do like some of the things you've done with dialog boxes, animations etc., but it sounds like you're asking for constructive criticism.

amichail 17y ago
It comes with 1000 puzzles even if you don't have an internet connection. (In fact, it even comes with a snapshot of the world records.) It should not hang on the sync. Which OS version are you using? Which ipod touch model? As for why there is no "Next Puzzle", this is intentionally done so that you would look frequently at your scores. Solving lots of puzzles is easy. That's not where the challenge lies.
- mtinkerhess 17y ago
  I'm on the 2nd generation Touch with OS 2.2. Here's what I think the problem was: I was on wifi shortly before I tried out Numbrosia so my iPod thought it was online. I can reproduce this at home by turning off my wifi. It goes to the "Syncing with server..." screen for a full minute before deciding it's timed out, during which time it's non-responsive. I didn't let it go for the full minute before; I assumed it was hanging. I would have preferred that the app was responsive during that time -- touching would being up a "Cancel" option or something. I've also figured out that "Solve new puzzle" on the high scores menu is a button. In retrospect that should have been obvious but at the time my attention was focused on the "Tap row to redo puzzle" instruction -- I expected a list of levels to choose from. I guess you can write that one off to user error. I've played through a few more levels. The controls, which were awkward at first, are becoming more intuitive. You're right, solving lots of puzzles is easy once you get the hang of it, and the challenge lies in trying to match the world record score. My preference would be that the levels get more difficult to complete as you progress. I'm just brainstorming here -- maybe the player could only have a certain number of moves to complete the level in? That's kind of what it boils down to anyway, trying to match the world record. Aside from that I don't know how much more difficult the levels can get without changing something fundamental to the game mechanics. I'd say the game looks complete and polished as it is. The puzzle space is a crowded one where users are hesitant to learn a new set of rules unless they know it's going to pay off with rewarding gameplay -- and they often won't know the gameplay will be rewarding until they've tried the game. What I've been trying to do myself is to produce app after app rather than work on revising an app after it's out -- I've found I improve the quality of my output more rapidly by starting new projects from scratch rather than improving on already-finished projects. I look forward to seeing what you do next!

amichail 17y ago

It comes with 1000 puzzles even if you don't have an internet connection. (In fact, it even comes with a snapshot of the world records.) It should not hang on the sync. Which OS version are you using? Which ipod touch model? As for why there is no "Next Puzzle", this is intentionally done so that you would look frequently at your scores. Solving lots of puzzles is easy. That's not where the challenge lies.

mtinkerhess 17y ago
I'm on the 2nd generation Touch with OS 2.2. Here's what I think the problem was: I was on wifi shortly before I tried out Numbrosia so my iPod thought it was online. I can reproduce this at home by turning off my wifi. It goes to the "Syncing with server..." screen for a full minute before deciding it's timed out, during which time it's non-responsive. I didn't let it go for the full minute before; I assumed it was hanging. I would have preferred that the app was responsive during that time -- touching would being up a "Cancel" option or something. I've also figured out that "Solve new puzzle" on the high scores menu is a button. In retrospect that should have been obvious but at the time my attention was focused on the "Tap row to redo puzzle" instruction -- I expected a list of levels to choose from. I guess you can write that one off to user error. I've played through a few more levels. The controls, which were awkward at first, are becoming more intuitive. You're right, solving lots of puzzles is easy once you get the hang of it, and the challenge lies in trying to match the world record score. My preference would be that the levels get more difficult to complete as you progress. I'm just brainstorming here -- maybe the player could only have a certain number of moves to complete the level in? That's kind of what it boils down to anyway, trying to match the world record. Aside from that I don't know how much more difficult the levels can get without changing something fundamental to the game mechanics. I'd say the game looks complete and polished as it is. The puzzle space is a crowded one where users are hesitant to learn a new set of rules unless they know it's going to pay off with rewarding gameplay -- and they often won't know the gameplay will be rewarding until they've tried the game. What I've been trying to do myself is to produce app after app rather than work on revising an app after it's out -- I've found I improve the quality of my output more rapidly by starting new projects from scratch rather than improving on already-finished projects. I look forward to seeing what you do next!