New word search game: Wordoogle

Monkey Archive Forums/Monkey Projects/New word search game: Wordoogle

benmc(Posted 2013) [#1]
I just released my new word search game, Wordoogle, on Google Play, please consider giving it a play and let me know what you think.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.selticeapps.word

The only problem I have is that I could never get it running on the Nexus 7 (Android 4.2) emulator. Please let me know if you have this device and whether or not it runs for you, I'm kind-of worried that it's crashing on 4.2 devices.

I made this game mostly because I've always wanted to try to create a Word based game, and it was pretty fun. The competition is fierce in this genre. I actually just wanted a game just like this for my Windows Phone, so I created my own, and will release there next - once I figure out how to get Microsoft ads working.


CGV(Posted 2013) [#2]
Can't help you with the Nexus 7 but it runs great on my LG Optimus V Android 2.2.

One issue though, the first time I played I didn't get the "Creating Board" message but just a black screen for about 3-4 seconds making me think the app had crashed.

Every other time I played I got the "Creating Board" message and it only took about a second before the board appeared.


c.k.(Posted 2013) [#3]
No problems on my Nexus 4 and it plays great. The interface works very well.

Not the crispest graphics, but that might be because of my 1280-by-768 4.7-inch 320ppi display. Are the graphics having to scale up?

To motivate me to keep playing, you would need to include leaderboards. If there's no metric to measure success/skill vs. self or others, what's the point? :-)

Congrats! Nice first version!


benmc(Posted 2013) [#4]
Thanks everyone.

I think I know what's happening with the "creating board" loading screen, I will update that.

As for the graphics, yes, I stupidly created them at 320x480, and will probably be updating that as well.

It's more of a time-killer, like doing a sudoku, crossword puzzle, or word search would be. I think people who play crosswords and word searches don't usually need to be motivated to come back, they just need something available to fill that time.

However, I'm sure some people will be interested to see how they stand up to other players out there, so it's something I can definitely research and see if I can figure it out :)


Gerry Quinn(Posted 2013) [#5]
Are you aware that there was an issue with Monkey that made games crash on 4.2? It's fixed since Monkey 0.66. You probably need to recompile and re-release.


benmc(Posted 2013) [#6]
I used Monkey 66 to build this one, but it crashes in the 4.2 emulator still.

I downloaded v66b and I'm trying to re-build it with that ver now.


benmc(Posted 2013) [#7]
Well, I just updated everything to v66b, ran the Nexus 7 4.2 emulator and it just crashes saying "Unfortunately, Wordoogle has stopped" No errors, no line numbers, no debugging info that I can see. Same problem as I had before updating. Not sure if it's just an emulator thing or not however.


c.k.(Posted 2013) [#8]
My Nexus 4 updated recently to 4.2.2 and your game works fine on it.


benmc(Posted 2013) [#9]
@c.k. That's great news! Thank you for letting me know. I was REALLY hoping it was just the awful emulator.


c.k.(Posted 2013) [#10]
My high score for 90 seconds is 400.


benmc(Posted 2013) [#11]
@c.k. :) Cool, thanks for playing!!