Reword V0.3 - New Version

[purplepup]

I thought it was time to update my REWORD puzzle game, so here is version 0.3.

Changes:
It's been completely rewritten in C++ with new sprite classes etc.
Word list has ~2900 six letter words, graded by (my interpretation of) difficulty.
Now includes word definitions (for most words) from xdxf dictionaries.
Animated all movement aspects of the game to give a more 'arcade' feel to it.
Added some menu music.
Restructured data directory. High score file compatible with v0.2 & still goes in data dir.

Still need to improve sprite movement and add animation, and sound is still a bit wooly, but I think its a real improvement.
See README.txt for more info

Download it here:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,25,1867

Cheers
Al

 

[purple_goat]

nice to see an update of one of my fav homebrews
keep up the good work! (nice name by the way.. ever thought of a _ in there? :lol: )

 

[sam fisher]

May I ask what language the previous versions were written in?

 

[purplepup]

May I ask what language the previous versions were written in?

It was originally written in straight C (using basic c++ features) as one monolithic file, without animation, framerate or movement; just relying on a SDL surface flip to update when anything changed. This was partly because I started out with a test program that became the game (as I was learning SDL) and partly because it didn't really need anything flashier.
Now I've built a 'proper' game framework that I can expand and improve on (for future versions and new games) that has far better control of things like sprite animation & movement, input key repeats, frame rate limiting, nice use of Interface classes and inheritance etc etc.

Source is at:
http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,46,1998

Cheers for the interest
Al

P.S purple_goat, nice name! ever thought of removing the _ ? we could start a www.purpleanimal.org for our community

 

[Esslan]

Nice! An update to my No 1 favorite game on this system. Do you accept donations?
Edit: Ooh, you can add new languages also!

 

[superfly]

Thanks for the update, this is a game i really like!

 

[purple_goat]

I thought of no _
but there some Australian clothing (??) with the same name

 

[sleepola]

Highly recommend this to anyone who hasn't tried it yet. It's very addictive. Has that "one more word" appeal. With the update, it really is very polished and having definitions is great.
Go on - do your brain a favour !

 

[purplepup]

Nice! An update to my No 1 favorite game on this system. Do you accept donations?
Edit: Ooh, you can add new languages also!

Wow, thanks very much for the offer Esslan, but no I'm doing it for the 'fun' of it and the satisfaction of adding to the open source community. I've spent years using GNU/Linux and all the amazing software that's been written for it and felt I should do my little bit. Also, now I actually have something useful/interesting to put on my website that hasn't changed since 2003!

Maybe in a few years, when I get better at writing games ('cos I'm hooked now and have some new games planned) and if I write a killer game, I might think about donations, but not yet.

P.S cheers everyone, thanks for your support.

 

[Lobo]

Any chance of a screenie or explanation of what it is? Don't want to have to download it to see if it might be of interest or not.

Edit: Never mind, the archive has both

 

[GameGod]

Awesome! I used to play Reword quite a bit during the last semester, I'm pleased to see there's a new release.

Keep up the good work.

 

[ThorC]

Wanted to add my reply as well - Reword is a brilliant game, really fun to play and one of my favourites, truly a gem - great work on this, and I look forward to seeing any future projects you may do as well.

One minor suggestion, is I was wondering if there'd be any possibility for ingame music (user specified or built in) as there is a sort of deadly silence (apart from the sound effects) in game play which I thought could be brightened up a little with a bit of music.

Other than that, really impressed (and addicted!)

Thanks again

 

[purplepup]

snip...
One minor suggestion, is I was wondering if there'd be any possibility for ingame music (user specified or built in) as there is a sort of deadly silence (apart from the sound effects) in game play which I thought could be brightened up a little with a bit of music.
snip...

Thanks ThorC. I made the conscious decision to fade the menu music when gameplay started as I (or more importantly my girlfriend) thought that a word puzzle game required no distractions whilst playing. Also, I was really just experimenting with music as I'd only done simple sound fx before. Of course this is only my preference and adding an option for some sort of in-game music is easily done. I will definitely try to get it into the next release.

Cheers.

 

[ThorC]

Thanks for the reply. I think I also have a minor bug report (unless it's an unexpected feature!)

I was doing well (the best I have done so far, hence my thinking maybe this is a feature to make it more difficult?), and suddenly, one of my letters flew off the screen (an A) and continued to fly to the left, then to the right. It never stopped, and it was impossible to select. At this point, it also became impossible to select any other letter (I could move between them, but not select them). I tried everything to return it to normal (pausing, pressing the slide button, trying to select other letters) with no luck and in the end I had to exit

It was about after 30 minutes of play, the first time I have played this long in a row without having to start again (I obviously need to practice my vocabulary more, I always miss the critical word at the right time, then end up kicking myself afterwards) when it occured. Not happened before though

Just reporting it in case anyone else gets it or it does turn out to be a bug - must admit a bit infuriating as it was my best run so far, hehe.

Thanks

 

[purplepup]

ThorC, sorry about that, and shame it ruined a potential high score.
You're doing pretty well if you can keep going for 30 mins, unless it was on easy of course !

Can you give me any more detail on the lead up to the problem?
- Do you know what 6 letter word it was (just in case it's word/dictionary related)?
- Did it fly off after selecting the letter into the lower squares, or during a switch, or other operation?
- Which of the letters was it (first, second... sixth etc) ?
- Did you say it keep bouncing back and forth across the screen or did it go left then right then disappear altogether?
- Anything else you can tell me.

I started looking into the problem, and also noticed a memory leak in the roundel sprite manager class, but that's unlikely to have any bearing on it. It will mean a new version sooner than expected though.

I might also change the abort option to exit gracefully and allow you to save your score, so at least you don't lose a high score. At the moment it just dumps you back to the menu.

Cheers

 

[SiDCrAzY]

Just tried this game out, I had the previous version of Reword on my SD already, but this is so much better.

Really addictive!

Thanks PurplePup

 

[ThorC]

Thanks for your fast reply

It was on easy I must admit, but my excuse is I'm still getting the hang of it, hehe (I haven't tried normal or hard yet). I'll do my best to describe what happened, but unfortunately I cannot remember the specifics. Guess it gives me a good excuse to keep playing though in trying to get it to happen again.

I am almost certain it occured during a switch, as I think the other letters switched fine, but the A (I think, but am not certain on this, it was the second letter before the switch) started flying. As for the method of flying, the A flew all the way to the left side of the screen and went off of it and disappeared for a few seconds, then suddenly it came flying back onto the screen to the right and disappeared. A few seconds later it then repeated this by going back to the left, disappearing, right, disappearing and so on. The only other detail is that when it occured, I was still able to move the selection box to other letters, and switch them (they switched fine, and the one flying seemed unaffected) but I was unable to select and move them down, pressing the select button did nothing. Maybe it thought it was still doing a switch at the time?

I'll keep seeing if I can reproduce it and hopefully give you some more useful information.

Thanks for your continuing hard work, Reword is great




----------

Edit 1:

Kept testing and was able to reproduce it once, although in slightly different form. Wasn't able to reproduce it more than once, so will keep playing

The 6 letter word was 'Wicked', and I had got one 3 letter word, and had then spotted the word Wicked and was selecting the letters. I had just selected C and it went down to the selection row, then started flying (rather than the top row, as it was before) although with the same symptoms as before. I could get it to change flying direction by pressing switch button (if I did it when it was visible on the screen, the change in direction was obvious). If I didn't press the switch button it just keeps flying away and doesn't come back (I presume) until I change the direction again and it starts heading back (albeit it takes a while if it went off a long way).

Hope this helps. Unfortunately it turned up when I wasn't expecting it, I kept trying to cause it with no luck, then it happened when I wasn't

One other possible bug is that if you pause the game, and then press Y, you get taken to a dictionary definition screen saying that there is no definition for the word, followed by a game over screen, but withot the answers filled in. Not sure if this is an intended abort game button or a bug thogh

Hope this helps, will keep playing

 

[purplepup]

Thanks ThorC, that gives me a lot more to go on.
I'll get right on it.
The pause problem shouldn't happen, so I'll fix that while I'm at it.

Cheers.
Al

P.S If/when it happens again, try pausing (as easy mode allows this) whilst the rogue letter is flying around and see if that resets it.

 

[purplepup]

P.S If/when it happens again, try pausing (as easy mode allows this) whilst the rogue letter is flying around and see if that resets it.

It doesn't reset it!

I've reproduced it (I think) and found the likely offending piece of code so will try and fix it tonight and post a point release.

Cheers

 

[jose1711]

today, i experienced the same bug - twice in a row. i was able to finish the first word (abacus - i think the B was flying) so i could advance to the next one (can't recall it, sorry). i have underclocked gp2x to 50 MHz and was using the shuffle A button quite aggresively. maybe this way it will be easier to reproduce. hope this helps somewhat to track this issue down.

regards,

joe