Those evil shifters...

[HolliAnne]

I have played through from Novice to expert - regular & junior about 6 times now. No matter how hard I try & how much I practice I STILL can not get the hang of the shifters when I play find the exits! Which way are they going? UGH!!

Still addicted

[Josh Jensen]

Originally Posted by HolliAnne

I have played through from Novice to expert - regular & junior about 6 times now.

Wow. Do you Reset the Journey each time so the Journey is generated with different levels, or do you delete your player profile and make a new one so you can play the same levels over again?

Also, by regular and junior, I assume you mean Regular and Kids Mode. Do you have a favorite of the two modes? We've been talking about making the Kids Mode (where the balls are visible) the default when you first start the game to see if people like that more than Regular Mode (where the balls are invisible).

Originally Posted by HolliAnne

No matter how hard I try & how much I practice I STILL can not get the hang of the shifters when I play find the exits! Which way are they going? UGH!!

When I was about to clip some text for you with a better Shifters description from Pathstorm's documentation, I noticed that in the Pathstorm 1.2 build we shipped, the documentation didn't ship! Ack! I checked on a build from one of our distributors, and the documentation did ship, but there isn't a link on the Start menu to it.

<sigh>

Access our documentation at http://cavebug.com/pathstorm/docs/index.html. Search for Shifters in the documentation to get to the text I'm quoting below:

Shifters spin either clockwise or counterclockwise. When a ball hits a Shifter, the ball is shifted one tile in the direction of the Shifter's spin. When the one tile shift is complete, the ball travels in its original direction. Shifters are represented by purple flasher bars on the sides of the screen.

Example: A ball is traveling up and hits a clockwise spinning Shifter. The ball will be shifted left by one tile and then continue rolling up.

If an object is in the neighboring tile, that object cancels the shift, and the ball is affected by the object normally.

Example: A ball is traveling down and hits a clockwise spinning Shifter. The ball is shifted one tile to the right where a Bouncer is present. The Bouncer affects the ball as if it were originally coming from the left. The ball does not continue in its original direction.

Also, the Shifters Playground on the Journey map is a great way to learn them better. Still, if there is anything more I can do to clarify Shifters, let me know. We'll have an update to Pathstorm coming out soon (with Mac OS X support), and we may be able to tweak some things to your liking.

Originally Posted by HolliAnne

Still addicted

Thanks!

Josh

[HolliAnne]

Wow. Do you Reset the Journey each time so the Journey is generated with different levels, or do you delete your player profile and make a new one so you can play the same levels over again?

I do...I use all the names of our animals & play with them. Kids Mode and Regular. I also challenge myself to get a perfect score all the time (yes I'm weird ) Yesterday was the first day I actually reset a journey. I honestly did not realize it changed the puzzle!! YEAH!!!

Also, by regular and junior, I assume you mean Regular and Kids Mode. Do you have a favorite of the two modes? We've been talking about making the Kids Mode (where the balls are visible) the default when you first start the game to see if people like that more than Regular Mode (where the balls are invisible).

I did the kids mode in the beginning to figure out how the game worked. I then played Regular but I was sure it would be too hard. Surprisingly enough I didn't find it that difficult. I might not have enjoyed the game as much if I began in regular mode but I guess I'll never know Now I can go back to kids mode & it REALLY simple.

I think it would be a good idea to default start in Kids mode.

A hint...my husband was getting real tired of all the "bings & bongs" so I put my headphones on and boy does that help find those little buggers!!!

When I was about to clip some text for you with a better Shifters description from Pathstorm's documentation, I noticed that in the Pathstorm 1.2 build we shipped, the documentation didn't ship! Ack! I checked on a build from one of our distributors, and the documentation did ship, but there isn't a link on the Start menu to it.

<sigh>

Thanks for the link - I will keep it bookmarked. I do believe it would have helped to have that. The turtorials are good but I always felt I wanted a little more instruction. I got the game through Big Fish Games so I'm not sure what build I have but there was no help anywhere. That's what led me to find this forum - I was looking for help!

Thanks for being here!

Holli

[Josh Jensen]

Originally Posted by HolliAnne

I do...I use all the names of our animals & play with them. Kids Mode and Regular. I also challenge myself to get a perfect score all the time (yes I'm weird )

Nice.

Originally Posted by HolliAnne

Yesterday was the first day I actually reset a journey. I honestly did not realize it changed the puzzle!! YEAH!!!

The tips at the end of the level talk about things like that. They're also in the documentation you have access to now.

Originally Posted by HolliAnne

I did the kids mode in the beginning to figure out how the game worked. I then played Regular but I was sure it would be too hard. Surprisingly enough I didn't find it that difficult. I might not have enjoyed the game as much if I began in regular mode but I guess I'll never know Now I can go back to kids mode & it REALLY simple. I think it would be a good idea to default start in Kids mode.

That was the problem with our group of testers. By the time we introduced the "Kids Mode", they were already seasoned "Regular Mode" players. Their initial view of the game was tainted, just like yours.

Originally Posted by HolliAnne

Thanks for the link - I will keep it bookmarked. I do believe it would have helped to have that. The turtorials are good but I always felt I wanted a little more instruction. I got the game through Big Fish Games so I'm not sure what build I have but there was no help anywhere. That's what led me to find this forum - I was looking for help!

It was, in fact, the Big Fish Games build that shipped with the documentation (Program Files\Pathstorm\Docs\Readme.html) but not with a link in the Start Menu. I'm going to contact them to have it fixed.

And thank you for supporting us through Big Fish Games! If you'd like, be sure to let them know you like it, so they can position the game on their website according to its popularity.

Josh

[HolliAnne]

And thank you for supporting us through Big Fish Games! If you'd like, be sure to let them know you like it, so they can position the game on their website according to its popularity.

I looked on their website and don't see where to write them other than for support...do you have an email address? I would love to tell them how much I
love this game!

Holli

[requin]

Originally Posted by HolliAnne

I looked on their website and don't see where to write them other than for support...do you have an email address? I would love to tell them how much I
love this game!

Holli

Hey Holli,
I'm at BigFish all the time (playing online games). If you go to the "help" tab they should have a form...whereby you pick the game you are asking about (from a drop-down list). They used to actually let you write email, and used to reply right away, but I've found that for some time their customer service has been terrible, they don't reply to anything (questions or comments, or problems). ANyway, try this link..hope it works to get you there...scroll down a little and you'll see the 'contact us' link...

http://bigfishgames.custhelp.com/cgi...r/std_alp.php?

[requin]

Oh, and by the way, this is the only way to contact them now, even with a comment (not a problem). Hope this helps!

[Josh Jensen]

And the direct link, as of today, is http://bigfishgames.custhelp.com/cgi...nduser/ask.php.

Josh

[HolliAnne]

Yes I agree about their customer service...I wonder what happened...did they get too big? Anyway, I sent them an email through support and "complained" that they no longer have a place to write positive messages.

As for the new names for Kids Mode & Regular...how about Apprentice and master?

[Josh Jensen]

Originally Posted by HolliAnne

As for the new names for Kids Mode & Regular...how about Apprentice and master?

I really like Apprentice, but I have an aversion to Master. See, we made Master Pathstorm levels that were harder than Expert. One of the levels took me two hours to complete with a bunch of misses. We decided to throw out those levels, although we may publish some on the Favorites forums (heh, if you really want to be tortured).

Brad, Kacey, and I talked it out and decided Apprentice could be taken for Junior or Novice. Right now, we have the terms Magic Balls (since that's what the power-up is called) and Regular Balls. They can still change, since we're not ready to ship quite yet.

Josh