Actually, when I returned (after popping up the menu in the hope that it paused the game), the letters and start button had gone, so I had to reload to play - losing all of the previous rounds and score.
I like the game, but there are a few things that could be improved. The sold list only shows the first 9 types of items sold, and it would be nice if it was on a tab, available while buying stock. And buying stock would be easier if the plus and minus were on the item display, not on a drop down menu - maybe even display last number sold on each item display instead of a tab. The number of some items sold seems to arrive at a constant, and doesn't seem to increase as it gets closer to Valentine's Day. But it was still fun anyway, although I only found one way to make the first few days work because of the expense of the second till and the slowness of the cheaper employees.
I like this game - I'd been thinking of making something like it myself, so I'm glad to be saved the effort - but there are lots of things wrong with the game (e.g. difficulty settings not making much difference in chance of winning or reward, and, having no idea of what an upgrade does until after you've bought it), and I have loads of questions about game play (e.g. when you get 4 of a kind does it also count as three of a kind as well, and, if you don't have the 4 of a kind skill but do have the 3oak, and get a 4oak will it use your 3oak skill instead, and, what is the penalty for losing a battle and is it different with each difficulty, and, what determines how much gold you get after a battle? But despite all this, I have still played it non-stop for days and really enjoyed it - puzzle fun with a combat focus.
zylar, I think that red "dragon?" thing is a blood stain which you get when the enemy collides. It does say in the instructions that enemies kill each other. I like the game play (it's fun to manoeuvre so that lots kill themselves or get caught in one blast), but I don't like being sent back to level 1 when I die - just the level before would be penalty enough but would allow for overall progression.
Although there is a randomness, there is still a lot of strategy - I just finished all 50 levels and, once I worked out exactly what to do, most of them were doable at the next attempt.
This could really do with a "send to back" button - I got fed up taking everything off the bookshelf so that I could retrieve a new item that had materialised behind it. Sending the bookshelf to the back would allow it to be moved out and back without also having to move all its contents. Having said that, although I finished it (and enjoyed arranging the contents and getting them coloured), I'll never play it again without a save function!
jwkk - you should check for matches from the top, not the bottom, or check from the bottom but make all the checks first and then remove all matches simultaneously. I agree with Elfnow that it is irritating and limits planning.
I really like the idea, but there isn't enough choice - I'd like a palette that I can apply to anything, including metallic and variety baubles - which can be applied singly, anywhere I want on the tree. Likewise, I'd like to draw a line that is where the tinsel or length of lights goes. And I'd like to be able to control the colour sequence (could just use palette to select colours) and speed of cycle of the lights. And the means to design wrapping paper for customised parcels might be nice. Do you think Santa can manage that?
Nice puzzles, but I agree with MelPome about Amethyst - I don't think it can be soluble with an odd number of path ends. I've done all the others except Amethyst.
I find this strangely addictive - I've completed it a couple times - but it is badly programmed. The values should all be read in from a text file or const/#defined so that the screen displays and game all use the same one value - it also makes it much easier to tweak the values because you only change it once. At the very minimum, these things should have been checked in game by the programmer before it was released here. Has someone produced a software design guide? - because poor etiquette, design, interface and playability issues keep cropping up and spoiling what could be some great games.
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