Solitaire Collection beta

[minego]

I've been working on a collection of solitaire games for web os. I hope to release it in the Palm App Catalog soon. I've had a beta of the game available for a while now, but have been rather quiet about it.

Now I'd like to get as many people trying the beta as I can. Please give it a try. I'd love to get feedback from you.

You can download it here:
Palm USA | Palm webOS Applications | Mobile apps that go further.

If you find any bugs, or would like to request a new feature you can enter a bug here:
Active by Milestone Tickets | Solitaire Collection for web OS | Assembla

Please note that this game is beta, and there will be some bugs. If you aren't comfortable with that then please wait until the game is released before you try it.

[mamouton]

this is a great game. I like how you can select your game and multiple versions of the game.

[minego]

I just received an email from someone trying the beta. It seems that there is some confusion about why I launch a new card when you start the game instead of simply pushing a scene.

The answer is pretty simple really. Once you've started a game you can launch solitaire again from the web os launcher, and choose another game. So, you can start a game of klondike, and then start a game of golf, and leave klondike running the whole time.

You can also add an icon for each of your favorite games directly to the web os launcher. If you select 'preferences' from the application menu in a game there is a button called 'Add to Launcher'.

So, there are 3 options to consider here. Please let me know what each of you prefer.
A) Leave it like it is
B) Leave it like it is, but do not close the main card when a game is opened.
C) Start each game in a new scene instead of a new card. This means that selecting the solitaire icon from the launcher would replace an existing game, unless that game was started from it's own icon.

If you have another suggestion I'd love to hear that as well. Thanks.

[mamouton]

i actually like that feature I vote for leave it as it is.

[sorli]

Pyramid...wife's favorite game.

Either way, looks promising and I loce the card images. Sorli...

[Rocket Surgeon]

Fan-freaking-tastic! I've been keeping an eye out for a decent solitaire game (namely klondike with the ability to draw-3), and really haven't found any. This looks like it will be the one!

Haven't played it a whole lot yet, but so far so good.

[abegee]

Great game, I was the one with the email, its a great feature, and i love the fact i can change the backgrounds.

[Dr.Grace]

it's quite nice now. The only thing bugging me is that the tap area for selecting cards seems quite small, so I have to tap two or three times to successfully select a card or deal from the deck. The tap area seems smaller than widgets in other apps, even in landscape view. It even seems smaller than the card outlines.

[minego]

Originally Posted by sorli

Pyramid...wife's favorite game.

Either way, looks promising and I loce the card images. Sorli...

I'm working on pyramid. I'll probably release before pyramid is ready, but I'll be adding it as a free update shortly after.

[minego]

Originally Posted by Dr.Grace

it's quite nice now. The only thing bugging me is that the tap area for selecting cards seems quite small, so I have to tap two or three times to successfully select a card or deal from the deck. The tap area seems smaller than widgets in other apps, even in landscape view. It even seems smaller than the card outlines.

It is actually a good deal bigger than the card. I haven't had a problem myself, but I'll play with it and see if I can improve it at all.

[sorli]

Landscape...must be late since I didn't try that till now and it works great. Background options would rock and Pyramid coming would be a great option and bonus for those who purchase the full version.

Keep up the great work! Sorli...

[minego]

Originally Posted by sorli

Landscape...must be late since I didn't try that till now and it works great. Background options would rock and Pyramid coming would be a great option and bonus for those who purchase the full version.

Keep up the great work! Sorli...

There are many background options already. In each game you can select 'Preferences' from the application menu (tap on the top left corner of the screen) and choose your background type.

You can select felt of various colors, solid colors, or you can choose your own image.

If you have suggestions for even more background options I'd love to hear them.

[minego]

Originally Posted by Rocket Surgeon

Fan-freaking-tastic! I've been keeping an eye out for a decent solitaire game (namely klondike with the ability to draw-3), and really haven't found any. This looks like it will be the one!

Haven't played it a whole lot yet, but so far so good.

I'm really happy to hear that you enjoy it. If you have any suggestions for klondike I'd love to hear them. I'm always looking for ways to improve the game.

[dick-richardson]

Love it.

[TomJ]

Originally Posted by Dr.Grace

The only thing bugging me is that the tap area for selecting cards seems quite small....

Just to clarify, are you trying to select a middle card from a row (tableau) of cards? Or are you having trouble even when the whole card face is showing?

Regards,
Tom

[Dr.Grace]

It happens even when the whole face card is showing, as when trying to deal from the deck in Canfield.

However (oops!), I forgot that I'm running the patch for reducing the drag radius to 10 pixels. That would explain a lot. Sorry for not mentioning that before!

However, I have to say that launcher icons and other widgets don't show the same tap-fussiness as cards in this game. This is the only app that would force me to increase the drag radius above 10 pixels. I really don't want to do that because I've found that that patch really helps when using another app involving recognition of hand-drawn Chinese characters. But of course, I'd certainly understand if you can't change the app just for the few of us using reduced drag-radii.

[minego]

Originally Posted by Dr.Grace

It happens even when the whole face card is showing, as when trying to deal from the deck in Canfield.

However (oops!), I forgot that I'm running the patch for reducing the drag radius to 10 pixels. That would explain a lot. Sorry for not mentioning that before!

However, I have to say that launcher icons and other widgets don't show the same tap-fussiness as cards in this game. This is the only app that would force me to increase the drag radius above 10 pixels. I really don't want to do that because I've found that that patch really helps when using another app involving recognition of hand-drawn Chinese characters. But of course, I'd certainly understand if you can't change the app just for the few of us using reduced drag-radii.

I've never tried the patch to reduce the drag radius. My code acts on a "mousedown" event on the card. The "card" is actually larger than it is displayed, so the empty space around it works correctly.

I don't think there is anything I can do to work around the patch. It sounds to me like it is blocking the event unless you are within a specific distance of the center of the item....

[Dr.Grace]

The patch only changes one of the Pre's parameters, which apparently determines when a finger movement is recognized as a tap vs. a drag. The relevant line in the patch is:

+TapRadiusSquared=100

The normal value is 625 (the square of 25).

It's conceivable that this parameter also somehow affects whether the Pre detects tapping near the edge of a tap-region. I guess it matters mostly with smaller regions. But it's strange that your Solitaire seems to be the fussiest app I have in this regard. I don't have trouble tapping on small links in the web browser.

Maybe you could increase the tap area for isolated cards, like the deck, etc?

[minego]

I'm not using the webos drag code, so I doubt that the patch is having an effect. I'll see what I can do about expanding the drag area on cards like the deck.

[Spader]

Can't believe I missed this before now... going to download now.