Simply Solitaire Beta feedback

[MLH Software]

Looking for beta testers for Simply Solitaire.

This is the classic Solitaire card game. Looking for feedback on any defects and suggestions of how to make it better.

Simply Solitaire Beta - MLH Software

[tfrankson]

Very nice, no issues here. A suggestion is to put an undo option in the menu and have diff card backgrounds for more visual effect.

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[rcobourn]

Game appears to let you cycle through the stack endlessly instead of the usual limit, whatever that is. Looks pretty good otherwise... although it seems very similar to multiple other solitaire games for blackberry, still seems to need something to make it stand out.

[ndn8]

i had trouble clicking through to the next set of cards. alot of times it would just highlight the card with a yellow border. I didn't read any instructions so maybe i missed something. I thought dragging cards was bothersome as I couldnt really tell if i was draging the card or not, i guess big fingers.

Major issue: The first row was empty, i dragged like the 5 of clubs to that spot, nothing happend, I tried again and it through up like 6 randoms cards under the 5 in that row. My battery started to die after that so i quit and tossed my phone on the charger.

That was on the first game, first run through the cards.

Edit: battery death had nothing to do with the app, just a very long day of heavy use.

[TheHeartlessHero]

I've tested it a bit and here is some feedback. Mostly jumbled and random but hopefully it will be helpful.

Nice and big. Easy to click and use on a Storm2

Cannot fast click using both hands to move cards. I apparently click between them too fast that my first highlighted card gets deselected and the new one I clicked just gets highlighted instead of moving the first clicked card to it.

If I click the empty space, it will highlight the row of the last clicked card.

Customizable bg image could be nice.

Maybe a Menu option for moving all cards to the upper row that are able to? that way you dont have to move or double click all the cards when you've finished up the game. Just a little time saver.

I don't understand what the offset does. Could you explain?

A way to save your game when you exit. Would be a neat feature I've seen in others.

Very nice icon and graphics are clean and crisp.

Maybe card customization with different backs? Similar to how windows has tropical, robots, fish, etc backgrounds.

Maybe a Win/Lose record? Another user said an Undo button. Maybe timer?

And I know you need to advertise and I haev no issues with that but will the url at the bottom be removed on the release? It's just a quirk that I'd like a clean background.

Keep up the good work. This is a lot better than the Solitaire Buddy app I bought when I first got my Storm2. Granted, it has a lot more modes (MAKE A FREECELL APP TO GO WITH THIS FOR GOD SAKES! *cough* love it *cough*) This one is a lot more user friendly on a Storm2.

Side note - I could see you guys doing this and like Simply Freecell and Simply Checkers or Simply Go. A series of Simple and nicely designed games would sell plenty. (why isn't there a good Storm2 checkers app >_>)

How much is this app looking to be sold for? I imagine $1.99 would be a good price as it is now. I know I buy cheap apps that intrigue me time to time and I will definetly buy this (if I don't get a free license from testing =P)

[rednex269]

Day One.. Played immediately after download.. Seemed to work rather well.. took a lil used with the yellow outline, but consider it is a trackball... I played a lil while gettin ready to fall asleep.. Seemed to work fine.. (I still have not won a game YET).. I think I'm down to 15 games available..

As mentioned above, played while falling asleep.. I fell asleep playing... When woke up, found that screen was locked (I did not give it time to see where it left off).. I did the Alt-Shift-Del to reboot.. things returned to normal, but with battery level of 10%... Battery was full when fell asleep (maybe 95%)...

I know it was my fault for falling asleep while playing, but just felt the feedback might help with troubleshooting.

Sprint 8330 - 4.5

Joey

[vader7071]

So far so good. Plays well. Easy to control on my Storm. One change, if possible. I was playing one game and wanted to pull a card or 2 from my upper 4 stack (already on the ace) and could not. Is the something that can be changed to allow?

[MLH Software]

@tfrankson - We will look into adding an undo

@rcobourn - There currently is no limit on cycling the deck. We did not add any scoring logic in order to keep it "simple", but maybe we need to add some. The goal is the keep it "simple", but any suggestions that make it stand out would be nice.

@ndn8 - We thought of making an option on the storm to allow you to just touch, and not have to actually click. Wonder if that would help?
It is hard to see the card as you drag it under your finger, but not sure how to make it any better.
I have seen it allow me to make illegal moves a couple of time, but have not figured how it happens, as it doesn't happen all the time.

@TheHeartlessHero - Fast clicking is hard on the storm, another reason to maybe just allow touch and not click. Then you can just tap the screen.
We are thinking of allow you to select a custom image for the background.
We will look into a "move all" option.
The "offset" is the how much space is placed between the face up cards when they are stacked. The higher the number, the more you see of the card underneath.
Save option is a good idea. See what we can do.
Also looking into adding some more card backs.
Win/Lose and timer is getting into scoring, we were avoiding scoring, but maybe we need to add it in order to add more value.
I can understand wanting a clean background.
Do you see Freecell as a separate app, or an option in this app?
We are planning to have a whole line of "Simply" apps. Simply Solitaire and Simply Reminder Me were going to be the first two, but we have ideas for a lot more. (We have also started a Simply Time It.)
$0.99 or $1.99 would be a good price, but BlackBerry App has a minimum of $2.99 so we are stuck with that. (We do want to make some money and not just give it away. ). So what do you think we need to add to make it worth $2.99?
We like to share with those that help us out, so keep giving us great feedback and I am sure you will end up with a free app

@rednex269 - Thanks for the feedback, there shouldn't be anything in Simply Solitaire that would drain the battery when you are not actively moving cards(there are no threads/timers/animation), but we will keep an eye on it and see if anyone else reports battery issues.

@vader7071 - Do the rules of solitaire allow you to pull back of the ace stack? We could add an option, but not sure that is a legal.

[bppilot]

Works absolutely great! Have played 10 of the 20 games on there... and also haven't won yet - but I wouldn't consider that a bug

One suggestion would be to allow for the "auto-move" type of functionality in more places. For instance, when you have an ace showing, you can double click it and pop the ace automatically to the top row. Let's say that you had a red 5 that you wanted to move to a row showing a black 6 - right now you click to highlight, scroll, then click to place it on the other deck. I've seen some versions of solitaire that simply allow you to double click the one card and it will automatically be "matched" to a place where it will fit (in this case, right under the black 6).

Overall, a solid 10! Loved Blurts and now love passing the time with your latest app - well, for at least the next 10 games (hopefully you'll sell it by then!)

[MLH Software]

@bppilot - Beta tester do get activation codes for the beta release (production release will require a new code), so email me your PIN to test unlocking the app and playing longer.

Also to the whole group, do you think 20 games is a good number for the "Free trial"? Does it get you hooked and wanting more?

[samurai-7]

Michael,

Just installed you new game. I'm a Palm user, so in general I'm still trying to come to terms with no touch screen (BB Bold user, company issue). I've played many different versions of Solitare (Klondike) on the Palm and this one is OK. I think the lower piles of uncovered cards are too close together and I find myself having to count to see what the bottom card is because I can't see what it is. The Palm games show at least half the number so you can tell what card it is. Also, I can't seem to be able to pull part of a stack to an adjacent stack to get the suited card out to put on the top stacks. The Palm games allow this by selecting any card in the middle of the fan of cards. Since you can't even see the cards in yours, I'm not sure how you can do that. And as others have mentioned, you really need an auto-play to the suit stacks.

Sam7

[MLH Software]

@samurai-7 - Thanks for the feedback. You can change the spacing between the face up cards with the "Offset" setting. You should be able to increase it to where you see the entire number if you like.
When you select a stack you want to pull cards from and then select the stack you want to move cards too, the game automatically figures out which cards should be pulled off the stack (it doesn't just play the top card), since there can only be one valid move for the given combination of stacks. Although this might be a little confusing at first, we felt it reduced number of clicks to play. Let us know if you have an example where this would not work (we could have missed one ).

[vader7071]

If memory serves, I was able to do it on the Windows version. But just an idea.

[MLH Software]

@vader7071 - You are correct, I tested Solitaire in windows and it allows you to pull from the Ace stack.

[rednex269]

OK.. No laughing at this post.. I am not a ace at solitaire, but I know that double clickin the cards at the bottom will automatically place them in proper piles at the top.. However right before finishin the game (by movin them to stacks above) I begin double clickin each row to move them up.. Well. If the card ur clickin on won't move up to the top, it pops up the menu.. And NEW GAME is the default.. So it will start the game over.. Frustrating cuz I almost won, but could be a good thing to get sumone to purchase game... I actually learned how to play with windows solitare.. The oulining drag in windows taught me the places the card could be moved..

Seems to be a good app.. Gonna send my pin cuz I am almost outta games..

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