Well for a 32x32 picture you could have just used 4 sections of 20x20 and just had 4 blank rows or columns around the outside edges. Or just use divisions of 5, and on a 16 it would just be 5, 5, 5, 1.
Yeah, it was a judgment call on my part. I liked the consistency of each section being the same size when you played a sectional level.
Regardless, as everyone else has universally exclaimed, this is THE BEST picross game on iOS. Not having major grid lines at divisions of 5 isn't really a deal breaker. I usually count my squares anyway and don't even care about the blue grid lines. Will new puzzles be coming in the future? What about a Puzzle Maker mode? If users could make their own puzzles and share them with each other than this game would potentially have an infinite replay value. Although there would definitely need to be some sort of rating and reporting system to keep the quality up and the vulgarity down.
Yes creating and sharing puzzles will definitely help this game soar. But for now let's take it slow and gather a good number of players first :]
Wow, just wow ! Although I like puzzle games I have never played this kind of game , I started playing and after the first 5 paintings I paid the 2,69 to get everything. I just can't stop playing! What makers iT extra special is that everything thing is executed so well. Rotate the device in any direction: check, multiple profiles : check, iCloud save : check , achievements : check . Just cannot find anything bad about this game !
I'd like to make more levels, but that depends on the success of the game. I do like the idea of people submitting levels/paintings to me. I'd take the best ones, collect them into a room, and release it as a free iap called "Outsider Art."
I totally love this game! Really fun puzzles and also like the easy / pro mode to cater for kids. Visually the game is really appealing and equally playable on iPhone or iPad. Many congratulations on releasing such an awesome game, and appreciate your interaction with the community. Some great ideas in this thread #
Well. What can I say about Paint it Back that hasn't already been said. I'd suspected by the overwhelmingly positive comments that I'd be in for something quite special and yet I still found myself surprised; I just didn't expect the game to be this good. Paint it Back is the first iOS release for small indie game studio Casual Labs, which is run by former Popcap Games developer Edward Brown and if this game is anything to go by I for one hope to see a lot more from him. Paint it Back is charming, funny, and oozes class and personality. Ever since I bought my first iDevice in 2009 I've been searching, hoping and praying for a Picross game like this. There have been some very good efforts (Oh! Cube being a personal favourite) but this is The One. I really hope this game is a success for Casual Labs, it really deserves to be. The game is Free to try, and you'll get 30 or so paintings to whet your appetite. I upgraded to the full version long before I reached the end of the free content; this is going to sound incredibly naïve but I struggle to imagine anyone playing the free levels and not wanting to pay for more. You can read about how the developer went back and forth on how to monetize his game here. It reads as though his heart was telling him to offer his game for $2.99, pure and simple. But we know that things are not as clear cut as they used be on the App Store and I totally understand why he decided to go the route that he did. I mean, it hurts me when some of my favourite games only have a couple hundred players on Game Center so I can't imagine how it must feel for those guys that made the game. If by going F2P it allows more people to check out the game that otherwise wouldn't, then that's the right decision. I think... Whatever. All I can say is that Paint it Back is a great game and I wish the developer every success. The game is 52.1 MB installed. Follow Casual Labs on Twitter Like Casual Labs on Facebook
I did just want to charge $2.99. Still do. But I don't really consider what I did as F2P - it's more like shareware, or a free trial version, or like how Xbox Live does demos.
I can tell that the very mention of 'Free' makes you uncomfortable. Don't worry about it, dude. At the end of the day you've created something special and that's all that should matter.
That's some very well written praise Andy ! I feel the same , but because English is not my native language it is sometimes difficult to describe what I actually think and feel about a game. Did not expect to see you here because I thought you are a pure action game man. On topic : the modesty of the dev after releasing such a pearl is admireable. I hope this game will do really really well so we will see a lot more in the future !!
Congratulations! I'm really enjoying the game so far. It's like Puzzle Restorer done right. Nice and relaxing game to play at bed.
Had to crawl out from under my rock to comment on this perfectly made game. I'm an avid nonogram fan and have played nearly all of them as far back as mario picross; this one is easily in my top 5. Everything about it is great, most importantly the interface. The unorthodox grid sizes are refreshing an I LOVE the music. Also, the solution and title of each puzzle has a creative charm to them. These are not your typical soulless procedural puzzles, this is picross done right! Highly recommended!!
iCloud Problem Hi, I have a problem with iCloud, it is not only with this game, but maybe I can have some answers here because it is easier to explain with this game. I have my iPhone and my iPad one next to the other. I start the game on my iPhone, I click the button to save to iCloud and then I start the game on my iPad. I go to the options and I can't tap the load button because it is grayed. It is as if my iPad could not see the save my iPhone has just sent to the cloud. Event if I close the game on the iPad and try again some minutes later, I still can't tap this button. Anyone experience that problem ? EDIT : By the way, this game is really really great, that's why I bother posting here ! It's the best picross I have seen for a long time. I would like to buy all it has to offer, but only if I can make iCloud saves work.
The game handles loading and saving to iCloud behind the scenes automatically, but, iCloud can sometimes be...mysterious. That's why there's 'Load from iCloud' and 'Save to iCloud' buttons in the options menu. Use these if the automatic iCloud save/load stuff isn't working as you expect. 'Load from iCloud' is grayed out when the game save on the device is same as the one on iCloud. It generally takes between 10-20 seconds for a change to an iCloud save to show up on another device.
Thanks for the answer. I'll try to check that a bit more carefully and will tell you if it works better.
Easy mode (Normal mode) also serves another purpose - to make each painting in the game playable on an iPhone without having to zoom in.
I had no problem with Cloud saving at all (even deleted the game then re-installed it just to ckeck the issue). But sometimes it just bugs. Even Game Center is irksome as some achievments unlocked on an iPad don't sync with my iPhone. It's just luck I assume...Apple needs to step it up big time when it comes to iCloud
This is part of a review that was posted for PiB on the App Store: "...this game has really great potential...BUT there are errors in the puzzles. Many in fact nearly all of them after the portrait stage... ...Puzzles full of mistakes are just no fun. All of the fun is in the challenge and the cleverness of the puzzle. Not much clever about a line for 3 in a row that has four or five spread out instead... Pleeeeeeeeeeease get us an update soon that fixes this!" Have any of you experienced an error like they're describing? I'm at a loss as to what they're talking about. Wish I could talk to that person directly.
