1.1 is out! Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you all know that Sage 1.1 is finally out and with it a TON of requests from this forum. Two new modes (both based around gambling) - Vegas mode and True Grit mode, which is like a more intense permadeath version of Vegas mode unlike normal vegas mode, in True Grit mode you cannot ever reset your cash, and if your total drops below 0 you can never play it again. also, 40 achievements covering all sorts of tasks across all the modes, from the relatively easy, to the weird, to the incredibly difficult, and even a leaderboard for who has gotten the most achievements. And then a ton of bug fixes and additional options (including a low FPS mode to preserve battery. I really hope you all enjoy this update !
Update!! Holy crow, this game was already brilliant. Can't wait to try out the new modes. And thanks for the Conserve Battery option. Keep up the great work!
This is an amazing game, I keep going back for one more go and end up playing it for ages! Finding the Vegas mode tricky so far, 16 games in and already at $-81! # Determined to get back into credit without resetting though! It's a really clever scoring system as you need to concentrate on the starred suit for $'s but still keep clearing the decks for the multipliers.
What an amazing game!!! No update it was already fantastic!!! This update is spectacular!!! I love an in-game achievement list! A new mode (I'm scared of the one you can never play again if you go below 0). I will buy every game this dev creates, no questions asked!!! Now, I just gotta clear the board so I can unlock Vegas mode!!!!
Thanks so much guys! I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying the new update! Good luck with the gambling modes You'll definitely have to make some significant strategic changes to get good at it
Can't believe you made the new modes available free too! I was sure they'd be paid. Either way, this update was enough to tip me over the edge and make me purchase the full unlock. Great stuff.
Great work Zach! If Apple had a stock game app on iOS, I'd want this, only so everyone who buys an iPhone can see the beauty! Game of the year? It'll surely be in contention.
Can anyone explain how the True Grit "lose and you cant play anymore" mode works? If you lose, do you have to uninstall the app? Once you do, can you reinstall it and try again? How's it work?
it's just that single mode that you cannot play anymore. You can still play all the other modes in theory you could uninstall the app and delete your game center scores and delete the icloud save and then you'd be able to start over again, but you'd lose your whole history with the game, all the achievements you've gotten, and you'd still have to unlock vegas mode and then unlock true grit mode over again. it definitely can be done, but it would be a huge pain in the neck and you'd lose everything to do it
Love the new Vegas mode, but it's seriously nearly impossible for me to make any money. I don't clear the board very often, and it's almost always a losing bet when I don't clear it. Fun but frustrating.
Have you played 'Vegas Klondike'? I designed Vegas mode to be similar to that. It's definitely a hard mode but it's more fair than vegas klondike. On $50 bets you can make money without clearing the board, but on the higher bets you can't... but on the higher bets you can make so much more money when you do clear the board that the goal is kind of to limit your losses so when you do win you make up for them It was really interesting trying to balance a gambling mode. One of the things that was extra hard was that actually gambling modes are no fun at all if you typically win money, because then they just reward the person who has played the most, as opposed to the person who has played the most skillfully
I definitely appreciate that it's not too easy to make money, it's making me try to play smarter. I'll stick to the $50 bets for awhile.
Every time I reset to a positive cash balance I try to remind myself of that, but it's not much consolation. I'd be curious what the statistics would look like without the multiplier aspect, or at least starting off each round at non-zero multiplier? I whole heartedly agree that there should be some type of "house advantage" that makes it more likely to lose money, but I can't help shaking the feeling that any success is more a factor of luck than skill. But I understand that the underlying statistics can swing widely based on even small changes. Is there any potential for a future update where some of those parameters would be variable (i.e. Choose between cash bonus or multiplier for cleared piles, option for payout on all hands, not just ones with the bonus suit,etc.). Talk about ungrateful, here I am asking for more content right after an amazing update! More than anything I'm just curious about what those sort of changes would do. I've really enjoyed trying different strategies and approaches to try and compile a mental odds card like they have for blackjack. But the idea of trying to do that in reverse, creating a game where you have to figure out the rules such that it gives the odds you want, is really intriguing. Regardless, Vegas mode adds a completely different way of approaching the game. In standard mode my main focus was on clearing the whole board. On games where it was apparent near the end that I wouldn't be able to, I just chocked it up to being "a loss" and moved on to the next round. But the continuous nature of Vegas mode requires that you be more mindful and minimize the impact of losses. I already thought the core concept of the game added a new dimension to what was otherwise a stagnant genre, but you have taken it to the next level here. I'm going back to losing more imaginary money now. Look out sage solitaire, I have a system!
In normal mode, I can clean the board often just by trashing every other card. Does not give very high scores obviously. I have not played much but I am losing money in Vegas this way on average, although slowly and I also sometimes win.
Trashing is definitely part of the strategy to make money in Vegas mode. I try to trash unwanted cards just before I play another hand, so the number of trashes immediately resets to 2 each time. It's all about trying to get that perfect mix of creating hands with starred cards to make money, clearing the top two rows to increase multipliers (and ideally clearing the board), and trashing to make both of these things happen. And if you can't clear the board just try to minimise your losses or scrape a win. I got on a bit of a winning streak and got up to $813, but then I got greedy and tried a few $200 bets and lost it all! # Not brave enough to try True Grit mode yet!!!
