maemo.org - Talk - [Announce] Crosswords (Singleplayer & Multiplayer)

Hi there :)

This game is participating in Maemo 2012 competition, and this is my first project using QT.

Here you can visit official website.

Brief description: Game is about making words from given letters (scrabble-like game).

Players: Singleplayer and Multiplayer (from 2 to 4 players via LAN)

Languages: English and Serbian (I don't know any more languages :D)

Description: You get letters, and you must use them for given time (configurable) in order to not receive penalty (configurable). You define how big table will be, how many letters you get per round, what dictionary to use (at the moment only English and Serbian are supported) and many more. In other words, game is very customizable so you can adjust it however you like.
Also, it is optimized for touch screens (cellphones - supports landscape and portrait modes) but it works good on desktops.
You can connect different devices to play in multiplayer (for example you can host game on PC and then connect to game with N900 and another PC - just make sure that they are in same network).

Sreenshots:

http://s5.postimage.org/y6jzpqlkz/main.jpg http://s5.postimage.org/dnp3ko7nn/settings.jpg http://s5.postimage.org/jd5c4zdtv/cr...s_settings.jpg
http://s5.postimage.org/blom6f9oj/cr...s_gameplay.jpg http://s5.postimage.org/fjbvvtwhv/cr...gameplay_2.jpg http://s5.postimage.org/d3a2hzef7/cr...gameplay_3.jpg

Videos:
Little explainings
Network gameplay

How to play:
- Single word:
It is fairly simple, just make one word from given letters.
- Crosswords:
Your goal is to make word from given letters (just drag them on table) and try to make best score. Tap on letter (which is on table already to remove it) or drag it on another place.
Valid words are recognized from-left-to-right and from-top-to-bottom directions.

Configure game: You have plenty options, here are some explanations:
Dictionary - <name>: Click to select dictionary which you would like to use. <name> represents currently selected dictionary.
Players: How many players should server accept
Rows: How many rows should have table
Columns: How many columns should have table
Letters: How many letters should be available
Guarantee word: This will make sure that you can make at least one word from given letters (though it will be automatically disabled in cases where is not possible - like when dictionary have shortest word length 3, but you want only 1 letters to have)
Expandable words: By enabling this, when you finish round, valid words can be extended in next round (example: CAT, in next round you can extend to CATS), but if you disable this, words will be surrounded by special character so you can't extend them (example: CAT will be surrounded like -CAT-)
Double score: Your score will be doubled if you make X or more valid words (where X is number - configurable)
Penalty for unused letters: If enabled, at end of round player will receive penalty - 2 points for each unused letter. Unused letters are those who are still on "Letters Panel" (not in table)
Round time: In seconds, how much round should last
Round limit: If enabled, you can limit number of rounds
Scoreless round limit: If enabled, you can limit number of rounds in which player didn't found any valid word (didn't got any score)

Useful info:
- You receive 1 point for each letter in valid word (example: CAT - 3 points, SUPER - 5 points...)
- If word contains 2 or more same letters you get bonus points (but you won't get notification, instead it will sum up - example: WOOD - normally you would get 4 points, but since you have 2 O's you will get 5 points)
- If you make 2 or more same words in same round, you will get more points (you will get notification about that, example: if you make 2 "FAST" words, you will receive 4 points for word, and then that is multiplied with 3, so you get 12 points. But if you find 3 "FAST" words, multiplier will be 5 so you get 20 points. You can see from here that for each word multiplier is increasing by 2)
- For extended words you will get score for whole word (not just extended part)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
- When I host, my game is not visible to other clients in network

Quote:

Make sure that firewall is not blocking ports 20000 and 20001, they are used for game announcing and game communication.

- What "Smooth" button does (in settings)?

Quote:

It makes elements smooth. On phones it is barely noticeable but if you run game on PC, you can see difference for example on button edges that they are not so sharp and squarey.

DOWNLOAD (please use direct links only when primary is not working for you - my hosting package is not unlimited...):
- 0.0.2
Windows (XP & 7) - - - DIRECT LINK
Maemo 5 (N900) - - - DIRECT LINK
MeeGo (N9 & N950) - - - DIRECT LINK
Source Code - - - DIRECT LINK
Changelog:
* MODIFIED: Game announcement happens more often
* ADDED: Author and year info

- 0.0.1
Windows (XP and 7) (Mirror 1) - I haven't tested on other operating systems, but I think that it should work also on Vista
Maemo (Fremantle - N900) (Mirror 1)
MeeGo (Harmattan - N9/N950) (Mirror 1)

Game is also available on extras-devel for N900 thanks to AapoRantalainen :)
NOTE: It is better to download from links instead in repository. Game in repository is not optimized for N900.

Known bugs:
- N9 and N900 can't reproduce any sounds
- in multiplayer clients can't receive non-standard letters (like čćš)
- dictionaries are not perfect (I might do some cleanup as much is possible)
- N9 runs game slower (its not so fluid as on N900)
- N9 sometimes show bad rendering very short (like on half second or less)
- N9 is locked to landscape (portrait mode is not working)

Despite those problems on N9, game is still playable (performance can be increased by disabling Animate and Smooth).

You can request new features or report bugs, I will try to integrate/fix them when I have time.

Comments are welcome :)