What's New (in version 0.7.9330-Beta)
- New Fonts
- Now has a new font that will keep words from changing sizes and moving the verse text all around during play.
- Also changed the blank answer character from a simple square box to a 3D cube which matches the cubes in the rest of the game.
- The font used now makes letters like "I" and "L" much easier to distinguish between, before sometimes it was hard to know if you had typed a lowercase "L" or an uppercase "I".
- I really don't like this font but it does help in the ways mentioned above so it will be in place for the time being. I plan to do a lot of updates to the user interface and using nicer looking custom fonts will be a part of that process. However; I am also building a completely new game (KnowRefs) so updates to the look/feel of CrossWord3D will likely take a backseat until the new game is up and running.
- Show full verse after every correct word.
This will now happen instead of jumping to the next unsolved word as before. I feel like this makes for a much better play experience when less of the words are known but maybe a little more of a hassle if you happen to know all the answers. Since most of the time answers are probably not all known, I believe this is the better option. - Hints won't be wasted if you happen to use them while only one word is unsolved.
Currently the only type of hints in the game are to narrow the keyboard down to the letters needed for the current word, removing any needed for only the other words. So logically if you only have one answer left to solve tapping hint would do nothing and so now a hint isn't removed from your count if you do that. Although if several answers remain and they all happen to be the same exact word, it will use a hint even though the keyboard really stays the same. - Max hint value 99.
So if you never use hints and they keep building up then the most you can have on hand now is 99. Unless you already had built up more than 99 before updating to this app version. In that case, you won't lose those extra hints, you simple won't have any more added to it until you start using them and it goes below 99. - When a word appears in several locations solving it in any one spot will solve it everywhere.
I never really intended for the same answer to show up in several different spots in same puzzle, but the way I wrote the puzzle generator it seems to be happening every once in awhile; mostly with shorter words like "I" or "A". So for now if this happen then interacting with any one of them should effect each location it appears at. Eventually I would like to fix the puzzle generator so this doesn't happen but wanted to solve the problem from this end before I ever started on that. - Keyboards (virtual/physical) outside of the built-in game keyboard work now (well, hopefully).
So I haven't actually tested this anywhere and I don't know if this is something that will actually be useful to anyone. Though in theory, if you have a virtual keyboard of your own on screen while playing then those keys should work, with some added keys such as the left and right arrow keys to cycle through unsolved answers. I don't expect swipe/gesture typing to work, only single key taps on the keyboard should work. Otherwise if you have a physical keyboard attached to your device then those keys should hopefully work as well. I set this up because I am able to use it while running/testing the app on a laptop and if it works or not for anyone else I would love to hear feedback. - Platform updates and security patches.
These are from Unity and Google AdMob as well as any other Google services.
Road Map
These are the things I hope to build into the app someday. These may or may not happen but they are what I am currently working on behind the scenes.
- Puzzle Cubes - Pop Between 3D to 2D Views:
Idea: So now I'm thinking it would be cool to have the puzzle in 3D a lot of time but when you tap to work on a specific word it could snap to a 2D view. That view would basically be zooming in to a view of the 3D puzzle that only showed a slice of the puzzle at the layer which the word happens to be on. That layer would look more like a traditional 2D crossword puzzle. Then after completing the word, or when you want to, it could pop back to the full 3D view.
Status: Haven't started yet. - Making Verses Easier To Read:
Idea: Right now it pops between two views of the verse. One shows the whole verse large and the other shows it tiny with one word focused and with a keyboard. Instead I would like to always show the larger full verse, though it would be in a scroll box so that the keyboard would still fit. Also instead featuring the current word so large in the middle, it would visually stand out somehow but remain mixed within the rest of the verse. Completing the idea above about popping into a closer 2D view on the puzzle itself would be where the current word is more focused.
Status: Haven't started. - Play Packs:
Idea: Groups of verses ("Play Packs") instead of randomly selected verses.
Status: Haven't started. - Custom Play Packs:
Idea: User generated puzzles saved into play packs.
Status: Built a puzzle generator. Needs a user interface and is waiting on main menu with play packs to be completed first. - Power-ups:
Idea: Currently only have hints showing up but I want to add more types of these. Such as solving the first letter of the word, or solving all of one letter across the whole puzzle.
Status: Haven't started. - Sounds:
Idea: Default to off but allow to be toggled on
Status: Haven't started. - Better Graphics/Animation:
Idea: After core functionality is built in I hope to start working on the graphics, animation, and general "gamification" of the app.
Status: Added in some playful animations but they caused lots of issues and had to remove them. Need to start over with these.
