Version History

April 9th, 2007 - v1.01

Fixed bug that forced player to create new profile when starting the game if they had previously played v1.0
If you try to create a new profile with the same name as an existing one, the game will tell you so
Duplicate number hints are now more specific
Duplicate number and error hints can now be "explained" and are removed automatically with the Explain button
Made the x-wing, swordfish and jellyfish explanations clearer
Fixed problem with jellyfish hints that could have caused a crash
Fixed bug where if you clicked the mouse button repeatedly while the "explain" overlay was fading away, sometimes it would fade back in
Tweaked hint overlay fading speeds to make it a little faster
Added more precached puzzles to lessen problems with very slow computers without graphics acceleration
Fixed visual bug where duplicate pencil marks drawing behind assigned numbers would flash
Fixed bug where placing pencil marks while hint button said "explain" could cause problems
Obviously wrong numbers no longer trigger duplicates
Added EULA

December 14th, 2006 - v1.0

Final tweaking and polish
Added butterflies to main menu (a couple, plus one extra for each friend you tell)
Fixed a couple rare crashes
Fixed problem where user profiles weren't always loaded properly when game started
Added new icon
Released on Steam!

December 1st, 2006 - v0.98

Massive interface simplification and improvement (link) [li] Removed "Advanced Mode" as it is no longer needed.
Added "Show Dupes" again in place of "Advanced Mode"
Big improvements to the Hint/Explain system to make much more clear (esp. in regard to advanced pencil mark strategies)
You can now press spacebar to have game place all pencil marks for you
Improved solve row/col/box tile particle effect feedback
Improved game help and pacing tooltips
Improved tutorial to teach more about Sudoku
Fixed bug with Eternal Stillness and High Road not being given at the right times
Many graphical improvements (ships on main menu, crane, flitting butterflies, weather effects, particle drawing, etc.)

November 17th, 2006 - v0.97

Expert and Master much more difficult (added new solver methods including x-wing, swordfish, jellyfish, naked/hidden triples/quads) [li] New hint system: pressing hint once will indicate which square you can make progress on. Pressing it again will show you the full explanation of the rule used in this situation (it highlights the proper squares, draws numbers that block options, highlights pencil marks, etc.). This means the game will teach you all sorts of deep strategies in Sudoku from "naked triples" to "swordfish".
Performance fix for systems that experienced major slowdown
Print feature to let you easily print your current game plus a few others to take with you
Company logo on loading screen
Countless other tweaks and improvements

September 8th, 2006 - v0.96

Fixed problem where the duplicate or non-random games were generated (sorry!)
Removed number-chooser tooltip in Advanced Mode and now it only displays it on Tutorial, Easy or Novice
Tweaked Master level games so they generate faster and with less background CPU usage
Draw alternating 3x3 minigrids with slightly different colors for clarity
Show number of players online at main menu
Adjusted main menu button text and position of secondary menu (changed "game" to "puzzle", made other text more friendly)
Make sure hints don't get stuck and display forever

September 1st, 2006 - v0.95

Custom puzzles support, to allow you to enter puzzles from other sources
Graphical enhancements (splashing water at base of waterfall, new unlockable main menu background, floating mist on Master level, etc.)
Allowing a single pencil-mark to be placed more easily (right-click edits pencil marks)
Better help to teach you about the more advanced features of the game
Fixed hitch when winning the game and the butterfly effect plays
Better musical feedback sounds that form peaceful chords
Fixed font on Create Player dialog
Improved graphical performance (removed background grid image, drawing it procedurally now)
Reduced initial game load time by about 50%
Reduced overall memory usage by about 20%
Improved main menu frame rate by 15%
Added fall version of arch to main menu
Added spring season to main menu (view seasons via debug mode [control-alt-d] and then hitting "tab")
Harder "master" puzzles
Reworked puzzle generation so puzzles are generated in the background and ahead of time so when you click a new game it loads instantly
Clues (revealed tiles) are now in a symmetrical pattern
Added granite tile background to differentiate between givens/clues and squares you enter yourself
Added shiny particle effects when you complete a row, column, box or all nine of a number
Added better effects when winning a game
Pop-up menu now animates to show you when you when your choices will become pencil marks
New hint function teaches you the strategy needed, not just the tile to look at
Tooltip to help new players learn to use pop-up menu
Tiles that have particle effects now stay illuminated while in "spotlight" mode

July 11th, 2006 - v0.94

Visual and audio feedback when completing all 9 numbers, a row, column or box (this is addictive!)
New tutorial background artwork
Changing font used in game to be easier to read (especially for our especially..."mature" players!)
Show errors and duplicates in the pop-up menu
Tooltip support when hovering over just about everything
Changed in-game buttons and menu flow: now there's a button called "Menu" and the hint button is no longer visible in training)
Game now runs full-screen, music volume = 100% and sound volume at 80% by default

June 20th, 2006 - v0.93 (first public beta!)

Updated pricing and trial to $12.95 and one hour free
Implemented "locked candidates" support but had some last minute problems so it will go in the next version
Changed game generation algorithm to be faster and simpler
Added hint button
Updated tutorial to be more clear about interface
Perform version update check before window opens so a firewall issue won't make the game hang in full-screen
Added stats reporting for live reporting of number of players and common options used
Added page stats to ZenOfSudoku.com (for my own purposes though)
Add password protection to gamescripts directory and CURL execution

v0.92

Fixed problem where some puzzles were unsolveable. Those dang naked pairs! There should never be an unsolveable or non-unique puzzle. PLEASE e-mail the board if this isn't the case. Save and quit the game, and e-mail me the file in users called -savegame.bin. Try pressing F1 to see if it it signals a hint to you (may do nothing).
Reworked the help system. Now you can see all help by pressing the help button in the options menu, and important tips show until you check the "don't show again" checkbox.
Fixed bug where music volume was lowered when the game lost focus, but the music kept playing.
When clicking the pop-up menu, the middle number (5) is selected by default (before this wouldn't happen until you moved the mouse)
Updated theme music (thanks Dave!)
Added custom pre-game and post-game music interludes (thanks Dave!)
Made non-revealed tiles slightly higher contrast (only noticeable when "show errors" is off)
Fixed bug with user list where name wasn't always selected properly
Fixed problem where drum sound wasn't being played when pressing "back to main menu" button in option screen
When game ends, it asks you if you want to play again. When the tutorial ends, it asks you if you want to start a game on "easy" (thanks Joev!)
Main menu music no longer loops
Added new butterfly effect when winning the game
Added special end-game messages when winning the tutorial or unlocking secrets
Some work on locked candidates algorithm
Changed how numbers were chosen so they aren't set until the tile chooser goes away. This will result in some small improvements like not showing duplicates or errors before you're done making your choices.
Now refer to "3x3 grid" as "3x3 box" everywhere
Updated screenshots on web site
Updated Tell-A-Friend e-mail to be cleaner and nicer on the eyes
Added readme
Updated copyright statement
Installer deletes the game's cache now to force recaching in case sounds have changed. This will cause the game to "run for the first time" after an update.
Added light rain to Expert game and dust motes to Master game

v0.91

Placeholder music from new composer I think I'm going to use. What do you guys think of this style and quality compared to the last music?
Added "loading" screen (tells you when it's loading for the first time as well so there isn't just the disconcerting blackness)
Tweaked spotlight to work with highlighted numbers properly, to have less contrast and to be more responsive
Made assigned numbers brighter while still having them draw slightly differently (so players can see which squares are given)
Fixed problem where sudoku puzzles weren't always unique
Added "Play now" option at end of installer and automatically create desktop shortcut. Streamlined installer as well.
Removed "panel" background from pulsing selected number because it looked out of place
Improved performance when game paused (don't redraw the main menu unnecessarily)
Tweaked boat bobbing effect to be more subtle

v0.90

Fixed sudoku generation bug, where you got an unsolveable puzzle! Sorry I took so long on this one, it was a beast. All puzzles should be solveable without guessing now. Let me know if the pause when generating the board is annoyingly slow. Thanks Dad!
Reduced ship bobbing effect. Still too much?
Added start-game tile animation
Fixed problem where interface sound effects weren't always being played at full volume
Removed end-game song until I have licensed music for that part of the game
Fixed problem where you couldn't use some keys in the Tell-A-Friend dialog

v0.89

Added new seasonal main menu backgrounds and effects, including snow storm after you beat Master
Added spotlighting feature. Added tip that tells you how to turn off spotlighting.
Gametypes are now unlocked as you go. Pressing space in a debug build will win the level for you.
Right-clicking the same number in number-mode will now turn off number mode.
Changed user dialog bottom button from "Done" to "OK"
Removed "Game paused" message
Added panel in background of pulsing number-mode indicator to make it clearer you can click on it
Added "unlock" sound when game type unlocked
Tried shrinking pencil marks but it didn't look good
Split up resource manifest into smaller groups with idea of decreasing memory footprint but decrease in speed doesn't seem worth it at this point
Experimented with in-game news
Auto-update doesn't check constantly any more
Fixed visual bug where returning to main menu showed light rays drawing in weird fashion while game faded in
Sun rays only draw in accelerated mode (they are very expensive for non-accelerated computers, I see a -20fps or so hit)
Fixed floating point problem that was resulting in clouds and boat not looking very good. Now they animate smoothly, including a slight wave motion for the boat.
Added timeout for TellAFriend networking. Added simple e-mail address verification.
No longer display ugly error dialog when auto-update can't connect (when you're not online)
Changed options and tell a friend dialog text so it's easier to read (black on white instead of white on black)
Options dialog header text is now centered properly in the vertical direction
Refactored user data so it's super-generic and won't have to be changed in the future. You will have to delete your userlist.bin in your "users" directory before running the game though, or it will probably crash. You won't have to do this again.
Improved user management save routine so if it has a problem it won't corrupt your file, it just won't save. It does this by saving to a separate file name and then copying it over on success.
After creating a new profile, you are now asked if you want to run the tutorial immediately
Added dialog after winning a game to easily go back to main menu

v0.88

Integrated CURL into game
Moved viral marketing "tell a friend" option in-game!
Changed version internally to be a number instead of a string in preparation for new version notification
Moved all game text into external file for ease of localization (properties/strings.xml)
Fixed potential crash bug when saving user data
Added auto-update feature into the game! Now you'll be informed when there's an update and asked if you want to download it. Does this work for dial-up users? I should also have it not ask you again for awhile if you say no.

v0.87

Lots of miscellaneous user-interface improvements [li] Now ask player if they are new to Sudoku upon creating a profile, and configure the game accordingly
Fixed some fading and dialog bugs (including adding new artwork for smaller dialogs)
Wrong numbers now pulse ominously, to make sure you realize they are wrong
Number chooser is slightly smaller and slightly more transparent so it obscures nearby numbers less (I tried shrinking this down to fit within the square but it's just too small to be pleasant to use at high desktop resolutions in windows mode)
Added tooltips to tell you about number mode and pencil marks
Highlighting no longer happens on mouse-over, you have to click (it was just too distracting, especially for new players)
When in training mode, you can only work with "spotlighted" tiles
Draw nice background behind secondary buttons, and aligned new game secondary buttons better
Added moving ship on main menu
Fixed bug where button sound was playing twice sometimes
Scroll bar on user dialog now fades properly (only visible with many users in the list)
Fixed bug where dialogs could be obscured by the options dialog
New installer, and new final directory where game will be placed. Soon, you will be able to purchase the beta!
Tweaked bamboo grid a bit so numbers look a bit more uniform

v0.83

Updated main menu light beam effect so it doesn't obscure the background as much
Added basic tutorial to training mode!
Selected number no longer highlights if you move your mouse around quickly, for polish sake
Added custom cursors to give an indication of where you can click
Right-click instead of left-click now is used to enter "selection mode", for the sake of new users who may get confused when they are suddenly plopping numbers down all over the place
Added pulsing effect for wrong answers
Draw right answers as full white when correct number placed in "show errors" mode
Tweaked select-mode behavior for numbers you've placed