Chuzzle Version 1.10 running slow

[mailyourmom]

Hi,

I'm running Chuzzle 1.10 on my Treo 650, and sometimes it's really slow. To be precise, not really slow but unresponsive. It doesn't respond to stylus dragging for a few moments and then suddenly the selected row or column moves a whole lot. Might have been in version 1.00 already but it's really starting to annoy me now.

Does anyone else have this problem?

[ackmondual]

I'm playing v1.1 on my T|T3 and i could swear there was some lag in Speed mode as I was working towards the 2 speed trophies. I drag the line across several spaces and all the sudden, the progress bar goes from0 to warning just like that. Meh, it could've just been in my head for all i know. On the other hand, i could almost swear that v1.0 was smoother too, but that statement is subjective.

[Janet]

Really? I put several optimisations in that should have made the game a lot smoother. Granted, they would have had biggest effect on Pocket PC. I'll have to look into this.

[ackmondual]

Take that observation with a grain of salt though. I wasn't fully taking heed of speed issues in v1.0, so I could be way off here.

[mailyourmom]

It seems to occur when I drag a row or column and then drag it in the other direction. It also looks as if the stylus is not touching the screen properly and you have to apply more pressure, but in other applications this does not occur so this is actually not true. It stalls annoyingly and nothing happens. I played Chuzzle on a Pocket PC and that runs much more smoothly (No, I'm NOT replacing my Palm with a Pocket PC).

It also takes quite long to load the game... I think a Treo 650 is not the slowest device around and I should be able to play Chuzzle at an acceptable speed.

It doesn't matter if I run it from the expansion card using ZLauncher or directly from the internal memory. Disabling scheduled backups and other resident software has no effect.

I cannot imagine I am the only one experiencing this behaviour...

[Kieren]

Hi mailyourmom,

I'll take a closer look into the dragging issue, and see if I can reproduce the problem you describe! There is one known quirk which we've noticed on our Treo 650 which might have a bearing on this issue, so I wonder if you could possibly help by doing a small experiment on your device for me? In something like the Notes application, where you can draw lines over the screen using the stylus, can you please try drawing a few straight lines without lifting the stylus, in various directions across the screen? Our office Treo 650 seems to leave occasional gaps when we do this as if it thinks the stylus is being lifted as you draw the line, and one of my theories is that if the device thinks the stylus is being lifted, then this could explain the problem you're seeing in Chuzzle. Of course ours might be displaying this becvause of the sheer amount of (ab)use it gets during testing ;)


It also takes quite long to load the game... I think a Treo 650 is not the slowest device around and I should be able to play Chuzzle at an acceptable speed.


Could I please also ask if you can give me a rough estimate (in seconds), of how long the game takes to load on your device? The loading time on Chuzzle is relatively long due to the sheer number and quality of graphics which the game needs to decompress (we store all our graphics compressed, in order to keep the file size down), but if I can find out how long it seems to you then I can compare it against our test devices here to see if it's drasticaly different.

Warmest regards,
Kieren
Technical Support

[mailyourmom]

Hi,

I tested the things you asked, and "unfortunately" I see no strange effects when drawing across a picture in the Media application. The lines are drawn smoothly without any delay.

Chuzzle loads in 6 seconds. I don't know if this is slow or fast but in my opinion it's a bit on the slow side.

I hope this helps, although I don't see how.

Best regards,

Michiel

[mailyourmom]

Hi,

Just a quick question. Has anyone been able to look into this? A small reminder:

* I'm playing Chuzzle on a Treo 650
* Gameplay is jerky and effects are slow
* Using simple effects makes no difference
* Playing from card (using ZLauncher) or internal memory makes no difference (this is logical since the files are first copied to internal memory)
* Sound and music are not affected
* The delay occurs when dragging a line of Chuzzles both vertically and horizontally

Could it have something to do with resident programs running in background?

When I drag a Chuzzle, firstly it doesn't move but then suddenly moves a whole lot and looks angrily at me. It looks as if the game timers are all okay and running at their normal speed. Only the effects and dragging motion seem to lag behind.

[rx_shorty]

Hi mailyourmom...

Did you also tried the Update From Palmone?
The firmware is now upgraded till 1.20

This solved a lot of problems at my Treo 650.
This update is only for Sim Unlocked Treo's

Download (http://kb.palm.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE?New,Kb=EUPalmSupport,ts=PALMEU_uk,Case= obj(9885))

Ciao

[mailyourmom]

Yep, upgraded my device immediately after release. My unlocked Palm is running firmware 1.20. Thanks for your post.

[SteveSpurlock]

Really? I put several optimisations in that should have made the game a lot smoother. Granted, they would have had biggest effect on Pocket PC. I'll have to look into this.

Jan -- FWIW, I really notice the improvement on my Axim in version 1.1. I'm running it off an SD card and it no longer sort of "hangs" like it used to. Also, I like the stars when the Chuzzles explode and the fact that the locks now move to show you which one just showed up (besides the sound).

I see that ver 1.11 was just released yesterday. What was the change in that version?

Steve

[Kieren]

I see that ver 1.11 was just released yesterday. What was the change in that version?


Hi Steve,

There aren't really any majr, noticeable changes between version 1.10 and 1.11 - all the changes were behind the scenes, to help make it a bit easier for us to produce versions for all the various other channels through which we sell our games, and don't affect the game itself. We just like to keep the version numbers consistent everywhere if we can! :)

Warmest regards,
Kieren