[Matt Diamond]

Hello,
It's possible that a few of you may remember my puzzle game Pawns, which won 2nd place in the OMG 2005 contest held at iDevGames. But maybe not. :-)

After letting it languish for a few years I have finally dusted it off again. The eventual goal is to turn it into an iPhone game, but first I want to release an improved version of the original, free game (Mac and PC).

It's the same 15-puzzle game, with 9 tutorial puzzles. But there are a lot of improvements:

• The user interface is simple and quicker - there are fewer buttons, and you can do everything with single clicks. (Although, you can still drag arrows around the board if you wish.)
  
• There is a visual cue to what color pawns will be launched.
  
• Puzzles have names, game keeps track which puzzles you've solved.
  
• Better visuals all around. Nicer-looking chess pieces, improved game menus

This is a beta release but I've already done one round of fixes so it's pretty close. I'd like to hear if there are any serious problems with this build, but other comments and suggestions will also be appreciated, whether or not you played the original. It will all be food for thought when I start work on the expanded version for the iPhone.

Pawns 1.2 beta 2 (zipped DMG, Universal Binary, 23.9 MB)
Pawns 1.2 beta 2 For Windows (zip archive, 7.4 MB)


You can read about the game at www.mindthecube.com though the screenshots there are from the old version. You can post feedback here or email it to me at the address: feedback "at" mindthecube.com.

Enjoy!

[Edit: no longer in beta - released versions available at http://www.mindthecu...html#a_download]

[Matt Diamond]

The betas are no longer available - version 1.2 has been released. But if anyone finds something wrong or has a suggestion, it's never too late...

[Felix Saturnus]

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

Keep us updated on the iPhone port.

[Matt Diamond]

FYI - I've just revamped my website (www.mindthecube.com). Among other improvements is an RSS feed, so anyone who is interested in following the development of Pawns (and other projects) should consider subscribing to the feed.