Topics

1

Announcements / Smoresoft Sudoku 1.6 Released!

« on: December 27, 2007, 11:55:34 AM »

I'm pleased to announce the release of Smoresoft Sudoku 1.6!

This is a minor update primarily to address usability with touch screen devices that don't have softkeys (e.g., the HTC Touch).

If you've already purchased a registration code for Smoresoft Sudoku, you can upgrade for free. Just exit the game and download and install the latest version from http://www.smoresoft.com/sudoku/download.html.  No need to re-enter your registration code--your previous registration will be automatically detected.

Change List:

• New: Tap-and-hold menu access (touch screen devices only).
• Change: Replaced the "close" button on the floating input window to an "undo" button (touch screen devices only).
• Change: Sorted puzzle pack list in "Open..." dialog.
• Change: Added "Statistics" to the main menu
• Change: Moved "Undo" to the Assistance menu
• Change: Replaced some of the puzzles in the trial puzzle pack with easier puzzles.
• And a number of other cosmetic and diagnostic improvements.

2

News and Updates / Web site outage

« on: September 12, 2007, 10:36:06 PM »

The smoresoft.com web site was down yesterday after the Internet service provider hosting the site shut down without warning. The site has been moved to a new ISP, but some recent forum posts and attachments may be lost.

3

Announcements / Smoresoft Sudoku 1.5 released!

« on: July 16, 2007, 07:46:04 AM »

I'm pleased to announce the release of Smoresoft Sudoku 1.5!

The major new features in this release are support for touch screen input and improved QWERTY keyboard detection.

If you've already purchased a registration code for Smoresoft Sudoku, you can upgrade for free. Just exit the game and download and install the latest version from http://www.smoresoft.com/sudoku/download.html.  No need to re-enter your registration code--your previous registration will be automatically detected.

If you haven't purchased a registration code yet, it's easy and painless. Just click the "Buy Now" button on the download page. You'll be hard pressed to find this many hours of quality entertainment for $5 USD anywhere!  Why spend $10 or more to stare vacantly at a movie screen, losing more brain cells every minute when you could spend half that much to challenge your brain with some fine Sudoku puzzles?

• New: Support for touch screen input.
• New: Improved support for QWERTY keyboards. On supported devices, it is no longer necessary to switch to num lock mode to enter digits.
• New: Restart a puzzle pack from the "Open..." dialog.
• New: Danish translation
• New: Display puzzle information when a puzzle is first loaded.
• New: Display a message when a puzzle pack is completed.
• Change: Default to pen input mode. Save current input mode on game exit.
• Fix: Fixed "Flag invalid candidates" that was broken in version 1.4.
• Fix: Restore translator credits removed in version 1.4.
• And a number of other cosmetic, performance, and diagnostics improvements.

4

Announcements / Smoresoft Sudoku 1.3 Final Released!

« on: June 19, 2007, 08:35:11 AM »

I'm pleased to announce that Smoresoft Sudoku 1.3 has been released, along with a redesign of the Smoresoft.com web site!

It's with mixed feelings that I am also announcing that Smoresoft Sudoku is now a commercial product.  The fact is that donations are extremely infrequent despite the large number of downloads every month and simply do not cover costs.

We've done our best to make this transition as painless as possible.

First, only two features require registration:  Opening a puzzle pack, and manually creating a new puzzle.  So there's plenty of opportunity to enjoy the built-in puzzles and decide if you'd like to register the game.

Second, the introductory registration cost is only $4.95 USD, which we believe makes this the lowest priced commercial Sudoku game on the market.  We're able to offer this low price because we don't pay large fees to third party sales sites.

And last, but certainly not least, a big thank-you to those of you who did donate!  You will all be receiving free registration codes at your e-mail addresses over the next several days.

We'll also be mailing free registration codes to all translators and to selected preview testers.

Thank you all for your invaluable assistance in making this a great release!

-David

5

Puzzle Packs / sppconvert utility: Convert various Sudoku file formats to puzzle packs

« on: June 04, 2007, 09:30:37 AM »

Here's a simple Windows command-line utility to convert various Sudoku game file formats to puzzle packs that can be read by Smoresoft Sudoku.

I've tested it with sdm, sdk, sud, and sudbook files.  If you find a file format it can't read, feel free to post it here and I'll see if I can add support for it.

I've included the C# source code in case someone wants to improve on it.  The code is released into the public domain.  Do what you wish with it, at your own risk.

Usage:

    sppconvert {source path} {destination file} {rating}

where:

    {source path} is a path containing files to be imported, and can include wildcards.
    {destination file} is the name of the puzzle pack output file.
    {rating} is the rating given to the puzzle pack (1-9).

Example:

    C:\>sppconvert "C:\puzzles\*.sud" "Puzzles.spp" 5

The above example converts all of the files ending with ".sud" in the directory "C:\puzzles" to a single puzzle pack file named "Puzzles.spp".  The puzzles will all be rated at level 5.

-David

6

Announcements / Smoresoft Sudoku 1.3 Preview 8 Released

« on: June 04, 2007, 12:12:13 AM »

Release Notes

This release is a minor update to address some registration issues.

Now you can play the sample puzzles without registering!

If you previously registered Preview 7, you will be required to re-enter your registration code for Preview 8.  Instructions for re-sending a lost registration code are on the download page.

Changes since Preview 7

• New: Play the sample puzzles without registering.
• Change: Registration strings are now localizable.
• Change: Registration collects the device operating system and .NET version numbers, the platform type (PocketPC or Smartphone), and the OEM string (e.g., "T-Mobile Dash"). This information will help to troubleshoot registration problems with specific types of devices.

7

Discussion / Preview 7

« on: May 14, 2007, 06:44:32 PM »

Post your feedback about Smoresoft Sudoku Preview 7 in this topic.

Thanks!
-David

8

Announcements / Smoresoft Sudoku 1.3 Preview 7 Released

« on: May 13, 2007, 06:17:42 AM »

Release notes:

This preview release requires a free registration to play.  Instructions are included in the preview download page.

If you'd like to know more about the registration process, see the Registration FAQ.

Changes since Preview 6:

• New: "Goto Bookmark" option in Assistance menu.
• New: "Given" digits change color when complete (all nine digits have been entered).
  You can now look at any row, column, or box and quickly see which digits are complete.
• New: Highlighted candidates are now displayed with an underline.
• New: Invalid candidates are now displayed with a strikeout.
• New: New color themes (Beige, Blue, Green, Night, and Pink).
• Change: Highlight mode now highlights invalid candidates when auto-candidates (pencil-marks) is turned off.
• Change: Remove 1-pixel margin around screen (may increase grid size and font size on some devices).

The release is available now at www.smoresoft.com/sudoku/preview.

9

Announcements / Pigs & Chickens 1.0.3 Released

« on: March 18, 2007, 08:48:01 AM »

• FIX: High score sound no longer plays when sound is turned off (PocketPC and Smartphone Editions).
• FIX: Back button now undoes the last move (Smartphone Edition).
• CHANGE: Removed Windows Installer download.

The release is available now at www.smoresoft.com/pigsnchickens.

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Translations / How to build your translation for testing

« on: February 10, 2007, 11:42:07 PM »

After following the instructions for creating a translation resource file, you may optionally build a .NET satellite resource assembly for testing by following the steps below.  This is especially useful if you don't want to wait around for the next preview release to see your work.

Step 1:  Install the .NET Framework SDK Version 1.1
Download the SDK here.  NOTE: Be sure to visit Windows Update after installing the SDK to get the latest service pack and fixes.

Step 2:  Unzip the attached makelang.zip file
You should now have a makelang.cmd file.

Step 3:  Copy input files to makelang folder
Copy "Smoresoft.Sudoku.exe" from the "Program Files\Smoresoft Sudoku" folder on your device to the makelang folder (e.g., using ActiveSync).
Copy your translation (e.g., Resources.en.resx) to the makelang folder.

Step 4:  Run makelang
Open a command prompt, change to the makelang directory and run "makelang culture", where "culture" is the culture code for your translation.  For example, "makelang en" for English or "makelang fr" for French.

Step 5:  Copy the resource assembly to your device
Copy "bin\culture\Smoresoft.Sudoku.resources.dll" from the makelang folder to your device under the "Program Files\Smoresoft Sudoku\culture" folder, where "culture" is the culture code for your translation.  For example, copy a German translation using culture "de" to the "Program Files\Smoresoft Sudoku\de" folder on your device, creating the folder if necessary.

If you make changes to the translation (the .resx file), you can exit the game on your device and run steps 4 and 5 again to see the changes in the game.

NOTE: I realize this is all unnecessarily complicated to get some text into the game, and, if I get the time, I may try to simplify it by reading the resx files directly.  For now, though, I am following the Microsoft development guidelines and building the resource assembly.

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Translations / Translation updates - Subscribe if you are a translator

« on: January 26, 2007, 03:59:59 AM »

Subscribe to this topic to receive a notification when there are new strings to be translated.  This topic is locked so you won't get spammed by other types of replies.

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Announcements / Smoresoft Sudoku 1.3 Preview 6 Released

« on: January 18, 2007, 08:05:54 AM »

• NEW: Simplified Chinese translation (thanks thomasho!)
• CHANGE: Updated Italian translation (thanks haltman!)

The release is available now at www.smoresoft.com/sudoku.

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Announcements / Smoresoft Sudoku 1.3 Preview 5 Released

« on: January 16, 2007, 05:42:19 AM »

• NEW: Italian translation (thanks haltman!)
• CHANGE: Pencil mode is the new default input mode.
  (NOTE: You can hold down a number key to input a pen mark, so there's really no need to switch to pen mode.)

Download the preview at http://www.smoresoft.com/downloads/Smoresoft.SudokuSP.1.3.5.cab.

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Announcements / Smoresoft Sudoku 1.3 Preview 4 Released

« on: November 04, 2006, 09:27:14 AM »

• NEW: Czech translation (thanks Darken!)
• NEW: Keypad navigation mode. Enable this feature in "Menu", "Game", "Options...". When this feature is enabled, the keypad navigates around the grid (2 = Up, 4 = Left, 6 = Right, 8 = Down). Press "5" to temporarily switch to number entry mode for the next digit entry. Press "0" to toggle between pen and pencil modes.
• NEW: Visual indication of completed values.

Download the preview at http://www.smoresoft.com/downloads/Smoresoft.SudokuSP.1.3.4.cab.

Note to Translators:
The following new string has been added in this release:

Code: [Select]

  <data name="keypadNavigationCheckboxText">
    <value xml:space="preserve">Keypad navigation</value>
    <comment>en="Keypad navigation"; Switch to keypad navigation mode, where the dialpad (instead of the joystick) is used to navigate around the grid.</comment>
  </data>

Note to Theme Creators:
A new color parameter, "completedInputColor", has been added. This is the color used to display values that have been completed in the puzzle. For example, when all nine 7's have been entered in the grid, the 7's will change to this color.

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Announcements / Smoresoft Sudoku 1.3 Preview 1 Released

« on: September 26, 2006, 06:11:21 PM »

• NEW: Russian and Ukrainian translations (thanks shutnick!)
• NEW: Support for Motorola Q keyboard layout without entering numeric keypad mode.

Download the preview at http://www.smoresoft.com/downloads/Smoresoft.SudokuSP.1.3.0.1.cab.