Game Wizard [5.0]

With every new release of Concentration - the Memory Games a dozen new game options are introduced. Although the Option dialog box has a standardized user interface and a clean look and feel, its complexity might scare off less experienced users.

For players who don't want to temper with advanced game options and sophisticated preferences, version 5.0 introduces Game Wizard: to set basic game options step by step.

To start the Game Wizard select Game / New / Game Wizard. After the welcome screen you can change basic game options such as:

• Player one and/or two.
• Card set.
• Game mode.
• Board size.
• Bonus elements.

Every time the value of a step is unequivocal, the step is skipped.

Game Wizard: Players • Select Regular or Generic Players in 5.0

Game Wizard: Card Sets • Select or Preview Card Sets in 5.0

When all the steps are completed the Game Wizard shows a confirmation page to summarize the changes you made. In that point you can accept the changes and start a new game, or go back any number of steps to reset some options.

Game Wizard: Confirm Changes • Final Page of the Game Wizard in 5.0

When you click Finish, Game Wizard always starts a new game. To replay the previous game, to start a tournament or a stress-free game use menu items in the Game menu. To change advanced options, click Options in the Options menu.

Note

In this moment Concentration - the Memory Games 5.0 is not yet available. That's why this post is categorized under Feature Preview.

Stress-free Games [5.0]

There are many different kinds of users of Concentration - the Memory Games. Some of you play concentration for the thrills: racing against the clock, trying to break your old high score. And there are others who just want to Play, with a capital P, not interested in timers and scores, but bothered by anything that distracts them.

Some of these players suggested some modifications, I hope these minor changes will make hundreds happier.

In Concentration - the Memory Games 5.0 you'll be able to play stress-free games. This means that you don't need to worry about scores and timers, winners and losers: just find matching pairs on the field. When starting a Stress-free Game (Game / New / Stress-free Game) you should know several things:

• In single player games there's no timing and no score is calculated.
• Since there's no score the results are not added to your personal statistics.
• In dual player modes there's no scoring.
• In single player mode at the end of the game the winning sound is played, no matter what.
• There's no winner announced in dual player modes.
• When playing against a computer opponent the winning sound is played at the end of the game, no matter what.
• When playing against a human opponent no sound is played at the end of the game.

The status bar displays player information, but show N/A instead of time and score. If you don't want to see this info, in 5.0 you can hide the entire status bar as well. On the screen shot you see the Assorted Sounds sound card set.

Stress-free Game Mode • Relax, No Need To Worry

There's a drawback, however. Since there's no scoring, no results are saved to the statistics, no high scores are made. To make sure this doesn't cause any disappointment, a new waring has been introduced. Whenever a stress-free game starts this waring is displayed. Of course, you can disable any warnings and reminders in the game.

Stress-free Game Mode Warning • Just to Make Sure

Winning Sound

Some of you just asked if there was a way to disable losing sound, which can be annoying. Well, now there is, you can configure sound options and replace the sound that's played when you don't break a high score.

Of course, in this case scores and statistics are kept this is just a sound preference not affecting other game features.

Disabled Losing Sound • Never Hear it Again If it Annoys You

Note

In this moment Concentration - the Memory Games 5.0 is not yet available. That's why this post is categorized under Feature Preview.

Full-screen Mode [5.0]

In the first release of Concentration - the Memory Games the game window had a fixed size. With version 3.0 the window properties were changed to allow the maximized game window to cover the desktop. 5.0 introduces a full-screen mode and some related enhancements.

Full-screen mode is an option in many windowed applications, probably your word processor or browser applications have it, too. Just press the F11 key and check it out. From the next release you can play Concentration - the Memory Games on full-screen as well.

You have more space to play, you have less visual elements to distract you. You can definitely focus on the game. Take a look at the next demo screen shot (click both images to enlarge). We used our first animated card set, Travel Stamps, to demo this feature.

Full-screen Mode • More Space on the Game Board in Concentration - the Memory Games 5.0 (Click to Enlarge)

In previous versions you had an option to hide the toolbar. In version 5.0 you can hide the status bar as well (both from the new View menu or the Options / Preferences / View option page).

Note

In this moment neither Concentration - the Memory Games 5.0 nor the Travel Stamps animated card set is available. That's why this post is categorized under Feature Preview.

Associative Duel Play [5.0]

Duel is a unique two-player game mode in Concentration - the Memory Games. You can play it against a friend or against a computer opponent. The deck is split and the game is quite unlike traditional flip over.

Previously associative play was disabled when the user selected duel mode. With the new associative card sets it really makes sense to play a duel with custom associations enabled. So, it will be an option in the 5.0 release. We used the Pounce and Wag card sets to create the following demo screen shot.

Associative Duel Play • 5.0 Enables Associative Play in Duel Mode

Since the deck is split, Player 1 (upper half) plays with the "Pounce and Wag (Wag)" while Player 2 (lower half) with the "Pounce and Wag (Pounce)" card set. In this game mode the sets' respective card backs are used as well.

Note

At the moment neither Concentration - the Memory Games 5.0 nor the Pounce and Wag card set pack is available. That's why this post is categorized under Feature Preview.

Associative Card Sets Feature Preview »