I love this kind of games. Great work.

I played this game off and on for a few days. I finished the game in less than a week. I rank this a resounding "Meh". This game played like it was a basic project designed as a homework assignment at a tech college. It is a good basic premise, but it needs to be flushed out more. Not at any time during the game were all levels of all the buildings available. Graphics are primitive and the strategy required to beat this game takes less thought than checkers. Good as a freeware game, but I would not buy this game, lest I feel slighted.

I am very disappointed i missed this one!

I think it´s a crappy game!
Didn´t understand why the dragon can´t be beaten with the magic carrot in part 4!!

Although relatively short, this game was fun and easy to play. I enjoyed every part of it, I would like to see a much larger version come out.

very good game btw

Lol at my pc it worked immediatly with a screen resolution of 1650x1080 @opengl

This is the first time I've commented after 2 years of visiting this site. I wanted to say "Thank you" for these last 2 game offerings. Great to see a different kind of game from "match 3" or "hidden object" available for free. My daughter's computer is XP with just 512Mb RAM, but she was still able to install, run and enjoy "Be a King" on this computer!
We're working in development in Central Asia where it is hard to access much of the good software and technology of the west at a good price. This site sometimes comes up with a gem.

I played it. boring and easy.
how do I uninstall it?!?????

i'm STUCK and i don't like it. somehow, the settings are such that i can view only the upper left quadrant of the game screen. no buttons to push to start the game, no nothing except for plumes of smoke. how do i fix this problem??????????????????????????

Very nice game. Reminiscent of Civilization although much, much simpler. I've seen it called a poor man's Settler's in a few comments and maybe that's so, but for a free game, it is very enjoyable. In fact, it's a bit addictive.

This game was an exciting addition to the otherwise bland mix of puzzle games.

Rake In Grass makes some pretty cool games that have been given out before, such as Larva Mortus and Jets 'n' Guns.

They're very much appreciated!

Doesn't work with Windows 7 Ultimate. Not even in XP-mode.

Sorry, I mean "I hope you could...." "not I hope to could.." >_<

I have to give my compliments to the Archibald's adventure :) really good :)

it doesn't work on my msi wind notebook..... even if it's not on fullscreen mode it won't work... what I mean is that the scroll doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the game screen... of course the notebook met the computer requirements needed... I hope to could fix this glitch :)

I played the game last night. It was nice. But over several hours I got thru all but the last level. Nice gameplay, with a "Puzzle" aspect - But you gotta solve the puzzle while killing the monsters attacking you!! Pretty Nice!!

I hope there are more levels or Make it yourself levels.

This game is a lot of fun... had to take a break though, because, I am on a level that where you need 200 citizen to live in the village but I am having a hard time getting them to stay

This game is made by the same developer as Archibald's Adventures (yesterday giveaway).

What a fun-tastic game! Has some things in common with the Civ series, and a lot in common with the online game Travian - but it's solo play, which in my opinion is much more fun than getting "pwned" by other players who devote their lives to beating you online. Thanks GAOTD!

a secondary note - even though i closed the setup windows with X it still congratuated me on the install..

should have said install incomplete.

i am running xp sp3.

Moderator Comment:

Hi nogrd0

There really is nothing wrong with the game once it's been installed. If you have decent security software it would pick up anything untoward. So it's your loss if you refuse to install the game. Still, that's your perogative. :lol:

the setup file has nothing but ???? ??? ???? ??? on the text and buttons.

i refuse to install something were the setup file is garbage and i dont know what i am clicking on.

I posted this once but it never showed up. :-(

I can't open the zip file. When I try I get about 2 dozen windows pop up waiting for me to click the lower left button. When all is said and done, I still have a zipped file, but it has left me in the same place a successful download leaves me. Any ideas?


Moderators Comment:


Hi MaBee, sorry I fell asleep at the keyboard. To be honest I can't explain what's happening with your download. Getting so many windws just doesn't happen normally. It's possible you've picked up a virus from somewhere (though not from the giveaway site).

Have you searched for the games executable? Some users have been getting problems with the game installing where it should which included me. It tried to install itself into the last game I installed (from the game giveaway project). Try doing a search for the executable. It's called beaking (no spaces). hopefully you'll find that the game has been installed. If it hasn't there's nothing more I can think of at this oint. I'm half asleep and struggling to stay awake, so am going to bed. hopefully a solution may pop into my head before the end of the giveaway. If you don't find the executable (and thus the installed game), check back before the end of the giveaway just in case someone has come up with an explanation.

W.R.

Just dropped in to say that this is one of the better quality games posted here. I check out most of them, but download few. This one is a real keeper!! Thanks for this quality game.

Oops, I forgot to mention: there's a free version of Returnil and it's 64 bit compatible. However, I probably wouldn't bother with it's new antivirus module.

Phoenix, try Returnil:

http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/

It allows you to test the software in a virtual environment. Then, even if it crashes your machine, it's only crashing the virtual environment - which is temporary anyway (it disappears and starts fresh every time you restart the machine) - and does no permanent damage to your computer. Then, if you like the program, you can save or transfer it's files to your actual C: partition (if it's portable), or turn off Returnil and reinstall in your real environment. I use it to test a lot of GOTDs.

Enjoyed the game; ran perfectly on 32bit XP Pro Sp3. Played with sound off so didn't notice the text/voice anomoly.

And yes, the ????????? crap just has to go.

I keep trying to open my zipped file. It gives me numerous little screens with the ?s. I click the lower left button for each one. Finally, after about 2 dozen little windows they stop and I still have a zipped file, however the finished screen comes up. Any idea what is going on?

Thanks & Blessings, MaBee

Thanks for the info Phoenix, I'll mention your concerns and suggest the 64 bit yay or nay to the staff.

I wonder if that's why I had so much trouble with my 64 bit software. I dumped it after a month and reverted back to a 32 bit XP Pro version that I had. I'm not to teccy any more, so can't really fault find too deeply. (I worked as a electro-mechanical engineer 30 years ago, but changed professions - what I knew is way out of date now - worked as a terminal equipmet tech in the Royal Corps of Signals till '79)

Could someone PLEASE address whether a piece of sw will run on a 64-bit system, with a simple "Yay/Nay" type of statement for each piece offered? It'd go a log way toward helping those of us who didn't choose the platform, but have it because our previous machine died and that's what was available at the shop when we went to a replacement.
Many thanks to WRabbit, the sw developers, and all others who managed to bring this site back to life!

------------------------------------------
(I wasn't sure where else to post this, so I put it here, where WRabbit can see it quickly)...

@Whiterabbit-uk:
Feel free to trim the info below; it was provided to let someone at GGOTD know that there's a major problem with not mentioning whether a piece of sw will work on a 64-bit system, (and there's apparently finally some way to "break" a computer with software!)
(Don't want the "bad guys" to get onto THIS one before it's fixed!)
...And that I'm not "the average PC user", and DID talk to the engineers at the factory, and am trying to figure out, (with the OEM), a "cure" for an engineering problem that shouldn't have gotten "out the door" to begin with:
- - - - - - - - - -
One thing that I'm not the only one who has trouble with, is a general kind of thing, and it's caused me/us to have stopped "testing" new sw from GAOTD, (and in this case, even my beloved GGOTD), which is that much of the time, no one seems to address whether the sw is designed to work, or at least WILL work, on a 64-bit system, and if I try an install and it "doesn't like x64", it really crashes my machine, in one case badly , as you can see from the above.

That last one caused me to have to schedule my machine to go back to the factory for replacement, due to the A/V panel not working after an unsuccessful install of GOTD sw, and not even a "Restore to 'Out-of-the-box" condition, from an OEM ERD & backup would get the panel working again, so I'm not going to be TOO hasty in blaming sw for an apparent hardware failure, BUT the OEM HAS said that my hw problem HAS happened before, and that it WAS "faulty software" which caused it!

I didn't believe them until they sent me the diagrams of the AV panel, and I could see for myself how certain instructions & addresses in combination, CAN blow a chip in that panel;
The OEM's working on it, (as am I, being a retired Electronics Engineer, with a lot of computer background)...

And thanks again for all of your hard work!

You guys REALLY need to fix the question mark problem during installation. Do you no longer support English? Bad rating from me as a game should never show questions marks during installation.

Moderator comment:

How did you find the game?

Thanks. Clean & smooth management game. Ok Win 7 Ultimate 32 bit.
Just doing tutorials so far, liking it. Nice reviews guys and for the
pointers to other such games. Have played several of this type and
this one looks like a sweet keeper. Levels unlocker nice touch.

Well I FINALLY got it to work. Changed the screen resolution several
times and found one that worked. However the smaller screen is not what I am used to.
So changed it back to my original setting after. And by a quirk
decide tosee if it would now work there. And it did.
Weird eh.

Thank all for your help Do not have time to play it now but at least I have it and will try it out tomorrow.

Frank's fix of changing the display settings seems to work. At least I can run the game now. Haven't played yet, so if I run into any other problems I'll get back to you. Thanks again for the help!

That's a good point Charlie. One of the sites i visited while researching yhis game recommended westward II if you liked this game.

The first wstward has been given away free all last week. The offer may still be valid. for details check out the following link in the forums:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/6554

To Violet. i'm onto my eight photobucket account since osting images in the forums and now here. I only discovered last week when I noticed one of the links looked like the links I use to post internet liks was similar, so I tried posting it here and it worked. The trouble is photobucket gives limited bandwidth so I'll have to perhaps only post a couple of images. Everytime I have to create a new photobucket accout I need a new email, lol. Strike that, I've just created another account and moved all the images over as I hate to see blank spots, lol.

To Frank,

That's good news. Glad you got it working. :)

To Onyx, try Franks fix (see above). :) I hope it works.

Sounds like a good game! Seems similar to Westward, Westward 2, & Westward 3 by Sandlot games. If so, it will be very addictive!

for Whiterabbit-uk

I did some google research into my problem (hardware failed to switch to the specified mode) i did reinstall my graphics driver, didn't work, but i changed my display settinfs to 1280 x 1024 (i just picked that one out of the air)from 1680 x 1050 (my normal size) and the game worked. I played through the tutorial, first level. so far so good. So i needed to adjust my display settings

Found out as I searched the web that others had problems with this game as well. Expecially those who tried the trial version. Seems like it worked in the trial download but when they paid for it the could not access the game.
No whiterabbti it had nothing to do with my resolution as I dould not even open up the game or get it period. have given up on it. Glad I did not by it. Sounds like it is a problem with the game maker itself. Oh well

Like a couple of other users I'm getting the 'hardware failed to switch to specified mode' error message. Following whiterabbit's suggestion I updated my grapics card drivers. I have OpenGL.

I am still getting the error message. :( I've installed other GGOTD games with no problem, including yesterdays. This is the only game I've had difficulty with.

An excellent game. Seems simplistic at first, but after playing a few levels the complexities of the resource management become clearer. I am looking forward to playing the later levels and seeing what unique challenges may present themselves!

Music and graphics are great. The QC issues mentioned by #2 appear to have a simple explanation: the text is always right, so I suspect they recorded the voiceovers and then changed some details later. It's much easier to fix the text than to re-record all the voiceovers! In any case, all of the discrepancies were minor and didn't cause me any confusion.

@Mina,
i use the extractor included with Windows (XP SP2 MCE), & it always defaults to the prior location extracted to (even with my over-CCleaning of things...lol...)...your next giveaway that extracts/installs this way will probably try to overwrite this giveaway...just change the location : )

@waymyr,
my Vista notebook croaked recently, but if i remember correctly, every time an extraction/install of this type was required Vista said it failed to install correctly...have you tried clicking the choice that it did install correctly, creating the shortcut (as explained by Whiterabbit), & giving it a go?...i don't remember if right-click-install-as admin was required, but the 300AD & Rake In Grass games always ran fine on my Vista HP...

@Whiterabbit,
thank you for another weekend of work...your detailed reviews have always been appreciated, but even you have kicked it up a notch with the new ability to add screenshots............now if only GOTD could partner with Photobucket...lol...

@300AD, Rake In Grass, & GGOTD,
thank you for another great weekend...special thanks to 300AD & Rake In Grass for continuing to partner with GGOTD...

: )

I'm hooked! Great game, thanks team. :~)

Really a fantastic free offering for the day. I've played a fair bit already and have no doubt I'll put in far more hours than I should with it before it's all over.

I was wondering how long my images would last. unfortunately Photobucket only allow so much bandwidth each month. With well over a thousand views I must have used up my allowance. :( These will re-appear next month, lol.

Thanks for your support Dolphin; (and well said) if I go right out and say it's the users fault, loads of complaints will ensue. Also thanks to HOSS for reminding me of the process. I was big into Version Tracker for a few years and allowed software Informer onto my machine when it was first included here, so had forgotten the procedure.

To rina,

it sounds like it is the screen resolution. Try playing it in windowed mode. That may enable you to reach tutorial 1. Normally you do have to initially unlock a level to play the next one. Once they are unlocked you can play any. Did you read my review @ #1? If you did you'd have seen that there is a levels unlocker available. See the end of my review for a link to download it. You are supposed to be able to unlock all the levels using this program, but I haven't tested it because I didn't want to unlock the levels. It may be the ideal thing for you. Please let us know if it works. :)

Sorry to hear you missed the game Waymyr

To Frank and Buskieboy,

That message usually refers to a hardware problem, usually a graphics one. Do you have a graphics card installed, are the drivers up to date, and do you have OpenGL installed? Try updating or reinstalling your drivers and installing the latest version of OpenGL. Let us know if that solved the problem.

Hd trouble with installing yesterday giveaway but finally got it and today had same trouble with the ???? Followed what you suggested. Finally located it after a couple of hours and windows said it did not install correctly. I tried several times no luck. I have Vista basic as an OS. Too bad as it looked like a game I would really like.

I am about to install this game, so can't comment on it, really. Other than to say it's not usually the kind of game I like, but it looks interesting enough to give it a try, and Whiterabbit's excellent review (as usual - thanks for all your work on the reviews, Whiterabbit) gave me a good enough idea of the game to know that I'd like to try this one out.

I did want to comment on the Software Informer issue, though. I've noticed that almost every day there is a game, at least one person will complain that Software Informer automatically ends up on their computer without them having done anything. As far as I can tell, that's not possible. Whenever I have downloaded anything from here, there is a particular button that has to be clicked on, allowing Software Informer to be installed. There are no check boxes to tick or untick - it's an actual button that must be clicked on. So the only way anyone could end up with Software Informer on their computer is if they specifically click the button, permitting the installation. Unfortunately many people do not pay attention when they are downloading and installing products - I've seen this time and time again in other sites as well as here - and this all just goes to show how important it is to make sure one reads every screen and box during the installation process.

I just wanted to comment on this because I get very tired of seeing people blame the GAOTD team (and other site owners) for something being installed on their computer, when it's actually their own fault for choosing to install something themselves because they are not reading properly and are not paying attention to what they are clicking on.

GAOTD team, I know it's probably not easy getting games to give us these days, and I want to say that I have been glad to see you back, and your efforts are much appreciated, as always.

Hi, would like to play this game as looks more interesting than the boring match 3 ones. Anyway installed despite the ??? but now it seems to not be displaying the whole screen, the lowest we can get to is tutorial 2 & 3. can not view a link for tutorial 1 and I'm assuming you have to go in order :/ I'm playing on a 12" notebook, so maybe this is affecting it? though the previous games installed work fine... hmmm

Any help appreciated please.

Cheers

Ri :)

after i installed the game, I have windows vista 32 bit, when i clicked on the .exe file i got a message that said "hardware failed to switch to the specified mode".

Also prior to that when i first clicked on the .exe file my firewall requested permission to allow the .exe file to access the internet and act as a server, which i temporarily did, then i got the hardware mode failure

this happened with a game i tried to play after installing last week from here also.
any suggestions?

Installed fine and I did not and never have installed the software informer part. Thanks for another great game!

I REALLY wanted to play this game, but I keep getting an error message saying:

Hardware failed to switch to specified mode

Then I have to hit exit twice and the next msg is that beaking has stopped working. I can't get the game to load/play.

I'm not sure if it's a problem with installation as I too get ???? on the install wizard. Perhaps I should be changing something in the wizard but can't because of ?????
Anyone help?
Thanks

The option to install Software Informer comes at the end of the installation process. A box appears were you have the option to bookmark the Game Giveaway site. At the bottom of that box there are 2 buttons labeled; "install Software Informer" and "Close". Just press the "Close" button to avoid installing the software. Anyone that installed the software must have pressed the "install" button.

c[_]