Yay! relaxed mode available on this game!

The background location on the ship changes about every six games, and I wish my house were as clean and neat as that ship!

I find the dark squares hard to spot when they're at the edges, and some mini-games or cut scenes could add some interest; but, I'm enjoying this game as relaxation.

Thanks, GGOTD, Stars Ashes, and Whiterabbit!

Hi. I downloaded this on my parents computer and it took me awhile to figure out how to do it. So, I didn't get to play very long but I will enjoy the game. The graphics are nice and the theme is carried over to the game pieces very nicely. Something to pass the time while I'm on break from caring for my mom. I do agree that it would be good to create more contrast between the tiles. I would like the map that is being formed to be more interesting. Perhaps more contrast and/or have it look more like a sketch rather than such thick lines. Thanks, ez

...............................Moderator Comment................................

Thanks for your feedback Elaine

Played under Win 8.1 x64 couple Givesaways and left it. Gets hard on timed at early levels tho can switch between time modes I think. Worth one last try to see if I can handle ghosts. WR is right to mention his difficulty at one point. Just hoping Fishdom2 has sharpened my match skills, unless Fish design is more forgiving.
Thanks and will be checking for the non Match Sunday game.

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Thanks for your feedback beergas :)

I had the same error as #3 and trying to extract the files with another program (7-Zip) but it reported errors extracting 53 of the 75 files:
'File is broken'

I haven't been able to properly install anything using the GOTD wrapper for at least a few weeks, so I'm probably just wasting my time.

...............................Moderator Comment................................

Thanks for your feedback slave, thousands of community members have downloaded this game, with only a few reporting this problem. I've had the problem in the past and sorted it by using a different file archiver. Other reasons for the problem could be your security software. One of the giveaway files is a security encryption so may cause problems depending on how you have your computer set up.

I'm getting a notice that setup.gcd is "broken" (7-Zip's terms, not mine.) According to Windows Vista, the file size is correct, 53.7 MB. I did what I always do, put my firewall into "game mode" and disabled AV real-time file protection.

...............................Moderator Comment................................

Thanks for your feedback; did you get it installed. If not, lso try using a different file archiver. I've listed several in the fAQ's thread over in the game discussion forums.

I've not seen this one before and it's a nice change from the often garish bright games. I quite like match 3s for relaxation and this fits the bill. Thank you for this. I will probably keep it for a while and maybe even try the timed mode.

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Thanks for your feedback DJ

Nice game! The graphics might be dark, but are clean and easy to see. I especially like the music track...very appropriate to the game. Also like that there is a relaxed mode...I am older, and don't always have the speed to catch the timed mode. I am running the game on a Dell laptop with Windows 8.0, and it seems to work well. Thanks!

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Than you for your feedback Laura

Oh, I wonder what tomorrow's game will be? I hope it's one of those cool physics games we used to get! (What happened to those games? We haven't had one for a really REALLY LOOOOONG time!)

Or a racing game! Has there ever EVER been a racing game given away on this site? I don't remember any.

Or a pool game!! I had to delete a pool game from my laptop yesterday because it was.... Well, it was just stupid. No mater what, you could not break the balls.

Or a board game!!! RISK! RISK! or SCRABBLE! SCRABBLE! or LIFE! LIFE!

OR a card game!!!! There have NEVER NEVER NEVER been a card game given away here! Doesn't anybody play card games anymore?

Or a golf game!!!!! GOLF is COOL!

Just as long as it isn't just another HOG or TMG.

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We used to get quite afew racing games. Looking back on the various games we got, 2010 was a good year. we only got one in 2012 and one in 2013, Prior to 2010 we got racing games every few months. Most looked and felt like they were still in development, but a couple were decent enough. We got one based on a Russian classic car; can't remember the name offhand, but it was in my opinion the best racer ever given away here. I'd look back, but it's way past my bed time (nearly 6am). Still got Sundays review to sort.

I GOT The Flying Dutchman from gotd back on 11 - 27 - 2011! Seem to recall it was reasonable good game. Getting harder to remember the games with all the games available that I've downloaded - I.E. thousands and thousands, etc! Whiterabbit seems to buy alot of games???
This is off topic - but gotd has ad for NuWave pci cooktop that heats metal in pan with magnetic waves! What if you have metal plate in your head or metal stints in your heart - will pci cause those to heat up and cook you! Was looking for reviews on it and saw mention might be problem with heart stints??? Wonder how many games whiterabbit has??

............................Moderator Comment.............................

I think the process works on the location of the object to be heated. They have to be within a certain distance from the magnetic source i,e within the main magnetic field, to work. I would also expect health and safety to have tested such processes to ensure they are safe. At least here in the European Union and in the US. I remember reading an article in the New Scientist many years ago about a cook who was standing next to a microwave oven before they became household items and before shielding was added. He felt some pain in one of his kidneys while standing next to the microwave (which was unshielded). It was found that he had partly cooked one of his kidneys.

@MaryLee: I recommend you (and too all "nightusers") to take a look at this freeware:
https://justgetflux.com/
This tool makes it easier to look on the screen in the night - "it makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day" - automatically. When you have problems with the colors when the software works try other settings to find the best for your eyes...
Nice weekend,
JK

............................Moderator Comment.............................

Thanks for the heads up on that JK. I spend a lot of time at night in fornt of my monitor. will check the utility out. :)

Thanks for the giveaway today but I don't care for match three games and am going to skip it. I'll be watching for the next game giveaway.

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Tomorrows game is definitely not a match three. :)

I've had and played this game before. I had lost it when my computer croaked. I am glad to see it offered here. I have no issue with the "drabness" of the graphics. It's a bit dark but so is the theme. It's more realistic actually I have found. One grows tired of cartoon style graphics meant for kids. This is a game designed well and plays well. I prefer the relaxed laid back play as I often am distracted in my job online and need to stop my play to attend to it. I don't always have time to minimize the window forcing my program to run out before I can return to it. I much prefer HOG's and Match 3's that allow me that option to play in the relaxed format.

............................Moderator Comment.............................

Thanks for your feedback Deborah

:)

Looking forward to playing this one. As soon as I saw the screenshots, I thought how I'd like a game with a darker look. I'm often working (or game-playing) all night, so this will be easier to look at. Thanks for this one.

............................Moderator Comment.............................

nice one Mary Lee

:)

Is there a problem with the setup files?

I don't usually have any problems installing GOTD games such as this but this time I get an error telling me that the archive is either in an unknown format or damaged http://oi59.tinypic.com/krqj7.jpg - I have used WinRAR for years without previous problems. The only change from my normal PC setup is that a couple of days ago I started to use Kaspersky Internet Security (instead of Avast) but I would be surprised if that has any bearing on the problem.

............................Moderator Comment.............................

I've had a similar problem twice over the last several years. both times I then used a different file archiver to unpack and it worked fine; however, it could very well be your AV software that's causing the problem. The giveaway contains a security file that may be seen as a threat. I'd either try and make an exception. I won't suggest turning off your AV program, because if you do it's at your own risk.

:)

Danke sehr!

Juli 2013 von Euch bekommen.

Immer die selbe kleine Auswahl...
Wofür macht Ihr eigentlich Werbung? - Vielleicht für Einfallslosigkeit?

Naja, dann leide ich wohl an dem gleichen Geistlosigkeitssyndrom - denn ich komme auch immer wieder auf diese Seite zurück...

Wünsche ein schönes Wochende
D.T.

......................................Moderator Comment.......................................



Hallo DT, es gibt ungefähr dreißig bis vierzig Prozent Wiederholungen; der Rest der Spiele sind diejenigen, die noch nie weg, bevor gegeben. Das Hauptproblem liegt bei der Tatsache, dass Spiele sind spottbillig in diesen Tagen, so dass Entwickler kämpfen, um einen Gewinn zu machen (mehrere große Entwickler beispielsweise THQ und Take Two haben sich aus Buisness gegangen), so dass viele nur ungern in ihre Spiele zu verschenken sind tausende, vor allem, wenn es mehr negativ, dass positive Stimmen für viele der Spiele weg hier.

Leider Spiele haben real im Preis drastisch seit der Rezession im Jahr 2008 getroffen gesunken. Die Qualität vieler Spiele zeigen diesen Rückgang. (meiner Meinung nach).

Grüße

Whiterabbit

The Flying Dutchman - in the ghost prison:

In Brief:

The Flying Dutchman is a basic match three with decent graphics. It's been given away at least four times now. It’s not Treasures of Montezuma, Atlantis Rising, 4 Elements or Fishdom, but it’s decent enough for me to keep it in my games library. When I read the reviews over on Big fish I got the overriding impression that most negative comments were towards the ‘drabness’ of the graphics. That said I actually found the graphics were decent and well done. It’s not brightly lit up like some match threes, more like subtle shades of brown, but it fits in with the theme of the game.

Installation:

The Flying Dutchman downloads to a 53.7 MB zip file (1MB smaller than previously) that unpacks to a read me and dual activation module, which for the newcomers to the game giveaway project means that once you've installed the game it automatically registers, that is, there's no registration code to input. The game installs to the following path:


C:\Games\TheFlyingDutchman\TheFlyingDutchman.exe

There is no shortcut installed so you'll have to follow the above path to create your own shortcut. To uninstall the game just delete the installed folder (there is no uninstaller). The game works on Win 98, XP, Vista and Win 7. The installed game is 73.7MB (slightly different from the last time this was given away -this may be explained by the game giveaway splash screen that has been added). There is no version number (or at least I couldn't find one).

You can change the in game music by replacing the appropriate Windows Media Player tracks with renamed tracks from your own music collection, though you will have to convert them to the appropriate audio files. Also the sound effects are mixed up with the music so you’ll have to search through the files for the music files. These tend to be the larger files such as Ambient 01 and 02 or theme_1 to theme_5.

Introduction:




This was last given away September 2013 where it received a positive 65% out of 340 votes with 25 comments which can be read HERE. It was also previously given away December 2012 where it received a positive 69% out of 247 votes with 37 comments which you can read HERE. It was also given away November 2011 where it received a positive 68% out of 329 votes with 61 comments which you can read HERE and again June last year where it received a positive 65% out of 283 votes with 52 comments which you can read HERE

For ages sea voyages have threatened of dangers. The sea always has its tribute from vanished ships making all the traces of wrecks inaccessible in its depths. But sailors still believe in their last chance for salvation. The legend says that if you underwent a shipwreck with no hopes for reprieve, you must jingle coins. And then you will behold the Flying Dutchman – the Ghost Ship. Its crew will take you wherever you want to go in the world. But for each day you will pay gold. If there is no gold left, you have to play a game with the crew of Flying Dutchman – the game with your life at stake. Victory will assure enough gold till the end of the day. But defeat will make you prisoner of the Flying Dutchman…forever!

Reference accessed HERE Nov 27th 2011

If you miss today's giveaway you can get it 24/7 from MyPlayCity

The Game:

The Flying Dutchman is a basic match three with decent graphics. It’s not Treasures of Montezuma, Atlantis Rising, 4 elements or Fishdom, but it’s decent enough for me to keep it in my games library. When I read the reviews over on Big fish I got the overriding impression that most negative comments were towards the ‘drabness’ of the graphics. That said I actually found the graphics were decent and well done. It’s not brightly lit up like some match threes, more like subtle shades of brown, but it fits in with the theme of the game.

From the options menu you can select from three different difficulty settings Easy, Normal and Hard as well as adjust the screen resolution from between 640 x 480 through to 1600 x 1200. There’s the usual sound and music sliders. You can create multiple profiles. Once you’ve created your first profile you can then choose between two different modes of play, Quest, which is time limited and Relaxed which isn’t. The timer is a barrel of gunpowder with a fuse.

There is a help section that tells you how to play the game. The last time this was given away Suki recommended that you read the help section prior to starting the game as it's not always clear what you need to do. Briefly, in timed mode you have to collect all the gold coins hidden under the dark colored decking of the Flying Dutchman by creating matches of three or more blocks. We all know how to play match three’s so I won’t bore you with the mechanics of the game. Clearing away matches of three or more is akin to scrubbing the floor of the decks. Once you’ve cleared the deck of all coins in timed mode or scrubbed the deck in untimed mode the level is complete. As you progress through the levels you will meet ghosts. If you create a match next to a ghost the match will be cursed and frozen or locked (depending on whether it wears a red or blue headband for a certain amount of time, but if you can create matches of three ghosts you can destroy them. Destroying these ghosts earns you very generous bonuses (500 points). You’ll find four different power ups, the bomb that destroys all nearby objects, holy water which removes curses, holy fire destroys all the ghosts of pirates and lightning that destroys all objects in the line that it is activated into. To activate a power up you just have to move it to the next tile. Every time you activate a new power up a note on it’s function will pop up. You can turn off these messages if you wish by un-checking the box at the lower left of the message.

Completion of each level earns you a part of a treasure map that is divided into 42 pieces. Once you’ve collected all 42 pieces you then get to do the treasure hunt, which I’ve not played through to, so can’t tell you what it is. I presume more levels. You can follow your progress on the levels map. At the end of each level you get a report of how many gold coins you’ve collected, the number of bonus points, collapsed objects and ghosts. To proceed to th next level just click on OK.

System Requirements:

OS: Windows XP/Vista though it also works on Win 7
DirectX: 8.0
CPU: 1.0 GHz
Memory: 128
Hard Drive Space: 79





Reviews, Video and Images



You can find videos of game play HERE, HERE and HERE.

You'll find several short user reviews from BigFish HERE



Conclusion:

The Flying Dutchman is a reasonable match three. There’s nothing outstanding about the game, but IMO it’s worth keeping, especially if you are into the match three genre. If not, there are far better free match three’s available from various sources. You’ll find some of the best match threes over at MyPlayCity as well as a few other free game sites such as Jenkat Games, Gametop and FreeGamePick, but, as always, be careful when installing as you may end up with toolbars etc if you don't uncheck the boxes. :) The addition of the ghosts adds an extra challenge to the game and can often confound your quest to complete the level. I was stuck on one level for ages due to the ghosts, lol. They add a difficulty that's not always present in some match three games. I scored the game a 6.4 using the parameters below.

Scoring


Gameplay – 7
Graphics – 7
Audio – 7
Re-playability – 6
Originality – 5

Total = 6.4






Suggestions to the Developer:

• Add more power ups

• Include some mini games

• Improve the story

• Add a ghostly screensaver that you can earn by completing the game

• Create more contrast between the tiles




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Problems:


If you have any problems installing or getting to work today's game please go HERE for help. I've posted all of the common problems and solutions in a FAQ thread, which you can find in the sticky section of the forums by following the above link.

If you are posting late in the day I would also suggest posting in the main giveaway forums, in the game discussion section because I cannot moderate 24hrs a day over the weekend. If you've installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn't guaranteed). Sometimes you can still register the game after the giveaway has ended so long as you managed to start the download before the giveaway ends. I've tested this and sometimes the grace period lasts for up to 2 hours, but more often than not 1 hour is the norm.




It’s always worth checking out the free games sites because sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them. MyPlayCity (MPC) has the most with over 1000 games to choose from. Today's game is available from MyPlayCity MyPlayCity.
If you do download any other games from MPC or the other free game sites 'do' watch out for toolbars etc. Make sure you un-check the check-boxes during installation, and, in the case of MyPlayCity, every time you boot the game up, (this may have changed now as MPC tend to change the format frequently. .






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Games, Games, and yet more Games plus Download, Installation & Game play Problems:






If you have any problems installing or getting to work today's game please go HERE for help. I've posted all of the common problems and solutions in a FAQ thread, which you can find in the sticky section of the forums by following the above link.





It's the last couple of days of Steams summer sale, with around a thousand games on sale. I 'm not going to list my usual steam choices as there's far too many. The usual 24/48hr deals are live as it the 8hour flash sale and the community choice.

You'll also find some excellent deals over on the following Game sites, some of which have summer sales on. I've been selling my Steam trading cards and have already amassed nearly £200 just from selling these cards. i sold one for over £4 last week. all proceeds are going towards games. :)

GreenManGaming
Gamersgate Summer Sale
GOG
Desura
Gamestop
GameFly

To be honest there are too many game deals around too list them all. Just visit the sites I recommend above and I'm sure you'll find something that suits you for a very decent price. If like me you prefer Steamworks games, many of the above sites also sell steamwork games.

If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums HERE for details of other games either free or on deals such as the Indie Game bundles (there's over 20 of them - If you purchased all of them you'd be paying around $80 for around a thousand dollars worth of games); or check out the four day sales at IndieGameStand. I've updated the Indie Game bundle thread to include all the latest bundles. you'll find that thread HERE.

The latest IndieGameStand game is Bravada a fighting game.This bundle ends around 5am Wednmesday GMT.

The latest Daily Indie game is Power-Up, a modern-retro styled Shoot-Em-Up. You can get two keys if you pay more than $1.12; (one for a friend or family member perhaps?). You'll find that deal HERE. They also have a bundle of several games that'll cost you less than $1.50 HERE

Most of the bundles retail for around $5 give or take a few dollars, but you can pay as little as a dollar for some.

Finally, if you want more match three games you'll find loads over on MyPlaycity and the other free sites. as already mentioned above, please be aware of the toolbars, home page changes and browser changes that can occur if you don't uncheck the check boxes.

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A Request for help:

Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game please take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are going to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with the search engines. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of 'potential' cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away even more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you've checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain what your reasons were for the feedback you post. You could also leave suggestions for improving the game, for example, this game could do with more block types for the levels editor, add more power-ups, describing the ones you think would be suitable, add some mini games (which seem all the rage in some arcade games now) or enable the user to be able to change the in game music easily.

Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

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