I agree with comments 83, 147, and a few others, but here are my own late comments.

-When I installed the game I had no problems. Nor did the website pop up when I closed the game, but that's because I have multiple profiles with Firefox and I must pick one before the browser will open.
-I almost never play games with the sound on, so I can't comment on the quality of this game's sound/music.
-Like many others, I got lost trying to figure out what to do next and where to go next. I never gave up and did end up finishing the game. Trial and error worked well for me.
-The spelling errors were annoying. Most of the time they were ignorable, but I had a few issues when it came to instances where they used the European name for an item (ie: torch for flashlight). I knew torch meant flashlight because of a book series I read, but the game used several other terms I was ignorant of (and didn't bother to remember). Blindly clicking solved that problem.
-Sometimes the clickable area of an item was smaller than the item itself, leading to me clicking the same object several times before the game registers I clicked it.
-The ending was... predictable. I had already guessed the ending VERY early in the game.

With how short the game is, the lack of proper directions/help, all the spelling errors, and the lack of a replay value, I wouldn't think this game is worth the $9.99 price tag.




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


Thank you very much for the feedback. :)

I tried it again playing it in a window rather than full screen and was able to play it to the end with no more mouse pointer problems. It was a great game other than quite a few spelling mistakes. Mostly just amusing, but a couple bad enough that I couldn't figure out what they were supposed to be. Still I loved the game and hope to see more like it. Thanks.


.................................Moderator comment.................................

Thank you for your feedback Merrick. :)

Once I finally got the Direct X thing straightened out, the game started out OK. I really loved it for about the 15 minutes it worked. Then my mouse disappeared completely. There was no bringing it back even by the track pad. It took control-alt-delete and bringing up the task manager to shut it down. It shows I'm running the correct .net framework on Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. Is this fixable? I've read the majority of the comments and didn't see this problem mentioned. I apologize if it was.


.................................Moderator comment....................................

Thanks for your feedback Merrick.

Would be good if it was a regular thing to get the games,it is not a everyday thing these giveaways even though it says GameGivaawayoftheday so once again i have missed out as when i check they have finished and since as there not a regular thing one tends to forget......


..............................moderator comment............................

Since april 2008 games have only been given away at weekends.

I would have loved to play the game, beautiful graphics (on the screenshots) - and WONDERFUL music (I listened to the files in the game folder without being able to start the game).
Well, would have been just my kind of game but I'm unable to get it to work on Win7 64bit with latest DX installed. I've just deinstalled (=deleted), what a shame...

I'm using XP SP3. I've installed two different versions of Direct X 9.0c, from links above. I've installed NET4. I am still getting the DirectX not found error. I've installed it in C:\Games, where the game software is installed. Any suggestions please?


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

allow the Direct X to be installed where it would nrmally install to. You should delete the versions that didn't work.

This is the very first game I've had problems with. Ever. It launches but hangs when I try to save the options after turning down sound. I get an error about HOG engine not working. HOG games are my favorite, so I was looking forward to spending a little time relaxing with this one. Maybe when I get a chance, I'll try to go through the suggestions for getting it to work, but seriously, it shouldn't be so hard to have fun. I realize these game installations aren't sophisticated, but it would be nice if they could do a basic check to see if system requirements are met and report an informative error if not. Yeah, that may break with the Microsoft standard behavior, but sloppy programming is a pet peeve of mine. I'm a dinosaur programmer, and in the old days, we'd have been fired if our programs didn't handle errors by terminating gracefully with an informative message.

........................Moderator comment..................


Hi Terri, thanks for your feedback. Hope you find a fix for the problem.

I got the game to work on three. All of my computer have .netframework installed as a matter of course because I have a lot of games that require it. Also I have DX9.0c installed even though the two Win 7 computers I installed the games to have graphic cards that utilize DX 11. This is because many of my Steam games automatically install X 9.0c even though I have the later version installed. I think it is because of this that I got the game to work on three of my computers

I'm sure 'most' of the problems community members have been experiencing have been due to computer not being up to spec, old drivers or missing programs such as .net framework. There were over 11700 downloads; that equates to approximately 1% of the giveaway community having problems.

There is obviously some sloppy programming involved as this is the worst case of a game not working for a larger than normal cross section of the community, but I still believe that a computer kept up to scratch with the latest update would have had no problems running this game unless the hardware wasn't up to it

Just over 11 700 copies downloaded.

:)

Probably too late to post here since it was yesterdays game but here goes my opinion anyway for what its worth. Started out very confused. Couldnt figure out what to do. Read a couple posts and realized I just had to get started searching for the attic. The game was OK but seems a bit too rushed. So many typos in the hidden object lists, very unprofessional. Once I got the hang of the game, it only lasted about 1 1/2 hrs. For a free game it was fine, but if I had paid I would feel ripped off


.....................Moderator comment..........................

Thank you for your feedback

This game had some problems: there were lots of misspelled words, lots of items had bizarre descriptions (probably a bad translation into English), and many items could only be selected by clicking on a single pixel, rather than clicking anywhere on the item.

The biggest problem, though, was that the story was curiously flat. The ending of the game should be chilling, given the story and the realization that the player has at the end, but somehow that didn't come through. The ending felt rushed, and the build-up to the big realization didn't have a payoff that felt satisfying. Where was the main character's shock and horror at discovering what she had done? It was more like [serious spoiler ahead]

Oh, *I* killed her. Okay. It's good that I know who did it.

What?!


......................Moderator comment..............

Thanks for your feedback Corylea.

Sound like a story my daughter would have written when she was 7 years old ;-)

Thank you for the suggestions of get directX from someplace else, and update the video card drivers.
The DirectX 9.0c driver I installed for this I downloaded from Microsoft. Another flavor / source should not be REQUIRED.

I also just updated the Nvidia drivers, rebooted, retried the game.
No improvement, the game still gaks about .net framework and not finding the directx driver. I'm sorry I have to give this game a FAIL.


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

Sorry to hear that especially after all that effort. I agree with respect to the copies of Direct X. It's one of the things that annoys me about Steam. I have a lot of Steam games and nearly every one of them installs a separate copy of Direct X.

I was unable to open this game after download and install as instructed. Did this twice. Have had no problem in thew past. Also, had no problem with today's Mahjong game. Hope you run this game again without this hitch. Love HO games. TY

First game that I cannot get to work. Tried it on computer running XP and one running Windows 7. Both updated to correct DirectX and NetFramework. Do not like that when you finally get it to quit/close it immediately opens web site for RVL Games.

Never got it running. I installed Direct X, but it didn't help. I have no idea what Netframework v4 is nor where to get it, so I just didn't bother.

If your game requires such supports, the publisher should provide explicit directions on where to find them, how to install them, what sequence to install, etc.

Great Game for a HOG, on 4 seperate installs, one laptop and one desktop no problem, then two others- install not on drive C, so a little more finicky. the one always has video difficulty, Downloaded the massive 471Mb SDK DX9 and it installs at one and half gig Byte WOW! however after reboot all the games that previously wouldn't load, now OK, Hooray !! the last one just was overdue for a good cleaning and also after reboot the game is now playable, nice you can go into the program folder to snoop at the clues,pics and music, I suppose if you want to change the music you could and it the splellign bothers you (spelling) that much it could be edited .? ThankYou GGOTD , RVL games and all those most helpful posts and Forum links.


............................Moderator comment............................

Thank you for your feedback Bob

Not sure on the total places visited. Looks like 8 from the map. I know I went to Amy's house, school, museum, police station, hospital, bar, and home. That leaves one building that I'm not sure what it is but probably went there also. And at least some if not all were visited multiple times.

FWIW, I did start to replay to get to the map so I could see what buildings were there and did find that the hidden object scenes did not repeat exactly the same items so if you like the game, there is replay value.

.........................Moderator comment.........................

Thanks for the feedback about the replay value. :)

Hello GGGAOTD Moderator.

I did try to install it, even being as late as it is. Unfortunately it did not install. I received the message "Giveaway period for this software is over, please check our web-site for a new giveaway"

In the past I have fortunately been able to install a couple of games even though it had been past the deadline for its installation. Sometimes I managed a complete Installation of the program or game as late as 3 hours past the deadline.

I have luckily managed a few successful program & game giveaways installations just by trying. Unfortunately it did not work for yesterdays Aid File Recovery program or for Amys Murder game. But I still tried in the faint hope it would succeed.

Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't.

Signed
The Sleepy Toad
Rick Frog


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

Cest la vie ;-)

I had the same problems with starting the game (Windows 7, DirectX 11) as described above, solved after installing DirectX 9c. Thank you for the info.
Played the game yesterday with similar problems as many had - no hints to follow. At the beginning of the game it helped to hit "hint" key (magnifying glass), one gets hints what to do/ how to solve puzzles. Unfortunately, these hints are sparse and disappear later. This needs fixing, else one gets stuck easily. Graphics is OK, puzzles without explanation so-so, hidden objects sometimes hidden too well (too small) or not particularly difficult to find. Not challenging. Short.
My note would be 5 points out of 10. Minus 2 additional points for difficult start and annoying link to the homepage when one closes.
Barbara

.......................Moderator comment.................

Thanks for your feedback Barbara (that name reminds me of the beach boys, when I was a kid i love their music especially Barbara Ann). :)

Aww man am I mad at myself. I downloaded this yesterday but decided to lay down for a nap. I figured I had plenty of time to install it yet. Sadly that planned 20 minute nap turned into a 6 hour snoozathon I knew I was tired but I was not aware that I was so exhausted...

The best laid plans will often go awry. Meanwhile this teaches me a very important lesson in life to stop procrastinating things I should never procrastinate in installing a good game in the future. I have missed the deadline on a couple of good games over the past year due to procrastination.

But mostly I missed the installation deadline due to things such as the loss of internet services due to maintenance or a downed line or because of something else such as a power outage. but I have never missed a deadline due to something as idiotic as sleeping for to long like I did today or sh9uld I say yesterday.

So long story short I am mad at myself because I awoke to late to install this wonderful looking game. I like many kinds of games while hidden object may not be my favourite Genre they can be loads of fun and this one looked like it would be a fantastic one to add to my Games folder.

I will have to see what the future allows for my finances because this looks like a great game. One that I will buy for my collection of interesting games. There are a lot of comments on this game today so i need to go through all of those first to see if this game justifies the spending of my meagre resources.

Thank You GGAOTD and RVL Games for giving this game away it is because of great company like yours that this old frog has a wonderful collection of games to play. I look forward to seeing if there are any other great games from RVL coming to GGAOTD in the future.

Just for giving this game away today AVL are heroes in my books. Since the collapse of the North American economy not just in the US but in Canada as well. There has been a loss of the Daily Game Give Away. Many of those game company's no longer exist and others no longer give away their games for free.

I miss the Free Daily Games but thankfully because of GGAOTD we still get these amazing games for free every once in awhile. I am very happy to get a free game every once in awhile than none at all.

The normal price is 9.99 which is the average price for games like this.

I don't want to be a nuisance but I am going to be one all the same. I don't speak for any of the other users here. I only speak for myself. But, I was wondering if there will be any coupons or discounts provided to the users of GGAOTD if we decide to buy this or any of the other games from AVL?

Once more lets give a Big Thank You To AVL Games and to GGAOTD for going through all the hard work to bring us such amazing bargains.

Thank you
Signed
The sleepy toad
Rick Frog

........................Moderator comment...................

Thanks Rick.

I've done the same as well. I did discover that sometimes you can still install a game after the giveaway is over. I've installed as long as an hour later, but its not guaranteed.

With respect to discounts, you could contact RVL games and explain that you fell asleep and forgot to install the game until the giveaway was over. Then ask if they would consider giving you a discount. I've done this myself in the past and have been rewarded with great discounts and even free games and other software. So long as you are plausible and show a genuine interest developers can be really cool about such things. Aalso its a great way of building up consumer loyalty. Let me know if anything comes of it. :)

Download took extremely long via SIM-card resp. mobile phone connection, so I was unable to activate in time, in fact, it is still downloading since 16 hours! The pictures are exptremely beautiful and I would love to get the activation link via gmail ;-(

Thanks!


.......................Moderator comment.................

Sorry Laptop, you can only activate it via the key file.

I've found that sometimes you can activate the game for a few hours after the giveaway is over, so if the giveaway completes soon still try to install. Let me know what happens.

If you've posted in the last six hours i will return to answer any questions once I've completed sundays review and slept for a few more hours.

J'aime ces jeux et comme il n'y a pas de version française, je révise mon vocabulaire d'anglais .......!

I love these games and as there is no French version, I am revising my English vocabulary .......!

Thanks

........................Moderator comment...................

I think these games are a great way of increasing vocabulary. when I wanted to relearn German I purchased some German novels and comics to help with vocabulary and grammar.

I also got the JIT Debugging message & just a black screen.
Too Bad I Love HOG's. I was really looking forward to this game.
Yes I downloaded DirectX9 and game still wouldn't play.


...........................Moderator comment......................

Did you check the FAQ's setion? I've linked to it above in my review and at least one reply to a community members comment.

And as a follow-up.. got this working on W7 but it won't close. I was able to play the game but when I try to close it a black window keeps appearing and I had to cntl-alt-del to finally get it to close. I think this is from an abortive attempt to get it into windowed mode where my cursor disappeared totally.

Like so many others I went to hell and back before getting this on my old laptop. Since it has XP I thought it would be easier than on the W7 machine. Note to MidWestLady: I got the 'what folder' question as well but that just wants to know where your downloads should go. Mine were in shared/downloads. From your downloads folder you have to run the Direct X exe file. I downloaded it from 3 different places before I finally got it to work. Grumble grumble...

For those looking for walk throughs or cheats try googling 'girls with secrets' which seems to be what it is called from Big Fish and other places.

I certainly hope that the hijacking to the developer's site is only part of the free version... if I had paid 9.99 and it did that every time I closed the game I would be livid. Heck I'd be livid even if I had only paid 99 centes.

I have seen these mini games or ones that are very similar elsewhere but I can't recall where. Again... get someone who speaks English idiomatically to proof read your stuff if you are going to market it in English. There are game communities that would probably do it for you for free.

All that grumping and grouching aside thanks to the developer, GGAOTD and WR for offering this game. Hope some of our comments are helpful.
I am now going to try to get this on my W7 machine, which is the one I normally use.



...........................Moderator comment......................

Hi Ionnih, thank you for your feedback. I hope you managed to get the game working on your main computer? I do think RVL coded the browser redirection on purpose, but can't be 100% certain as I've never purchased a game from them. You can get around 130 game with HOG elements included. Many of the games in the list are true HOG's with games like 4 elements included, which only has a small percentage of HOG. You can also get HOG's from Gametop. At the moment between the two I'd get your games from Gametop as they are not as aggressive with the toolbar thing.

At the moment MyPlayCity will display checkboxes that need to be unchecked every time you start the games up and also have adverts at the beginning of the game, whereas some of the Gametop games have no checkboxes at all and those that do have them only appear when you first install the games. All games from either do open your browser when you close the game down, but its totally innocuous. Gametop only have a fraction of what MyPlayCity have, but they are a safer bet at the moment. with either site, once you're playing the games they are fine. Things do change though. both sites have fluctuated so that at times its better to download from one or the other.

MyPlayCity:


http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/wp-admin/comment.php?action=editcomment&c=389061


Gametop:


http://www.gametop.com/category/hidden-objects.html

Had to come back and add that I was about to uninstall Amy's Murder I realized that RVL (Big Fish) didn't even bother to register this program on my system. I can't speak for everyone, but if the installer won't register the program it's installing on my system it won't stay on my system. Good think I installed it with Revo. Uninstalled.



...........................Moderator comment......................


Hi John,

Basically most game giveaways don't register on your system. all that means is that they are free standing and can be transferred to other computers and remain registered. The registration is coded into the games executable or sometimes in a registration file within the games folder.

Garbage! It looks and sounds like a really good game, and it did detect Direct X, but one should not have to jump through endless hoops and do endless troubleshooting to make a game work. If the game installer is not good enough to install all components necessary or and configure it to your system it's not worth much. I've downloaded, installed, and played a lot of quality games here. But, had nothing but problems with this. What makes them think I'd want to buy any of their other junk if I can't get this game installed without problem. I'd love to give it a thumbs up, but I just can't.

Nice Game! Many thanks to the publisher!!!

Game locked up every time. Do not even MENTION adding all the .net and directx crap. I shouldn't have to work that hard for a game. Putting RVL games on the never install list....

Sorry, I am on windows 7 64bit. And I have 1 Tb. hd and 8gig ram. Thanks.

I know it is very late, but just got to install it now. My computer modem says vga mode not supported when I try to play and I don't understand what this means. From what I can tell it is screen resolution, mine is set to 1440 x 900 (recommended). Can you help me please? Thanks.

.....................Moderator comment.............................

Sorry for the delay Anita. Try updating your graphics card first. You can find out which graphics chip you have by typing dxdiag into the search field.

dxdiag opens up the Direct X diagnostics panel (see next image)

Open up the direct x diagnostics and click on the display tab. you will see which card or chip you have More than likely it will be either an NVIDIA or ATI (now called AMD).

Direct X diagnostics panel showing model of graphics card

Whichever it is, go to the developers web site and look for the driver link. you will find it on the front page. Just fill in the easy steps and then download the appropriate driver and install.

NVIDIA drivers page:

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk

ATI/AMD Drivers page:

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx



If that doesn't cure the problem try going into compatibility mode via properties (right click on the games executable) and then select compatibility from the tabs. Try disabling visual themes and/or display scaling.

If those don't work change your screen resolution to see if that helps.

If all these fails check out the FAQ's I posted in the game discussion forums:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/11647


p.s. If you have any trouble getting the correct driver let me know via the forums. Just post it in the thread I started for this game. :)

Good luck.

Now I got it - the DirectX I've been downloading was not version 9 even it said so on the page *GRRRR*

Everything works fine and I have another cool game - thank you very much!


..............................Moderator comment................................

:)

Hello everyone,

Welcome back Whiterabbit :-) It sure took you long enough to get back into your system! You were missed and it's nice to have your review and comments. Always appreciated.

It's late in the giveaway but I still wanted to comment on this game. First of all, I never ever had such a hard time downloading, installing but mainly opening a game like this one. It took me hours...searching, updating, deleting, system restoring, etc...as I got the same message that most people did. “Unhandled exception has occurred in your application…Direct3DX 9 was not found, etc." I knew it wasn't something major because I have a brand new up to date Win7 laptop. But what? Where? How?

Anyway, I tried your link, Keith's and a few others from Microsoft and I'm happy to report and would like to thank Seiska for her link which is the one that worked for me. That's after hours of fooling around with the laptop.

I too, had to force shut the game with Task Manager. I think it's a pretty drastic measure but it was the only way. The game finally opened...I was quite pleased with the concept in general. It's an easy enough HOG with nice graphics. Most people would say it's a good thing not to get penalties for rapid clicking. Also that there's no timer. Personally, I think they should offer the choice. I like the challenge. When completing a bonus area, I think that there should be bonuses for when you complete the task. It's not fair that the one scratching his/her head trying to figure it out gets the same outcome as the one that simply skipped it. My personal opinion. I like rewards, I think it's stimulating during a game and this one is lacking.

One last thing (before I write a novel) is, a real pet peeve of mine. I can't stand it when I see typos or worse yet, grammatical errors within a software/program/game. I think it lacks professionalism. Specially if you're selling the program! It makes it look like you didn't have the budget to have your program reviewed before offering it on the market. To me that's a NO-NO. And so is the opening of the browser upon closing the game. I think it's a distasteful marketing tool. If they want to reach a broader clientele, they might want to offer multi-languages. Just a thought.

That was my 2¢ or 5¢ or quarter even (lol) for this game. Thanks a lot GGOTD and RVL for this little jewel. Have a great evening everyone. Over and out.



................................Moderator comment........................

Thank you very much for your feedback. sorry it's taken me so long to reply. Yesterdays moderation was a marathon affair and had left me exhausted.

I downloaded and extracted and installed as instructed and it said I couldn’t play the game because I was missing a link. I have enjoyed so many of the GOTD games but am uninstalling this one. (sorry - I just had to correct my typo)

Hi got GDC ERROR AND COULD NOT INSTALL. GIVEAWAYOFTHEDAY PROGRAM STOPPED WORKING. WIN 7 64 BIT. PLEASE HELP AS I WANT THIS GAME.
THANKS. THE ERROR WAS GDC ERROR COULD NOT INSTALL. THIS IS WHAT IT SAID.
DEB



................................Moderator comment........................


Sorry Deb, I couldn't carry on with moderation as I was exhausted after spending virtually the whole day moderating. It may have been your security software that was blocking the gcd.exe file as its a security software itself and could have been seen as a threat. You need to configure your security software to accept the gcd.exe file. Its all academic now though as its too late to install the game (probably) sometimes you can still install the game for an hour or so after the giveaway ended; at least on the game side of the project.

Yes I did - Version 4.5

I am frustrated with this game. I do like HOGs, but this one is not playing well. It took 3 hours to find, download, and install the direct X and net framework to the latest versions. Now that I finally can get into the game, I found the key and get in the house, and get upstairs to the bedroom and play that HOG, but I have not been able to find the crowbar to get into the shed, the ladder to get in the attic, or the keys to get into the room off the entryway. The hint does nothing to help me find these items. I have clicked all over in the yard looking for the crowbar, and I just plain don't see it anywhere. I picked up the flashlight in the hallway upstairs.


..........................Moderator comment....................

Post a request for help over in the game discussion forums. I've started a thread specifically for community members who are having problems progressing. not many members will visit this page now, but there are a dedicated band of members that post in the forums regularly. One of those may be able to help. Its unlikely that I will bother returning to this game as HOG's aren't my thing (despite having 30 or 40 of them in my arcade library. Most of which are much better than today's giveaway (IMO).

You can find the thread via the following link:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/19863

My basic philosophy is that time spent on one activity is taken from another. This in itself isn't bad, because perfection is a myth, and a cruel, unattainable goal for those who chase it. The point, however, in this situation is that a game can't just be okay as it is, it's got to be good enough to make it worth playing as opposed to playing something else. People tend to cling to the idea that, if it's given away here, and they have any interest in it all, then it's worth the time. That's just silly. It's only true if there aren't a lot of other free - and better - games of the same type out there. After all, I could send you all a virus. That's free.

This game type is, obviously, a combination of h.o.g., mystery, and puzzle. For that reason, I can't vote down on it. I generally say to people that you can go over to the GOTD forums and find over a 1,000 free games - Whiterabbit who knows says 2000 - so why stress about one giveaway here. But a quick search reveals there aren't much in the way of hogs on the lists. So, I can't really say this hog isn't worth it. But GGOTD has given away many hogs that have, at least, greater replayability because they vary the items you need to find each time you repeat a screen. If that's true of this one, I hadn't noticed it. And those other hogs have pretty much worked for the vast majority right out of the box.

I'm sorry to say it, admittedly, though, most of the problems posted here are because people won't put the effort into reading. It never occurs to them that somebody else may have posted the same thing and gotten a good answer long before them. Having said that, though, this game fails a basic test for me. Whiterabbit says: "Initially you don’t see any hidden objects. You have to search through the house for clues before the first HOG screen arrives.", but he only gives the game a 5.8 because of the low quality of help/instructions. This is telling because he rarely rates anything below 6 or any single feature as low as the 3 the instructions earn here. His instructions are correct, of course. I need to figure out how to navigate this game. But why should I care?

And that's the basic test this game fails: my time should be spent figuring out how to beat a game, not how to get a game to work and navigate it far enough to even have a chance of beating it. So it's a delete for me. As I say, most of the other hogs GGOTD has given away don't waste my time like this, and as Keith points out above, other games either install the necessary missing software or notify you what's missing (which should be the preferred method).

Finally, a word about imprecise English. Many people think that criticism is arrogance by English speakers. No it isn't. It's just common sense. Nobody forced these developers to try and compete in the English market. And it doesn't matter what any of us think. The bottom line is that this kind of imprecise language in clues and instructions only decreases their sales. So it's not only valid criticism, it's good advice. I see this in many hogs, unfortunately.

This is the fourth recent GGOTD that's going in the trash, and I hardly ever throw one away. I don't think that's a trend, it just points out that just because it's free, doesn't mean it's worth your time. There's a lot of better stuff out there. And a whole lot of it is free! Sorry, Amy, but your murders going to remain unsolved by at least this detective.


................................Moderator comment.............................


As always, thanks for your erudite feedback

I agree with you w.r.t. community members not reading the comments. I also reckon that many don't keep their computers up to date with the latest drivers etc. Of all of the games given away here on the game giveaway site and the few that were originally given away over on the main site, only one game wouldn't work on my systems (usually around 4 computers) and that was a game I'd previously purchased. Basically it wouldn't work on XP, which was the prevailing OS back when this particular game was given away. I've since got it to work on Vista and more recently on Win 7. Every other game I've ever installed and that's virtually all of those from the game giveaway site have always worked on my systems because I ensure my computers are up to date with all the 'what I call' essentials. (I have a folder with the latest versions of all the essential files such as DX 11, .net framework, the latest NVIDIA graphics drivers, Silverlight, BIOS for my MoBo, Adobe reader/flash etc) saved to one of my external HDD's.

I came came home later in the afternoon, tried to download and this time it worked. It did the setup and activated just fine. Thanks moderator for your help. :)
#100


……………………….Moderator comment…………………….



;-)

Good Evening. It is about 6:47pm here and I have just successfully gotten Amy's Murder to work. I will keep my fingers crossed tho. Downloaded this morning and the installation and all went very well. Just could not get it to go - go - go. I checked back off and on all day today for clues etc. to make it work. However, I had everything that was suggested - Framework 4, Direct X but just could not make it work. Soooo, took a few breaks off and on and finally success. The last thing I checked was per #109. But I had the latest version already. So did not need to worry about that. I am a very persistent person and worked on this all day. I do hope this might also help those who are having trouble.....I worked on the compatibility issue and made some changes and wah-lah. So simple, I do not know why I did not think of this sooner. I think I will really enjoy this game. Its working now. I think the developer has a good product by no means but just needs to hone it up abit. Window XP Pro SP3, Quad Core and plenty of drive space. Thanx GGAOTD and RVL Games and all those who offered suggestions. Have a good evening everyone. Off to solve a murder. :o)


……………………….Moderator comment…………………….


Thank you for your feedback Shar, much appreciated.

I have XP Pro w/ net 4.0 and installed 9.0c (then rebooted) game still gaks, still saying needs directX.
dxdiag.exe says I have it running. What's up ?


............................Moderator comment.........................

Hi Bobby,

You may need to download from one of the other sites that have been posted in these forums. There are slight differences between some of the versions found on the net.

Hi all,
installed this game on my notebook which fulfilles (so as I know) all requirements, but it doesn't work. Always getting a black screen and an immediate popup to their website. It sucks! Good game or not, I don't know, I only want to uninstall that game, but could not find any uninstall file. Please let me know how to uninstall the game. THANK YOU!
Have a nice weekend and greets from Germany, Lilly



................................Moderator comment........................



H Lilly, did you read over the rest of the comments and check the FAQ's section over in the game discussion forums? I've linked to it in my review @ comment #1

P.P.S. First time ever that I "skipped" every one of the mini-games.
They seemed completely irrelevant to the story, have no direction or purpose and definitely require a bit more work to be an enjoyable part of the whole experience. The best thing was that you could SKIP rather quickly.

...on the plus side, hints were useful and recharge fast.

Thanks again for the opportunity to try this one. Best, LuckyKitty


.....................Moderator comment....................

Thanks :)

Thank you Mike (comment 55) for taking the time to address my comment (# 4 at first and now # 6). My computer is an old HP running XP SP2. I understand I need SP3 to upgrade to Net Framework 4. I tried to go to SP3 but after awhile my computer just stopped. I had to reboot and go through the restore process which is not a pleasant experience. I tried both auto update and downloading the SP3 setup. I just accept that I will always be Net Framework 3.5 until I buy my next computer. Maybe I was not patient enough but if I try again, I will wait for something more compelling than this run of the mill game. Judging from the comments, I am not missing much.

Updated everything - did a new start and the game is still not opening and gives a framework error - if I click on end there it opens a window of a game page in the browser...

So what to do?


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


Hi Anu, when you say you've updated everything, did you install .netframework?

I like Hidden Object games and play them frequently. Even though I have not completed this one, I can say that it needs some work. First and foremost, being hijacked to the author's website upon exit is NOT acceptable. Build a *good* game, and they will come. (Make sure you're offline while playing - then you only have to shut down your browser.)

It installed easily on Window7 64-bit, but when I used OPTIONS to lower the sounds/volume the game quit and said "HOG engine has stopped working" and then Windows would look for a solution (without finding one). After three attempts I simply turned down my speakers, and proceeded without further aborts. Holding the Shift Key down to capitalize the first letter of my name left me unable to type that letter. Without the Shift Key down I was able to enter my full name.

Please have someone fluent in English read through the entire game. I'm sure you are better at English than I am at your (first) language, but there are still too many errors. ... and double check the usage of "to" and "too" - both pronounced "2" (but not meaning "two") and not interchangeable. (Yes, I know. English can be a real pain in the @$$.) It's "must have" not "must of"; "something" not "somenthing"; the "hoodie piece" you need to find is on the list as "Hoodie Pice"; the "Kid Cart" would be better described as a "Stroller" and a box of tissues is not "napkins." (There are lots more of these. I didn't make notes on them all.)

In general, I didn't find any of the objects to be "hidden" at all. Some were rather nondescript so that when I found them "by accident" (randomly clicking around the screen) the item on the List disappeared too quickly to know what I'd found. A strike through or fade of the type would be more appropriate IMHO.

There is no indication that dialog between characters in the cut scenes has ended. If you click one more time (one time too many) at the end, you have to go through the whole scene again. Annoying. You get a glimpse of a foggy map as you shift locations, but no opportunity to use it to decide where you would like to go next.

My opinion is that this is a decent game, but I would not be happy if I had paid $10 for it (even though that's a very reasonable price). There is definitely more work to be done. You have an interesting premise, if not a thrilling storyline. It needs to be tweaked a bit and the technical problems must be worked out for it to be a viable sale item. The artwork is "standard" - acceptable for this genre, but certainly nothing exceptional; ditto the music.

As always, Thank You Whiterabbit for all you do! Thanks RVL Games and GGOTD for allowing us to try this one. I look forward to seeing more games like this - with a bit better plot and a few less "quirks." ...and, despite resenting the "hijacking", I will check out RVL's website to see what else they have to offer.

Best, LuckyKitty

P.S. I still hate programs that will not accept my left handedness and refuse to acknowledge that my mouse buttons are reversed!!!


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

Thank you for your excellent feedback.


I to am left handed, but have learned to cope with developers left handed phobia. I purchase all of my mice from Razer; unfortunately mall of my favourites such as the Mamba are designed for right handed users. I cant use any of the buttons on the left hand side properly as it means bending my left thumb using my little finger which isn't very mobile compared to my thumb. Virtually all of the ambidextrous mice they sell are not as innovative. Most gaming keyboards are also designed for right handers with the key pad and cursor keys on the right side. Or with specialized keyboards the thumb controls are on the left hand side which is useless for a left hander.

Such a rigmarole to install this game on my Vista Computer. Thank you to Irene and Mum for the correct site. Daughter also with her Window's 7 is still having troubles. As they are asking her what "folder" to install it in. ????? She clicked on "Open".

I'm a HOG/mystery addict! So had to get this game. But found it "not ready for prime time" somehow. Now I love GOTD and their free games to me... but HOG's are rare. Want to thank RVL for this game, but would have liked a "newer" version of it. ????? As I've never seen seen sooooooo many comments of "what the heck is going on here". The comments alone should tell you that something just isn't right.

But I do thank you for a free game... never look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say.


............................Moderator comment.............................

Thank you for your feedback.

WhiteRabbit... here is my problem:

Black Screen with Error Box; this is the DETAILS of Error box:
"See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException: Video mode:
1024x768x32
Format: [BufferRGB888]
RefreshRate Rate: 60Hz.
at GorgonLibrary.VideoModeList.get_Item(VideoMode searchmode)
at GorgonLibrary.Graphics.PrimaryRenderWindow.SetPresentParams(VideoMode mode, Boolean usewindow, Boolean resize, Int32 resizewidth, Int32 resizeheight, Boolean preserveBackBuffer)
at GorgonLibrary.Graphics.PrimaryRenderWindow.SetMode(VideoMode mode, Boolean windowed, Boolean usedepth, Boolean usestencil, Boolean dontCreate, VSyncIntervals vSyncInterval)
at GorgonLibrary.Gorgon.SetMode(Control owner, Int32 width, Int32 height, BackBufferFormats format, Boolean windowed, Boolean usedepth, Boolean usestencil, Int32 refresh, VSyncIntervals vSyncInterval)
at HOGEngine.Form1.initGorgon()
at HOGEngine.Form1.Form1_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.269 (RTMGDR.030319-2600)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v4.0.30319/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
AmysMurderer
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Games/AmysMurderer/AmysMurderer.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.278 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.282 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.269 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
Gorgon
Assembly Version: 1.1.4119.34319
Win32 Version: 1.1.4119.34319
CodeBase: file:///C:/Games/AmysMurderer/Gorgon.DLL
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.233 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Core
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.233 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Core/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Core.dll
----------------------------------------
SlimDX
Assembly Version: 2.0.7.41
Win32 Version:
CodeBase: file:///C:/Games/AmysMurderer/SlimDX.DLL
----------------------------------------
msvcm80
Assembly Version: 8.0.50727.6195
Win32 Version: 8.00.50727.6195
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/WinSxS/x86_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.6195_none_d09154e044272b9a/msvcm80.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:





When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box."

Any help or suggestions?? Thanks! Trying to install this game to help my husband stimulate brain memory.
Thanks for any help.

Susan

..............................Moderator comment..........................

Hello Susan, I'm at a loss to explain the error message. What I would advise is to update your graphics drivers first. Also check the FAQ's section that I've linked to in comment #1 and at least one comment a few hours ago; you may find a solution there. You could also try going into compatibility mode by right clicking on the games exe file and selecting Properties then compatibility. Yry disabling various visual themes etc.

Please let me know if you managed to get it working.

I'd also consider posting the problem over in the forums as its getting late in the day. Many of the regular commenter's that would usually help have been and gone. I've posted a thread specific to this game in the Game Discussion forums. you may get help at a later time after the giveaway has ended.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/19863

also check the post by Mikiem regarding direct X:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/19829

.........................Moderator comment...........................

Your language deserves a ban but unfortunately I'm not able to do that on the main site. It's the worst case of swearing I've ever seen on this site. Pity I can't ban you as ungrateful users like yourself who only seem to be able to attack should be banned from even downloading future giveaways.

I've had to delete your comment simply because you don't seem to be able to put together one sentence without using very inappropriate language. This is a family site.

Even if 100 users have posted complaining that the game didn't work, it's still a tiny percentage when you look at the total number of downloads. 100 to 10 000 is basically 1% of the community. It's not the game that's the problem; all of the problems stem from users not having the correct Direct X installation or a lack of or wrong version of .net framework

by the way, I'd like to see you do a better job of moderating. I doubt you would be capable judging from your language.

To the community. I apologise for the above. I was really shocked when I read the users response. It was appalling, so I felt I should at least comment on his/her behaviour
. The user in question (I wont call them a community member) has already replied to my comment with more swearing. I seemed to have hit a nerve.

I will be waiting with bated breath!! My DH and I really loved last week's Lost Kingdom Prophesy. They had plenty of variations and once you solve the game, you are prompted to replay it using the different variations....between the different boards and the different play modes, it could go on forever. TOP NOTCH!!!!!


.........................Moderator comment.......................

:)