Do an upgrade level. New series

I tried this game but it crashed my computer; I may give it another try before deleting it. I do enjoy some TM games and have always liked Alawar stuff

OK, what do you do when you don't have enough stars to get to the next level? All you can do is restart the game and it gets boring after the 4th time...

Thanks for letting us try this great game. I'm really enjoying this one. It's very polished and fun to play! I particularly like that I don't run out of time and "fail" levels if I choose a bad strategy. It's more fun to go back later and try to hit "expert" than to get stuck. The only thing that can be frustrating is when the beachgoers don't visit a shop enough to get the expert goal even if you're advertising.

There are some things I'd change. Right now, if I have only one water/sandwich/steak left and a lot of actions in the queue, the game will let me play minigames for two customers before it greys out the out-of-stock action. One customer gets served, but the other is removed from my action queue and the game forgets I even played the minigame. When I restock, I have to play the game a second time for the same customer. It would be more fun if the game remembered and let me re-queue the customer without the second game.

Also, I'd like the option to restock shops at any time like with the water. It would be more interesting to have the choice to waste a sandwich or souvenir in the interest of smooth action queuing.

Can we have a walk speed upgrade for Maria? It would be fun to have a choice between hiring employees or just making Maria really fast.

Thanks for the great game for Christmas!


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

Thank you for your feedback Jentala

I doubt that anyone will see this, it may not even clear moderation today. I may post it again on the weekend. Whiterabbit, something for you and your readers:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/12/artificial-intelligence-project-builds-a-puzzling-present/

Still downloading at dial up! From moderator's review, sounds
like a good game! Moderator mentioned that Alawar is giving - Feeding Doggy away! My game box lists The Curse Of Montezuma??? Maybe west coast is in different time zone or century?? Happy New Year and Merry Christmas to gotd and Alawar! Try Not to have a grumpy Christmas! - http://i46.tinypic.com/2edqj4w.jpg

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

Hi dido. The Curse of Montezuma was the last game from Oct/Nov. feeding Doggy is in its third week.

One of giveaways regular posters said you need to clear something, but I can't remember exactly what she said (due my memory problems caused by the opiate meds I take). Try clearing out your internet cache, then boot up Game box again.

Me again. Have progressed to level 10 or 12 now. Pretty much what I said earlier still holds true. Decent but unspectacular. Will keep it for awhile or until I get all gold cups. As noted before no way to speed up gameplay or even pre-position Maria. She walks faster than any other "person" here and if you could send her to the.... toy shop say, when you see the patron heading that way would add a little to the game. Decent graphics, but just. Tedious music and sounds from the "people", you'll get tired of "ummMMmmmm" soon enough I promise :). Do wish they would let you upgrade as you see fit though.... as LindaC #10 said,if you don't do the "recommended" upgrade it won't let you go further. You'll have to back up and play an earlier level to "unlock" what you upgraded what you did instead of what was "suggested". Over all I'd give it a 5 or 6 out of 10. O.K. but nothing special.


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



Thank you for your feedback indianacarnie

I love time management games and have been yearning for a new one to play. This is a really nice one. Thank you Game Giveaway for the holiday bonanza and thank you Alawar. Love your games!


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


:)

The problem was:

Bullguard blocked it.

I had to stop Antivirus dure the installation.

Other solution is to allow this kind of installation in the Antivirus-Program as a exception.



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


Your AV ptrogram is seeing the security software as a threat. Unfortunately Themida has that effect on some Anti Malware programs.

I get an error report. I cannot unzip it.

Downloaded, installed, when I click on the game icon in the game folder, the screen loads for a milli-second, then an error report: "beach party.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close" with the offer to send a report to microsoft. I just can't seem to get a game to work any more since the new wrapper. I don't have any problems with games on other sites.

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

Its probably your anti malware program thats causing the conflict. If you turned it off while istalling the game then turn it back on it should be okay. All giveaways are throughly checked by the giveaway team using several of the well knows security packages. you could even test the downloaded zip file yourself using one of the online programs just to satisfy yourself that its safe to turn your own suite off temporarily.

I love this game! I bought it when it first came out and have played it many times through. It's an excellent TM game and the mini games give it a slightly different twist. The levels get progressively more challenging and you have to plan ahead as to what is most important to upgrade. I highly recommend this one!

thx
i play farm frenzy 1-2 on my cell phone and it's very nice game
i guess this game is very similar to it

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

For me Farm Frenzy 1 & 2 are some of the best TM games around. I personally don't like most TM games, but the Farm Frenzy games I've throughly enjoyed. I've also played through Beach Party because I beta tested it for Alawar and didn't enjoy it. I wouldn't say its similar to Farm Frenzy, but that's just me. :) I hope you enjoy the game.

Ok Win 8 Pro. Like others I'm not a big TM fan. This one tho has optional hints that make the time function more fair. Don't need to spend time finding out what the task really is, like fixing the water machine. Becomes easy to service customers. Nice enough graphics, sliders, full screen. Keeper for me. For some reason had to d/l 3 times to get a solid zip file. Lost setup file first time. I may have hit cancel when d/l was hanging at 98%. Then install needed a named folder, wasn't enough to try an empty folder on internal D drive. But all well in end. 8.5/10 for TM. Happy Times to All!



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



Thanks for your feedback Beergas

I love this type of game. This one is no Royal Envoy but seems o.k. Have only played the first 5 or so levels as of yet. Only "pointer" I could give so far to the developers is make it more responsive. Sometimes I've had to click 2 or 3 times to replenish supplies.... which kinda makes you lose some time. In this type of game "time" is exactly what you DON"T want to waste. I'm playing this on a Asus G74Sx so don't say the response time is machine related :). The customers "sounds" could be a little more varied too, already getting tired of "ummmm". Quibbles I know, and overall seems like a decent game. Will be playing more later on this afternoon so I may have an update. Installed, registered with no problem on my Win7 64. I like very very much being able to choose WHERE I wanted to install it which is a big plus with me.

thanks for all you do for us with the give aways, merry christmas to you and your family, looking forward to next year being here

I'm not a big fan of TM games but I'm always willing to try one out.

It is stuck on level 4. It gives me a message to "upgrade before starting the next level" but I only have 60 stars and I need 100 to buy the Souvenir Shop that it is pointing to. The game is not letting me get past this message.

I know I diverted from what the game wanted me to do, as I upgraded my umbrellas and water stands instead of buying the new shop.

I guess I will have to start over with a new player.

Thank you for a time management game - my favorite type! Nice game, will have fun playing this one. Thank you Game Giveaway for a nice Christmas present!

I really like games from Alawar. The graphics and sound usually are great. I am not going to play this one until later because of family dinner for the Holiday. Just going to activate it. Thanks GameGiveAway for four days of different games and the whole year of wonderful ones. Take your holiday and enjoy!! You deserve it.

I don't usually play this type of game,but I'm going to try it out...Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day to all...I'll be back to critique this game tonight,as I'm leaving early today.

it seems the levels are "" cheatable" because in the folder C:\Games\Game_BeachPartyCraze\Data\Levels you can edit the level files to adapt the expert and master settings as proven in this screenshot of level 5 where i changed the star ratings from 15 and 25 stars to 500 and 2500 stars
http://my.jetscreenshot.com/3161/20121225-jyt4-104kb.jpg

Thanks and merry Xmas!

˜”*°•.¸
˛.(´• ̮•)*˛°*/.♫.♫\*˛.* ˛_Π_____. * ˛*
.°( . • . ) ˛°./• '♫ ' •\.˛*./______/~＼*. ˛*.。˛* ˛. *。
*(...'•'.. ) *˛╬╬╬╬╬˛°.｜田田 ｜門｜╬╬╬╬ .
¯˜"*°••°*"˜¯`´¯˜"*°••°*"˜¯` ´¯˜"*°´¯˜"*°••°*"˜¯`´¯˜"*°

I've yet to meet a Time Management game I liked, so I'll pass on this one. It has been fun having games 4 days in a row, tho, and seeing what's new each day. Thanks to all, and Happy Holidays. I'm glad you're taking a well-deserved break, Rabbit.


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

Thanks Delilah

Merry Christmas to all and thank you for this game. I played it online some time ago and liked it. I was even thinking of downloading it from MyPlayCity, but had not done so yet. I am very pleased to see it is today's giveaway. Since I played it a while ago I cannot give constructive feedback and I am afraid I do not have time to play today. I will just activate it for now.


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

Thanks Merlyne

A MERRY CHRISTMAS to all.

I won't be able to moderate until this evening because I am going out to family for the day, however a friend may be able to stand in for me while I'm away. I'm not sure whether he can access my account yet. In any event I will endeavor to moderate as soon as I get back (around 10pm GMT - 14 hours after the giveaway started).

Please continue to post feedback etc. I will answer any queries when I can. If its something really urgent try posting over in the game discussion forums.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

p.s. the main part of todays review was taken from Gamezebo. :)

In Brief:

Its been said by some game designers that the first 15 minutes of a game is critical to win over the player. But this wasn’t the case with Beach Party Craze, Alawar Entertainment’s latest business sim, as it starts off underwhelming but gains momentum as you progress through the 50 levels.

Patient gamers willing to give this game a chance will find it a deep and rewarding – but not perfect – piece of interactive entertainment.



Installation:

Beach Party Craze downloads to a 48.8 MB zip file 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\Game_BeachPartyCraze


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.





Introduction:

Reference accessed HERE Dec 24th 2012

The Game:

As with many other time management games, Beach Party Craze begins with a comic book-like narrative about a friend who needs you to run her beachfront business while she whisks off to see her family. You’ll also learn of a spiteful ex and vow to take him on in a business competition to become part of a huge resort.

You play as Maria, and begin each level on the beach, awaiting new customers who saunter up for a little sun and relaxation. Your first task is to ensure they have a spot to lie down by clicking on each new customer, which assigns them a spot near the water. Within a few seconds the customer will sprout a thought bubble indicating what they want.

If it’s a drink, you’ll see a glass over their head and you must click it in a timely manner or else they grow impatient. Doing so opens the first of a bunch of mini-games -- this one shows a glass with water flowing up and down. You must click where the water level should stop, and the closer to the rim of the glass the more cash you’ll get.

You’ll notice a small water station near the top of the beach an you’ll have to keep an eye on as it’ll run dry, and you must click to replenish it.

Other requests the customers want will likely require you to first construct a building – if you have enough money, of course. For example, customers will ask for food, rental water equipment (such as floats), rides (including banana boats) and souvenirs.

Not all buildings spawn a mini-game, but examples include building a burger by clicking on the ingredients the customer requests (such as meat, lettuce, cheese, bacon and, er, french fries) and the souvenir shop that asks players to pick up the unique gift from a table of five (two pairs of the same item, such as a seahorse and seashell, and one unique item, such as a ship’s wheel).

Throughout each of these levels – divided into “days” – you’ll have a number of tasks to complete, all listed in the top right corner of the screen. This might be to sell 10 tickets to a banana boat ride, make 3 hamburgers, serve 12 drinks of water and increase your popularity by taking good care of customers (including giving them umbrellas when they sit down and cleaning up their mess when they leave their spot). Bonus points are awarded for doing two of the same tasks in a row.

Your water station isn’t the only building that needs refilling – you’ll eventually run out of food and souvenirs and such, and must send someone to the mainland quickly and return so you can restock each building quickly.

At the end of each day you’ll earn you money for 50 different kinds of upgrades, which might be to hire additional help (such as a waiter or worker), a faster rider to replenish out-of-stock items or more buildings to open. You can also choose to spend money on advertising when business is slow in one area (such as food).

Beach Party Craze offers a lot of gameplay – and no, we won’t give away story twists and the locations you’ll progress through – but there are some issues that marred the overall experience. For one, you can’t speed up the gameplay, which means you’ll be sitting around waiting for your customers to ask for specific things to complete your mandatory tasks. Yes, you can advertize to try and kick start a store, but you have no control over what your customers want.

Speaking of customers, there doesn’t appear to be any personality differences between the ten or so men and women; the animation is cute, such as musclemen who do sit-ups on the spot, but it would be another strategic layer if each type of customers were different enough for you to alter your game-play decisions. Third, some of the wording is a bit awkward, such as sending someone to “secure provisions.” Huh? Ok, I realized it meant to get supplies for the various stores but some gamers might find this oddly worded.

Overall, though, the game is quite fun and increasingly challenging. At the very least fans of these time management games should download and try Beach Party Craze and give it the full 60 minutes before deciding if you’d like to go into business or not.

Reference http://www.gamezebo.com/games/beach-party-craze/review accessed 24th Dec 2012

System Requirements:


Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7
Processor speed: 600 MHz
System RAM: 64 MB
Graphics RAM 16 MBGraphics Card with 3D
DirectX: minimum 8.1



Video



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



Conclusion:

I beta tested this one and can say as far as Time Management games go its standard fare, but btter than a lot of TM games I've seen. it's well constructed and has decent graphics. It should certainly keep you occupied for a few days at the very least

Scoring


Gameplay – 7.5
Graphics – 7.5
Audio – 7
Re-playability – 7
Originality – 6

Total = 7.0

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



If you have any problems installing today's game please go HERE for help.


If you're looking for something other than today's game check the didimatic site via THIS link for some brilliant deals.

There are several other deals available from Steam as well as many more from Gamersgate, Gamestop, Greenman Gaming and GOG; all of which you can find via the Didimatic site, which I've linked to above (apart from Greenman gaming.

Steam have a great sale on at the moment with prices slashed on hundreds of games.

The usual monthly free game from Alawars game box is still Finding Doggy. (You need to install the free Gamebox from Alawar to access the free games, which for newcomers change approximately every month). If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums HERE for details of other games either free or on deals.

There is yet more indie game bundles with the latest Humble Bundle released a few days ago. You'll find details over in the Game discussion forums HERE


If you want more Match three games there's around a hunded free ones available from myPlayCity.

http://www.myplaycity.com/

Do be aware that MyPlayCity have reintroduced toolbars and home page hijacks to their games, but these can be avoided by un-checking the appropriate boxes during installation, however everytime you open up the game you will need to un-check the boxes again as they are presented at every game start-up. Also when you close any of their games down, your browser is opened and directed to MyPlayCity's home page. This is innocuous so don’t worry. Closing the page ends any connection and nothing is downloaded.

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A Request for helpl>:

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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