Iˇve read a few good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much attempt you set to create the sort of great informative website.

Downloaded via SIM card ALL Sunday and tried to activate Monday morning at 6 o'clock. It say there was an error in the program and it couldn't be activated. What a shame to have spent my MBs on this download! Did anybody else have activation issues?


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

Sorry laptop57, I can't explain why this has happened beyond the answers I've posted in the fAQ'ws section over in the game discussion forums.

Yes, I think it's a problem with my computer and the new wrapper, as I had no problem downloading and playing games from here before the wrapper. The thing is, I don't know how to solve it. When I look at the faq, it doesn't cover my issues. I'm in administrator mode, disable the av, etc, and still messes up. I get different error messages with the different games. It's never the same message.


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

Hello Meadowlark, post eack of the messages each time there's a giveaway and we shall see if we can solve it over the comming weeks. Do you get the same problem with the giveaways from the main site?

Ran ok the first time but after that I get

Debug Assertion Failed!

Program: D:\Games\Sunshine Acres_game\Sunshine Acres.exe
File: f:\dd\vctools\crt_bld\self_x86\crt\src\fgets.c
Line: 57

Expression: ( string != NULL )

Abort Retry Ignore

Looks attractive, but I'm just not into Time Management games or frantic clicking -- it's too much like my real life! I like puzzle/quests without time limits. No download, so no vote from me.

I'm glad your son made it back home, Whiterabbit, and didn't end up in the Outer Hebrides: now he should try out the Canadian TV show 'Mantracker' if he enjoyed this weekend. :-)

Thanks for the great review as always.


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

Thanks Mac. :)

Thought I'd try again to download a game from here. Downloaded & installed, when I clicked on the game icon I got a "debug assertion failed" notice with a lot of other file paths.

I had disabled my av before downloading. I don't think I'll ever get another game here to work. It's always a different message for the problem. By the way, I had this game installed from Big Fish as a trial, so I know the game works on my computer. It's GOATD that's the problem.


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

Thousands of community members had no trouble getting the game to work. I installed it to three computers and it worked on all of them. It's more likely a problem with your own computer, especially if you are saying you have been getting problems installing lots of giveaways. There could be a conflict with something you are running in the background, your drivers may need updatibng, or one of a myriad of problems. Have you checked the FAQ's section that i've linked to in my review? You may find a fix there?

When I clicked on the setup.exe it exacted files to folder but did not give me anyway to run it. What's up with that.


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

Hello cbeth, sorry for the late reply. Most game giveaways don't install shortcuts. you need to make a note of where the game installed to, then follow the path so that you can crate a short. I've mentioned the default path that the game installs to. Find it and you should be able to run the game.

A GeForce 440mx is a 10-year-old video card. It is not at all the same thing as an nVidia GT 440, which is fairly new.

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


haha you are right. I didn't look properly. missed the mx. :) Thought it was a little strange as the GTX 440 was only released about 3 years ago wheras Sunshine Acres was released in 2008

win 7x64 It's an "OK" game for me. I've play many types of these games and it's passible. My problem is for players that have never played this type of game before or not used to it there isn't really a tutor. I personally had issues with the timer and second level. lol.. All and all it's not a bad game just run of the mill.


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

Thank you for your feedback blayzesmom

This is way too much like work because I do this in real life every summer...tomatoes, peppers, Swiss chard, beets, cucumbers, beans etc. And first of all the squirels here beat up and take down the sunflower plant and eat the seeds before you can harvest it...Seen it too many times here. I gave up on planting Sunflowers.

I hate TM games but I downloaded and set it up because of the virus claims. Jeez Loise, I been here since the beginning, 2006, and nary a virus. I can recall some really stinker games(most were really awesome and I loved getting a game a day) when we had them 7 days a week but NO VIRUSES. It's your PC...more than likely either your virus scanner(Norton and McAfee is the worse for FPs) or your graphics card, or even your resolution.

Anyways...Thanks Alwar and GGOTD for the game. And thanks for the review, Wabbit.

P.S Any smoke signals from the camper, Wabbit?


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

Hi Delenn, thanks for your feedback and support re virus's. So far everyone who's ever reporteed avirus here on the game side has been their own worst enemy. Especially those accusing the giveaway team of giving us infected software. They would stand to lose a lot of community members if they started doing that.

There was actually an adware infected software given away over on the other site last month (Sound Frost). It got through all of the giveaway teams anti malware suites as well as loads of giveaway members (including three of my computers). It was more of an annoyance, with words on web sites highlighted, so that when you passed your mouse pointer over them a pop up would appear; usually somewthing related to your own searches. Also a second browser window would also open when you wanted to follow a link. Thankfully it was fixable without having to re install windows. It wasn't the giveaway teams fault. It's never happened on the game side.

As for my son, he really enjoyed himself despite it raining really heavily for most of last night. Thankfully yesterday was a perfect day for hicking with a heavy pack, not too sunny, some light showers but mainly dry all day They had to pack up soaking tents, and it rained all today as well. He was soaked to the skin when he got home and very cold, but said he wouldn't have missed it for the world. Turns out it was only a trial run. They are being assessed on leadership qualities, map reading, team working and survival. The real deal will be early September. He's really looking forwards to it. :)

Deleted and re-downloaded and it worked. Must have glitched in the pipeline. :P

Angie

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


Was just about to suggest a few ideas then noticed you'd posted twice. Glad you got it working. :)

I have windows XP SP3 and can't even open the game, when I try I get 'There was an unexpected error: Would you like to create a mini dump file?'
This is the type of game I love as well, sob.


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


Hi Diane, work through the frequently asked questions over in the forums. I've linked to the thread in my review above. Check just above the 'Games games games' section for the link. You can find it in the Game discussion forums in the sticky section. :) hope you get it sorted.

I'm trying to install the game and it's telling me that the give away period is over. :/ Any idea what's up with that?

Angie

It is an okay game... it is very much like the Farm Frenzy series, which I got hooked on years ago thanks to the Game Giveaway of the Day! :)

Thank you Alawar and GGAOTD!


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


Thanks for your feedback anon, I agree, though I think the Farm Frenzy series is slightly better. These games (Sunshine Acres and Farm Frenzy) are amongst the few TM games I actually enjoy playing. That said, I do think Alawar took the Farm Frenzy franchise a little far, with several games in the series. They became too much alike, with a change of theme, but the same game. (I suppose most TM games are based on a basic pattern as are most games). ;-)

ALAWAR - Immer wieder gerne! Einwandfreie Installation unter WIN7 64bit. Funktion einwandfrei.

Danke und Daumen hoch.


..........................Moderator Kommentar..............................

Vielen Dank für Ihre Rückmeldung. Sehr geschätzt.

Not compatable with Vista. It was fine up to level 5 (I was quite enjoying it up to then), then it froze and crashed my system multiple times. I uninstalled it and my system was fine again. then foolishly decided to re-install it and try again, same bad result. I have now got rid of every last trace of it and have a healty system back again. Up there at #3, Joe reports it crashes XP, but if you are running vista, this game is a also a menace! Stay well away.


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

Hi Linda, the game is free standing and therefor interacts little with your computer and should not affect the 'health' of your operating system. The crash could be due to an incompatibility between the way you have your system set up, an old driver, an odd resolution setting, or a conflict between the game and something you have running in the background. Did you check the FAQ's section that I've linked to in my review? There are fixes that may sort the problem out for you. for example, playing it in compatibility mode, making sure its played with Admin rights, changing the graphics options etc.

I tested this on Vista when it was in Beta and had no problems running it. There has been thousands of downloads so far with just a couple of community members having problems. I can assure you the game is 'not' a menace. :)

Ok Win 8 x64 Pro w/ Nvidia GTX460 card. Semi full screen, sliders.
Game plays fast. Not a TM fan so thanks for Whiterabbit comments.
First play level & guess I ran out of coins or something since it began to beep on planting more sunflowers after harvesting & dispatching a few. Looks like I did something wrong. But worse is the time issue. Seeing clock wind down w/ goal of 16 sunflowers, well this is gonna be a drag me things. Thanks for the change to try it.
Won't rate it other than to say it does work.



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

Thanks Beergas

For the person who had an Intel Graphics card, I have a very barebones minimum graphic card Intel 945G which works fine on this game. Running 2GB of ram. Intel Atom 1.6ghz. Windows 7 Home Premium 32 Bit.

Like the last Giveaway from Saturday the custom cursor hurts my ability to play the game so in the options menu I checked Windows Cursor and it make the gameplay a lot better.


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

Thanks for your feedback Little bear, have you tried using Game Booster as well. It can free up at least 20% of your RAM. Get it from Razer. (see the FAQ's section in the Game Discussion sticky section for a link to the site for a download. I've linked to it in my review above).

I already have this game. LOVE IT!! It is great for the whole family. Fun and enjoyable. The graphics and sound are good. Thank you so much GameGiveAway and Alawar.

Installed fine on my Windows 7 machine.

Clicking doesn't always seems responsive when it should, but perhaps it is just the plants are not always ready at the same time? Or perhaps the area to click on the buttons needs to be expanded to the actual borders of the button itself.

Game play was definitely no frills. Not my cup of tea in the end, but thanks for allowing me to try it!


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

Thanks for your feedback Steel. :)

So far it is an interesting game.

Dang! This thing is too slow on a x3100 chip (Intel GM965 chipset) integrated graphics running windows 8 64 bit.. Will need to test it on my desktop

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

Try running Game Booster. That will give you at least a 20% increase in memory and may cure the problem. I've posted a link in the FAQ's section of the game discussion forums, which I've linked to in my review.

Shame it wont run on my old 9800 gtx+, Windows 7 64 bit 4gb RAM.
Was looking forward to having a go but its just crashing when I click play :(


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

Try some of the fixes I've posted in the game discussion FAQ's section. (In the sticky section).

Hello Stephen
You might like to check your file - there are some references to Rune Stones Quest - including immediately below this white box. Also, you mention this as being an Alawar game BUT when I saved the first graphic from your file, the default name of the file says it's a Big Fish Games file. Feel free to remove this completely from the Comments section Stephen.
Regards
Geoff


.......................Modeerator comment.....................

Thanks Geoff, I sometimes use the previous review as a 'former' for my next review. It saves hving to retype all the coding for the links and character enhancements (such as bold, underlining and italics. I was in a rush to complete the review this morning so didn't proof read it.

Sounds more like work than fun! I think I'll pass.

Can somebody tell me whether the timer at the bottom right increases or decreases? I found this game interesting but i hate games which have i timer which says complete this level within this much of time.. I hope this gaame doesn't hav that rulez.. Please tell me whether the timer increases or decreases.. Thankyou! ^_^


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

The timer decreases. The time shown is for the gold time. There are three different times that you can attain. Gold, silver and Bronze. To get the bronze you can add an extra minute to the time, for silver 30 seconds. The reason I liked this game above many other TM games was I found the time generous enough to attain the goals required. Granted, it does get a little harder as you progress. This is one of the rare games I've completed (or almost) due to beta testing it before it was released.

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

I'll continue to moderate mid afternoon onwards. more work at the house. :) Please do continue to post comments. If you have any problems installing or running the game, do check the FAQ's section I've p[osted over in the Game discussion forums. (I've linked to it in my review above (comment number 1)

Crashed my system twice, forcing a reboot, maybe because of the graphics card. XP Home SP3 on a laptop with an integrated Intel GMA graphics processor. Will try on 2 other XPs and a 7, but so far, so bad. :-(


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

Thanks for your feedback. Strange. Do you know what the graphics processors RAM capabilities are? The game does require quite a decent graphic card. (minimum an NVidia GTX 440)

There is no installation for this game. Instead it extracts to a 229 MB folder. The game seems fun at first get harder as they levels go by. Check out this link to read some reviews including one from our moderator.

http://www.alawar.com/game/sunshine-acres/

Considering there is no install so there is no changes made to your system I can see no harm in trying this. If you like it, move it to your game folder. If you don't like it, simply delete the game folder. As always thank you GGOTD team for your efforts and thank you to the publisher, Alawar Entertainment, for you offering.


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

That's the beauty of most giveaways. :) I beta tested this game before it was released. They used to give all Beta testers a free copy once it was released. Though it does say I bought it. We wern't supposed to tell anyone. They no longer give freebies; instead, if you beta test you get 33% off. :)

Sunshine Acres:

Installation:

Today’s giveaway downloads as a 46.1 MB zip file that unpacks to a read me and a wrapped setup file (the orange colored file with the key symbol), plus there's a setup file with security (setup.gcd) that's protected from being hacked (because the previous giveaway system was easily cracked). This file may case some security software to alert the user to a possible malware attack, but it will be a false positive.

The game giveaway team check all game giveaways for malware using several well known anti -malware suites. There has never been a game giveaway infected with malware since the project started back in Dec 2006. (The owners know that allowing such things would compromise their buisness, so they make sure all software given away via the giveaway and gamegiveaway sites are throughly checked for all types of malware before allowing community members to download any files.

Some community members have been having problems installing games since the security software was added. It's been found that turning off your security temporarily or configuring it to accept the setup.cgd file usually sorts the problem out.

To register and install the game click on the orange colored icon. The installed game is 229 MB in size and installs to the following path by default:

C:\Games\Sunshine Acres_game (If the install path shows the last game installed you need to clear your internet cache)


The path can be changed to suit whatever your wishes are. Once the game is installed you can delete the giveaway setup files. The game doesn't install shortcuts to the desktop and start menu programs list and there is no uninstaller. To delete the program you simply delete the installed folder. (Basically the game is free standing).

Sunshine Acres works on both my Win 7 & Win 8 computers. I don't have a Vista or XP installation set up at the moment (and won't for several months until we move house later this summer).

If you miss today's giveaway it's available from MyPlayCity (MPC) HERE 24/7, but do bear in mind the potential for toolbars and home page changes everytime you boot up an MPC game. You can probably a get it for free from the other free game sites e.g. Jenkat Games, FreeGamePick and Gametop.






Introduction:

There's a blue sky above you and a vast stretch of soil before you. So get ready to plant, till and water to your heart's content! It's all in a day's work as you cultivate your land, harvest your crop and take it to market, making every effort to earn the most money for your labor. The more cash you rake in, the quicker you'll be able to upgrade your equipment and turn your crops into the products consumers want! Almost two years in the making, Sunshine Acres features a superb user interface, gorgeous visuals and game play that's been fine-tuned to perfection. Don't pass up your chance to spend time at one of the most exciting places on Earth: Sunshine Acres!

Reference accessed HERE 22nd June 2013

You can read short comments from Alawar customers (including one I wrote in 2008) HERE


The Game:

Want to work on a farm? Given the number of farming games we've seen lately, this seems to be a popular idea...at least with game developers. If you're up for another one, or just like wearing overalls and a straw hat, Sunshine Acres is a time management farming game that has you raising fresh veggies to keep your little plot growing.

There's no story to follow, so just dig in. You'll start off by growing sunflowers. Click on a pre-dug dirt spot, and select the crop you want to plant. Each crop costs a different amount to plant, but sunflowers are the cheapest at 10 gold each. Once you've got the plant settled, you'll need to tend it. This is done by selecting the watering can to water it, or selecting the shovel to till the soil. Both actions have gauges, with the droplets to the left indicating the plants hydration, and the soil quality being indicated by dots underneath. If you're lucky, it will rain and your crops will be watered for you!

Later in the game, other plants will have further needs. Peppers and tomatoes are prone to fungus, so they need medicine to maximize their growth. You'll sometimes be prompted by a picture over the plant if a need isn't being met.

Your objective is to try and get all of the plants needs fully met before harvest, which will give you a bigger yield. The more successful you are, the more items you will be able to harvest and sell. Some crops are more high maintenance than others. Sunflowers grow well if tilled once and watered twice, but tomatoes need several bouts of each, plus a few doses of medicine to get the most return for your money.

Once a plant is fully grown, it will be automatically harvested for you. Click on the final product to move it to the loading dock. You must do this quickly, or else the product will blink and then disappear. Once it's on the dock, you can either send it to the market, or refine it. Refining a product depends on owning the appropriate upgrade, like an oil press or popcorn maker, and clicking on the upgrade will start the refining process for you. Once you're ready to sell, click your truck to select which good to send out. You'll be paid for them once your truck returns.

If that wasn't enough to manage, you must contend with meddlesome sheep that eat your crops. Click on them to scare them away. You also have a canine companion who digs up coins that you can collect, but you must feed him when he requests.

Throughout the game, you'll have the opportunity to buy upgrades during each level. Some upgrades must be bought before you can complete a level, like those that refine crops. Still other upgrades require you to manually refill them periodically, like medicine and crop spray. Unfortunately, you don't always get to keep all of the upgrades you bought, but to compensate you automatically receive certain upgrades at different levels. Your money also resets each level, so it doesn't carry over.

In order to complete each level, you'll need to meet all of the level's goals. This is usually done by producing specific items, and earning enough gold. The truck does not need to leave before your last orders are processed -- they count anyway. They level is automatically completed as soon as you meet all goals.

Even if you've completed each level, you need to reach a certain score before you're allowed to progress. This can be achieved by going back and replaying levels which you didn't do well on (and you can judge this by your time bonuses, shown as clocks over each level). This becomes tough around halfway through the game when even all "bronze" time awards aren't enough to get your score to the right level.

If you're looking for a gardening game that doesn't get bogged down with story details or complicated tasks, but still offers routine time management game play with plenty of frantic clicking, that about sums up Sunshine Acres. New tasks are added gradually, so it's easy to learn how to play.

If you're not a fan of action games, you might not like fighting off the pesky sheep as you garden. The difficulty of advancing in the second half of the game (due to score restriction) can also become frustrating, especially if you've already beaten all of the previous boards and just want to move on. While the game's general pace is good, there are no surprises along the way other than more difficult level goals, so the game falls into one continuous pattern.

With so many farming-themed time management games popping up lately, Sunshine Acres has to compete with titles like Farm Frenzy, Dairy Dash, Ranch Rush and Alice Greenfingers... and that's only naming a few. All of these choices make it difficult for Sunshine Acres to stand out and, well, shine.

I was too tired to write my own take on the game today, so have used a review written via Gamezebo HERE You all (or most) know my take on Time Management games. This is one of the rare Time Management games I actually really enjoyed playing. (probably becasue it wasn't too complex), :)


Video:

You can see a couple of videos of Sunshine Acres HERE, HERE, Quest HERE, HERE and HERE


Music:

If you don't like the music you should be able to exchange the music from the sounds folder which is located:
C:\Games\Sunshine Acres_Game\Sounds\x.ogg

You'll need to rename and convert any of your MP3’s to the .ogg format before you replace them. Not all files in the sound folder can be exchanged, so make sure you back up all files until you are sure the game works okay.

Minimum System Specifications:

Windows XP, Vista (was released before Win 7 and 8, but works on both)
Pentium III 1200 MHz or higher;
System RAM: 512 MB
GeForce 440MX or equivalent
DirectX 9.0

Conclusion:

Today’s game giveaway is fast paced (apart from the introductory levels) with lots of frantic clicking. To keep the game fresh and interesting new tasks are added gradually. The main downside is that tasks do become a little predictable over time and money you earn from a level doesn’t carry over to the next level. The game becomes very difficult as you progress, so, unless you are a TM aficionado, you may find this one rather frustrating. Oddly I like farm related TM games (maybe I was a farmer in a past life. :)


Score:

Overall I'd give this game the following score:

Game play - 8
Graphics - 7
Music - 6 (gets a little annoying after a while)
Replayability - 7
Originality - 7

Total = 35 out of 50 which equates to 7 out of 10

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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





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


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

Steams weekend deals includes up to 50% off Paradox Interactives publisher catalogue (with 75% off a chosen game each day till the 24th June) todays is Magika. Other Paradox Interactive tilt;es include, Cities in motion, Leviathan Warships, Victoria and Victoria II, , Impire, Crusader Kings, War of the Roses, plus loads more. Other Steam games on sale include 75% off Dead Island Game of the Year and 50% off Dead Island Riptide, 75% off the Sniper Elite franchise, 50% off Evoland, 75% off Europa Universalis III, 50% off Hearts of Iron 3, plus over a hundred more 9the sales tab only counts up to 100, to see more you'll need to browse through the various categories. The 24hr deal is 75% off Scribblenautes Unlimited.

You can find details of all these deals by following THIS link; then click on the specials tab.


On sale over at at GreenManGaming are 75% off various war titles such as Iron Front: Liberation, Sniper Elite, Air Conflicts, ibomber, Men of War, Guns of Icarus Online plus a other 18 titles as well as other deals. Check all GMG deals HERE. There's a 20% off voucher that can be used with most of the GMG digital games.



You'll find many more game deals from Gamersgate, Gamestop, and GOG; all of which you can find via the Didimatic site, which I've linked to above.

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.


You can get a free arcade game via Alawar's game box, just click the free game tab. It changes 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 such as the Indie Game bundles or check out the four day sales at IndieGameStand.

The latest IndieGameStand game is 8-Bit Commandoa a run and gun platformer. If you pay more than the average you also get the puzzle game Chains and Touch Chess. You'll also get a desura Key for 8-Bit commando and Chains. You'll find the deal HERE. This deal ends on Mon 17th June around 4am GMT.
you can find out more about this deal over in the Game discussion forums. :)

There's also indie bundles available over at Indiebundle.org. Each bundle has three games and costs $5 each for the basic bundle plus a few dollars more for extra games. Check the Indie bundles HERE

There's more Indie bundles available. you can find them via the Game Discussion forums. All bundles are excellent value for money :). For most of these bundles you need not pay more than $5 for several games that would usually cost you a lot more. You'll find links to all of these bundles in the Game discussion forums HERE


If you want more Time Management games you'll find over a hundred of them over at MyPlayCity. You'll also find Match threes at FreeGamePick, Gametop and Jenkat games.

Please be aware that installing games from these sites can lead to toolbar installations and changes in your home page and browser.


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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