Just finished the game. I would recommend that the finding all of the treasures end the treasure hunt. As given away, finding all of the treasures does NOT end the game, nor does completing the search of all of the potential treasure locations.

ps. LOL to Myrna and Karen, as I am 62 and been a fan of GOTD for years.

Love these type of games, but this one keeps crashing about level 41 and up... (Nothing running in the background, and playing on a i7, 3.GHz processor with Windows 7).Also i found it a bit boring as there are no power ups and no extra points/credits for matching 4 or more.

Hello everyone,

This post probably won't be read by community members due to the time of my posting. My bad...I should really try to do this earlier in the day.

Anyway, I wanted to share something that bothers me about some members comments about the download path. Why do people say it downloads to c:games (one said it should download to Program Files x86 which I don't agree)? It downloads to that folder if you let it!!! I chose where I wanted the game and it's exactly where it went. The button "browse" during installation has the purpose to let you chose where to install the game. Sorry I guess it was a little pet peeve of mine.

I downloaded and installed on Win7 x64 without any problems and played a bit. It's a pretty basic Match 3 but still fun to have. I does get harder as you advance levels which makes it more challenging. All in all it's a good game to have, Thanks GGOTD, Star Ashes and Whiterabbit.

God Bless You All :-)


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


Thank you Weezie. Unfortunately there are always those who will complain, even when something is for free. :)

Interesting Match 3 game and story writing. The graphics of the game itself is pretty cool with the waving sails in the background while you match three or more of the same objects. The music is pretty decent too and while its not a Playrix Match 3 this game manages to be original enough to hold a competition of its own.

Yes I found where the game was installed. Got the following error messages: software_vertexprocessing not intitalized, Direct X8 error and incompatible application.

I have Direct X11 installed on the computer.

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


Make sure you have the latest version installed (DX11)

Works just fine on Windows 8 64 bit. That improvement comment about it not working in Windows 7 is bull. To #25 & #29 --you go girls, from a 53 y-o girl gamer.

Downloaded to Windows 7 starter system. Extracted files and got the message that it successfully activated. However, it doesn't run.

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


Hi Zen, have you checked your event logs, you may find some error messages that will give you a clue as to whats wrong. also check out the FAQ's section i've posted in the Stickies over in the Game Discussion forums (not the FAQ's in the main forum). There are several suggestions that you could try such as update your graphic drivers, change the resolution, go into compatibility mode and make sure the admin checkbox is ticked. also try checking some of the other boxes. :)

I presume you did find the games installed folder? :)

to #25 no you are wrong I must be oldest female game player 72. I only donwload some match3 some HOg and some building type games. Some are great others I personally don't like for various reasons and delete. The odd one that doesn't work right or download good I delelte. Erks me to hear some complain about them though. Hey folks they are free remember that!! Thanks white rabbit for all your comments and support. these game give me something to do. MERRY CHRISTMAS and remember what it is truly all about.



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


Thank you Myma, your never too old to play games. The games of today are probably more a oriented towards adults than children. Have a happy christmas. I hope you get something special. :) Don't forget to visit tomorrow and Christmas day. The giveaway team have gone the extra mile this week and are giving us four games over four days. The next two games have not been given away before. :)

I missed this one the last to times, glad to finally get it. Installed easily on Vista Home Premium 32. I like the graphics and music, they really help to set the mood. I found the timed mode too hard (couldn't get through the 2nd level). Maybe I'll try to play without going for 4 or 5 in a row, that takes too much time! I also tried on Normal mode, there might be an easier timed mode. Without the timer, the curses and the Holy Water bonus don't make any difference. It flows quickly from screen to screen, none of those silly delays in other games where they have to count up each score and bonus. Overall I like it!


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

Nice one Dave, glad you like it. :)

io o scaricato tt i vostri giochi e ne sono molto contento o dato a tt il vs sito e assai difficile trovare giochi con belissime grafiche e musiche grazie da parte mia


...................................commento Moderatore..............................

Grazie Antonio, molto apprezzato. Sono contento che ti piace il gioco. Partenza domani e nei giorni di Natale giochi pure. :)

Thanks to all from GOTD and Star Ashes. I downloaded the game last time it was offered, but lost it when my hard drive went south. I've been enjoying playing it in a relaxed windowed mode this morning, but no doubt I'll be moving on to the timed again soon. No offence intended to the developer, but perhaps the help section could be expanded a bit for someone who has never played this type of game before? Other than that, this game is a keeper for me, and I was delighted to see that it was offered again. Thanks again to all.

OT: As perhaps the oldest female on here - I'll be 49 on Dec. 31 and fondly remember my old TRS-80 and, later, Commodore 64 - I want to say how much I appreciate all the thoughtful comments here and on the forums; you have no idea how far they go to averting the frustration that typically assaults my middle-aged brain. :) And, of course, I really appreciate the games, too. I just need to install some kind of extra-loud alarm on my laptop to remind me to check each weekend. :-o I hope all at GOTD have a great holiday and an especially relaxing and happy 2013!

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

:)

Fun little game. Installed just fine on win7 32bit. Thanks! Happy Holidays!!!!!!

downloaded and running fine on Vista 64, good clean graphics, enjoyable game, just love match 3 type of games, anyone that says it is full of mailware or any other type of nasties, should take their words back, otherwise Father Christmas will not visit and leave any presents for you. Finaly I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year, keep writing your comments, good or bad, then we will get even more freebies on this site, Whiterabbit thanks for all of your in depth comments throughout the year, you have done a first class job, and long may you reign, to you and your family, a Very Merry Christmas, and a Happy and enjoyable New Year.

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

Thank you Kev. :)

I have this from last time and have enjoyed it. I will rename the original folder and download this new version and see if game play has changed any from the previous give away.

Just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas Stephen.

Thank you for all you do here. It would not be anything without your moderation.

I hope the New Year will bring you better health.

Ok Win 8 x64 Pro. Full screen w/ size options, sliders. And RELAXED or Timed modes that can be switched intra game. Decent graphics. Thanks for another go at old fave. Does get hard at higher levels when the curse part sets in. 8/10 for genre.

Won't be dowloading it today as I still have it from last time it was offered. It is one of my GS's favorites. I play it in spurts. Haven't completed it yet so am still enjoying it. Thanks. Looking forward to Christmas 'gifts' from GGAOTD in the next few days.

Oh how I love Match 3 games. I've grown tired of the HOG type, so this one's going into my collection. I play Treasures of Montezuma, Atlantis Rising, 4 elements and the Heroes of Hellas, Heroes of Hellas Olympia and Heroes of Hellas Athens. ALL are my favorites as I am sure this one will be too. HOGs tend to be dark like this as they are haunted houses and the like. Gives a mysterious feel to it. I am downloading it as we speak, hopefully it won't give me issue like yesterday's did.

I could not unpack Chronoclasm Chronicles giveaway and tried to using 3 popular unzipping utilities :(. The utility would freeze or become unresponsive. I ran my system through diagnostics and even deleted then re-downloaded the program to find the same result. I had to abandon the game. Sad too because it looked decent and fun to play.....oh well, maybe I'll have better luck with today's, tomorrow's and Christmas Day's.

Happy Holidays to you and yours. Thank you so much GameGiveAway and Stars Ashes. Love the games. Do wish there was a relaxed mode, though.

I finally got it installed. I had to download it instead of just running it and it installed ok. Not a bad match 3 game.

Update. it installs to c:\games.

it should install to c:\program files (x86)\ flying dutchman and install an icon in the games group

not good installation

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

Why should it install to c:\program files (x86), it could also install to c:\program files if you have a 32 bit system? I've never installed my games to the program folder. I always install to a separate dedicated Hard Drive with no adverse effects. There's no reason to install to c:\program files (x86).

It seems to install to the games (well it says it does) but the icon does not appear in W7-64 games group or a group flying dutchman. I need to hunt it down.

This installation error should be fixed, and I noticed another note on this same issue. I suspect it is not playing well with the OS.

Where is the exe file?

SS


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


you have to create your own shortcut with most game giveaways. If you ewad the intro to my review at comment #1 it tells you where the game installs to.

Nice Match 3 game! I like the ability to play in relaxed mode. Graphics are equal to other Match 3 games. Downloaded and installed w/o problems using Win 7 64bit Home Premium. Thanks White Rabbit for bringing this one back! I'd lost it when my computer crashed!

Maybe we will get Puzzle Quest as a game of the day soon :)

For a match-3 it looks a little primitive. There doesn't seem to be any power-ups which can not only make the game go faster but make things more interesting. Just playing to clear a board gets tired but being able to play cleverly, such as being able to make match 5s, can make the game more interesting.

I've installed it twice with the same outcome. All sound files are bad. Running Win7 Home Premium Service Pack 1

........................deleted due to scaremongering......................

Merry Christmas!


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

There is no malware associated with this game. I've said time and time again the game giveaway project leaders check all games throughly using several malware packages. What your anti malware program is picking up is the security file setup.gcd (which is Themida based). that's been included to protect the main game from being ripped off by unscrupulous users. Once the game has been installed the security software can be deleted.

When installing this game Bullguard and EMSI Antimalware both quarantined file \AppData\Local\Temp\{D0F62820-4736-4E06-98A4-CC3A8154E24F}\pih.dll claiming it to be high risk Gen:Variant.Symmi.8289 (B)


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

Your antimalware suite is picking up on the setup.gcd file which is there to protect the main file from being ripped off. Previously community members were lifting the unwrapped game from the temp folder during installation . The unwrapped file could then be installed onto any computer at any time with no time constraints. Also many of the game giveaways were appearing on peer to peer sites so the game giveaway team had to get better security. Unfortunately some security software sees this file as a threat and will give you a positive warning.

There has never been a game given away that was infected with malware in the six years that the project has been running. What you are seeing is a false positive.

Downloaded, unzipped with IZArc, (unzip takes a long time on "Setup.exe" file compared to other, longer file but there you go), double-clicked on "Setup.exe", not a lot happened. Fresh download, same actions, same results.
Can't see what I'm doing wrong but I can't even install this one. Pity, but you can't argue with a computer - not even a Win XP clockwork one.

Decent game. Downloaded last time. Not on par with many other Match-3's but okay to kill time. I have MANY Match-3's from GOTD, the best (IMHO) is Puzzle Quest which I play more than the others combined.


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

I agree w.r.t. Puzzle Quest, though I've always thought the first couple of Montezuma games were also amongst the best of the rest. There's now a whole series of those Match three RPG type arcade games (e.g. Puzzle Quest 2 and Puzzle Quest Galaxtrix).

"Windows cannot complete extracton.
Extraction folder could not be created."

Couldn't get this one. Any idea what to do?

Happy Holidays everyone.


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

Try using a different file archiver. I've listed several free ones over in the Game discussion forums. The thread is in the sticky section (FAQ's)

I liked the game it plays well and lots of lvl's only thing i dont like is the way it tries to pick up and move the counters

Great game however you might end up getting picked up by the real Flying Dutchman as your sanity will lose it's way as this is one of those games that get harder and harder at every level.

As whiterabbit mentioned I'd like to see a version 2 with some mini games and definitely more on the story of the famous story. A screensaver or ever some well detailed wallpapers would be a nice touch.

Have fun with this one and don't forget the turkey in the oven xD

Thanks so much! :-)

Important Message - Good News:

There will be more game giveaways on Christmas Eve (tomorrow) and Christmas Day.

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The Flying Dutchman - in the ghost prison:

Installation:

The Flying Dutchman downloads to a 45.6MB zip file (1MB smaller than previously) that unpacks to a read me and dual activation module, which for the newcomers to the game giveaway project means that once you've installed the game it automatically registers, that is, there's no registration code to input. The game installs to the following path:


C:\Games\TheFlyingDutchman\TheFlyingDutchman.exe

There is no shortcut installed so you'll have to follow the above path to create your own shortcut. To uninstall the game just delete the installed folder (there is no uninstaller). The game works on Win 98, XP, Vista and Win 7. The installed game is 73.4MB (the same as the previous time this was given away). There is no version number (or at least I couldn't find one.

You can change the in game music by replacing the appropriate ogg tracks with renamed tracks from your own music collection, though you will have to convert them to ogg vorbis audio files. Also the sound effects are mixed up with the music so you’ll have to search through the files for the music files. Some media players will play ogg files so you may be able to find the music tracks by clicking on each file.

Introduction:


This was previously given away November 2011 where it received a positive 68% out of 329 votes with 61 comments which you can read HERE and again earlier this year where it received a positive 65% out of 283 votes with 52 comments which you can read
HERE

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

Reference accessed HERE Nov 27th 2011

The Game:

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

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

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

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

System Requirements:

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





Reviews, Video and Images



You can find videos of game play HERE, HERE and HERE and a slideshow of around 20 images showing the menus and first stages in the game HERE. You find several short user reviews from BigFish HERE



Conclusion:

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

Scoring


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

Total = 6.4






Suggestions to the Developer:

• Add more power ups

• Include some mini games

• Improve the story

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

• Create more contrast between the tiles

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