Slitherine

Dear Iain and Jekky,

It has been some weeks since we last corresponded in June and sadly came to the conclusion that it would be unwise to try loading your debug version of Conquest onto our iPad3 (currently our only reliable computer is the iPad3 and our new MacBook Pro is still on order). Until we have access to more that one machine we will not take risks with our iPad.

Despite being unable to help you directly I have continued to persevere with Conquest, although it is not a hard core wargame (strategy game), it is still great fun. I have attempted to play Conquest at least 10 times each day. Sadly each attempt has ended with the game freezing on me. The freezing still happens after a few moves, I had not completed a game in weeks. However, today I tried a new approach:

I have always played the game with the music and sound both set to zero. I keep the sound off out of concern for my wife. I do not want to drive her to distraction, especially as she has a black belt in karate and access to a wide variety of kitchen knives! Today however, I have put the sound on at a low setting (the music is still off) just to see it this would make a difference. I consciously waited until the sound effect was complete on the current action before starting the next action. I reasoned that once the sound effect ended then I had aural evidence that the game had finished its move. I have now completed two campaign games in succession without a single freeze. Thus, it appears that I can work round the defect and can really start to enjoy the game again. However, I cannot prove what has caused the improvement, is it due to the sound effects being switched on, or is it due to me consciously waiting until the game has completed one act,ion before I start the next. My opinion is that the improvement is due to me playing at half the speed I used to, but of course my opinion does not constitute empirical proof.

I hope the above narrative is of some use to you. Waiting until the machine has finished one action before I start on the next action seems to give the game breathing space to avoid freezing.

Please note that we should have a working MacBook Pro by August. If you need me to run a debug version of Conquest my wife (who provides on-site technical support for all our machines) might be willing to let the iPad be used for debugging in August if the MacBook is working successfully as our primary machine.

Regards,

Steve.

No problem - we have found and fixed a bug related to the volume being set to thanks to someone running the debug version. Playing without the sound set to 0 should avoid the issue until the update is approved by apple. Its currently waiting for them to review so hopefully next week so time it will release! Until then enjoy the very low sound version

Iain,

Thanks for posting this. I was the guy having trouble with Conquest! freezing on my iPhone 4S.

I left the volume at its initial setting and it plays fine. Did one quick game and one Conquest game. No problems.

That's a strange bug, though....

Best regards,

John

Dear Jekky and Iain,

Thank you very much for making version 1.3 of Conquest available via the AppStore. I have downloaded it this morning and played a full game with the sound switched off. The game played perfectly without a freeze. I now look forward to many games on it.

However, something strange happened when I downloaded the upgrade. The Conquest icon on the iPad 3 desktop permanently changed from the normal icon to a blue and white square with the word "marmalade" written in the middle. Is this a new marketing icon for the company?

Regards,

Steve.

Sorry guys - we just found out about it. Very annoying. The problem is there is no way to test the final version you submit to Apple as it wont run unless distributed via the app store after it is approved and so this slipped through

The only way to fix is another update so we'll wait to see if there are any other issues still in the game and then maybe do a resubmission.