Most Popular Solitaire 2.04/2.05

Thirty (30) great solitaire games are ready for download.

Goodsol Development has released Most Popular Solitaire 2.04 for both Windows and Mac OS X.  This maintenance release fixes a rare bug and updates the title for 2011.

30 great solitaire games

Most Popular Solitaire is a collection of 30 of our best solitaire games, plus 13 more bonus game variants for registered users, all for only $16.95 (less than 40 cents per game).

This game is also available at the Mac App Store.

Now, Most Popular Solitaire 2.05 is available on the Mac App Store.  This version is functionally equivalent to MPS 2.04, but with minor alterations required by Apple (such as the removal of all download links).  However, it automatically includes ten (10) additional card sets for your immediate enjoyment.  (Card sets are also available for free download on both Mac OS X and Windows, and these work on all versions.)

As I write this, Most Popular Solitaire is currently ranked #7 in the ‘Card Games’ category, and rising, despite only becoming available hours ago.  If you are interested in getting a copy, now is the time to do so, as it is currently being offered at a special introductory price for a limited time only.  (I will not publish it here, but suffice it to say that it is substantially less than the price mentioned above, so act quickly.)

Mac App Store (times two)

Apple launches the Mac App Store with titles including two of our products.

Last Thursday, Apple released Mac OS X 10.6.6, a free update to Snow Leopard, and the primary change is the addition of the (much anticipated) Mac App Store.  The Mac App Store is an online store for direct purchase and installation of software, modeled after the App Store for iOS; it replaces Apple Downloads, which officially closed on the same day.

At launch, Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition 2.14 and Pretty Good MahJongg Mac Edition 2.01 were both in the Mac App Store product lineup.  Pretty Good Solitaire is currently #5 on the ‘Top Grossing’ list for card games, and Pretty Good MahJongg is #100 (with a bullet!) on the same list for puzzle games.  Our other three Mac products (Most Popular Solitaire, Goodsol Solitaire 101, and FreeCell Plus) should be available there in the near future.

The launch of the Mac App Store is the culmination of months of work and waiting on our part (though mostly the latter).  We began the process of getting into the store on November 1 last year, and after numerous automatic failures, then a full month wait, one rejection, and ultimately two dozen application changes, PGS was given the green light (on Boxing Day).  Having properly documented all of the required modifications during the process, we were able to produce the store version of PGMJ in less than a day and submit it successfully with no rejections or rebuilds.  (It spent 3 days in the queue, and only 2 hours in review before final acceptance.)

If there is interest (i.e., comments left to this effect), I can document the various obscure and undocumented problems we faced during the initial submission process in another post.

FreeCell Plus 4.03

Mac/Windows FreeCell Solitaire (Twelve Different Ones)

FreeCell Solitaire for Mac and WindowsGoodsol Development has released an update to our premier FreeCell solitaire product, FreeCell Plus 4.03, which contains the classic solitaire game FreeCell, plus 7 other games in the same category and 4 more bonus game variants (in the full version).

FreeCell Plus 4.03 is only $9.95 and can be purchased here (and an optional CD-ROM is available for $7.50).  Of course, evaluation versions can be downloaded for Windows 7/Vista/XP and for Mac OS X 10.4 or higher.

The full version of FreeCell Plus is our only Mac product that currently contains the FreeCell variants, Three Cells and Two Cells, though these will be added to Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition with the next update.

In other news, the Mac Editions for three of our other products, Goodsol Solitaire 101, Pretty Good MahJongg, and Most Popular Solitaire, all currently occupy positions among the 20 most popular titles in the Cards & Puzzles section of Apple Downloads[Domination: 15% complete.]

Goodsol Solitaire 101 version 2.02

More than 100 Solitaire games for less than $20.

Goodsol Development has released Goodsol Solitaire 101 version 2.02 for both Windows and Mac OS X.  This maintenance update fixes every reported bug on both platforms.

Goodsol Solitaire 101 is a collection of 101 of the most popular types of computer solitaire, plus another bonus 34 games as a bonus for customers.  The editions for each platform are functionally equivalent, the game deals are identical, and the saved games are even interchangeable.  You can get both the Mac and Windows software for only $19.95Buy now!

Pretty Good MahJongg 2.40 / ME 2.00

MahJongg Solitaire for both Windows and Mac OS X.

Last month, just before I attended Meaningful Play 2010, Goodsol DevelopmentPretty Good MahJongg Mac Edition continued its intense autumn release schedule, publishing updates to its award-winning MahJongg Solitaire game, Pretty Good MahJongg, for both the Windows and Mac OS X platforms.

Pretty Good MahJongg 2.40 [for Windows] adds five more tile matching layouts, for a total of 300 layouts, plus the ability to have the program minimize to an icon in the task bar (a.k.a., “tray”) with just a keystroke.

Pretty Good MahJongg Mac Edition 2.00 includes 32 original solitaire games, and it adds 23 puzzle games, as well as 140 more tile matching layouts, bringing the Mac OS X version up to the same number of games and layouts as the Windows version (which turned 8 years old in October).

Download a trial version of PGMJ for Windows or PGMJME for Mac OS X now, or buy it today for only $24.95 (plus an optional $7.50 if you want it on CD).

Most Popular Action Solitaire

Two more product updates were released.

Over the past few weeks, Goodsol Development has published updates to two more of our titles, Most Popular Solitaire and Action Solitaire.

MPS 2.03 for Windows and Mac OS XActSol 1.40 for Windows

Frankly, we have been so busy lately with programming and development of projects on four different platforms that I have fallen a bit behind the release schedule with these blog updates, but this particular posting brings me current (at least until next week, when yet another product update will ship for both desktop platforms).

Most Popular Solitaire 2.03, a Solitaire title for Windows and Mac OS X with 30 different varieties of games (plus 13 bonus game variants in the full version), was released on September 14.  This update was a maintenance release to fix every reported bug in the project.  Just about a month later, as I write this, Most Popular Solitaire still holds the #2 position on Apple DownloadsCard & Puzzles category, and still ranks #5 in the overall Games category.

Action Solitaire 1.40, an arcade Solitaire product for Windows (only), was released last week.  This is a significant update, adding 5 more games, bringing the total to 70 games, while also reducing the price to only $19.95.  The new version is free to existing customers.  The new games are Classic Scorpion, Sea Towers Kings, Baker’s Game, Klondike Free, and Black Hole (and only in the latter game has anyone bettered my high scores yet).  Honestly, I am hoping that many more people buy this addictive software so we can justify porting the game to our other platforms.

We still have three more releases for desktop platforms (Mac OS X and Windows) scheduled for the coming weeks, plus the first of our iPad titles is due before the end of the year.

FreeCell Plus 4.02

Our package for FreeCell enthusiasts is updated.

As mentioned in my previous post, FreeCell Plus 4.02 was released at the end of last month, continuing the Goodsol Development autumn release party (which should continue into November).

FreeCell Plus splash screen

FreeCell Plus is a Solitaire game program available for both Windows and Mac OS X.  It includes the best version of FreeCell, one of the most popular types of computer Solitaire, along with 11 similar games (8 of which are playable in the trial version).  This free update fixes a few minor bugs on each platform and updates it to using the latest engine.  FreeCell Plus 4.02 is still available to purchase for the low, low price of only $9.95.

So, where have you been for the last three weeks?

Me?  Well, first of all, I have been recovering from a bad cold.  Perhaps it would not have been nearly so bad had I taken the time to actually get over it, but one disadvantage of working at home (and having a heavy release schedule) is the opportunity/pressure to keep working through illness.  Fortunately, the outcome has been positive.  (See below.)

Secondly, in a quirkily parallel situation, our server had some issues in presenting the blog.  Disappointingly, a system upgrade downgraded our copy of WordPress, effectively reversing all of the recent improvements, and caused some difficulty.  When I thought I had the problems fixed, it turns out that in my foggy state I missed one important file, so the blog was actually broken until this week.  (The fact that comment spam completely stopped should have a been a clue…)

Finally, and most importantly, I was working on a version of FreeCell Plus for a popular touch device developed by a company on Infinite Loop in Cupertino.  Internally, we have a playable version in the prototype phase, and we are now actively working on our recliner-based test methods.  Stay tuned to find out more in the near future.

Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition 2.12 (and more!)

A new version of our premier Solitaire for Mac OS X is released.

Pretty Good Solitaire iconThe autumn release schedule at Goodsol Development was kicked off with the release of Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition 2.12 on August 17th.

Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition is a Solitaire program that (currently) supports 200 different solitaire games.  PGSME 2.12 is a maintenance release that fixes a number of minor issues that have been reported by users.  You can download this free update here.  All registered users will be eligible for a free upgrade to PGSME 2.2, with 300 games, when it is released later this year, so Buy Now!

There is something for Windows users, too.

Of course, the flagship product is Pretty Good Solitaire (for Windows), so the same day also saw the release of Pretty Good Solitaire 12.4, which increases the total number of different Solitaire games to 750 (adding 10 new games).  You can purchase a copy here or download an upgrade/trial version here.  This release is the special 15th Anniversary Edition.

Unlike other Goodsol titles, these two versions of Pretty Good Solitaire are built from completely different code bases, in different languages, by different programmers.  I developed the Mac OS X version, and Thomas Warfield has been writing/improving the Windows version since 1995!  The dual release turned out to be almost double the usual work for a single “SKU” release (for Thomas, not me) so the upgrades are likely to be staggered going forward.

Even more is yet to come.

In the coming months, there are going to be releases every couple of weeks, with upgrades to all of the other major titles in Goodsol’s product lineup, including Most Popular Solitaire, Goodsol Solitaire 101, Pretty Good MahJongg, and even Action Solitaire.  Those who are paying attention will note that a “couple of weeks” have already passed, and true to this schedule, FreeCell Plus 4.02 was released two days ago.  I will write more about that next week.

Enjoy!

Pretty Good MahJongg Mac Edition 1.0

A favorite product is now available on a new platform.

This week, Goodsol Development released Pretty Good MahJongg Mac Edition 1.0, our very first published Apple Mac OS X version of this award-winning title.  Pretty Good MahJongg Mac Edition is a MahJongg solitaire game which has 160 different tile matching layouts, but also 32 original solitaire games played with MahJongg tiles, as well as a custom layout editor (only available in the full/purchased version).

The develoment of Pretty Good MahJongg Mac Edition took longer than originally anticipated, due at least in part to working on three different products for three different platforms simultaneously.  The end result, though is very satisfying, and this Mac Edition has all of the same gameplay features as the Windows version, including downloadable tile sets.  The next major update of PGMJME will bring the number of solitaire games (and tile matching layouts) even with its 8-year-old sibling, but that is in the (not too distant) future.  For the moment, I am looking for the expected 50% productivity gains on the other two major upcoming releases.

You can download a trial version of PGMJME 1.0 from the Mac Edition web site, and you can purchase Pretty Good MahJongg Mac Edition for only $24.95.  (Registered users of the Windows version can find a link for a discount coupon on the Goodsol web forum.)  What a deal!

I challenge anybody to catch me in Free Klondike (one of the original solitaire games in PGMJME, and my favorite) playing in climb mode.

Most Popular Solitaire is #1!

One of our solitaire games tops the Apple Downloads charts.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Apple had stopped updating the pages on its Apple Downloads site back in March, so Most Popular Solitaire, our solitaire title with 30 of the most popular games, was reliably in the top 15 on the (dynamic) ‘Top Downloads’ list on the left of each page but was not listed at all on the ‘Most Popular’ pages in the ‘Games’ category.  (As of this posting, Most Popular Solitaire 2.02 is #11 of all Apple downloads, including Apple’s own products.)

This morning, though, Apple finally updated the pages and Most Popular Solitaire is at the very top of all game downloads, listed as #1 on both the Games: Most popular and Cards & Puzzle: Most popular pages.  Sure, this position is likely to be fleeting, especially now that new submissions are being posted again, but it feels good for the moment.  Of course, some of those new submissions will be from Goodsol Development, so we will be looking to match this success and get more of our games to the top.

Thanks to Apple for finally getting this fixed.