Concentrix: The Game of Falling Rings

[Pat Logsdon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.handango.com/brainstore//PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&jid=7DF67XX9DAX75895D83B24D3X6B31251&platformId=2&productType=2&productId=121183&sectionId=0&catalog=30' target='_blank'>http://www.handango.com/brainstore/...Id=0&catalog=30</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/logsdon_20040518_concentrix.jpg" /> <br /><br />"eSoft Interactive has just released Concentrix, the game of the falling rings! Concentrix is an action-puzzle game that brings a new twist to handheld casual gaming. Some of the cool features of Concentrix are:<br /><br />• All original gameplay<br />• Eight different games in one gamepack<br />• Record and playback your games anytime<br />• Synchronize your scores and compete with the best players online<br />• Free lifetime updates<br />• <a href="http://www.handango.com/brainstore//PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&amp;jid=7DF67XX9DAX75895D83B24D3X6B31251&amp;platformId=2&amp;productType=2&amp;productId=121183&amp;sectionId=0&amp;catalog=30">All for only $9.95!"</a> [Affiliate]<br /><br />To stave off the inevitable questions, let me just tell you that this game does NOT involve <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobbit">Hobbits</a> in any way. :mrgreen: This actually looks pretty interesting - has anyone tried it?

[stevehiner]

I tried the demo few weeks ago.

It's an interesting game, I could see how it would get addicting if you're into tetris style games.

I had a couple issues with it on my iPAQ 2210. The control wasn't as smooth as I expected so it was sometimes hard to rotate the ring correctly since it would pause for a moment then jump 2 or 3 spaces. In games like this it's critical to have smooth movement, especially near the end of the levels since you're frantically trying to get the rings rotated correctly and you don't have any time to adjust for an overshoot.

I also had a very strange problem with it where after playing it my stylus taps would be off. When I'd tap the system reacted like I tapped a little higher or lower than I did. Seemed like it must have messed with the calibration somehow. It was always corrected by a soft reset but it was pretty annoying to have to reset after playing it.

If those 2 issues are (or have been) corrected I'd recommend the game to anyone that likes tetris like games. It's a really interesting twist on the genre. (pun partially intended)

[maximus]

Woohoo. Editor-in-training. Congrats. =)

About the game, I have a similar experience with stevehiner's.
The control is jumpy, and during 2 days of gameplay, it crashed more than 5 times already. Some stability issue, I guess.

[cixelsyd]

What are some good puzzle games? I just got an ipaq and am looking for something fun, but there are so many available. Thanks!

[PresBry]

Take it from me, folks...stay completely away from this game. If you are interested in why, PM me and I will be glad to explain why.

[jizmo]

Take it from me, folks...stay completely away from this game. If you are interested in why, PM me and I will be glad to explain why.

Rrrrroight. This guy sounds like a reliable source with his one posting :roll:

I've heard nothing but good about this game on other forums.

/jizmo

[sponge]

Check out the new version, quite a few changes, mostly branding and interface. Working on a review for PocketGamer, it's pretty fun. As for the 1 post warning, I have no clue what that's about.

[egarayblas]

Hi,

I'm from eSoft Interactive and I would like to thank everyone for their comments. I would also like to invite everyone to try the new version. It looks and plays better now. I also use an h2210 and so far, the controls work great for me.

Presbry: We will appreciate it if you can share your sentiments/apprehensions to us also. We are dedicated to improving our products as we go along and if there's any major issues/problems, we would really like to correct those and enhance the game even more.

For those who have cool suggestios or comments, please feel free to visit our forums at http://www.esoftinteractive.com/forums/ or email us at [email protected].

Thank you for your time!

[jjdyer]

I have been playing the game for a few weeks now and have had no problems (Toshiba e805). It has NEVER crashed for me.

If you want a game that can be quite addicting, give this one a try! I find that Concentrix helps the long commute fly by.

[Steven Cedrone]

Take it from me, folks...stay completely away from this game. If you are interested in why, PM me and I will be glad to explain why.

Actually, since you decided to post this in public, you should respond in public explaining your statement...

Steve

[scalene]

Hello, I am the developer of Concentrix and I'm quite thrilled to see our humble game getting a bit of attention here. Version 1.2.0 looks better than ever so I do encourage you to try the demo, if it looks intriguing to you.

I'd like to address a few comments that have cropped up.

First of all, I know who PresBry really is, and what his story is. I'm not going to address it, except to say that if you feel inclined to listen to his story, you should be aware that there is another side to it.

Maximumus, can you tell us more about your crashing issues? We've not had any reports of crashing. Can you describe what happens during the crash, and what you did beforehand? What model device do you have? Do you know which version you were using? What OS version is running? Does your device appear unstable when using other applications, or only with Concentrix?

Maximus and SteveHiner, can you describe the control jumpiness more? Our testing and most reviews indicate that the controls are particularly responsive. However, this could be confused with another aspect of Concentrix, the fact that it will skip frame rendering if it starts to lag in frame rate. That is, if the rendering "jumps" it may appear that it isn't reacting precisely to controls. Could that be what's happening?

SteveHiner, I can't see any way the game could misalign the stylus calibration. Also, this hasn't happened on other iPAQ 2210 devices on which we have tested. Can you provide us with more details? Does this happen only when you run Concentrix? The only thing I can think of, is there is an uncommon hardware problem with some devices, where the calibration goes off in a short time, because the digitizer actually moves a bit on the physical screen. I know someone with a Palm Vx that is like this. If that's the case, unfortunately there is nothing that can be done except to replace the defective unit.

I do encourage anyone who has any problems to visit our support forums (http://www.esoftinteractive.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=11) so we can help work them out. The game works great according to most tests and reviews, but if there is a real issue lurking we'd really like to solve it.

Thanks to everyone for the valuable feedback!

[stevehiner]

I always like to see developers on forums. I'm a developer and I love to hear what users think of my software.

Maximus and SteveHiner, can you describe the control jumpiness more? Our testing and most reviews indicate that the controls are particularly responsive. However, this could be confused with another aspect of Concentrix, the fact that it will skip frame rendering if it starts to lag in frame rate. That is, if the rendering "jumps" it may appear that it isn't reacting precisely to controls. Could that be what's happening?

It's quite possible that it's due to frame skipping. The end result was that it made the late stages of the game incredibly difficult to play since I found myself overshooting quite often and once you lay down a few rings incorrectly the game is basically over since it gets harder and harder the more misses you have. I can certainly say that when it wasn't jumping the controls seemed to be pretty responsive (once I realized that you rotate the ring in the opposite direction from the way I expected).

SteveHiner, I can't see any way the game could misalign the stylus calibration. Also, this hasn't happened on other iPAQ 2210 devices on which we have tested. Can you provide us with more details? Does this happen only when you run Concentrix?

I was quite confused by this as well. I've never seen it happen with any other program. I play quite a few games on my iPAQ - probably have between 2 and 3 dozen installed and this is the only one that had alignment problems after it ran. I removed it after trying it a few times because it was so annoying when I exited. I'd be happy to grab the latest version and give it a spin over the weekend if that might help. Maybe I can provide more details.

You know what? I just realized that I did have an alignment problem once since uninstalling Concentrix. When I upgraded to Pocket Plus 2.0 I was so eager to have it on my system that I started installing it right after docking my iPAQ. When the automatic backup started I had to stop the installation part way through and it pretty much jacked my system. In addition to some other problems it caused was an alignment problem with the digitizer. I hard reset, restored a backup, performed the upgrade and it's worked fine since. I suppose I really do need to try the latest version of your game, maybe the alignment issue is a hardware problem. It would be quite coincidental though since it happened every single time I ran Concentrix.

[egarayblas]

steve: Thanks a lot for bringing up your concerns. We hope that we can continue this discussion on our forums at http://www.esoftinteractive.com/forums/ (under the Concentrix boards) so that we can troubleshoot the problem thoroughly. Let us know your findings on the latest version. I found it weird though because I also used an h2210 to test the game and it has worked great with no stylus misalignment problems whatsoever.

- Erick

[scalene]

Steve, thanks for the further info! (We should probably continue this on the support forums (http://www.esoftinteractive.com/forums/).)

It sounds like you need to try the latest version, to see if the problem has gone away for you since you hard reset your device. It could be coincidence that the misalignment seemed to occur whenever you tried Concentrix, which is to say Concentrix may have tickled some pre-existing problems with your device. The program uses a popular graphics library to interact with the system, so I'd expect if it was a direct cause, it would exist with many other games also, and would have been discovered by now. If you PM me I can point you to a list of other games using that library, in case you want to scan the list to see if you've tried any of the others with success.

It's also possible that your frame rate problems will be fixed now, although I can't say I understand at this point why they would have occurred in the first place. We haven't made changes to the basic rendering since the first release, since no serious problems have been revealed. It's already quite optimized, ony drawing the pixels that have changed. Were you running anything in the background? Were you using any utilities which affect CPU speed or power saving mode?

Finally, you can configure the direction the rings rotate in the options. There's a lot of other options also, check them out.

I hope this helps Steve!

[PresBry]

Downloaded the demo, and tried it. It ran fine on my PPC. So, then I purchased the full version from Handango.

Once the registration code was entered, the game wouldn't run. I worked with the developer for almost a week. He couldn't make it work.

I contacted Handango for a refund, and the developer fought tooth and nail for two days to keep me from receiving one.

The new version (1.2) from eSoft Interactive is much improved. The old registration system used to lock the game to your hardware profile (like Win XP). But, I understand that ESI has now changed that, and when you buy the game now, you get the full version with no codes, unlocking or registrations required.

So, problem solved. I withdraw my complaints.

[stevehiner]

I tried it a few minutes ago and didn't have any problems at all. Granted, I only played one game but so far it seems to run better now. I'll play it a bit more tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

[scalene]

Great news all around! :)

[stevehiner]

I played the 1.2 demo quite a bit and didn't have a hint of a problem. All my issues were either fixed in the demo or they were problems on my specific iPAQ and seem to have gone away.