I lost my momentum. My rank for Hearts Net is now down to number 46 in the U.S. store. Sales are still substantial, though, so that just means that I can’t live solely on the profits, as I might have been able to do if I’d made it into the top ranks. Still plenty good enough for me to want to continue improving it. Right now I’m working on porting the game to Mac and iPad.

Here’s an excerpt from an email I got from a satisfied player, named John Maldaner:

Last night I played Hearts Net via wifi with my wife. Game setup was exactly as described in the instructions. No problem. There is a slight delay when you pass and accept passed cards. There is a slight delay to go to the Next Hand. Both of these delays make sense since one or more opponents are real people now. But, the delays can confuse you at first just because you’ve played the single-player version so much. Game play is perfect. We had no issues with the flow of the game. Nothing unusual happened. Except that I lost the game! LOL!

Regarding the robots and shooting the moon. The robots are better at stopping moon shots. They intercede early. I will give this some study and report back. I had gotten pretty good at shooting the moon in Hearts Solo. The real key, there, was playing low cards early in a manner that seemed innocent. I could pretty easily lull the robots into playing early high hearts. That is the key. They would usually play their high hearts first, sometimes even in an obvious situation where playing a lower heart would have set me. I have not experimented enough in Hearts Net to give you a fair comparison. I will do so.

I would be interested in the demographics of folks that have purchased your game. I am 56 and played hearts (and spades) extensively, especially in college. I do like card games in general, but there is something comfortable about playing the games you grew up with. For that reason, Hearts and Spades are the only card apps I have purchased and play. I play both daily, at least a couple games each.

I have not experimented with other Hearts games available. I have looked at some, but it’s never gone past looking. Why? Well, most look gimmicky. Some designers have chosen to concentrate on elaborate board designs or adding in extraneous character enhancements that, to me, just take away from the game itself. Your game is true to the game. I especially like the two-touch approach to choosing a card to play. I know I can change that to one-touch. But, I don’t because at times I want to change my mind. Also, the two-touch method helps me make sure I touched the right card. This sounds simple, but other card games have not embraced that. I like your method the best.

Categories: cards
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