Transitioning to the Web

You may have noticed a lack of posts lately on this blog. There is a good reason for that. I have been busy over the last six months or so converting Quick Solitaire from a native Windows application into a Web application. It's been a great long run with Windows and now I see a big change coming.

It is clear to me that the future of software applications is the web (Google knows this too). Users want seamless instant access to their applications and data on any platform or device. So in support of that I am redirecting my efforts to convert all my products to run as web applications (HTML/Javascript/CSS) starting with Quick Solitaire.

Click here to try the Web Version

I am very pleased with the results so far. Except for a little tweaking of the graphics and animation the web version functions the same as the latest Windows version.

This doesn't necessarily mean the end for the Windows version. I am working on an update that will host the new web application inside a native Windows application. Stay tuned for progress updates.

I welcome your comments.

Version 3.3.14.2 Released

This version fixes a problem introduced in 3.3.14.1 (completely unrelated to the fix for the Gaps game) that would crash in Solitaire/Klondike when you placed a card from the waste pile.

I did a lot of re-factoring work between 3.3.13 and 3.3.14 and this one problem got passed my testing. Hopefully this version is back on track. It has a few subtle improvements in the graphics and layout that you will appreciate.

Check it out.

Oops!

There is a problem with 3.3.14.1 (not related to the fix for gaps) that did not show up in my testing.

I have reverted back to version 3.3.13.1 temporarily until I can fix it.

Version 3.3.14.1 Released

This release fixes a small issue in the Gaps game that would occasionally loose one card after the re-deal. A number of users had reported this problem so thanks to them for their input.

Pile Card Counter

Squared piles of face-down cards, such as waste and discard piles, should have a 'badge' that displays the # of cards remaining in the pile since it's not always obvious from the 2-D display.

In addition to the convenience factor this feature will somewhat make up for the removal of the score box in previous releases. Knowing how many cards are in a discard or waste pile gives you the information you need to keep score on your own.

It never ceases to amaze me how much work is involved in adding a feature that seemed like a quickie at the time. I've had to rework a lot of the underlying infrastructure to get this working reliably. It's all good though since the infrastructure desperately needed the work anyways.

Canfield

The next game I want to add is the ever popular Canfield. This game is very difficult to win due to it's roots in gambling (the house always has the advantage).

I'm using Canfield as a test-bed for my new infrastructure work. Let me know if you have any favorite solitaire games you would like to see available in Quick Solitaire.

Bigger Cards (3.3.0)

Just finishing up the details to support more card sizes. With screen resolutions and pixel densities increasing all the time the game needs to support more and larger card sizes to use the screen real-estate more effectively.

Just released version 3.3 with the new graphics engine that can render card images in a much wider array of sizes to fit any display.

Enjoy.