Streamlining Operations

Unfortunately, developing casual games for mobile platforms has become quite a hassle.
There are millions of games and apps available because basically anyone with minimal knowledge can make one, thus, developing a new game makes no sense, markets prioritize the most popular games and donโ€™t really promote new titles unless you have a big fat budget for marketing.

At the same time, there are these stupid new regulations, like GDPR and CPRA. Marketplaces have their own rules, which they change from time to time, like the Google Play Store, which requires updating the app at least once every 2 years, otherwise, it will be automatically removed.
Plus, sometimes I need to update games to fix my own bugs and add new features.

Anyway, keeping numerous games in compliance with all the new rules and regulations is quite a soul-sucking task, so I’ve decided to remove most games from markets except for the two most popular and profitable.

All-in-One Solitaire and All-in-One Mahjong are both available for Android, iOS, Windows 10+ and online.
I will keep updating those games and add new features.

All other games, All-Peaks Solitaire, Shadow Solitaire, Rainbow Lines and Match Jong are only available online at the Pozirk Games website.

At the same time, there is some good news! ๐Ÿ™‚
Old Flash games, that stopped working after Adobe stopped distributing Flash plugin, are slowly coming back to life!
Thanks to Ruffle, a Flash Player emulator.
It is still in beta, but several games are working just fine already.
Balloon Express – works!
Feed The Furry – works!
Instant Football – works!
Mad Tanks – works, but there are some bugs and game doesn’t save the progress.
Total Construction – almost works, but not yet.
Resistance Is Useless – not yet.
Space Age – not yet.
Dolly The Sheep – not yet.
Charlie Likes Strawberries – not yet.

Mad Tanks, Space Age and Resistance Is Useless are still my 3 most favorite games.


Six Peaks Solitaire and Saint Helena Solitaire

I’ve added two more games to All-in-One Solitaire: Six Peaks Solitaire and Saint Helena Solitaire.
Six Peaks Solitaire Saint Helena Solitaire

  • Six Peaks is a simple game and very similar to Tri-Peaks Solitaire, except that there is double the amount of peaks and cards. ๐Ÿ˜€
  • Saint Helena (also known as Napoleon’s Favourite or Washington’s Favorite) is a more complex game that reminds me of Crescent Solitaire in terms of rules and layout.

But the most exciting part for me was to improve the dealing of cards at the start of the game.
Usually, cards are dealt one by one inย All-in-One Solitaire, that is the way game works, which is ok, but it has always bothered me because it could take quite some time, especially when 2+ decks of cards are dealt.
I was finally able to come up with a nice technical solution, and now cards are dealt much faster, with several cards moving at the same time.
I can make the cards be dealt all at once, but it doesnโ€™t look nice.

Here is a short video of different approaches:



All-in-One Solitaire for Windows


Finally, I was able to release a free version of the All-in-One Solitaire game on the Windows Store.
I had a paid version before, a Javascript UWP (Universal Windows Platform) app, which was an OpenFL HTML5 app integrated into the Visual Studio project.
But then starting VS2019 Microsoft dropped support for Javascript UWP projects and… Free version didn’t happen. After some time I removed even paid version because it was getting harder to update it.

Microsoft pushed Javascript developers (at least me) to make PWA (Progressive Web App), which in a nutshell is just a cached website that you open in a slightly modified browser window.
I guess Google started it first with their ChromeOS, all apps are just web applications (websites). It seems like MS is moving in the same direction.
So far, the availability of decent software for ChromeOS is depressing. I use a Chromebook while traveling because it is small, lite, and works 10 hours on a single charge, but finding even a good email client was a problem. Thanks to Android support, I’ve downloaded one from Google Play, but using the “made for touch screen” app on a no-touch screen is an adventure. ๐Ÿ™‚

Ok, back to All-in-One Solitaire.
Free version (instead of paid one) is available for Windows 10/11 here:
All-in-One Solitaire for Windows


Chinese Solitaire and Terrace Solitaire

Chinese Solitaire Terrace Solitaire
Just added two new Solitaire games to All-in-One Solitaire.
Only the HTML5 version is updated at the moment, but I will release updates for Android and iOS soon.
While Terrace Solitaire has been in my plans for some time already, one of the players asked to add Chinese Solitaire.
Let’s hope I’ve added the right version.
Have fun! ๐Ÿ™‚


Golf Solitaire and Agnes Solitaire

Golf Solitaire Agnes Solitaire
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything about my games.
But finally I was able to add 2 more solitaires to All-in-One Solitaire game.

  • Golf Solitaire – simple game with the same rules as Tri-Peaks Solitaire, the only difference is the layout.
  • Agnes Solitaire on the other hand is quite a tricky game that has two variants.
    Bernauer, new variant, has kind of similar rules to Klondike Solitaire and more or less easy to win.
    But Sorel, old variant, has very strict rules and it is hard to win.

Button for Golf Solitaire was made by me, that’s why it is so ugly. Unfortunately, my graphic designer is disappearing, he sends me emails once a while, but not able to work so far. Let’s hope it’s transitory. ๐Ÿ˜€
I’ve also add several plain background images by request of one of the players. I think it’s a great idea.


Sultan Solitaire and Grandfather’s Clock Solitaire

Sultan Solitaire Grandfather's Clock Solitaire
New Year brings new solitaire games: Sultan Solitaire and Grandfather’s Clock Solitaire.

By chance I was able to win Grandfather’s Clock in just 30 seconds and score 331 while recording a gameplay video.
Let’s see how long it will take other players to beat my record.

This new update is not yet available for mobile devices, but web version of All-in-One Solitaire has both games included.



Lady Jane Solitaire and Alhambra Solitaire, weird lags and high CPU usage

I have added 2 new games to All-in-One Solitaire (HTML5 version only for now) and the very next day started receiving complaints about the game being slow…
I have tested the game on all the computers I have, one of them is 6 years old, and the game was working as smoothly as before.
I have a feeling that the problem is because of the latest OpenFL/Lime, as it still has lots of bugs and every update is kind of a gamble, while some bugs are being fixed, others appear. 😥
Thanks to one really nice and skillful player, I came to the conclusion that the game is working slow only on computers with AMD CPU and, maybe, in Chrome browser.
None of my computers have AMD CPU, so I’m not able to 100% confirm this weird bug.
Luckily, I was able to rollback to the older version of OpenFL/Lime.
It will be challenging to release new updates though…

New games are Lady Jane Solitaire and Alhambra Solitaire.
Alhambra is a tricky one, I had to cheat a little to make a winning gameplay video. 😉
Lady Jane Solitaire Alhambra Solitaire


Cromwell Solitaire and Demons & Thieves Solitaire, plus Mahjong updates

Finally I have released updated versions of Solitaire and Mahjong games on all the platforms including iOS.
As I mentioned before, I added more layouts to Mahjong for the total of 200 layouts and added 2 more games to Solitaire: Cromwell Solitaire and Demons & Thieves Solitaire.
I must say Demons & Thieves Solitaire is a tricky one, it is not hard to win, but fairly hard to win fast.
I’m giving 11 minutes to get bonus score, but there aren’t many players who were able to get more than 728 base points so far.


Cromwell Solitaire and Demons & Thieves Solitaire

Cromwell Solitaire Demons and Thieves Solitaire
I have added 2 more games to All-in-One Solitaire: Cromwell Solitaire and Demons & Thieves Solitaire.
While working on the game I have made some modifications to other games and it caused major problem for website users.
The problem with HTML5 version is when browser caches .js files, but doesn’t cache resources like .jpg and .xml.
Whenever I update the game users’ browsers keeps loading old code, but new graphics which completely breaks the game.
Never had this problem with Flash, but they say HTML5 is better anyway…
I need to figure out some simple way to fix that, so if I update something users always load new version.
Telling everyone to clear the cache is not really helpful. ๐Ÿ™


Picture Gallery Solitaire, Eight Off Solitaire, Babette Solitaire and Diavolo Solitaire, plus 1 new review

I have released new version of All-in-One Solitaire game with 4 new games:
Picture Gallery Solitaire
Eight Off Solitaire
Babette Solitaire
Diavolo Solitaire
Picture Gallery Solitaire Eight Off Solitaire Babette Solitaire Diavolo Solitaire
Babette was one of the hardest to make, because of non-standard dealing of cards.

Also iOS version of All-in-One Solitaire has been reviewed by PlayingCardDecks website.
Although my game was lost somewhere between many other solitaire games, it’s always nice to be noticed anyway.
You can check all the reviewed games, including mine, here: The Best iPad and iPhone Apps for Playing Solitaire


All-in-One Solitaire, now all-in-one for real

One of the players gave me a good idea to put all the games both from Solitaire and Solitaire 2 in one game.
After some thoughts and hesitation, mainly because two games has different databases for records, I have finally combined them in one real All-in-One Solitaire that has more than 38 games now and more games are coming!
I have also fixed lots of bugs and made some optimizations, so gameplay is much more smooth now.
All-in-One Solitaire 2 was also updated with some improvements, but I will not add new games to it anymore and will release updates only to fix bugs.

Here is a list of all the games available at the moment:



All-in-One Solitaire HTML5

Finally, I was able to convert Flash version of All-in-One Solitaire to HTML5 version (Haxe/OpneFL) and upgrade it with latest features as well.
You can try HTML5 version here: https://www.pozirk.com/all-in-one-solitaire-game/
And the features are:
โ€“ Unlimited undos
โ€“ Multiple hints
โ€“ Background music
โ€“ Bigger and better high quality cards
โ€“ Easy cards movement with one click

Will start converting Mahjong game now, should be much easier, though.


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