05 Dec

Next game: Nocturnarya

We’re currently focused on our next Match 3 game, entitled Nocturnarya. At the time of this writing, the vampiric story is fully completed and all the new code for level design is already tested. Regarding the gameplay, our goal with Nocturnarya is to include a few levels with a bit of screen scrolling, and also a new type of path on the boards. And some Match 3 puzzles, of course.

According to our plans, the game should be completed by Q2 2023. Hopefully. For the time being, here’s the logo and Raphaela’s guidance.

Nocturnarya’s Logo
Raphaela

The kingdom of Nocturnarya has been done in by the human troops. Follow Raphaela or perish!

Update (September, 2023): Nocturnarya is now available here on ikigames.com, both the Collector’s Edition and the Standard edition. And the guide for Nocturnarya can be found here. Furthermore, a lot of things were changed in the final version of the game, including the logo originally presented in this post.

29 Oct

Spooky Dwellers on Windows 7

If you’re having troubles running Spooky Dwellers on a Windows 7 PC, please verify that your Windows 7 is updated. Specifically, note that the minimum requirement for Spooky Dwellers is Windows 7 with Service Pack 1. Your graphic drivers should be updated too.

Here are some links to update your Windows 7:

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Platform Update for Windows 7 Service Pack 1

Update for the d3dcompiler_47.dll component on Windows 7

It’s also important that your graphic card drivers are updated. These updates should let the Spooky Dwellers games run properly on your Windows 7 PC.

Finally, remember there is a complete guide for Spooky Dwellers here.

21 Sep

Coming Soon: Spooky Dwellers

Spooky Dwellers

Update: Here’s a guide for Spooky Dwellers, comprising levels from both the Standard and the Collector’s Edition.

After several months of hard work, our new Match 3 game is complete. The name of the game is Spooky Dwellers and it features a cool and fun mechanic. Essentially, on most of the Spooky Dwellers boards there are ghosts on the edges (the dwellers), and there are also sacred talismans that emit a light to repel those ghosts. Your goal is to destroy obstacles on the board and direct the light towards the ghosts. Of course, there are also several mini-games, such as hidden objects.

Furthermore, the game will have 2 versions: Standard, and Collector’s Edition (which includes 60 bonus levels, more mini-games and many other features). These versions will be available for Windows and, hopefully, macOS (still a work in progress).
The game should be available for sale next month. We hope you like it 🙂

28 Jul

How to run Suddenly Meow on Windows 7

If you have troubles running any of the Suddenly Meow games on Windows 7 (applies for Suddenly Meow 1, Suddenly Meow 2 and Suddenly Meow 3) please verify if your system is updated. Specifically, your Windows 7 must have these updates installed:

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Platform Update for Windows 7 Service Pack 1

Update for the d3dcompiler_47.dll component on Windows 7

Installing those updates should let the Suddenly Meow games run properly on your Windows 7 PC.

18 Jul

Where’s Tim’s Hideout?

There are 2 ways to access Tim’s Hideout in Suddenly Meow 3:

  • In the Match 3 levels, notice the top right buttons. Click on “Menu”. Then, in the next window, click on “Tim’s Hideout” (it should be the last of the buttons). See Image 1.
  • Just complete a level. Below the victory window, you should see a button to go to the Hideout. See Image 2.
Suddenly Meow 3 How to go to Tim's Hideout?
Image 1
How to go to Tim's Hideout in Suddenly Meow 3
Image 2

Notice that Tim’s Hideout won’t be available before it’s unlocked: after Level 4 you’ll immediately watch a story scene with Spooky talking about the Hideout. Only after watching that story scene the hideout will be unlocked and available for the rest of the game.

In Suddenly Meow 2 the way to access the Hideout is similar. And it will also be unlocked once you watch the story scene coming after Level 4.

In Suddenly Meow 1 the only way to access the Hideout is with the button below the victory window. The Hideout is unlocked after a story scene with Mary, immediately following Level 5.

09 Apr

Coming up: Suddenly Meow 3

After helping the fairies in Suddenly Meow 2, Tim is gearing up for a new adventure. If everything goes well, we should have a beta of Suddenly Meow 3 by the end of this month, looking forward to a May release. In this new version we’ll be adding more usability features and further Match 3 challenges! 90 new levels with plenty of Match 3 puzzles! You’ll have to put your thinking cap on!

Suddenly Meow 3 Teaser
Spooky and Tim
02 Aug

Suddenly Meow and what’s next

We have spent over half a year completing a new Match 3 engine and a game using that engine. Our new game is Suddenly Meow, a Match 3 with puzzle elements, so you’re going to need your thinking hat! Suddenly Meow consists of 90 levels with progressive difficulty, varied challenges and Match 3 battles. In addition, for the first time we include in one of our games the possibility to choose between Relaxed, Timed and Limited Moves modes. Suddenly Meow is a step forward in terms of the direction we want our future games to take.

Suddenly Meow
Level 89 of Suddenly Meow

And today we have just completed the localization of Suddenly Meow into 6 additional languages (French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch). We have been really busy, and without further ado we are already in the early stages of our next Match 3. At the moment, we don’t have a new DragonScales in mind, but maybe in 2022 we might find the opportunity to develop DragonScales 8 (we already have some ideas and part of the story). So our next project will also be a Match 3 in the conventional sense, and we will use the engine we developed for Suddenly Meow, incorporating some extensions and optimizations.

We hope you like Suddenly Meow!

23 Nov

How to use Spells in DragonScales 7?

Spells are a new feature of DragonScales 7: A Heart of Dark Flames. You can have up to 14 spells, comprising attack, defensive and healing spells. Using a spell is really straightforward: just load the spell on any of your playable scales, place the scale on the board, and then simply make a combination which includes that scale you placed on the board (the scale with the spell.) All the spells are activated like this. Here’s a video showing the activation of a few spells in the battle of Level 1-12.

The lightning spell will be awarded just by progressing in the game. However, the other spells have to be retrieved from the question marks on the boards. They are hidden in those question marks. The Avenger’s shield, for instance, is hidden in a question mark of Level 2-6. Once you get a spell for the first time from those question marks you’ll be able to replenish it in the Store.

DragonScales 7 How to use spells
Replaying the battle of Level 1-12 with all the 14 spells

These are the 14 spells you can get in DragonScales 7:

  1. Lightning: Automatically received in Level 1-9. Cast a lightning spell on the enemy currently marked as target.
  2. Multi-lightning: Cast a lightning spell on all your enemies.
  3. Spiky Mace: Try to kill a random enemy. It’s a cheap spell but its success depends on luck. You can improve the “luck” of this spell by rising the attribute “Luck for Killing Spells” with your Stars. “Luck for Killing Spells” also improves a bit when the Avenger levels up.
  4. Dragon’s Claw: Kill the enemy with lowest Health Points (HP.) It always succeeds. However, it’s an expensive spell and a few enemies (the ones with the little blue crown, such as the rightmost enemy in the above image) are immune to it.
  5. Dagger: Reduce 1/4 of the Health Points (HP) of all susceptible enemies. Again, enemies with the blue crown are immune.
  6. Apple: Recover 30 HP of the Avenger.
  7. Turnip: Recover 2 HP of the Avenger per each scale on the board. Therefore, it’s wise to place plenty of scales on the board before activating this spell.
  8. Red Potion: Recover all the HP of the Avenger.
  9. Avenger’s shield: Guard from 3 enemy attacks. It protects from direct attacks only. A few enemies have attacks that can go past this shield.
  10. Sandglass: Extend turn. Similar to the effect you get if you rise the Rank of the Avenger’s Village. However, the extra turns you get via the Sandglass are temporal. The extra turns you get from the Village are permanent.
  11. Berserker mask: Destroy all the scales placed on the board.
  12. Arts filler: Fill up your arts. You have two arts: a magical rod to break a single scale, and prescience to replace your currently playable scales. Both arts charge up a bit when you make combinations. By using this spell you can entirely fill them up at once.
  13. Hand of Power: Double the power of your next 3 attacks. This is for scales attacks only. It’s not wise to mix this Spell with the lightning or killing spells. Remember you can use the Stars you get in the boards to improve the status of the Avenger. If you improve the “Power: Basic Scales Attack”, the damage caused by your basic attacks (the ones resulting from simply forming combinations on the board) will be higher. This Spell is perfect for those players who rise “Power: Basic Scales Attack”. Furthermore, sometimes you’ll see a CRITICAL message when you attack (it depends on luck). When you get a CRITICAL you cause double the damage. As with “Luck for Killing Spells” you can also improve your rate of criticals with “Luck for Critical Attack”. Strategically speaking, rising this “luck for critical” goes well with rising “Power: Basic Scales Attack” too, and with being a frequent user of the “Hand of Power” spell. It depends on your play style. For example, you can totally forget about this spell and rely only on lightning spells.
  14. Chains: Silence a random enemy. The silenced enemy won’t be able to attack for a while.

If you need further tips and explanations about DragonScales 7, here’s a fantastic and complete walkthrough of the game.