Random Stats

Here are some interesting statistics from the DCSquares score database:

General Stats

  • Total users that have submitted a score: 373
  • Total games played: 50,097
  • Total squares collected: 1,042,625
  • Total time spent playing: 34 days (note: scores entered through the website do not record a time, so this is actually higher)
  • Average games played per user: 138
  • Average number of squares collected per game: 38
  • Average score per game: 28,235
  • Average combo per game: 45
  • Average game time: 58 seconds

Players by platform

  • Windows: 50%
  • Mac: 48%
  • Linux: 2%
  • Dreamcast: 0% (only 23 scores ever submitted for Dreamcast)

Hall of fame:

  • Highest score: DrunkenAryan scored 645,233 points
  • Highest combo: spam collected 333 squares in a row
  • Most squares: Harryfronman collected 620 squares
  • Longest time: jason survived for 16:47 minutes

Hall of shame:

  • Lowest score: csp scored 1,002 points (scores below 1,000 are rejected)
  • Shortest time: mozza survived for 2 seconds

12 players only collected 1 square but managed to score more than 1000 points.
99% of players use the in-game score client, only 1% of scores were entered through the web.

Use the source, luke!

DreamZZT’s source code is now available under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2. The source can be browsed or checked out of my public Subversion repository, and is also available from the DreamZZT homepage. In order to build DreamZZT, you’ll first need to build tiki.

To celebrate, I’ve put together the first binary release of DreamZZT in close to 3 years: 3.0.4-beta1. Downloads are available for Windows, Mac OS X (10.4 universal), and Linux. Due to technical issues, builds for the Dreamcast are not available at this time. So head on over to the DreamZZT homepage and grab a copy!

Known issues with this beta:

  • There is no menu when you push ESC, just press S to save or close the window to quit.
  • There is no file browser, so saved games will always be ‘saved.sav’ and New Game will always load ‘town.zzt’
  • The game doesn’t pause when debug command ‘warp’ is executed, allowing debug messages to overwrite the board selection dialog box.

Please report any other bugs either in the comments here or over at the forums.

DreamZZT 3.0

I’ve gotten a few queries about the status of DreamZZT lately, so for anyone wondering about it, I give you this:

East Coast Gaming Expo

DCSquares and DCBlap will be on display at the East Coast Gaming Expo. There will also be a specal multiplayer demo of DCSquares running on the Dreamcast there. Anyone in the NJ/NY/PA area, feel free to stop by.

There will be CD-Rs available with DCSquares 2.0.1 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Dreamcast in jewel cases, complete with instruction booklets. There will only be 15 – 20 available, so be sure to get there early! Be the first on your block to own an official DCSquares disc! 🙂

I don’t get it

11:09:45 AM eric: but the printer is going to be attached to the linux machine
11:10:07 AM eric: and I want to print from a windows box
11:13:08 AM eric: looks like it will be another fun afternoon trying to get this worked out 🙂
11:13:28 AM sam: or you could just share it from a Windows box 😛
11:13:49 AM eric: thats what we have now….but we want to be ableto password it and monitor wtuff
11:13:55 AM eric: and winblows sucks that that
11:14:13 AM sam: er… windows 2000 can do that just fine?
11:14:32 AM sam: use ACLs and auditing
11:14:35 AM eric: we only have xp….and maybe 2k3 server
11:14:46 AM sam: both of those are the same as 2000 😛
11:14:46 AM eric: all that is above me 🙁

So let me get this straight.. if this guy can’t handle clicking a few buttons in Windows to password protect his printer, how does he expect to be able to edit 3 cryptic configuration files in Linux to accomplish his task?

DCSquares 2.0 Release

After nearly 6 months, I’m proud to announce the release of DCSquares 2.0 for Mac OS X and Windows! This version features a brand new default theme, a new high score system, and much improved gameplay.

So head on over to the official DCSquares site to grab the latest version!

Moo

Dear author,

We are pleased to accept your software for distribution on
www.tucows.com. It will be listed on the “What’s New” page
on February, 9th, 2005.

You can continue providing updated versions of your software through the Author Resource Center. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail us at developer@tucows.com.

Tucows offers a variety of promotion options for your title including Keywords, Category listings and Cost-per-click advertising. For more information on our promotion options, please log into your account on the Author Resource Center. There, you will find information on these offerings, and you can select and activate promotions.

You can choose to link directly to the preview page for your program.

http://rutgers.games.tucows.com/preview/385943.html

As you are aware, each program is reviewed by our team and
assigned a cow rating. The following is the Review Report
for your program:

Online resources:1
Multi-player support:0
Originality:3
Graphics/Interface:4
Sound:3
Control/Navigation:4
Gameplay/Replayability:4
Technical/Installation:5
Skill/Learning curve:5
Variety/Pace of features:1
Reviewer’s recommendation:3
Reviewer’s impression:3

Total =36

30 to 35 points = 3-cow rating
36 to 41 points = 4-cow rating
42 and higher points = 5-cow rating

More information on our scoring procedure is available in
the Author Resource Center.

Thank you for choosing Tucows.

Sincerely,
The Tucows Review Team

The latest version of DCSquares is out for the Sega Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and linux! Grab it from the official website!

This new version features a higher quality font, better integration with Mac OS and Windows, and tons of bug fixes! Check out the ChangeLog on the downloads page for a complete list of changes.