It's been tested (and seen to work correctly) in 4-bit, 8-bit, and 24-bit depths in both full color and gray scale. It's useable in gray scale (though obviously it looks better in color); the ╥blue╙ pieces look darker than the ╥red╙ pieces. In 2-bit depth, it uses the monochrome display.
As before, on-line help, explaining how to play and the various menu items, is available under the Apple menu.
The computer player uses the same brute force method as in version 1.0.
The way the pieces move is a little snazzier (take a look and see).
Chello now features two, count 'em, two wait cursors: The old familiar spinning Earth cursor (in color now, of course) and the world's first brain-storm cursor. Put it on the highest skill level and check it out.
A minor enhancement: When one player cannot move, the other player no longer has to manually fill in all empty squares before being declared the winner.
One bug was fixed: I wasn't re-loading the sound resources before each usage, so sometimes the sounds wouldn't play.
Chello is shareware. If you use it, please send $5 to:
James Preston
1904 Miraplaza Ct. #23
Santa Clara, CA 95051
There's always this quandry when deciding on a shareware fee: Do you charge a little and give people the excuse of not paying because it's ╥only╙ five dollars, or do you charge more and give them the excuse of not paying because you're overcharging? Chello version 1.0 went the first route, and the response was indeed underwhelming. I thought about going the second route this time and raising the price to $10, especially with the addition of color. But when I look at some of the other, far more elaborate, shareware games that can be had for $10, I couldn't in good conscience charge that much. I'm sure that there will always be people who think it's more trouble than it's worth to write out a check for such a small amount (hey, I take cash too!). The truth is, I don't care about the money, I'd just like to know that you get some enjoyment out of what I've written. So if you hesitate to pay the fee, how about it least taking a minute or two to drop me a postcard? Honest, I won't hold it against you. Consider this: I could have put one of those obnoxious reminders on the opening screen telling you how bad you are for not registering yet. Isn't it worth one measly postcard to not have to see that all the time?
