Patchworkz!
I'm not sure why developer Wellgames chose the tagline "Puzzle pattern pandemonium!", or why they shoehorned that ridiculous "Z!" into the title. This is perhaps the least Xtreme, least pandemonium-laden game I've ever seen. In fact, if you're playing it without a mug of cocoa and an oversized sweater, you're doing it wrong. For Patchworkz! is—in the popular new trend of taking an incredibly boring activity and making a fun video game from it—a game about quilting.
Each level presents you with an incomplete quilt, essentially a jig-saw puzzle with sections missing. A selection of patches sits at the bottom of the screen, and you finish the puzzle merely by dragging them one by one into the correct positions. However, the rules are the opposite of those for a regular jig-saw. Patches come in a wide variety of different shapes, and a piece will never match its neighbor in color or pattern. Therefore you must intuit, from the patchwork already in place, what the overall design of the puzzle is and how the new pieces must fit into it.
The faster you complete a quilt, the higher your score. The level numbers stretch on for quite a while, so Patchworkz! keeps track of your progress between sessions. I've had some trouble with the game forgetting my profile, though, so be warned that can happen, and always keep your hot cocoa close at hand.
Analysis: The gameplay is addictive, and the presentation is top-notch. Wellgames has included a near-endless variety of designs and patterns, and if the graphics aren't exactly soft and quilt-like, they are at least crisp and attractive. The cheery dink dink dink of correctly placed patches is sonic comfort food, like a bottomless bag of jelly beans.
But Patchworkz! is intriguing mostly because it taps into a totally different set of skills (or "skillz", as the quilterz say these dayz) than just about any other game. Often a quilt will be so fractured that you must fill in the gaps using only your sense of color and balance. I find that remarkable. When is the last time a video game tested you on your talent for visual composition?
Note to my aunt in Reno: I am kidding about quilting being boring. Please keep sending me cozy comforters.
This must be a Java game. I'm a Mac user and I couldn't open it in Safari or Firefox which are notoriously bad with Java content, but opened right up in Navigator.
I remember loving those tangram puzzles in those elementary school math games... I always preferred them to learning how to convert to the metric system, which is probably why I'm in the mess I am now.
Cool! I'm going to try!
Is it just me or does it loop back to the beginning if you play long enough (something like levels 81+... if you look, they're labeled 82...83...etc but look like the first puzzles).
Pretty much all of Wellgames' games loop eventually. It's just that most of them have 80-100 levels, and with that profile-dropping bug you can take days to see all the levels. (The profile bug was a source of immense frustration to me as I attempted to beat one of their other games last month. It kept dropping me about 5 levels from completion -- in a 120 level game.)
'Tis broken. Safari's Activity window informs me that http://patchworkz.fizzlebot.com/music.mp3 is 404. The game stops loading there.
dstrosy: No, it's Flash. You'll see this for yourself if you right-click on the game.
And, BTW, this is not just Safari 2-I also tried a recent WebKit nightly, which is newer than even Safari 3.1. The game still gives up (blank burlap/sand background) after not loading the music.
you certainly are right about it being mean to macs. how disappointing. i was looking forward to this...
got to level 38 and had all pieces in place, with no gaps anywhere, and no pieces blinking... and it wouldn't do anything. Nothing. and found no help on the web. had to quit. Darnit.
I love this game! I'm up to level 77 and it's a great game to play while zoning out in front of the tv!
Although I hate it when my pieces click into a place where there is already a piece, which tends to happen in the later levels. Anyone have a way to stop that from happening?
Peter - even with the mp3 available, I just can't get this game to load on my Mac, in any browser.
Will have to try Navigator like dsrtrosy suggests.
LOL love the review!!
im so slow.. those people on the server are like 100x faster than me :-/
On my mac, I've tried Safari, Firefox, and Navigator. It's just so disappointing that it won't work on any of them.
Oh, man...
I've been criticizing games here on JIG when I thought a game deserved negative remarks. But now, I guess, it's time to criticize myself - I'm really retarded sometimes... It took me like 5 levels to discover I'm actually playing against someone :DDDDD Forget that at the start of each level it talks about some opponent, forget that on the right side it shows how the opp progresses - I simply failed to notice :DDDD Yes, madames and messieurs, I can be THAT stupid :D
What luck this doesn't at all affect gameplay. And I like this game. Not hillarious, not one I'll keep coming back, but sure entertains me for a while.
@dsrtrosy
No its flash I checked
The whole PatchWorkZ thing is how they always name their games, with a z at the end. Numberz, Cubez, etc. I don't know why, but it's a consistent thing with Wellgames.
I don't like the online play part. I don't think the opponent exists.
By the time I have even worked out where 1 piece is meant to go, my "opponent" is finished...
I call shenanigans.
All the "opponent" means is that if you can finish first, you get bonus points and the other person doesn't. I can beat the other people at times, but at others I just assume I get paired up with the people who play it constantly enough to remember instantly where everything goes on nearly any given quilt.
Otherwise a really nice game, but I really dislike the scoring and the competition element.
It's kind of hard to relax playing the game, when it's constantly reminding you how much faster you could have done everything and how your opponent did just that.
But I dislike competitive playing in just about any game.
I've just been informed by the developers at Wellgames that the Mac situation is temporary. They do plan to fix that soon.
Yeah, it won't load under Linux either.
It's annoying for us laptop users, too. I just can't move the mouse fast enough to win against the other player.
Oh, and the game closed out on me halfway through a level. Don't know what that was about, so I'm guessing it's a bug.
I love this game! I stayed up until after 2am playing it! ^_^
Love the hypnotic quality of this kind of game. It brings out the best in my alpha-rhythms. I'll play it when it stops being slow and buggy and, in common with others, I would welcome the end of the so-called 'competitive' element.
I agree with Ben - the opponent seems like shenanigans to me too... and the random names (like LLLL) does seem like it would be a legit and true opponent - but i'm still looking at it and they're done... something's rotten here. But it's a neat puzzle game.
I played this game a couple weeks ago. I spends hours getting up to level 85. I didn't want to stop because you can't go back to where you left off. The quilts got increasingly more difficult to the point I asked myself why am I still playing this?!!
I like competition and everything, but something's fishy in patchwork.
I thought it was a tiny bit uncanny that I get beat almost every time even though I do play quite fast, but not until one oponnent finished a level with like 16 small pieces in 4 (yes, 4!) seconds did I suspect foul play. I mean, seriously, 4 seconds? Noone can click and drag that fast, let alone have time to think where each part should go.
I don't find it sad that people resort to cheating in an online quilt-making game, but the fact that there's apparently so many of them is downright scary.
Play against opponents who will always bee 100 times faster than you! Whippersnappers.
Got to level 71 where the difficulty level jumped up an order of magnitude. To make matters worse, the tiniest squares did not stay where I put them on the board, but jumped to a "correct" spot nearby - even if there was already a piece there. Please tell me someone has figured out why this happens or a way to get it to stop! I have played too many levels to quit this close to the end!!!
(The game lulls you into addiction very pleasantly)
:)
It's snowing here right now, so this game fits perfectly. Its quite addicting, and SO much easier than real quilting! :\
This game is fantastic! However, I have two....okay three main complaints.
1. Some of those on-line players are ridiculous! There is no way that some of those levels can be done that quickly.
2. It hasn't saved my level progress once, so every time I go back I have to start over. Grrr.
3. mr_physics, I feel your pain with 71!! I made it past it just letting them snap- it will let you finish without some of them correct (at least it did me). 72 doesn't get any better - my eyes and wrist were so shot after 71 that I couldn't do it.
Other then those (mostly minor) inconveniences, this is a great game! very fun and addictive.
Well, don't care too much for the game, it's fun at first, but I wouldn't say "addictive." And I did want to let you know that you misspelled "multiplayer" in the tag menu above, thus breaking the link (sort of - it does show you all of the "mutliplayer" games, though ;).
[Edit: Thanks! Fixed. :) -Jay]
I'm going to agree with everyone else about the multiplayer angle. I'm a competitive type, so when I find myself thinking I've done really well only to look up at the other player and realize they finished a long time ago... well, the game stops being so fun and starts feeling like a never-ending round of "Look how much you suck compared to everyone else!" Then I get frustrated and turn the thing off.
More satisfying for me would be a single-player mode where you earned your bonus by completing the level within a challenging-but-manageable timeframe, or by completing the level with all the pieces in the perfect place (i.e. I've noticed that in some levels you can win by jamming pieces together that don't make the ideal pattern but nevertheless fit in the slots, leaving you with a cluster of blue triangles all lumped together or something like that). It would save on loading times, too, not to have to connect to the server and find another player to play against (If there really are other players. After a while I started to find it suspicious that there would ALWAYS be another person waiting for me who was just about to begin the same level I was, no matter how few players there might be on the server at the moment.)
Also, I'm the obsessive-compulsive type who likes to go back and replay a level repeatedly to try to improve my highscore. This game only lets you go straight forward to the end, which I find mildly frustrating.
A further observation: Occasionally the game will insist I have a piece in the wrong place, even if it is of the correct shape and color, forcing me to locate another identical piece and swap them. There was one level where there were five red squares arranged in a pattern and I had to figure out which one went where by a process of trial and error, because even though they were all exactly the same the computer would only allow for them to be in one place only. Naturally, the other player never had this problem.
This is not to say I'm not having fun with the game, but... it needs work!
fun game, a bit like that "fit tiles into a mozaic pattern" game (can't remember what it's called)
It would be better as a single player game - I prefer being antisocial with online games :P
Despite all the bugs in this game, I have really enjoyed it. I am assuming that there are an infinite number of levels as I have reached level 123 and there are no signs of the levels stopping. Right, I'm off to regain that life I once had!!
Hmm. Still doesn't work on a mac. I thought Flash was cross-platform?
I'd quite like to give this a go, if only in honour of my dear granma who is some sort of bigwig in her quilting guild.
I've played Wellgames in the past (using Z instead of S is a bit tired, but it's their gimmick, so be it) and am used to the "opponent" setup.
To avoid a lag in wait/playing time (say if real opponents are unavailable immediately) their "server" probably uses AI opponents.
I don't think I played against a real person even once in this game. The AI is far too fast and precise to be believable.
Offer an option to play against AI, real players, or a mix of both. Offer an option to reduce the skill level of the AI (I feel like a dunce).
After getting beat the 10th time in a row by the "Opponent" in seconds flat, I quit the game out of frustration.
Granted my hands shake a bit, and I'm not too swift with the mouse, I can't believe that EVERYONE ELSE is capable of finishing in 4 to 6 seconds EVERYTIME.
C'mon Wellgames, make it fun and competitive, but give me a chance.
I've been trying to play this game for two or three months on a Mac and the explanation that this is a temporary situation is rather 'lame'. Temporary generally doesn't mean a two or three month wait.
Temporary simply means not permanent.
Here's what the developer told me:
"The issue with Mac in absolutely temporary, we are looking forward to changing this situation in the near future."
This game is sooooo fun. Just really upsetting when I got to Lv. 139 and it lost my game.
So I got to level 100-and-something and when I tried to go back on the game it insisted I need to start again....not happy lol.
I loved this game when it first was reviewed, didn't get to play it for a few days, and now the lag is AWFUL! Like, unplayable awful! The pieces don't resize, they don't move with the cursor.... I am so disappointed!
i, too, am thoroughly addicted to this game.
And i have also noticed the problems discussed by others: the seemingly fake, lightning-quick opponents, the lack of bonuses for putting colors in their correct orientations, the teeny tiny pieces in later levels overlapping and causing huge headaches, etc.
That being said, i haven't enjoyed a game this much in ages. My mom was a quilter, and there is something very creative yet mathematical at work here, which stimulates both sides of the brain.
About the "opponents": i mean, i just do my best to ignore them. At first i was very score-oriented, but now i try and just "play with heart" ;), by which i mean putting colored pieces in their correct, symmetrical positions, instead of rushing through simply to beat the other player (AKA around here as "playing to win" :P). In fact, there are times when the opponents are actually extremely *slow*, and lumping same colors together, which looks wrong- and which convinces me that they must be a real person, struggling along; otherwise why wouldn't it just do it perfectly if it were programmed? Hm. In any case, i do also add my voice to the single-player option, even though i doubt it will ever happen. :)
About the overlapping tiny pieces: I don't think there is really an "answer" to this one... you just have to hold the pieces off to one side, at a distance that you have discovered through trial and error, and try and fill them in in an orderly fashion, row by row. That way you can take stock of every blank square; and make sure to watch each piece when it falls in to see that it does, in fact, end up in the right place. Tedious, yes, but it can be done well with practice! (My boyfriend has suggested that it is perhaps better to throw them all in the correct general vicinity, and then place them at the end, to "get in the zone", as it were, instead of stressing over them within precious game time :))
In a way i was bummed when the levels cycled, because i had been looking forward to the ten-minute long scrutiny sessions (yes, i'm more than a little OC, you might say! :P), and instead got the simple ten-piecers. But in another way, it was a huge relief.
The straw that broke the camel's back for me, though, was today, when for the third time the game seemed to lose my saved data and i was hit with that awful intro music. Rar!
Probably a good thing, though- it was eating into all of my free time, anyway ;)
Sorry for the extra long post!
Cheers, and happy playing.
Hey people!
OK, I am up to 172 and there is still no end in sight. As somebody wrote - the game loops. It looped again at 160, so my guess is there are 80 levels that will repeat indefinately.
Up to 1336770 points at the moment :)
Hint for people who get frustrated: You can just "park" pieces in a corner of the game - that has the advantage that the next pieces are shown and you can figure out later where your parked ones go. Also: There are two different sounds for placement. The sound for a correct placement is a wee bit lower than for an incorrect one.
Happy patchworking :) (and I don't even like quilts...)
Carla
Hey, i know everyone's complaining about the multi player thing, but, I was playing it on a site about a week ago, where it wasn't multi player. If I can remember the site. I'll post it here guys:)
i can't seem to find this game anywhere anymore, every link i click on just turns into glassez game, which is nowhere near as fun as patchworkz ;(
Oh BOO! I read this comment and went to wellgames.com
Itz gone! Very sad. Can JIG and its aunts lodge a protest?
Completed all 80 levels..
Took me 4 days of going back to it every now and then to complete it..
I got to level 77 and my browser crashed but thank god it saves you :>
Hey, I'm using a Mac and had no problems with it. The site I am using also saved my game, even after being offline for several weeks. I am playing it on http://www.bigfishgames.com Really addictive and a lot of fun, I noticed at level 110 that it went back to being really easy again, I'm guessing it is on a 100 level loop.
I am not happy with the changes they made to this game...for one thing, where's the music? I loved the mellow vibe it gave. And I am not happy with the new pictures, either...I preferred the old quilt patterns. That was part of the appeal of this game to me, seeing the type of quilt blocks that my grandmother and mother-in-law would piece together from scraps of fabric. While I still enjoy the puzzle aspect, I'm not at all happy with the game overall. Instead of "fixing" it, they BROKE it, as far as I'm concerned. Wish I could play it the old way...
great game. got up to level 280
Just a note that Patchworkz at wellgames is up and running. http://wellgames.com/free_online/patchworkz/
There are a lot of computer opponents, and the quilts have somehow become standardized into inexplicable patterns (clown warning!), but the thrill of multiplayer does indeed seem to be back.
Hi, I'm on level 106 (sad, I know!) and I was just wondering how many levels there are.
I know people are saying the levels loop, but is there a limit to the amount of levels or do they loop to infinity?
Can you tell your aunt in Reno to send me a cozy comforter?
Wellgames says "over 200 levels", well I'm on 201 and it is not ending!! Love this game, but I really need to get a life! Taking up all my time!!
I'm on level 62 but i ihave one triangle left but there is no absolute place for it to go!
Someone please help me!
I think the online person might be fake sometimes. Like if there isn't an online player on that can verus you, it just makes up a player.
Am on game 535 I love it, I play alone
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