Quicksnooker 7 is a more realistic 'simulation' than the classic game.. and some people think it lost some of its magic in the transition.
One of the reasons given is that gameplay in version 7 is (undeniably) slower than in version 6.
In a brave (and possibly misguided) attempt to please all of the people, all of the time - I've added a nifty new "simulation speed" slider on the 'settings' screen.
You may notice that shots now play slightly quicker (20% in fact) than they did before ('real life' speed) - you can adjust this with the simulation speed setting.
If you liked it just how it was.. set a value of 1.0.
If your computer is man enough, you can in fact play at anything up to 5x 'real' speed.
About 2x is probably plenty and really peps up the game play, it also means your opponent need not be waiting so long.
One thing to watch out for is that if your (on-line) opponent has the speed set very high, and you have it set low - they can appear to be taking no time at all to think between shots.
Conversely - if you are running 'faster' than them - you may be left waiting for your opponents computer to 'catch up' if (for example) you foul.
You can still close the program - by fair means or foul.. but the game in progress will be restored when you next try to start a 'for points' game.
You *must* complete point scoring games.. you can concede at any time - but only if you have a working Internet connection (To report your concession).
If the Internet is not available - you will not be able to continue (or concede) a for points game until it is.. (you can however play other 'for fun' games).
This opening choice makes the players menu redundant - so it has been removed and the Computer skill level is now a main menu item.
You can now use the pass the break feature (on the game menu) for games against the computer (if you'd prefer him to break).. and for games against a guest (on your PC).
'Pass the break' is always an option for on-line games.. and is always disabled after the break has been made (and also after a 'decline to break' by an on-line opponent).
While the 4 options are up - and right up until you break (or pass the break to the computer) you can use the menus ('computer skill level','and Game') to set the required difficulty level, and game type.
You can see the current difficulty level and points at stake (if you chose to play for points) score in the panel -
they will change as you select difficulty in the menus.
Games that would win or lose you more than 26 points are 'forbidden' as they would be a 'whitewash'
At present points at stake displayed are a close approximation - you may ultimately win or loose one or two more (or less) points as other people are simultaneously playing the computer and his skill level (and points) is therefore in a constant state of flux.
When playing on-line - the game type, legs, pass break and (exit to) waiting room options remain available until the break is played.
This is a convenient way to discuss the game at hand, change it's type, ask or answer questions and be able to leave without penalty.
Once the break is played - both players are committed to the game.
One door closes, Another one opens
The Red Room will be closed on 20th December
After roughly 2 years, the Red Room and version 6.1.179 will be retired on 20th December 2009
I understand that alot of people like this version and the 'Red Room' and for that reason I have tried very hard to capture the essence of 'Version 6' and combine it with all the benefits of the current version in the new, Purple Room.
Closing the Red room will allow several programs to be removed from the server - freeing resources and Improving speed and reliability for all customers.
On a practical level this will also halve the management and monitoring required and stop confusion and 'silly mistakes' caused by the current duplication and complexity (like shutting down the wrong thing!)
This frees up more time for development of new features.
It also means people will have one key, and one serial number - considerably reducing the support workload - and thereby improving our response times.
We have run the Red Room for over a year in parallel with the current White Room - but it is not sustainable, or technically sensible to continue to do so, hence we are replacing it with the much improved 'Purple Room'.
I won't bore you with the list of ways in which Version 7 is 'better' than Version 6 - suffice it to say that it is 300+ versions ahead.. If you care, there is a list of the changes
HERE.
If version 7 does not work on your computer, or is slow or jerky, please contact support (see 'contact' on the left) - explaining your symptoms.
If you can't aim, cue or the cueing is erratic or difficult please:-
a) Check the 'Sensitivity' under the 'settings' menu.
b) Check you are *swinging the cue in the view in which you selected the cueball*
c) Read the Instructions - at http://www.quicksnooker.com/gameplay.htm
d) *Read* the Instructions - at http://www.quicksnooker.com/gameplay.htm
If you have tried and 'don't like' version 7 - *tell us* what you don't like - and how you think it can be improved.
"It's rubbish" doesn't help us.. "Back spin is about 20% too strong" - does.
I genuinely think you will come to love the new version - a huge amount of thought and effort has gone into it.
Think of it as a new beginning not an end.
Nick
Major update - version 7.0.477
* Anti-tip-tap (shots played at very low percentages have random power error of a few %)
Some games get stuck in a bit of a stalemate with both players playing shots at 1 or 2% into the pack..
The game now makes very low powered shots slightly more 'risky' and better represents the difficulty of consistently cueing at '1%'.
* New Pick,Spin,Aim,Adjust spin, shoot - states - allows you to set spin Before you aim.
This is one of the biggest changes - It takes a bit of explaining..
The benefits are that you can now set spin both before and after aiming the shot and that aiming and setting spin is now more consistent accross the 2D and 3D views.
The 'cost' is that cancelling a shot now takes an extra right click.
Keen players should read and understand the following to get the most from the new shooting modes.
Cue ball selection, setting spin, cue swinging, spin adjustment, and shooting are now a proper sequence of states.
The program changes between these states, as you press down *and release* the left mouse button (LMB).
The help text in the middle of the window indicates the current state.
When you hold the (left) mouse down on a cueball - it enters the 'settingspin' state..
You can now move the chalk..
when you *release* the LMB.. it enters the SwiningCue state... - you can aim.
When you press down the LMB again ... it enters 'AdjustingSpin'... so you can set spin here too (or instead) if you like..
When you release the LMB.. it shoots (just like it always did).
Most people will just 'click' (press and immediately release) the LMB at the begining and end of the shot.. so they wont really even know these new states are there.
When you click the right mouse button.... the state goes 'back' .. by one state.. exactly and always. This means you can go 'back' from 'aiming', to 'setting spin', with a handy right mouse click.
* Spin bug (against cushions etc) fixed.
When you put your opponent up against a cushion, or in amongst the balls - they will now be forced to play with spin.
(it did this before 'visually' - but that spin wasn't acutally applied).
* Smoother Aiming (small mouse moves are better detected)
* Improved shadow graphic (minor glitch fixed)
* Different cueing in the 2D view (direction is initially set to that in the 3d view)
The direction the cue 'starts' in in the 2D view may seem a bit arbitrary, but it actually tallies with the last position of the player in the 3D view.
* Games against the AI reported/ranked
This is another very significant change.. Four new 'players' will appear in the 'white room'
Computer (easy), Computer (Normal), Computer (hard), Computer (Fiendish).
They should quite quickly find their correct elo scores and positions in the rankings.
* Unregistered (unknown) players are invited to enter details to receive ranking information (when they beat the computer)
This creates an account for them - and puts them on our mailing list for news and updates (if they provide an email)
* Fix to Reportwin on concession bug
There was a bug where if your opponent conceded and you cleared the table after they left, the win wasn't reported.
* Minor changes to win reporting (rank stated)
* Framework for translations (into all languages) of all menus, labels, buttons and messages in the game
* Improved nomination - just wave the mouse over the ball now
Well, it's not quite that simple in that you have to cancel the current shot with a double right click..but you no longer need to right click the nominated ball.
Of course you can still also nominate by just aiming, by clicking on the scoreboard, or by pressing ctrl and the number of points (on the keyboard).
* Potting the white to escape a snooker, now results in a foul and a miss (not a foul, and being allowed to start from the D)
This was another oversight - people were using as a cheat. If you pot the white whilst snookered it is now (correctly) a 'foul and a miss', and your opponent will have the option to have the balls (white included) replaced and you to play again.
* New classic table.. faster play, higher gravity, bigger balls.
This will be the replacement for the current 'red room' - a new room will be opened which will load this classic table by default.
You can play this table in layout '2' (press 2 on the keyboard).. for a game very similar to the 'classic' version 6 Quicksnooker.
The current 'Red Room' will be closed permanently on the Sunday 20th December 2009.
* Fixed problems with snooker behind a free ball (is now a foul, and a free ball to your opponent)
* Reduced randomness of power on the break (not so much is needed to still stop 'killer' breaks)
* More realistic spin model.. balls accumulate topspin (or lose backspin) whilst rolling down the table
* Improved explanation of what you stand to win/lose when playing a player (click their name in the grid)
* Able to 'flip' the cue in 2d aiming by moving it 'through' 0% power (and out the other side of the cueball)
Sunday 15th November 2009
Problem Solved
A major upgrade last week to provide support for Chinese, Arabic, Thai, Japanese and other languages caused a number of unexpected problems.
We have been working all week to identify and solve the issues - and have finally and completely fixed it.
As promised the 321 accounts in any way affected have all had double the 'down' time added (2 weeks).
We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
For anyone who cares... it turns out that the 16bit strings required for Unicode made some of the UDP packets bigger than 512 bytes - these didn't transport properly across some (especially mobile broadband!) networks.
The problem was hard to track because it *actually* only affected a small number of users - (it also affected their opponents.. which made it very much a moving target).
Thursday 29th October 2009
Two Improvements
OK - you'll find the break is very slightly less predictable now.. snookers off the break are still possible and legitimate - but you can't play the same shot every time to do it.
Also.. (and unrelated) if your opponent concedes on your turn..
you can now play on to complete your break, and register your high score and win. Your opponent is free to stick around and watch, or return to the room.
Thursday 22nd October 2009
Snookering off the break
Just a quick note to say I'm aware of the 'killer' break.. and that it can spoil the game..
Whilst snookering off the break is entirely legitimate - it's arguably to easily repeatable at present.
I will increase the randomization in the pack early next week.. This will mean both potting and snookering off the break will still be *possible*.. they'll just carry more risk.. it's very possible to both snooker and pot off the break in the real game.. nobody tends to take on a pot (off the break) due to the risk of missing and leaving (many) balls on.
Will update the news section when it's done
Wednesday 14th October 2009
Swear Filter Fixed
Thanks to Sharon for bringing to my attention a problem with the swear filter... turns out if you made a post with several *relatively* innocuous swear words they all added up to a big one.. and you could even get yourself automatically banned (for 15 minutes).
Appologies to any 'victims' of this it may have made our swear filter seem a little ove zealous at times.
Please remember - our site is rated family friendly and swear words appearing on the (published) notice boards adversely affect our serch rank.. and therefore the number of players.. and ultimately your enjoyment of the game ... so *PLEASE* keep it clean(ish) - you'll need to get creative with your insults.
You bunch of nurb hurdlers.
Tuseday 6th October 2009
Snookers on' telly
After a very long dry spell the Snooker's back on the BBC - try out the very excellent BBC iPlayer (if you haven't already) - the future of TV !
click to Watch the snooker here (no longer valid)
Thursday 1st October 2009
Mc Lovin wins the September Competition
Well perhaps no surprise - Mc Lovins legendary playing ability has bagged him the MP4 Payer - which went off in the registered post today..
Feedback on the competition has generally been positive - and people seemed to 'play nicely'.
We're considering the format and a few changes to the points system and may well run another competition soon - hope you enjoyed it.
Wednesday 30th September 2009
Competition Nearly complete ...!
Thanks to everyone whos been playing - McLovin has a big lead still, but is catchable.. remember you don't have to play him to win the competition.. just accumulate enough points.. it can be done !.
Remember - The leader of the rankings tonight 22:00 will win a
THIS Brand New 8GB MP4 (video) Player with Camera.
Tuesday 1st September 2009
Competition underway...!
See below for details of the competition now running.. good luck to everyone,and please play fair.
Don't take it too seriously.. !
Sunday 30th August 2009
QuickSnooker Competition !
Tomorrow evening, the White Room rankings will be reset.
The leader of the rankings on 30th september 2009 at 22:00 BST will win a
Brand New 8GB MP4 (video) Player with Camera.
Rules:-
* NO CHEATING - Cheating players may be disqualified or have points deducted, the highest ranked non-disqualified player will be declared the winner.
* Cheating includes (but is not limited to), Playing yourself from another PC, collusion, qutting whilst losing.
* The competition is ONLY in the White Room
* Only games of full or short snooker are scored.
* The prize may be substituted at the organisers discretion.
* The organiser will pay reasonable shipping costs to ship the prize
* Registered Players may *only* win with their registered account
* An unregistered player CAN win the prize.
Friday 7th August 2009
Normal Service Resumed
We're back from our short break in Glorious (and very wet) Devon - and have caught up with all the emails now.
We hope to release a new version today that re-instates some of the changes I had to roll back before we went away.. this should give (back) a smoother break, faster computer opponent and easier middle pockets.
Saturday 1st August 2009
QuickSnooker Hits Page 1 Of Google
After a fairly sustained effort on some web marketing, QuickSnooker is now appearing on Page 1 of Google search results for 'Snooker', Hopefully this will help pull in some more new players.
Please welcome any new players and give them a game or two.
We are away on holiday until Thursday, but are checking emails daily - all of our payment processing and key fulfillment systems are automated so don't let our not being here stop you buying.
If you have purchased and not received a key, please check your spam folder first. Anyone purchasing who doesn't recevie their key whilst we're away will have *double* any time lost added to their account.
Friday 17th July 2009
3D Pool - Fast, and Fun.
Lots of nice improvements to the Pool Table, Slightly less garish colours, More cue Power available, Cue Tilt indicator and 'Trails' found in the 'aids menu' are great for setting up Jump Shots.. And you can practice them off line and replay them from different angles by just pressing 'R' (press it again for a different camera angle).. Great fun.
The speed of the table is nicely balanced now and you can pot 5 or 6 balls in the space of 10 seconds if you really go for it .. feels like good old QuickSnooker.
The new Pool Room is up and ready - and it will have it's own ranks and scores - the first few games should get reported today !
Wednesday 2nd July 2009
White Room Rankings have been Improved
Made a big change to the way rankings work - solving this stupid problem with your rank swinging wildly (hundreds of places) with a single win or loss.
All new players now start with 0 (zero) points .. they are then awared 1000 points (plus or minus the score for their win or loss) after their first game.
All players who *were* on 1000 points with no wins or losses have been set to 0 points (and only need only play one game to take their rightfull place)
This gets rid of the big bunch of '1000 Pointers' in the middle that caused these massive swings in your rank.
Modnday 29th June 2009
Setup Package Updated
The full setup package on the website has now been updated to contain version 7.0.373 - so newcomers won't need to go through an 'auto-update' (for now at least) .
Friday 19th June 2009
'Continental' users having 'Runtime error 13 - type mismatch'
Due to a silly error - Quicksnooker Version 7.0.360 does not run on machines that use a comma (',') for a decimal point ('.').
Because the error occurs at startup, before the autoupdate is run - this problem can not be fixed by the automatic update process.
I have built a setup program to deploy the fixed quicksnooker.exe please download and run it once..
http://www.quicksnooker.com/download/continental.exe
It will update/replace the program (although the version number will remain 7.0.360)
Note:- the fix is built on the assumption that you installed the program into the default folder C:\program files\quicksnooker 7
If you installed in a different location.. please copy the updated quicksnooker.exe (once you have run 'continental.exe) FROM C:\program files\quicksnooker 7 TO your installed location.
Wednesday 17th June 2009
'Classic' table under construction
Nearly have a new clasic table built - The same size balls and pockets as the QuickSnooker 6 so you should
soon have no excuse not to move over to version 7.
Friday 12th June 2009
We're taking a short break
We are taking a short break and will be returning on Monday the 15th.
Our order, payment and key fulfillment systems are completely automated - so feel free to place your order in our absence.
If something should go awry - we'll sort it out on our return and credit your account with double any days lost - can't say fairer than that.
Friday 5th June 2009
Would you, could you in a box ? - Would you, could you with a fox ?
Bit of a slow take-up on Quicksnooker V7 - literally can't give it away !
All current registered members who download it will be automatically unlocked when they enter the !! WHITE ROOM!!
Look - I *know* you all love the Classic Version - and that's cool, for now it's here to stay..
but there are plenty of good reasons to at least *try* Version 7
- Great, more realistic table.
- Play in 2D or 3D or *both* - Just 'Press 2' in the game (or 1, or 3).
- More reliable connections, better connection recovery.
- Get your rightful win if your opponent quits, concedes or disconnects.
- Better graphics, sound and aiming.
- Quicker, easier spin selection.
- Hex Table.
- Dedicated Pool table - with multiple leg games.
- Jump & trick shots.
- Action replay.
- Smarter more cunning computer opponents.
To get the best out of it you'll need to read the updated gameplay section (<<<-- over there, up the top)
You can download from the main page - if you have *any* trouble - there's lot's of great help in the (you guessed it) help section
If you don't try it you don't know if you like it - Green Eggs and Ham !
OK - so I know the game is slightly slower (more realistic) - I know the aiming takes a bit of getting used to, I know the balls are smaller (they're STILL 20% bigger than on a real table - beleive me) but PLEASE try a few games...
I will be making a 'classic' table in the new version - but you needn't wait till then to give it a try.
Tuesday 26th May 2009
Sorry - it's been an age since I updated this not because nothing is happening, on the contrary I've been so busy with the new version I've not found time.
So, anyway.. todays the day (again) QuickSnooker 7 is officially released.. one or two very minor creases left but they'll be ironed out through the magic of auto-update, so PLEASE grab a copy of QuickSnooker 7 from the main page - and have a play!
For you die-hard 2D fans.. remember you only have to press '2' on your keyboard to get a top down view and something very similar to the classic Quicksnooker you know and love.
Do visit the
updated gameplay section for a quick tour of the features and controls.. it will save you a lot of frustration.
Nick
Thursday (already!) 30th April 2009
It's been a bit one step forwards and two back for a day or so - but I've built a realistic table.
It looks and plays very differently to the 'fun' QuickSnooker we know and love - if 'realism' is for you - I think you'll like it.
If you find it infuriatingly difficult (you're not alone) - don't panic - more tables will be arriving shortly.
Monday 27th April 2009
I'm most pleased with the new Beta Version spin - not sure why I didn't think of it before and it will depend if you're a 'click-drag-release' or a 'click-move-click' shooter as to whether this is immediately going to work for you - assuming you fall into the latter category, it works like this...
Start your shot in the normal way by clicking (and releasing the mouse) on the cueball.
Move the cue 'away' from the cueball to set the power.. and now..
click - AND HOLD - the left mouse button..
with the button held down you can now set the spin - by moving the mouse (see the 3d window)
Release to shoot.
Easy huh ? - saves a lot of faffing with the right mouse button - or that oh-so-strenuous reaching for the shift key.
The *great* thing about it - is if you don't want to set spin that way (or at all) - just do as you have always done - this will have no impact on you.
I need to do something for the 'draggers' of this world - but it'll work for them too - they'll just need to click the cueball a second time where they want to hit it.
Wednesday 22nd April 2009
HERE AT LAST... I'd like to cordially invite everyone to try the
NEW Quicksnoker 7 BETA.
Many thanks to the group who have helped me extensively test to date .. special thanks (in order of scariness) to:-
Eileen, Tara, Sharon, Corby and Dad - AKA 'Fat Laurie'.
DONT PANIC - The 'Classic' QS will be around for some significant time to come - but all new accounts are now *Automatically* unlocked for the full Beta
Everyone with a current, valid account gets access to the full version of the Beta.
Expired customers - must purchase again - for the New 3D version, A year of updates, priority support and extra features.
Remember - if 3D is not your 'thing' just press 2 in the game for a top down view.
Tuesday 31st March 2009
Schoolboy error
There were a few problems with the red room last night.. I thought it was down to me working on the server,
Then I noticed the number of frames played in the red room has just past 32,767... the maximum range of an INTEGER Doh!.
All fixed now - although I should be shot. (form an orderly queue).
QuickSnooker has been on-line for over 8 years
But old news is, well.. old news - so it's been dropped.
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