ALOL: Nostalgia Haven Puzzle 4+

This game has definite appeal and I almost get choked up sometimes watching the milestones of the character as they grow up. I am compelled to pay for the ad free version, but I feel conflicted. Even if I disable ads, I will still have to buy energy any time I want to play for more than an hour at a time. The business end of this app fees greedy - if I pay for it I should be able to play it as much as I want.

UPDATE Dec 6 2019: hi, we want to announce that based on your feedback, we have revised the subscription offer. In the latest version 2.10, the Premium plan will both remove ads and give you infinite energy! We've also added a one-time payment option for you in case it's preferred over subscription. Right now it's being offered at a limited time discount of 40%!

We hope these updates will make ALOL a better game and we hope you will continue enjoying it. Thanks again!

Edit** Okay. I’m still at disagreement with having to use FULL energy again to resume a puzzle but you guys have won me over...

Never have i experienced such detailed and sincere responses from a developer. Full 5 stars for you guys. Keep it up. You guys are gonna kill it.

Edit* thanks devs for responding. But the analogy with burning more calories when you “resume” the gym is a terrible one. A better one would be going to the movies. or purchasing a movie online. In these cases, you don’t repurchase the movie when you return to it... (for online movies you get at least 48 hours to resume without having to repay). Just think about how absurd it would be if you went to the movie theatre, use the bathroom, and had to repay full price because you left in the middle of it.

Try to think about this from our perspective, not your “we need ways for players to spend their premium currency”.

Also, please respond to this: What the hell does Tip 8 mean?? I’ve read and read and read it over and over and still can’t figure it out. Please reiterate this tip using either better terminology or with more examples.

Edit** You're the beeesssttt! Thank you :)

Edit* Thanks for editing your review :)

Well, the movie analogy is much better yes. But consider the energy as the ticket for one play session, or one movie session if you like. After the session is over, you can't use the old ticket to see the next session can you? Furthermore, the energy will recover automatically over time (currently 1 energy credit per 5 minutes), so you can actually play without having to pay real money. And as mentioned there're numerous way to earn coins and exchange for energy, without using real money. That said, we thank you for your feedback and will definitely keep a keen eye on this matter :)

Tip #8, well, is actually very simple, but a little hard to concisely explain. Say we have a rectangle like below

A2 A7

E2 E7

if we know A7 != A2 (A7 is different from A2), A2 != E2 and E2 != E7 then it’s obvious that A7 != E7. It’s actually that simple!

Though this tip on its own looks obvious and useless, it helps form an easily recognizable pattern from which we can deduce the relationships between certain squares on the board. Especially when combined with Tip #6, it creates a powerful tools that we find very useful when solving harder puzzles. And yes, it applies to any 4 squares that form a rectangle regardless of size.

Hope this clarifies things. And we would very much appreciate it if you could update the rating to 5* :) Happy playing!

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Hi, thank you for playing ALOL and for your feedback!

We believe the energy requirement for resuming a level does make sense. Just like you went to gym every day ("resumed" the gym) you would burn some calories :)

That said, if you are playing a level and suspend the app (e.g. lock the phone), you should still be in the level when you open the game again, provided that the app hasn't been suspended LONG ENOUGH that iOS may kill it in the background. In such case you would need to pay energy to resume.

Hope this clarifies the issue. We seek for your understanding and would appreciate it if you could update the rating to 5*.

I just recently downloaded the game and it’s great. I really like it and it helps me train my brain. But.... there are those tips (the rules) that stop you from doing anything else. It forces you to focus on that thing. I feel like maybe it should be minimized. There could be an exclamation point near the row or column to remind you that what you did there was breaking a rule. It really bothers me, especially in multiplayer because while I’m trying to figure out that problem, my opponent is moving on. I don’t think it needs to be prioritized, I’m sure I can get used to it. I’m sure it helps avoid extra problems in the end to solve, it’s just something that messes with me. The game is still amazing! Thanks~

Hi, thank you for playing ALOL and for your feedback!

We believe you were mentioning the mistake highlight system (in which the erroneous squares are darken). You're right that it is prominent, however we believe it is a necessary evil, because as you know in this game the errors can be propagated, and the more they propagate the harder it is to fix them. Therefore it's better to fix an error as soon as possible.

Hope this clarifies it. Thanks again and we hope you will continue enjoying the game!