Brain Ache Games We make puzzle games for mobile phones

New update: OpenFeint achievements and improved gameplay

Version 1.1 of Seq has just been uploaded to the Android Market so you should be able to update very soon. The new features in this version are:

• Improved game structure. Limited number of "lives" with which to build your score. You lose a life for failing to complete a sequence, and gain a life for each completed sequence. This gives the game more focus and removes the temptation to play by trial-and-error.
• Different levels every time you play. During development and testing of Seq it seemed like a good idea to have the same levels every time you play. This proved to be flawed, so now the levels are different every time. This was a trivial change, as the game code already existed to automatically create infinite levels of any difficulty, but the improvement is huge.
• OpenFeint achievements. In addition to the existing support for OpenFeint leaderboards you can now unlock achievements and earn Feint points. You unlock achievements by completing a 3-sequence level, a 4-sequence level, a 5-sequence level, etc, up to the maximum 9-sequence. A total of 840 Feint points are available.

If you haven't played Seq yet then you can download it from the Android Market:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.brainache.seq

Further updates will be announced here on BrainAcheGames.com and on our Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Brain Ache Games raises concerns over Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) support for HTC Desire

HTC announced yesterday that Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) will be made available for the popular Desire handset. This follows an earlier statement from HTC that the Desire has insufficient memory to support Gingerbread. To enable the upgrade, HTC says it will "cut select apps from the release", although it is not clear if the apps will be culled from Gingerbread itself, or from the HTC Sense interface.

As developers of Android games we are concerned by HTC's decision.

The Desire is a crucial handset in the British and European smartphone market. The Desire was released in early 2010 and many users are tied in to 24-month network contracts, so the Desire continues to be relevant in to 2012 and beyond.

Yet the Desire has been blighted by a low-memory issue that HTC has failed to address. As well as causing the phone to run slowly, the low-memory issue also affects app installs and upgrades. As developers, it is worrying that Desire owners may be unable to install our games, even one such as our launch title Seq which has a small memory footprint.

We fear that the situation will worsen with the Desire being upgraded to Android 2.3 which is intended for more powerful handsets and tablets. HTC's priority with the Desire should be fixing the low-memory issue (apparently caused by bloated caches for email and social networking apps) and do everything possible to increase the appalling battery life of the Desire. How can our customers buy a new game for the bus ride home when their handset ran out of battery at lunchtime?!!

It is our opinion that HTC's decision to bring Android 2.3 to the Desire is a superficial gesture, intended to appease customer concerns that the once-flagship handset has been abandoned after little more than a year. We anticipate that Desire owners will find their devices further encumbered by the Gingerbread upgrade, while the persistent low-memory issue remains unaddressed.

Based on our experience with the Desire, the following advice may be useful for Desire owners and developers experiencing low-memory problems.

Tips for consumers:

• Remove or deactivate the default e-mail client. We recommend the free K-9 Mail as a replacement.
• Remove the "Facebook for HTC Sense" app. The standard Facebook app is better as it is more actively maintained.
• Turn off syncing for Facebook and Twitter.
• Use an app such as Fast Reboot to close and restart all running apps, including the Sense interface.
• Root your phone and remove HTC Sense. This is an extreme solution, so proceed with caution. See this page for more info.

For developers:

• Add the line android:installLocation="preferExternal" to your AndroidManifest.xml file. Android documentation states that an app which can't be installed on the phone's internal storage will be installed on the external storage if possible. When the Desire fails to install on the internal storage this can result in complete failure to install. Adding this line to your manifest file causes the Desire to behave as intended.

"Seq" — the world’s hardest puzzle game — now available for Android

We are proud to announce that our first title, Seq, is available now for Android:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.brainache.seq

Easy to play, hard to master. Rotating cups pass a ball around, but there's only one complete sequence. All you have to do is use your skills of logic and visualisation to work out how each sequence should start. Sounds easy, doesn't it?

• An original puzzle game
• Extremely challenging
• Takes seconds to learn with in-game tutorial
• Simple interface, only 2 screen taps on each level
• Can be agonisingly difficult, but always possible
• Addictive -- you'll be having "one more go" for hours
• No time limits, just play at your own pace
• Feeling of achievement similar to Sudoku, but no numbers!
• OpenFeint leaderboard, for competitive players

Seq: Pronounced seek, as in SEQuence.

Screenshots: