Text Box: Gem Hunter
Game Features

· Multiple difficulty levels through 1-7 hidden gems in randomized locations.  This gives you unlimited combinations!

· Gem number randomizer.  This will randomize the number of gems hidden from game to game!

· Timer mode.

· Detailed statistics page which shows best time for each level!

· Winning streak counter!

· Teach mode.

· On board help.

· Optionally turn all game sounds on or off.

 

Gem Hunter Screen Shot

Insane Logic

Making insanely great software for mobile devices

We HIGHLY recommend reading the help information below to get the most out of the game.

Game Menus
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How to Play

Board Layout

 
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Deflections

A Deflection occurs when a beam strikes a gem at a 45 degree angle.  The beam will then turn 90 degrees away from the gem it struck and continue on.  The red beam in the picture to the left illustrates this behavior.  It is also possible for a beam to encounter additional gems and be deflected again.  The blue and green beams illustrate this concept.

Hits

A Hit occurs when the beam strikes a gem directly, and therefore cannot leave the playfield.  The gem in the upper left of the picture is being hit by two different beams.  A hit can occur immediately if the gem is located on the outside of the playfield as in the gem on the bottom.  Finally, a beam that hits a gem after being deflected also results in a hit.  The beam on the right illustrates this.

Reflections

A Reflection occurs any time the beam enters the playfield and leaves it through the same space.  If the gem is located in the outside row of the playfield and the beam is launched one column or row from the gem, a reflection occurs.  An example of this is shown by the gem in the top row of the picture.  The reflections in this case mean the beam never got a chance to enter the playfield.  Another type of reflection occurs when a beam strikes an empty space between two gems.  In this case, the beam is reflected back to the source.  See the two gems located in the upper right of the picture.  Finally, a beam can be reflected after being deflected.   The beam on the bottom illustrates this.

 

As the clues help you narrow down where you believe the gems are located, you will place a question mark where you think they are.  This will help you reason out the information you have at the time.  If you want to change a possible location for a gem, just tap the location again and the question mark is removed.  The game will only allow you to place the appropriate number of guesses for the number of hidden gems you are playing.  When you feel you have solved the puzzle, press the check gems button to see if you were right.  The game will let you know how you did with a results screen that will look like this:

If you win, all of your guesses are changed to green gems confirming their locations.   If you lose, your correct guesses are shown as green gems and the location of gems you did not locate are shown as red gems.  Your incorrect guesses are left as question marks.

Teach Mode

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Scoring

Statistics

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or like this:

Options

The options screen allows the user to choose the number of gems hidden in the playfield.  You may also turn on and off game sounds.  Turning on the Random # of Hidden Gems options will disable user selection of Hidden Gems.  In this mode, the game will randomly pick how many gems will be hidden when a new game is started.  This allows for more game variety.  Tapping Timed Mode will turn on a clock that will run while you are playing a game.  This adds another dimension to the game as you can try to achieve the solution to the puzzle in the best time possible.  Finally, tapping Teach Mode Enabled will allow you to play the game with the gems revealed for learning purposes.  Tap this again, to turn off the mode and resume normal play.

 

· New Game - Starts a new game.  Will abort a game in progress.

· Check Gems - Check the current guesses against the actual gem locations.

· Options - Displays the game options page.

· Help - Displays the onboard game help.

· High Scores - Displays the game statistics page.

The upper right corner contains the guesses remaining status bar.  As you place your guesses in the playfield, this number will decrement to zero.  If you tap a second time on a location that contains a guess, this counter will go up by one.  When you have placed all your guesses, you may check and see if you have won.  The status bar in the upper left corner contains your current score.   The scoring system will be explained later in this page.  A new addition is the optional timer bar in the top middle area.  This timer will start at zero at the beginning of each game if enabled in the options screen.  When the game is over, the time is checked against the best saved time for that level to see if you have beaten it.

Your goal in the game is to locate a number of hidden gems in the playfield.  You will tap the arrows located around the board to launch a beam into the playfield.   Based on the behavior of the beam, you will be given clues as to where the gems are located. 

There are three results that can happen when the beam enters the playfield.  It can be Reflected (Indicated by a capital R),  Hit a gem directly (Indicated by a capital H) or Deflect (Indicated by a colored marker at the entry and exit points.  The following diagrams illustrate these concepts. 

Note: in the real game, the only information given to you are the markers on the outside of the board.  We are drawing the beams here for illustration.  The game now provides a Teach mode which our drawings are showing.   In this mode, the gems are not hidden, which allows you to fire the beams and see how they react.

The Teach Mode feature has been added to help users learn the game.  In this mode, the gems are revealed at the start of the game.   Now, tap the arrows to fire the beams and learn how they react to the gems placed in the board.  Once you have a feeling for these reactions, turn Teach mode off and go find those gems!

The scoring system is simple.  The game starts with a score of 32 plus the number of gems you are trying to locate.  Each result of firing a beam costs points.  This means that you will get a higher score if you can solve the puzzle with fewer clues.  Each Hit and Reflection costs 1 point and Deflections cost 2 points. 

The statistics page offers a report for each of the game's difficulty levels.  The Streak Counter will increment for each game won, no matter what level you have played.  When a game is lost, this counter will be cleared.