Jigsaw
From Badges Wiki
| |
| Status: | Active |
|---|---|
| Genre: | Puzzle |
| Developer: | Carbonated Games |
| Publisher: | MSN Games |
| LTP badge type: | Generic 1 |
| Game version: | Full |
| Game length: | 1 puzzle |
| Playable in non-IE browsers: | Yes |
The game Jigsaw is based on the familiar tiling puzzle known as a jigsaw puzzle.
Tips to get a high score
- Playing with a more difficult setting yields a higher score.
- Make use of the tools available: (E) to select just the edge pieces, (A) to arrange the pieces in neat rows around the workspace, and (G) to show the guide, or picture that you're trying to make.
- With IE7, maximize the window, then use the zoom-in tool (in the lower-right hand corner of the window) to make the game play area as large as can fit on your screen.
- To familiarize yourself with a picture, start out playing on easy, then work your way up through the difficulty levels, playing the same picture each time.
- Some pictures are easier then others. Look for pictures with several different colors, and without any large areas of any one color. Complex or easily recognizable shapes, such as faces, are also advantageous.
- Make sure to Pause if you need to take a break.
- Stack all pieces upon each other and try to match pieces with the stack. The game will snap to any piece in the stack saving you the time because you will always find a match. Not sure if this really helps since stacking the pieces also takes up a certain amount of time.
- If you hold down the Shift key while left-clicking, it brings up a white target around the mouse pointer. Every piece in that target will be selected. This is great for the stacking strategy, as you don't have to move every single piece one at a time from its location to the big stack; you can stack a bunch up in one area, then move that mini stack to the big stack using the shift-left-click. This saves a LOT of time.
- (In non-rotating mode) stack all the non-edge pieces on top of each other. Put the 4 corner pieces at the corners of this pile. Put the straight edge pieces in stacks in their right area - (all the top bits at the top, etc). Then grab on to a piece with the mouse, pull it to the side of the pile. The next piece should join on to it. (You might have to jiggle around a bit sometimes.) Keep doing this until you have the whole row. The edge pieces will usually join on to the next row down (and across) while you are stacking - this means you can do 2 rows together. When you have all the rows, just join them all up and you have the complete picture. -- by oldrider
Analysis of scoring
For each difficulty setting, there is a base score, which is the theoretical score a player would get if the puzzle could be finished in zero seconds. For each second that elapses while completing the puzzle, the score is reduced by one point.
| Piece size | Rotation? | Base score |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | Off | 2200 |
| Easy | On | 2800 |
| Normal | Off | 3400 |
| Normal | On | 4100 |
| Hard | Off | 4800 |
| Hard | On | 5800 |
| Advanced | Off | 6200 |
| Advanced | On | 8000 |
This formula and set of base scores apply to the usual rectangle shape. The square shape may have slightly different scoring. Also note that the score is capped at 6,000 pts.
Potential for Badges
- As the analysis above shows, ML10, at 6,000 pts is possible using the advanced piece size. With rotation off, you must finish the puzzle within 200 seconds, or 3:20; this is probably impossible without using some sort of computer assistance. With rotation on, you must finish the puzzle within 2000 seconds, or 33:20. This is achievable. However, it requires skill, practice, and a favorable picture.
- Once you've achieved an ML badge you're satisfied with, the fastest way to earn badges is to play on easy with rotation turned off. Certainly, since these games go the fastest, this is the fastest way to earn veteran badges. Additionally, for most players, the easiest difficulty setting will yield the most points per unit time, and is therefore the best for earning LTP badges.
- The LTP10/ML10 ratio is about 1867. If you use the easiest difficulty setting, earning about 2,000 pts/game, LTP10 would require about 5600 games (by which time you'll have earned all 10 Vet badges). At 3 minutes per game, this would take about 280 hours of gameplay (not including load times and advertising breaks).
