Well I have bought the game and the gdg client worked fine, indeed it was nice to not need to wait for e-mailing of a code or any other such shenanigans and just get streight to playing. On the issue of connectivity, while I can see it would be a problem for people on dial up and so I do think the temporary license is a good idea, at the same time these aren't the days of dialup, heck with my own internet package I get free access to the horribly slow Bt wifi network, and of course there are now free wifi networks in many public places too.
Provided the net requirement wasn't too huge, and I don't see it being so.

Regarding price, I really don't get the arguement that "five dollars is too little to make selling the game worth the gd software" particularly with Yellowbonnet being a fairly casual game anyway.

One fun use for the Gdg client, as well as score posting might be some form of multiplayer or some specific goals based on tracking in game statistics of completed games.
So for example, suppose Traders of Known space and interceptor were both on Gdg. Well there could be a page tracking the progress of the war against the greys. Everytime a Traders' game finished, ten percent of the final over all cash went to the Federation in war taxes, and every game of Interceptor todded up how many ships had been destroyed.
When certain milestones were reached such as x number of ships or x amounts of cash, the war page could report news.That could be a really fun way to make the universe a bit more real to players, (sinse hay if you've got a universe for multiple games why not use it), and a nice use for the online connectivity as well.

Getting back to Yellowbonnet I did enjoy the game, however I noticed two things that were a bit wonky. First, I didn't realize that I was docked points for spending money, so I bought various things such as a haircut and some whisky just for the fun of trying them out. Second, I didn't realize that I'd completed as many jobs as I had so I wound up finishing the game before I expected. I also noticed a miner bug in that the game said "the barber cuts player's hair" even though I'd entered my name.

As regards the game, it was definitely fun, however one thing that mildly irritated me was having to keep exiting the interaction menu after doing something symple like searching or lookking around, sinse I'd need to be doing it on each and every square, indeed sometimes I'd hit escape too many times and open the main menu by mistake.
While I know the idea with Yellowbonnet was to have an easy pick up and play approach, keys for searching and looking around sinse these are such frequently used actions that you could just press once, get the message and then move on with would be really helpful.
I'd also like a way to have the bios from the manual on each character sinse I do remember the characters were really fun but I got a little lost in the game with who was who.

Here are my stats, hich as I said are probably worse than expected particularly sinse I didn't go around and pound any bad guys and I still used my cash.
I do agree with Aaron that perhaps making the stats a bit more fun might be nice, indeed one idea might be to have instead of your stats just recorded as a list, have them recorded as a little mini story, eg "so and so rode into yellowbonnet, punched out three no good drunken cowboys and snakes, helped out the deputy with a little problem and served a summons to court on that no good varnet frank Darby, got a hair cut right and propper" etc.

That would certainly make things much more colourful and interesting to read, even if only a few specific things were possible to track.

Statistics for Playthrough of the Yellowbonnet Game, on Version 6
The game lasted 26 minutes and 5 seconds and ended on Monday, June 15, 2015 at 12:16 AM - The player beat the game! woohoo!

Player, (a new hand), defeated 0 hazards, completed 6 of 6 jobs, moved 50 times, and finished up with 20 cash to her name.
final score: 29979!

Jeremy here,

Dark,

Some of the things you mentioned are on the hit list for a free update we are going to put out soon for YB.  As Aaron mentioned above, we had a few things that we just didn't manage to squeeze into the beta cycle.  The last weekend before release neither of us got much sleep.  That said, some of the wonky things are already on the hit list.  Others, such as look or search dumping you back into map mode or being triggered from a hot key are currently being sized up as possibilities.  If anyone else who's purchased the game wants to suggest other issues, please feel free.  The stats situation is a tricky one.  We can narrativize that more (is narativize a word? it is now) but the real problem with YB is just that it doesn't have a huge number of stats to track.  The way the game handles hazards makes tracking them a little tricky.  We're still wrestling with how to do that in a meaningful way besides tracking number of hazards over come. 

As to stats for items, I think a comparative section for weapons is probably in order.  For the new hand or the tough hombre, generally melee weapons are better than missile weapons, assuming I remember the formulas correctly.  For the tin horn, a missile weapon is better.  The cash spent is just a way of limiting the score somewhat.  There's no reason why it couldn't be changed, but also, there's no real need to change it.  If you want to walk around town, and not spend any money, the game is playable at that level. 

This is very disjointed, but, essentially:

1. We're glad for the input about the game and its issues.  Please keep that sort of critique coming.  It helps not only with this game but with others.

2.  Some of the issues are known about and being fixed, some are tricky and may not be fixable in this iteration of the game.

Finally, I love the how's the war going idea.  This is one I intend to stand on Dentin's virtual desk and scream at him about. 

Take care,

Jeremy

Hi aaron let's try this again. I don't think I put this right. Okay so I am in the basement because that's where its coolest in the summer. So I start playing Yellowbonnet and my Internet cuts out on me as it does a lot even with an whireless extender. Which is usually no problem except in the case of Yellowbonnet and games that are online. Internet cuts out. Poof! There goes my game. If you want to keep the security feature of it why not have it log into guidedog when you launch the game instead of having it on in the backround? Or even have it enter into some sort of pause mode if internet were to cut out. I just think there is a better solution then having it on constantly during the game.

Jeffb and turtlepower17, This is Aaron again.

Thanks for bringing this up. You can't test this in demo mode because demo obviously won't continue anyway. Just thought that should be said in case anyone is trying to determine exactly how our online requirement works while using demo mode.

I'm glad you folks got more detailed about your concerns with this, because it has shown us that we may be missing some information about how our guidedog integration works. You've expressed concerns about losing your progress in a game because you've lost internet. I'd like to assure you that this is not how the system is supposed to work. If anybody out there experiences problems where playing the game and losing internet causes the progress you had in the game to be lost, please post about it.

The way this works is, every time you try to move your character in Yellowbonnet's case anyhow, the game negotiates with GDG to establish whether the game is activated. If you have internet and are logged in, the result should come back positive, and play should continue just fine.

When the connection has dropped, or you have logged out or closed the Guidedog client mid-game, the game will freeze when it notices that it is not activated and you should hear a recorded message, something to the affect that this game is not activated, and some basic instructions on what to do to continue. If it has determined that Guidedog client is closed, it should ask you to start the client. If it thinks you are not logged in, the Guidedog client window should take foreground focus, and now in the background, the game should ask you to log into your Guidedog account. If you have lost internet, the likely state this should result in is that Guidedog client is no longer logged in, and so the game will want you to try to log in again.

In any of these cases, once the situation is taken care of, the game should immediately resume where it was. In my testing using this with each movement of the player, my experience is that when I disconnect, and then try to move, it tells me to log in. I can log back in again and as soon as I do, I hear the character take a footstep in the background, and what ever the room the character just moved to is read out and so on. So I just alt+tab back to Yellowbonnet and resume playing.

Interceptor is going to work pretty much the same way except that it checks if you're activated before going to the next level. So if you do lose internet with Interceptor, you will be able to keep playing till the end of the current level then it'll lock up and request that you log in.

By the way, when the game is in this frozen state, you can press escape or alt+f4 to close the game if that in fact is what you really want to do. However, if you want to stay where you are in the game, you can do so. I haven't actually tried this, but I'd be surprised if you could break that by hibernating or putting the computer to sleep even. You should be able to leave the game window open until such time as you're able to fix the issue and be confident that it'll pick up right where you were.

One last note, this applies also when logged into a guidedog account that has not purchased Yellowbonnet. When I tested that by deactivating myself and then playing until I hit the demo limit, I got the prompt wanting me to purchase the game to continue or press escape or alt+f4 to exit. I pressed enter and simulated a purchase of the game. As soon as the simulated purchase completed, the game which was still running in the background immediately noticed that it was now purchased, and continued right where it had left off.

I put a lot of effort into trying to make that as stable as I could figure out how. I'm hoping it works out well for you folks. As dentin put it to me once recently, "figuring out the protocols for situations like that can be tricky".

Work is under way for the free update that addresses some of the customer concerns and fixes more issues that we left as they were in order to make our initial release deadline. Interceptor's initial release will be hopefully not too long after.

Jeremy here:

Dark,

I've completed the game on tin horn using melee weapons and encountering the burglar and Big Joe Keene as jobs.  That said, it takes a lot of health watching and carefully timed strategic retreats.  I've included an items section to the documentation to address some of these issues, but one thing needs to be cleared up here:

The game picks what it thinks is your best weapon.  In general, the revolver is the best weapon, but if you run out of ammo, the game defaults to your best melee weapon.  You can buy more bullets at the general store. 

If you want to increase your final score, fighting is a good way, but you have to be careful how you approachthem.  The tips and tricks section has some words about this, but the main thing is to check health after each hit (the l key will do this). 

Another thing to keep in mind is, as I said before, and as it states in the documentation, the three character types are not traditional difficulty levels.  Each character type presents a different set of challenges. 

You're right that to complete all the jobs, the best way is to avoid fighting.  However, if you want to really rack up a score, you have to turn homicidal maniac and kill anyone you meet in the streets.  Unrealistic, and we will have to see about making the sheriff and deputy more proactive in later versions of the game.  As to the hp status indicator, you're not the first person to request it, one of our beta testers made a similar request.  I'm sure I didn't hit all your points here, but I'll be happy to give it another round.

Take care,

Jeremy

Hi.
Wow, so the client should remember where you left the game? Awesome!
Can we update the game using the guide dog system? that would be awesome.
Regarding weapons: It would be nice if you could switch weapons, and save the bullets for bigger fights. Dark: You can press a to check how many bullets you have for the revolver.

Jeremy here:

Dark,

Aaron and I are working to implement some of the suggestions already made in the forum in the update I mentioned earlier.  For instance, inventory menu is definitely going to be in.  As to tin horn getting a raw deal:

1. The tin horn is better at searching.

2.  The tin horn does have a better chance to avoid hazards than either of the other two.

3. The tin horn's better perception makes him or her better with pistols than the other two.

The tin horn is meant as a more challenging setting.  My advice to anyone trying the game for the first time is to try new hand for a while.  Feel free to experiment with the other two, but tough hombre and tin horn are meant as different challenges to play style.

As to the hp status, Aaron and I are still discussing this one.  Hidden hp of enemies I think is a good thing, it brings home the danger more.  Having your own hp flashed as part of combat is problematic.  To some players it's a necessary item, for others it's extra unwanted slow down to combat.  The l key gives your current health and works from the menus.  That said, it's still up for debate, and we're debating and taking into account things said here as well as other comments made to us from other points of contact.

As to the money spent mechanic.  I think it does add a certain challenge to the game: you can either be a miser both of points and money, and try to finish the game with the most of either.  Or you can use your money for various items: whiskey or haircuts to increase your courage, bullets, better weapons, or surgery to improve your combat.  I understand the frustration involved, but really, the most money I ever managed to spend in a single game was I believe 75 dollars.  When your score is measured in terms of thousands of points, a negative of less than 100 doesn't seem as huge a problem to me.  For a successful game, just as a comparison, the scores I have seen have ranged from approximately 29,500 to 33,030 or so. 

That said, while we're revisiting other aspects of the game, we'll look at the cash spent mechanic and decide what we want to do with it.  I am not so sure I agree with your being hit twice for it: yes it does impact your score both for not having that cash, and for being penalized, but my feeling is that given the amount of benefit you get from spending it it's worth it.  However, I'm one person, and my play style isn't the same as everyone else's, and neither are my scoring tastes. 

Thanks for the feedback again, as always, we appreciate it.

Jeremy

Jeremy here again:

Here's the relevant section of the new and improved documentation, once we get it together enough to post.  I apologize in advance if I missed any html tags.

Yellowbonnet contains two classes of items: decoration items and weapon items.  Weapon items are meant to be used by the player in combat; decoration items are meant to be sold for extra cash.  A brief discussion of each type follows.

Weapon items can be classed roughly into four groups:

1. Punch: This is the weakest weapon in game, however, the character comes equipped with it from the beginning.  A high strength score might add to punch damage.

2. The broken bottle, the razor, the knife, and the brass knuckles are marginally better than punching.  A high strength adds to melee damage with these weapons.

3. The scalpel, night stick, and hammer are all the most superior melee weapons.  A high strength contributes to their damage.

4. Deringer and revolver are both pistols which use both the reflexes of the character as well as a good eye to hit targets.  Their damage is distributed over a wider range than the melee weapons, but they can potentially do more damage in a single hit.

Decoration items fall into roughly three categories: cheap items, mid-range items, and premium items.

1. Cheap items include the leather pouch, the lace handkerchief, the bit of chain, a pack of pins, an Eastern newspaper, a horse shoe, a package of cookies, a slate and some chalk, a dime novel, a clasp knife, and a lady's fan.

2. Mid-range items include the axe head, the pocket watch, the Bible, the fancy book, a lady's parasol, a fancy pen, a fancy lariat, and a silver belt buckle.

3. Premium items include the set of fine glasses and the set of gold cufflinks.

Cheap items are worth 1-3 dollars, mid-range items are worth 4-7 dollars, and premium items are worth more.

End of documentation

I hope that clarifies things a little better on the item front.  It's possible that unless you've played the game a lot and searched obsessively that you hadn't found all of these items.  Some of them are sold in various places on the map, but most are hidden on the map.  Some, such as the leather pouch or night stick, are always in the same locations while others, such as the silver belt buckle, are randomly placed.  It is possible to get multiple items in the same square as well. 

Take care,

Jeremy

Jeremy here:

Ok, I had to post this playthrough of YB just to prove that developers get killed too.

Statistics for Playthrough of the Yellowbonnet Game, on Version 7 beta 
The game lasted 1 minutes and 5 seconds and ended on Saturday, June 20, 2015 at 12:22 AM - The player lost!

wee willie weirdo, (a tinhorn), defeated 0 hazards, completed 0 of 6 jobs, moved 0 times, and finished up with 30 cash to his name. The player spent0dollars

final score: 30!

I stepped off the stage coach and got hit by a run away horse.  Call the hearse and Mortimer Underhill.

Take care,

Jeremy

Hi I am downloading now
surely post a view about this game.
Thanks
Ishan

One good thing about Yellowbonnet is it manages to handle the western content very nicely and still keep some sense of fun (drunken cowboys), without turning the hole thing into a completely cartoon farse as definitely happened in Grizly gulch and to a certain extent with the various encarnations of Silver dollar as well. I do like the fact the characters in the game have some history and presence to them and the town has a little potted history rather than just playing on western parodies and cliches, it makes the game feel more like an actual adventure game.

If your interested in the Western genre though, definitely! check out the choiceofgames title tinstar, I've finally started playing and I really! like, though of course that's a text game rather than an audio game.

please delete that second post, mods. It was a glitch.