I finally gave it a try, using a trackpad.

The claw is hard.
After a while, I could get going well enough that I could do it somewhat quickly. But that doesn't last very long, and I can't get going again until I've lost all of my coins.
I sometimes have a similar problem with the arrow, but it is much easier to perform. I'd say at least two thirds of the time (probably more) is me trying to get the claw to work.

I was able to get the choir's chanting to its second stage once... usually I'd hover right on the brink of the first level with the choir, going back and forth.

The way the mouse buttons are positioned on my pad, I use the crack between the two to line myself up if I get mixed up. I found myself going off to the left a lot.

I think both instructing methods are useful, though I do spend most of my time with the musical notes. The beacon is good for getting a feel for the shape, and the music makes it easier to tell what you're doing and what mistakes you make.

A bit of a bigger problem, I think, is that whenver the game loses focus, I can't get back to it, even to close it--it doesn't even show up in my task bar. I had to use the task manager to close it the first time.
There were several instances while I was playing that the music stopped for a few seconds. Since I didn't have Jaws on, I don't know if that was because it lost focus and somehow got it back, or if it's something else entirely. I wound up quitting when it did it and didn't come back... though it did it two or three times before that and recovered.

For all the frustration, it's still fun. Thanks!

Drg and Dark, I agree with you both.  It would be best to only unlock levels for the current difficulty, but it will also be a bit trickier to set that up since I've already coded the level unlocks.  For the moment I've uploaded a new version that adds and fixes a few things.  There are more things I still need to do but I didn't want to waste Any time getting the difficulty settings out and in to everyone's hands.  Adding all of the planned changes is good, but keeping people from being frustrated is better!  This will let people try the game on easier settings while I continue working.  Oh, and I do plan to make it so that levels unlocked will only unlock them in that difficulty it just isn't implemented in this version yet.  Actually I should warn people that any levels you unlock will only count as easy mode once I do add that next part.

Hard mode is identical to the game you've been playing all along.  The way I figured things, I can always add something like "Very hard" or "Impossible" if we start accumulating masters who can fly through hard mode and not break a sweat lol. 

I believe I've fixed the bug that sometimes kept the music and game sounds going if you switched over to the training section.  I also fixed the training sounds so they match the actual game when you are not in sound map mode.  There was a mix up where the sound map for Claw and Arrow switched during the actual game, that is fixed now.  I wasn't able to get the menu to crash but it is possible I had already fixed that bug earlier but I hadn't uploaded that new version yet.  Please keep your eyes open and let me know if you spot more. 

CAE_Jones, I'm looking in to the lost focus problem.  I knew people had some problems with the Towers game originally so I thought I had this one set up to never get "lost".  Apparently I still need to work on it a bit more, thanks for letting me know.  If you were hovering between music stages then you are probably pretty evenly matched with how fast the coins drain away.  I'd suggest you use the Normal or Easy difficulty and you should build up to the next level.

Wow level 4!  I didn't know anyone had even made it to level 2 yet, nice!    CAE_Jones, I ran in to the same situation where shapes suddenly got hard even though I had been doing them easily in another level or practice.  For me, I eventually discovered I was angling my arm after certain shapes so when I went to draw again I was keeping it angled when I wasn't supposed to.

Lol I hope I have something here since I've started working on the sequel game.  It would be sad if I wasted time making a sequel and the first didn't become popular.  I'm So glad I separated the next part into its own game.  I've had to make major changes to code and I lost count on all of the spots that would have broken the old code without a whole lot of extra work making them get along nicely.

I'm not quite ready, but the next update will fix the level unlocking so that it knows which difficulty setting you used.  I will also be replacing the sound map beeps with actual notes like Aminiel suggested.

Well such a train ride would most certainly drive me insane.  I hope it goes well for you Dark.

I've just uploaded a tiny update that fixes a few problems.  I found a few bugs myself and cleared them out.  I had switched the sounds over to actual piano notes and both me and my wife hated how it sounded.  I'm not sure if it is because we're used to hearing the exiting ones, but it just sounded "wrong" to us both.  I'll play with it a bit more, but if I can't get it to have the right "feel" I'll probably end up leaving the sounds as they are.

OK, couple questions/suggestions:
1. When it tells you a level has been unlocked, is that it? You have finished the level? The reason I ask this is because I got to level two, and the level kept going. Should I just move to the next level?
2. Are you sure there's nothing wrong with Claw? lol I swear I do it correctly, the tones sound like they should, and it gives me a no no. Why can't I hit the Claw right all the time? I know I'm doing it right, like I said, the tones sound right, and nothing. I have to try a million times before I get it.
3. See question 1 above. If the level is indeed over after it tells you a level has been unlocked, I think there should be a key to bring you right to the level selection menu. Instead of having escape bring you back to the main menu where you can train and all that, it should bring you to the level menu. This makes things easier. There should still be a key to bring you to the main menu, but also a key to bring you to the level menu. Don't know if this is possible, but thought I'd throw it out there.
4. Lastly, The sounds are still not correct when you press A in the game. I.E, I pressed A when it was telling me to do the Claw, and I got the Arrow.

hi aprone and all.
now i arrived home and i really want my trackpad back!
this mouse is the worst thing i've ever seen!
it's crap, when i move a little it already recognises my movements, thus making it almost
impossible to do anything. any help would be appreciated.
is there something that i could configure to stop doing it?
thanks!

Aprone,

Just one more question... If the level is complete when you hear level has been unlocked, how come the shapes don't change automatically? I got level two unlocked, and then it kept going with Claw and Arrow. Can the shapes be changed automattally?

Yeah, the new shapes show up randomly with every level that you unlock, but the old ones still show up quite often. It works pretty well for me.

... I knew I was going to have a dream about this game. I didn't expect it to be my trackpad breaking in half, though.

CAE_Jones, ROFL I thought your post was hilarious!  I've dreamed about games too.

Drg, I wanted to ask if you have a lot of experience using a mouse.  Odds are it is a sensitivity thing, and I am already started on a way to adjust it for the next version, but I did wonder.  If you are used to only using track pads you are used to small and slow movements.  On a mouse, you can move much faster and move it several inches for a single line if you like.  If you haven't tried it already, I'd suggest you try moving quickly and for a few inches with each line you wish to draw.  If that doesn't help, don't worry about it since you will be able to adjust the sensitivity in the game soon enough. 

hi aprone.
thank you very much for this addition, i'll download the update right now and see!

hi staindaddict, you can already start playing the game,
your progress is saved to each difficulty that you complete.
for example, i just unlocked level 2 now on easy, i tried to access it on medium
and it said locked, but for easy it worked.
this was implemented yesterday.
aprone, this way of configuring the sensitivity is sooo good.
as you can see now i managed to unlock level 2, i'm trying to master strike,
it's better than claw
awesome job indeed! the bugs are apparently all fixed!
the only thing that is strange is that while playing, if i press either tab or shift tab
and move the mouse, click to draw the shapes, etc it freezes, it will only
work if you press escape and play again. also, what about using the wheel to change between
normal / musical modes instead of a? and while in the musical mode, it would be good to be able
to know what you have to do by pressing right mouse button just like the other mode.

hi, i think he's working in the next game,
daytona 2 that will feature the letters that you will have to draw.
can't wait for it, this will be fun.
if you guys want, i can make a review of this game, i'm still sometimes having difficulties
with claw, but i can try to explain how the game works.
btw aprone, a pause game feature would be good, for example, when i'm logged to msn and wanna
see what others are talking.
thanks!