It has taken a lot of work, 27,000 lines of code, and more than a thousand new image files – and now we have a brand new version of our award-winning math facts game: MathRider Version 7!
The new MathRider Version 7 runs natively on both Windows and MacOSX computers. Yes, that’s correct – no more Adobe Air runtime required!
As we have completely rewritten the game from the ground up, a lot has changed. In this blog post I’ll summarize the major changes for you.
Free upgrade for existing MathRider users
In keeping with our promise to make all updates available for our existing users, the upgrade from V6 to V7 is completely free of charge if you already have a paid license.
The new game will automatically detect if Version 6 is present on your computer and migrate all existing player profiles and statistics into its own database.
Please note that you must be on Version 6 for the automatic data migration to work. Prior versions of MathRider must first be upgraded to Version 6 by using the installation link emailed to you.
Also, note that you will need to re-enter your registration key when you first start MathRider Version 7. We have already reset your registration count, so you should not exceed your registration limit. Your registration key is still the same as when you originally purchased MathRider. If you can’t remember your key, you can look it up here.
Now on to what’s new:
Full-screen mode
When you start up MathRider 7, the first thing you will notice is that it is running in full-screen mode. It is written to automatically adjust to your monitor, no matter its resolution and aspect ratio.
All-new riding environments
Every single riding environment in the game has been re-created from scratch. While we retained the original digital matte painting feel, typical of MathRider, all riding environments are completely new and significantly more detailed. We barely reused a single graphical asset from the previous version(s).
Spot the difference between V6 and V7 in the desert realm here. The screenshots have been resized to indicate their relative size on a typical 16:9 display. V6 version was fixed-size windowed, while V7 is at full screen:
(click on the images for a larger version of the screenshot)
Improved controls
The way the horse speeds up or slows down depending on answer times and how quickly new questions are introduced has been completely redesigned, too.
This results in more fluent gameplay and allows players to settle into a natural rhythm at their current skill level.
The game now also takes advantage of wider screen widths, providing even more flexibility with answer time and horse speed.
Improved question-answer user interface
We have made some significant changes in usability and screen design.
Rather than having the user look under each obstacle to find the question they need to answer, players now have the question displayed right next to the answer input box as well.
While this reduces the visual impact of the scenery the player is riding through, it makes it much simpler for players to focus on answering the math questions.
We also left the question display below each obstacle, so that players who prefer to look at the questions that way are still able to do so.
Try it out and see which way you like better. You will probably agree you get to take in more of the environment when you look at the moving question under each obstacle, but your answer speed will likely increase if you simply focus on the bottom left of your screen…
Vastly enhanced performance
Even with all the visual enhancements, the game runs significantly smoother and performs vastly better than the previous versions. We consider this the starting point, with much more visual immersion to come…
What hasn’t changed
- Smart question generation
- Adaptive gameplay and speed
- Fun, quirky storylines that tie it all together
- Meaningful rewards for effort and mastery that are aligned with the stories
- Designed and built with love
Foundation for more
While we are thrilled with this new version (and hope you will be, too!), we have lots more improvements already in the pipeline.
With the release of MathRider Version 7, we have laid the foundation for many more great enhancements to come. This includes an ever more sophisticated statistics and question generation system, additional storylines, even more immersive and varied riding environments, and additional help for memorizing difficult questions.
