Bejeweled Twist
Bejeweled Twist is a tile-matching puzzle video game developed and published by PopCap Games. It is the third game overall and first spin-off game in the "Bejeweled" series, as well as being the first "PopCap" title to be released in high definition and feature widescreen support. "Bejeweled Twist" differs greatly compared to previous entries in the series. Instead of swapping two adjacent gems, the player now rotates four gems clockwise. The game features four modes, and introduces several new elements to the series, including the Lightning Gem, the Supernova Gem, and Bad Gems; as well as  Instant Replay features and improved ranking systems. The game was originally released on October 27, 2008, for Microsoft Windows, and has received mixed to positive reviews. Gameplay. "Bejeweled Twist" plays similarly to its predecessors. Instead of swapping two adjacent gems, the player rotates four gems in a 2x2 space clockwise. Like its predecessors, the game involves attempting to create matches of three or more gems in a row to clear them from the board. When this occurs, the gems above it are affected by gravity, falling down and potentially creating cascades. Unlike previous entries in the series, it is no  longer required for a move to create a match of gems. Making consecutive valid matches adds ticks to the multiplier bar, which is located to the top left of the screen. When the multiplier bar is filled, the score multiplier increases, with the multiplier going as high as 10. When the multiplier is filled at the tenth multiplier, it will begin filling in a new rainbow layer onto the bar. When it is filled, a Bad Gem (or if there isn't any, a random gem) will turn into a Fruit Gem, which destroys all gems of its color off  the board when matched, similar to the Hypercube in previous entries, as well as adding extra ticks to Bomb and Doom Gems, and destroying all locks from the board. Like its predecessors, Special Gems return. Making matches of four gems in a row, L, + or T shape matches create a Flame Gem, which destroys the eight gems surrounding it when matched. New to the game is the Lightning Gem, which is created by making a match of five gems in a row. The Lightning Gem destroys all gems on its row and column when activated. Additionally, matching six or  more gems in a row creates a Supernova Gem, which destroys all the gems on its row and column on a 3x3 radius. New to this game are Coals, which cannot be matched, but release a large point bonus when destroyed. "Twist" introduces Bad Gems, which usually hinder the player's progress. Bomb Gems must be destroyed before their counters hit 0, which causes them to explode and end the game. Locked Gems prevent the player from rotating an area of gems with a lock on it. Doom Gems cannot be matched or moved, and their counter only  goes down when matchless moves are made. Other new gimmicks include the Speed Bonus, which gives the player a score bonus if consecutive matches are made quickly enough, the Bonus Challenge, which provides the player with extra ticks and the destruction of a Bad Gem when the gems shown on the panel are matched in order, and the Mega Fruit Bonus, which is activated after the detonation of a Fruit Gem and awards a large amount of points when performed successfully. "Bejeweled Twist" features a ranking system, which increases depending on how well the player plays. Completing levels in Classic  and Zen, completing challenges in Challenge and completing games of Blitz awards the player with stars, which varies in amount based on how much the player has scored in the game mode/level. There are several different modes of gameplay available. Development. Background and conception. As of 2008, PopCap Games' "Bejeweled", which began in 2000, was one of the most popular casual game franchises, garnering 350 million downloads, 25 million sales, and releases on various personal computers, consoles, and mobile devices such as the iPod and iPad. In addition to establishing PopCap as a notable developer and significantly increasing the  casual game market, "Bejeweled", made up 30-to-40-percent of the company's revenue at the time of "Bejeweled Twist"s release, claimed company workers. While match-three gameplay was implemented in titles like "Columns" (1990), "Bejeweled" was the first to popularize it with casual gamers, influencing the creation of several more products of its kind. According to game journalists, its wide appeal resulted from its addictiveness; it had a simple, pick-up-and-play gameplay formula that still challenged players with the right mixture of luck and skill. "Bejeweled Twist" began as a game independent of the "Bejeweled" series, "Zongo ; PopCap initially intended the project as experimentation with a two-by-two rotation mechanic, and Bejeweled"s graphics were only used as placeholders. Planned rotatable items include fruit and sushi, but after a year of development, the staff thought it was not as enjoyable to move any object as it was to do so with gems. Thus, the project switched to a "Bejeweled" spin-off named "Bejeweled Twist". Production. According to staff, "Bejeweled Twist" took an estimated three-to-four years to develop, with a budget of $1–1.5 million and two-to-seven workers, larger than the usual PopCap project  as well as most casual games. The project started with one coder, Kurt Pfeifer. However after realizing the technical aspects and programming would be larger than PopCap's past projects, the company expanded the team to four programmers and three artists working on various aspects, which PopCap founder John Vechey considered "insane" due to the game's straightforward style. To make the process streamlined, the staff changed to three individuals directed to specific tasks: Chris Hargrove on the new graphics engine, Josh Langley for 3D animations, and Chief Technology Officer Brian Fiete on other new elements. "Bejeweled Twist"s development influenced  PopCap to have multiple people involved in future projects; founder Jason Kapalka felt multiple technical issues early in development could have been solved sooner if multiple developers were there to fix them. Kapalk described "Bejeweled Twist"s code as a "Bejeweled 2" variant with alterations "hacked in and then out again". This led to so many bugs and glitches in the final project that PopCap's third-party compatibility tester refused to work on it, meaning PopCap compatibility-tested in-house. Kapalka, on recollection, argued the design should have finalized first then a new codebase written. With "Bejeweled Twist", a new  set of tools and engines were introduced in PopCap's pipeline; this included support for 1080p quality and True 3D that could still be seen at lower resolutions, and new resource management and source control systems. In order for graphics to be imported faster, the ResourceGen tool was created; it allowed multi-layered Photoshop .PSD files to be imported directly into the code, instead of having to break down layers of a file. The soundtrack to the game is composed by Finnish musician Peter Hajba, known by his demoscene nickname Skaven, and Phillipe Charon. The voice in the main menu  and during gameplay is performed by Ken Tamplin. Release. "Bejeweled Twist" was initially released on PC on October 27, 2008. It was originally released on PopCap.com, but became available on other sites. As of now, the game is currently available on Origin for PC and Steam. Following its initial release, the game was ported to several other platforms. "Bejeweled Twist" was ported to the Adobe Flash Player platform on November 30, 2009. The Flash version of the game only features Classic and a 3-minute version of "Blitz". The online version of the game also lacks the Bonus Challenge feature . On May 7, 2009, "Bejeweled Twist" was ported over to cellphones through the Java ME platform. A downloadable version of "Bejeweled Twist" was released on the Nintendo DSi through the Nintendo DSi Shop's DSiWare platform on December 14, 2009. The DSi version contained the PC version's Classic Mode and an exclusive multiplayer Battle mode, where players who had two DS systems with two copies of the game could battle against each other. A physical version of the game, containing the game's other modes and features, was released on January 19, 2010. The DSiWare version of the game  would release on the Nintendo 3DS' Nintendo eShop on July 7, 2011. The DSiWare version of the game is set to be discontinued in March 2023, alongside the closure of the Nintendo eShop for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Reception. "Bejeweled Twist" received "generally favorable reviews" according to Metacritic, with a metascore of 78 out of 100. Several reviewers praised the gameplay and variety, while some criticized the DS version's two-player mode for requiring multiple game cartridges, and some having thoughts of the game not leaving an impact as its previous entries.