JiXii for Mac

Sloooooow on 10.14.x. Worked great before.

*** Off Topic *** I've been searching the net for a web-based jigsaw puzzle generator for the Mac, without success. If anyone knows where such an app might be found, please reply below. Many thanks! P I

Frowned my own previous comments because I had made them regarding version 2.x that I had had sitting on my drive, not on the new version 3. Until trying this app, I hadn't worked a Jigsaw for... who knows how many years. Pretty fun with when you don't have 500 or 1000 pieces and can use your own folder of photos. The variety of features and customizations is great. Being able to see just edge pieces, and the like, take a lot of the tedium out of puzzle solving. Cons? A few elements work in slightly odd ways. I've also noticed one minor bug and two other annoyances. Firstly, when the pref to make the puzzle seamless where joined is turned on, it doesn't work "seamlessly". In some places (especially near the corners of pieces) little residual bits of highlighting are left behind, and sometimes 1 or more entire edges will remain highlighted. First I thought they all eventually got fixed, but just finished a puzzle where at the end, there were 2 pieces with their common edge joined, while all other edges (6) were left visible. Secondly, when the pref is turned on to have the selected puzzle piece follow the mouse automatically, the delay between pushing the mouse button, and the piece selecting, and thus attaching to the mouse pointer, is far too long. I find myself clicking about 1/3 of the pieces twice to get them to follow the pointer because I don't hold the button long enough. Lastly, when a chunk of multiple connected pieces is rotated, there's a noticeable delay between pressing the key, and the rotation taking place. I'd say, on the whole, the reactions to events needs to be snappier. Wishes: ======= In addition to snappier reactions, it would be nice if JiXii didn't ask to record your time when you're pausing mid-puzzle, and when you DO choose to record the time, instead of just allowing a memo, it recorded the filename automatically, in case that image comes up again. It's nice that JiXii allows you to choose a blue highlight outline for the selected puzzle piece, OR to give it a colored tint, but both have drawbacks as implemented. The blue highlight being square and wide instead of following the shape of the piece is distracting. A thin but anti-aliased, puzzle-piece-shaped border automatically colored for good contrast with the puzzle itself, or at least allowing a color to be chosen, would be much superior. I usually go with tinting, but in difficult areas of similar color like skies, tinting even slightly can make it much more difficult to place the piece. Some aid, like a key to toggle tinting would be excellent. Pardon getting so wordy, but I have 2 more minor items. A brief flash of the outline, or some other visual indication of a piece being placed in the right position, in addition to the optional sound effect, would be great. Sometimes they just pop into place while one is dragging them, and it seems like they've been dropped. I wouldn't mind having an option where clicking the mouse is *required* to attempt to put the piece in place. Last of all, it would be nice if the original picture view would remain the same size from puzzle to puzzle, and pieces would not be placed under it if it's visible when they're scattered. Anyway, I'm only griping and wishing because I LIKE IT!

Seems like a very slick little app with a good set of options. Got only 3 small complaints: 1 - It's a bit too realistic in that there's sometimes a single puzzle piece missing. (maybe related to an infrequent situation where the puzzle is large on the screen and lots of pieces are jammed up at the top halfway off screen when scattered) 2 - Seems odd that it won't accept a keypress to rotate a puzzle piece while it is being dragged. 3 - The way the timer sets and operates is clunky.

I'm a big fan of the Super Jigsaw collection by Gamehouse, but I've always wished they would include the ability to use my own Photos and Pictures. So finding this program was a godsend. I think the author should visit the Gamehouse games and borrow some of their ideas. For user friendliness, GH wins big, simply because they use cool sound effects. I sorely miss the 'click' noise when the pieces 'snap' together. JiXii is a good effort, but it needs to be more user friendly to make it feel like a well rounded game. Here is my wishlist: 1) Implement soundfx, especially for clicks with the mouse and for when pieces snap together. 2) Link the program to the iPhoto library so snatching photos is a snap. 3) Link the game to iTunes, so we can have our own soundtrack in the background! Even though JiXii falls a bit short, I intend to send in my shareware fee.