This snowy game received 91% of 145 votes last time it was given away back in February. There were 43 comments, which can be read by following the link below:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/snowy-space-trip/#comments

Follow the links for screen captures to get a good idea as to what the game looks like:

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Snowy%3ASpace+Trip&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=Snowy:Space+Trip&gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=en&start=20&sa=N&ndsp=20

Installation Tips & Hints:

The game comes packaged with the three usual files The read me that all newcomers to the project should read first, 2) then the Activate 3) and set up modules. It’s a breeze to activate and install. If you have more than one hard drive and that includes removable hard drives, I would recommend that you use any drive but your boot drive, which unless you’ve set up yourself, will usually be the C: drive. The reason is that filling your boot drive up will cause your system performance to reduce considerably, especially as the hard drive becomes full. Leaving the boot drive for system programs is one of the best ways of ensuring a faster running machine. If you only have one drive at present, this doesn’t mean you have to go out and purchase a new drive as when you next have to reinstall windows (which inevitably most of us will have to at one point or another; and it will be sooner than later if you download stuff from the internet. :(, then I recommend that you partition your drive. This is quite a simple procedure, that allows you to create separate ‘partitioned’ discs on one drive that work as though they are really separate.

Check out the following tutorial if you want to partition your disc:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348

If you have more than one disc you can change the installation drive by browsing for a destination folder during the Snowy: Space Trip set up procedure. Once you’ve chosen the install path you can then easily proceed to the next stage. For those who have no second drive, just keep following the onscreen prompts (via the set up module), for a perfect installation.

You don’t have to worry about the desk top and start menu shortcuts as these are automatically installed to the correct place. Also there’s no game box installation with this Alawar game, so installation really is easy. (I write this very simplistic description for the benefit of newcomers and am not meaning to be condescending with those that have been coming here for awhile)

The last set up window enables you to start the game immediately and for the readme file, which is found as an html document within the games main folder to be shown. Both these can be stopped by un-checking the tick boxes provided. I’ve copied and pasted the general information from the read me file so that I can get this posted before the moderator comes for their one and only check today (not meant to be sarcastic honestly :) as I appreciate we all have lives and most of us have families)

General Description of the Game:

Our brave Snowy got into a new scrape... Now he has to save funny Green Pals from space monsters. Monsters are coming from portals and guarding their new territory. Poor Greens are waiting for help! Save them!!!
Help Snowy to guide Green Pals to the rocket! Run past the Green and he will follow Snowy. Rack up a super score by collecting a long chain of Greens! Kick items like handcarts and dustbins to defeat monsters and collect as much bonuses as you can!!!
To read about game objects and controls see the "Help.html" file.

Main Features:

• 80 levels of non-stop fun!
• Four different Game Worlds with original items, bonuses and monsters.
• Cartoon-style graphics and smooth animation.
• Amusing cartoonish monsters.
• Nice dynamic special effects.
• Lighting effects.
• Special KIDS FRIENDLY MODE.
• Many different ways to score, keeps a good replay value!
• More music, more effects, more cartoons, more fun!

General Game Information:

There’s no mouse control, but you do have a choice between keyboard and joystick. There’s the usual power ups to help you on your way. Also there are three difficulty settings. The graphics are quite good. If you get any graphical glitches be sure to turn off the VSync function found in the options menu as this may cure the problem. Newer computers have no need of this function, but it’s great that it’s still being included in some of Alawar’s games. For general information as to what VSync is follow the link below:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=928593

The graphics are set to 16 bit as default so if you want to improve the graphics a little toggle the color depth to 32 bit.

As with all of Snowy’s games I rate this a 7 out of 10. It’s great family entertainment, and just because it has a kiddies theme doesn’t mean it’s not suitable for adults as well. :)

Thank you Alawar for another game. We must have had at least 50% of your stock by now. I’m really impressed with your generosity. Thank you vey much. Please let us know when Action Ball 2 is being released as I’m definitely going to buy it, or pre-order it just as soon as you let me. I’ve been waiting for a sequel to Action Ball and Action Ball Deluxe for so long now. To the game giveaway team; keep up the great work. I’m so pleased you are giving away so many repeats, with the odd new one sprinkled in between them.

:)

I added the free part to grab more of the communities attention. I do believe most people skim over my posts so may have missed the fact that if you go to the Alawar site, not only can you download a free kiddies pack, but a whole different game called Snowy Puzzle Island Winter pack. (you do require the Snowy Puzzle Island to be registered first though). Anyway, here's today's review. I meant to post it much earlier, but have been cleaning out my HDD's deleting all the things I don't use or play anymore. :)

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This is an excellent Snowy puzzle (one of my favorites from the snowy series), which was originally given away early February this year. It received 93% thumbs up from 164 votes, so it’s definitely a popular one. You can check back over what was said then by following the link below:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/snowy-puzzle-islands/#comments

In –particular check out the following comments:

# 10 & 11 by Bonnie who provides a link for the Brain shaker levels pack, which adds an additional 60 levels to this game

#14 by Promo who mentions about having to activate the game separately for each profile on your computer

#16 by Game Seeker who mentions that within the main game there are sets for both children and adults. He also adds to Bonnie’s comment about there being an extra 5 free kiddies levels from Alawar:

http://www.alawar.com/games/puzzleislands/

The zip file unpacks to give you three files, the all important read me file for those who are new to the giveaway project, and the two more important modules that activate and set up the game. As Promo previously mentioned in February, if you run multiple profiles from your computer, it may be advisable to activate the game from each profile to ensure that you get the full version for each person who has a seperate profile

I only run an administrators profile as I seem to remember reading that having more than one profile can slow your computer down. I cannot qualify this at the moment though, but I do seem to remember when I did remove all profiles apart from the admin (Which you can't remove) there did seem to be a noticeable difference in loading times and everything just seemed generally faster. (When I have the time and the inclination I’ll comment on this in the forums)

As I’ve mentioned previously, if you are interested in keeping your computer in tip top running order, it’s always advisable to install your games and utilities onto a different drive to your boot drive, (usually the C: drive) which unfortunately all installers seem to be set to by default. This can easily be changed though (provided you have more than one drive) by changing the install location via the install window. Just type in the new path you wish to install the game to. For example I install these types of games to the following path:

G:Arcade Games/Puzzles/

Once the game has been installed you can set the sound and music volumes by going into the options menu and using the sliders to adjust the volumes. There’s also a video quality and a VSync setting. The VSync option is not necessary with most computers these days as it was used with the old CRT monitors. If you are still using CRT monitors (I do with two of my computers) and your computer is quite old, I would recommend turning it off, as it may cause graphical glitches (you can read why via the Wikipedia article I’ve given a link for below). I’d test the game out first though and if there are no glitches, just leave it. It is switched on by default, so if you do have problems with respect to the graphics being messed up, you will need to uncheck it. For more details about VSync read the Wikipedia article below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vsync

As usual I’m a little late starting the review so I’ve copied and pasted what Alawar had to say about the game:

Quote:

“Snowy: Puzzle Islands is an adventure through a colourful world made of switches, moving platforms, teleporters and locked gates. Your goal on each of the game's 100 levels is to use these objects to help Snowy reach the exit. Along the way, you can collect fruit bonuses and other goodies.
Puzzle Islands features a 60-level campaign for serious thinkers as well as an easier 40-level campaign designed to teach kids simple logic skills. Whether you're a seasoned puzzle game fan or just want to perform simple tasks while enjoying vibrant graphics and pleasant music, Puzzle Islands will appeal to you.
In addition to the original game, registered users can download the free Simple Tasks add-on and purchase our Brain Shaker expansion pack, making for hours of brain-teasing fun for Snowy fans everywhere!”

Once installed and started you are firstly given the option of creating a profile then once that’s done you can select between the kids levels and the standard levels. If you click on the additional levels button it will take you to a screen that says “You do not have Additional Game Worlds”, and then it says “Click here to download additional game worlds. Do click on this link as not only will it give you access to the free kids levels, but a whole new winter levels pack. Click on the “Download Winter Edition” and run it. Choose the same installation path that you chose for today’s giveaway.
Once installed you will find that the Winter edition is fully registered, (to FDC). It’s still called Snowy Puzzle Islands but all the squares are full of snow instead of the wooden crates, and the shortcut that’s installed onto the desktop says Snowy Puzzle Islands Winter Edition. I checked a few levels (of the same level number) from each game and found that they were all different.

Follow the link below to see what those downloading this game from Alawar had to say:

http://www.alawar.com/games/puzzleislands/comments/

This is a fabulous game, that both my children played out the first time it was given away, only then I didn’t discover that you get a whole new game for free if you download the winter edition, provided you have the original Puzzle Islands registered. What a bargain that is.

I give this a 8 out of 10 for playability and stimulation. Thank you Alawar and the game giveaway team for a great repeat, and thank you for the extras that are attached to the game. (ie the free winter pack and the kids pack). :D

I checked out the games that Diane mentioned in her post #27

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/snowy-islands-o-puzzle

They are certainly excellent puzzles, but I hardly think they are worth the $70 you’d have to pay for all four of them. I’d certainly consider buying all four for $20, though because I enjoyed the limited amount of time I did spend on them and think they certainly have a lot of potential. I would also agree to a certain extent that the puzzles are much better than the Snowy Puzzles; with loads of objects to manipulate and utilize; but graphically speaking they are in the dark ages, which is a shame as most people do like the graphics you get today. (Although I know graphics alone don’t make a game) Thank you for the link, I will be ‘trying’ to complete the free levels at least.. If I was a fanatic over these sorts of puzzles I’d probably buy a couple of them, but I think I’d feel a little cheated.

If you are interested here’s the link that Diane posted with the paragraph included for context:

“The 4 games which include well more than 1,000 puzzles are: Hero’s Hearts, Hero Defiant, Falling Hero and Hero’s Friends. You can get the paid versions as well as many many more free puzzles from:

http://kaser.com/mesh.html

They also have a level editor so you can make your own puzzles including your own objects. That’s where all the free games came from!”

`

Christine,

I'm not too sure on that - the generic "encountered a problem and has to close" is about as helpful as telling a mechanic "my car is broke and won't go" and hoping this tells them what is wrong. (These programmers really need to work on some useful error messages).

It sounds like it is dead. If you feel like taking a chance - create a system restore point - and install the game again (from the Alawar website) - BUT install it into a new/different folder.

Then try to run it again. If it doesn't work - you can fall back onto your system restore point created earlier.

No guarantees with this though - it's entirely possible the problem isn't with Snowys Lunch Rush, but another component on your PC that it relies on (like DirectX, sound or graphics driver etc etc). If that sounds like a disclaimer... that's because it is. (the useful error message made me do it).

BuBBy, I just downloaded the newest version on BASS.dll inot my Snowy folder; the game seemed to work but then crashed (Snowy encouontered a problem and has to close). At least I;m not getting the missing Bass.dll message anymore.

I see someone had the same problem with another game; any idea what's going on?

I really enjoy Snowy and hope I can get it working again.

Christine

I have an even bigger problem. The folder is somehow moved.

The files are gone? hmmm. That could be a problem.

Can you check the properties of the shortcuts - maybe they are pointing at another location (where you will be hoping the files still are).

I've seen some people using explorer drag and drop program folders into other folders - do a "search for files" to find snowy.exe (or whatever it was). Of course I have never accidentally moved a folder into another one *cough* so I can only go with what "I have heard".

Great to hear from ya BuBBy. I was just getting ready to follow your advice when I fould out I have an even bigger problem. The folder is somehow moved. I tried to hunt it down and could only find shortcuts. Nothing else. I know that nobody went in and accidentally deleted the files. What gives???

@ChrisRobt - have a look at This post. Get the latest version of the BASS dll from the site and put it in the snowy folder.

Hello there: not sure if it helps you out, but I went and checked out the pc where my son is playing Snowy Lunch Rush to see if we get same error.
Negative, games runs fine, but I only went into first level.
So it might not be the software as such.
However, as far as I know my son never had a crash, which might have started your problems.
You might be able to get it back working if you try to re-install. I tried it on a few games that were deleted and those that had an activate.exe worked, other like Master of Defense not.
Pura vida!

Snowy is my FAV game and I just got the same message when I tried to play today. I see that it has been 2 days and you've got no help. We on our own here?? Just wanted u to know I'm in the same boat. Sux cause I have dial up and it took over 2 hours to get it to start with. Gonna go research this out....

I check out GGOTD every day and have found some great games here; Snowy is one of them. I completed the career game and now play the endless one; last the game crashed with an error message indicating the file BASS.dll could not be found. I found it in the Snowy folder and transferred to the game. Now the game won't run a gives me a new error message:

The procedure entrpoint BASS_ChannelGetInfo could not be located in the dynamic link library BASS.dll

I've written to Alawar and they first suggested I install the latest DirectX driver which made no difference (why would it, the game ran fine in the past). they now suggest reinstalling in another directory but that would invalidate my activation. They then suggest I need to discuss this with GGOTD.

HOw can I get Snowy running again?

Christine

Thanks Bill but that didn't help me - I'm still in the warm-up category because I can't complete the level. I thought perhaps it was my keyboard but I did the (left)control/alt/delete and it worked just fine. Oh well, onward and upward. I have other good games.

Thanks ! It works. I now can get a "kick" from "Snowy" ! 8-)

dela, the kick only works (left-CTRL) when you are by an item that is kickable.

Ok, I posted this question on the comment page in error...that comes with getting old. So here it is in the correct location. Thanks to anyone who can help.

I’ve never had a problem with downloading/activating. This last game Snowy space trip has installed and is running but I can’t kick things using the left CNTRL key as the options instruct. The arrows work fine but I can’t kick…and of course that is fatal. Of course there is no support from the designer so I’m wondering if anyone else is having the same problem?

BTW - I installed Foxy jumper from today and the kick (right CNTRL) works fine.