Pandemic: American Swine has been out on Kongregate for approximately two weeks now which marks this journal as the third and final Pandemic: AS related journal. This time I'll be primarily talking about what went right and what went wrong with the game from both my perspective and the perspective of gamers.

Within 24 hours of releasing the game on Kongregate over 100,000 plays were recorded, instantly making the game popular. After the first 15,000 thousand plays the game had an average score of 4.10 out of 5, declaring it a well received game by players. But unfortunately the score didn't last past the first day and it began to drop. It is now resting at 3.5 out of 5 which begs the question: why did the score begin to drop after being established at 4.10 out of 5? After spending some time reading though the various comments left by players, two common issues were beginning to emerge. One of the issues was completely due to an oversight I had, which in hindsight should have been obvious. The second issue was something I had anticipated during the early stages of the game's design but unfortunately was not something that could be resolved.

As I said before, the first and primary issue was directly due to an oversight I had while developing the game. By forgetting that some people may not have the luxury of time or that others may simply become bored easily with certain aspects of the game, the game was set to one universal "game speed" that could not be changed by the player in any manner. This forces players to sit through phases of the game that hold no interest for them which inevitably leads to poorer ratings from players. Happily this issue has been addressed as of version 1.45: clicking the "clock" now displays a new window that allows the player to modify the game speed.

The second largest issue players have had with the game is something I considered and joked about while I was crafting the initial concept for Pandemic: AS. It could even make an interesting case study for psychologists: players in general are less enthusiastic about Pandemic: AS simply due to the fact that they are no longer killing people, but are tasked with saving them instead. Obviously there is no solution for this without completely re-working the entire game.

Despite these two issues and a small minority of players who don't enjoy management games, Pandemic: American Swine has been a huge success. Reviewers and gamers alike have admired the huge number of options that are available allowing players to form their own unique strategies or tactics. Others have complimented the game on its unique gameplay and over-the-top presentation of the Swine Flu.

Pandemic: American Swine is going to be released on many of your favorite websites sometime over the next few weeks which will give those of you who have yet to play the game the opportunity to experience it firsthand.

Thanks to everyone who enjoyed the game and has provided helpful feedback so far.