This is Ana and me somewhere between Clutter V and Clutter VI. As you can see, I’m not Leon. Although a lot of Leon’s story uses facts from my own life, I didn’t once think about including my own face in the game (like some of the reviewers thought I did). There is an Ana, but she’s not that picture either. I called her Ana because of my Ana and Brazil, but that’s where the similarities end. That pic was taken about 8 years ago.
Joe is not Leon
Anyone who's played the original Clutter game knows a little bit about Joe. Joe is not Leon, but some of the details of Joe's life were worked into the story. Here are just some of the real facts of Joe's 65-Plus years of life.
Joe was born in a little town called Penacook N.H., a voting district of Concord N.H. but a separate town (population was about 3000 back then). Joe attended Immaculate Conception School until 6th grade and then attended Merrimack Valley High School. Joe decided to attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. Joe graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. Joe only took one computer course at RPI.Joe moved on to work at iWin creating the highly successful Mah Jong Quest I, II and III (and little game called Sproink). After leaving iWin at the end of 2009 to work on his own games he joined an Atlanta Slots/Gaming company beginning in 2011 and ending in 2013. Joe now devotes 100% of his time to Puzzles By Joe and The Clutter Series.
Hello Joe,
I have been meaning to write you ever since I first played Clutter 1000 but I am spending so much time playing Clutter 1000 that I can’t stop playing long enough to write. lol My husband and I love all of your Clutter games but you have surpassed yourself with Clutter 1000. The graphics are great…the whole game is superb! I am so gaga over the game I can’t even list all that I love about it. I love the levels and I also fear some of those that look SO hard. I will play them eventually. I just want to tell you that you are a GENIUS!! Please don’t stop making Clutter games. I am your most ardent fan!!
Susan
Sorry if I put this in the wrong place….I’m not great with websites. Old people…you gotta love us. lol
Just tried clutter 1000. I did stop and go looking for information on the site about the interface, mostly because it’s the first clutter game I’ve ever seen and I felt like I was missing context. As an interface designer I can’t say I care for it. As an art piece it’s a rather brilliant meta-puzzle. I’ll figure it out on my own.
Joe, I am so sorry to say but I have some issues with Clutter 1000. I appreciate the web page explaining everything, but how sad that anyone has to go looking for it. When I think about what I love about the Clutter series, being confused, misguided, and then having to stop and research are not any of those things. I am sure all the cryptic meanings, symbols, and navigation were meant as an expression of your creativity, but I honestly think you should have kept things like menus and navigation relatively the same. When you find a formula that works, why change it?
With that all being said, I am still very glad I got this latest installment. I am sure I will drink it all up.
One glitch that I have noticed on Slider levels though.
In all previous games, when you slide a piece so that it connects with another, you hear the “cha-ching” sound. Very satisfying and appropriate. But for some reason, in this game, the cha-ching sound happens about 50% of the time when NOT matching. Also, about 50% of the time there is no noise at all when a connection is actually made.
Hopefully an update can fix this.
if you ever need a video of this effect, I’m sure I could provide it.
If it is helpful, I got the game through Big Fish.
Thank you for all your games. One of my favorite series of all time.
best regards,
Scott
Swansea, MA
Thanks Scott:
The “story” in this game, is about how we attach “meaning” to things.
It’s about what connects us that isn’t language or “tribal”.
This game seems to bother my hard-core fans more than new players.
It also seems to bother people that can’t handle “not knowing” for even a minute or two.
You don’t have to “understand” everything in the game, to still have fun playing it.
I even added a “Timer On/Off” text because people seem so afraid to just click and explore.
I’m glad you’re sticking with it, I’m still on the fence as to whether this was a worthwhile experiment or not.
The game has done really, really, really well….on all sites other than Big Fish.
(And I agree with you in general, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it….but it wasn’t about expressing “my creativity”,
it really was more about removing (for me) unnecessary cruft from the game.)
I may add some “floating tool tips” but I doubt that I’ll go back to text-everywhere and/or a centrally located Options Menu.
Again, glad you’re sticking with it….and thanks for the feedback.
Joe
I have your clutter 3 and am stumped on the jigsaw puzzle. under the letter “L’s 11 there is a puzzle of llamas that i worked twice. but the “ok” button never comes up when i finish. wherefore the number of the puzzle stays on 24 when it should move to 25. this is frustrating . why won’t it finish w/ ok? hopefully i can get ur solution through my email.
Hi Linda:
Can you send me a screen shot.
It usually means that there is still a piece or two that’s not quite in the right spot (even though it might look like it is).
But there could be a real bug.
If you could try again…and then send me a screen shot, then I might be able to tell you what’s going on.
Joe
Who is Leon Poncelette?
He is fictional.
My Alter-Ego.
The 5th generation descendant of Ponce De Leon.