Prerelease:Bejeweled Twist (Windows)

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Bejeweled Twist (Windows).

Known Builds

• v0.1.3.1103, dated from 2007.
• v0.124, dated possibly after the previous build.

Screenshots

Both the game's Steam page and several of the game's files show several screenshots of an early version.

Title Screen

Steam Store page	Final

• The position of the space background is different compared to the final game: in the pre-release screenshot, the background is positioned more towards the orange aura, while in the final game, it is positioned more towards the green aura.

Steam Store page	Final

A very early version of the Challenge Mode menu, showcasing different UI elements and more:

• The Challenge Mode text is presented with a generic placeholder font. The text is also stacked. In the final, it uses a different font with yellow glowing text, and has the title organized into a single line.
• The moon does not have a texture, and is simply a black sphere. In the final, the moon features a texture.
• Some challenge planets are switched in the pre-release screenshot, the final release is different.

Gameplay

Steam Store page	Final

• In the pre-release screenshot, Doom Gems are shown with a purple gradient. In the final game, it uses a white color, similar to Bomb Gems.

"How To Play" Menu	Final

• The pre-release screenshot showcases very different shading on the spaceship, where it appears darker compared to the final game. The Text outline is only one color instead of 3, and stars have an effect when gained in the rank meter. Additionally, a visualizer not seen in the final game can be seen on the level cube.

Bejeweled Classic Game Postmortem

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: In the game files, there exists a fallback texture named glassplasma_fallback.jpg that is supposedly for this visualizer.

In a Bejeweled GDC Postmortem, game designer Jason Kapalka showed off an early screenshot of Blitz from 2007, featuring a visualizer that is not seen in the final game. The visualizer is relatively similar to the Magic Snakes visualizer at Level 10. Additionally, a prototype version of the game's icon can be seen at the top-left corner.

Making Great Games

In Making Great Games: An Insider's Guide to Designing and Developing the World's Greatest Games, Pages 115 to 124, prototype screenshots of Bejeweled Twist can be seen.

From Page 116 of the book, "Zongo" was an early concept name for Bejeweled Twist featuring Bejeweled 2 gems with some gems with numbers on them and with unnumbered bombs. Eventually, those numbered gems might've became bomb gems.

This screenshot demonstrates what appears to be an unused Trophy Room, with the trophies being... ducks? Most likely intended to be a placeholder. The Trophies appear to be categorized in multiple sections including "Basic", "Advanced", "Super", "Mental", "Holidays", and "Secret". An achievement system would eventually be added in the PC version of [[Bejeweled Blitz (Windows)|Bejeweled Blitz] going under the name of Badges.

Twist might've had a shop like how Blitz did, but instead of using coins, you would've used "Twists" which might've been collected by making twists in levels. This screenshot does show powerups which did eventually become a feature in Blitz. "Bonus Games" may have been levels which you can collect Twists. "Gem Skins" may have made you be able to change the gem's textures.

A more complete version of the Twist Shop that features an UI that looks or is from Bejeweled 2. The preview shows off either the current gem skin or a what a gem skin looks like before purchasing. The kinds of Twists at the top may be game modes due to the dialog box saying "mode." What's interesting about the dialog box is that it says "Use your right mouse button to rotate gems counter-clockwise..."; Jason Kapalka stated at the GDC Postmortem that counter-clockwise twisting was going to be implemented, but they didn't want the game to be too packed with features, so it was scrapped. One new button shows "Backdrops" which might've been a category which you could change the backgrounds in a level.