Turned out I lied…
..about making the final post about Jewels. Sorry!
I wanted announce that I’ve managed to start working on bringing Jewels to the iDevices (at least for iPhone + iPod touch), even with the taking-care-of-the-baby-business! 
I’ve only recently started writing it from the grounds up in C++ with some Objective-C (or actually Objective-C++). (If anybody remembers, the original PC-Jewels is written in C#/XNA, while the Android-version is naturally in Java.)
This time I’ll be using OpenGL ES (which, in retrospect, I should have used for the Android-version as well), so iPhone gamers will be getting the smoothest Jewels experience yet! I might even throw in some extra eye candy, just for the heck of it! 
I’ve registered to the iPhone developer program, so I can test on the real devices, which is great. I’m aiming on making the game run perfectly on iPhone 3GS (and newer devices) hardware while still keeping it working fairly well on the older HW (like iPhone 3G). These are of course still only estimates, but something of a goal nevertheless. I’m liking the iPhone SDK so far, and even Objective-C isn’t as scary as it looked like before! 
But as I said, the majority of the code will be in C++. This actually makes a full circle: I had been using C++ for years before I made a switch to Java, and now I’m back in C++ along with learning Objective-C as well! Neat how things turn out.
As to why I’m doing Jewels again (for the third time!), instead of doing something else. Well, it has become a pattern of some sorts for me; while learning a new platform / language / API, I’ve ported Jewels over. The original was simply because I wanted to try coding with XNA. Android-version sprung out from the desire of learning to write for Android. It was a better game as well. And now it is iPhone. I’m learning new stuff and I firmly believe that this will be (again) the best Jewels yet!
Oh, I also noticed (only a few days ago) that there is already a game named JEWELS at the App Store! Just my luck. 
Any ideas for the name? I think I’ll have to go with iJewels or something like that, which I really didn’t want to do, but I guess there is no option but to change the name…
So there you have it. Hopefully iJewels (still don’t like that!) will gather some following on the iDevices — now I don’t expect it to be a mass hit like on Android, the competition is much tougher, but then again there is nothing to lose in doing the port (or rewrite, actually). I’m gaining some valuable code to reuse in future iPhone projects, even if the game was a flop.
I suppose you won’t be backporting the OpenGL bits to android for better performance?
I seriously love jewels on android. Actually, I’m a developer at Rockbox (www.rockbox.org) but must admit that the Jewels included in Rockbox isn’t anywhere as good as yours
Now I wish it could be ported over :/
It is of course possible to backport the OpenGL ES goodness to the Android-version, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the extra effort (it’d be almost like rewriting the thing for the fourth time!
). We shall see how it goes, also depending on how the iPhone-version takes off. If it even does. 
Hey Mika! Great job. We love your game Jewels. My girlfriend is playing it every day on my Android phone. Her mobile phone is a Palm Pre (webos) and she is very sad, because your game isn’t available on WebOs. We hope you find some time someday …
Many greetings!
Hi Mika, I found a game called “Jewel Beach” on my Iphone which looks almost identical to your jewels. Is that yours or a pirated version?
It’s not mine, I only found about it some weeks ago myself. It uses the MIT-licensed artwork from the PC-version. Was a bit disheartening to find out about it, to be honest. Rest assured that the Jewels for iPhone is much better!
The game is about 85% complete now, still missing high scores and what not, but it’s going to be great! 
Hi Mika,
that´s what I thought. I am programming some games for android in my sparetime (i.e. Pacific Wings) and wanted to make a new game for which I could use some jewels-sprites. Is it possible to use the ones (just the 7 Jewels) from your pc version (you said it´s the MIT-License)? I am pretty sure I won´t be a serious problem for Jewels (although I am hoping with every game that it will be as popular as Jewels).
Thanks,
Benjamin
How about mhJewels? Jewels MH? Anyway…
Great app. I, too, play it every day. Timed mode. I’m sure you’re done making actual enhancements, but one tiny change I’d LOVE: when the time runs out, the pop up blocks much of the playing board, and I never get to see it again. I want know/see/be able to continue viewing the board, so I can find that available move I could never see!
This is solved in the iPhone-version. I didn’t find the time to include this in the latest Android-update, but it’s on my list if I do more updates later.
Hi,
I’ve recently discovered Jewels on my Samsung Galaxy S android phone. Great app, playing it far to much though. I have a couple of questions though.
I’ve been playing one game which my daughter started and am on a mega score (over 4 million) but am now worried that i may be playing the infinite game. Is there anyway to tell what kind of game i am playing as my daughter doesnt remember. Also, what happens if i abandon a game. Would i still be prompted to upload the score assuming its a normal game.
Anyway, thanks for a great game and hope all is well with the baby and mother.
Regards
Thanks for your comment, the family is fine!
Unfortunately, there is no way of telling the mode, but if it’s normal, the scores will be saved upon abandoning.
@Mika
Hi Mika, Looks like i was playing infinite as i wasnt able to save my score. I guess it was too good to be true that i could get a score of 4 million !!
I know you said you are not planning any more work on the game, but just in case, here are a few suggestions:
Add a title to the play screen which tells you what type of game you are playing. Its very easy with the touch screen phones to select the wrong type of game and not realise.
Instead of having a bar at the bottom, have a countdown of how many jewels are left to collect before you move up a level.
if there is room left on the playscreen, a hint of how many moves are possible.
I think if you add these it would just make the game even better, but its still great without these features.
I love the game. Playing on motorola droid. However having problems with game shutting down. Tells me no moves when ther at least 3 showing. Can you fix this or is it my phone’s problem? I keep trying to finish a game. If it is something I am doing please let me know. It is a great game.
Hi !
Thanks you for your great job !
do you plan to release a Symbian version of Jewels ?
news phones like Nokia N8 or C7 need this game
i’m a developer too, you can contact me if you’re interested by this.
Thanks
Mike
Thanks! Symbian version is not planned at the moment, but I shall reconsider in the future.