The Beardless Wizard

I don't know how I missed this one when it first came out, or was it one of those secret admissions?
It reminds me of some of the Dungeons and Dragons games that were so popular long ago.
Your character gains experience points through fulfilling tasks and gets better at doing things, learns spells, can shape shift.
Initially I tried to get the gold, but soon was lost in the variety of things that can be done. Bonus you don't have to start over when you run out of timeas it continues as long as you like so that acts as a relaxed mode for slow gamers. I may not get gold but I don't care. It is so much fun. It allows you do actions in a different order which is one of the bonuses in good time management games, so there are a number of different ways to complete the game and add to that the use of the potions/ spells and different characters and upgrades and you have a game that is re-playable many times to improve your time .
I like good time management games that make you think and HOGs for relaxation and training observation.

I am a HUGE TM fan and yet I groan at the games that become difficult too soon. This game became 'difficult' by about the fourth level, however you can still continue on the level if time runs out and you can go back to get a better score. There are also 'sub-levels' to certain main levels that allow you to complete the same level with different 'goals'.
I normally would give a TM game a lower rating for such 'timing' difficulty - however, not all levels are like that (so far) and you get experience points with the gold star rating which allow you to be faster, stronger, more productive etc. so that will help in the higher levels. You can 'reset' and reassign your EPs at any time in any way - you cannot however, gain more EPs on repeated levels that you already got the gold star on. But you can use the tools, bonuses and potions you've gained in later levels.
I truly like the ability to brew potions, create special tools with artifacts you collect as well as an achievements section. Add that to the fact that the music is pleasant with NO annoying and repetitive voice-overs.
I wouldn't recommend this game to 'newbies' of the TM genre, but for veterans - it's a must have. It's complex and challenging without a bunch of hand-holding. IMO, it's sort of in between the two.

I really enjoyed this game. It was a welcomed change from all the fetch & carry TM games. The game requires persistence and patience. Tutorials are scant. Most levels had to be replayed in order to make gold. Each level had an alternative level and a hero level. I think there were about 117 levels in total. Several artifacts could be created by picking up bits during the game play. Some artifacts were more useful than others. You could only use 3 at a time. Each level could be played better with some artifacts and not others. Potions could also be made from flowers picked up during game play. I found the potions to be extremely helpful in making gold. Three flower colors added mana, speed, or made production of 4 items. Mana could freeze time, speed workers, replenish resources, or other tasks. The main character changed into three other characters that could accomplish specific tasks. Choosing the right character took time. If the wrong character was selected, the right one flashed in the menu. The dragon character could produce a treasure chest of random resources. That was critical for gold on many levels. Goals for each level changed. Sometimes just one goal was listed then others added as the game went on. Some might find this annoying. I thought it was challenging. Graphics were old fashioned. Music and sound effects were OK but could be muted. My only really big complaint is that after making all achievements the ultimate champion achievement did not work for me or most of the fishes in the forum. That's a big glitch and very annoying. Overall, I recommend this game for anyone who really wants to multi-task and think. The dull fetch & carry game strategies will not work with this game.

I absolutely love time management games and the idea of picking the resources I need in the right order (thank you Hercules games!) so I am completely at a loss as to why game programmers force you to select resources TWICE. This is another of those flawed games where you tell the collector to process a resource (a berry bush for example) but, that's not enough. Once the "Beardless Wizard" picks the berries, you need to swipe the mouse over the "burger" icon to actually collect the food. I'm sorry but, I'm busy taking care of the next task to worry about picking up the berries you just harvested.. This whole two-step resource gathering process should be banned. Did you think i just wanted "Joe" to pick the berries and just leave them behind???