GAME.minder 2.0.2 fixes the fix

Bottom line - GAME.minder 2.0.2 fixes the launch issues introduced in 2.0.1.  If you were just waiting for that so you can once again use GAME.minder, the wait is over.  Head over to the app store and download it now!  If you are at all interested in the technical aspects, or just plain curious please keep reading.GAME.minder 2.0.1 is a textbook example of how NOT to issue a software patch and we take complete responsibility for botching it.  There were two distinct problems introduced, either of which were easy to discover and easier to fix, if we had only bothered to look for them (we didn't).

#1  In our Post-Pax excitement, we were super hyped to get out a couple fixes, one of which had been plaguing us since version 1.0 - release dates showing up "off by one" on some devices.  This change required some fundamental, if not incredibly extensive changes to some of the code in the client.  However, it didn't change anything specific to any device so we didn't test as extensively as we should.

#2 If you keep up at all with the Apple development world, you're probably aware that Xcode 4 is now "final" and able to build software for the App Store.  Mistakenly assuming that it would be perfectly fine, we changed over to Xcode 4 from Xcode 3.x.

We then tested upgrading from 2.0 to 2.0.1 on all our recent devices (iPhone 4, iPod touch 4g), submitted it, and sprained our elbows patting ourselves on the back.

So what did we fail to do?

• Test on ANY older devices
• Test upgrading from 1.x directly to 2.0.1 skipping over 2.0

By failing to do these two simple things after a major change to the development workflow (changing to a "final" IDE that is really more public beta) we not only crippled upgrading (Xcode 4 has issues with code data migration) but we also made GAME.minder completely unlaunchable on older devices (The LLVM compiler with the 4.3 SDK generates incorrect code for older processors).  Not bad for a days work huh?

So learn from our mistake and TEST, TEST, TEST before submitting that latest build children. Thanks for your patience and we promise to be more careful in the future.

GAME.minder 2.0.1 brings major fix

GAME.minder 2.0.1 is now live on the App Store and is a recommended download for all users.Among a few other minor fixes, there are two big updates:

1. We've finally fixed a persistant and frustrating bug that could cause dates stored correctly in out system to display in app as one day early.  For instance, GAME.minder 2.0 would display as March 10th instead of the correct March 11th.
2. Due to lots of feedback, we've increased the number of actions before the boosting penalty sets in from 2 to 4.

GAME.minder 2.0.1 is a free update on the App Store so go download it now!

Post Pax Pix Pax Post

What an amazing weekend!  Thanks to everyone who tried out GAME.minder and a special thanks to those who played Presidential Pugilism and gave us feedback.  Time to set your sites on PAX Prime in late August for another look at a (hopefully finished) Presidential Pugilism!Until then, here's some pics from PAXEAST 2011

And finally, some shots of playing the presidents:

Thanks for a great PAX East and we'll see you in August for PAX Prime!!

GAME.minder: After PAX East

PAX East was a great time and all of us at Handelabra were super busy. So busy in fact that we've gotten behind a bit on making sure new games are added into GAME.minder, especially with all the announcements at PAX. But now we're getting caught up! Keep sending in your new game requests and reporting games so that we can make GAME.minder the best it can be!We're also working on fixing some issues you may have seen in GAME.minder 2.0. You may have seen release dates appear one day off from the real date, or you may have been having trouble updating from the server. Fear not, we're on it! if you are seeing these problems or others feel free to let us know at support@handelabra.com.

GAME.finder game at #PAXEAST

There's a game afoot at pax today and tomorrow (well, to be fair, a lot more than one).But this is the only game that will get you a swank Handelabra t-shirt and all you have to do is keep your eyes open. Hidden around the BCEC, at PAX East are several GAME.minder cards with a hand written message on them.

Find one of these cards and follow the directions written on it and we've got a t-shirt for you!

So get out there and start lookin!

GAME.finder game at #PAXEAST

There's a game afoot at pax today and tomorrow (well, to be fair, a lot more than one).But this is the only game that will get you a swank Handelabra t-shirt and all you have to do is keep your eyes open. Hidden around the BCEC, at PAX East are several GAME.minder cards with a hand written message on them.

Find one of these cards and follow the directions written on it and we've got a t-shirt for you!

So get out there and start lookin!

GAME.minder 2 in the wild!

Taking a few moments out of my PAX East Friday to officially announce that GAME.minder 2 is out and available on the App Store!We saw that some of you noticed very late last night and the leader board had more than 30 people by midnight eastern time. And sadly, we as devs no longer have the edge and we've all been ousted from the top spots - But nothing could make us happier.So if you haven't already, now's the time to head to the app store and grab the free update to GAME.minder 2!

Keep up with the Handelabranauts by heading to handelabra.com/pax

Don't forget to play

GAME.minder 2 spotlight - Social

On monday you learned what's new in general, and yesterday we talked about expansion packs.  It seems you can't go two clicks on the internet these days without tripping over a "like" or a "share" or a "tweet" or a "check-in" so today, let's talk the current buzzword - social.

In GAME.minder 1.2, we introduced the ability to share a game with a friend via email and in GAME.minder 2.0, this is becoming even more powerful.  When you share a game to a friend via email from GAME.minder 2, you get something that looks like this ->

Kinda looks like a RE.minder doesn't it?  What makes it extra cool though is that a single tap on any of those .minders opens GAME.minder and sets the RE.minder for you, with just a single tap!  (The friend you're sending it to has to have GAME.minder 2 for it to work though so make sure everyone you know updates).

Once we had this working in email, we figured we might as well use it elsewhere to and we wouldn't really be talking social if we didn't mention the big 2: twitter and facebook.

If you "like" us on facebook or follow us @GAMEminder, aside from always getting the latest GAME.minder related news, you'll also see new games, as soon as they are added to the system.  And this is where mndr.co comes in.

mndr.co is our new short domain for all things .minder.  When a new game is added, you'll see it posted to the wall and tweeted to the stream with it's own URL.  For instance, when our upcoming game, Presidential Pugilism was added just yesterday, it got the URL: http://mndr.co/g/736.  Tapping that link will bring up the mndr.co page for the game and from there, you can tap a platform (in this case, iOS) to set the .minder.  As GAME.minder 2 isn't in the wild yet, we haven't made those links live yet.  But on Friday, all the switches will be flipped and everything will be workin' like a swiss.... car.

Those links can be retweeted, liked, shared, emailed, you name it. We think mndr.co is really gonna open up how people find new games as friends turn friends onto the next great game.

Well folks, that's about as much as we can tell you.  We're less than 48 hours away from launch and we can't tell you how excited we are to get GAME.minder 2 into your hands.

Don't forget, Handelabra will be at PAX East so if you see one of us milling about (white t-shirts with the Handelabra on them) please say hi!  We'd love to chat, and maybe show you the game we're working on too!

See you this weekend!

\m/