MobilityWare Blog

We've moved

2010-08-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

We're moving our blog to www.MobilityWare.com/blog. Please update your bookmarks as we will be posting on there from now on. Thanks!!

r u drunk CONTEST!!

2010-08-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

If you don't mind, before I launch into the details of the r u drunk contest, I'd like to talk about r u drunk a little. Some of you probably may have been wondering what MobilityWare, the dominant developer of “traditional” casual games, is doing releasing an app called “r u drunk?” Here at MobilityWare, we'd like to think of ourselves as a casual entertainment provider. Sure, we’re best known for casual games like Solitaire and Blackjack, but we offer many others, such as Word Warp, Hangman, Word Search, Word Warp

Xtreme, and even Apple Tree. Obviously, they're not all for people of the same age. Different people have different views on entertainment. Sometimes, the same people have different preferences of entertainment at different times. r u drunk is an app that we created for one of those one of those different times. We think it’s entertaining but we'd like to point out that we're certainly not advocating that anyone get drunk. With the addition of new games within the app, we think people will want to play more often. We also thought we’d have some fun and test the public's creativity.

Therefore, to present r u drunk in a fun-filled entertaining manner,we'd like your help and imagination to help people become familiar with r u drunk. Hopefully by now you guys have recovered from the weekend and we also hope that you got a chance to check out the r u drunk application. In case you haven't because you didn't have the cash to buy it, or just been lazy to download the new FREE VERSION, we're offering you a chance to win an iTunes gift card that you can use to buy the r u drunk app and perhaps some other ones too! All you need is to gather whatever brain cells you have left (I kid) and be a little creative!

Click past the jump to see the details of this contest!!

So our little contest here requires you to come up with a story revolving around r u drunk. Did it help you start the night off right? Did it help you get the number of the pretty brunette by the bar? Did it get you out of trouble with the police? Regardless, we want to know!   The story need not be true; we just want to hear the best story, fictional or otherwise!

Here are the basic guidelines:

1.   You must come up with a story (real or fictional) based on, or inspired by, your experience with the r u drunk application.
2.   All entries must be entirely original and written in English and sent to Marketing@MobilityWare.com by August 30th, 2010 (we've extended the deadline. See #6)
3.   Stories must be limited to 500 words or fewer.
4.   Only one entry per person.
5.   Participants must be at least 21 years of age.
6.    Due to the sudden influx of entries, we've decided to extend the deadline of the contest to September 8th, 2010 so we can hear about all of your Labor Day craziness!!

Full rules available here:

http://www.mobilityware.com/contests/rudrunk/rules.php

Here's something we came up with. Our story revolves around a little something introducing r u drunk to everybody else, but yours can be completely different. As long as your story involves r u drunk in some capacity, we'll consider it an entry!

The Fourth of July 2010 was a fantastic weekend. I definitely enjoyed my vacation, and it was made even more exciting when I received a call from my friend Eddie around 1 am Saturday.
Before I begin my story, let me tell you a little something about Eddie. He's one of those guys in college everybody knew about, a fixture at every party and just one of the nicest guys around. But Eddie drinks, quite heavily might I add, and when he does, hilarity and excitement ensues. It seems that when most people start off a story with "Oh my god, last night was so funny," Eddie's name was soon to follow.

So I get a call from Eddie early Monday morning and before I can even say hello, the following conversation takes place.

Eddie: I'm drunk

(Now this is a first, because as much as Eddie drinks, he's proud to say that he's never ever declared himself as drunk, so it was quite a shock.)

Me: Wow I don’t think I've ever heard you say that, where are you?

Eddie: A bar on 17th. I feel amazing right now, but it says I'm drunk

Me: What says you're drunk?

Eddie: This application on my phone! It's the most amazing thing ever! So much fun, and yet it's kind of keeping me in line.

Me: How's that?

Eddie: It's got all these tests on it that tells me if I'm drunk!! A balance test, a straight line test, breathalyzer test!! I can't pass any of them!

Me: So does that mean you're going to take a cab home now?

Eddie: NO WAY! People are loving it!! This app says everybody's drunk! We're all taking tequila shots in 5 minutes. SHOTS!

Me: So what other functions does this app have?

Eddie: Umm, it's got a calculator that tells me what my BAC should be. But I don't even remember what I've drank tonight. Tonight's been really fun. I can't believe you went to a different party.

Me: Sorry Eddie, I'll make it up to you next weekend

Eddie: YOU BETTER! You got to check out this app man, it's got mini games on there too, like a cup stacking games and a beer pouring game…it's nuts! Speaking of which, I got to finish this beer so we can get ready for this shot! SHOTS! SHOTS!

Me: What's the name of the app?

Eddie: Haha, its called r u drunk. And I am! And everybody else here is too! Go get it from the App Store!!

Me: Ok I'll check it out. Call me tomorrow. Drink responsibly.

Eddie: Definitely!! Bye!!!

Hope we inspired you! Remember, you have until August 30th, 2010. Start brainstorming!

Another Solitaire Controversy!

2010-07-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, it's the end of the week! Before I wish you a happy weekend, I'd like to address several comments about our Solitaire application. Recently, it has come to my attention that many people have been complaining about the application, specifically claiming that MobilityWare has made some changes so that it is harder for the player to win.

First off, we appreciate the feedback. Otherwise, we don’t know what our users are thinking. The comments and suggestions you guys leave us help guide us on where some problems might be and help us figure out how to improve our products. Next, I'd like to reiterate (just like I have lots of time before), MobilityWare has never adjusted the difficulty in any of our games. Like I've asked you guys before, why would we? Do you think we get pleasure knowing that our customers are in fits trying to figure out how to win? Yes, we do offer All Winner’s Solitaire in which every hand dealt can be won, but the code that deals the cards in Solitaire has not changed.

We here at MobilityWare always strive on remaining "true" to our games. Like every Klondike Solitaire game, you're going to run into a deal that ends up being unwinnable, but that is expected! When you play Solitaire at home and you deal out cards on your kitchen table, surely you're going to run into a deal that ends up being a dead end, but that's realistic! The functions that we use to shuffle the deck are standard functions from Apple that allow us to generate random deals. Many of the other card apps in the App Store use the exact same code and functions.

Once again, we do like hearing from our fans. It keeps us on our toes and points out areas that might need attention. However, while we may initially find some of the comments humorous, we are disheartened that our users think we would make it harder to win. We're a business, and in order to run a business successfully, we need happy customers. We understand that people like to win; who likes to lose? Lots of people deal new hands if they don’t like what was dealt to them. Some other game makers might "stack the deck" so that there is a better chance of winning. In the same way we don’t want to mislead users by making things more difficult, we don’t want to make them easier either.

Since people like to win, we do plan on promoting All Winner’s Solitaire more because it is not well known. However, we will NOT make it any more difficult to win at Solitaire. The cards will be just as random as ever. That’s our promise!

Anyway, thank you so much for playing! As always, we appreciate any comments and concerns you guys may have! Have a great weekend!

R U Drunk?

2010-07-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Before you party hard to celebrate the end of the work week, I just wanted to let you know that MobilityWare has just released a new version of "R U Drunk."

This game was a big hit back in the day and we've brought it back along with two additional gameplay modes that will be driving people crazy (with excitement) and challenging their friends to see who's the most "drunk." It's a free upgrade to those who already have it, and it's cheaper than most drinks at Happy Hour!

So this weekend, gather your friends around, load up "R U Drunk" and let the good times roll! Try it and let us know what you think!!

Please drink responsibly.

iPhone 4?

2010-06-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

So the big question today is, were you able to get a new iPhone? I'm sure there are more than a few of you out there already taking advantage of the new features the device has to offer. Whether you've taken a picture of your iPhone box with the new 5 megapixel camera in order to upload it to Facebook to show off to your friends, taken a video of your dog running around and watched it in 720p quality, rotated your wrist so many times its sore because you wanted to test out the gyroscope feature, or asked on your Facebook who else has an iPhone so you can test out the new FaceTime feature. Either way, I'm more than sure you're extremely happy with your new phone.

Even though you're sitting there with a big smile on your face, perhaps even reading this on your new device, was it worth the effort it took to get it? Did you have to wait in line 48 hours before it launched? How long did you wait in line? Did you get a massive headache trying to preorder the iPhone on the first day? How many times did you curse AT&T's ordering system?

Regardless, I bet you're extremely relieved and glad it's all over. You have a brand new toy to play with, one that all of your friends envy and are going to want to play with it the next time they see it. I do hope another one of your friends gets an iPhone soon though, not so that everybody will stop coming to you to play with it, but hopefully you can fully take advantage of the FaceTime feature. Especially with new orders of the iPhone delayed till July 14, let's hope your friend with the iPhone is somebody you can get really familiar with…

Congratulations on your purchase. :)

Word Warp in the Top 100!

2010-06-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

So we've noticed that ever since we posted Caesar's incredible high score on Word Warp a couple weeks ago, we've been getting an increased number of downloads. Yes, Caesar's score of 11,788,530 is amazing to say the least, but we're also super stoked that Free Word Warp has climbed up to #18 on the Top 100 Free Apps on iTunes!

Click past the jump for some more Word Warp.

Word Warp has always been one of our most popular apps and it's very exciting that new downloads of the game are streaming in. We all know Word Warp is loved by most, and it's definitely good news that new people are finding out about it and downloading the game. Like we've said multiple times, we love hearing back from you guys about the game. Whether its comments, problems, or just funny stories, we want to hear it! Proud of your high score on Word Warp? Share it with us! We read and listen to all your concerns and we have some stuff in the works that we think would make Word Warp a much better game than it already is. Can you believe that?

In the mean time, check out Word Warp on the iTunes chart this morning. Looks like we're in some pretty good company, don’t you say?

MobilityWare Featured At WWDC!!!

2010-06-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

Are you guys keeping up with the latest news at WWDC (Apple's World Wide Developer Conference)? MobilityWare is in attendance, along with tons of other developers, eager to see what Steve Jobs has in store for Apple.

Can you imagine our excitement when we saw that we were featured at WWDC?

Click past the jump to see where!

Okay, so it wasn’t during the keynote (although I'll still be hoping for next year) but we weren't lying either.

Check out our Solitaire app icon displayed proudly on the WWDC banner at registration, along with other very popular apps like Super Monkey Ball, Pandora, Paper Toss, and others!

Exciting!!

Who else is keeping up with the keynote speech? What do you think of the new iPhone 4?

New Word Warp High Score!!

2010-05-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hello again everybody! Hope you all have been well. Looking forward to summer yet?

Anyway, last month we started a gallery on our Word Warp Facebook page consisting of all of our user-submitted high scores for Word Warp, inviting everybody to send their high scores to us so that we could include everybody. Also, people have always been wondering what the all time high score for Word Warp is. For a long time, James Ryan, from Austin, Texas, was the current Word Warp champ with a score of 1,500,000 when he bested his previous high score of 1,000,000 points.

That is, until Caesar Munene sent his high score in.

Click past the jump to check out Caesar's unbelievable Word Warp score.

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. Caesar high score is indeed 11,788,530 points!!! Absolutely amazing! Caesar informed us that he's been working on this score for about 6 months now, having the timer set at 5 minutes. Very impressive indeed! Congratulations to you sir on a score that is truly remarkable.

So Caesar currently is the Word Warp champ! If you've got a score that beats Caesar's, send it over to Marketing@MobilityWare.com! Remember, this game is difficult, but in our eyes, everybody who's able to warp a word is a winner! Send your high scores in, don’t be shy. We'll put you in the high scores gallery!

Anyway, we love hearing from you guys. Whether it's just a funny anecdote or a score you'd like to share, we love when you guys write us. We spend a lot of time working on our games and it truly warms our heart when we receive stories and thoughts from you guys. It truly makes our hard work worthwhile. Thank you so much for playing.

Have a great week! Til next time!

Exciting news!

2010-05-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

It's fun to be recognized, even better when it's for a good thing. Yes, it's been a while since our last update, but we're back and it's nice to know that a lot of you guys haven’t forgotten about us! So 148Apps.com, a website dedicated to reviews and news regarding iPhone and iPod Touch applications, just came out with their 148 All Time Top iPhone Apps, and we're extremely excited! Why?

Because not only do we have one or two applications in their list, but four of our MobilityWare applications cracked the top 50! Our extremely popular Solitaire game came in highest at #3. Blackjack made the list at #16 followed shortly by our Free Hangman game at #21, and Free Word Warp holding down the fort at #50!

148Apps say they used some "mad crazy algorithms and a little bit of voodoo" in order to compile up this list and it seems they will update the list daily. Regardless, it's very exciting for us to see our apps being listed alongside other extremely popular apps like Scrabble, Uno, Crash Bandicoot. It's definitely humbling as well, because the success of our applications is determined by you guys, our loyal and absolutely amazing group of customers, and it's very pleasing to see that our hard work is paying off! So check out the list and look at some of the other applications on the list! We're always working on updates and new versions of our applications, so definitely go check them out. Thanks again! Have a great week!

Games on the iPad?

2010-04-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

So you didn't think with the iPad coming out, we would just kick back and see how it would revolutionize the world, did you? Well I would certainly hope not! Of course, we've been working feverishly for the past couple weeks cranking out some of our more popular apps to work for the iPad. So you may or may not know that all games playable on the iPhone and the iPod touch will be playable on the iPad as well, but it may not look as good because it will be pixelated.

Therefore, it gives me great pleasure to announce that we will be releasing three apps just for the iPad, playable in HIGH DEFINITION on the beautiful 9.7 inch screen.

First, our wildly successful Solitaire game (the free version of which was most recently #3 on the App Store's Top 100 Free Apps) will be available! Go get "Solitaire for iPad"

Second, our extremely popular Blackjack game (currently #1 on Apple's Top Free Apps in the Casino category) will also be available! Check out "Blackjack for iPad"

Third, our Freecell game will also be available in high definition on the iPad's beautiful screen. You can get "Freecell for iPad" also.

So when the iPad gets released tomorrow, make sure you swoop in on these apps! Let us know what you think!

Solitaire!!

2010-03-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

If you've checked the Top 100 Free Apps chart in the iTunes AppStore in the past couple days, you might have noticed an app that was slowly making its way up the charts. This morning it was at #5. Yes, it is our free Solitaire app, which slowly gained momentum at the beginning of the week before it shot up the charts!

I just wanted to take the time to thank all of you for supporting our app and getting Solitaire to break the Top 5! When there are over 100,000 apps in the AppStore, all of your support is extremely appreciated and we absolutely could not have done it without you guys!

Here's a screenshot from AppShopper.com of how Solitaire has been doing recently. As you can see, as of this morning, it's jumped seven spots up to #5. How high do you think we can get it?

Let's get Solitaire to #1!!

iPad Madness!

2010-03-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

So unless you have been living been under a rock in 2010, you have obviously heard of the iPad, Apple's first attempt at developing a tablet computer. After months of speculation, Apple finally announced on January 27th, 2010 they were indeed going forward and releasing the iPad in a matter of months.

After Apple's announcement, they were immediately met with mixed reactions. There were those who loved the gigantic interface and software and gushed over the possibilities of how applications, pictures, and videos,s would look on the iPad, while there were others who slammed the idea, calling it just a larger "iPhone or iPod touch," and criticized the lack of a webcam or Flash capability.

Last Friday on March 12th, 2010, Apple officially announced it would be taking preorders. Needless to say, regardless of what kind of reception the iPad received when it was announced, it sure could sell.

On the first day of preorders, within a matter of two hours, 51,000 iPad orders were received. In six hours, 90,000 iPad orders were received! A blogger named Deagol who monitored some of the order numbers estimates that over 100,000 orders were received in the first ten hours!

Is it the very generous $499 price that's grabbing all these people's attention, or do people just want a piece of this revolutionary piece of technology? Maybe a combination of both? Are you going to get one?

Anyway, if you decide that a regular iPad isn’t for you, you could always settle for one of these.

Technology these days...

2010-03-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

Technology is absolutely ridiculous these days. I'm sure many of you have realized that already, especially in the past few years, with the introduction of tiny laptops, cell phones the size of credit cards, and electric sports cars. Is there anything technology can't do?

It's scary to think that if somebody can think up an idea, then there's somebody else out there who has the resources to make it happen.

This past week, I stumbled upon a couple things that I found especially intriguing and to tell you the truth, a little frightening.

First, you remember that feeling when you felt the touch screen on the iPhone/iPod Touch for the first time? Personally, I remember that moment vividly, I recall being amazed by how smooth it was, and I was probably stuck in a daze for at least a couple minutes.

That was years ago. Now people are already talking about putting touch screens on other places. Where could we put touch screens? Why none other than your forearm! Scary right?

Apparently, there is a system called Skinput, which "beams a keyboard or menu onto the user's forearm and hand from a projector housed in an armband. An acoustic detector, also in the armband, then calculates which part of the display you want to activate." In other words, Skinput knows which part of your arm you touched, because it recognizes the sound that's made on either the skin or muscle of your forearm!

Sound intense? Well Skinput goes even further, suggesting the system could use wireless technology, like Bluetooth, to send signals to many types of devices, like phones, iPods, gaming systems and computers! Can you imagine this?

Next, we all have our experiences shopping for groceries. Whether it's enjoyable because you're able to think up combinations for food in your head or an utter chore because you never go into there with a list or game plan (I tend to fall in the latter), this product is sure to enhance your experience.

I.B.M. have been testing a product called Presence.

Presence will send mobile coupons to people who sign up and will detect them as soon as they set foot in a store. As soon as you stroll into the bread aisle, Presence will know. The system will be able to track your spending habits and time spent browsing in certain departments to help determine what kind of spender you are. Scary? I certainly think so (I may have to minimize my time in various departments…).

Based on its determination on what kind of person you are, Presence can make recommendations on products it thinks you will like. So if you are buying hot dogs, Presence may suggest that you pick up some ketchup and relish as well.

Wow, I wonder how that's going to fly. How do you think people are going to react? Sure the idea is very innovative and interesting, but are people really going to be willing to allow themselves to be tracked electronically?

Sure, being recommended things I probably wouldn’t think of, is cool, but could you imagine the pitfalls if there was a glitch in the system? Say you buy 3 cakes for a friend's birthday party and all of a sudden Presence thinks you're the next Professor Klump! Sure these are an exaggeration, but just the idea of how advanced technology has now become certainly has me bewildered.

What do you think?

Death Spiral Launch Party Contest

2010-02-24T11:30:00.000-08:00

Hey, I just wanted to fill you in on how our Death Spiral Launch Party Contest was coming along. We saw that Word Warp Xtreme was a HIT at Macworld, and we invited all those who stopped by to check out the Launch Party contest. I can already tell a lot of you have been practicing!

Talk about a terrific response. We've had an overwhelming amount of entries and we absolutely love the turnout. The competition is great and there's still a couple weeks still left to play! It seems there are some very skilled Word Warp Xtreme players!

So remember, go download the latest version of Word Warp Xtreme (free), make an account through our Community (free again) and play the Death Spiral mode (also free…Xtreme!) Your scores are automatically recorded and you can enter as much as you want, so hurry up and play! For more info, go here

The contest ends on March 12 and we'll be announcing the winners on March 16 on our website, so stay tuned!

Our trip at Macworld 2010, complete with pictures!

2010-02-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

So for the last month, you probably know we've been super busy here at MobilityWare getting ready for Macworld 2010. In case you didn't know, Macworld is a gigantic convention held once a year in San Francisco that offers access to tons of different Mac products and services. There's a ton of booths, demonstrations and programs there that are all somewhat related to Macs and electronics. This year, they decided to devote an entire section to highlight the latest apps from iPhone and iPod touch developers, namely dubbed the Mobile Applications Showcase. So we figured, what better way to showcase Word Warp Xtreme than to take it to Macworld, the one place where tons of people are looking for the latest great products for their Mac devices!

Click past the jump to read about our trip and check out some pictures!

So last Thursday, we flew up to San Francisco for a three day trip at Macworld.

Have you ever been to San Francisco? Great city…filled with an eclectic group of people. So many things to see and do there, I just wish the convention didn't last all day every day, so we could have had more time to go around and explore the city.

Here we have arrived to the Moscone Center, home of Macworld!

MACWORLD 2010!!

You could feel an air of excitement the moment you walk through the doors. People are bustling about and everybody seemed like they're in a hurry.

Registration. These people can take their time; they can't get in until after 10 am, after all the exhibitors are set up!

A list of many of the exhibitors at Macworld, can you find us?

The Expo Hall is just down the escalators ahead! What can we expect? Is it going to be crowded?

Definitely crowded! It's 9:50 am, people are lining up and pushing to get in! Doors open at 10:00 am.

Can barely get through this crowd, I just have to get to the front, I can get in before anybody else does because I have an exhibitors pass! Suckers!

Haha! Got in before anybody else, look how deserted it looks! That's definitely going to change in the next ten minutes.

Look at some of the companies represented in the Expo Hall: Targus, Western Digital, etc. Look how clean and orderly everything looks.

The Macworld booth. Look at the second story, where they must conduct all the "exclusive interviews." I should have tried to get up there. What a story that would have been.

Check out the Microsoft booth in the distance. Have you heard of them?

This is one of the exhibits near us. Have you heard of Joby? They make the gorillapods. Those things are incredible, such a great idea. They're pretty much camera mounts that you can mount anywhere! On tree branches, on counters, you can wrap them around almost anything to get your perfect picture. Definitely a must for any photo enthusiast! Joby, you're welcome for the plug.

Ok enough, it's time to get our booth setup. This is a view of some of the guys in the Mobile Application Showcase. You saw all those big booths earlier right? Well, we lucked out. You see each of these tables? Four companies have to share each of them! That's right! Each company gets a quarter of the table to exhibit their product! A little unreasonable, but we'll take it.

Here's our quarter of the table + our sign. Quite extreme eh? Lots of people came over to talk to us once they read the top line. "How do we win an iPod touch????"

People are beginning to come in! Better get prepared! Now you probably are wondering, how on earth does one stand out amongst the crowd? Well my friend, look below

We had these special custom Word Warp Xtreme jerseys printed out for us to wear. Pretty sharp don’t you think? (Yes, I know they're the New York Islanders colors, I am a huge hockey fan). But regardless, the jerseys sure attracted a lot of attention and drew a lot of traffic our way. A few people asked us where they could purchase such a jersey. Unfortunately, there are only two of these ever made and they were both worn at Macworld. Maybe we can auction one off at a future date….(instead of game-worn jerseys, it's a special convention-worn jersey!)

This was taken shortly after the doors opened. Complete madness…look at all the people!

What a crowd. People were walking up to us every minute and we were happy to show them how to play Word Warp Xtreme!

In case you didn't know, we had a special Macworld Word Warp Xtreme contest where we gave the top scores of the day, iTunes gift cards, and the person with the highest score at the conclusion of Macworld, an iPod touch. Needless to say, the turnout was terrific!! Tons of people came to play and each of them walked away with a big smile! Some people even downloaded the game right there!

It's stuff like that that really makes us happy. We love making applications for our fans and seeing them ecstatic and excited really makes all our hard work worth it! Thanks for playing!

One of the big Macworld props in the lobby. You wouldn't believe how many people lined up to take a picture in front of this. It was like the Magic Castle at Disneyland!

This one was pretty funny. It's supposed to be the Greek god Atlas and instead of holding up the world, he's holding an iPod, an outdated one to say the least. Atlas, why not the iPod touch? Or the iPhone? Too much to burden?

This was taken from Saturday. More people! So crowded! My voice was so hoarse at the end of the day.

I didn’t get a chance to walk around to see the other booths until the very end of the last day of Macworld. I did get a chance to see this, I laughed. Can you guess why?

6:05 PM on Saturday, the 3rd and last day of Macworld. The crowds have left, everybody's legs are sore, and people's voices are pretty much gone. Everybody is pretty much wiped out. Check out all the trash and empty boxes that littered the floor. Kind of sums up a successful convention, don’t you think?

The final escalator ride of Macworld 2010.

------

What a great time we had up in San Francisco. Thank you to all who stopped by and said hi and checked out our game!! It was so nice meeting all of you and we hope you had as much fun as we had up there. Remember, seeing those smiles on your faces makes all our hard work worth it. You probably saw how big of a smile I had when you tapped on my shoulder and told me you were addicted to Word Warp. It's definitely great to interact with all our fans and hopefully we can talk again soon.

We are also running a Word Warp Xtreme Death Spiral Launch Party contest that runs until March 12th. Entering is free and all you have to do is make an account on OpenFeint (the community section on the home screen, which is also free). Once registered, you will have access to leaderboards, challenges, and statistics! Your scores played on the Death Spiral mode (the skeleton icon) will automatically be sent to the leaderboards and on March 12th, we’re going to award prizes to the top scores! So get warping!

Remember, we are always working on new updates and versions of our applications. You can keep up to date with all things MobilityWare on our blog here (so subscribe!!) or by following us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MobilityWare.

Once again, thanks for stopping by and thank you so much for playing Word Warp or Word Warp Xtreme. If you didn't get the chance to make it to Macworld, thanks for reading the blog and maybe you'll get the chance to come to the next convention we're working at.

Till next time,

Otto

Macworld 2010 Contest Winners!

2010-02-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

Macworld 2010 was so much fun! It was so great meeting everybody and I'm sure everybody had a blast. We'll have a blog post recapping our trip really soon so check back later for that!

Anyway, our Macworld 2010 Word Warp Xtreme contest was a HIT! Thanks to everybody who came and checked out the game, and it was extremely fun showing all you guys how the game worked and stuff. Thanks also to everybody who took the time to enter in our Word Warp Xtreme contest! We just posted the winners here, so go over and check it out! Lots of people entered, but in the end, there was only one grand prize winner. Congratulations to Ben Rice, who wins a brand new iPod touch!

We already sent emails out to the winners, so if you see your name on there but haven't received anything, send an email over to Marketing@MobilityWare.com right away!

Macworld 2010 and Contests!

2010-02-10T16:27:00.000-08:00

Greetings from San Francisco! We are currently getting situated at the Moscone Center, getting things set up and whatnot. While we're here, I just wanted to let you know about some contests we're going to be running!

Click past the jump to read about two exciting contests we're having!!
First, if you are attending Macworld, stop by the MobilityWare booth because this one is for you! This is the Macworld 2010 Contest. Anybody who stops by the MobilityWare booth at MA 29 can play a round of our brand new Death Spiral mode on our Word Warp Xtreme game on one of our devices and compete for prizes. The Grand Prize is an iPod touch for the person with the highest score at the end of Macworld on February 13th, 2010! There will also be daily winners, so come on by and try your luck!

We haven't forgotten about those of you who can't make the trip to San Francisco either! We're also holding a special 30 day Word Warp Xtreme Death Spiral Launch Party Contest open to everybody with an iPod or iPhone. It's free to enter! From February 11th, 2010 to March 12, 2010, anybody can play the new exciting Death Spiral mode and compete for prizes!

To participate, simply update your Word Warp Xtreme to version 1.1 and register on the community feature so your scores will be automatically submitted to the Death Spiral leaderboards. The top scores at the end of the contest period win prizes! We'll announce the winners on our website on March 16th.

So make sure to stop by, we'd love to meet you!

Impressive!

2010-01-29T11:51:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness it's Friday! For the past couple weeks, we here at MobilityWare have been swamped with work and preparation for MacWorld 2010 and that's led to some long and stressful days, but we did receive an email this week from a guy who had something rather impressive to share.

James Ryan of Austin, TX notified us that he reached a score of 1,000,000 in Word Warp! Very impressive indeed, thank you for letting us know and congratulations on reaching that milestone, James!

James also asked what the all-time high score might be. We're curious too!

Click past the jump to read more!

Last year, we did a blog post on another score that exceeded 1,000,000. You can find it right here.

But has anyone exceeded that mark? Send us your scores to Marketing@MobilityWare.com – and proof – and we'll gladly feature it on our blog.

Here's James with his proof. Congratulations again!!

You might be wondering why MobilityWare doesn’t keep track of high scores in Word Warp. Two issues, primarily. The first is privacy issues. Second, we didn’t think users would want us to create a whole system for tracking them in Word Warp. In fact, that is one of the reasons why we worked on the sequel to Word Warp last year, Word Warp Xtreme. Word Warp Xtreme is now available in the App Store – and it’s free! While we’re always careful about privacy, there are now systems in place that MobilityWare could use that we think users would find entertaining. The one we’re using is called OpenFeint. It’s one you might be already familiar with because OpenFeint is used by a number of very popular apps, such as Fieldrunners, Squareball, Stick Wars, and Pocket God.

Word Warp Xtreme tracks high scores – assuming you allow it to do so. All you have to do is to log-on (well, ok, register first if you haven’t already done so) and it will keep track of everything for you. Do that and we'll all know what the record is in each category.

So there you have it. As you can see, whether it's an email sent to us, a Facebook comment, or a Tweet, we love hearing from you guys. We love reading your stories, your comments, your concerns, etc. While we may not be able to respond to every single one, we do try very hard to get back to all you guys.

So if you've got a high score on Word Warp, send it in to Marketing@MobilityWare.com! And if think you've got the best Word Warp Xtreme score, make sure it's on OpenFeint and you can really see if you're the most Xtreme!

MacWorld 2010

2010-01-21T10:02:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that MobilityWare will be attending MacWorld 2010, on February 11-13, 2010 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. If you didn't know, Macworld is the premier showcase of Apple products and related technologies, and is an absolute blast to attend. One new feature that is being added to MacWorld this year is the Mobile Application Showcase, which is a special show floor area completely dedicated to iPhone apps, and you can definitely count on us being there!

Click past the jump to learn about our special Word Warp Xtreme contest held exclusively at MacWorld 2010!

MobilityWare will be holding a special Word Warp Xtreme Macworld contest. To participate, just visit our booth, MA 29, and play a round of Word Warp Xtreme in our special Tournament mode. The top scores at the end of each day win prizes and the highest score at the end of the day on Feb. 13 wins the grand prize – an iPod Touch! And, we do NOT have the crazy rule that you must be present at the end to win. Come on by and give it your best shot!

Stay tuned to our Twitter at www.twitter.com/MobilityWare for complimentary MacWorld 2010 Expo Hall pass giveaways. We'll be doing them quite frequently.

So remember, if you do attend MacWorld 2010, please stop by our booth, MA 29, and get in on this special contest, or share with us your thoughts, concerns, stories, gripes, moans, groans. We'd love to hear from you!

See you there!

Why Word Warp Xtreme is a NEW application!

2010-01-14T17:13:00.000-08:00

Just to let you know, Word Warp Xtreme is NOT just an updated version of Word Warp. We're sure we are going to be asked that question and the answer, like in many cases, while there are some trade-offs, we thought it would be better for most of our users.

First of all, remember, the existing Word Warp game that users currently have, will continue to function normally and users can still continue to play it if they choose. However, if they want to take advantage of the new features that we've been talking about the past week or so, they are going to need to download the application we've been featuring, Word Warp Xtreme.

Click past the jump to learn more!

There are a couple of objectives we like to keep in mind when we design an application:
- We want to make it fun or useful
- We want to make it easy, not just to use, but to get

The second bullet item is not something that users should worry about. However, it is something that we, as the developer, have to worry about. It’s not surprising that not everyone wants to run the app in the same way. So, we add options, run it this way, or that way, or some other way that users have told us they wanted. When you add more features, the number of options increases, making it more difficult for all our users. In addition, the interactions between all the settings means there’s a lot of, probably, uncommon, configurations to test. That slows us down from providing more features that people want, faster.

By eliminating some options, we’re able to simplify our work. In the case of Word Warp Xtreme, there’s no support for Portrait mode. First of all, there’s no room for seven-character words in Portrait mode. Since that was a very popular request, we decided it was more important to do that than to support Portrait mode.

Another example is that we no longer support older versions of the operating system. Word Warp Xtreme requires OS 3.0 or greater. Since it is free for iPhone users – and most Word Warp Xtreme users are iPhone users – we didn’t think that the requirement would upset many of our users. To lessen the pain still further, Apple reduced the price for the upgrade to under $5 when OS 3.1 was released.

Eliminating these features that impacted few users allowed us to put more time into new features than many more wanted. In addition, it allowed us to maintain a feature that we think makes life much easier – downloads “over the air.”

Many users don’t know – and again, they shouldn’t have to worry about this – that there is a limited to the size of an app that can be downloaded over the AT&T network. We added a lot of functionality to Word Warp – so much so that it is close to the limit of the size of the app that one can download “over the air.” By being careful, Word Warp Xtreme users don’t have to worry about connecting via a data cable or connecting via wifi – they can download it whenever they want “over the air.”

Different Versions for Different Folks

2010-01-14T10:23:00.000-08:00

MobilityWare fans are probably aware that MobilityWare likes to offer its users choices. For instance, many of our applications have free and paid versions. Word Warp is one of those applications; we offered a free application that contained ads, while a paid application did not have ads at all.

With Word Warp Xtreme, we again offer our users choices. However, because of changes made by Apple, we now have to do so differently. There is only one Word Warp Xtreme application in the App Store. Users may download it FOR FREE and play it for as long as they want. Yes, there are ads in this base version of Word Warp Xtreme. However, if you decide that you really like Word Warp Xtreme but don’t want the ads, we offer an option where you can upgrade to a version that does not have ads.

Click past the jump to learn more about this option

The way one performs the upgrade is by doing an “in-app purchase.” Simply tap on the giant Word Warp icon in the center on the Home Screen, you know, the one that says "Want to Play Without Ads? Tap Here!" You will then be asked to approve the purchase of the ad-free version of Word Warp Xtreme. It's all handled by iTunes; so there's no need to whip out your credit card or input your PayPal information. (You can also access the in-app purchase by going to the Options screen in Word Warp Xtreme and clicking "Turn off ads.")

For those that may not be keeping track, the software that you need on your device is the iPhone OS 3.0. It’s free to iPhone users. While there is a charge to iPod Touch users, it’s only $4.95. Actually, iPhone OS 3.0 was initially $9.95 for touch users but Apple reduced the price to $4.95 when OS 3.1 was released.

This change by Apple simplifies your life. In Word Warp, if a person tried the old free version and then decided that he/she wanted to purchase the paid ad-free version, another application would have to be downloaded. This results in either two applications on the device, taking up room, or the person would have to take the time to delete the old, free one, thus losing their high score and whatnot. Now, with an in-app purchase, there’s no additional overhead; you’re done!

So there you have Word Warp Xtreme -- one application with Xtreme functionality in two versions – a free, ad-supported version and a faster, ad-free, version.

Suggesting/Reporting Words

2010-01-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

Remember the series of blog posts we did responding to comments made in the App Store about Word Warp? Remember the most controversial series…the one where we addressed those who questioned the authenticity of the words used in Word Warp? (It's found here in case you wanted to refresh your memory).
While we think we answered that issue fairly well in the blog post (the answer again is, NO, the words are NOT made up) we decided to include a feature in Word Warp Xtreme that those conspiracy theorists may find rather useful – the option to suggest a word or report a word.

Click past the jump to learn more!

If you see a word you think shouldn't be there, or if you think there is a word that should be included, you can bring it to our attention without ever leaving the app! Once the current puzzle is completed and all the words are revealed, you can simply tap on the word in question – and you will be taken to the screen where you can see the definition of the word. At the bottom of the screen, you can either Report a Word or Report a Missing Word. Clicking on either option sends a message to us where we will review the word and determine an action to take! It's that easy!

Community!

2010-01-11T15:34:00.000-08:00

If I had a dime for every time I read a tweet that said something along the lines of, "I've achieved Word Warp greatness with a score of ____ points and I dare anybody to beat that," I'd be leaning back, relaxing, and sipping bottles of beer in Aruba, debating whether or not I should text Steve Jobs and tell him to step his game up. Unfortunately, that scenario only exists in Corona commercials and I don't think I'll ever be competing with Steve Jobs. BUT, we did make sure to include a feature that will impact the number of people boasting about their scores. I'm not going to lie, I love and appreciate reading all of the tweets, but sometimes I wish there was a way for people to actually know how their score stacks up against others.

Click past the jump to find out our solution!

That's where our community features come into play. Word Warp Xtreme is now Open-Feint enabled. You may recognize these features from applications such as Pocket God or Stick Wars and we decided to go along with what is familiar to many of our players. In case you don’t know, by joining the community, you have access to leader boards, achievements, and the ability to send/receive challenges!

Simply load up Word Warp Xtreme, select the Community button, sign in (or create an account, it takes just seconds – you can even link your Facebook and Twitter accounts to help expedite the process) and then join the fun! You can see what players have the highest scores, or what score you need to attain in order to declare yourself the best Word Warp player around! See how your friends are doing and what high scores they've attained. Try and nail some achievements on your own game. Maybe send a challenge his/her way if you're feeling confident!

Challenges!

2010-01-11T11:21:00.000-08:00

Think you've got the best Word Warp Xtreme score amongst your friends? Think you can take on the so called "Ultimate Word Warper" in your office? Feel like you deserve the chance to take on the #1 ranked Word Warp player on the leader board? Wish there was some way to prove your worth? Here's your chance! By using the community features offered in Word Warp Xtreme, you can send and accept challenges from your friends and see if you've got what it takes to be declared the most Xtreme!

Click past the jump to learn more about Challenges!

Simply load up Word Warp Xtreme, head to the Challenge screen and click Send Challenge. Once you start the challenge you have 2 minutes to achieve the highest score possible, so rack up those points! When you're done, Word Warp Xtreme will compose a message to send out to your friends. You'll be able to personalize the message and then choose, or friends, to challenge!

If you can dish out a challenge, you better be ready to take on a challenge too! Simply go to the Challenge screen and click Accept Challenge to see all the challenges your friends have sent your way. Load up the challenges and see if you can beat their scores!

Let the trash talking begin!

Head 2 Head Play!!

2010-01-08T10:24:00.000-08:00

Continuing on our mission to cover the features of Word Warp Xtreme, we'll discuss other exciting social features of the game. In addition to Play-N-Pass, there's an even more exciting way to play against your friends, the thrilling Head-2-Head play!

Click past the jump to read more about my most favorite mode in Word Warp Xtreme!

In my opinion, this might be the most exciting feature in this game. No more waiting around for somebody else to finish – you compete in real time, mano a mano via connection to your friend's device using Bluetooth. (For those unaware of Bluetooth capability, this means you need at least a 2nd generation iPhone or iPod touch and the 3.0 firmware). Once connected, compete against your friend on the SAME PUZZLE at the SAME TIME! Only the first person to get a word gets the points, so make sure you beat your friend to it!! Words are updated in color to show who got the word first. Bonus words are also in effect! The player with the highest score at the end of two minutes wins!

Dissatisfied with the result? Play Head 2 Head again! Knock yourselves out!! Duel for as long as it takes to be declared the most Xtreme!

Play-N-Pass Mode

2010-01-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

How often have we read tweets about people talking trash to each other about their Word Warp scores? Given a stronger desire to compete than we had initially imagined, one of the goals in the design of Word Warp Xtreme was to make it easier for a person to play against their friends and, of course, to really determine who the best is. We made sure to include lots of opportunities in Word Warp Xtreme where we could have some sort of social interaction and resolve all disputes about who was the most Xtreme! Ok you're probably right, all we're doing is increasing the trash talking – but at least now it's more fun!

Click past the jump to learn about the Play-N-Pass mode!

We'll feature the first of such opportunities today, the Play-N-Pass feature. With Play-N-Pass, two people use a single device to compete against each other. The first person plays a puzzle for two minutes, trying to accumulate the highest score possible. When time runs out, pass the device over to the second person to see if your friend can beat your score on the same puzzle! Remember, the bonus words are still in effect, and they could be the decisive word that separates you and your friend from being the most Xtreme!!

If there's a dispute on the scores, I guess you'll just have to play another round of Play-N-Pass, or maybe try out Head-2-Head play!

Xtreme Play!!

2010-01-06T11:52:00.000-08:00

Today, we'll be taking a look at our Xtreme play mode, our newest feature of Word Warp Xtreme!

Xtreme play is where you get a series of six and seven letter words that are jumbled up. Your mission is to unscramble each of these words before time runs out. You get no points for coming up with four or five letter words. You have to figure out each word! The faster you figure out each complete word, the higher your score!!

Click past the jump to learn more about Xtreme play!

Stumped? Warp the letters! See if you can successfully unscramble the words. Still stuck? Don’t worry, we'll be helping you out. As time ticks down, we'll give you some clues and get you on the right track. But make sure you don’t wait too long…the clock is ticking down and once the timer hits zero, game over! Get all the words and move on to the next level!

We're sure this mode will surely add another element of challenge to Word Warp Xtreme! We're excited to see how high your scores will be! Get an Xtreme score and post it on the leader boards (more on this in the next couple days) and if anybody can top it!

Six and Seven Letter Puzzles!!!!

2010-01-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

So to kick off our blog series spotlighting the features of Word Warp Xtreme, I thought we'd start by taking a look at one of the most common requests we received for Word Warp: seven letter puzzles. Now we've been meaning to institute seven letter puzzles into our game for some time now, we just didn't think we could put it in Word Warp without drastically changing the layout of the game. As you may know, our old Word Warp game is played in portrait mode and if you look at the screen, there's no way we could comfortably place seven blank spaces on the screen without anything looking squished or awkward.

Click past the jump to learn more!

Hence, the next big feature in Word Warp Xtreme, and perhaps the most obvious, is that the game is played in LANDSCAPE mode! Now we can easily fit seven blanks across the screen, and still have room to fit the Warp, Last, Got It, and End buttons as well. I had the opportunity to play Word Warp Xtreme and I can definitely say the gameplay feels much more natural as I can hold my device comfortably and tap letters with both hands. I hope this accommodation factor adds a boost to your Word Warping abilities!

But back to the main topic of the blog post, yes, because of the layout of Word Warp Xtreme, there are now seven letter puzzles available to be played. I'm sure this adds an extra element of challenge to your game and I'm definitely excited to see how well you guys do. Yes, the six letter puzzles are still there and you can play games with strictly six letter puzzles, seven letter puzzles, or play games where you'll encounter both sets of puzzles. How great is that?

Also, because the game is played in landscape, we have room to include space for five columns, holding ten words each, allowing us to include a lot more space for words that can be derived from the puzzle characters (more than any other game in this specific anagram game genre). Hence, this makes our puzzles the largest in the App Store!

You may also notice that next to some of the words at the top, there may be a multiplier, like "2x." If you can get those words, hats off to you! Those are the bonus words, the seemingly "harder" words that one might not normally pick up right away. Correctly spelling that word doubles the points you would have received for that word. Xtreme, right?

So there you go, our first big feature of Word Warp Xtreme. Stay tuned in the coming days for other elements of Word Warp Xtreme we will feature.

Remember, you can get Word Warp Xtreme from the App Store for FREE!

Word Warp Xtreme Giveaways!!

2010-01-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

Want to know more about Word Warp Xtreme? Dying to purchase the new John Mayer album? Wish you could do both? Here's your chance!

To celebrate the launch of our new application, Word Warp Xtreme, we thought we'd give away some stuff, in the tune of iTunes gift cards! You want one? Listen up!

For the next EIGHT days, we're going to be spotlighting a feature of Word Warp Xtreme, giving a description about it as well as maybe some insight and what it may bring. Along with each post every day, we're going to be giving away one $15 iTunes gift card to a lucky individual.

How will we choose that individual? Click past the jump.

It's easy, we're going to be posing a question each day on our Word Warp Facebook page to all you guys. The person with the most creative/funniest/interesting response gets the $15 iTunes gift card (judged by the MobilityWare panel of judges). Simple as that!

We're going to pose the question each day on the Word Warp Facebook page at 12 PM PST. You have until 9 AM PST the following day to come up with your response. All entries after the 9 AM PST deadline will be ineligible (although we still love hearing from you guys). We will reveal the winner of the previous day's contest when we pose the new question.

Yes, you may participate on more than one day, and winning on one day does not mean you are ineligible on other days! So stay tuned every day for your chance to win a gift card or two or three…!

Keep in mind that this is an special contest we're holding for our Word Warp and Word Warp Xtreme fans! You guys are the first group of people to hear about Word Warp Xtreme, so your chances at winning before others find out are very high! After reading about all the Xtreme features, your chances at dominating at Word Warp Xtreme against your friends should rise exponentially as well!

So be on the lookout and check back to our blog/Facebook page for the latest question/feature. And go check out Word Warp Xtreme! It's FREE!!!

WORD WARP XTREME

2010-01-04T09:58:00.000-08:00

So on our Twitter, we promised you guys big things for 2010. Today is January 3rd and wow, do I have some good news for you today.

So, we all know you've played Word Warp and I think it's safe to say that people absolutely love the game. I know I've spent quite a few blog posts thanking you guys for playing it all the time. I've also spent a good amount of time on Twitter thanking people for telling their friends to play Word Warp. It's really heartwarming to see people embrace a game you've worked so hard on and we cannot thank you guys enough.

Well, you are in for a treat!! Drum roll please!

Ladies and gentlemen…boys and girls…children of all ages…

In stores now…

From the makers of Word Warp…

Comes the much requested sequel…

So jam-packed with new features it can be only be characterized by one word

Xtreme…

WORD WARP XTREME!!!!

I hope the buildup was epic enough. I think it might be more convincing if it was said out loud in a deep voice. But anyway, Word Warp Xtreme is in the App Store NOW for FREE!

We pretty much took Word Warp and warped it (pardon the pun) – and then took it to a whole new level. We thought about a lot of the suggestions and comments people had for Word Warp, combined them with features we've been thinking about for a while, and mashed them together to come up with Word Warp Xtreme.

For all the Word Warp faithful, we did not depart from the true essence of the game. Word Warp Xtreme is still an anagram type of word game. Your goal is still to try and form as many words as you can out of the letters given to you before time runs out. You still can only advance to the next level if you can come up with the word that uses all the letters given to you.

And what would Word Warp Xtreme be if there was no Warp button? Of course it's still there! The ability to adjust the game time is still there as well, as well as the Last button and the dictionary capability at the end of each level.

While we did add a lot of new features, we made a major simplification – there is only one Word Warp Xtreme application. Previously, one had to decide between a free version and a paid version. Word Warp Xtreme is a FREE, ad-supported application, but with an option for an in-app purchase to speed up the game by removing the ads.

But in this release we did incorporate some new XTREME features. Some of them include

--- SIX AND SEVEN LETTER PUZZLES

--- XTREME MODE

--- PLAYING WITH YOUR FRIENDS (Head-2-Head and Play-N-Pass modes)

--- CHALLENGES

--- COMMUNITY

--- IN APP PURCHASES

--- SUGGESTING/REPORTING WORDS

Stay tuned in the following days when we go into more detail about each of these features, explaining them as well as maybe offering some input about why we included it. Maybe you'll learn some trivia you probably wouldn’t have learned anywhere else.

If you want to go check out the game, get it from iTunes!

Check it out in the App Store here!

Let's see if you can handle Word Warp Xtreme….

By the way, this is just the start of things to come from MobilityWare in 2010..

A little tidbit for you..

2009-11-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

Apple just announced that there are more than 100,000 applications in the iTunes App Store

Now we know that many of these apps are gimmicks and pointless apps that you have probably touched once, I'm sure you have some real gems on your iPhones/iPod Touches.

What are they? What's your go-to app when you're bored? What app can't you do without?

FAQs on Word Warp Part III

2009-10-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Our last set of responses for Word Warp deal with probably the biggest complaint about the application, the issue of where we get the words in Word Warp.

Now the thing that confuses me to a great extent is that from talking to a large number of Word Warp players, reading over reviews and then also reading the comments from the App Store, I have concluded that there are two types of Word Warp players: those who are extremely happy with the game and can't find much to complain with, and those who vehemently question the authenticity of the words used in Word Warp.

Today, I will address the concerns of the latter group, that have left comments such as these:

     "Now I know that some of the words you guys have in there aren't words at all. Still a great game, just need to fix that"

Ok, so it seems that there are two parts to this conspiracy theory here: words that people think should be included in the game, and words that people haven't heard of that are included. Well contrary to what some people may believe, Word Warp does not make up the words in-the game. But even I didn’t know the details of how the game worked. Therefore, I decided I must find a solution and seek the counsel of the MobilityWare sorcerers, the obscure Engineering group. In true Indiana Jones fashion, I ventured (minus the fedora) into the dark hallways of the building, tip-toeing past several of the offices and taking great leaps of faith before I found myself in the bowels of Engineering.

Engineering kindly informed me that there were two word lists that the Word Warp game uses: the “default” word list and the “Alternative” word list. The default list in the game comes from an open source dictionary project, a compilation of many different lists oriented towards common, non-technical, words in American English. So the words aren't all fake!   The "Alternate Word List," which can be selected from the options screen, is a larger and more difficult word list that is a subset of the North American tournament Scrabble word list.   Now that’s where you’ll find some obscure words! Perhaps some users have inadvertently selected the Alternative word list¹.

Another comment deserves some discussion:

     "in almost every game there are words that do not exist in the dictionary. It is irritating trying to figure out a word that is not a word"

Besides the choice of word lists, Word Warp includes access to a dictionary to help those that encounter a word that they don’t know. That dictionary is an online one that is completely SEPARATE from the word list in the game.

Another user wrote:

     "enjoy it, but would love to know where dictionary comes from and to be able to modify. A few real words don't get accepted."

This is a perfectly reasonable comment/request. If anybody has words they object to or think are unreasonable, please send an email with the word(s) in question to Support@MobilityWare.com. After receiving any correspondence, our support staff will research it and make a decision as to whether or not to pull the word, or include it.

I hope this resolves any questions anyone had regarding the origin of the words in Word Warp.

Back from my quest, I read some more comments and found this one particularly amusing:

     "many of the words are slang, abbreviations, or not even words at all. The sources confirm that some words are not really words. It appears that some Jolt inspired programmer felt necessary to include his favorite letters, and try to pass them off as words. I feel they should stick with a single dictionary, perhaps Webster's dictionary."

While we love Word Warp, we didn’t realize that we deserve to have our own “Deep Throat!” Who are these "sources" that you consult? Perhaps they are mythical beings that are experts on the English language? May I consult them before I try out for Wheel of Fortune? I could really use the knowledge! It's interesting to read one person’s attempt at explaining where the words come from. Now that I know the truth, to the person who posted this comment, I can safely say that my "sources" confirm that your "sources" are wrong.

As I’ve explained, MobilityWare doesn't make up words to throw in the game and confuse our players. We admit we want more customers, not fewer. Why would we intentionally try to frustrate our players? We know that people prefer to win rather than lose. Making customers unhappy is NOT a way to get more customers or to convince people to play our applications more often.

So in summary, no, we do not make up the words, just make sure you choose the appropriate word list. We just want you guys to have fun. If a word comes up that you think is inappropriate or that you think should be added, let us know! We make our best effort to read all of your suggestions on how Word Warp can be more fun and we'd like you to know we are listening!

All in all, we can't tell you how much we appreciate you guys taking the time to leave a comment regarding Word Warp. Without your feedback, we wouldn't have such a clear idea on where we should focus on to improve the game. We make our applications for you guys to enjoy and we definitely welcome all suggestions. Thanks again and make sure you stay tuned for updates!

1. The Alternative Word List can be selected from the Options screen, which is accessed by pushing the little "i" button at the top right during gameplay

FAQs on Word Warp Part II

2009-10-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

Continuing on our series of responding to comments made about our Word Warp application in the App Store, here are some more responses.

The following set of comments revolves around some layout concerns.

"also a big fan of Text Twist. This comes close in concept but the letters are too small to be selected accurately and the layout is poor. Could use a landscape mode, a "last word" button and way bigger letters to select"

"hate that time and battery meter is missing at the top of the screen. Prefer scores larger at bottom of screen, as they were, vs tiny at the top"

"ugly interface. Fun game though. Needs some dictionary word accuracy revisions and maybe a landscape mode? Otherwise it's a fun and addicting app!!"

The layout of our application is something we have discussed immensely. We understand some may find that the letters are too small, but we try to do what we can. After all, the iPhone screen is only so big and you can only put so much into it. If it was larger, I'm sure we, as well as other developers, would try to put more things on it too. It's just an example of a trade-off and we try to do as best as we can.

The landscape mode is something we have looked at before and continue to consider. Obviously, it is not as comfortable a position in which to hold the device.

We understand that the layout is an issue with some users. The vast majority of users are happy with it. However, we are always exploring ways of addressing the issue without upsetting those that are happy and don’t want changes.

This next comment was made in regards to the gameplay in Word Warp

"this app could be so much better if they'd fix one thing. How can you have like 12 words and just miss the last and lose the level. Basically if you get the longest word – just that one word, you can advance to the next level. That's silly. It should be based on the amount of words you find – not just one!"

We understand the issue. It’s another trade-off. Perhaps only allowing advancement based on getting one of the longest words is too strict. However, I don’t think just getting a lot of short words is grounds for advancement.

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We do want to say thanks to all our users. We like to pay particular attention to those users that may have some issue with the layout or gameplay but have taken their time to comment. Normally, we recognize the validity of the comments, but because of trade-offs, have gone in another direction. Sometimes, we may disagree. Of course, other users disagree because there’s never a situation where everyone is in agreement. Still, the feedback we receive from you guys is critical to evaluating what changes we may make to an application.

FAQS on Word Warp Part I

2009-10-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

So you guys might remember a couple weeks ago where we took a couple days to respond to some of the Solitaire comments our fans wrote in on our App Store page. This week, we decided to tackle on one of our popular applications, Word Warp, a game that posses a gigantic fan base but also its share of questions and concerns.

The first set of comments deals with the whole "ads" factor:

"liked the game. Hated the ads. deleted the game."

"Was a fun game until you decided to put pop ups that keep asking my gender to "specialize ads" to fit my gender before I can move to the next level. It's guerilla marketing, I don’t appreciate it!!"

"I really loved the game but after each game there's an ad. And I find the ads very annoying after each and every game. I just finally deleted it. Not worth the annoyance"

Yes, we know there are ads in most our free apps. We want to state that MobilityWare is a professional software firm. We're not two guys living on air mattresses coding between classes and waiting for hot pockets to heat up in the microwave. That's not meant to be a disparaging comment on any company, but simply a statement about what MobilityWare is.

That means there are lots of bills to be paid! We have to pay our developers, pay our administrative people, rent in offices, electricity; the list goes on and on. So of course we have to find a way to pay our expenses. Rather than forcing everyone to pay for apps, we like to give customers a choice: download a free app that is ad-supported, or download a paid app and you won’t get the ads.

We find the comments about the ads a little interesting. We at MobilityWare are upfront about which apps are ad-supported. We certainly understand some find the ads annoying; that’s why there's a choice. Maybe we just don’t understand the people who try our free apps and complain about the ads. Have you ever had to work without being paid? It's hard to just live on air, you know.

The next set of comments revolve around the game crashing:

"some ads crash the game. This has been going on for weeks now, and is inexcusable. When it works, it's hellishly addictive (no, none of the words are made up, some reviewers just have a poor vocabulary). But when it often crashes partway through a game, wiping out your score, what's the point?? – Aug. 19th, 2009

"Great game but mine freezes a lot" – Aug. 7, 2009

"since the last update, this game crashes all the time, usually after a level going to an ad – it's a shame cause it's one of my favorites…hope you fix it" – Aug. 2, 2009

"I love playing this game, but the constant crashes after I finish levels are a real drag" – Jul. 25, 2009

"I love this game. I do. But it has a marked tendency to crash after ads (nearly 100% if you pull up the menu and skip the ad before it completes, but sometimes just randomly as well)" – Jul. 31, 2009

It's a shame these comments are dated and still show up for the current version of Word Warp in the App Store. Yes, the app crashed and we apologize. We understand many of our faithful customers were upset and they definitely have a right to be. However, causing a massive uproar and confusion was the least of our intentions! The freezes, crashes and "bad ads" that our customers experienced have been traced back to a defective ad that was being delivered by our ad provider and NOT as a result of the software update. Our provider has assured us that the defective ad has been removed from the delivery channel and that steps have been taken in order to prevent this kind of problem from happening again. Please accept our apologies.

While we may not be perfect, we surely try to be. We're not a "hit-and-run" software company where we hope you download an expensive app and "run" by ignoring you after we have your money. If something was working but no longer does, it is likely to be unintentional. Send us an email ASAP (support@MobilityWare.com) and we're going to do everything we can to investigate it right away. That is something we can assure you.

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We’ll respond to another set of comments for our Word Warp applicationshortly. Remember, let us know if you think this sort of post ishelpful! You can post in the comment section any thoughts or furtherquestions and we’ll do our best to address it. Also, if there is agame you’d like for us to respond to comments on, please let us know!

Guess what this Hangman has been up to!

2009-10-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

So yesterday we gave you a sneak peek (albeit a very cloudy peek) at what our new Hangman looks like.

Today, we'll unveil a screenshot from our latest Hangman game which is available here (an ad-supported version) and here (a paid version). We're really proud of how it came out and we're sure you'll love the new look of it!

Before you click past the jump, were you able to guess from yesterday's picture what the Hangman has been up to?

The Hangman has been up to no good! Watch as he tries to create a devastating monster to run rampant on the town and carry out all sorts of evil deeds! Only you can prevent him from accomplishing his horrific task by guessing the word before the monster is fully operational!

Do you guys like it?

Along with this new theme is a brand new Monster-themed word list, just in time for Halloween a couple weeks from now, as well as a more mild theme for those who those who want to revisit the days when Hangman was just a simple paper and pencil game.

There are also a few surprises sprinkled inside the game. Here's one hint: Look for a surprise in the Summer theme!

Check them out and let us know what you think! Enjoy!

New Hangman!!

2009-10-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

So in the whirlwind of events that happened recently, we completely forgot to remind you guys about our new Hangman game, one with more vibrant colors and a new unique theme!

Now, even though the game just got released a couple days ago and is available for download/upgrade in the App Store, we thought maybe we could entice you guys in some fun to see if you can guess what our latest theme is!

So here's a distorted screenshot from the actual game to give you a little hint of what is in store for you guys when you download our newest Hangman game!

We'll release an actual screenshot for our game tomorrow!

MOTODEV Summit

2009-10-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, meant to get this up yesterday but I was having trouble getting pictures up.

So on Tuesday, Dave and I went down to San Diego for the MOTODEV Summit, which was a one day event covering all things Android.

Now, we here at MobilityWare are always looking out for new opportunities and we do try and keep up to date on the latest technology in the mobile space, so what better place to learn about the latest Android technology than to go to the MOTODEV Summit, where developers and Android experts could collaborate, network, and share knowledge about Android!

As promised, I did get some pictures taken of our time at the event but unfortunately, Dave and I each had forgotten to bring our own cameras. D'oh! However, I did manage to snap some pictures with my phone camera to help document the event, and you can bet I will definitely bring my camera to the next tradeshow/summit/conference/etc.

Click past the jump to read about our experience in San Diego (complete with pictures!)

So early Tuesday morning, Dave and I hopped in the car and drove down to San Diego, making the trip in a brisk hour and a half. Upon arrival and check-in at the venue, the Hard Rock Hotel, we were ushered our way upstairs where we were immediately greeted by a large hallway filled with people bustling about.

On the sides of the hallway were booths filled with representatives from different Android service providers, ready to answer questions and explain how their services would benefit an Android developer. There were representatives from companies like Flurry, who provide great mobile application analytics to developers, and TeleAtlas, who provide valuable geographic data to developers, and we eagerly conversed about the positive opportunities these services could potentially offer an Android developer.

After making our way through the 10-12 booths, we gathered in another room, where bowls and bowls of breakfast food lay out for the picking.

After helping ourselves to some fruit and muffins, we sat and watched as more and more people filed in.

A short while later, we all gathered into a large room and awaited the keynote speech.

During the speech, the speakers talked about the potential opportunities that awaited if one were to go into developing an Android application. They talked about how people were becoming more and more attached to their smart phones and that Android is a way to really capture this audience and provide for them an experience unlike any other platform today.

Being that the whole summit was provided by Motorola, of course a Motorola phone using Android was demoed. The Motorola Cliq was shown by one of the speakers, who made note to point out that it slid open to a full QWERTY keyboard. On the home screen, there were a bunch of applications or widgets available. He showed a couple of these, most notably the game Labyrinth (a very popular app on the iPhone) which made use of the accelerometer, as well as an exercise app that showed the functionality available on the Android platform.

He then showed the phone in portrait mode and showed us how comprehensive the status update functions were, as well as how contact information was exhibited on the phone. Some very interesting stuff and it definitely caught my attention.

At the end of the keynote speech, one of the speakers told us to check under our seats. Apparently, out of the hundreds of seats in the large auditorium, there were 75 seats with a card underneath. If a card was found underneath your seat, you had just won a Motorola Cliq!! Unfortunately, I was disappointed to find that there was no card under mine, and I was further aggravated when I watched the person in front of me and the person to the my left pull out cards from underneath their seats!

After the keynote speech, I had the pleasure to be able to try the Motorola Cliq first hand. It had a very firm feel to it but I had a little bit of trouble trying to duplicate the swift maneuvers the speaker had shown earlier. However, I think this is just a matter of me being unfamiliar with the phone. Overall, I enjoyed my short time with the Cliq and I only wish I could play around with it a bit more.

An important part of the Motorola Summit was the many sessions available throughout the day, ranging from sessions for a beginner developer seeing if Android was worth pursing, to information sessions for experienced developers who wanted to take full advantage of the software Motorola provides.

Being that I have had no experience with Android, I took a seat in one of the sessions appropriately named "Why Develop for Android."

This 50 minute session talked about how so many people use smartphones these days, not only for pictures and text messaging but for application use and social networking. The speakers talked about how many of the features available on the Android platform could create applications that these people would undoubtedly embrace and that the time to pursue Android app developing was now.

We then broke for lunch, where another set of bowls and plates filled with food waited in the food room. I thought the food was delicious and I happily helped myself on return trips (Shhh don’t tell anybody! Haha).

After lunch was over, we returned to more sessions. I sat through a session that detailed the main features on the Android platform and how they could be utilized together to create an effective Android application. Being a person in the MobilityWare marketing department, I obviously had no clue as to what some of the engineering stuff being discussed was about, but it was interesting to be able to make out bits and pieces of some of the technology was being discussed. Some of it was pretty interesting to me. The others, not so much =] .

After some other sessions, I took a break and visited the Developer Playground, advertised as a place to "relax, create, dabble and play." There was a bunch of clay lying around and apparently there was a contest to create the funniest or most creative "droid," where the winner of each category would win a Motorola Cliq.

Here is everybody's submission so far:

I did take my chances and worked on my own droid. It was a refreshing moment to be able to play with clay again. I don’t think I've touched it since elementary school.

Here's my entry in the funniest category (those are weights in his hand =] ).

After I built my droid and submitted it for approval, I returned to a session titled "Targeting the End Customer with Android." Finally, a marketing session that could be of interest to me!

For the next 40 minutes, I listened intently to a series of panelists who talked about the current trends in several technology markets and explained some ways of targeting the end consumer. Though MobilityWare currently is not involved in any Android projects, it was interesting to learn about the vast number of opportunities that could be exploited if a person were to hit the right spot. I thought this was the best session of the day by far.

A session later, everybody gathered outside on the 4th floor for the MOTODEV Summit Party. It was so refreshing to finally be outside after sitting indoors for the majority of the day. There was music, free drinks, and waitresses walking around with plates of hors d'oeuvres, making for a great way to relax and interact with other people and talk about the day. It was a pleasure to meet some people who had flew in from places like Minnesota, Detroit, San Jose, and we all shared a laugh when we discussed the terrific weather we get to enjoy year round in California.

Everybody's droids were also out for display. This was where everybody would get the chance to vote for a droid in each category, funniest and most creative.

Here's my droid begging to be chosen!

A short while later, the winners were announced. Unfortunately, my entry did not win although I did see a person giggle and point at my droid to show to his friend.

After this, it was starting to get late and people began to disperse, so Dave and I got up to leave back to Irvine.

It was a very informational day to say the least. We definitely met some great people and learned a great deal about the Android platform and the opportunities it provides. A big thank you to Motorola and all the service providers on hand; it was a great learning experience and perhaps we will return next year!

Multimedia..

2009-10-05T15:00:00.000-07:00

So we've decided that with our new blog and all, we should at least spruce it up a bit and make it more attractive. We're thinking we might start including some pictures in our more personal posts, and let you guys in what goes on behind the scenes here at MobilityWare.

Tomorrow we will be attending the MOTODEV summit in San Diego, CA (just to see what those Android guys have been up to recently) and hopefully if all goes well, we can get some pictures taken and sort of document our trip in a post.

Check back Wednesday for a recap of our trip (hopefully with pictures!!)

Suggestions for Word Warp???

2009-10-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Word Warp is one of our most popular applications and we’re always looking for ways to improve it. As you may know, we love getting customer feedback and seeing what everybody has to say about our games.

Recently, we’ve been tossing around some ideas around here at MobilityWare, just seeing what we can come up with in addition to our already planned BIG changes. Rather than limiting the ideas to ourselves, we wanted to explicitly include you – our customers. So here’s your chance – we’re asking what suggestions YOU guys may have to help improve Word Warp. They don’t have to be revolutionary. They can be things as minor as the wording on a screen to as big as a new feature that would get hundreds of people playing all night.

Send your ideas over to us at Marketing@MobilityWare.com or post them in the comments. Obviously, the sooner the better. We welcome all suggestions. Look forward to hearing from you!!

Quick Update on Word Warp

2009-09-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

Hey just a quick update here, so over the weekend I was checking out some of the tweets about Word Warp and it gets me every time. It’s great to hear from you guys. We can’t thank you enough for your support!

Now about Word Warp, we love when you guys talk about how addicting it is and how you can’t put it down. Well let me be the first to tell you that we have some pretty BIG ideas concerning Word Warp cooking over here at MobilityWare! Everything is in pre-production and tentative right now and I swore not to give any details away, but I am literally wowed by the stuff that is being discussed in meetings. You guys are going to be blown away!

Anyways, thank you all for all your support. I promise I’ll fill you guys in the first chance I get. Until then, keep Word Warping!

Some more stuff on Doodle Jump (easter eggs, surprises)

2009-09-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

Following up on yesterday, one reader pointed out to me that there is actually an Easter egg mini game within the very popular game Pocket God, that is a cross over imitation of Doodle Jump!

So I loaded up Pocket God and played around a little and sure enough, I found the appropriately titled Ooga Jump.

Click past the jump to find out how to access the Ooga jump as well as another Doodle Jump/Pocket God crossover

To play the Ooga Jump game, you take one of the characters (oogs) and lift him upwards past the cloud line. Once above that, drop him on top of one of the three clouds and let him jump! Rainy clouds freeze you into an ice cube and the thunderclouds propel you up sky high. What's your Ooga Jump high score?

Another crossover between the two games takes place on Doodle Jump.

After you play through Doodle Jump and lose, you are shown your high score and your name, should you want to change it. If you change your name to one of the original pygmy names from Pocket God (Ooga, Klik, Klak, etc.), our green jumping friend will be replaced by one of the Pocket God oogs!

I have no idea if this oog possesses any different jumping ability than our green friend, but its quite pleasant and humorous to watch the oog jump around.

As you can probably tell, Doodle Jump is currently one of the more popular games in our office. What are yours?

Stay tuned in the near future of a list of our current favorite games!

Doodle Jump!

2009-09-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I thought I’d take a little time today to discuss something on a lighter note, hopefully something you can all relate to.

Yesterday, we talked about how popular the App Store is and how gargantuan their catalogue of applications is. Though we also casually alluded to the fact that many of the applications in the Top 100 today seem like cheap gimmicks, I think we all know there are more than a few gems hidden beneath all these applications.

One such gem is the pleasantly named Doodle Jump

With gameplay so simplistic barely any instructions are needed, this true “pick up and play” game takes advantage of the accelerometer and takes you on an addicting jumping ride filled with jet packs, black holes, exploding platforms and “monsters” that I guarantee you will get hooked on extremely quick.

What also makes the game interesting is that as you bounce from platform to platform, you notice there are lines and names on the side of the paper, which note the top scores of other players playing Doodle Jump. It’s an intriguing and non-distracting way to judge your progress as you ascend.

With a price of $0.99, I assure you that you will get your money’s worth playing this game again and again. Though there may be some cries of frustration as your platform breaks away, the cute and simplistic graphics warrant you at least another go.

You can purchase Doodle Jump at the App Store here

I have a high score of 18439 (stupid UFOs!). Can you beat that?

Ridiculous!!

2009-09-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

I guess it just goes to show how absolutely dominating the popularity of the Apple App Store is. Apparently, last Friday, Apple approved 1394 applications in one day. In one day!!!

Granted only 300 or so were games, 1394 applications being approved is still rather remarkable. I don't even think there are that many applications in the Blackberry App Store!

Take a look at the graphs offered by App Shopper, it really is impressive the amount of apps they end up approving each day.

Now if only the Top 100 Free/Paid Apps weren't filled with gimmick apps like the T-Pain autotune effect and Portable Flashlights...

via App Shopper

FAQs on Solitaire Part II

2009-09-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hello all, I hope you all had a great weekend.

Following in last week’s footsteps, we decided to look at some more comments and thoughts people left for us on our App Store page for Solitaire.

We decided to tackle probably our most interesting complaints and address all the people who claim the game is “too hard” and “nearly impossible” while others claims they’ve won almost every game.

“I loved this game when it first came out. Cards were dealt at random. Now that MobilityWare launched the “Win Every Game” version, they made this version virtually impossible to win. The cards are no longer randomly dealt. I doubt they are even static once dealt. Almost every deal hides an ace or a 2 at the bottom of the last rows. It’s really frustrating knowing that they have modified the program from the original to get you to buy their win all hands app.”

“You will never win playing this version – then the company tries to upsell a version you can win on for $2.99”

“This WAS the best solitaire game. Then they introduced the “All winners” version. Now this version is almost impossible to beat and entirely frustrating. After an update there was a “tired of losing” button that takes you to the new version that you have to pay for. Cheap shot guys”

“Only one win in maybe 20 games”

“Best solitaire app out there. And for all you little moaners “ohhhhh it’s impossible to beat wahhh” I beat my first two games.”

“So before I bought this app I was nervous because everyone said it was unbeatable but I’ve won almost every game I played”

We decided to respond to all these comments together. First, we don’t think Tupac is alive, but apparently, there are some conspiracy theorists here too. No, we did not make Solitaire more difficult to win. Why would we? We wouldn’t do that in the first place; that’s not how we do business. We’re trying to entertain people, not upset them.

First of all, we don’t do business that way. We here at MobilityWare strive to remain “true” to our games. Solitaire is Solitaire and Blackjack is Blackjack. If we had created some new-fangled rules, we would have called it something else. We can personally assure you there was no adjustment in difficulty done to the game. Every card is dealt randomly, just as if you were dealing out the cards yourself on your kitchen table. So yes, there are many deals in which the player cannot win. Do you ever accuse yourself of tampering? Surely not, and that is why we do not understand all of the comments that accuse us of adjusting the difficulty.

Second, we admit that we want more customers, not fewer. We know that people prefer to win rather than lose. Therefore, making customers unhappy is not a way to get more customers.

Our goal in making applications is to make them fun and amusing so that players are entertained and want to play them again and again. If we did make an application extremely difficult, we would be shooting ourselves in the foot. We would be knowingly creating an application that would frustrate the player the first time he/she plays it. That’s not a good way to get a player to download more of your apps.

The “theory” that we made Solitaire more difficult so that players would buy All Winners Solitaire is the one of the most entertaining comments we’ve received – especially in combination with others saying they always win. Like other “good” conspiracies, it has just enough fact to get people to agree with it. If one were to think about it more carefully, it simply doesn’t add up. We would have to believe that we would make more money getting people to buy All Winners Solitaire. Remember, we’re talking about an app that costs less than your last Starbucks tab! What was suggested, as in adjusting the diffuclty, could be done but it’s pretty involved and we’re not interested in doing that -- we’d rather build a new app. That’s much more fun.

If anyone wants to know why we did All Winners Solitaire (or A.W.S as some people call it), was two-fold. First, it was kinda fun generating the app (ok, so we’re a bunch of nerds) and second, we wanted to give people the comfort of knowing each hand CAN be won. Of course, this does NOT mean the user is guaranteed to win, they still have to make all the correct moves to in – and they aren’t all easy – but at least they won’t end up frustrated trying to solve games that have no chance of being won.

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That's all the Solitaire comments for now. We hope we were able to address most of the common concerns players have towards Solitaire. It's also very heartwarming to see the overwhelming amount of positive feedback we have received. You guys are the reason we make our applications. Thank you so much!

Again, if there is a game where there are comments you would like us to address, please let us know.

FAQs on Solitaire Part I

2009-09-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

Many users post comments to our apps in the App Store. However, the App Store doesn't really provide a way for the developer to respond to user comments, so we thought we'd take some time to respond to some comments, especially problems or perceived problems, in our blog and then post the responses as FAQs on our website. We plan on doing this more often if users think it's helpful, so please let us know.

We decided the first application we would respond to would be our Solitaire application. Here is the first set of comments and our responses.

"Would like a choice for a single card or three card turnover"

This has always been a function of MobilityWare's Solitaire app. Are our users aware of the many number of playing options our app offers? Maybe we haven't made the options obvious enough? To get to the options screen, you click on the little "i" button in the lower left-hand corner. Once there, users can control:

card backs
backgrounds
see statistics on their play
get an explanation of the rules of Solitaire
change the setting of how many cards are drawn
select right-handed or left-handed draws
control sounds
time moves

We decided to respond to the next three comments together.

“The problem with this game is that the cards are too dang small. I have to strain my eyes to see them. It would have better if this application could utilize landscape mode to spread out the cards and make them bigger. “

“Save your money. The cards are so small, you can’t read the numbers. I couldn’t even finish my first game because I got a headache from eye strain”

“No wide screen mode. Can’t even see the cards. Refund???”

It is unfortunate that these older comments are still in the App Store. While these players are correct in their assessment that the cards were small, we did listen to them and corrected those limitations long ago. Our recent versions of our Solitaire app give the player a choice in choosing to play in portrait or landscape mode and support the largest cards that will fit. By tilting the orientation of your device, you can adjust playing in portrait or landscape mode. You can also lock the orientation on the options screen so it does not change. Once again, you can access this function on the options screen by clicking on the little “I” button in the lower left-hand corner.

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As you can see, some of the comments/reviews/questions left by our Solitaire players can be resolved by simply accessing the options screen. So next time if you get frustrated over a certain issue and wonder why it isn’t working the way you would like it to, take a glance at the options screen and see if something can be adjusted. Chances are, somebody may have already pointed it out and we have done something to fix it.

We’ll respond to another set of comments for our Solitaire application shortly. Remember, let us know if you think this sort of post is helpful! You can post in the comment section any thoughts or further questions and we’ll do our best to address it. Also, if there is a game you’d like for us to respond to comments on, please let us know!

SURPRISE!!

2009-09-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! It’s definitely been a while since you last heard from us here at MobilityWare. But here we are and we’re back! As you can tell, we’ve decided to transfer our blog over here to BlogSpot (all of our posts from our old blog can still be found below).

With this change, we’ve decided to head in a new direction, well…more like going beyond the boundaries of what our old blog on WordPress seemed to cover...

We noticed there are a good amount of people who tweet or update their Facebook status about some of our products, like Word Warp, and we wanted to provide a means of connecting and communicating with these people on a more personal level. Although we do read everybody’s tweets and we do try to take some time and respond to everybody, there’s only so much you can say in 140 characters. So that’s where the blog comes in!

Yes, we are aware that we didn’t do a very good job of updating our WordPress blog, and it did seem like sometimes a week would pass by before we would update again. But we’re committed to changing that now! We plan on updating every few days, perhaps daily – but definitely on a regular basis…promise!

With our new blog comes a variety of changes. For example, on our Twitter page, we do sometimes tweet articles we find noteworthy that we think our fans may be interested in. We also think you might be interested in hearing what we have to say about the article and why we posted it.

Our goal with this blog is to encourage some interaction between us and our readers. So we would love for you to respond with your thoughts on what we have to say. We’d love if we could get a bunch of people all chiming in so we can create a sense of community here. (Of course, letting us know your thoughts on an article also lets us gain a feel of what articles are of interest and what to avoid).

Again, we’re looking to be more responsive here and posting regularly, so there’s going to be several people contributing to the blog. My name is Otto and I’ll be the primary person posting here. I look forward to providing some material that I think you guys are going to enjoy, and also hope to hear your thoughts as well.

Lastly, this started on WordPress as a blog about all things MobilityWare, so don’t fret, for we will still be updating you on the ins and outs of our applications as well as trying to provide more detail on some common issues you guys may have for our applications. We promise this time the blog won’t be so bland…like plain ice cream. We’ll make sure we sprinkle in some appealing articles and top it off with some funny stories. We hope you guys will enjoy this blog as much as we do updating it.

Now who’s up for some ice cream?

Listen up!!!

2009-09-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

So it’s been a while since our last post. But we’re back and we have some really big news for our fellow readers! Come back to the blog in the next couple days and see what we have in store for you guys. We think you may be pleasantly surprised.

On other news, there are new versions of our Hangman and Blackjack games. Check them out in the App Store and let us know how you feel about it. We love getting customer feedback!

A feel good story about Word Warp

2009-09-04T03:05:00.000-07:00

Every so often, in addition to the daily tweets we get about Word Warp, we get sent stories or testimonials from people who rave about our Word Warp game and want to share a little something with us. We love reading these emails and tweets because it’s such an incredible feeling to know that people love and embrace a product that we worked so hard on. Hearing people talk about how they can’t put down the game or that they’re so addicted that they have to play every night before they fall asleep makes us really feel like our hard work has paid off.

Yesterday, we received an email from a guy named Joe, who let us know how much he enjoys playing Word Warp and how it may have helped save his sight!

When Joe began playing Word Warp, he began to realize he was having trouble seeing the letters on the screen with his right eye. As weeks passed, Joe would “test” his eyes with the Word Warp game, seeing if there was any improvement in his sight. When he noticed his vision slowly worsened, he went to an eye doctor, where he was diagnosed with a metabolic cataract, rendering him partially blind in one eye. Luckily, Joe is doing well now, having embarked on a healthy lifestyle, complete with changing his diet and exercising frequently. As he stated (and we can’t agree more!), perhaps “playing Word Warp could save a life?”

And there’s more! So even with this slight obstacle, Joe still managed to put together one of the highest Word Warp scores we have ever seen, racking up over a million points! 1,000,080 to be exact (we've included proof below); and he’s still trying to beat it! Congratulations Joe! Your dedication to playing Word Warp is much appreciated and we hope for the best in your future.

What a truly heartwarming story and a great way to end the work week on a high note. If you have any stories about Word Warp you’d like to share with us, definitely send them our way! You can email them to Marketing@MobilityWare with “Word Warp” in the subject line. We love getting customer feedback.

Until next time, keep Word Warping! Have a great weekend!

Thank Goodness for Promo Codes

2009-08-17T06:07:00.000-07:00

Hey Word Warp fans!

Happy Monday to everybody; I hope everybody is amped for the week. So to start the week off right, and also because we appreciate all the love you guys show Word Warp, we have held a drawing to select five fans from our Word Warp Facebook page and give them a promo code for the paid version of Word Warp.

The five names we randomly selected are (we included first initial and last name):

F. Chung
L. Broussard
D. Saladyga
A. Mock
H. Ichai

Congratulations to you guys! Send an email to Marketing@MobilityWare.com with “Word Warp Promo Code” in the subject to receive the steps to claiming your prize.

Happy Word Warping!

We're Back!

2009-08-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, sorry about the brief respite, we’ve been so busy this week working on projects and trying to improve our existing products. It’s been a long week but we’re alive and well!!

Anyway, we got a chance to look over our first MobilityWare poll in which we asked what people’s high scores were on our Word Warp game. First, thank you so much to all those who voted! It’s interesting to see such a broad range of scores, but we know you all love Word Warp and we can’t thank you guys enough for that!

Second, in an earlier post, we talked about how popular Word Warp is in the Twitter-universe (twitter-verse?) and how every day, we see tweets from people talking about how good they think their Word Warp score is. Well, now that we see there are people claiming they have scores above 50,000, perhaps we should have a Word Warp tournament to see if people can back that up? Or how about a featured Word Warp showcase? We’ll have to think to see if we could institute something like that.

In the mean time while we deliberate, take a look at one of our Word Warp fans @canadapost who has one of the most unbelievable Word Warp scores we have ever seen. You can find his score here

Keep playing Word Warp guys! Talk to you soon!

Updates on some of our games

2009-08-07T03:45:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you know our development team got some minor updates out for some of our games.

Our popular Blackjack application now has an option for 8 decks. Also, when splitting aces, only 1 card can be drawn to each hand.

Bug fixes are also fixed in the newest versions of our Free Joker Slots game and our Joker Poker Free game.

Check them out!

Poll #1

2009-08-07T03:14:00.000-07:00

Our first poll is dedicated to the Word Warp faithful. You guys constantly tweet, comment, and talk about how high your Word Warp high score is. Well now's your chance to let yourself be heard!

Take our first MobilityWare poll at Poll has expired. Thanks for Voting

Polls..

2009-08-07T03:07:00.000-07:00

Yo guys, thank you so much again for all those who joined the Word Warp Frenzy. We loved the reaction we got and we decided we wanted to hear more from you guys.

We decided to run a series of polls every few days to sort of gauge what our MobilityWare fans are thinking.

We will be posting these polls on our Twitter page so check back every few days to cast your vote. Voting takes a mere seconds and you will be providing us with valuable research material!

Thanks!

Word Warp Frenzy Winners!

2009-07-28T03:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks everybody again for participating in the Word Warp Frenzy! Tentative winners have been selected and we posted a note on Facebook listing the first initial and last name of all the winners, as well as instructions on what to do next. Congratulations!

You can see the list of Word Warp Frenzy winners here

As stated in a previous post, if you don't see your name on the list, do not worry! We plan on having lots more sweepstakes like these, as well as other types of contests and giveaways! Stay tuned to our blog and twitter!

MobilityWare in CNN Money!

2009-07-27T10:57:00.000-07:00

So Greystripe has been conducting a marketing campaign to try to get more app developers to use their services. They’ve been collecting data and just recently published some financials on what some of their developers, including us, have done. They decided to spotlight two of our products, Word Search and everybody’s favorite, Word Warp

Greystripe was able to get some press on this and some articles about us were recently published. In fact, CNN has a piece about how well Word Warp is doing (found here) and points out that on average, the Word Warp game “brings in just over $10,000 a month.” Now, may we point out that this $10,000 isn’t from sales of Word Warp, but rather from the advertising in our free version of Word Warp. As happy as we are from the good press we receive, we’d like to point out that these numbers and statistics are only possible because of you guys. Our fans are the reasons we make our games, and we appreciate immensely the support you guys provide. Our goal is to make you guys happy and we love getting feedback!

We’re also happy to say that the reason we offer a paid version of Word Warp as well as a free version of Word Warp, is to give people an option to choose which product they’d like to play. As our director of Marketing Dave Yonamine explains, “we’re giving consumers that choice, and whatever they go with is fine with us.”

So there you go, our success is because of your dedication! Thank you and keep Word Warping!

Here's another article written about Word Warp by mocoNews.net

and here's another article written by PocketGamer.biz

This is not the end!

2009-07-27T04:44:00.000-07:00

So that’s the conclusion of the Word Warp Frenzy! We are ecstatic with the love and support you guys have shown us and we’re really happy with the end result. We’ll be sending out messages to all the winners on Facebook, so keep an eye out for that. If you don’t get a message, don’t fret! We plan on having lots of sweepstakes in the future similar to this one, as well as some ideas about contests and giveaways. There’s big things cooking here at MobilityWare and honestly, we can’t wait to share them with you! Definitely stay tuned to the MobilityWare blog and follow us on Twitter so you can be on the heads up on all of our news.

Open Forum!

2009-07-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hello!

So lately, we’ve been noticing the increase of traffic to our blog and we could not be happier!! If you are here for the first time, WELCOME and please make yourself at home! A big THANK YOU to everybody for the love and support you’ve shown our games, especially Word Warp!

Now we know you guys play Word Warp quite frequently, and you may or may not have come across something that you felt the game was lacking or could be improved upon. Well, we want to hear from you!
Do you have any funny stories about Word Warp? Did you play it so much you missed an appointment? Do you feel like you have the best Word Warp high score around and you wish there was a way to brag about it? Or what do you think we should include in our next version of Word Warp? Is it a certain word that Word Warp didn’t recognize when you were playing, thus ruining your high score?

We know you guys have all these ideas, so here is your exclusive chance to fire away, to share with us your stories, to let us in on your frustration, to express your gripes, moans, and groans. We’re thinking that after we accumulate enough suggestions, that we run a poll and have people vote on what they think is an idea worth considering!

Now, before you start thinking up some ideas or racking your memory for stories, you may be asking yourself how you’re going to be able to share with us these things. Well my fellow Word Warper, there are a number of ways you can get in contact with us. You can either post a comment on the blog, or you can write on our wall on the Word Warp Facebook Page, or tweet about it on our MobilityWare Twitter page (making sure you mention Word Warp or @MobilityWare in your message), or if you have a longer message to give us, shoot us an email at Marketing@MobilityWare.com. We monitor all three of these networks quite extensively so you won’t have to worry about your message falling through the cracks because we will be reading them (and we might even respond too!).

Last but not least, it’s July 23rd, meaning you only have 4 or so days left to enter in the WORD WARP FRENZY for your chance to win a paid version of Word Warp! If you haven’t entered yet, the whole process is extremely simple and takes just seconds. Here are some instructions on how to do it (and there’s pictures inside to help speed it up!)

Anyway, hope your day is going great and make sure to send us those stories/complaints/ideas/suggestions soon. We LOVE hearing from you guys! Talk to you soon!

Apple Tree

2009-07-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

Psst! Hey you… come here. Yes you! Come closer…I’m going to let you in on a little MobilityWare secret. Not many people know, but we have an application called Apple Tree. Essentially, it is a kid’s version of Hangman, but we here at MobilityWare believe it to be so much more than that.

[caption id="attachment_58" align="alignleft" width="160" caption="Gameplay from Apple Tree"][/caption]

With young children around the ages of 5-10 in mind, we sought to create a game that would expose these children to spelling skills and encourage them to want to learn how to spell. We incorporated 1st-6th grade level word lists as well as lists of Common Words, Animals, and Fairy Tale Characters. We also included a vocabulary function so the child can see the word’s definition at the end of each game, a function we feel is an excellent way for a child to build his or her vocabulary. Combining these elements with a bright and friendly interface (free of the ridiculous “racism” claims and “violent intentions” that some people claim the game Hangman usually brings), we feel we have created a game that children will be begging their parents to play, and to which the parent will be all too happy to oblige.

In an age where so many video games contain swearing and violent undertones, it is important but also sometimes difficult to select certain video games for young children. Last week, we tweeted a question asking what age is appropriate for a child to first play simple video games. We received responses suggesting that around 4-5 years would seem like the ideal age. In response to this, we feel that Apple Tree is an ideal game for a parent to have their young child pick up and play because it is a simple, relaxing, fun and educational children’s game.

Here’s what some of our Apple Tree customers are saying:

“My son “loves” this game. Great for beginning spelling skills.”

“I really like this version of Hangman. Above and beyond the child friendly aspects, I like that it has grade level appropriate word listings”

“What makes this a good game is the ability for the parent or child to choose the level of difficulty”

So if you have young children, definitely take a chance at Apple Tree. You can find its facebook page here, as well as its link in the App Store here.

Let us know how you feel about it!

One Week Left!

2009-07-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

For those who have stumbled upon our blog for the first time, welcome!! This is the official blog for MobilityWare, so check back for news and updates on your favorite applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch, as well as interactive posts and information. We love hearing back from you guys, so definitely feel free to send us feedback and stories. We are on twitter @MobilityWare, so shoot us a tweet, we try and read everything!

Anyway, there is only one week left to join the Word Warp Frenzy and win that promo code for the paid version of Word Warp! We have a bunch of them so everybody has a chance! Entering the sweepstakes takes only a couple seconds, and we've included some instructions with pictures here to help expedite the process.

Take care!

Interesting Tidbit

2009-07-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

So while looking up people’s thoughts and feelings about some of our games (list can be found here) on Twitter, Facebook and the App Store, we here at MobilityWare were in awe by how many comments revolved around a certain topic, people’s Word Warp high score. After sorting through dozens and dozens of messages/comments/tweets by people stating they had a great Word Warp high score, or that they had just broken their old unbeatable Word Warp record, all these claims got us thinking. Why don’t we have a place where people can compare scores and actually see who really does have the best Word Warp score? A friendly contest perhaps? How about a weekly submission type of thing? Would you guys be interested in something like that? Let us know! Keep posting about Word Warp; we try and read everybody’s stories/claims.

You can follow us on twitter @MobilityWare and become a fan of us on facebook here. Feel free to send us a message, we love hearing from you guys!

Anyway, to everybody who has participated so far in the Word Warp Frenzy, THANK YOU! Things are looking good so far and we’re ecstatic with all the love people are showing for Word Warp. Tell all your friends!

If you haven’t already entered, do it now! The whole process takes just seconds; our fellow Word Warp fans will attest to that. Here are instructions with pictures that show you exactly what to do.

Talk to you guys soon

Word Warp Frenzy Instructions With Pictures

2009-07-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

For those new to facebook, here are instructions with pictures on how to sign up for the Word Warp Frenzy sweepstakes

Word Warp Frenzy!!

2009-07-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow word puzzle enthusiasts,

By now you have probably heard that Word Warp is ranked by Wired.com as one of the Top 10 iPhone^TM games of 2009 and that it is also one of our most acclaimed products. If you haven’t heard of it, our faithful gamers describe Word Warp as “exciting,” “addicting,” “entertaining,” “educational,” and “delightful.” We know you guys love playing Word Warp at any time of the day, whether it is in class, on the go, in the bathroom, before you sleep, etc. and we can’t thank you enough for playing!

As a token of our appreciation, we are giving away (No Purchase Required) the current version of Word Warp (the paid Ad-Free version of course) to a bunch of lucky individuals!

Want one? All you need is a Facebook® and to enter our Word Warp Frenzy Sweepstakes:

Go to www.Facebook.com

Search for Word Warp

Become a fan of the page (button on the top of the page)

You can just go here and click “Become a Fan”

That’s it!! The whole process takes just seconds to complete!

If you’re already a fan, then you’re already entered!

After the promotion is over (Monday July 27^th at 12:00PM PDT), we will randomly select the winners and notify them.

If you like what you see, follow MobilityWare on Twitter for the latest news and updates from us. We’ll be running lots more contests just like these in the future, so stay tuned!

Good luck and happy warping!

Your friends at MobilityWare,
www.MobilityWare.com
(Find us on Facebook and “Become a Fan” as well!)

If you are an accountant, a budding attorney, or otherwise so inclined, you’ll be excited by the Official Sweepstakes Rules. We take no responsibility for any insomnia they may cure.

Copyright © 2009 MobilityWare. All rights reserved. iPhone^TM is a trademark of Apple Inc. Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

iPhone App Directory

2009-07-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

So one of the guys here was at Costco the other day and picked up the iPhone App Directory Volume One, a thick glossy magazine-like publication by the guys from iPhoneKungFu. Inside were pages and pages of vibrant colorful pictures, with each page dedicated to several quick and short reviews of iPhone and iPod Touch applications. Upon flipping through these pages, you can’t help but get the feeling you are flipping through a yearbook, with sections of the book dedicated to talking about the best software from each App Store category, such as Finance, Navigation, Social Networking, Games, etc. I flipped to the Games section, noticing the popular apps like Wurdle and Moto Chaser, and then suddenly stumbled across a very familiar application, our very own Free Word Warp!

I was so excited to see the reviewers mentioning our app as a “cool little game that takes a much-used format and packages it in an accessible way.” It makes me very happy to see that one of our apps has gotten enough buzz from people that these guys from iPhoneKungFu feel like our app should be included in the “guide to the best applications for iPhone and iPod Touch,” alongside extremely popular and effective apps like Pocket God, IM+, and Urbanspoon. It’s a tremendous honor and I must give props to the guys from the MobilityWare Engineering Team, who probably don’t get as much appreciation as they deserve. Another big thank you to our Word Warp faithful, for without you, our apps wouldn’t be able to build any hype and nobody would know about them. So thanks again and hopefully next year we can get some of our other applications in the Volume Two edition. Do yourself a favor and go check out the iPhone App Directory Volume One at your local newsstand or bookstore, because the guys from iPhoneKungFu did a terrific job in compiling lists and lists of terrific apps that you may or may not have heard of. In the meantime, keep playing Free Word Warp!

Hello world!

2009-06-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

MobilityWare is on WordPress now!! Stay tuned for updates. We hope to get lots of exciting content on here very soon.

In the meantime, follow us on twitter for the latest news on MobilityWare

www.twitter.com/MobilityWare