Grow your circle! and… new beta!

Try http://invitecodematrix.com/magic_wars

It’s a rune-swapping site for several games, and an MW player was smart enough to set up a Magic Wars page on it. So easy to use- just log on, add your code and add every code you see!

Also, thanks to everyone who helped with the last beta-  I now have another new game for people to try. Same rules as last time- sign up at ibetatest.com if you haven’t already, then post your (ibetatest) username here, and I’ll invite you to the private beta. You drag a couple of files into iTunes and you’re good to go!

Forums – how to stop spam/etc.

Just wanted to say the forums are very popular, and already there’s problems with spam and other annoyances from irresponsible users.

Not many people know (because I wasn’t smart enough to make it obvious), but the creator of a topic can delete any posts on the topic (so long as at least 1 post remains). If you see someone making trouble on a topic, just let the creator (the first poster, usually)  know this, and they can bounces them.

If  people keep being annoying, let me know- I can verify what they’ve been doing and permanently suspend them, it only takes me 10s or so, so it’s no trouble. Just send me their name, guild, gender and xp (to personal.sara.lewis@gmail.com).

12 years of gameplay!

I just glanced at the stats for Magic Wars- it looks like between us we’ve racked up 12 years of gameplay! Or to be precise:

12 years 166 days 13 hours 9 minutes 3 seconds

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty cool!

v4 Released- thanks for your patience!

Most people will already know about this, since the app updates itself, but version 4 is now out! I’m sorry about the long wait, and I really do apologise for all the bugs- v3 was a bit of a nightmare, I spent ages working on perforance overall and let the nasty little ‘Reply to message’ bug slip in, which actually made the experience worse for everyone

But hopefully, that’s behind us now (fingers crossed)- I think v4 will be very stable.

I’m really excited about the new forum feature- the latest version has only been live for 2-3 hours and there are already 160 posts! Loads of people are using it to swap circle runes- to join in, just go to the forum (through ‘Community’) and tap search, then search for ‘rune’. Join one of the topics, post your rune and start adding. I designed it so you can switch between the forum and the circle tab for quick adding. Oh, and remember to click ‘Load more posts’ to see if there are older runes on there… it’s only polite to add back!

Any comments or questions? personal.sara.lewis@gmail.com

sara

Beta Testers?

I’ve been thinking that beta testing would be a good thing to do for my future updates of MW and any new apps I release. It would be great to get people’s creative suggestions before release, and given that updates take so long to push through Apple’s approval process, squashing bugs ahead of time can only be a good thing.

A very helpful player suggested http://ibetatest.com/. It’s a clever site where a developer announces a beta, and testers join that beta. Then they download a special prerelease version of the app and run that on their iPhones/iPod touches. The website handles all the management/feedback issues making it very simple.

I’ve created a beta for a new app I’m making. If you’d like to be the first to see and test it, sign up, and mark your ‘role’ as ‘Beta Tester’ on the form. Follow the instructions after that, and then post your username (your ibetatest.com username, not your MW username) as a comment on this post. The beta is private so I’ll use these names to invite people into the beta

After that, when the app is ready, I’ll upload it to the site and everyone can install it and let me know their feedback. Please note, you’ll need to be quick off the mark- I’m only going to run the test for a day or so, because I want to get the app quickly onto the App Store once it’s out in public.

Looking forward to inviting you

Currently away

Just wanted to let ppl know I’m currently away for the weekend. I’ll be back Monday, and I can’t handle any complicated stuff till then, but I’m still checking my email/twitter for any simple queries/comments!

Version 3 Released

I’m very happy . Version 3 has been accepted by Apple and is on the App Store. If you like it- visit iTunes and review it!

The biggest change has been crashing. It should now be much more stable. I’m really sorry about the hassle everyone’s had having to keep relaunching to play, so I hope this will put an end to it for you.

I’ve also added a way to change your profile pic (Just tap your pic under your personal profile), a chance to restart your character, more ways to help you spread your circle rune, and more community features including Twitter support and video support. Small fixes include no rotating in classes and training, and faster loading.

Any comments, please let me know at personal.sara.lewis@gmail.com. And don’t forget the Top 25 Campaign- any way you can help will earn gold and your rune on the blog for all to join!

Update

There are some bugs with v3. First, let me say I’m so so sorry about this, I know how annoying it is. The two bugs I’ve identified are the following- replying to a message crashes the app, and mind training has the answers blacked out. These only occur for users running the 3.0 software update. I missed these because I can only afford one iPhone, and I keep it on 2.0 because most players also use 2.0. But I will have both these bugs fixed and submitted to Apple tomorrow, so v4 should be available as soon as possible. Once again, I’m really sorry about this, and if you spot any more bugs, please please tell me at personal.sara.lewis@gmail.com

Top 25 Campaign- progress

Thanks to everyone who’s helped with the Top 25 Campaign so far- Magic Wars now has 4,500 people using it every day. I think (but I can’t be sure), it’s just outside the top 100 games, so thanks loads. It just needs a little more interest to get in, and then I think the game’s appeal will help it get further still.

The following people helped with coverage and then emailed me, so here are their circle runes, and they’ve been rewarded with gold:

- Calleps, magicwars1899942, (Tweeted about Magic Wars)

- Voradors, magicwars1985615 (Posted on MySpace and submitted to playfire.com)

- Lord boostious, magicwars2052134 (Network marketing)

- Aerich, magicwars2590161, (Tweeted about Magic Wars)

- Hunter, magicwars1973911, (Commented on TechCrunch article)

- DingoBug, magicwars3003436, (Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Techcrunch)

- Rashad, magicwars2166471, (Blogged on MySpace)

Other people have helped too (a review here and here, and loads of retweets here), but I can’t reward them with circle rune palcement or gold unless they get in touch!

So, if you’ve helped- tell me at personal.sara.lewis@gmail.com. And if you haven’t- please do! Check out the list of suggestions here.

sara

P.S. I know everyone’s waiting on version 3, I am too. It’s in review by Apple (all iPhone apps get reviewed on submission and update), and they’re taking a bit longer than usual. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do

Top 25 campaign – can you help? (Get gold!)

Update: I’ve been watching MW’s ranking and it’s just behind ‘Pocket Tanks’ in Games >Strategy. PT is in the top 100 games, so MW must be nearly there as well! Thanks to everyone who’s helped so far- and if you haven’t done anything yet, please please do!

Magic Wars has just had a great article written by techcrunch.com (thanks to the ppl who left such nice comments!)

As a single developer, I don’t have any money to spend on advertising MW so i’m really relying on this kind of press to help the app grow.

My goal is to get Magic Wars into the Top 25 on the App Store, so I’m starting a campaign!

If you love the app, and want to see it succeed- you can help out! If you can do anything to help Magic Wars get noticed and popular- do it!

_

Here are some examples

1.  Leave a comment on the techcrunch article

2.  Digg the techcrunch article (go to the bottom of article and click ’share this’ > ‘Digg’ )

3.  Tweet about it.

4.  If you know any bloggers or journalists pass the story on to them

5.  Post a link to the app on your facebook or myspace page

6.  Tell your local paper or radio/TV

7.  Or other ideas you have to get Magic Wars out there!

_

I’ll record anyone who manages to help in any way on the blog, along with their circle rune. And for people who manage something special, like #3 or #5 (or better!), I’ll give gold, to help you get those really tough spells.

Here’s the link you can pass on:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=320072408&mt=8

_

So, have a go, and email me (personal.sara.lewis@gmail.com) with what you managed. Let’s make this a Top 25 App!

Sara

PS – I submitted V3 to apple last week – should be out very soon

Duel video competition!

At about midnight last night (after finishing some bug fixes), I had a fun idea for a Magic Wars competition…

A few days ago, I got a really funny video from a fan using the app (see previous post) and I thought it would be great to see how other people play magic wars (at the bus stop, with their dog, walking down the street…)

So, the challenge is to send me a short (around 1min) YouTube video of you or your friends using the app.

*Videos can be funny or serious

*Costumes are optional

*Saying the incantations would be great

The prize – 50 000 pieces of shiny wizarding gold and your video will be published on the app and blog.

The judging – to try and be fair, I will choose the best videos from a mixture of my own judgement and the ratings and comments other people leave on YouTube

Sooo If you have a good idea for a video (or even a lame idea):

1. Grab a camera or phone with camera

2. Film the vid – ‘how do you use magic wars?’

3. Upload it to Youtube

4. Email a link (to personal.sara.lewis@gmail.com with subject ‘Magic Wars Duel competition’)

5. Get your friends to give you high ratings!

Good luck…

Sara