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Author Topic: 2/9/2009 "1.2" - (it rhymes with blue?) - A New SmallWorlds Release!  (Read 8690 times)

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SmallWorlds Blog

"1.2" - (it rhymes with blue?) - A New SmallWorlds Release!
February 10th, 2009 by Hilary Jackson



Positively bursting at the seams with genius - yep, that’s our fantastic team here at SWHQ.  A ‘little lacking’ in that department however is our “Thinking-of-a-cool-name-for-the-New-Release” Committee.  They meet every few weeks and… well… what can we say. They do try.   As well as being somewhat idea-challenged they’re rather a sensitive bunch. When they proudly unveiled their latest creation for us last week, we simply patted them on the heads and said “OK, that sounds awesome guys“.

Luckily for us (and you!) what the name of the release lacks in imagination, the content more than makes up for!  Lets dive straight on in to 1.2 - there’s so much to tell you!

Facebook and Bebo Integration

 

As announced in our recent ‘1.2 Sneak Preview’ blog, you can now embed SmallWorlds direct into your Bebo or Facebook profile page; even invite your FB or Bebo friends into SmallWorlds from your Bebo or FB profile page!  If you so choose, you can display links to  one or both profile pages within SmallWorlds; this information will display in your avatar information panel.  And, a reminder: we intend integrating with other social networks very soon.  So - get out there and liven up your Social network page today with SmallWorlds! Wanna go straight there?

Click here for the Facebook SmallWorlds Application

Click here for the Bebo SmallWorlds Application

The SmallWorlds Minimap



Introducing your newest in-world ‘best friend’, the SmallWorlds Minimap.  This useful little guy gives you  an overhead “plan view” map of the space you are currently in, showing your location and that of any other avatars; as well as walls, lakes, furniture and objects - anything that makes up part of the space.  The grey toolbar on the left  within the minimap graphic has three icons, we’ve numbered them for you above for illustrative purposes only: 1- Turn Minimap on/off,  2- Open World Map,  3- Display Alerts,   4- SmallWorlds Time (read more below!)



Click in the minmap and your avatar will walk to that location in-world.  Now how useful is that!

SmallWorlds Time



Speaking of extremely useful, we’ve now built in  “SmallWorlds Time” which is displayed in the Minimap window (see above in Minimap graphic - the time displays 15.27).

This feature will smooth out  the sometimes confusing timezone issues faced by the very diverse global population playing in SmallWorlds.  Now, arrange meetings and events with ease! SmallWorlds Time (SWT) is the equivalent of Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Exclusive VIP Club Space
 As a part of VIP Club membership, we are building a few spaces which are VIP-access-only.   This is the first, and we’d like to take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to all VIP Club members - please step right this way sir/ma’am.

The VIP Club is a private bar, with a few similarities to the Cue Club but much larger and more luxurious!  Come and relax in its opulent environs.


SmallWorlds Chronicle - Read all about it and go visit, now!
Here to keep you updated with all the latest news hot off the SmallWorlds press!  Now, when you log in you’ll be taken direct to the Chronicle. From here, you can read all the latest news, find out about featured spaces… when you’re ready to go, just click on a link in the Chronicle and go there! no need to go to your home space first.



Your default avatar is displayed top right and from here you can either change your avatar or directly enter your personal default space.  But before you jump in-world, take a read of the Chronicle - its being constantly updated, reporting on spaces to visit, new missions, games, events and more!  Keep in touch with the freshest SW news.  We’re building in a classified ads section, and will be providing opportunities soon for community members to submit content.  The Chronicle is set to become the heart of SmallWorlds, linking the SW community together.

We’re Taller than Ever!
 Its really important to us to respond as efficiently as possible to requests from our community of users - one of those responses has made it into this release & we’re sure everyone will find it really useful.  We’ve “grown up”!

Now  - Extending to the Full Height of your Browser window!



If your SmallWorlds experience starts from www.smallworlds.com, the world will now open to take advantage of the full height of your browser window.  In the past, this was about 440 pixels high, but now the height of the world viewer is only limited by the size of your screen & your web browser window! This means you can seen much much more of a space at any time, and provides for a far more immersive experience.  We have also removed the “Widen Screen” button in the bottom right hand corner so that the viewer is always full width. (btw: the guy in the picture is for real - he’s Robert Wadlow, born 1918, the worlds tallest man, measuring an incredible 2.72metres tall (8″11′) - whoa!)

Coming From Facebook or Bebo?…

If you are coming to SmallWorlds from Bebo or Facebook then you’ll find a button in the bottom right hand corner where you can “pop” the viewer out into another browser window enabling you to extend the width and height of the world viewer to its maximum.

A note to those people with lower spec-ed machines: A larger viewing area may place more demands on your CPU.  If you find that your SmallWorlds experience is a little more “laggy” than what you are used to, you can minimize this by reducing the size of your browser window.

Fast Draw 



We love creating more fun stuff for you and your friends to do  together, and so with Pictionary as our inspiration, we’ve put together a fun multiplayer game for up to 8 players!  You’ll need a minimum of 2 other friends to play, our system generates a word and you have around 60 seconds to (try!) and draw it. The game has multiple turns and the first person to 10 points wins (a successful drawer gets 1 point, and a successful guesser gets 2 points). All Fast Draw players will also receive Artist XP for playing. So, sharpen yer pencils - and maybe pop another Omega3 capsule, we hear they’re good for the brain!

Quiz Machine




Create awesome single player quiz games! Purchase a Quiz Machine from Dan’s Imports, set up the configuration panel and create quizzes for your friends!  You may wish to use the Quiz Widget as a part of a mission; its also linked into Flickr to enable you to attach images to a question.  We can all look forward to some funny, baffling and even educational quiz experiences!



The Bank is Closed - Welcome to The Factory


 

Due to the downturn in the world economy “The Bank” will be closing its doors for good.  In line with new economic realities, we’re now offering gainful employment to those of you with a good healthy work ethic!

Welcome to “The Factory” - an industrial themed space which contains state-of-the-art machines from “Gambit” and “Offerpal”, both of which require your skills to operate.  The good news is this - after just a few minutes work, you’ll be handsomely rewarded with gold.



[Factory Safety Warning: moving robotic arms and conveyor belts operate in the space]

The Vault



 We’ve also opened The Vault - opening a branch in SmallWorlds any day. The Vault contains ATM machines which enable you to purchase Gold or VIP in the way that suits you best:  even purchase  VIP and Gold using your mobile phone!



There are now 3 easy ways to purchase:

1 -  Purchase your VIP Club Membership with SmallWorlds Gold

2 -  Zong: Pay for Gold or VIP Club Membership with your Mobile Phone

3 -  Monthly Auto-Bill your VIP Club subscription

(Further details are in the 1.2 Release Sneak Preview blog edition)

With so many easy ways to both earn and buy gold you’ll be able to take your room and outfit to the next level in no time at all.


Appliances and Kitchenware



We field lots of requests for Kitchen and Laundry items - we assure you that these requests are being heard!   Without saying too much, we’d like to quietly suggest that you round up any dirty laundry and look forward to a nice cool drink… something’s coming real soon!

The SmallWorlds Loyalty Challenge - System Upgrade!



You’ll all be familiar with our Weekly Loyalty Challenge:  complete one Featured Mission or OfferPal / Gambit task each day for 4 days in a row, and win 1,000 Tokens.  There are two major changes:

1)  Play 3 days only! - We thought we’d chop it down by one whole day. Yes, now you only need to play three days in a row to get your reward of 1000 tokens!

2)  Monthly Challenge - We’re adding another reward ‘layer’ to the Loyalty Challenge cake: Monthly Challenge - complete 4 Weekly Challenges (3 consecutive days in a row) and as well as the four weekly token rewards, you will win the current Monthly Challenge Collectible Item! Each collectible will be unique to the month in which it is won, and will become a rare item.

Each week begins Monday SWT (EST). Missions and OfferPal/Gambit Tasks must be completed before midnight SWT (EST) to qualify for that day’s challenge.  We’ll be releasing details on the first item soon!

Glasses - Non-VIP Options!
Finally, glasses for non-VIP members - now there’s cool eyewear options for everyone!  Wear your sunglasses at night -SWT of course.

 


Already working on the next one…



Well, we reckon that’s enough to keep you going with for now… and were already working on the next lot of SmallWorlds goodies to bring to you next month.  We’d best get the  ‘New Release Name’ committee on the job straightaway - they need lots of time to consider their options…

All the best from all of us at SmallWorlds!

« Last Edit: February 15, 2009, 11:09 PM by souper_happy »
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Re: 2/9/2009 "1.2" - (it rhymes with blue?) - A New SmallWorlds Release!
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2009, 04:42 PM »

I am confused with the loyalty challenge. I really enjoyed them when they were just "do one featured mission a day for four days in a row."
Now I am all confused with what a gambit"thingy" is and an offerpal"thingy". Anyone know what these are? It says we have to do a mission, the gambit'thingy' and the offerpal'thingy' once each day for three days.
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Re: 2/9/2009 "1.2" - (it rhymes with blue?) - A New SmallWorlds Release!
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2009, 04:56 PM »

I am confused with the loyalty challenge. I really enjoyed them when they were just "do one featured mission a day for four days in a row."
Now I am all confused with what a gambit"thingy" is and an offerpal"thingy". Anyone know what these are? It says we have to do a mission, the gambit'thingy' and the offerpal'thingy' once each day for three days.

Featured Mission OR Gambit-Offer Thingy.  So 1 featured mission a day for 3 days works.

The bank is closing.  The Factory has the Gambit and Offer Pal things that were first located in the bank.  The Vault  may have an offer pal thiny- not sure.  Either way Gambit is very similar to the Offer Pal Signup.  You do NOT need to do them for Loyalty.  The featured missions work fine.

And remember the other avatars on your carousel can assist in acquiring loyalty.
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Re: 2/9/2009 "1.2" - (it rhymes with blue?) - A New SmallWorlds Release!
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2009, 12:08 PM »

Thanks so much Happy. I guess this time I was the one who was a little bit behind.  :lolg:
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