With that, we think it is about time to start talking about the next release that is coming as we are nearing the final phases of testing now. So here are some things coming in this next release:
- Much improved network stability and reconnection in online multiplayer
- We heard you here, and we have found even more ways to improve network stability in the flaky world of mobile devices. It's not perfect, as nothing in the mobile data services area ever is, but we really think you will find it to be a vast improvement.
- A new "landscape" horizontal mode of display - rotate your phone and the game flips and rotates too.
- Think of this as the "left handed" players mode. The screen layout changes around quite a bit to "make sense" in a horizontal frame, but we think it works out quite well and are looking for any feedback you all may have if you find anything less intuitive.
- A new "dealer" indicator icon on the avatar of the player who is currently the dealer in the game
- Another common request, and one that frankly we should have delivered sooner. The new "D" dealer icon will show next to the player who is the dealer as yet another indicator of who has the crib and who is "dealing" the cards.
- A new method to selecting the "cut depth" when cutting cards that involves a spread out deck and a tap inside of the spread deck to select the card to cut.
- The old "Tap to set cut depth" thing just was not working for us anymore and many have suggested a simple spread out of the deck to pick a position to cut to. So, that is what this is. The cards are simply laid out left to right with each card in the deck represented. We also enforce the minimum and maximum cut depth rules of the game of cribbage as well - meaning no cutting less then 4 cards and you must leave at least 4 on the bottom.
- We now do a "cut for first deal" - so you will be cutting a card from a "real" deck to pick who is the dealer first (low card wins) to better match a real word scenario and to better comply with the rules of the game.
- Randomly selecting who was the dealer on the first play probably was yielding the same results as this now will, but this new method is actually a rule in the game of cribbage and we think really brings the feel of play into a more complete experience. This change applies to both single player and multiplayer versions.
Aside from all these new things, there are also a few bug fixes and improvements inside in the game and on the multiplayer side of things too. We are really excited to bring this release to the market soon, and hope you will find it as exciting as we do.
Thanks again for your support, and as always leave us comments here or email us with any ideas or questions you have.
-- Josh
