tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65071479365755476842024-03-18T20:30:05.957-07:00Fuller Systems - The Official BlogThe official Fuller Systems, Inc. blog. Currently covering our ongoing work and developments on the iOS and Android platforms, specifically in the area of our top rated card game - Cribbage Pro.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-2187762041345120562015-10-13T11:47:00.000-07:002015-10-13T11:47:17.490-07:00Fuller Systems is Going Green in 2015To say it has been a while since our last company blog post would be a bit of an understatement. We have had a lot of activity over the last few years. New apps, new services, changes to existing apps and games - the list is very long. I'll save some of those details for a future post, but today I want to talk about "Going Green".<br />
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"Going Green" has been a "thing to do" for a while now. Many businesses have joined what is probably best described as a movement towards that goal to do what they can to be environmentally responsible. To be clear, this is different than the "climate change" movement. What I am talking about here is about being socially and environmentally responsible. We believe, personally and as a company, that doing what we can to make the world a better place is the responsibility of everyone regardless of whether you believe the different sides of the debate on climate change. It is also our responsibility to account for our actions that draw on limited natural resources.<br />
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So today, we are publically announcing an initiative that we have been working towards at Fuller Systems this year - Going Green in 2015. What this meant for us was to find a way to understand and then account for all the energy used by our company directly, and even indirectly through our apps, games and other services. When we started down that path, we were really surprised to find out how much electrical energy our company was using as we don't just run an office, we also run servers and several Internet services. We first approached the initiative by looking at ways to limit and reduce our overall electrical energy footprint. As we are a relatively small company, that phase of the project didn't take very long, and unfortunately didn't lead to very significant reductions. The fact is, we were being generally energy conscious already, and that just didn't leave much room for very significant improvements.<br />
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We then turned to asking the harder, more costly, questions. What could we do to use renewable energy sources for our electrical energy needs? We looked at a few different options, like purchasing the green energy options from our power providers. Those options did not fully allow us to account for energy used off-site outside of our office, and as such really didn't get us where we wanted to be. As a result, we fairly quickly turned our focus to solar power as we are based in California and get quite a bit of sun. I should briefly mention that we looked at other options as well, including wind power, but that was just not feasible for our location.<br />
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After meeting with several local and national solar panel installation companies, and reviewing purchase and lease options, we selected a locally owned company to work with as they provided the most complete solution at the right balance of cost and timing of installation. Again, we wanted to get this done in 2015, and some that we met with had installation schedules several months out into 2016. Those were quickly eliminated from our list of potential partners because of that factor, but also because the costs were often higher and overall benefits lower. We also wanted to cover all (not just some) of the company's energy usage for the foreseeable future - and that is not a small number of solar panels. That meant that we needed a good price per panel, and a fair price on installation, or it wouldn't be possible at all.<br />
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I'm proud to say that as of just last week we met our goal of "Going Green in 2015", with two months to spare. We were able to turn on our solar panels for the first time, and start pumping clean energy back onto the grid while powering our office entirely from solar. This is not just computers, but phones, printers, heating/cooling, fans, lighting - everything. Seeing that electric meter go negative and effectively turn backwards was very inspiring. In fact, it has made us even more energy conscious every day to be aware of what our solar panels our outputting, and adjusting usage as much as we can to keep things balanced.<br />
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We didn't make this decision for "marketing reasons". We didn't "Go Green" because we thought it would get us good press, or sell more of anything. We did this because we think it is the right thing to do. It is the responsible thing to do as a member of our local and global community. Oh, and we think it will actually save us money in the long term - so that doesn't exactly hurt either. If a business can do something that is financially responsible AND be better for everyone alive, it really is a "no brainer".<br />
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Finally, I would like to put out a challenge to all the other technology companies out there. Do the right thing and take responsibility for your environmental impacts. Accept the challenge to "Go Green".Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-70399363882997011072013-01-03T10:15:00.001-08:002013-01-03T10:15:29.764-08:00Announcing Our New Game, 5of99!Fuller Systems is excited to announce our new game, 5of99, which just went live this morning. If you are on Android and like a challenging game mixed with a classic "5 in a row" concept, check it out <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fullersystems.fiveof99">at the Google Play Store</a>!<br />
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You can also visit the <a href="http://www.5of99.com/">new 5of99 game web site</a> to read about the rules in the game, including screenshots from the game as well.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-23461898221475701302012-08-16T09:45:00.000-07:002012-08-16T09:45:15.568-07:00Announcing the Cribbage Pro Blog & New Strategy Topics!Today I am happy to announce the launching of our new <a href="http://blog.cribbagepro.net/">Cribbage Pro Blog</a> dedicated to all things "Cribbage Pro". In the new blog we will be focusing only on topics related directly to the game Cribbage Pro and the game of cribbage in general. As <a href="http://blog.cribbagepro.net/2012/08/cribbage-pro-multiplayer-analysis-tips.html">the first article on the blog</a>, and for at least a few more months, we are diving deep into the data collected in Cribbage Pro games to share some cribbage strategy tips and answer a lot of your cribbage questions like "What card should I play first when I have these cards in my hand" and "<a href="http://blog.cribbagepro.net/2012/08/cribbage-pro-multiplayer-analysis-tips.html">What makes good cribbage players so good</a>".<br />
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Head on over to <a href="http://blog.cribbagepro.net/">the new Cribbage Pro Blog</a> now to read the first post, and be sure to subscribe to that blog for the very latest updates. We will be transitioning this Fuller Systems Blog to be more generally company focused in the future.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-27046445646600895462012-07-11T15:57:00.000-07:002012-07-11T15:57:07.131-07:00Announcing Cribbage Pro Contests on iOS!I'm happy to announce that we are now live with the new iOS update of Cribbage Pro that brings all the new features found on the latest Android release (<a href="http://blog.fullersystems.com/2012/05/announcing-contests-for-cribbage-pro-on.html">http://blog.fullersystems.com/2012/05/announcing-contests-for-cribbage-pro-on.html</a>) to bring contests to everyone. This means you can finally challenge your friends on iOS to a contest for Cribbage Pro Gold and cash it out as a real cash prize (1 Gold = $1 USD)!<br />
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Cribbage Pro is the first and only real cash prize contest system of any kind available on mobile devices like Android and iOS for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Please read the link above from the Android release for further details or <a href="http://www.cribbagepro.net/about/cribbage-pro-contests.html">view the "Contests" section of the game web site</a> and tell your friends.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-76549249154049062922012-05-16T10:50:00.001-07:002012-05-16T10:50:50.211-07:00Announcing Contests for Cribbage Pro on AndroidToday, after months of work and testing I am proud to announce the release of Multiplayer Contests in Cribbage Pro for Android (the Apple iOS version is coming next).<br />
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Contests in Cribbage Pro are tournament games of skill (<a href="http://www.cribbagepro.net/not_gambling.html">not gambling</a>) with an entree fee and a chance to win Gold you can cash-out. Yes, you heard that correct, you can cash-out your Gold where 1 Gold = $1 USD and there are never any fees for cashing out! You can "Buy Gold" using the button at the bottom of the new "Contests" tab in the Multiplayer section of the game, or select the bottom information bar on that same screen for more options.<br />
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The following are some key rules and limits on contests, but for the full limitations and terms please <a href="http://www.cribbagepro.net/contests/agreement.html">view the full Terms and Conditions user agreement</a> and the other contest information provided on <a href="http://www.cribbagepro.net/">the game web site</a> as this list is not, and should not be deemed as being in any way comprehensive:<br />
<ul>
<li>When the contest completes, the winner is immediately awarded the prize based on the entry fees collected.</li>
<li>Each contest has the entry fee amount required to play set by the contest creator up to a current maximum of 25 Gold per contest.</li>
<li>If you choose to participate in a contest, you must have sufficient Cribbage Pro Gold (CPG) in your account in order to join the contest.</li>
<li>All contests are always considered rated games (for points).</li>
<li>When the first game in the contest starts, all entry fees are removed from the players accounts for processing.</li>
<li>All contests must be fully completed and a winner declared for any contest prize to be awarded.</li>
<li>If you re-match a contest, the same entry fee will be used again and the same rules apply as if it were a new contest.</li>
<li>If there is ever a disconnect or drop of a player in a contest, that contest will be saved and scheduled to complete later. An email will be sent with the scheduled time and other details and limitations.</li>
<li>A player with a gold icon in the players list indicates they are able to play in contests.</li>
<li>Each contest participant must read, agree and periodically review the full Terms and Conditions user agreement.</li>
<li>To participate in a fee based tournament contest you must be of legal age in your respective jurisdiction (again, see the terms and conditions).</li>
</ul>
There are more details coming soon, like an FAQ for Contests on the game web site at <a href="http://www.cribbagepro.net/">http://www.CribbagePro.net/</a> , but for now, go get the update or <a href="http://www.cribbagepro.net/download-cribbage-pro.html">download Cribbage Pro</a> if you don't already have it, have fun playing Contests and let us know what you think!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-61551600377004524962011-12-02T03:38:00.000-08:002012-02-14T08:04:06.734-08:00Cribbage Pro Multiplayer Points System RevisedAfter a lot of analysis, quite a few good debates on skill versus luck, and a lot of feedback from many of the regular players of <a href="http://www.cribbagepro.net/">Cribbage Pro Online</a>, we are happy to announce a completely new points system for multiplayer games that is now live effective immediately. This new points system is a lot different compared to the old system, and as such probably needs a little explaining so that everyone can have confidence in what to expect when they play.<br />
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At the heart of the new system is points being given out based on how dramatically you win against your opponent. Points are awarded based off of the cribbage board position, and more specifically based on the "block" or 5 point section that the losers peg is in relative to the winning player (which on a game played to completion is always the last block with the peg out hole of course). We calculate the difference between that winning peg and the losers peg and determine how many "blocks" or sections on the cribbage board that peg is away from the winning peg. Next time you play, pay attention to which score block you are in, as each 5 point score block section will change the points awarded or taken away, so every time you get a block ahead of your opponent, you stand to get more points awarded for winning. If you are losing, then trying to get to that next block before the game is over could save you a lot of points as well.<br />
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Before we get into specifics, another big change is that the same number of points you can win is the same that is lost by the other player. With that, pictured in the table and chart below is the breakdown of points awarded by that "block" mentioned above (there are 24 blocks plus a final hole for 121 on our game board).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUuGiQIMfuSUPnToRXV7dNNtVCZ8L_jhUwn1_JoHH2vYCuPERnnqZw06uTP0BklHeeHS1jZfSP5TsBjICgaFX1s_Uy_RL0o8RJ-wqTaB9-SEQ_jyMMQZlimSsHUpr21SyEeY75oskraAI/s1600/ScoreBlockPoints.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="57" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUuGiQIMfuSUPnToRXV7dNNtVCZ8L_jhUwn1_JoHH2vYCuPERnnqZw06uTP0BklHeeHS1jZfSP5TsBjICgaFX1s_Uy_RL0o8RJ-wqTaB9-SEQ_jyMMQZlimSsHUpr21SyEeY75oskraAI/s640/ScoreBlockPoints.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkURU3HlelWDAQYzhUohpAbebssvx7VXqtWo9l0y4LEH9owcG2iKCjkK2vebM_IzHM10tKlQdS7Fuo_quxav1ZY_XPyOR43E_a1_yyj8miHQie9QS2nXoSKqIKGQikSDqx4-_QPMerzas/s1600/ScoreBlockDiff.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkURU3HlelWDAQYzhUohpAbebssvx7VXqtWo9l0y4LEH9owcG2iKCjkK2vebM_IzHM10tKlQdS7Fuo_quxav1ZY_XPyOR43E_a1_yyj8miHQie9QS2nXoSKqIKGQikSDqx4-_QPMerzas/s640/ScoreBlockDiff.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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You will see that special consideration is given to the "Double Skunk", "Skunk" and if you lose by only one point (designated as block "25").<br />
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Along with this new system for determining the points to be awarded when you win, or that are taken away when you lose, is a new "Maximum Points Possible" calculation. This is a bit more complicated, but the picture you should probably have in your mind is that of a bucket of points that each unique opponent you play has to share points with you. This maximum is based on each match-up you have, each opponent you play against, and is calculated based on two different systems.<br />
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The first maximum score limiting system is used when you have played 10 games or less against the same opponent. For those first 10 games you play against someone, when you win we determine what I'll call a "game win delta" or a maximum number of games you have won more than the other player - your "play advantage" if you will. So if you have won 7 games against them in the past, and they have only won 2 (a total of 9 games), your advantage is 5 games (losers games of 2 won subtracted from winners 7). The breakdown of that maximum points possible in your match-up is as shown below.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJil7UBjwHo8SNrIGtjxcX7-S0ed2t10vExBdZQ8vG5e8Cfb86wK1si21HliIjqhCMuZFnw3u2lI5grutjVmzl260Rg_X0ClczKo5B2Vsh-N8n3Y9SuTbL76fWJKcQs7EgGxccsFamyc/s1600/MaxPoints10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="41" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJil7UBjwHo8SNrIGtjxcX7-S0ed2t10vExBdZQ8vG5e8Cfb86wK1si21HliIjqhCMuZFnw3u2lI5grutjVmzl260Rg_X0ClczKo5B2Vsh-N8n3Y9SuTbL76fWJKcQs7EgGxccsFamyc/s200/MaxPoints10.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga6YpA7i1Uk8kLy_Xak-yrK7tPkIcyc65ONGZW9HJnsjvU0r6AtBp6Dbtdf2xuI9IEdwPLQ1WFXIa6N9hHnjGSO-Zpcfqtd4RLz2bDddWBAPIq_yOsnVDMJ2OfyHQqEdFKkrpizE252H8/s1600/MaxPoints10Chart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga6YpA7i1Uk8kLy_Xak-yrK7tPkIcyc65ONGZW9HJnsjvU0r6AtBp6Dbtdf2xuI9IEdwPLQ1WFXIa6N9hHnjGSO-Zpcfqtd4RLz2bDddWBAPIq_yOsnVDMJ2OfyHQqEdFKkrpizE252H8/s640/MaxPoints10Chart.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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So, if you are really beating up your opponent game after game, there is now a diminishing return on your wins. What this really is doing is gauging your skill relative to that specific opponent and awarding you less if you are already the most likely winner and it will subsequently award you more if you were being trounced before but finally manage to get a win (as your delta or advantage will be negative).<br />
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That system of maximum points for 10 or less games will be the one that most people will encounter as they play because of the numerous people playing and possible opponents you will face. However, for those that play more than 10 games against the same opponent, there needs to be consideration given beyond just a "games advantage", and this is where a percentage based system becomes more relevant and that is what is used.<br />
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Here is how the percentage system is used to calculate your maximum points possible.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcnRYuNUou1wuSWANgmQs3585Lsl0FNRx6_oLPysJyn824PREXKMoX5r61ytVk_xPZjRl9OAaGKUvCXBnc7eFZkotOebbAJxhj3s5JuHwAxabhy80twmeotI67fC1tjTFRwTqHpT4-Kmw/s1600/MaxPointsPercent.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="27" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcnRYuNUou1wuSWANgmQs3585Lsl0FNRx6_oLPysJyn824PREXKMoX5r61ytVk_xPZjRl9OAaGKUvCXBnc7eFZkotOebbAJxhj3s5JuHwAxabhy80twmeotI67fC1tjTFRwTqHpT4-Kmw/s640/MaxPointsPercent.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkP2AEyn5Ss755OdbL6-6jl7Mn6oJ1CSIdPFrRTy-yZDUpRS3beLFe6V-UoQBNWnSW3dFKA_SmqnzgrcpfYjBjz0PELW4EX9O_a2etwQTfiXixRqYtPwKPMSJKvXoIkYE7Z9PaXQFUBY/s1600/MaxPointsPercentChart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkP2AEyn5Ss755OdbL6-6jl7Mn6oJ1CSIdPFrRTy-yZDUpRS3beLFe6V-UoQBNWnSW3dFKA_SmqnzgrcpfYjBjz0PELW4EX9O_a2etwQTfiXixRqYtPwKPMSJKvXoIkYE7Z9PaXQFUBY/s640/MaxPointsPercentChart.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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As you can see, we calculate the win % of the person who lost the game (prior to adding in that loss) and use that to determine a maximum number of points won or lost. If the loser wins 46% or more against the winner, then all the points are available, but from 45% on down that maximum will slowly drop all the way down to 5 points maximum if the winner wins nearly all the time (85% or more of the time to be exact). So again, if you are always winning against that person, then it is expected that you will continue to win and there is a diminishing return on that win as you continue to prove yourself superior.<br />
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<b>UPDATE</b>: Also note that after the first 10 games you play against someone, all "skunks" will count as 2 games and any "double skunks" will count as 3 games when calculating this maximum points possible (not in your game stats or anywhere else, only for this purpose).<br />
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I'm sure there are those that will ask why we did all this, and why it is so complicated. Well, we really didn't want to make it this complicated, but we were forced into it by simply examining the system we use today and coming to an understanding where it was simply not being fair to everyone. Too many people were forced to play only certain levels of other players or risk being docked huge amounts of points for losing. Similarly, someone who only plays their spouse may be able to accumulate points rapidly if they were a cribbage expert and the spouse not so much.<br />
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Is this new system perfect? No, I highly doubt it is perfect, but I do believe it is a good step in the right direction. What that means is that this will probably not be the last change you see to the points system, but hopefully it means that future changes will just be tweaks here and there.<br />
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If you have comments, thoughts or suggestions on this new system please let us know in the comments or email us at <a href="mailto:support@fullersystems.com">support@fullersystems.com</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-85344526264757961892011-07-14T11:39:00.000-07:002011-07-14T11:39:41.527-07:00Android Market Takes A Page from Amazon - FailsFor our regular readers, this post is quite different from normal, but it is something we have decided we can not ignore and that needs more attention from everyone who is a fan of Android, or Google in general.<br />
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Just recently (7/12/2011), Google started to release an update to <a href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2011/07/new-android-market-for-phones.html">the Android Market for devices 2.2 and above</a> (a vast majority of devices). This update includes a complete redesign and a lot of great new features that could help everyone participating in the market. However, there is one change that is very negative all around for consumers and developers/publishers that will offset any of those positives in my opinion, but has not been discussed much. This change is in how they are now choosing to try and "rank" user reviews of apps, and in many cases only show 20 of such reviews that they are deeming "worthy".<br />
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In theory, trying to find the most relevant and meaningful reviews on something is a great idea. This is in fact something Google does really well at with it's PageRank and searching of the web on Google.com It is an idea that is very much needed to help filter out the "spam" and make reviews meaningful in any App Store (sorry Apple, that is a generic term). Amazon does this quite well with their regular products (to be determined on their own "Appstore"), and now Google is trying it out on their Android Market on devices and on the web version of the market as well (it has been on the web version for a little while now).<br />
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So, what is the problem then? It is a great idea, they are trying to do it, and that is all good, right? The problem is that their attempt is currently a clear failure and I can demonstrate this not only with <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.fullersystems.cribbage&feature=top-free">the free version of our game Cribbage Pro</a>, but more pointedly with <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.gm">Google's own self published apps</a> as well. They are making the reviews system irrelevant, unreliable and at best completely useless to the consumer and at worst a huge negative hit for many developers.<br />
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Let's take <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.gm">Google's "Gmail" app</a> available on Android. This app is clearly one of the best implementations of Gmail on any mobile device, and arguable the best email app for mobile devices period. Every app has some haters, so it is would be expected there are a few negative reviews as well. To be fair, if you have the full list of reviews on your older Android Market still and take a look, you will indeed find some bad reviews and people complaining about features they want and giving a lower rating as a result. However, the app still has an overall 4.5 star rating with nearly 113,000 reviews as of this writing. It is also one of the top rated in it's category (number 3 in the "Communication" free category). It has a very good ratio of positive star ratings to negative star ratings as well, which is all to be expected for a great app. So what do the reviews say? Well, that tells a very different story. The first three reviews are always what is shown by default for each app without clicking "More" or "Read all reviews" (which does not let you read all reviews, more on that later), so let's start in.<br />
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<div class=""><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUVjX4ooGsQ1ZY9pU3acGnKYq3Cm7MAsEVoxGiew_SzuC4erKWBYPfW_06UdutXW1ZcQ6yy6s9mEmF7C9nmlZ2_BPTsl7eDfUeieaiQpJTIsUdFfF6lBEvGkCXA47e4qgo0WUrkgsgno/s1600/gmail-review1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUVjX4ooGsQ1ZY9pU3acGnKYq3Cm7MAsEVoxGiew_SzuC4erKWBYPfW_06UdutXW1ZcQ6yy6s9mEmF7C9nmlZ2_BPTsl7eDfUeieaiQpJTIsUdFfF6lBEvGkCXA47e4qgo0WUrkgsgno/s640/gmail-review1.gif" width="640" /></a></div>The first review shown for Gmail as of this writing is 3 out of 5 stars by "Adam" on June 21, 2011 (nearly a month ago). As that star rating would indicate, it is a mediocre review, but actually it is not a review at all. It is instead instructions on how to fix a problem that he was having with the app to help other users who may have a similar problem. Good on you "Adam" for trying to help your fellow man, but this is not a review that will help you decide if this is a quality app or not in nearly all cases, and it really can't be argued to be the most relevant review in that regard either. Let's go on to the second review shown and see if that will help us out.<br />
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<div class=""><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgddHYuzk5IaN5ZeTd1IkrUgiZkNu9RxRPp7LKzRH6Hte0u6_QsJOav3FT_GhqLj8P8aLDIUkNZUeY1iRc6F_Y9DwEroU1i7Cck-F9pYkAHXdVcSEQUSqFJYebgFQMnx7bPGRC56r_Dnho/s1600/gmail-review2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="68" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgddHYuzk5IaN5ZeTd1IkrUgiZkNu9RxRPp7LKzRH6Hte0u6_QsJOav3FT_GhqLj8P8aLDIUkNZUeY1iRc6F_Y9DwEroU1i7Cck-F9pYkAHXdVcSEQUSqFJYebgFQMnx7bPGRC56r_Dnho/s640/gmail-review2.gif" width="640" /></a></div>The second review for Gmail is a 1 star out of 5 by "mark" on Jun 4, 2011 (getting even older now). He seems to have had a problem with an update released around that time and decided to ding the app with a poor rating in response. This kind of thing happens quite often in the Android Market, and is a fair review, but does the app still have this issue? Did anyone else around the same time complain of similar issues? Sorry, there is absolutely no way to know here. It is a 1 star negative review, with no context and no way of knowing if it is still a problem or if more recent reviews may have stated it as resolved. Again, a useless and likely outdated review that is very negative for what as stated earlier is nearly universally accepted as a great app. We move on to the third and final review shown on the main app page.<br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQXUKUk1AVXlQaKj15MVk2H66IdbQYIbrPk2NH0dun6peLwGAHqoHVPauZhCMGvPv8IZZ_3Vbx_eUtsTWIKvCdDlp_QpxSoa7YrnZsUVMHQCzFC94IBVATRKt_z-oRreqcB8kRIBCNsQ/s1600/gmail-review3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikQXUKUk1AVXlQaKj15MVk2H66IdbQYIbrPk2NH0dun6peLwGAHqoHVPauZhCMGvPv8IZZ_3Vbx_eUtsTWIKvCdDlp_QpxSoa7YrnZsUVMHQCzFC94IBVATRKt_z-oRreqcB8kRIBCNsQ/s640/gmail-review3.gif" width="640" /></a></div>The third review for Gmail is also a 1 star out of 5 review, this time by "Erion" on March 28, 2011. Yes, you read that correctly. March 28th and today it is July 14th. Much older and more dated, and also a negative review of a great app. He is complaining of a missing feature to download attachments, which seems to be a reasonable complaint. So, is that still a problem nearly 4 months later? Who knows, it might be, it might not be. There is again no context of other reviews, no recent reviews showing this and no revision history by date that one could even try and use to divine that understanding. In fact, this could just be a user error and there may have been a response from another user just moments later saying so but you have no way of knowing that.<br />
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We will stop there, as things only get worse and you can view what Google says is all their reviews by clicking the "Read all reviews" for yourself. The next review as shown today is from way back in October of 2010 believe it or not and also negative, and the trend continues on for a while. Interestingly, Google Gmail gives itself 4 pages of 10 reviews each that you can look at for it's app, where as nearly every other app will max out at 20 (two pages of 10; like their own published <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox">Google Search app</a> is limited to).<br />
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So without even using my own app as an example (<a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.fullersystems.cribbage&feature=top-free">feel free to take a look</a>, you will see the same trends and some very old reviews), or <a href="http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=21d355775843dd8b&hl=en">the many others who are impacted</a>, we see that this new "ranking" of reviews has a few critical issues. I'll outline them here for clarity.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Reviews Are Old & Not Tied to a Release</li>
<ul><li>The most glaring issue that will first hit you is that the reviews being shown are almost all very old reviews in the context of how many reviews this app is getting every single day. All apps we looked at that are impacted by this problem had this very same issue. Since these reviews are not tied to a release of the app in any way (say like Apple does), and have no other reviews around them from the same time, we have no context in which to decide if this is helpful or not.</li>
</ul><li>Reviews Are Heavily Negative</li>
<ul><li>This is a great app, with many great reviews. I can't link to those here because the web version now only shows these old reviews, but if you have an older Market on your device you can easily go there and see for yourself. How can an app with such high star ratings overall, and such quantity of great reviews have such an overwhelming amount of negative reviews being selected for showing in the market?</li>
</ul><li>"Read all reviews" Does Not Let You Read All Reviews</li>
<ul><li>The option to "Read all reviews" is misleading at best. In fact, it just shows more of a filtered and ranked list that Google has chosen to show you using it's magical black box algorithm (Google seems to like this idea of ranking things using complex formulas). There is no way to see all the current reviews, no list showing the most recent or tied to this version, and no way to rank up or down as helpful or not helpful those same reviews that have been filtered by Google. So if you don't find the current list helpful and you "down vote" them as "Unhelpful", you will have a very hard time finding a positive one to "up vote" as "Helpful", and good luck finding a recent one at all.</li>
</ul></ul><div>In the old market these things were much less of an issue as all reviews were always shown from the dawn of time and sorted by most recent first. You had a natural context from other reviewers around the same time. If someone mentioned an update causing a problem for them, you could find others possibly later saying the problem was fixed, or responding to the comment with clarifications or help. People could leave reviews with helpful hints, or responses to other reviewers who claimed to be having issues, but in reality possibly failed to follow instructions correctly (say for an app that needs root, or a widget that can't be moved to SD card, etc.)</div><br />
Please Google, let's admit there is a problem here and fix it. I realize some apps don't have this problem for whatever reason the secret black box ranking is choosing better reviews (or at least not yet), but for those where it exists it really needs to be fixed. In fact, some apps that have very poor overall ratings, now are showing only positive reviews. So this problem is cutting both ways. Your changes here are hurting us, your developers and your customers, and now that you are rolling this out to devices world wide this problem is about to explode.<br />
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If you have been hit by this same issue, or you disagree and want to tell us why we are just a bunch of whiny developers, let us know in the comments. We would love to hear from you.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-8349871101080344982011-07-07T16:39:00.000-07:002011-07-07T16:45:31.319-07:00Achievements Bug & Top 50 Single PlayerToday is a short post, but an important one. After releasing our new achievements system on Android, we found a bug in the points system for achievements when playing against the Novice computer player. In that mode, you should have been limited to the number of points you can earn towards the Top 50 (should be limited to earning each achievement about 50 times). Unfortunately, that was not happening correctly and as a result many who just played only the Novice computer a huge number of times were incorrectly placing in the Top 50.<br />
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We have now corrected this, but I'm quite sure this will upset some of you who will now find your not in the Top 50 and your total points are now lower then they were as well. I sincerely apologize for that, as I know how frustrating that can feel and hope that you will understand why we had to fix this bug before things got too out of hand and the Top 50 became just a bunch of people who can beat a really simple Novice as it would make the list meaningless.<br />
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At the same time, we have cleaned up the Top 50 to remove all the "Anonymous" accounts as well, which should make the list much more realistic and give other more serious players a chance to get on the list.<br />
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Again, apologies to all, and a reminder as well that if you ever find anything in the game that does not look right, chances are that it is not right, and we would really appreciate hearing from you at <a href="mailto:support@FullerSystems.com">support@FullerSystems.com</a><br />
<br />
-- JoshUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-697039283400495902011-07-01T16:35:00.000-07:002011-07-01T16:35:49.703-07:00Release 1.7 - Some Love For Single Player CribbageAfter quite a few releases that had a heavy focus on the multiplayer side of the game in Cribbage Pro, although we always give some single player improvements too, we are really excited to finally release version 1.7 which is almost entirely focused on just the single player side of the game (coming first on Android; iOS users it is coming soon hopefully with your iPad support too).<br />
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So without further delay, here is a run down of these new features in our now traditional bullet list style.<br />
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<ul><li><b>New Single Player Achievements System</b></li>
<ul><li>You can now earn over 80 different achievements while playing Cribbage Pro on single player, and each achievement you earn gives you more points towards appearing in the "Top 50" leader boards. That's right, you can even lose a game but have an achievement earned which off-sets that loss and still move up. We think it's more fair then just earning for a win. You showed skill in earning the achievement (say a nice 24 point hand) and that skill should be represented in the rankings.</li>
<li>Not all achievements are for showing your greatness, some of them just mark a milestone in your game play. For instance, you get one for playing 100 games, then 1000 and then 2000+ at each level of difficulty. You may also get a "19 Point Crib" achievement if you find yourself unlucky enough to have 0 points in your own crib. This is of course not a good thing, but just a common slang used in cribbage in general that we thought would be fun to add in to soften that harsh blow.</li>
<li>Right now there are over 80, and we have ideas for even more, but would like your suggestions as well. So email us what you think might make a good achievement in the game and we will see what we can do to add it in for a future release.</li>
</ul><li><a href="http://kiip.me/"><b>Real World Rewards from Kiip</b></a></li>
<ul><li>OK, so achievements are great and all, but what if they were not just points you could earn to get to the leader board but included other real-world rewards for significant game achievements. Once we heard of Kiip and how it worked out with the timing of our achievements release here, we got really excited as we think you all will too. If you have been lucky enough to earn one already or gift it to a friend, you know what we are talking about. For those of you who have no idea what Kiip is and why we are excited to bring it to you, check out their <a href="http://vimeo.com/kiip/intro">video on earning real rewards in games you are already playing</a>.</li>
</ul><li><b>"Top 50" with new "Recently Played" and "All Time"</b></li>
<ul><li>We heard you all on this one a few times, and we are glad to be able to finally start to do something about the Top 50 leader-board for single player. One of the big glaring issues was that someone who played the game over a year ago and did really well may be sitting on that list, but only now playing the game just intermittently enough to keep their spot. This first set of changes in this release are starting to address this. With the new "Recently Played" list being the default, players who have not played the game in a while will drop off the list and the list can change each and every day that ticks past giving the newer players who just found us a chance to make the list too. Of course, there is still the "All Time" list to try and get to as well. Note that we changed this for single player and multiplayer Top 50.</li>
</ul><li><b>Some Graphical Tweaks</b></li>
<ul><li>We made the "Count" box bigger, bolder, styled it and generally made it easier to read and we also made a few other tweaks to the overall layout which I'm betting nobody notices very much, but they were bothering us so we fixed them.</li>
</ul><li><b>Improvements to Using <a href="http://www.random.org/">Random.org</a></b></li>
<ul><li>On Android we have been using Random.org for our random seed data in shuffling/etc. in the game for a while, but it was not as efficient as it should be and it would run out too fast at times and not be able to get new good random data (not a good enough internet connection, etc.) and be forced to fall back to using the devices random source (which we have to say almost universally terrible). So in this release we added a few new technical adjustments to that system and how we utilize it to make the cards you get (and the cards the computer is dealt) as random as we possibly can as often as we possibly can.</li>
</ul></ul><br />
We have already had a few requests for a list of all the possible achievements you can earn in the game, and when. Right now we will not be releasing the full list (remember, that's 80+ so it would be a long list), but in a future blog post we will list out some of our favorites and/or ones that we are getting questions. So more to come there.<br />
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As always, if you have suggestions, comments or feedback of any kind please let us know in the comments here on the blog or (particularly if you want a quick response) by emailing <a href="mailto:support@fullersystems.com">support@fullersystems.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-61416300471050632002011-05-26T11:36:00.000-07:002011-05-26T11:42:24.167-07:00Cribbage Pro 1.6 Released!We are excited to announce the release of Cribbage Pro version 1.6 to both Android and iOS users. This new version adds the much requested tablet support for Android users (iOS users know that iPad support is coming) along with a host of other new features and some bug fixes too.<br />
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So, whats new in 1.6.0:<br />
<ul><li>As mentioned above, Android now has initial tablet support for larger tablets (10" screens)</li>
<ul><li>If you are running a smaller tablet (say the 7" Samsung Galaxy Tab), you will not see many changes, but if you are using one of the new Motorola Xooms or any other larger tablet like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, you will see a new layout with larger board, cards, etc.</li>
<li>If you are using a larger tablet device, and are not seeing the new layout, please let us know as there are literally hundreds of them out there and we just can't test on them all.</li>
</ul><li>Player reviews & ratings in multiplayer </li>
<ul><li>Players quit, players have lousy connections and disconnect all the time, players can be rude and any number of other things that make it hard to play someone. On the positive side, players can be great opponents, offer a great challenge and be really nice to play. The negative things do not make the game fun, and the community should know who those players are before they play them, and people who play nice and are fun to play against should also be recognized. This is why we have added this new review/rating system to the multiplayer game. When you are done playing a game, you are asked if you want to just exit or if you want to also rate the player you just finished playing. We don't let you just type in whatever you want for the review side, but you can select a 5 star rating for them and choose from a list of "reasons" why. If you don't like the reasons, choose "other" and email us and we will see about adding your suggestion.</li>
</ul><li>Support for multiple devices with the same user name/account </li>
<ul><li>So you have an iPod, an iPhone and and iPad and want to use the same user name on all the devices? Yeah, now you can do that. Same goes for Android if you have a phone, a media player and a tablet (or you are like us and have lots of phones), you can use the same account on all of them and the system will keep the stats updated in aggregate. Of course, you can't login with the same user name on all of the devices at the same time for multiplayer, so if you do it will kick out whoever is logged in on your other device. Simply put, we can't have two users with the same exact name on the server at the same exact time - it just would not make any sense. If you already have other accounts setup, just uninstall the game and then re-install it from scratch again and select that you "Already Registered" when prompted and be sure to use the same user name to login as your other devices. We will continue to improve this experience over time as well to make it even easier to switch accounts around as needed as people start having more devices that they may share with someone else.</li>
</ul><li>You can now permanently delete a "Friend" </li>
<ul><li>Honestly, this feature was there when the "Friend" system was first added, but we hid it because we really did not see a deep need for it and thought it would cause more confusion then help. However, you all spoke up and asked for it and gave some really good reasons why too. So, we were wrong, and now here it is. You can now delete a friend completely from your list.</li>
</ul><li>Ability to disable in-game chat per game </li>
<ul><li>Another one of those "odd" features perhaps, but since we have had a lot of requests for it and a lot of really good justifications for it (perhaps you want to let your younger kids play online but don't want to worry about them being bothered), we hope you will find it useful. If your one of those players that always want to chat, don't join the game that has the little crossed out chat balloon and if you see it, know that you won't be able to chat with that user while playing the game.</li>
</ul><li>New actions list for joining games and viewing you and your friends stats and ratings in multiplayer </li>
<ul><li>We have had stats for a really long time, but it was not always easy to view each others stats and now that we have added "ratings", this became more of an issue for us. With this release we have added the ability to view the stats of someone hosting a game and view their ratings before you decide if you want to play them. If you are the host, and someone joins your game, click the stars you see under their avatar and you will be able to view their ratings before you start the game as well. You can also view your own statistics and ratings right from within the multiplayer lobby with the new section added at the bottom of the screen so now you can see quickly what your current points, level and rating are in the game without leaving multiplayer.</li>
</ul></ul><div>We hope you all enjoy this release as much as we have enjoyed creating it for you, and as always if you have any suggestions or want to share any of your thoughts on this release or anything else, please email us at <a href="mailto:support@FullerSystems.com">support@FullerSystems.com</a> or you can just leave us a comment below too.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-61894055382367945992011-03-09T12:08:00.000-08:002011-03-10T14:47:50.655-08:00Cribbage Pro 1.5 Changes OR What Happened to All My Points?There are some very big changes in this new version of Cribbage Pro (1.5) which was just released early this morning 3/9/2011 PST. The list of improvements, new features and changes are actually so long that we ran out of space when describing them in the various markets and app stores where you can find Cribbage Pro today (<a href="http://www.cribbagepro.net/">check out CribbagePro.net for details</a>). This blog post will attempt to cover them in more detail, but if you have questions please leave us a comment or email us at <a href="mailto:support@fullersystems.com">support@fullersystems.com</a> and we will be sure to reply as soon as we can to everyone.<br />
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So without further delay, here is a quick summary of the things in Cribbage Pro 1.5<br />
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<ul><li>Multiplayer Best of 1, 3, 5 or 7 Games</li>
<ul><li>We are very excited to finally release a tournament like option which allows you to risk your points and ranking in a "best of X" series as opposed to a single game show down. You can still play just one game where the winner takes all, but playing a best of 3 or more will allow you to avoid the loss of points/ranking from one bad game or a few bad hands.</li>
</ul><li>Add Friends / Send Private Messages</li>
<ul><li>You asked, we heard you, and here it is. You can now request to be friends inside the game with anyone you are playing (open the chat to see the "Add friend" button), or by entering a user name in the Friends tab of the multiplayer screen.</li>
<li>Selecting any of your friends allows you to view their stats, hide/show them from your list and send or view private messages with them. Messages you send are not stored in any secure fashion, so treat these as unencrypted emails being sent freely over the internet (don't send anything sensitive in any way). However, it does give you a nice convenient way to communicate with your cribbage friends without the need to exchange email addresses or otherwise.</li>
</ul><li>New Multiplayer Top 50 and Single Player Top 50 Changes</li>
<ul><li>Here is where some questions are likely to arise, and where we want to be clear on what happened here and why. If you have followed the "Top 50" for a while, you have probably noticed some strange things like really high points and rankings for single player users and people listed on the multiplayer Top 50 that hardly ever play multiplayer at all. These things needed to be addressed, and so we did.</li>
<li>The single player side of things now counts any abandoned or unfinished game as a loss for the purposes of ranking in the Top 50 (individual stats are not changed). This also changed how games are saved and loaded in the single player game which some may find as a great improvement well others will not like so much. However, it had to be done to prevent the "gaming of the system" that was clearly happening in the Top 50. We believe this should firmly resolve this kind of activity and make for a better representation of ranks.</li>
<li>The multiplayer Top 50 side is completely redone. We have created a completely separate points and ranking/level for the multiplayer side of the house. Everyone got new points in this system based on the wins and losses they have had in multiplayer. If you have more wins then losses, then you are higher up then those with more losses then wins. We also set a baseline here so that to start with nobody was below 1500 points when we converted over. However, many are likely much lower then they were before, but over time if you win you will see your rank go back up. If you lose of course, it will go down.</li>
</ul><li>Abandoned/Forfeit in Multiplayer</li>
<ul><li>Another significant change here is that if you exit a game in progress in multiplayer (forfeit) you will take a loss and the other player will be given the win. If you are forced out and don't quit intentionally, the system will do it's best to determine if there could be a projected winner or loser and award the win/loss accordingly. Simply put, if you are losing and disconnected you will likely take a loss if you can't re-join. If you are winning and disconnected for some reason, you will not take a loss.</li>
<li>These changes simply had to be made due to the constant reports of players quitting games when they are losing to avoid taking the loss. It was very unsportsmanlike conduct, and we had to find a way to punish that behavior, with the understanding that some players will undoubtedly be given a loss for a game when their phone dies or drops the connection for whatever reason even if they may have still had a chance to win.</li>
</ul><li>True Random Shuffling!</li>
<ul><li>We believe this is a first in any cribbage game on any device anywhere, and are very excited about releasing it out first to our Android users (iPhone/iOS users, coming soon).</li>
<li>How does it work? Well, whenever available it will actually take true random data from the folks over at <a href="http://www.random.org/">random.org</a> to use when shuffling the deck and making some other of the random choices in the game. If your device is connected to the internet and can get data from their service, it will be used. If not, it will use the same device generated random source as before.</li>
<li>One point of clarification is that this change is for single player. Multiplayer has always used various true random sources for it's shuffling since day one.</li>
</ul><li>New Layout in Multiplayer</li>
<ul><li>Android users saw the biggest changes here as with the addition of the new Friends system we had to make some more room. We hope you like the new layout and setup, but if you have any feedback or suggestions please don't hesitate in letting us know.</li>
</ul><li>New HD Graphics</li>
<ul><li>More and more users are using newer devices with screens capable of utilizing higher resolution graphics. So, in this release for both iOS and Android we have added new higher solution images for devices that support them. It makes the game a little bigger to download/install, but we think you will really like the crisp and clear images a lot better.</li>
</ul><li>Bug Fixes</li>
<ul><li>As always, there are some bug fixes in this release in both single player and multiplayer for both Android and iOS. Some bugs did not get fully fixed in time for release, particularly on iOS devices, so we appreciate your patience as we work through those and get out another release soon to address those (like the double tap of the deal button bug in single player, yeah we know, it's not cool, and we have a fix).</li>
</ul></ul><br />
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Thanks again everyone for your continued support of the game, and we hope you find the new features exciting, the fixes helpful and the game even more fun to play then ever before!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-56651635096678405752011-01-05T18:34:00.000-08:002011-01-08T15:46:15.073-08:00Cribbage Pro for iOS (iPhone, iPod & iPad)We are proud to announce that you can now play our top rated Cribbage Pro game on your iPhone, iPod or iPad device! Thank you all for your patience as we worked to deliver this to the market, and as usual please give us your feedback and input as we work to improve the game at <a href="mailto:support@FullerSystems.com">support@FullerSystems.com</a>. We would also like to thank all the beta testers who helped us make the game as great on the iOS devices as it has been for Android. You can <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cribbage-pro/id409644287?mt=8&ls=1">download Cribbage Pro Now from iTunes</a> and the App Store on your device.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-2539726240407226082010-12-25T11:35:00.000-08:002010-12-25T11:53:36.629-08:00Happy Holidays Sale!Happy Holidays to all from our family at Fuller Systems to you and yours. What an exciting year it has been, and in appreciation to everyone for the support we are offering our "Cribbage Pro Online" for Android at a significantly reduced price (just 0.99c USD).<br />
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Download now, this price is only going to be out there for a few days!<br />
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If your on your Android device now, <a href="http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.fullersystems.cribbage.online&referrer=utm_source%3Dfullersystems%26utm_medium%3Darticle%26utm_campaign%3Dproduct">click here to go directly to the download</a>.<br />
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Thanks again to everyone for your support,<br />
JoshUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-52276649242195380022010-12-02T13:58:00.000-08:002010-12-02T14:03:25.514-08:00New Bonus Program - Help Us Help You With Cribbage Pro Online Bug ReportingToday, we are announcing a new way that you can help us make Cribbage Pro Online play even better and at the same time get some extra points to brag about. Whenever you encounter any issue in online play, if you report the issue through our online reporting form, and we verify it as an issue on our servers (meaning it was not just someone disconnecting/quiting from the game), then we will award your account with some extra bonus points. Reports verified will result in 15 bonus points awarded to the first reporting player for each incident up to 4 incidents per week and 10 per month up to a life time maximum of 350 points. Reports must be filed within 8 hours of the error to be verified and counted. An email will be sent to the account holder after points have been awarded or with any follow-up or clarification questions as needed. Only the first report of any incident will be counted, and all reports must be complete/valid entries.<br />
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Start reporting any issues when they happen by going here:<br />
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<a href="http://bit.ly/cribBug">http://bit.ly/cribBug</a><br />
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We hope you all find this helpful as well, and we look forward to working out any remaining bugs you all may find to help make the game even better for everyone.<br />
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Happy Pegging!<br />
-- Josh<br />
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P.S. The bonus program is for a limited time only - so start now!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-7947209500111269242010-10-26T10:01:00.000-07:002010-10-26T10:01:14.167-07:00Over 250,000 Downloads And Going Strong!Thank you all for your support of Cribbage Pro on Android! This morning we were pleased to find out that we had crossed the 250,000 download mark for the game in well under a year of release. All the community feedback and support is what has really enabled us to get here, and honestly we could not have done it without you all.<br />
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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:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Much improved network stability and reconnection in online multiplayer</li>
<ul><li>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.</li>
</ul><li>A new "landscape" horizontal mode of display - rotate your phone and the game flips and rotates too.</li>
<ul><li>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.</li>
</ul><li>A new "dealer" indicator icon on the avatar of the player who is currently the dealer in the game</li>
<ul><li>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.</li>
</ul><li>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.</li>
<ul><li>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.</li>
</ul><li>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.</li>
<ul><li>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.</li>
</ul></ul><div>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.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Thanks again for your support, and as always leave us comments here or email us with any ideas or questions you have.</div><div><br />
</div><div>-- Josh</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-65566356521386946112010-07-16T15:17:00.000-07:002010-07-16T16:16:05.986-07:00Cribbage Pro Shuffling & The DeckSo lately it seems popular to dig on the shuffling and claim that we are stacking the deck in the game to favor the computer player. I'm not going to go into the <a href="http://fullersystems.blogspot.com/2010/01/hey-your-game-cheats.html">"Hey, your game cheats"</a> thing again and why people like to think the computer is cheating when they lose, and I'm not even going to go into how the game does it's dealing "every other" and so it could not favor one player over the other. However, I do want to give everyone some actual data points for the discussion since it seems lots of people are excited about it. So, for this post, here is some information you may find interesting.<br />
<br />
As was mentioned in our last post about the latest release, we use a random number generator in single player mode to randomly pick the location of a card in the deck - so as to shuffle it. In multiplayer it is from a truly random source, but in single player we use a "tried and true" pseudo-random source based on the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersenne_twister" style="color: #223344;">"Mersenne-Twister"</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> algorithm. So what does that really mean though, what is the result of doing that and what does it look like? How fair is it really?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Let's define some terms first. We will call "fair" something that in all measurements possible seems to be as truly random as possible. You may have a different opinion (like it should match a real world shuffle as strictly as possible), but we will not go there for this as there is so much debate about that single point we will simply not solve it here. The second definition is around a "shuffle". For this argument, let's agree to define it as the process used to randomize the deck.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">So, without further delay, here is the code that does our "shuffle" in the game today:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
rand = new MersenneTwisterRNG(new SecureRandomSeedGenerator());<br />
//Loop through each card giving it a random value<br />
for (int n = 0; n < cards.length; n++) {<br />
cardList.add(new Card(cards[n], rand.nextDouble()));<br />
}<br />
//Sort by that random value<br />
Collections.sort(cardList, new CardSortByKey());<br />
//Store back into the byte array<br />
for (int n = 0; n < cards.length; n++) {<br />
cards[n] = (byte)cardList.get(n).getOrdinal();<br />
}<br />
<br />
There you have, it. That is all there is to it and it is a direct copy/paste out of the game with comments and all. If you can't read it, what it is doing is first getting that random number generator I mentioned earlier, the MersenneTwister. It "seeds" it with the same kind of source that is used for security on your phone (that SecureRandomSeedGenerator makes that happen). It then takes random numbers from that and assigns one to each card, and then it simply sorts them by that key and stores each card in that location.<br />
<br />
So that is the shuffle, but what does the result look like? Well, one of the best ways we have found to show this is in what is called a scatter/plot graph. Now we could show you every single card and where it landed, but trust me, you could not read that graph/chart. So what we will show you is what we will call "marker cards" in the deck and where they ended up after the shuffle. We chose the "ace" card from each suite for that purpose, but we could just as easily choose anything else, it was just convenient to do that. The data shown here comes from thousands of real games played - not just us running this in some test area - these are real decks used in real games that some of you may have played. We got the data from a set time period and stopped at 3,000 decks. Going anything beyond that and it gets very hard to visualize, but we could of course go to many, many more.<br />
<br />
OK, you have been waiting patiently. So here is the first graph:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNlv6rAnQFRzPWh1jwBjrBJ0v3nQU-q3aUCFMMIcFMWOiCa5icM3ZqmcxZ4psOfF44aVCuGhZokyFSqofGST3xNhkcYIagnTtn3jVp5fl9OTDKvOr4RvxLIh2XnZgYYHGEf7CS36SP7sA/s1600/deck_AH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNlv6rAnQFRzPWh1jwBjrBJ0v3nQU-q3aUCFMMIcFMWOiCa5icM3ZqmcxZ4psOfF44aVCuGhZokyFSqofGST3xNhkcYIagnTtn3jVp5fl9OTDKvOr4RvxLIh2XnZgYYHGEf7CS36SP7sA/s400/deck_AH.png" width="400" /></a></div>This graph is for the ace of hearts (AH) and it is showing for 3,000 decks, where that AH was in the deck from position 0 (top of the deck) to position 52 (bottom of the deck). As we progress this forward, what you end up getting is what really is a very random distribution. If there was an inequality, it would stand out as a cluster surrounded by a lot of blank space - and you really just don't see that in the data. Sure, there are some spots that are darker the others and some not as much, but in the end if you zoom in even, you will find that distribution is quite random from one deck to the next. Just for informational purposes and to complete this thought, here are the other cards as mentioned:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1dCUhHQXlCyNOkK-7kYOm2hwJqARGPcqbOaTwo6DJiNK8jpi3GGhoxbat3ec4mv0VIxsnJoxv9tb8Ux_kp8Rdzfp3ZBn7DBQJT7a_6sefq9_GJJe-uc3Ilvbpt1I552zEhhC08gpZEBs/s1600/deck_AS.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1dCUhHQXlCyNOkK-7kYOm2hwJqARGPcqbOaTwo6DJiNK8jpi3GGhoxbat3ec4mv0VIxsnJoxv9tb8Ux_kp8Rdzfp3ZBn7DBQJT7a_6sefq9_GJJe-uc3Ilvbpt1I552zEhhC08gpZEBs/s200/deck_AS.png" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgACY9UTHWFSbXMVNjPz4lhrcqjnIj0yGH0e2EqshNmKZcFmzhikpZHdOfH-UYIHm-VtCeOlnJMWC1uBXhezyK4dbGb8f8j05YJ0yGfavn07iS45zuaNinUgW1-uWsmM0kEb3Kp1rdEOHY/s1600/deck_AC.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgACY9UTHWFSbXMVNjPz4lhrcqjnIj0yGH0e2EqshNmKZcFmzhikpZHdOfH-UYIHm-VtCeOlnJMWC1uBXhezyK4dbGb8f8j05YJ0yGfavn07iS45zuaNinUgW1-uWsmM0kEb3Kp1rdEOHY/s200/deck_AC.png" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9f43l_-scC7YAC8vQSmIdBFq1qcEvhARfHEZXlddu1m9zY3lFyQTBFpoBkLrEuF_YO2mEnQVoxPg6Sq3gvB5bPOUoVvnouZXCHST95pJOv-drPRKkySZOUao54HfhThHXFNlkpxF6qEg/s1600/deck_AD.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9f43l_-scC7YAC8vQSmIdBFq1qcEvhARfHEZXlddu1m9zY3lFyQTBFpoBkLrEuF_YO2mEnQVoxPg6Sq3gvB5bPOUoVvnouZXCHST95pJOv-drPRKkySZOUao54HfhThHXFNlkpxF6qEg/s200/deck_AD.png" width="200" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: #333333;"></span></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9f43l_-scC7YAC8vQSmIdBFq1qcEvhARfHEZXlddu1m9zY3lFyQTBFpoBkLrEuF_YO2mEnQVoxPg6Sq3gvB5bPOUoVvnouZXCHST95pJOv-drPRKkySZOUao54HfhThHXFNlkpxF6qEg/s1600/deck_AD.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a><br />
<div><div><br />
<br />
So that is the distribution of cards in the deck as given by sample marker cards in the deck. You will see that none of them look the same, this is a good thing, but at the same time don't get too into these and try to read much into them either. I show it here to say simply this - it is clearly not favoring any deck position over any other.<br />
<br />
There is one other way that we have found somewhat helpful in determining not just how distributed a card might be from one deck to the next, but generally how "well shuffled" a given deck might be. To do that, you can consider looking at what the relative position of a card is now against the card that is positioned next to it in the deck and it's original position. In other words, two cards may have started as being 1 position away from the other card, but how far apart are they now? So if you give each card a starting point form 0 to 52 and then you shuffle and see how far apart they are from where they started relative to each other you get an interesting picture. Of course the theory here is that the more that the results show some random separation, then it could be considered a good shuffle. There is no "gold standard" we have found in this regard, and maybe we are the only ones looking at this. Anyway, here is our data of a deck we grabbed from one at random:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVB7SIp52rB28ZveC0n8u989N7LiQAeTDo1z0kPf3FRJxYjePZoMEPOmckTlD6rh2REqycw7ufwOyyICWI4ztdtvEgmTt7X5b2qnJBQ0gHZqmo3fay9689DVUH7RTAulfgpK7MbEPxrZ4/s1600/delta_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVB7SIp52rB28ZveC0n8u989N7LiQAeTDo1z0kPf3FRJxYjePZoMEPOmckTlD6rh2REqycw7ufwOyyICWI4ztdtvEgmTt7X5b2qnJBQ0gHZqmo3fay9689DVUH7RTAulfgpK7MbEPxrZ4/s400/delta_1.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Here it is averaged over 5 decks:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8XQPKr_SAHruoumpXq2zveqFISLYGUG51_pFrgJec4PVmm57DFF3qzMUWZ56LAPWvrm6UkAWh5asI5hgDn3s0zKxcgM_TTJMxIw73DbfdojZYDM8Ky6kpXrJCMyGILUdH35fe1XbGGnk/s1600/delta_5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8XQPKr_SAHruoumpXq2zveqFISLYGUG51_pFrgJec4PVmm57DFF3qzMUWZ56LAPWvrm6UkAWh5asI5hgDn3s0zKxcgM_TTJMxIw73DbfdojZYDM8Ky6kpXrJCMyGILUdH35fe1XbGGnk/s400/delta_5.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Now over 10 decks:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJoblHf0A4RjeCHnniBFl8oek93K58aLhHJSBd3ocIG7QqzWh96P6F_FaB0iJIxLV-0uyGeEBtcYII0BYHoeKWbH_Q2j39MKMwHTddT1f4_h8YGHeAY42zhQIxyuD6l5lMFVGMGHk7wE/s1600/delta_10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJoblHf0A4RjeCHnniBFl8oek93K58aLhHJSBd3ocIG7QqzWh96P6F_FaB0iJIxLV-0uyGeEBtcYII0BYHoeKWbH_Q2j39MKMwHTddT1f4_h8YGHeAY42zhQIxyuD6l5lMFVGMGHk7wE/s400/delta_10.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Do you see a trend? Here is at the 3,000 mark:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0jIX5GjkUbWuDy8YtNvHyw9csfrcdvdLK3uqp_0qoaYqrPm4hd_46rLEIwAlGd-uBDCQcjGRqnaPBq3uQBVYZvQbRG6OT1aA9WDudhWgtKp9eA9XmLgWDr-rdIQuutpolGMk4-zwylKw/s1600/delta_3k.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0jIX5GjkUbWuDy8YtNvHyw9csfrcdvdLK3uqp_0qoaYqrPm4hd_46rLEIwAlGd-uBDCQcjGRqnaPBq3uQBVYZvQbRG6OT1aA9WDudhWgtKp9eA9XmLgWDr-rdIQuutpolGMk4-zwylKw/s400/delta_3k.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Yeah, we think it looks cool too. It is almost smiling at you. In fact, I think it looks like a really good distribution in a good random shuffle. Things settling towards being equally distributed in the deck on average - meaning each has a decent chance of showing up just about anywhere. If you consider the possible combinations of a deck, the more you approach that factorial, the more this graph will get flat. That is exactly what should happen. I think that is cool.<br />
<br />
Feel free to add your interpretations in the comments or ask for other views of the data. If you have some cool graph you would like to see (and you can tell us how to construct it somewhat), we will do what we can to give it to you.<br />
<br />
In summary, we think this shows two very good perspectives on the shuffle and distribution in the game. We hope you found it interesting and informative. We think it fairly clearly shows the unbiased nature of the game and the random nature of it's results. I'm sure some will disagree, but if you do disagree, please let us know why and what you may find more compelling or if there are parts we did not discuss that you would be interested in knowing more about.<br />
<br />
-- Josh</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-77985104335043823102010-07-13T11:45:00.000-07:002010-07-13T11:45:17.796-07:00Manual Counting & Muggins Comes to Cribbage Pro!After what seems like a very long time to me, and I'm sure to others outside of Fuller Systems as well, we are simply over the top excited about the new manual counting and muggins features of the latest version of Cribbage Pro that was put to the Android Market early this morning (around 3am PST). As we were playing, I mean "testing", this release I have to admit we all got very addicted to counting manually and mugging each other at every possible moment. It really adds a new dimension to the game and it is a lot of fun.<br />
<br />
We spent a long time in testing on this one too, as we developed it for both single player and multiplayer versions at the same time and it introduced a lot of complexity to the turn, count and point systems. I mention this because although we did thousands of tests against it, you all are much better at testing all the variations then we are (there are over 150,000 of you now), so if you find any bugs or quirks, please do let us know at <a href="mailto:support@fullersystems.com">support@fullersystems.com</a><br />
<br />
Other features are in this release (version 1.0.8) as well, that are worth mentioning here. We have traded out the old "comic" style default avatars for a new set while at the same time letting you change the image to your own custom upload as well. Although I know many of you really liked the old avatars, there were just as many who did not, and so we felt it best to go more neutral with the default set we provide while still giving the option for everyone to have whatever they want to represent them. You can find the old ones with some searching if you really want your old one back. The only other note on this feature; please keep it clean. We will remove avatars from public view (you can keep them on your phone of course) if we get complaints and find that they are offensive. We reserve that right at our sole discretion as is noted in the EULA, but really don't ever want to have to use it. Right now everyone seems to be doing good with it (mostly dogs and family actually).<br />
<br />
Some other things changed too. We changed the settings/options screens to be categorized and added a password protection setup/registration to the process. This let's you move from one device to another (say one of those cool new Droid X phones) or create an entirely new account should you ever need to. It will also let you recover your account more easily, without having to contact us and wait. Perhaps more obviously, it also lets you keep your pesky friends/kids/significant other from killing your points and ranking or making you look bad in multiplayer.<br />
<br />
Before you ask, we did also tweak the shuffling a bit in the release too. Most everything is the same, except we changed the algorithm that generates our random numbers to use what is called a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersenne_twister">"Mersenne-Twister"</a> algorithm that we seed with random bits from the device. I'll spare you the details, but in the end we think it is faster (easier on your CPU) and produces a better random result in our tests. You will find that many computer based card games use this algorithm when a true random source does not exist. I doubt you will find it much different, but if you think the card mix is different in this release, I suppose it could be this change (although you would probably have to be a computer analyzing hundreds of thousands of hands like we did to really notice). I should note here that on multiplayer games we actually have a true random source (it uses a mix of sources you can find by doing a Google search like random.org for example). This means the results you get in multiplayer games for a hand are as true to random as anything could be (that we know of anyway).<br />
<br />
Finally in regards to changes, you will notice some UI tweaks in the game that include updated and bigger buttons, a mix of other alignment changes (like the lobby chat in multiplayer) and a new "Multiplayer Top 50" button in the stats page. This new "Multiplayer top 50" is really just the same point system used for the regular/old "Top 50", but you have to have played at least 5 multiplayer games to be on that list. We will make a few more changes to this list as time goes on to help provide a purer look at where players stack when put up against other real players.<br />
<br />
To sign off for today, a final thought/request of you all. What do you want to see next? We have our ideas, but would love to hear from you! Leave us your comments here, or email them to us.<br />
<br />
-- JoshUnknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-85587715574791002802010-05-07T08:55:00.001-07:002010-05-07T09:11:40.531-07:00Cribbage Pro Update Coming Soon!Well, it has really been a while since we last posted, and this post will also be fairly short. I'm writing to let you all know that all is not quiet here at Fuller Systems, Inc. We are actively working on our next release of Cribbage Pro, and we are quickly approaching a release date.<br /><br />We are very excited about the new features coming to the game, and just can't hold it in anymore - so here is a quick list of what is coming next:<br /><div><ul><li><b>Multiplayer!</b> - Yes, it is finally coming and I have to say it has been a lot of fun just testing it out and playing it amongst ourselves. There are a ton of features in this category from time limits for games to in-game chat and a game lobby. Unfortunately, manual counting and "muggins" did not make this release, but it is coming soon afterward.</li><li><b>Improved Shuffling</b> - Yet even more improvements to our shuffling algorithm to improve the distribution of the cards overall. The most significant change is for multiplayer, but the single player game also has a version of the improvements that can work on a mobile device effectively.</li><li><b>New Game Board</b> - An improved layout and color for the game board to make it a little easier to read and to look a little more like a standard game board. It's not perfect yet, but it is a step in the right direction.</li><li><b>Dealer Selection</b> - We have improved the random selection of who is the dealer for new games and now make sure that the loser of the last game is the dealer of any next game started immediately afterward.</li><li><b>Bugs</b>... - Yes, we still had a few bugs to kill, and this release will squash them. Primarily this is the "resume state" bug where if you send the game to the background and come back it was not picking up where it left off - this is now fixed along with a few other minor bugs.</li><li><b>Improved Help File</b> - We have spent some more time in the help file in writing out more about what the game is doing and why, and added in an FAQ section to help answer some of the common questions we get.</li></ul><div>Well, this is the short list of what to expect coming next. If things clear through testing in the next few days, you will see this release in the Market. Until then, feel free to comment here or email us with your thoughts on these improvements and what you would like to see next. We always love hearing from you.</div><div><br /></div><div>-- Josh</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-49118690367292967232010-02-10T10:26:00.001-08:002010-02-10T10:34:45.886-08:00Of Points and RankingWe have recently had a few comments and questions about the points and ranking system used in the Cribbage Pro game. These comments and questions have been very insightful and helpful in understanding a different perspective, and in response to some of this we are making a few changes to the system.<br /><br />So, effective immediately, the following changes are now live in the "Top 50" tracking system:<br /><div><br /></div><div><ul><li>Players with unfinished games over 50% of finished games will not qualify for the "Top 50" - they will simply not show up in the top 50 at all until they have played enough games through to bring the percentage back above the line.</li><li>Players at level 6 or above (points >= 2500) will not be awarded points for a win against a Novice computer player (and no loss of points for a loss) going forward. Players who have already accrued points, will retain their points.</li><li>Players at level 8 or above (points >= 2750) will not be awarded points for a win against an Intermediate or Novice computer player (and no loss of points for a loss). Players who have already accrued points, will retain their points.</li><li>The minimum award for a win against the advanced computer will be increased from 2 to 4 points, the intermediate win will stay at 2 but the novice will be decreased to 1.</li></ul><div>We believe that these changes will close some of the "loop holes" players have found in the system and will make the ranking in the single-player game more "fair".</div><div><br /></div><div>Please keep your comments and questions coming in, and let us know what you think.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since I am writing a post on points and ranking, I should also spend a minute explaining the system being used. Again, if you have sent us an email with this question, the below is going to look familiar.</div><div><br /></div><div><span ><div>The first thing to mention here is that it is not a "Ladder" system or a simple points system, it is actually a ranking system which can be foreign to some, so I'll explain what that means.<span > In the next update, we will include more details about the points system we use in the help file to make it more clear what is going on. It is definitely a miss on our part to not have that already included there.</span></div><span><div><br /></div><div><div>In regards to the points specifically, it is a bit of a technical explanation, so I'll try and explain as best I can. The system is designed for ranking each player as accurately as possible, not a points system as stated earlier, and so as such we give virtual "points" or rankings to the computer players you are playing against (the advanced player is ranked as a "2500" point player). So the points then really is your "Rank" against all others, and just as others win and lose, their points will follow the same algorithm. Those computer players only have so many points themselves to "give away", and as your level goes beyond their level, you get fewer and fewer points up to the minimum amount of 2 points for a win (now adjusted as noted above). Similarly, if you lose then the system works in reverse and so the penalties are larger as your points are larger then theirs (up to the maximum of 41). The system we are using is very close to this one:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.cxrchess.com/CXRStatsExplained.php" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 204); ">http://www.cxrchess.com/<wbr>CXRStatsExplained.php</a></div><div><br /></div><div>It is intended for player to player ranking more then computer ranking, which is why it seems odd right now. When we add the multi-player functions, it will make a lot more sense. However, we may change/tweak the algorithm as well as we are still in beta with it, and it can be concerning to be ranked high and lose so many points so quickly when you lose a game. We will likely keep this one for multi-player either way, as we believe it proves out to be the fairest we have found.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>The three point levels the computer players are:</div><div><br /></div><div>Advanced: 2500</div><div>Intermediate: 2000</div><div>Novice: 1500</div></div><div><br /></div><div>You can use the formula given and these point levels of the computer players to calculate a potential win/loss point award as well. No extra points are given today for a skunk or double skunk beyond what you get by winning by so many points, and we currently do not have plans to change that.</div></div></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>-- Josh</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-21292369304526196512010-01-16T08:20:00.000-08:002010-01-17T21:19:27.699-08:00Hey, Your Game Cheats!So I have debated for a while now about writing this post, as it can be perceived negatively by some. However, over the last few days we have seen a lot of downloads of the Cribbage Pro game on the Android phones, which is really awesome, and at the same time there has been a rise in the number of comments and emails we have been fielding from players who seem to insist the computer is cheating on the various levels of play. I think the vast majority of players realize this is not the case, as many of them we can see in the statistics are winning against the computer an incredibly large number of times. Similarly, we get emails and comments from others that say the computer is simply too easy to beat and they never lose on any level. I think something inside of us (and yes, I mean "us" as some on our staff have honestly asked the same question) want to accuse a computer of cheating when it beats us soundly in a game. This I suppose is one of the draw backs of creating a game that is indeed challenging to win at.<div><br /></div><div>Initially, I found the accusations funny, because I wrote the game and I know every line of code and piece of logic that is in it inside and out. The funny part is that it would have taken me longer and more code to write a game where the computer is cheating then what we actually did in spending our time researching game play strategy and writing a game that simply knows the rules of cribbage very well and how to win. So let's start with a clear and straightforward statement - I stake my personal reputation and that of the entire Fuller Systems Inc. staff, brand and name on everything we make, and this game is no different. With that in mind, I can say with extreme and utter certainty that the game in no way shape or form is cheating. The computer play is playing a completely "fair game" in every sense of the phrase.</div><div><br /></div><div>With that said, let me explain what is going on in the game a little, and how it works. If you have received an email from me on this topic, this will look familiar.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>First, the hands dealt are done so exactly the same way for each and every difficulty level, with the only difference in the levels of play being which cards the computer may choose to hold or discard. This is why on advanced, the hands the computer ends up with tend to score significantly higher then on the other skill levels. The code for the game runs in such a way as to do the deal of cards exactly the same way each time and the shuffle is as natural as possible for each hand. I fully understand that sometimes the computer can/will achieve hands that are consistently higher in the advanced mode, but this is due to the level of computations it goes through in determining what the best possible holding of cards could be. It is in no way doing anything other then just that - working with the cards it is dealt. This is not to say that the computer can not go "on a run", just like a human player might, and get a series of good hands dealt to it - that is just as likely for the computer as it would be for a human player if that human player were to make the same discard decisions. Just as we don't manipulate the deal or play to give the computer an advantage, we don't handicap it either.</div><div><br /></div><div>To go a step further, here is the exact code used during the dealing of the cards from the deck which is a simple object that holds an array of cards that have been shuffled prior to this step.</div><br /><blockquote><br /> // 6 cards for each player - 12 total<br /> for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++) {<br /> //Deal to pone player first, then to dealer<br /> if (isP0Deal) {<br /> player1Cards[i] = deck.nextCard();<br /> player0Cards[i] = deck.nextCard();<br /> } else {<br /> player0Cards[i] = deck.nextCard();<br /> player1Cards[i] = deck.nextCard();<br /> }<br /> }</blockquote><br /><div>If you know code structure, or can read through and derive the basic thought from this, you can see that it has no consideration for the computer player (player0) then the other player and that it deals out the cards as per cribbage rules based on who is the dealer. Unfortunately there is not much more I can add here, short of sharing the entire game code with everyone, which we can not do for obvious reasons. So one could claim that this code is not the real code, or that later in the game code changes are made or something. Please understand, there would be absolutely no value for Fuller Systems to have a game that we give away for free, cheat in any way. In the future releases of features we add, you will see more on why that is (yes, think multi-player). In those future versions it becomes even more critical that we ensure no player has any advantage in the deal over any other player.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, we are working on finding an independent authority to audit and review the game to prove it is fair and accurate in it's play, which we hope will remove some of these concerns. As of yet, we have not found an independent organization that is capable of doing this, so if you have suggestions, please let us know by email or in the comments here.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you for letting me take the time on this blog to respond to some of the accusations, and if you have any thoughts, suggestions or questions, please don't hesitate in letting us know.</div><div><br /></div><div>-- Josh</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-77671609378335658902010-01-04T13:10:00.000-08:002010-01-04T13:32:10.396-08:00Happy New Year!Happy New Year to everyone. What an exciting year we had in 2009, and what we have planned for 2010 is really getting me fully energized and raring to go.<br /><br />Much of what we are doing right now is around the Android platform (aka the "Google phones"), and so a short pre-announcment seems fitting. A new release of Cribbage Pro for the Android is coming out very soon. It will include some exciting new features that the community has asked for either in comments or emails to us, and I can't say enough how great it is to hear from you all and see your support for us and the game.<br /><br />So what is the new release going to include, well some of that you will have to wait and see, but here are some highlights:<br /><ul><li>A new shuffling algorithm - producing a more "natural" shuffle and reducing the number of times you see the same cards or same mix of cards in a hand.</li><li>Full game "Save" and "Load" feature - Allowing you to stop in the middle of a game and come back any time later to continue playing.</li><li>Full game statistics - The system will track and record all your completed games with all the juicy details you might want to know like wins, losses, skunks, double skunks, highest hand, highest pegging and more!</li><li>New preferences/settings screen that shows you the card images to choose from and also adds a few new setting to change your player image or "avatar" as well as a "user name". Why a user name.... well....</li><li>A new "Top 50 Stats" page will let you see your ranking against all the other players of Cribbage Pro! Enter a user name in the settings screen, and you can access the top 50 list any time, from anywhere!</li><li>Bug fixes and more! We have fixed a few minor bugs as well as tweaked a few things here and there to make the game play even better.</li></ul><div>So as you can see, there is a lot going into this release, and as we wrap up testing over the next few days you will see this update hit the market place for you all to download and enjoy.</div><div><br /></div><div>As usual, keep the feedback coming in and let us know what you would like to see added and it may just be the next thing on the list.</div><div><br /></div><div>-- Josh</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-72337641517795293952009-12-14T11:09:00.000-08:002009-12-14T11:12:47.614-08:00Cribbage Pro for Android is Available!Today we are so pleased to announce the new Cribbage Pro game for Android is finally available. After a lot of hard work over the last month or so, we were able to take an idea all the way through to being published and live to the world!<br /><br />The game is free for everyone to download, with a more advanced version being planned for the future that will have a low cost option. I won't go into the details on those features here, or why they will cost, but I'm sure you are all smart enough to probably guess at what some of them might be.<br /><br />We have not set a hard date on when we will do a full non-Beta release yet, but it will likely come in the next month or tow, into early 2010.<br /><br />For now, we are celebrating, and excited to see what may come of this new area for Fuller Systems.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-58934939121080035412009-12-09T19:14:00.001-08:002009-12-09T19:17:02.571-08:00More Changes and More OpportuntiesWell, as more things change there are even more opportunities. We have a few more sites developed and going strong, and performing well in the SEO space, and we have a new project in a completely new area on the verge of being released.<br /><br />No details on the project to release today, other then to say that we are extremely excited about it and it's potential as a new and growing area for Fuller Systems. With some luck and a little hard work we hope to have everything ready this coming weekend where we will launch an update to the web site along with the new project to the world.<br /><br />Mote to come soon...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-48232896473490955832009-08-26T15:21:00.000-07:002009-08-26T15:23:48.017-07:00What makes for good moving services?Competent moving services are sure to make your packing and moving a good experience thanks to their professional people.<br /> <br />Some features of a good moving service are:<br /> <br />• Their experienced, courteous and professional movers work efficiently.<br /> <br />• They ensure the safety of your precious goods.<br /> <br />• They ensure comprehensive moving services combined with the follow-up care so that your possessions are well protected.<br /> <br />• With their efficient moving services, you will not feel any hassle at your new residential or commercial location. You will be set to get back to your normal family or work life very next day. So, well executed and organized are their moves that you will not lose much of your precious time.<br /> <br />• Diversity of operations and specialization in many domains of moving, such as moving furniture and other household goods; art relocation, etc.<br /> <br />These are the factors that make any moving company popular.<br /> <br />Customer-friendly movers, as part of their packing services, offer a full range of boxing / moving supply all sized packages for commercial or residential goods.<br /> <br /><br /> <br />They provide a fully licensed, insured and bonded operation for safe moving. Importantly, they are insured well beyond minimums that have been mandated and way over prevailing industry standards.<br /> <br /><br /> <br />They employ only the best processes and the best equipment backed by a skilled staff, comprising professional movers.<br /> <br /><br /> <br />Their professional approach ensures that they are always there on time before, during and after moving services, whenever you want them at any given time of the day or week. Deadlines are important to them!<br /> <br /><br /> <br />To know more about a moving service of your choice, you may browse through their website. If you have any queries, doubts or comments, you should contact them directly, either through their site or by calling by phone.<br /> <br />Contact this <a href="http://www.rsvlmoving.com/" target="_blank">Sacramento Moving Company</a> for a free quote.<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6507147936575547684.post-83197458850013736272009-07-29T16:30:00.001-07:002009-07-29T16:40:17.121-07:00Update on Company Strategy & DirectionWell, it has been a while since I have posted as there is really a lot going on. Fuller Systems, Inc. is going through a series of strategic changes that we will update everyone on soon in more detail. The goal is to broaden our exposure with small business and branch out into other areas where we have garnered experience over the years. First though, some highlights of things we are looking at.<br /><br />Currently we are working various local businesses in providing what we are calling "Part-Time CIO" services. This means we are offering our expertise and advice on everything from cloud computing to search engine optimization for small businesses. We are still in the early stages here, but are seeing some very positive responses already.<br /><br />One of the current projects we are just now kicking off involves working with a local company for <a href="http://www.rsvlmoving.com/">moving in Sacramento</a> - Roseville Van & Storage. The site needs some work, and they need some help in the area of search engine optimization primarily - which is where we come in. Over the next few months, we will be providing oversight, advice and direction to move things forward with hopes of improving search engine placement and increasing online sales leads significantly. My secret goal is to make them the force to be reckoned with in the Sacramento area. As we work through this project, if your in need of some <a href="http://www.rsvlmoving.com/">help while moving</a> in the Sacramento area - visit their web site and give them a call!<br /><br />More updates as strategies shift, and things start taking shape.<br /><br />-- JoshUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0