1. XLabz's Avatar
    Hints are time bound, the number of letters show up in 15 seconds and every 15 seconds after that some letters in random starts showing up. The reason you don't see hints when Android or Apple users play is because they still don't have the update which has this feature but you will see hints when people with the latest version play.
    Zwickliffe likes this.
    04-15-12 12:09 PM
  2. moss27's Avatar
    Thanks for continuing to support this great game! How do the hints work? Do they show up at a certain time? Certain rounds? Is their a limit to how often it comes? When I played the other day I think I saw it one round, then the next round it didn't show up but I still couldn't figure out the drawing.
    04-15-12 01:04 PM
  3. joogi's Avatar
    I've seen hints showing up when a player started sketching for that round, that is at the beginning of that 60 seconds.

    and in response to your detailed explanation above - Hints did reduce our points earned. I'm sure some folks here can attest to it as we played in same room yesterday. I remember I got 1 point for getting the right answer first within seconds. Without hints, it should be 9 points, 8 points etc depending on how fast you got the answer compared to other players.

    Oh! just as a matter of fact.. after being banned for 60 mins last night, I went back to SWF and played. I unlocked the Moderator Level.. LOL So... talk about fair gameplay, I have been playing fairly - no writing words, no foul language. However with this power, I rarely banned anyone even though they kept writing words!


    Hints are time bound, the number of letters show up in 15 seconds and every 15 seconds after that some letters in random starts showing up. The reason you don't see hints when Android or Apple users play is because they still don't have the update which has this feature but you will see hints when people with the latest version play.
    Zwickliffe likes this.
    04-15-12 02:19 PM
  4. Zwickliffe's Avatar
    However with this power, I rarely banned anyone even though they kept writing words!
    This is such a fine line... I feel as though if I were to ban everyone that wrote the word out, I would ban everyone. However, if I don't ban people they won't stop. I wish people just liked to play fair - the game isn't fun if you don't have to guess.

    Also - What about instead of hints showing up automatically, a category (animals, movies, people, etc) showed up on the top to give you a general idea and perhaps a part of speech (noun, adjective, verb, etc) showed up next to that as well? I know when my friends and I play, we establish these two things prior to the round no matter what. Then there could be a "hint" button on the top right that you could press when you're all out of ideas and every time you press it, it deducts points for the correct answer (i.e. 9 points for no hint and first response, 5 points for 1 hint, 3 points for 2 hints, 1 point for 3 hints)

    Just some thoughts I had, thanks for being a great Dev!
    joogi likes this.
    04-15-12 02:35 PM
  5. joogi's Avatar
    really good suggestions! I find that some of the words are almost impossible to draw ... those abstract words..

    I'm sure developers will be fine-tuning this game to make it one of the best apps!
    OK I will stop whinning.. and be patient

    Also - What about instead of hints showing up automatically, a category (animals, movies, people, etc) showed up on the top to give you a general idea and perhaps a part of speech (noun, adjective, verb, etc) showed up next to that as well? I know when my friends and I play, we establish these two things prior to the round no matter what. Then there could be a "hint" button on the top right that you could press when you're all out of ideas and every time you press it, it deducts points for the correct answer (i.e. 9 points for no hint and first response, 5 points for 1 hint, 3 points for 2 hints, 1 point for 3 hints)

    Just some thoughts I had, thanks for being a great Dev!
    Zwickliffe likes this.
    04-15-12 02:55 PM
  6. Double_J75's Avatar
    I agree with the past few posts. I was upgraded to moderator then banned.....
    I got the answer first in the group and received only 1 point. It appears the person drawing still gets full points though. I don't think I've made it past the 10th round without it hanging since the upgrade.
    I really like the idea of the user getting the option to have suggestions at a cost to there own points.
    I will keep a close eye on my words I'm using to see what might have triggered the ban as I was having a good chat with the other users. Saying things like good job, nice drawing, and lol. But like I said I will watch for any words spelt incorrectly.

    Thanks again.
    04-15-12 03:29 PM
  7. Zwickliffe's Avatar
    Here's a picture to show the hint problem I'm having... First one to answer and no hint given but I only got 5 points for it.
    04-15-12 04:09 PM
  8. joogi's Avatar
    at least you got 5!
    I got 1 or sometimes 3.


    Here's a picture to show the hint problem I'm having... First one to answer and no hint given but I only got 5 points for it.
    Zwickliffe likes this.
    04-15-12 04:12 PM
  9. joogi's Avatar
    I am avoiding rooms with all Android players now. I got warning a few times today because they thought I sent them warning for writing words! They were taking revenge by warning others (PB players of course). Most of them are so childish (sorry to say this) maybe because most Android owners are younger generations ? To avoid 'losing' the moderator status, I need to be careful as we have a demerit system in place now. Well, I guess until they can upgrade to new version......


    Recently I found that after I tabbed on a word to sketch, for whatever reason, it changed to another word which I didn't pick. I tried to sketch the word I chose then realized that I should be sketching for another word. Is this a bug? It happened to me a few times and I think I noticed it happened to other players. They drew something, then erased to draw something totally different!
    04-15-12 05:23 PM
  10. Double_J75's Avatar
    I took a few shots of the same thing - getting less points than you should. I too also try to avoid DROID users as I tend to get kicked from there rooms. They seem to have a cult and don't want other users in their rooms.
    04-15-12 07:00 PM
  11. joogi's Avatar
    I think this is what happened.

    With the hints showing up, you get 5 points if you guess it right before it starts giving out letters.
    You get 3 points if a letter is given.
    You get 1 point if more than one letters are given.

    so with this hints, you can only get 5 points, 3 points, or 1 point; or nothing if you cannot guess it at all.


    I took a few shots of the same thing - getting less points than you should. I too also try to avoid DROID users as I tend to get kicked from there rooms. They seem to have a cult and don't want other users in their rooms.
    04-15-12 08:17 PM
  12. XLabz's Avatar
    I think this is what happened.

    With the hints showing up, you get 5 points if you guess it right before it starts giving out letters.
    You get 3 points if a letter is given.
    You get 1 point if more than one letters are given.

    so with this hints, you can only get 5 points, 3 points, or 1 point; or nothing if you cannot guess it at all.
    Hi Joogi,

    The new scoring pattern is not at all based on clues or the number of letters given in the clues. It is based on the time interval in which you guess. Right now, the errors you see is only because the players on the other platforms are still using the old version. Once this new version is rolled out for all platforms, this will automatically get corrected. Please do be patient with us until then.
    04-16-12 01:21 AM
  13. emtunc's Avatar
    Hi Joogi,

    The new scoring pattern is not at all based on clues or the number of letters given in the clues. It is based on the time interval in which you guess. Right now, the errors you see is only because the players on the other platforms are still using the old version. Once this new version is rolled out for all platforms, this will automatically get corrected. Please do be patient with us until then.
    What happens to those who choose not to update? Is there a system in place to block these users from playing? Just curious.
    04-16-12 02:19 AM
  14. anon(1464249)'s Avatar
    What happens to those who choose not to update? Is there a system in place to block these users from playing? Just curious.
    I'm hoping a mandatory upgrade system will be implemented for major releases or whenever an update is out that significantly alters the gameplay. "Warning" systems should be put in place and notify the player several times that a new, improved version with additional features and better gameplay has been released (I'm thinking popup screen on game startup, between rounds, a dedicated update button inside the app on the home screen,...).

    I'm not saying forcing the users to upgrade by disabling gameplay altogether if they don't but showing a message that their options are limited with the old version. Maybe goins as far as to delegate them to a special room for users using app versions below 2.0

    Assigning 5-10 rooms for these users, when they're full, they're full and they'll have to wait to play or upgrade in order to get access to all the other rooms again.

    Either way these players should be separated as they have an unfair advantage (banning for fun, etc...)

    my 2 cents
    Last edited by wout000; 04-16-12 at 04:40 AM.
    04-16-12 04:36 AM
  15. XLabz's Avatar
    I'm hoping a mandatory upgrade system will be implemented for major releases or whenever an update is out that significantly alters the gameplay. "Warning" systems should be put in place and notify the player several times that a new, improved version with additional features and better gameplay has been released (I'm thinking popup screen on game startup, between rounds, a dedicated update button inside the app on the home screen,...).

    I'm not saying forcing the users to upgrade by disabling gameplay altogether if they don't but showing a message that their options are limited with the old version. Maybe goins as far as to delegate them to a special room for users using app versions below 2.0

    Assigning 5-10 rooms for these users, when they're full, they're full and they'll have to wait to play or upgrade in order to get access to all the other rooms again.

    Either way these players should be separated as they have an unfair advantage (banning for fun, etc...)

    my 2 cents
    Hi,

    Thanks for your suggestions! We've already implemented a popup screen which notifies the players using old versions to upgrade immediately. So, hopefully most of the players should have upgraded by now.
    04-18-12 03:17 AM
  16. XLabz's Avatar
    What happens to those who choose not to update? Is there a system in place to block these users from playing? Just curious.
    Hi! We don't have any such system in place. But we've implemented a popup which notifies players using the old version to upgrade immediately.
    04-18-12 03:19 AM
  17. larrylizard1's Avatar
    thanks so much for SWF! I think it is a great game and the new version slams v1.

    I was upgraded to Moderator on SWF and I have a question......does anyone know if you get a warning for "warning" a player twice? I do not warn players unless they do not even attempt to sketch the word and just write it. I enjoy playing (a little too much!) and when they just write out the word, it takes the fun out of it. If the word is hard and they write it, I give them a break because some of the words are just difficult to draw. Today a player lazily just wrote out the word "green" the first time and I warned them. In the very same game they wrote out the word "Pencil" and when I attempted to warn them again.....I WAS WARNED! I know I lose points for being warned so I want to figure this out.
    Is there an actual site for SWF rules?
    Did SWF warn me or did the players gang up on me?
    Thanks guys and keep up the great work!
    XLabz likes this.
    04-21-12 12:34 AM
  18. XLabz's Avatar
    To answer your questions:

    1) The person you banned will never know who banned them - they only receive a generic warning and when they get 2 such warnings from different users, they are thrown out of the room and blocked from accessing that room for a whole day. The only way they would know that you banned them is if you tell them that you are going to do so.

    2) You don't loose points when you are banned. You only get kicked out of the room when 2 normal moderators or 1 super moderator bans you and you cannot access that room temporarily. The other side effect of being banned for a lot of times is that you might loose your moderation powers if too many users start banning you on the same day.

    thanks so much for SWF! I think it is a great game and the new version slams v1.

    I was upgraded to Moderator on SWF and I have a question......does anyone know if you get a warning for "warning" a player twice? I do not warn players unless they do not even attempt to sketch the word and just write it. I enjoy playing (a little too much!) and when they just write out the word, it takes the fun out of it. If the word is hard and they write it, I give them a break because some of the words are just difficult to draw. Today a player lazily just wrote out the word "green" the first time and I warned them. In the very same game they wrote out the word "Pencil" and when I attempted to warn them again.....I WAS WARNED! I know I lose points for being warned so I want to figure this out.
    Is there an actual site for SWF rules?
    Did SWF warn me or did the players gang up on me?
    Thanks guys and keep up the great work!
    04-21-12 05:23 AM
  19. joogi's Avatar
    glad to see that we don't lose point for being warned.

    this is what happened to me just a while ago. Player A warned me just becuz it appeared to him it's my turn to draw. However, on my end, my turn SKIPPED... and to me it's his turn to draw. I didn't warn him. That's how people use the warning function!

    I warned someone earlier today becuz he said the f word.

    I agree with larrylizard1, some words are so difficult to draw so I gave people a break. Some just simply write out the words without any attempts! That's how they get the points!

    Regarding points, could someone explain to me if the points are now 5, 3, 1, and 0 even when everyone updated to new version? One problem I notice is that when the person who draws doesn't draw right away but the timer starts counting down... so if we get the answer right, we don't get the maximum points anymore. That's not a fair game. Also not to mention due to the super game lag, we lose points as the clock start ticking...


    Finally, please explain "they only receive a generic warning and when they get 2 such warnings from different users, they are thrown out of the room and blocked from accessing that room for a whole day".. is it Whole Day now....?
    and also based on IP address?
    04-23-12 08:28 PM
  20. TruthTeller's Avatar
    Love the game! Just have a few comments/suggestions/questions.

    I agree with others on here--the points seem to be lower when there are hints. You can score a maximum of 9 when there is no hint, and only 5 when there is, from what I can tell. The lower scoring is a big disadvantage if someone else gets to draw more times than you, as the sketcher still seems to get same points as before.

    I was awarded super moderator status. Since I use a screen name, rather than logging in with my Facebook account, how are you able to confirm who I am for the purposes of maintaining my status, since I am able to change the name at any time? Or, I assume, someone else could sign in using that same name. Also, if I understand correctly, super moderators are supposed to be able to ban by themselves, without another person having to give a warning to the same person? I don't seem to be able to do that. And when a person is banned after two warnings, within what period of time do the warnings have to occur? The same game?

    I have had the experience more than once of being warned immediately upon entering a room, before I had even typed anything! I understand that our status can be downgraded based on how many warnings we get. Obviously, this can be a problem when people abuse the warning system and warn you without good cause. But I'm wondering if we are notified if and when our status is downgraded?

    It seems most people who have expressed an opinion about it on here don't like the hints. I'm not sure I would agree that because a lot of people cheat or give hints that hints should be built into the game. I think some people don't understand the rules. Perhaps there should be a rules page, or have a note on the main page whenever someone starts up the game. The note could explain that spelling out words is not allowed and may result in the player being banned. I think a lot of people actually don't realize they are cheating. I have seen several players spell out a whole word and get warned and then ask why they were warned.

    And there are all kinds of weird glitches. I hope these will be corrected when other platforms upgrade. Several times I have seen where it says a certain person is supposed to be drawing, and that person will type that on his screen it says that I am supposed to be drawing! So, no one is able to draw. Other times it will saying it is someone's turn and then it will immediately switch to someone else. Other times we just get kicked out of a room (by the game) for no apparent reason, but can immediately return.
    04-25-12 03:18 AM
  21. joogi's Avatar
    ok.. I don't know if folks from Xlabz are still checking this thread for comments and suggestions.. I will post anyway.

    I got my Super Moderator status last night, even though I didn't play a lot in past weeks. Since I don't know how it determines who is awarded these status, I assume it wouldn't be too difficult as long as you play *enough*, not necessarily winning enough.

    This is what happend to me last night. I was banned from the room for doing nothing wrong (again! hello?) I was just guessing the drawings for several turns, totally kept quiet, no writing words etc. As you all know, the new scoring system is like this: if you guess it right in first 15 sec, you get 5 points, 3 points for next 15 sec, then 1 point. The likelihood of players getting same scores is extremely high. Sounds like a close game? Not at all. Unless you got to draw twice, you scores would be boosted as you can get max 10 points for someone guessing it right (first). So last night I believe it was 9th round, I got same score as the other player (screen name like J Zizzy?). I guess s/he isa Super Moderator too... for whatever reason I got banned just before end of the game. <== ok, I am just guessing here that s/he was the one kicking me out. The power of banning becomes a tool to kick people out of the room so that s/he can be the winner of that round and be on the leaderboard.

    Believe or not, this actually came to my mind after being awarded the priviledged status.. (I could kick people out so that I can win! Of course I didn't do it). I just couldn't believe that it really did happen!

    When I first started playing this game, I didn't log on with my facebook account. I got lots of wins back then but I didn't care about leaderboard. It was very peaceful at that time.

    Comments:

    The old scoring system is much better: points are awarded based on how fast you guess right: 9, 8, 7, 6...etc and NOT getting same score for guessing right in the same 15-sec period. It is important to spread out the scores among players.

    Of course reducing 10 players to 8 in a room is a huge mistake!

    Question:

    how do I log out of my FB account on SWF??? I can change the screen name but I can never log out once I logged in.

    If you need people to test play, I am available..
    04-28-12 02:34 PM
  22. Alt-F4's Avatar
    Awesome game.. Tons of fun... WHEN you can find a game that's not full of people spelling the words they can't sketch.. Or every word they get.. Just entered every room with people in it and guess what.. Every single room had atleast 2 players that did nothing but draw the letters for the words
    Very fun when you have some intelligence in the room but I'm finding that to be extremely rare not sure what can even be done about it without live babysitters monitoring the room.. Great game otherwise.
    02-14-13 03:38 PM
  23. Alt-F4's Avatar
    I also had a moderator today say they were 10 years old in the chat and then go on to not even attempt to draw... He/she wrote stopsign... Instead of drawing it.. Lol when I then said "please sketch! That's cheating" the kid told me to die and said he's banning me then gave me a warning.. Lol kinda done with this but just wanted give my feedback of why because it's a great game if you have friends you can jump in a password protected room with which I don't. :/
    02-14-13 04:03 PM
  24. XLabz's Avatar
    I also had a moderator today say they were 10 years old in the chat and then go on to not even attempt to draw... He/she wrote stopsign... Instead of drawing it.. Lol when I then said "please sketch! That's cheating" the kid told me to die and said he's banning me then gave me a warning.. Lol kinda done with this but just wanted give my feedback of why because it's a great game if you have friends you can jump in a password protected room with which I don't. :/
    Hi! We've taken all possible measures from our side to prevent players from using profane language while playing, It is not humanly possible for us to monitor each and every game session that happens. But if you happen to be a paid user of Sketch W Friends, you could always create a private room (Friends & Family gaming zone) and invite only your close friends to join the room and play.
    02-19-13 10:59 PM
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