The update that was mentioned in my last blog post hit the stores (and server) today.Notifications:Most people are reporting this is working well. Some things that need to be addressed."Bases full" isn't implemented yet.Clicking a notification for being mentioned in a chat room, doesn't open that chat room yetSome people do not see a "Notifications" button under settingsIf notifications are not beeping and vibrating your phone, check the settings for each notification type to verify they are not marked as silent. QONQR has limited ability to control how notifications "beep" your phone. The phones system settings override the settings we suggest.Ads:They are gone. Apple destroyed the revenue model for in-app advertising. Google changed their advertising implementation. There was a bug reported in Microsoft's port of the new Google library in February. It is still broken. The bug made it impossible to get a new release out with ads, plus advertising no longer makes any money on iPhone. So, I had no real option other than to remove them completely. To get secondary missions, making any purchase will unlock the secondary missions for the next 31 days. Subscribers still get secondary missions. If you are still running the old app, you can watch all the ads you want, it won't unlock a mission for you. Sorry. This may change in the future, but it was a stop-gap solution to get the release out the door. Also, this now means that QONQR no longer shares any user activity data with any other company. This should make the privacy sensitive people very happy (if you believe Google's claims that the Google Maps SDK does not collect user data).Scope:Bot and Energy regeneration has a new formula. The old formula didn't allow for accurate prediction of when the tank would be full. The new formula does. Initial testing showed that the new formula would result in 1 or 2 more launches per hour. A few users have already pointed out that they have found a launch combination that can stretch that to 30 launches, when they have the "Bot Regen Upgrade". This was my mistake and way more than I had intended. My mistake is your benefit. I think I will leave this bad (more accurately - way too good) formula in the game through Atlantis. Enjoy the rapid launching for the next week. Also, I failed to rename the "Bot Regen Accelerator" to a new name that better reflect what it does. The scope upgrade that costs $0.99 for 3 months will ensure you are never in maximum overheat. The new name for the upgrade will be in the next release.Sync Lock and Sync Lock Protection:This one is a big one and could be a great improvement or a huge mess on my part. Sync Lock will now last 30 days. The system now keeps track of how many times you have been sync locked and how many times you have gained sync lock protection. For legitimate family members and co-workers, you can now earn sync lock protection for up to 7 days. If you gain Sync Lock Protection, then earn it again the next day before you are locked again, then once again the day after that, you are "banking" your legitimate game play each day you gain protection. We look at the number of times you have gain protection subtract the number of times you have been Sync Locked and that is the number of days your protection will last, up to 7 days. While this may seem complicated, just remember to get Sync Lock Protection before your protection expires, over time you will see your protection time increase.Why does sync lock protection last so long? Privacy changes made by Apple and Google make it harder for me to stop some pervious multi-scoping blocks. Those who have found the loophole, will now find it very hard to get unlocked. We will see how this new system works. It was just as hard to get unlocked before, but now with Sync Lock lasting so long, the penalty becomes more difficult to work around. If it works well, especially for legitimate players, we may see the penalties for multi-scoping may get stricter.Finally, one of the unfortunate parts of Sync Lock is that families often feel penalized when they are not. For example, the scope would say you are infected, and it would psychologically make you feel handicapped when you were not. Sync Lock only impacts you for launches in the last hour, from the same zones. If your kids or spouse hasn't played in the past hour, or your co-workers went home and are now in a different zone, their activity has no impact on your gameplay. It never has. Sync Lock impact is now only shown the launch results screen, and only when the impact is real.Localization:Under the covers, QONQR is now running a new framework for supporting other languages (other than English). This is going to make it much easier for us to add new translations and update the ones we already have. If you are interested in helping with translations, please email support@qonqr.com.Windows Phone:I received word today that Windows Phone no longer works for one of our players. Honestly, I didn't know it still worked. We announced over a year ago that we would no longer support windows phone. We decreed that should a server update break windows phone, we would not fix the server. It appears that time has come.Android In-App purchases:This was the biggest thing forcing the release today. Android removed support for the old purchasing code I was using. It was going to be impossible to buy stuff in the App on Nov 1, without a new update. This change by Google forced the app update, a little earlier than I had planned. As a result, we have a few things incomplete and a few bugs, but I'll get them fixed as soon as I can.I hope you are energized by this release. It feels so good to get something new out the door. Even if it is broken, it is progress. I'll do my best to get the issues we have identified fixed in the following week or two.-Scott (aka Silver)
