http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/ en matt.braun@magnateinteractive.com Copyright 2013 2013-05-20T15:23:28+00:00 http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/sketchparty_tv_in_the_press/ http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/sketchparty_tv_in_the_press/#When:15:23:28Z SketchParty TV has been mentioned on several high-profile tech news outlets including MacStories, The Loop, and TechCrunch. To make the lives of journalists around the web easier, putting together a brief press kit page is a must. Check out the new SketchParty TV press page. The press page includes a short press release that gets straight to the point, along with high-resolution screenshots and logos, and a link to the game's video on YouTube. 2013-05-20T15:23:28+00:00 http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/sketchparty_tv_updated/ http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/sketchparty_tv_updated/#When:14:58:10Z SketchParty TV, the family-friendly Pictionary-style game for your iPad and Apple TV, recently received two updates that improve the overall experience and replayability of the game. An expanded word list and a method for ensuring word uniqueness across multiple sessions makes the game fun to play again and again. And the standard word list has been translated to six languages including Dutch, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, so multilingual players and students around the globe can enjoy SketchParty TV even more. The update also includes new countdown audio, reduced download size, and a page curl animation when clearing the drawing canvas. Sharing functionality has been updated for iOS6 to share your drawings with friends via email, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as save them to your device Camera Roll. If a player is stuck on how to draw a word or words for her turn, three quick taps on the "Pass!" button will prompt to pass her turn (the player still gets credit for the words her team correctly guessed). SketchParty TV is under active development, with more updates and improvements on the way. If you enjoy SketchParty TV, please let me know… 2013-05-07T14:58:10+00:00 http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/magnate_interactive_launches_sandy_spang_for_toledo_city_council_website/ http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/magnate_interactive_launches_sandy_spang_for_toledo_city_council_website/#When:22:49:32Z Earlier in the year, Sandy Spang, a friend and local businesswoman, approached me to consult on the development of her branding and web/social media presence.Sandy understands the importance of running a cost-efficient and technically savvy campaign, and that effective use of the web will be critically important to reaching increasingly savvy voters. I was honored to take on the project, and put together a plan for the most critical elements. The logo, type, and color direction were put together by the talented Lauren Gallagher, recent alumni of the Obama design team, with stunning photos by Stargazer Photography, and website design and implementation by Matt Braun. Typically, Magnate Interactive builds on the ExpressionEngine content management system, but in an effort to keep costs as low as possible, we decided on Squarespace. This is my first foray into using Squarespace and their new Commerce system, and overall the process was smooth and developer friendly. Squarespace Commerce uses Stripe for payment processing, and we're using it for the campaign's donations. Squarespace allows a 14-day trial to get your site set up, and I was able to get the site online in a… 2013-04-07T22:49:32+00:00 http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/mash_game_for_the_mac_app_store_updated/ http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/mash_game_for_the_mac_app_store_updated/#When:23:03:48Z MASH: Mansion Apartment Shack House (website), has been updated for the Mac App Store. Now Mountain Lion users can share their future with friends via Facebook, Email, iMessage, Twitter -- even Flickr -- as a photo. Additionally, MASH has an improved story creation system with better English grammar usage. MASH is available on the Mac App Store for a low introductory price of $0.99 (US). Download MASH today at http://mashplus.com/mac/f/ 2013-02-08T23:03:48+00:00 http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/mash_released_for_windows_8/ http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/mash_released_for_windows_8/#When:20:55:10Z FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Toledo, OH -- Magnate Interactive is proud to announce the release of MASH+: Mansion Apartment Shack House for Windows 8 on the Windows Store. MASH is a classic children's fortune-telling game re-imagined for modern touch-enabled tablets. The game guides players through a series of questions like what city they might live in, how many children they might have, what their occupation might be, and more. Drawing a spiral directly on the screen with a finger or pen (on compatible tablets), the game determines a special "magic number" that is used in deciding the outcome of the story. All but one option in each category is eliminated using the magic number as an animated green pencil marks them off, and a story is created that is bound to make players laugh (or cry!). Originally created in 2008 for the iPhone and iPod touch, this new version of MASH has been refined and redesigned for Windows 8. Compatible with Windows 8 desktop PCs and tablets (including Microsoft Surface), it supports pen input, touch input, and keyboard and mouse. “I am thrilled to be releasing MASH for Windows. I worked many hours porting the underlying game code from Objective-C,… 2013-01-03T20:55:10+00:00 http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/video_sketchparty_tv_promo/ http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/video_sketchparty_tv_promo/#When:16:30:43Z One of the greatest aphorisms in marketing is "show, don't tell", and in keeping with that philosophy, we've created a short promo video for SketchParty TV. Watch it here! 2012-10-10T16:30:43+00:00 http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/sketchparty_tv_named_tap_magazine_editors_choice/ http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/sketchparty_tv_named_tap_magazine_editors_choice/#When:21:14:43Z Phin had this to say about SketchParty TV: "I like SketchParty TV a lot, not really even so much because of what the game actually is – basically, Pictionary for the 21st century – but because it's done incredibly well. It takes a lot of work to create something so stable that you can use it without a manual first time, every time..." Tap! Magazine is available in print and as a Universal iOS app (iTunes link). 2012-10-02T21:14:43+00:00 http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/sketchparty_tv_is_tap_magazines_app_of_the_week/ http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/sketchparty_tv_is_tap_magazines_app_of_the_week/#When:17:21:34Z Tap! Magazine: “Huge amounts of fun at parties, whether the room is full of kids or adults. Stable and well designed to boot.” Read the full review at Tap! Magazine. 2012-09-25T17:21:34+00:00 http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/ipad_first_-_sketchparty_tv/ http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/ipad_first_-_sketchparty_tv/#When:17:19:16Z SketchParty TV is designed to be best on the iPad, first and foremost; the iPad makes a great drawing canvas, and has the screen real estate needed to display game elements and an area to draw in. iPad First: "Looks like fun! What a brilliant use of the iPad and Apple TV." 2012-08-24T17:19:16+00:00 http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/does_sketchparty_tv_rain_on_wii_us_parade/ http://www.magnateinteractive.com/articles/archive/does_sketchparty_tv_rain_on_wii_us_parade/#When:20:07:41Z Nate Adams at Frisky Mongoose raises the point I had a feeling would come up - SketchParty TV requires some expensive hardware to play. However, a comparable boxed version of a game like SketchParty TV typically costs $30. If you already have the necessary equipment (iPad, Apple TV, HDTV), SketchParty's $5 price point is a bargain. Check out SketchParty TV at http://sketchparty.tv 2012-08-16T20:07:41+00:00