OK... my watch reads 4:00 CST :). Contest is over, thanks to everyone who has played. The supercomputer is now processing qualifies and will randomly select the lucky boy or girl who won (not you Misty). Stay tuned for the winner announcements in a bit... Matt

Hello all,

To celebrate the release of Prairie Chute 1.1 we are sponsoring a contest to find the first group of Top Dogs! This contest comes with more than respect however, we are offering three prize drawings for individuals who meet the following requirements*…

Requirements:

1. Score at least 40 dogs on Easy difficulty (entered in drawing for $10 iTunes gift certificate)
2. Score at least 30 dogs on Medium difficulty (entered in drawing for $10 iTunes gift certificate)
3. Score at least 20 dogs on Hard difficulty (entered in drawing for $10 iTunes gift certificate)

* All scores must be posted to the “World” Leaderboard for “Dogs Landed (Score)” under their respective difficulty level to qualify.

Rules:

1. Download or upgrade to Prairie Chute 1.1 today! http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=324616043&mt=8
   
   
2. Touch the SCORES button on the Main Menu to access the AGON interface, pick a unique user name and go online.

3. Touch the Profile button at the bottom of the screen, then Edit at the top to enter your information. Don’t forget to set up your location while you are here so you can see how you compare to others near you!

4. Be sure to enter a valid email address so we have a way to contact you if you are a contest winner.

5. Touch Save at the top of the Edit Profile screen to save your profile information.

6. Play as much as you want on each difficulty level to reach the required scores. All scores must be posted to the online (“World”) leaderboard to qualify for the contest.
   
   
7. If you qualify, please invite me as a friend through AGON (MattMob) so I can have access to your email if you win.
   At 4:00 CST (Central Standard Time, U.S.) on Friday, September 4^th, 2009 we will collect all user names that accomplished the above requirements and hold a drawing for each respective difficulty level.

8. Each unique player can only win one drawing. We will notify the winners by email (so be sure to include one in your profile if you wish to compete). If there is no email entered on your profile, we will randomly select another player that qualifies for the prize.

Good luck… and happy chuting J

Matt

Thanks for all the great support during the initial launch of Prairie Chute! Please contact us at matt.johnson.mobile@gmail.com with any questions or suggestions you may have for the game. Happy Chuting :)

Matt

Prairie Chute 1.1 & Prairie Chute Lite Submitted to Apple!

About a week ago I stopped the madness of rolling my own PHP / MySQL solution (which was progressing quite well actually) when one of the Editors at slide To Play turned me on to some of the popular social networking platforms currently available for iPhone devs.

After extensive research, I settled on a platform named AGON. The experience was fantastic. Their API and support enabled me to get six unique leaderboards (score and long drops for each difficulty level) integrated in a matter of days. On top of that, they have the built in geotagging of scores and the ability to push accomplishments to your Facebook or Twitter accounts!

This update will also add a few minor improvements as noted, but the AGON platform will allow us to quickly add an achievement system in 1.2 that will extend the game even further.

Thanks,

Matt

Prairie Chute 1.1 in Development!

The big feature for this update will be global high scores. Players will have the ability to submit their existing Top Dog score to the list after the update, so get those scores up and times down! The SCORES button on the main menu will also provide access to view the top 20 worldwide scores from the Easy, Medium & Hard difficulties.

Smaller updates include edits to the instructions screen and possibly a few more funny "success" sounds. Check out this thread over at Touch Arcade where the ideas are flowing!

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=413488#post413488

We have received great comments, feedback and suggestions for future content updates. We hope to add some of these in the near future, so please support us by picking up the game today and giving us a good review!

"Bug Mug" Concept Currently Under Development

Where is the waiter?

This new iPhone/iTouch game design is courtesy of my son Ethan. When brainstorming for ideas one day on the porch he was steadily shooing flies away from his drink (Coke, not beer mind you :)). We all agreed that there was some form of "game" there that everyone could relate to. The concept went in the idea drawer for a few months, and has now emerged as a proof of concept titled "Bug Mug".

Let us know any thoughts, opinions, likes or dislikes as we decide t0 move this concept into full production. I will follow up in a later post to describe ideas for drinks, bugs and mechanics.

Prairie Chute Launches to Great Reviews

What's that burning smell?

Five Days after launch we have recorded hundreds of game plays and received a dozen or so glowing reviews from players. We are very excited about the enthusiasm we have seen so far, and welcome any feedback or suggestions anyone may have to improve the game!

The biggest enhancement on the horizon is the ability to submit your scores to a worldwide high score database. We are beginning the planning work for this today, and anticipate it being pushed in a 1.1 update in the near future.

Thanks to everyone for making the launch a great success, and if you haven't checked out the game yet, pop on over to the iTunes store and chute away!