Highly social gameplay just one of many features that encourages strategic play and adds surge of adrenaline to jewel matching category of games

Toronto, ON, April 17, 2013 – Social Graph Studios pushes the boundaries of the jewel matching genre by offering real-time social game play with Gem Clash. Players play against their opponents simultaneously on the same board. They see each other’s moves and compete to earn the most points in 90 seconds. Gem Clash is free to play.

“We wanted Gem Clash to bring something really new to social gaming on Facebook,” said Oz Solomon, CEO of Social Graph Studios. ”No one has ever built an online jewel matching game where players play against their opponent on the same board at the same time. It’s frenetic, thrilling and a lot of fun to play”.

Gem Clash is a casual, social, jewel matching game on Facebook. Its patent pending technology allows players to compete against each other in real-time on the same board. Players see their opponent’s matches as they are made and compete to be first to slide a gem to make a match.  Collisions are common and add to the excitement as only the first person to make a match earns points.

Gem Clash is highly social. Players can play their friends to see who the most skilled jewel matcher is.  Players can also choose to have the Gem Clash player matching system match them against a random player logged into the system. The graphics, sounds and effects in the game amplify the competitive experience no matter who the opponent is.

Gem Clash has several features designed in to encourage strategic play. Players earn bonus points for combo matches. Matching larger sets of jewels leads to bombs and vortices that generate large amounts of points.

Other features that players will find in Gem Clash include:

• Skill-based ranking system – Players earn or lose rank points, called Gems, when they win or lose games. Gem Clash will match players against other players that are similar in rank to maximize the challenge and fun of every game.
• Power-Ups – Players can use power-ups to improve their game. Power-ups can be used to give players hints on possible matches, to scramble all the jewels on the board or earn bonus points. Players can earn power-ups by playing games.
• Training Games – Players who do not feel ready to pit their skills against a human opponent can practice against a computer opponent.  Jewels will design training games to stretch a player’s capability and push them to improve their skills.

Gem Clash is an easy game to play, but a difficult game to master.

“Our mission is to make an amazing game which fans of the puzzle and arcade genres will love to play. I think that Gem Clash has already met that objective. Even so, we plan to keep building new features and content in Gem Clash. The launch is just the beginning,” said Solomon.

Gem Clash can be played for free on Facebook at: http://apps.facebook.com/gemclash.

About Social Graph Studios

Founded in 2007, Toronto-based Social Graph Studios creates, distributes and markets social and mobile games and apps.  Social Graph Studios’ premier application, Status Shuffle (http://apps.facebook.com/status-shuffle),  is used by millions of people to set their Facebook status from its collection of millions of funny and inspirational statuses. Social Graph Studios has also created My Year in Status, My Year in Photos, Photo Collage and Status Collage.  For more information, please visit http://sgstudios.com.

Contact:

Jacques Chamberland, VP Product

*protected email*

416-463-6333 x202

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“Status Shuffle is a perfect fit for mobile,” said Oz Solomon, Social Graph Studios’ founder and CEO. “People can shuffle through our statuses by swiping and tapping and then can set their Facebook status without typing.  Shuffling through all our funny, inspirational and poignant statuses is great entertainment and lots of our users spend some of their idle time with us for that reason.”

To celebrate the two year anniversary of Status Shuffle on the iPhone, Social Graph Studios will be offering the full version of Status Shuffle on the iPhone for free on February 7, 2013 in the iOS App Store.

Status Shuffle helps users find a status message to post on their Facebook Timeline.  The application selects from 3.3 million crowd-sourced statuses using a proprietary shuffling algorithm and recommendation engine that suggests statuses that users are more likely to care about and engage with.

Status Shuffle users automatically moderate the content simply by using Status Shuffle.  People have set their status, voted on statuses, shared statuses or saved a status as a favorite more than 1.6 billion times using Status Shuffle via the web, mobile web and iOS apps.  The Status Shuffle engine combines these signals with user demographic information to determine which statuses are relevant and likely to resonate.

Status Shuffle for iPhone is available and works on recent iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. It builds on the Status Shuffle Facebook app and shares the same database.  This means that iOS users have full access to all Status Shuffle statuses and that a user’s favorites will be available on both iOS and web versions of Status Shuffle.

Status Shuffle for iPhone is also accessible to the blind, visually impaired and people with print disabilities using VoiceOver and Zoom.

“We saw a lot of requests from visually impaired people to use Status Shuffle,” said Solomon. “So we added full VoiceOver support.  Status Shuffle has been accessible for over a year and that is something we are very proud of. We get lots of comments from people thanking us for doing this. We hope that lots of these users will take advantage of the 2 year anniversary giveaway.”

People interested in using the Status Shuffle iPhone application can find it in the iTunes store at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/status-shuffle-for-facebook/id415888970?mt=8.  Status Shuffle Lite (free version) is available at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/status-shuffle-lite-for-facebook/id415901080?mt=8. Status Shuffle is also available as a Facebook app at: http://apps.facebook.com/status-shuffle?from=pr1. Status Shuffle is supported on Android via the mobile web version of the app http://m.statusshuffle.com

Status Shuffle on Facebook was the original flavor of Status Shuffle and it was launched over 5 years ago. “We saw tremendous growth in social apps over the last 5 years and then tremendous growth in mobile apps over the last two. We are excited to be at the convergence of both social and mobile,” said Solomon.

About Social Graph Studios

Founded in 2007, Toronto-based Social Graph Studios creates, distributes and markets social and mobile games and apps.  Social Graph Studios has created several other social apps including Status Collage, Photo Collage, My Year in Status and My Year in Photos.  Social Graph Studios’ newest product is a social game called Gem Clash. Gem Clash offers real-time, head to-head competitive jewel matching.

For more information, please visit http://sgstudios.com.

Contact:

Jacques Chamberland, VP Product

*protected email*

416-463-6333 x202

###

February 7, 2013 is Status Shuffle for iPhone’s 2nd birthday

Status Shuffle for iPhone celebrates its 2^nd birthday today!  Status Shuffle for iPhone first appeared in the App Store on February 7, 2011.

A lot has changed in the world since the app first launched: iPad2, iPhone 4S, iPad3, iPad mini, iPhone 5, iPad 4, iPod Touch5, iOS4.3, iOS 5, iOS 6, the arab spring, the tsunami in Japan, hurricane Sandy the Olympics and the birth of at least 260 million people.

Status Shuffle for iPhone has also changed. Not as much as the rest of the world but we are proud of the progress. Some of the changes that really stick out in our minds include:

• Vastly improved the user experience design so that it’s much easier to use
• Swapped the graphic design for one that is more mature and pleasant to look at
• Added VoiceOver support so that people with low vision or who are blind can use the app
• Supported all the new devices and OSes that Apple launched
• Supported all the changes to their APIs that Facebook introduced

In celebration of Status Shuffle for iPhone’s 2^nd birthday, we are going to offer the app for free all day today (February 7, 2013) in the iOS App Store. So don’t miss out on your big chance!

Here is the link:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/status-shuffle-for-facebook/id415888970?mt=8

Its already scheduled with Apple.  And, according to our research, the time it goes free is relative to your time zone.  So, in other words, it should be midnight to midnight for everyone around the globe.  Cool!

We are trying out a new feature on Status Shuffle on Facebook that we call the Imagizer. (Note this is only a test, so its not available on the iPhone or the mobile web yet).

The imagizer lets you put a status on a background and post it as an image to your Facebook timeline.

Here is what it looks like:

The Imagizer: Lets you place a status on a background picture

You can access the imagizer two ways.  First you can click the new Images tab at the top of Status Shuffle.

Ways to get to the Imagizer

Next, while setting a status, you can click the new Make an Image button on the Set Status popup.

Create an image from a Status Shuffle status

When clicking the images tab, the Imagizer will appear as a blank canvas to let your wild imagination freely create amazing statuses. Clicking the Make an Image button populates the image with the selected status. But you can still edit it if you want.

We beta trialed this in the UK for about 2 weeks in January 2013 and opened it to the world on January 29.  If people like it, we will keep it for longer. However, right now we are just trialing it to see what people think of it. Its going to be up until, at least, February 15, 2013. So, if you like it, let us know.  Or better yet, get all your friends to use it

In celebration, we are going to offer the app for free for all of February 7, 2013. So don’t miss out on your big chance!

Here is the link:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/status-shuffle-for-facebook/id415888970?mt=8

According to our research, it should be free from midnight to midnight of your timezone. You’ll have plenty of time to grab it.

Why? Good question.

Jewels x2 was originally chosen to communicate the following messages:

• It’s a jewel matching game
• Players play against each other

The problem is that, with the exception of one person, Jewels x2 was not loved. Most people did not understand that ‘x2’ meant head-to-head multiplayer. Though, once it was explained to them or they saw the game, understanding game easily and quickly. Additionally, I think, it didn’t really sound fun. And who wants to play a game that doesn’t sound fun?

Well, if you look at the stats, it turns out that we were getting a reasonable click through rate on our ads in the beta trial, so I guess lots of people. The visual elements of the ad may have been a larger factor than the name of the game, but we weren’t sure. So we decided to run some tests.

We decided to test out a few different names and see how people responded. After a brainstorming session we came up with these names (shown in no particular order):

• Jewels x2 (original huh?)
• Jewel Rivals
• Jewel Duel
• Gem Clash
• Jewel Feud

We tested the names by inviting people to join our beta test program. The only difference between the invites was the name of the game. To be counted as a vote for the name, people had to provide their email address.

The winner won in all categories:

• Click Through Rate
• Total Clicks
• Cost
• Conversion Rate
• Total Conversions

All told, the winner scored 26% higher than the runner up.

So who is the winner?

First, I was most surprised at the runner up.  Jewels x2. It actually scored 13% higher than third place. So Jewels x2 was not so bad a name after all.

And second, Jewel Duel was last. By a lot. Not sure why. Maybe people don’t like internal rhyming.

Finally, the winner is (drum roll please) – Gem Clash. We hope you like it. Actually, we are counting on you liking it.

We are working on logos, trademarks, domain names, changing the name of the game in the code, and modifying all the key art, etc. We’ll post up the new logo as soon as it’s complete.

I thought I would also mention the Video Game Name Generator. Lots of funny names.

Jewels x2 extends the jewel matching game genre by adding real-time multiplayer game action.  Players play head to head on the same board at the same time. Jewels x2 is highly social; players can challenge their friends or be matched with players they have not met.

“Jewels x2 is designed to maximize fun and excitement. It’s frenetic and thrilling. We had a vision of building an amped up jewel matching game that leverages our understanding of social technology. We are very proud of our work,” said Oz Solomon,  CEO of Social Graph Studios.

Jewels x2 can be played at:

http://apps.facebook.com/jewelsxtwo

Release 1.0, added the following things to Jewels x2

Timed Game – Games now last 90 seconds.  The player with the most points after 90 seconds wins the game.

Friend Bar – Players will see their friends directly in the friend bar at the bottom of the screen.  This allows players to more easily challenge each other and compare their rankings against each other.

Improved Look and Feel – Many of the dialogs and popups in the game have been restyled to look better and be easier to use. The most notable change is the Score screen that players see at the end of the game.

Bug Fixes – Many bugs have been fixed and the overall stability of the platform has been greatly improved.

“Social Graph Studios has great plans for Jewels x2. Look for us to start our marketing campaign early in 2013,” added Solomon.

Happy New Year!

Its free to play and a lot of fun.  You can try it out at:

http://apps.facebook.com/jewelsxtwo?from=sgsblog

Jewels x2 introduces multiplayer into jewel matching games.  Players play at the same time and on the same board as their opponents. True head to head gameplay.  Its frantic, wild and a silly amount of fun.

Here is a teaser video showing what game play looks like:

We have big plans for this game.  Let us know what you think.  We would love to hear your feedback.

We were working on the App Center page for My Year in Status (which will shortly be updated for 2012 – in the meantime, please use Status Collage which is not tied to any specific year). Through some experimentation, we were able to get the landscape layout.

The area provided for the larger thumbnail is 315w * 215h and calculated the aspect ratio which is  1.3125:1.  To verify that, we created a screen shot with red bars around the outside (1 px wide) then uploaded it.  It was 437w * 333h with an aspect ratio of 1.312:1.  It appeared with red bars around it in full glory.

Here is what it looks like:

For kicks, weI tried uploading one with a slightly different aspect ratio. It was 438:320 or 1.369:1.  It still appeared with the landscape format, however the bars at the sides were clipped off.

The smaller screenshots thumbnails are 155w * 110h which works out to an aspect ratio of 1.409:1.  Though we haven’t tried putting red bars around the images to verify.

• Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever…No gifts or sales or decorations…Its all about family and friends spending time together with a meal.
• Thanksgiving is all about getting your entire dysfunctional family under the same roof and hoping the police don’t get called.
• This year i am thankful for everything in my life. Family, friends (new and old), and all the blessings that God has given to me! Happy Thanksgiving!!!
• As we spend time with friends & families on Thanksgiving, please take a moment to remember our soldiers overseas who do not get to see their families
• Shot my first turkey today. It sure scared the crap out of all the people in the frozen food section.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!