Just got another awesome piece of fan art, this time from Fobwashed.  We can’t say enough how cool we think this kind of stuff is.

One of our top players, PartyBoyJ, just sent this in.  We love it!

It’s been a long time in the works, but now you can play Depict on Facebook!  Play for free with your friends on Facebook or iOS and let us know if you find any issues.  Since this is a beta, please be patient with us while we work out the kinks.

Depict on Facebook has all of the features of the iOS version plus some extras. On Facebook, it’s even easier to share drawings, achievements, and invite friends to play with you.  Depict automatically sends either push notifications to mobile devices or Facebook requests to web-only players.

Play Now | Depict on Facebook | In the App Store

We had this poster made for our office which features hundreds of player-created avatars.

UPDATE: The update is out, go grab it.

The largest update to Depict in history is coming at the end of the month.

Depict 1.8 is huge. This update represents more total man-hours than the original game.

One would think that parsing and generating xml files using the iPhone SDK would be a simple task.  However, Apple decided to leave out the NSXML and related classes from the SDK.  So- out of the box, that leaves us with NSXMLParser.  No thanks.

My first question was: How can I deal with xml the way I’m used to- the way C#, ActionScript, and to a lesser extent JavaScript handle it.  The answer is the wonderful KissXML package.

Now we can do things like this:

NSString * fileContents = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile: filePath encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding error:nil];
DDXMLDocument * doc = [[DDXMLDocument alloc] initWithXMLString: fileContents options:0 error:nil];
DDXMLElement * root = [doc rootElement];
NSDictionary * mapAttribs = [root attributesAsDictionary];

mapSize.width = [[mapAttribs valueForKey:@"width"] intValue];
mapSize.height = [[mapAttribs valueForKey:@"height"] intValue];

DDXMLElement * tilemap = [[root elementsForName:@"tilemap"] objectAtIndex:0];
NSString * source = [[tilemap attributeForName:@"source"] stringValue];

Not as good as C#, but much better than NSXMLParser. Happy XMLing.

The OpenFeint Depict Contest is well underway.  Here are the winners for the first two weekends.  There’s one more contest left, so get in there and draw this coming weekend if you want a shot at some cool prizes.  More details over on the OpenFeint Gold Game Page.

Here’s the winners for 8/6-8/8:

• 1st Place: firelol222
• 2nd Place: MarieMEOW
• 3rd Place: KittenKirby

And the winners for 8/13-8/15:

• 1st Place: ScrabbleMx
• 2nd Place: x TIGER x
• 3rd Place: 0-FeliX-0

Aurora Feint, the guys behind the hugely popular social gaming network “OpenFeint” have bestowed a great honor on Depict.  Depict has been named the next Gold game of the month!  OpenFeint Gold titles are selected for their high quality and exceptional use of OpenFeint’s social gaming features.  We’re proud to have joined the ranks with titles like, Fieldrunners, Jet Car Stunts and Bird Strike.

Header over to OpenFeint.com and check out the sweet landing page they’ve setup for Depict.  Be sure to check this page often because OpenFeint will be sponsoring a bunch of contests over the next few weeks.

UPDATE: Version 1.6 fixes the issue.  Available now.

Unfortunately, Depict is temporarily unavailable due to a critical error in the latest update.  We’ve already submitted another update and emailed Apple to get it rushed.

The error slipped past our testing because it only occurs on 3.1.x devices built for distribution.  Although we tested it on 3.1.x devices, we didn’t catch the bug because the configuration was different for the test build compared to the distribution build.

Sorry for the inconvenience, Depict will be back up and better than even in a few days.

Depict 1.5 is the largest update ever!  Depict looks better, runs on more devices, and connects you with friends like never before.  Here’s a list of the major new features:

• OpenFeint 2.5
• Universal App / iOS 4.0 Tested
• iPhone 4 support – Full resolution
• All add-ons included free (Avatar Creator, Lightning Round)
• Moderators – Special users who have tools for dealing with rude players in-game
• Chat phrases – Over 50 phrases to further express yourself
• New “Skilled Depictors” leaderboard – Earn stars to climb this ladder
• Improved main menu – Easier access to OpenFeint features
• Achievements are broadcast to other players
• Easier to add friends in and out of games
• Improved eraser – It’s usable now!
• Social media integration