Makeshift Games

Hello and welcome to Depict, The Mutiplayer Drawing & Guessing Game!

• Online multiplayer over WiFi, 3G and EDGE
• Quick matches, private games, and solo play
• Multiple modes of play
• Push invites
• Achievements & leaderboards
• Constantly adding new puzzles

Whether you play solo, online with strangers, or with friends in the same room, Depict will keep you entertained for hours.

Puzzles

All of the puzzles in Depict are created by hand using carefully selected groups of words.  The words in each puzzle usually look similar when drawn, but each have some defining feature that can be exploited for the win.  We’re always adding new puzzles to keep the game fresh and we love to hear players’ suggestions for puzzles.  If you’ve got an idea for a puzzle, send us an email.

Scoring

The goal is to get the most points by drawing and guessing quickly and carefully.  Each game is played in 5 rounds, each lasting approximately 30 seconds.  The player with the highest score after 5 rounds is the winner.  As soon as one game is over, the next one starts shortly after with no interruption.

As a guesser, you’ll earn 1 point for guessing correctly as well as 1 extra point for each person you beat to the punch.

As a drawer, 1 point is awarded for drawing successfully.  The drawer also earns the total number of points earned by the guessers.  As you can see, doing well at drawing is key to winning and earning big points.

Achievements & Leaderboards

Achievements are earned for reaching specific levels of points.  You can also earn achievements for getting good reviews from your peers and drawing quickly and accurately.  A full list of achievements is available in the OpenFeint dashboard in the game.

In addition to achievements, you can also compare your overall score with your friends and top players around the world on the “Overall Score” leaderboard.

Tips

Here’s a few tips to get you started:

• If there’s no one to play with when you login, start a solo game and someone will probably join you.
• Don’t forget to rate your peers and change your avatar to express your emotions.  You’ll be surprised how much you can communicate to your fellow players.
• If you are drawing and don’t know the meaning of the word or don’t feel like drawing, simply pass.  It’s better to pass than draw nothing.
• If you don’t think you can draw the word, try drawing something related to it.
• Color is VERY important- use it wisely.
• When playing two player, there’s no rush, so let the drawer do his or her thing.
• On difficult puzzles, it’s better to wait a little longer to guess.  Go ahead and let all your peers jump the gun!

Troubleshooting & FAQ

Here are some answers to common questions and complaints:

• I’m having trouble connecting and/or staying connected.
  Try a different network.  Switch from 3G/EDGE to Wifi or vice versa. Some Wifi networks have firewalls that could prevent you from connecting.
• Sometimes I get disconnected when I leave the game paused.
  The server will disconnect you if you are idle for 10 minutes.  You can reconnect at any time by starting a new game.
• Why can’t I play offline without an internet connection?
  Depict stores all of its puzzles and drawings on our servers so they can be updated in realtime.  In order to reach our servers, you must be online.
• I’m stuck in a game with a lame player, what can I do?!
  If the player is breaking the rules, blow the whistle on him or her.  If there’s no one else around to 2nd your whistle, try exiting the current game and rejoining a new one.
• Why do I see incomplete drawings during solo-play?
  Every time someone draws, the game adds the drawing to the pool of drawings as long as at least one person guessed it correctly.  Sometimes people guess fast!  If you find drawings that are blank or not very good, rate them low and they will eventually go away.