Nominating pockets now live

You now have to “call” which pocket you’re going to pot the 8 Ball in.

Last week we launched “calling”/”nominating” of pockets on the 8 Ball in the Cairo tier and above, for both tournaments and 1-on-1 matches. “Calling” which pocket you’re going to pot the 8 Ball in is a common rule in real-life Pool, and thus adds an extra layer of realism to the game, as well as making the game slightly more difficult; no longer will you be able to “fluke” and pot the 8 Ball somewhere you didn’t intend to!

Those of you who follow the 8 Ball Pool Facebook page will know we ran a survey to gauge feedback on this feature before introducing it. 88.1% of respondents were in favour of introducing calling pockets, and of those in favour three quarters wanted calling pockets in both tournaments and 1-on-1 matches. Votes were split on which shots should be called, with 55.1% wanting calling shots on the 8 Ball only, and the remaining 44.9% requesting calling all shots.

On new features designed to improve the game experience, it’s great being able to get feedback before a feature is introduced, and with calling pockets we’ve been able to use that feedback to ensure the feature works as best it can. We’ve had some comments about the notification being too distracting; the current implementation has been designed to ensure colour blind players are able to use the feature, but we’ll be experimenting with some more subtle options over the next couple of weeks.

Spin & Win on mobile

Update on “Spin & Win”

Last month we introduced to you the new “Daily Spin”, which is now called “Spin & Win”. We had hoped to have the Spin & Win launched by the end of April, but the release has been pushed back to make sure the feature works as best it can.

Spin & Win is first going to be introduced to mobile, after which it’ll make its way to the web version of the game. We’re currently finishing up work on the mobile version, and it’ll be submitted to Apple and Google for review once it’s complete. As soon as it’s approved, you’ll be able to download and play!

Once the mobile version is available, we’ll start implementing Spin & Win on the web version of 8 Ball Pool.

Mobile improvements

We’re working non-stop on improving Pool on mobile!

As well as working on the Spin & Win feature, our mobile team have also been working on a series of bug fixes and improvements to the game. Bugs such as not being able to move the cue ball before break are being fixed, the stability of the servers is being improved and work is being done to make the matching of opponents more effective.

In addition, a series of anti-hack measures for the mobile game are being rolled out over the next couple of weeks. These will fix all current instances of players abusing the game and will go a long way to ensure future exploits cannot be abused.

There are a lot of behind-the-scenes changes being made, but the main noticeable difference will be if you play against someone who we detect is cheating, the player’s session will be terminated (meaning they get disconnected from the game) and you will automatically win the match.

Additional updates

We’ve been redoubling our efforts to eliminate hacking from 8 Ball Pool and continue to take the issue extremely seriously. Our banning system was recently overhauled, and work is going to ensure it works as effectively as possible across both web and mobile.

Congratulations to Kilkiju, who won our first Pool Community Challenge!

Today we released a minor update to the game which adds players’ IDs to the stats page. This will allow us to more easily identify players who have been abusing the game. We are also working on some fundamental-level changes to the game which will stop any Cheat Engine hacks from working. At this time there is no ETA of this project, but we will keep everyone updated as much as possible.

In Pool Shop news, we’re continuing to add new cues! New cues are being released every Friday, so look out for those. As requested by many, many players, we’re also going to be introducing country cues for all countries in the next couple of months.

Since the last update we held our first Community Chalenge! We invited Pool players to send in their creations, and were overwhelmed with the quantity and quality of responses. Congratulations again to Kilkiju, who was voted the winner.

And finally

To finish up this month’s update… 8 Ball Pool is now on Twitter! To keep absolutely up-to-date with the latest Pool news, updates and content, make sure you’re following @poolbyminiclip!

Let us know what you’re looking forward to in the comments! Thanks for playing

In a world where the laws of gravity were broken, one brave guy was held captive for defying gravity’s rules. Held on a space ship, his DNA was collected and he was cloned as part of an evil plan to organize dangerous races across his once-free world. He was cloned so the race could always be restarted.

The following is a selection of diary entries recovered from one of the Guys.

Dear diary…

Year 2314, April 23rd, 11:59am – Lunch Break

The other scientists have left already. I don’t blame them. Today we had a bit of a… problem.

One of the test subjects went on a crazed rant. “You are the real subjects!”, he shouted.

He then turned his pants into a hat and passed out.

Even though the rest of the team didn’t think much of it, I felt uneasy.

Somehow I feel like we shouldn’t all look the same.

Don’t over-rate cleanliness.

Year 2314, April 29th, 10:12pm – Brushing My Teeth

There I was, in the bathroom, wearing my Standard Issued Pyjamas, brushing my Standard Issued Teeth with my Standard Issued Toothbrush, when it hit me…

None of them were mine! They all belonged to the Guy next door. I wouldn’t even have noticed if it wasn’t for the weird flavour in my mouth.

This is all getting too suspicious for my taste!

…cake?

Year 2314, May 2nd, 8:30am – Wake Up Call

This morning I got a call from the cafeteria Girl. She was a bit edgy and sounded awfully nervous. I told her to cut back on the coffee, it’s clearly doing her no good!

She kept mentioning how special I was. How I was nothing like the other Guys. How I smiled.

Then… she paused, and said:

“There’s no time to explain! I’ve sent you a cake with something inside. Use it!”

She hung up.

How am I supposed to use cake?

Nooo!

Year 2314, May 8nd, 14:31pm – Turn Of Events

I had never seen such a delicious looking cake in my life! Now that I think of it, I didn’t even know what cake looked like…

Can you imagine my surprise when, while devouring that godly cake, I bite down on a Gravity Switch and my whole room gets turned upside down? It’s not fun when you have an indoor bathroom!

I really do not understand the gravity of this situation. However, I will try to make a run for it!

P.S.: Thank you for all the cake.

Guy.

Gravity Guy 2 is out now on Windows Phone and also available on iOS. Like Gravity Guy on Facebook to be kept up to date with all the details.

So awesome, in fact, that we’ve made three beautiful renders of Crash, Bite and Wrecker available as desktop and mobile backgrounds and each robot has a version of the background in full HD for desktop as well as unique versions to fit iPhone 5s, iPhone 4s and Android devices.

A sneaky peak at the three wallpapers!

You can find all of the downloads below, sorted by device:

PC:

iPhone 4:

iPhone 5:

Android:

A new server is available for Wartune! Check it out on Miniclip.com

Players have been asking us how they can improve their gameplay so we’ve put together this short tips and tricks guide to help you get started and refine your game.

So you’ve started playing, set up your character, but now you want to turn your Wartune character from an everyday hero into a superhero? Wartune’s Astral system offers a unique way for you to customise your stats and your gameplay. Here are all the details you’ll need:

The Astro System

The Astro system is available to characters level 25 and above. Gathered Astrals allow you to selectively boost your character’s stats and customize your character’s stat focus. Every 10 levels an Astral equipment slot is unlocked. You cannot equip two Astrals that have the same stat boost.

Each Astral you gather also carries a chance of unlocking the next Astro formation, allowing for a greater chance to unlock a rare Astral. Each Astral that is gathered will grant you Star Points, which may be exchanged to purchase rare Astrals for your character.

Astral Rarity:

• Orange Astral – The rarest Astrals, these sell for 10,800 gold and can be converted to 70 EXP when synthesized.
• Purple Astral – These sell for 8,400 gold and can be converted to 50 EXP when synthesized.
• Blue Astral -These sell for 6,000 gold and can be converted to 30 EXP when synthesized
• Green Astral – These sell for 3,600 gold and can be converted to 10 EXP when synthesized.
• White Astral – Misfortune signifies a “bad result”; it sells for 1,200 gold.

Synthesizing Astrals

There are two ways to synthesize Astrals, by using a drag and drop method or utilizing One-click Synthesis.  With the drag and drop method, you simply drag and drop the Astral you wish to use, onto the Astral you wish to keep. This will synthesize the selected astral into the Astral you wish to keep, increasing its EXP.

The One-click Synthesis will synthesize all Astrals in your collection into the one Astral in the upper-left slot on your collection plate.  Select which Astral you would like to keep by placing it in the upper-left collection slot and click One- click Synthesis to add all the other Astrals as EXP.

Playing, improving

The best way to improve your Wartune skill is to get in to the game and start playing, so what are you waiting for? Take the things you’ve learned in this tips and tricks guide and get playing Wartune now!

A creation Pool player Ina recently sent us!

We’ve had some awesome stuff sent to us recently, and we share as much as we can, but we want to open up the process and give everyone the opportunity to create something worthy of being shared with the 5+ million fans of the 8 Ball Pool Facebook page!

What you need to do

We want you to play with a friend by either using the “Play Friends” mode on Miniclip.com or “Challenge Friends” on Facebook, and then work together to arrange the balls so that they create a figure-of-eight.

Once you’ve created your figure-of-eight, take a screenshot and send it to us using the form below! We’ll then take the best four creations and ask 8 Ball Pool fans to vote for which one they think is the best. The creators of the winning image will both receive 100,000 Pool Coins and a real life Pool cue each.

The shortlist of the four best creations will be judged on difficulty of set up, artistic flair and overall merit.

Rules

• All images must be created by playing against a friend using the “Play Friends”/”Challenge Friends” modes, not in for-Coins 1-on-1 or tournament play.
• The use of “alt” accounts is permitted, but this may negatively affect “difficulty of set up”, and only one prize will be awarded should an image created by one person win.
• Creations may not be manipulated or edited.
• The decision of the Miniclip Team is final.

Send us your entries!

Submit your screenshots using this form! You’ve got until 23rd April to send us entries, so be quick! Please also note the rules above; all entries and entrants must adhere to the rules.

Reminder: your entries must be creating a figure of eight with the Pool balls!

Good luck! Keep an eye on the 8 Ball Pool Facebook page to see if you make it onto the shortlist

The offer expires on 15th April, so you’ll have to act quick if you want those free Windows 8 and Windows Phone games! These are the games you can get:

Gravity Guy

In a world where gravity laws were broken, a brave guy, was held captive for defying the rules. Not happy, he decided to escape, being the first one to run for his life flipping gravity at will.

He became known as the Gravity Guy.

This fast paced and frustratingly addictive adventure features 30 challenging levels, and 3 different worlds, and guarantees you many long hours of fun!

Free on: Windows Phone, Windows 8

Monster Island

Monster thugs are on the loose harassing the inhabitants of the colorful world of Monster Island. Now, it’s up to you and your arsenal of mini-monster bombs to get rid of this plague of unwanted visitors. Can you stand against such mischievous foes?

Unlock five different monster bombs, each with its own abilities: Rocko, Sticky, Xplode, Blui and the fearsome Don Tonator! Toss them at enemies over 3 worlds and 200 reactive puzzles which will dazzle you for many hours of unparalleled fun.

Free on: Windows Phone, Windows 8

iStunt 2

Hit the slopes for some serious shredding in the most fun snowboarding game ever created! To survive you will have to perform impossible stunts, dodge deadly saws and do incredible jumps in a world where gravity laws have been broken!

Free your mind in this mind-blowing action-packed adventure pushing the adrenaline to the limit!

Free on: Windows Phone, Windows 8

Fragger

The world of Fragger is at risk, and he needs your help to explode all enemies! Unleash your shooting abilities to kill all the enemies and unlock 3 different perks!

Featuring 310 challenging levels, and 10 different worlds, Fragger guarantees you many long hours of exploding fun!

Free on: Windows Phone

These games are only available for free until 15th April 2013, so you’ll have to be quick to get them! Make sure you follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook so you don’t miss out on awesome games in the future.

To get you started with Wartune, we’ve got a bunch of free codes for the Newcomer Pack to give away!

The Newcomer Pack includes a bunch of awesome stuff:

• Moderate HP Pack x1: Provides 100,000 HP when used
• Bullhorn (Small) x3 Level 2 : allows you to send messages in world chat
• Luck Stone x4 : this item improves your chance to enchant an item
• Skeleton Key x1: Used to open Mystery Boxes
• Manaso Band x2 : gear item
• Mithril Necklace x1: gear item

We want to give you a free code, so to get yours, just send Miniclip a message on Facebook which says “I WANT ONE!” and we’ll message you back with a code! Only one code can be used per account, and the giveaway expires 10/4/13 (10th April 2013), so get messaging Miniclip! Please note the Wartune codes offer has now expired.

How to redeem your code

Once you’ve got your code for the Wartune Newcomer Pack, you just need to redeem the code in-game.

You’ll need to finish the tutorial before you can redeem the code, so after that, just click “Event Prizes” in the top right, enter in your code and then click “Exchange”.

Your code will then get mailed to you.

And then, all you need to do is enjoy your awesome new Wartune gear! Have fun playing

In this, update number one, we are going to tell you what’s been going on behind the scenes at Miniclip HQ: read on!

Introducing the Daily Spin

The new Daily Spin, soon to be introduced to 8 Ball Pool! The design is subject to change

We’ll kick off with the next big feature we’re going to be bringing to Pool: we’re going to be replacing the Daily Bonus with the “Daily Spin”.

As you can see from this draft design of the Daily Spin, instead of getting a standard 125 Pool Coins every day, you’ll get a spin of the wheel and have the chance to win a huge range of prizes, ranging from Pool Coins to power-ups to the “Lucky 8 Cue”, which will be exclusive to the Daily Spin.

And — don’t worry — you’ll always walk away from the Daily Spin with something

Everyone is going to get one free spin per day, but you’ll also be able to purchase additional spins from the Pool Shop.

We’re hoping the Daily Spin is going to mix things up a bit and add a bit of fun to the game. You can expect to see it coming to 8 Ball Pool in around the next month or so.

Offline mode coming to mobile

You’ll be able to play Pool literally anywhere with the new offline mode.

One of the most — if not the most requested features for 8 Ball Pool on iOS and Android is the ability to play offline — both in single-player mode and with two people sharing one device.

We’ve listened to your feedback, and now I’m very pleased to be able to announce both of these features are coming to the iOS and Android versions of 8 Ball Pool.

The offline “Quick Fire” single player mode will let you play solo in a similar style to 8 Ball Quick Fire Pool, allowing you to play Pool wherever you’ve got an iOS or Android device. This will be available as an in-app purchase for a small fee.

The “Pass ‘n’ Play” offline two-player mode will let you play against a friend, on the same device. As this is an extension of the multiplayer game, this game-mode will be available as a free update to 8 Ball Pool.

Offline mode is going to be the next big feature we release to 8 Ball Pool on mobile, so you should expect to see this available in a couple of weeks.

Additional updates

The Cairo Kasbah tournament will shortly be available on mobile!

The Daily Spin and offline mode are the next two big features you will notice when you’re playing Pool, but there are lots of other tweaks we’re introducing to the game which will improve your Pool experience that are worth mentioning:

• The Cairo Kasbah tournament which is currently only available on the web, will be available on mobile shortly.
• The friends-matching on mobile is undergoing serious improvements, allowing for a significantly better experience when playing with friends on mobile.
• We’ll be looking at the results of the survey we ran recently and taking your comments into account when considering what changes, if any, to make to the guidelines in Pool on the web. Currently, no changes are imminent.
• We’re looking into how playing friends for Pool Coins can be introduced in a way which ensures players are not able to take advantage of the system.

Keep updated!

This concludes our first 8 Ball Pool Community Update. We, of course, would love to hear your feedback on the new features, so let us know what you think in the comments below.

Until the next update, make sure you like 8 Ball Pool on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! Don’t stop Poolin’

To ensure that you don’t lose any of your work, we recommend that you download your animations as soon as possible from the animation watching page. All you need to do to save it is click on the Download button below the animation! If you have any problems doing this, please let us know by contacting support@miniclip.com.

Sketch Star has been a wonderful part of the Miniclip site for several years now. We have had over 1 million animations published in the past two years; however, it is a huge product that requires a lot of maintenance, constant moderation and lots of care that, unfortunately, we are no longer able to provide.

Despite continued development and innovation the Sketch Star fan base has been decreasing slowly for the last year. It has been a hard decision but it’s time for us to put Sketchy to bed.

We’re very attached to Sketchy and the community that has built around him. However currently there are no plans to bring Sketch Star back in any form. That said, we will be keeping the code in a safe place and, if the right idea or opportunity comes along, then he may be woken up once again.

Miniclip’s focus has always been games – and whilst Sketch Star is a fantastic tool and has been a wonderful experience for us (and hopefully you) – we now want to focus on our core strengths, the things that make us great! We’re really sorry about any disappointment, and hope that you stick around to see our future projects.

We’ve put together this video with some of our favourite Sketch Star animations over the last couple of years. We hope you enjoy:

Update 3/4/13: further to the news above, we would like to announce that on 8th April 2013 Sketch Star creator is going to be removed so that we can process any pending animations. Please ensure that all animations are completed before this date.

Let’s go Cairo!

One of the first things you’ll notice in the update is a new location is now available for both 1-on-1 matches and eight-player-tournaments: Cairo Kasbah.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had a lot of requests to introduce a new tier to the game which has a lower entry fee, and the Cairo Kasbah fits this description: with an entry fee of 250 Pool Coins for both 1-on-1 matches and tournaments, the Cairo tier slots in between the Sydney and Moscow locations. As with all other tournaments, if you win the Cairo tournament, you’ll unlock a unique new cue.

“Freeze hack” progress

A number of Pool players have been reporting issues with Pool where, especially in higher-tiered matches, the game “freezes” and their opponent is able to take advantage of this. We’ve been looking into this over the last couple of weeks and today’s update includes a fix for this “freeze hack”.

We’ll be continuing to monitor reports from players of the game freezing, so if you experience this, please let us know in the comments.

Guidelines change: what do you think?

We’re looking at changing the guidelines in 8 Ball Pool in order to add an extra layer of challenge to the game, and we’d like to hear your thoughts on doing this. A small number of players may have seen this change live on 8 Ball Pool earlier today, but currently there are no changes to the guidelines.

We’d like to change the guidelines for two reasons:

• In order to address another “hack” we’ve seen reports of, where players are able to extend the guidelines permanently.
• In order to address the problem of a high number of Denials at high-level play.

Changing the guidelines is potentially a huge change to the game so before we send out any changes, we’d like your feedback!

We’ve set up a survey, so tell us what you think here. We’ll take all feedback into account when deciding how to proceed with these changes, if at all.

Thank you for playing Pool, and make sure you follow us on Facebook and Twitter to be kept up-to-date with all the details.