Release Notes

Version 1.1 (0240.srri10)

August 22, 2014

New Games

We have added three additional games and associated activities and teacher resources that were developed by the UMass team. These are Chainsaw, Ship Odyssey, and Inference.

Data Analysis Environment

Added Standard Deviation and Inter-Quartile Range displays to the Graph Object, which show as both numbers and as +/- one standard deviation/IQR shadings, dynamically moving on a numeric axis as game data appears.
Re-organized the Graph menus to create a simpler and less hierarchical organization of features needed by the games.
Enhanced the mean, median and other data displays so that they update continuously for those games that continuously add data.
Changed the Graph background display to remove distracting cell shadings.
Data Games can now export case data at either the Game or Event level to transfer data to TinkerPlots, Fathom, or other programs.

Web site Changes

We restructured the pages in the Teacher Resources to make the materials easier to see and access and in other ways simplified the design and layout of the site.

Version 1.0 (0156)*

*Corresponds to Version and build number at top right of window
November 8, 2012

New Features

Data-Analysis Environment

Lunar Lander saved documents now include data about customization of the craft done in Setup, and whether two crafts have been created.
Markov saved documents now include any strategy created with Set Strategy.
Hovering over an attribute on a graph axis now displays its description, as is done when hovering over the attribute in the table.

Version 1.0 (0154)

November 2, 2012

New Features

Games

Shuffleboard: The Set Strategy feature has been redesigned with enhanced functionality and user-friendliness.

Data-Analysis Environment

When a registered user who is logged in chooses to close the Data Games browser tab and has not saved the current game document, a prompt now asks: "Are you sure you want to leave this page? The document contains unsaved changes."
When a registered user who is logged in chooses to switch to a different game, open a different document, or log out, and has not saved the current document, a prompt now asks "Close the current document without saving?"
All components like graphs and tables are now closed when the user switches games.
New File menu option for those logged in as registered users: "Manage Documents…" opens "My Documents" page of website in new tab of browser. Here the user can delete or rename saved documents.
Shift or Control(Windows) or Command(Mac) now allow selection of multiple cases in the Case Table.
Tab in browser now says "Data Games" rather than just "DG."
Game levels are now saved for Cart Weight, Proximity, Shuffleboard, and Markov as part of a saved document, along with which levels are unlocked.
Primary web page for Data Games is now "dg.ccssgames.com."

Important Bug Fixes

Data-Analysis Environment

The Show Squares command in the Graph's Gear menu works properly now when a movable line has been placed on the Graph.

Games

Various bug fixes in games after recent graphics and user interface updates, mostly for Internet Explorer and Firefox.

0144

October 18, 2012

New Features

Games

Lunar Lander: Graphics and gauge displays have been overhauled, and the game has been rewritten in the JavaScript programming language, so it now makes for good play on the iPad.
Markov: This game has received a graphics and user interface overhaul, and been rewritten in the JavaScript programming language, so it now makes for good play on the iPad.

Data-Analysis Environment

Link in login dialog box now exists allowing user to go to password reset page.
Improved error messaging when login fails, and when a document cannot be opened or saved.
Improved formula editor functionality when creating new attribute in table.

Important Bug Fixes

Data-Analysis Environment

Fixed crash when dragging numeric attribute in middle of graph to create legend.

Games

Various bug fixes in games after recent graphics and user interface updates.

0137

October 5, 2012

New Features

Data-Analysis Environment

Animated spinning circle displays while logging in.
New small +/- button in table's header row allows user to expand or collapse all rows in right side of table.

Important Bug Fixes

Data-Analysis Environment

Improvements made when using scroll bars.
Fixed bugs relating to resizing table and its columns.

0136

September 24, 2012

New Features

Games

Shuffleboard: This game has received a graphics overhaul, and been rewritten in the JavaScript programming language, so it now makes for good play on the iPad. You can also now adjust the "push" slider using the arrow keys.

Data-Analysis Environment

Login dialog box now displays a message "Attempting to log in…" while the login is in progress.
Options menu choices have eliminated redundancy.
Removed "Set Score Formula" from the Table's gear menu, since that can be achieved with "New Attribute" command in same menu.

0134

September 10, 2012

New Features

Games

Cart Weight: This game has received a graphics overhaul, and been rewritten in the JavaScript programming language, so it now makes for good play on the iPad.

0131

August 28, 2012

New Features

Games

Proximity: This game has received a graphics overhaul, and has been rewritten in the JavaScript programming language, so it now makes for good play on the iPad. A ruler icon now appears in the game screen along with a prompt reminding the user how to use the ruler to measure, when the user has not done so recently. There is also now an animation when Proximity first opens up, showing how the game is played. This animation loops until the user presses "Play."
Floyd's of Fargo: Removed the original $1000 loan to be repaid.
Chainsaw: Shortened attribute names for better visibility in table. Changed level names.
RockRoll: Changed Graph default attributes to "Distance" and "Court."

Data-Analysis Environment

Added "Show/Hide Count" as gear menu option in Graph.
Implemented new formula engine in Calculator.

Important Bug Fixes

Games

Chainsaw: Fixed bug where last letter of player's name got cut off.
RockRoll: Now sends event data with each roll, not just at end of game.

Data-Analysis Environment

Fixed bugs where the movable line behaved erratically.
Movable line and close box now respond better to touch on the iPad.
Fixed some bugs involving sliders.
Fixed crash in Calculator evaluating expressions that return true or false.

0128

August 22, 2012

New Features
Data-Analysis Environment

Major overhaul of Case Table with improved functionality, performance, touch support, and looks.
“Show Median” and “Show Mean” are now options in the graph gear menu when there is a categorical attribute on one axis and a numerical attribute on the other.
Sliders can now be saved and restored like other components as part of a document.
Interface has been added to allow users who are teachers to register other users as students in a class.
New option in graph allows user to select an attribute on an axis and “Treat as Categorical (or Numeric),” whichever is different than its current type.
Added "Remove X/Y/Legend Attribute" to axis/legend menus in Graph.
Added “Close document” option to File menu.

Games

Made various updates to Chainsaw, Ship Odyssey, and RockRoll games.

Important Bug Fixes

Data-Analysis Environment

Fixed bug that prevented graphs from updating after Clear Data.
Allow bottom edge of components to be re-sized in Internet Explorer
Fixed bug that caused data corruption when rapidly selecting points in a graph.
Fixed a number of bugs with the introduction of the new Case Table, including deleting selected cases.
Fixed crash when opening document containing a calculator component.
Disabled auto-capitalize in password field of login dialog.

0108

May 17, 2012

New Features
Games

Floyd's of Fargo: New graphics and user interface. There is a control strip, feedback strip, and roadway. Cars animate down the roadway. Some cars get flat tires and stop. The price per customer field now has increment/decrement arrows but still allows type-in. Watch and Sell are individual buttons. The radio button modes are gone. Auto Finish always finishes in selling mode. (Note - "Turn" number in upper left corner advances too quickly. This should be fixed in next release.)
Proximity: A hint for measuring distance appears when the mouse is over the playing field. If the player has already used the measuring tool, then there is a 30 second pause before the hint is displayed again.
Ship Odyssey: Changed difficulty level set to 4 levels. Added level display in upper left of bar. Added instructions to an Alert box after the level is chosen. Removed values from Log screen that had to do with profits and cost that
aren't used anymore.
Chainsaw: Now the game can determine the cutting strategy the player used. New change level dialog with 'practice' checkbox. Shortened the height of the game a little. Attributes reordered and renamed.
RockRoll: Re-arranged user interface.

Important Bug Fixes

Data-Analysis Environment

Dragging the numeric scale in graph so that a point is out of the plot on the left or top no longer causes an error.
Improvements to data tips and movable line in some situations in graph.

0104

May 7, 2012

New Features
Games

Cart Weight: Introduced a new 6th level, "Minot," in which there are two sizes of bricks in each cart.

Data-Analysis Environment

"Login as guest" button added to login dialog box.
Attributes in Cart Weight table re-arranged so that relevant relationships are easier to spot.
Every point in a graph now displays its ordered pair when the mouse hovers over it. These values update dynamically when the point is dragged.
Reduced the list of games available in the Games menu to those slated for fall 2012 release.

Important Bug Fixes
Games

Proximity: Fixed so data in beginning levels is highly linear again.

Data-Analysis Environment

"Undefined" should no longer show up in tables.
Graphs rescale their axes more reliably when new cases are added.
Fixed a bug in which using "Clear data" would sometimes cause a crash.

0098

April 16, 2012

New Features

Data-Analysis Environment

Default game is now Cart Weight when first entering Data Games page.
New command in Options menu, ‘View Web Page…,” takes a URL and opens that web page in a new window inside the data-analysis environment.
Clicking on a legend key symbol in a graph selects all the cases belonging to that group

Important Bug Fixes

Data-Analysis Environment

Login text is no longer case-sensitive.
Improvements in sliders and scrolling for touch functionality on mobile devices

0093

Feb. 27, 2012

New Features
Games

CartWeight: New highest level added, with more variability. 4th level now called "Urbandale," new 5th level now called "Waterloo."
Weasels: New level added, with more overlap in the cases.

Data-Analysis Environment

Improved functionality for using Calculator.
Movable Line and equation more easily viewable.
"Select All" added to graph gear menu.

Important Bug Fixes
Games

CartWeight: Fixed bug where Clear Data wasn't working sometimes.

Data-Analysis Environment

Points on graph no longer stay enlarged after cursor hovers over them.
Fixed problem where Movable Line on graph was sometimes jumpy when dragged.

0086

Jan. 31, 2012

New Features
Games

All Games: In the Levels dialog box, selecting a level now automatically closes the dialog box.
CartWeight: After entering guess, user can now simply hit Return key to default to Check Weight.
CartWeight: Equation for second level (Ames) is now less similar to equation for first level (Iowa City).

0085

Jan. 27, 2012

New Features
Games

All Games: The "Reset Data" button has become "Clear Data."
Proximity: Computer-assisted aiming: When the aimer gets close to pointing at the target, the software "snaps" it to point directly at the target.

Important Bug Fixes

Proximity: Over-riding levels with Option+Shift+Click (Mac) or Alt+Shift+Click (Windows) works again. Note: This level-override is still not working in other programs, but will be fixed shortly.

0083

Jan. 23, 2012

New Features
Games

NEW GAME: "Cart Weight" is a game in which there are a varying number of bricks in a cart, and given the number of bricks, players guess the total weight of the cart.

0081

Jan. 4, 2012

New Features
Games

All Games: "Reset Data" has been added back onto the tool shelf as a separate, visible button. It's also still in the Options - Gear menu.
All Games: If the user pushes Reset Data after a game has been started but before it is ended, the data from that current game is not deleted, only the data from all previous games.

Important Bug Fixes

All Games: Fix a bug that sometimes happened with "Reset Data"

0077

Dec. 9, 2011

New Features
Games

All Games: When the user changes levels in a game for the first time, a prompt is now given to Reset Data.
Shuffleboard: Further revisions made in requirements to unlock advanced levels. Requirements to unlock each advanced level are stated in the Levels dialog box. A key level, Adams, now requires scores greater than 300 three times in a row, in order to be able to move on to the next level.
Shuffleboard: Definite greater variability between games is now built in to advanced levels, incl. Adams, so that a guess-and-check approach is much less likely to be successful.
Shuffleboard: "Game Over" note given at end of all games now.
Shuffleboard: Now possible to End Game in middle of a game.
Proximity: Changed size to fit on all screens better.

Important Bug Fixes

Proximity: Fixed problem of invisible pullback values for Proximity if you pull back "to the south."

0075

Nov. 22, 2011

New Features
Games

Shuffleboard: Advanced levels now must be unlocked by earning scores of 300 on lower levels. The scores required for each level are stated in the Levels dialog box. Teachers note: you can override these locked levels by holding down the Option+Shift keys (Mac) or the Alt+Shift keys (Windows) while clicking on the red ball for the level you want to unlock.
Proximity: All shots are now possible directly, without caroms off the wall. This was done by constraining where the ball and target may go, so there is no more short-pullback problem.
Proximity: Score needed to unlock Sneezy level lowered to 600.
Proximity: Sneezy slopes now vary between 5 and 10.
Proximity: White balls now displayed showing number of balls remaining.
Markov: Previous moves for the player are no longer displayed, only "Your last move." (This emphasizes that Markov's moves are determined only by his previous moves, not the player's.)

Data-Analysis Environment

Dropping an attribute in the middle of a graph now causes a complete legend displayed with a color gradient key for continuous attributes and categorical color key for categorical attributes.
Attribute menu appears when clicking on legend attribute name in graph.
You can now "Remove Legend Attribute" with that command in graph's gear menu.
You can now select multiple points in graph, using Shift key.
Dragging multiple selected points is now supported in both scatterplots and dot plots.
Dragging points in a graph still changes the data values of the points during the drag, but at the end of the drag, the points animate back to their original positions and the data values are returned to their original values.
A new item in graph's gear menu allows user to Hide and Show Squares when a movable line is showing. (The command is also enabled when a function is being plotted, but doesn’t yet have any effect on a plotted function.)

Important Bug Fixes

In Proximity in Doc and Sneezy levels, points sometimes did not all fall on a line when they should. This has been fixed. (In Dopey level, they still intentionally don't all fall precisely on a line.)

0072

Nov. 7, 2011

New Features
Games

Advanced levels in Proximity now must be unlocked by earning scores of about 800 on prior levels. The exact scores required for each level are stated in the Levels dialog box. Teachers note: you can override these locked levels by holding down the Option+Shift keys (Mac) or the Alt+Shift keys (Windows) while clicking on the red ball for the level you want to unlock.

Data-Analysis Environment

There is a new "Options" menu including some functions that previously had separate buttons:

"Report a Problem"
"Reset Data"
"Release Notes"
“About Data Games"
"Logout"

Some fields in “Report a Problem” dialog box are now pre-populated
Dropping an attribute in the middle of a graph gives the plot a legend attribute which colors the points in the plot.

Important Bug Fixes

Slider scales adjust appropriately now when dragged to extreme values

0066

Oct. 11, 2011

New Features
User-friendliness

Markov variables changed respectively from "Markov" and "Prev2" to "MarMove" and "MarPrev2," to more clearly refer to Markov's next move and Markov's previous 2 moves
Markov strategy section now shows weights instead of coins, to eliminate perception that money is to be won
Teachers can now also create a link for students to go to a particular game, if desired, by specifying the game in the url. For example, if a teacher wants students to go straight to Shuffleboard, he/she can link to that game directly using the url: "https://dg.kcptech.com?game=Shuffleboard". For Lunar Lander, with a space in it, the format would be: "https://dg.kcptech.com?game=Lunar%20Lander". This convention works for all game titles shown in the Game menu. Note this is not required, but avoids the step of having the student choose the desired game from the Game menu.

Game and component improvements

Updated versions of ShipOdyssey, CropMonster, RockRoll

Important Bug Fixes

Graph and Table Tooltips now work in Internet Explorer 9

0064

Sept. 28, 2011

New Features
User-friendliness

Upon logging in, users no longer see a message saying “Game Over”
Basic instructions are now provided on the opening screen of Lunar Lander

Game and component improvements

Slider text is now editable
Proximity shows in the Table how many bounces off walls the ball took in that shot

Important Bug Fixes

Opening a document with Markov and a Graph
Fixed problem where Floyd's of Fargo wasn't working with Internet Explorer 9

0045—0062*

*since the end of the Data Games Summer Institute
Sept. 22, 2011

New Features
User-friendliness

Improved Open/Save File functionality
“Report Problem” button added to DG page
If a User name or password isn't recognized upon a login attempt, a note is provided saying “Invalid user name or password”
Provide message to user when there is a failure to save a file
Give a note to User about the Web browser they’re using being unsupported if that is the case
There are now command-key shortcuts for open file, save file, and each of the tool buttons

General usability

The Data-Analysis environment is now compatible with IE9
Users must log in with their unique assigned User name and Password, or as “guest” with password blank
It is now possible to use the data-analysis environment (and some games) with an iPad (and perhaps other touch devices). On an iPad it’s not particularly speedy, so be patient. Also, the case table and slider do not respond to touch events.

Game improvements

Proximity now has ball bounce off of side walls, as was suggested at the Summer Institute
In graphs, you can now lock the y-intercept of a movable line to go through the origin
Improvements made to placement of axis labels and setting aside the proper amount of space for an axis

Important Bug Fixes

Copying and pasting into the password field no longer causes login to fail
Fixed crash that occurred when deleting cases using the gear menu of the table