Categories General Questions Customizing User Management Points and Scores User Authorization Languages Multiplayer Games Limitations Payment Game Rules Gameplay Problems General Questions How does this all work? If you have a web site, you're probably interested in having people visit it. Maybe you want to run contests, etc, to keep people coming back. Our program allows you to add our games to your web site instantly, thus giving your web site visitors a reason to come back. You pay for the games on a monthly basis. We offer a low monthly rate on each game, plus some game package rates that make it easier for customers who are interested in more than one game. After joining, you can access our game administration area with your chosen username and password. From there, you are given access to a special URL (web address) for each game that you can add to any page on your web site. As long as the game is visited by a user clicking from your site and to the game, the game will begin to load. You can use the webmaster administration area to customize the web page that the game is featured in, and you can use it to customize the game itself as well.     What kind of games are there? Currently our package contains mainly casino oriented games, but also features multiplayer pool and multiplayer bingo. More casino and arcade type games are planned for future release.     If I purchase the games at the current rate, do you have the option of raising my rates later? No. Once you purchase a game or a game package at a specified price, that will always be your price for leasing that content.     Are there any other charges that I am not aware of? If your web site has a high amount of traffic, (usually greater than 25,000 uniques a day) you may incur an extra bandwidth charge. This charge is $1.50 per meg of transfer, and we only apply it when we are charged by our bandwidth provider for using the extra bandwidth.     Do I have to sign a contract? The games are sold on a month to month basis.     I don't know how much traffic I have and I am concerned about bandwidth charges. Who should I speak to? You can contact customer service at 1-800-952-2470 or email them at customer.service@verticalgames.com. Chances are, you won't need a bandwidth charge. Our allowance for bandwidth for each customer is very high, and we have never had to apply the bandwidth charge to any customer so far.     If I buy a game package, and a new game is released that fits into that package, do I have to pay more for that game? No. That game will be offered to you automatically as part of your package.     Can I buy un-branded games? Yes.     If I purchase the full game package, and a new game comes out, can I add it to my site with no new charges? Yes.     Are the casino games legal? Yes, the casino games and all of the other games use a points system that has no monetary value. They are legal to add to your site and to play.     How many instances of each game do I get? You get one instance of each game in each language that we offer it. Currently, that means a version of each game in english, french, german, italian and spanish. For multiplayer games, if you require more rooms for people to play in, you can convert some of your multilanguage rooms to english. This gives you the option of having up to five instances of each game in any language. In July, we will be releasing five new languages, giving you ten.     Is there any limit to the number of users that can play? Not particularly. Some of the multiplayer games have a limit of players just because that is what the rules of the game dictate. Pool dictates 2 players at a time, and each instance of pool supports 5 tables. So, with 5 instances of pool you have 25 tables and a max of 50 players. Texas Hold'em has room for 8 players at each table, and each instance has one table for a max of 40 players when you have 5 instances. Every other game has no limit on the number of players.     Can I charge customers for access to the games? Yes.     Customizing How do I customize the games? The vertical games system supports different sets of customization called "customization themes". Customization themes are sets of data that include all of the HTML for a game page, the name of the web site as it should appear on the game, the url that the user can be sent to when they log out, etc. Customization schemes allow you to fully integrate each game and each game related page into your web site. Once make a customization scheme, you can easily link it to a game instance or a number of game instances. Because you can make unlimited customization schemes, the possibilites are endless.     Is there any kind of HTML that is not allowed in the customization schemes? Form tags and input tags will not make it through, as they may interfere with gameplay. Otherwise, anything can be added.     How do I load images into the customization schemes? Just upload the images to your website, and include them in the image tags with an absolute path.     How do I load images into the customization schemes? Just upload the images to your website, and include them in the image tags with an absolute path.     If I want the name of the game to appear in a customization scheme, do I have to make a diffrent scheme for each game? No, you just need to include a special tag - , that our system will look for and replace with the name of the game. You can also do this with the tag , which will replace itself with the website name, and , which will be replaced with the username of the player viewing the game.     Points and Scores What are point types? Pretty much what the name sounds like, they are different types of points that the games can use. You see, the games are enabled to have community points, that is, the player can take the same score with them from game to game. We understand that this might not be a perfect fit for your site, so you can create new point types an assign them to game instances. That way, you can pick and choose which game instancs share points with each other, and which dont't Each game instance can have it's own point type, or they can be in small groups, or whatever works best for you.     Can I change a game instance from one point type to another? Yes, at any point.     If a user loses a lot of points playing casino games, can the system automatically replenish their stash? Yes. You can set each point type to either auto replenish, or no auto replenish. If auto replenish is enabled, you specify a level of points that scores should not drop below, and if they do they are automatically brought up to a different level.     Can I reset player's scores? Yes, you have complete control over player scores. You can reset them as a group, or change them individually.     Can I set the system to reset scores on a schedule? Yes, they can be reset daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. You can also set a reset to happen one time on any given day an time in the future.     Can I run tournaments using the point types? Yes, the point types support two kinds of tournaments. The only requirement is that you have a high score page as part of your package. The first is a traditional tournament that just uses the scheduled resets. At the end of each scheduled, the top 25 scores are saved in a report that you can use to judge the winner. The second type of tournament is where the point type has a pool of points, of which you determine the amount. As players win, the winnings come out of this pool. When the pool is empty, the point type automatically switches over to a different point type (of your choosing), and the standings in the first point type are saved for you to use in judging.     User Authorization How do I authorize players so that I know they are allowed to use the games? Our games support three different types of authorization methods. The first is called Log-In. This is where a player is presented with a username and password box when they go to enter a game. If they do not have username and password, they have the option of creating a new one using the same form. You have the option of using this form to ask them for their first name, last name and email address as well. When they submit, the system sets a cookie to their web browser with their log-in info. If they want to have more than one account, they can use a provided log-out link to leave and create a different account. Any information collected from this form is available to you later. The second type of authorization is called "no log-in". This is the system that we use for demonstrations on our web site. This means that when a user goes to play a game, the entire authorization system is completed for them without them ever seeing a form. They are assigned a username, usually something like "user12345", and this name is tied to the information in their log-in cookie. Then can then play any game as this user. The third type of authorization is called "auth user". This requires a little bit of programming savvy on your part, but if you have a website that has an existing membership database with your own log-in system, this authorization system allows the games to integrate with your site seamlessly. This system requires that you pass the username of the player who is clicking to link to the game via the get method. So, if your link to the game is "http://games.verticalgames.com/game.vg?s=1&g=1", then you will add another variable to the get string, u, which contains the name of the user, like this "http://games.verticalgames.com/game.vg?s=1&g=1&u=steve". Because players need to click the link from your site and not type it into their web browser in order for the game to work, this allows them to be authorized with their existing username without them ever needing to see a second log-in form.     I am having trouble with my authorization system, who do I contact? Contact customer support at customer.service@verticalgames.com.     Can I change my authorization system if I want to? Yes, you can do it a 100 times a day if you want to.     User Management Can I view a list of players? Yes, at any time. If you use log-in as your authoization method, and you collect firstname, lastname and email from each player, then your list of users can be sorted by these pieces of information. Otherwise is can be sorted by their username and password.     Can I change a player's password? Yes.     Can I ban someone from playing the games? Yes. You can disable a player's account, and also ban their IP address if necessary to keep them from coming back with another account.     Can I sort users by their scores in a certain point type? If a high score page is part of your account, yes.     Can I keep notes about a player, or look at when they last logged in was? Yes.     Languages What languages do you offer? Right now we offer english, french, german, italian and spanish. In july, we will expand to japanese, traditional chinese, simplified chinese, korean and thai as well.     If I am using the in my customization scheme, will it be translated when viewed in different languages? Yes.     If I don't want some of my multiplayer game instances to be in other languages, can I convert them to english? Yes.     Can I allow users to create usernames in their native languages? Yes.     If my authorization scheme is auth user, and I want to pass non-ascii characters through get, will it work? No, you will need to pass the characters through as their unicode hex codes.     What is the difference between single player games and multiplayer games? pretty much what the names imply - single player games are only played by one person. Several people can be playing them at the same time of course, buy not in any kind of real time competition against each other. Multi-player games allow users to log-in and interface with each other while playing the game as opponents. They can chat with each other during game play, and other users can watch or challenge the winner.     Multiplayer Games Which games are multiplayer games? Texas Hold'em, Nine Ball and Bingo.     Do the multiplayer games have any special system requirements? Not really. All of the games have the same requirements. The performance of the multiplayer games will be better for users that have a faster internet connection but they will work for any player with a web browser, a flash plug-in and an active internet connection.     Can I kick rowdy players out of a multiplayer room? Yes, they will be kicked out if you deactivate their account in the administration area.     Game Rules Can I kick rowdy players out of a multiplayer room? Yes, they will be kicked out if you deactivate their account in the administration area.     What are the rules of each game? For the rules of any game, contact customer support at customer.service@verticalgames.com.     Payment What credit cards to you accept? Visa, Mastercard and American Express.     How often will I be billed? Every 30 days.     Can I lease the games if I do not have a credit card? Yes, the games can also be payed for by check, money order or wire transfer, although the funds must be received before the access to the admin area is given to you. Also, payments must be made on a bi-yearly basis instead of monthly. Contact customer service for more details.     Limitations How many web sites can I add the games to? We allow one url that you are authorized to link from. It is best to use a directory level, such as verticalgames.com, instead of a certain page, such as verticalgames.com/index.html, because this allows you to link to the games from more than one page.     Can I download the games and upload them to my server, instead of linking to them on yours? No, this would nullify many of the features.     Can I use the games to allow people to play for real money, thus making an online casino? No, this is against our policy.     Gameplay Problems Some users claim they receive the error message "Please upgrade flash player", what is this all about? The games are all made using macromedia's flash technology, and they require that players have the latest verison of the player installed on their computer. The player is a very small download, and a very fast install. Over 80% of all computers on the internet already have it. If one of your players does not, they only need to click the provided link and follow the instructions to gain quick access.     Some users complain they get the message "auth codes do not match, please refresh window". What does this mean? Auth codes are used to verify game integrity, and are changed on a regular basis. If a user does not have a matching auth code, they only need to refresh their window to get the new auth code and thus access the game.     Some users claim they can access the games, but gameplay does not go smoothly? How can this be helped? This is usually seen with users that are connecting through some kind of firewall that is blocking the game messages to their computer. Support for firewalls will be released later this year.     What do I do if there is a gameplay problem that is not listed here? Contact customer support at customer.service@verticalgames.com with as many details about the problem as possible.