You need to select "Option" in the main view to set up your account, and eWonders app will present a view(see screenshot). The top of this view displays your current account status. If you do not have an account, the status will show None. You can create a new account by pressing the "Create" button on the right of the status. After pressing the "Create" button, a form will appear on the screen (see screenshot). You need to enter your name, email address, and password in the form and submit the information to create your new account. After submitting the information, your account will be in Pending status. In order for your account to be fully activated, you need to verify your account by responding to the verifcation email we sent you using the email address you entered. Press the "Account Verfication" link on your verification email, and your account will be fully activated. You can check your account status by going to Option after you have completed the verification process.
This version of eWonders has 10 build storage bin after setting up an account. You can select any one of the build bin to start your first project. Just simply press on the build bin, and click the Build button on the lower left corner to start the build process.
You will need many images to build a Wonder, and they should be collected and organized in the Library before you start the building process. View details on preparing library resource.
After completing resource preparation in the library segment, it is time to start building the first scene of a Wonder. Press the Build button at the bottom left of the Library or from the main menu, the build view will appear (see screenshot). The entire display of the build view is called the "theater", and the main display of the background image is called the "stage". All the imported background images will be displayed at the bottom of the theater as thumbnails. If you have more imported background images than what can be displayed on screen, you can simply scroll the thumbnails to left or right to view more. To place a background image onto the stage, press the thumbnail at the bottom of the theater. You can also change the background image on stage by pressing a different thumbnail. Changing a background image will not affect the items already placed on the stage. It simply replaces the existing backgound image with your new selection.
After selecting the background image, you are ready to place items onto the stage. Press the Items button at the bottom right to switch the thumbnails at the bottom from Backgrounds to Items. The Items button will turn into Backgrounds button to switch you back to the backgound selection mode (see screenshot). In this mode, you can also scroll the item thumbnails to display additional items. Once a desired item appears on the stage, you can drag it to any location on stage except for the strip directly on top of the item thumbnails with a warning sign stating "Don't put any items in this area". After an item is placed on stage, you can also change its location by simply dragging it to a different location. You can place additional items on stage by dragging more items onto the stage from the bottom of the theater. You can also place multiple copies of the same item onto the stage, but each copy will remain as an independent item that can be configured differently. For each scene, there is a limit of 25 items you can place on stage. Once you reach that limit, you can no longer drag an item onto the stage. When items are placed on stage, they can overlap one another. When overlapping occurs, the item placed last will be on top. Overlapping items can create real interesting special effects when properly configured. You can find out more about creating special effects by visiting our effect web page under "Build" menu selection.
When the items are properly placed on the stage, they need to be configured to activate their user interactions and special effects. The configuration of an item is done by pressing the item on stage, and a series of navigation views will appear on screen to guide you through the configuration process. View the details on the item configuration navigation views on configuring an item web page.
Special effects such as text, sound, or hints, can be added to a scene as a final touch before moving onto your next scene. To add special effects to a scene, press the Effects button at the bottom right corner of the theater, and a series of navigation views will appear on screen to guide you through the scene effects creation process. View the details on scene effects navigation views on creating scene effects web page.
Saving your work regularly is a good practice while building a scene. It is even more important when major tasks or the entire scene has been completed. To save the state of the current scene, press the "Cut" button at the lower right corner of the theater, and an interface view will appear (see screenshot). This interface view is divided into two columns. The left column deals with the handling of the current scene, and it provides three selections, Save, Not Save, and Delete. The right column deals with the next step of action, and it provides four selections, Continue Current Scene, Create New Scene, Exit to Main Menu, and Load an Existing Scene. Saving a scene requires a name for the scene. The default name for a scene is the word Scene with its scene number. Customzie or use the default name, and select the "Save" options, the scene will be saved after pressing the "Submit" button. Check the "First Scene" or "Last Scene" checkbox if the current scene is the first or last scene for the current Wonder because additional information will be added to these two scenes. To play the current scene, it must be saved before switching to Play. Select the "Not Save" button to perform no action on the current scene. Select "Delete" button to remove saved copy of the current scene. The next step determines placement of scene on stage after disposition of the current scene. Select "Continue Current Scene" will leave the current scene on stage. Select "Create New Scene" will remove the current scene and place a blank new scene on stage. Select "Exit to Main Menu" will exit the build segement and place eWonders applicationb back to the main menu. Select "Load Scene" will load a scene using the picker below to select an existing scene. After making the desired selections on both the "Current Scene" and "Next Step" columns, press the Submit button to execute selections. The selections will take effect immediately. Press the Cancel button to exit the Cut interface view without taking any actions.
It is a good practice to save a Wonder to the local archive after creating several scenes in a Wonder. The saving and publishing of a Wonder is done through the same interface by pressing the "Publish Wonder" button in the Library. Please read the publish guide before publishing your wonder to our server. After pressing the "Publish Wonder" button, an interface view will appear (see screenshot). It has six attributes and two buttons. The paragraphs below describe these attibutes in detail. A Wonder must have a unique title in order to be saved or published. The first attribute, Title, provides title assignment for the selected Wonder. If the selected Wonder already has a title, the existing title will appear in the text box, and it can be modified or left alone. The second attribute, Distribution, indicates the storage location for the Wonder, and it has four selections. The first three selections, Public, Private, and Commercial are used on eWonders server for publication. The Public selection allows all the members of eWonders to access the Wonder after it is published. The Private selection limits access to members of Wonder author's community only. The Commercial selection is publishing Wonders for public commercial usage. The fouth selection, Archive, saves selected Wonder on the local device. All saved and published Wonders can be placed back onto any storage bin using the "Load Wonder" button. The third attribute, State, indicates whether the intended savinge or publishing action is a new submission or an update to an existing Wonder. If the state is New, the process will check for duplication of title before saving or publishing the Wonder. If duplicated title is found, eWonders will display an error message and abandon the task. Otherwise, the submission will proceed. If the state is Update, the process will search the database or archive for a Wonder with the given title. If the Wonder title cannot be found, it will display an error message and stop the update submission. Otherwise, it will replace the found Wonder with the current submission. The fourth attribute, "Open Source", when checked, allows others to access the source of your Wonder. This means that other builder can load the Wonder onto their build storage bin and modify the Wonder. Open source also means others can claim authorship over the published Wonder. A builder should think carefully about all the ramifications before making this selection. When properly used, open source allows diversity of story telling and enriches the experiences of all participants The fifth attribute, Category is a picker which provides a list of pre-defined categories to be assoicated with the Wonder submission. The initial release of eWonders has the following categories, Game, Graphic Novel, Comics, Travel, Scrapbook, Slide Show, Instruction, and Others. The category selection is a filter allowing players to narrow down the Wonders they may want to download. The sixth attiribute, Description allows builders to enter a few lines of text to describe their Wonders. This description can also be used as a filter for players to search for the Wonder they want to download. A builder should state the Wonder's major characteristics and distinguishing features in the description to fully utilize this attribute.
There are two tools in eWonders to help builders broadcast their published Wonders. One is to send a published Wonder and the other is to send a message to other memebers. The following paragraphs will describe the usage of these two tools in detail. The user interface for sending a Wonder to other members is on the right side of the Options. There is a picker listing all the Wonders published by the eWonders account holder (see screenshot). Below the picker, there are two buttons for sending Wonders to other members. Roll the picker to select a published Wonder and select a member from the "My Community" list. Then press the "Selected Memeber" button to send the selected published Wonder to that member. Alternatively, press "My Community" to send the selected published Wonder to all members in "My Community". Both methods will send the selected published Wonder to the recipient(s) through a message, and the Wonder can be loaded from the message. The messaging system in eWonders is the second tool for broadcasting a published Wonder and communicating with other eWonders members. To access the eWonders messaging function, press the "Message" button at the top left corner of Options. The screen will display a list of incoming messages with four buttons at the bottom. Select a message and press the View button to view the content of the message. If the message has a Wonder attached to it, the name of the Wonder will appear in the text box next to the "Attachment:". Also a Select button which will display a picker for selecting a storage bin to load the attached Wonder will appear at the bottom right corner. When finishing viewing the message content, press the List button to go back to the "Message List". While a message is selected in the "Message List" or viewing the content of a selected messge, pressing the Delete button will delete the message and ressing the Reply button will respond to message. Pressing the New button will create a new message that can be addressed to any eWonders members. While composing a new or replying a message, a Wonder can be added to the message by using the Attach button. Press the Attach button, and a picker will appear on screen listing all the published Wonders from the account holder. Roll the picker to a desired Wonder and press the Select button to add the Wonder to the message. Sending a message with an enticing description and a Wonder attachment is a good way to broadcast your published Wonder.