Two New Prickly Protein Puzzles
Hey protein folders!
Congratulations to our top players on Puzzle 12 (ferzle, mummiebrain, labraticmp3, sean.kiely, spvincent) and Puzzle 13 (ferzle, labraticmp3, spvincent, Rusty, hugothehermit). It was particularly exciting to see players on Puzzle 12 get so close to the native (true) structure from an essentially unfolded state. We've put up two new semi-unfolded protien puzzles for you. May the best folder win!
We've also posted a software update that should address some stability issues. What kind of new tools would you guys like to fold up the proteins? Send us suggestions in the message boards.
Exciting New Updates
We have exciting news today: the new version of Fold it! introduces a new backbone tool that should radically change the game play. With the new tool, many more protein configurations are possible, including undiscovered optimal configurations. Until now, when playing the game it was easy to make large initial improvements and quickly end up with proteins that are very hard to improve. As a result the best scores converged to very similar solutions.
To see how the new backbone tool works, please watch the video we created.
With the backbone tool this is no longer the case because you can explore larger-scale changes to the proteins, and thus find drastically different proteins. We can also start the puzzles in a more unfolded state, so try Puzzle 12! The new tool should automatically install the next time you play.
We look forward to your solutions!
Small landmark reached
Puzzles 8 and 9 are the first two puzzles where non-biochemists found better proteins than all biochemists in our game player pool (and there's a lot of them). Congratulations to ferzle, and mummiebrain.
(Sat, 12/22/2007 - 00:51 | 0 comments)Protein Folding Holiday Presents
Hey intrepid protein folders! Congratulation to our top players on Puzzle 7 (archettes, nhertz, btavshanjian, andrewirwin, and sean.kiely), Puzzle 8 (ferzle, ccarrico, sslickerson, dimaio, and Rusty), and Puzzle 9 (ferzle, mummiebrain, Rusty, dimaio, and sean.kiely).
We've got a bunch of great new stuff for you:
- 2 New Puzzles. For your holiday enjoyment. They will expire next Friday the 28th.
- Software Update. Our new animation system should make the game much smoother. (This will install automatically.)
- Invitation System. Invite your friends to play Fold It! by clicking on the link on the left. (Please remind your friends that this is an early beta testing period for the game.)
- New Video. It explains how to play and gives some strategies. Check it out!
Keep the protein competition, bug reports, and suggestions coming. Happy holidays!
(Thu, 12/20/2007 - 06:22 | 0 comments)Vista Support
The game now supports Microsoft Vista. Please run it, tell us what you think, and report any glitches. If you've already tried to install on Vista, you will need to uninstall, then redownload the installer linked on the main page.
(Tue, 12/11/2007 - 07:44 | 0 comments)