Game Zones
Last updated
Last updated
Your Game Zone is a virtual space within the app that you control, where you create and store the following:
cards
card decks
players
history/records of awarded cards
You can invite others into your Game Zone, and accept invitations to join other Game Zones.
Your Game Zone is created automatically the first time you load the app in the browser (as part of your profile).
You can invite others into your Game Zone (if you are connected to a sync server) to view cards, decks and awarded cards. You have the option to grant "creator" rights when doing so, which means the invitee will be able to create and edit cards, decks, players, and award cards to players (however they will not be able to edit or remove cards, decks or awarded cards that you have previously created).
To create an invite, select "Game Zone Invite" from the drop-down menu at the top-right of the app. You can then enter a password (minimum 6 characters) and generate a link/QR code that can be shared with others...
When the invitee opens the link in their browser they will be prompted to enter the password, and then have your Game Zone added (it should now appear in the Game Zones list in the slide out panel on the left of the app). They can now select your Game Zone, wait for sync to complete and then view cards, decks etc.
A Game Zone invite link can be used by anyone who knows the password, and can NOT be revoked afterwards, so take some care when deciding who to share the link with.
Create a backup of your data (cards, decks, players, awarded cards) by clicking on the database icon (𝌏) alongside your Game Zone name in the panel that slides out from the left of the app. You can also restore a prior backup from here.
After selecting "create a backup" a text file called gamecards-data-ALL.backup will be downloaded to your file system...depending on the amount of data, this may happen instantaneously or take a few seconds. To restore data, simply select "restore from backup" and select this file (remember to keep track of the folder/location this file is stored in if you move it)
Regularly backing up your Game Zone data is particularly important if you are not using a "sync server" (see below), as all data is stored locally in the browser and can be vulnerable to accidental deletion (clearing cache/history) or enforced deletion if accessing on Safari (Safari's 7 days without use policy).
By default your Game Zone data (cards, decks, players, awarded cards) is all saved locally on your device (in the browsers storage). This makes the app super-fast to load/save data and allows offline use when no internet connection is available. It also means there is no sign-up required to get started using the app.
However, to take advantage of all the features of the Game Cards app requires connecting to our "sync server". Connecting your Game Zone to our "sync server" has a number of benefits...
sync and access your Game Zone data (cards, decks, players and awarded cards) across multiple devices (laptop, phone, tablet)
peace of mind that your data is backed up every time you sync, placing less importance on manually backing up data (although still a good habit to get into!)
sharing and collaboration with a group, team, community or organisation - invite others into your Game Zone to view/create cards and decks, see "award history" for a particular card and/or player, and more
If a Game Zone is configured to connect to a sync server, when the app starts it will automatically sync...this will be indicated by a blue spinning circle near the top left of the app, alongside the Game Zone name.
When/if syncing with a Game Zone containing a lot of data (ie, many cards with images inserted from the local file system) it could take 30-60 seconds for sync to complete the first time.
Whenever you create, edit or delete data (cards, decks, players, awarded cards) you will need to click/tap the blue sync icon (🔄) next to the Game Zone name to have those changes available to sync on your other devices, and/or for other people who access that Game Zone.
