diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index edcddb305..b1335dd16 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ plugins {
 }
 
 group = "com.marklogic"
-version = "4.3.7"
+version = "4.4-SNAPSHOT"
 
 java {
 	sourceCompatibility = 1.8
diff --git a/examples/local-testing-project/gradle.properties b/examples/local-testing-project/gradle.properties
index 9a6b2c739..b94cbf3a1 100644
--- a/examples/local-testing-project/gradle.properties
+++ b/examples/local-testing-project/gradle.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Set this to the version you used when running
 # "gradle -Pversion=(something) publishToMavenLocal" on your local ml-gradle repo
-mlGradleVersion=4.3.7
+mlGradleVersion=4.4-SNAPSHOT
 
 mlHost=localhost
 mlAppName=example
diff --git a/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/NewProjectTask.groovy b/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/NewProjectTask.groovy
index 8763ba1e9..e0b1aa655 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/NewProjectTask.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/com/marklogic/gradle/task/NewProjectTask.groovy
@@ -8,8 +8,10 @@ class NewProjectTask extends MarkLogicTask {
 
 	@TaskAction
 	void newProject() {
-		println "Welcome to the new project wizard. Please answer the following questions to start a new project."
-		println "Note that this will overwrite your current build.gradle and gradle.properties files, and backup copies of each will be made."
+		println "\nWelcome to the new project wizard. Please respond to each of the following prompts to start a new project.\n"
+		println "Each prompt below begins with '[ant:input]'; type your response for each prompt on the blank line, or press 'Enter' to " +
+			"accept the default value or values in the brackets.\n"
+		println "Note that this will overwrite your current build.gradle and gradle.properties files, and backup copies of each will be made.\n"
 		ant.input(message: "Application name:", addproperty: "mlAppName", defaultvalue: "myApp")
 		ant.input(message: "Host to deploy to:", addproperty: "mlHost", defaultvalue: "localhost")
 		ant.input(message: "MarkLogic admin username:", addproperty: "mlUsername", defaultvalue: "admin")