Racer Feud finally gets to the starting grid

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Racer Feud finally gets to the starting grid | Pocket Tactics

After numerous trials the Formula De-inspired Racer Feud is available for iOS devices.

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The_Spiel

I get that AIs aren't easy to do so I see the appeal of developing a multiplayer-only game, but why not include Game Center? Game Center makes it so incredibly easy to pick up and start playing right away. Look at how quickly Letterpress took off last night.

lookmanohands

Racer Feud has its own account system? Odd. No AI and no way to play a quick race just to check out the game (and I'm guessing a tutorial is out of the question) will probably mean most people delete the app without ever actually playing a match. The game definitely needs some way to lower the barrier to entry. I created an account, maybe tomorrow I'll try a game... I'm also guessing people won't be thrilled with the link to Twitter/Facebook to unlock tracks. That won't go over well on NeoGAF:)

FixingKitty

Hi!

André here, developer of Racer Feud!

I agree with you all that GameCenter support and AI would be really really nice...!
But right now GameCenter doesn't have all the necessary features, even though iOS6 made a big leap!
We will continue to have GC in mind as it evolves but right now it's not really up to par with what we want to do with the game :-(

We're working on AI for the game, but it's not easy to do and will probably take some time :-/

Best Regards
André

GaborFuredi

I'd suggest the following priorities:
1. random matchmaking asap, don't make it a hassle to start a game
2. offline

Scameron

I think when we were advising you to work on single-player first in the last thread, it was because we were under the impression that there'd be a pretty painless system for getting into multiplayer matches.

karlbown

No single player support and no GameCenter support make this a complete waste of time. So disappointed

TheDukester

This is so ridiculous that it almost seems like some sort of hoax.

No AI is bad enough, but to then make it an actual chore to start a multiplayer game? What a farce.

I do not want or need yet another account in my life. GameCenter exists for some very good reasons and it's very good at what it does.

FixingKitty said:

We will continue to have GC in mind as it evolves but right now it's not really up to par with what we want to do with the game.

You really, really, really need to re-think this. If GC is good enough for Carcassonne, it's good enough for you.

And what, exactly, do you "want to do" with the game? I'm honestly baffled by this statement. Because what I see is a game that is utterly lacking in many common features. Why is that something you "want"?

Z3R05UM

lookmanohands said:

Racer Feud has its own account system? Odd. No AI and no way to play a quick race just to check out the game (and I'm guessing a tutorial is out of the question) will probably mean most people delete the app without ever actually playing a match. The game definitely needs some way to lower the barrier to entry. I created an account, maybe tomorrow I'll try a game... I'm also guessing people won't be thrilled with the link to Twitter/Facebook to unlock tracks. That won't go over well on NeoGAF:)

Yeah... I was all ready to get a league started on GAF but this is really unfortunate all the way around.

nn12

Also no way to remove invited players. So even when you find people to invite, if one of them doesn't join, can't start the race. Sort of insane how hard it is to play at all.

FixingKitty

Hi all,

Sorry to see that you are all so disappointed by our game :-(
We will work as hard as we can to work out all the kinks, hope to have an update for you very soon!

Please contact us if you are experiencing any problems, we will try to solve it ASAP!

Best Regards
André

TheDukester

@FixingKitty: I don't think the initial complaints are over "kinks." What I'm reading is that people just want a way to quickly start a game with their friends, without all the hurdles you're putting in the way.

For example, simply adding GameCenter would get me to buy the app and all available IAP.

karlbown

I don't know who advised you to release the game without GameCenter support but it is a terrible mistake. I can understand the lack of single player in the initial release but why bother making your own server system when GameCenter is there and used by millions of people. Thank goodness it was free otherwise you would have so much bad feedback

Congestion

What the others said.
GameCenter and a rudimentary AI, if only to learn the game, are mandatory. Maybe I'm a pessimist, but I think that you have set yourselves up for some really low sales numbers. Which is a shame, because, done right, I think this could be a huge hit.

FixingKitty

Hi again :-)

Can I calm your senses if I tell you that I'm reading the GameCenter documentation for iOS6 really thorough right now? ;-)
It will be iOS6 only if I decide to change the backend for GameCenter and I will probably have to give up the "in game chat" :-/

Would that be okay with everyone?

Best Regards
André

TheDukester

I'd trade chat away any day of the week, personally. It's much more important for me to able to easily be able to find my GC friends and start a game.

We can always chat later ... ;-)

karlbown

André

That sounds great. I appreciate that you're listening to our feedback

lookmanohands

I agree. While having a chat option is really nice (and not having one is Game Center's biggest failing), I'd rather have Game Center over chat. (Also, there seems to be a few technical issues if you try to start a game with 4 or more players...)

On the plus side, once you get into a game, this seems quite good. You can even undo your moves. (Neuroshima Hex take note!)

Owen

@RobThomasson and I are having a pretty good time with it!

TheDukester

He took time out from thrashing me at Letterpress? He must be multitasking ...

Owen

Maybe we should start a thread.

skyperion

Fixingkitty,
I have hit a problem with the app. I am running on an Ipad2 and had two games on the go. I tried to purchase the premium IAP and now the app just boots me out everytime I load it. I have deleted and reinstalled plus rebooted, nothing works. It exits at the point of "no account found" everytime and before i get the chance to add my login details.

I also have no idea if the IAP worked, but it did take my apple password.

Thanks for your help.

nn12

There seems to be a problem when two people accept your friend requests in quick succession. The game freezes up and it doesn't then seem to add the people as friends.

robthomasson

nn12 said:

There seems to be a problem when two people accept your friend requests in quick succession. The game freezes up and it doesn't then seem to add the people as friends.

Whenever I have had more than two friend requests waiting it seems to lock up after I accept the second one. Have to force close the app and when it restarts it's okay.

Separate numpty question ... when you see the car details you get tyres, brakes, engine & petrol which I understand. But what does the car picture indicate? Eh?

DJLanglois

I gotta say: this game is briggity briggity broke de broke. I downloaded the game, along with a bunch of other other members of my family. We all created accounts and tried to add each other. When I booted the game and found multiple friend requests, the game just couldn't handle it. It would let me accept the first request, but then further button pressing was non-functional. Occasionally, as I tapped around the screen it would pop up other (non-functional) menus (e.g., for the options/settings). But it was jacked to high hell. So I had to force close the game, reload it, get the mess of multiple requests, accept one request, watch the game break, quit out, force close the game, and repeat... until I'd added everyone.

FixingKitty

Hi again,

I hear what you are all saying and I intend to fix the crashes and glitches with a patch ASAP!
Meanwhile I have already started to look into GameCenter and will move the game over to it, although it will take a few weeks...

Sorry this got so messy, it really wasn't my intention and I will work my hardest to make you guys happy again :-)

You could help me out a little bit if you all mail me your crash logs, so that I don't have to sit and wait for Apple to hand me them, it takes forever... :-(

Best Regards
André

robthomasson

FixingKitty said:

You could help me out a little bit if you all mail me your crash logs, so that I don't have to sit and wait for Apple to hand me them, it takes forever... :-(

Sorry @FixingKitty but I don't have any crash reports for Racer Feud. First time I looked for such things and I found quite a collection - but none from Racer Feud. The app locked on me (when "too many" friend requests) rather than closed down so maybe that's the reason.

robthomasson said:

Separate numpty question ... when you see the car details you get tyres, brakes, engine & petrol which I understand. But what does the car picture indicate? Eh?

I now think this is chassis or something. When my value dropped there was a message saying I had been overtaken by @TheDukester (aka AddGameCenter) and we both lost a chassis point. Overtaking can happen without the message so I assume that he was too close or something, Whatevah - I can't find an explanation in the app or on the lindapp.se site. In that race I am now on Lap 2 of 1 so maybe it's actually a warp factor and @TheDukester bumped me into the next dimension? As per usual.

Okay, no fair. It must be quite something dealing with a launch and the issues that arise, especially given the difficulty in getting the app approved. But there are no race identifiers so I can't direct you to the ones with display issues (like Lap 2 of 1) and I have no crash reports. If there is another way I get issue details to you then just let me know. Good luck!

nn12

Must say, despite these problems, there really is a very fun game underneath.

telos81

I agree with nn12. The gameplay is fantastic! A great Formula D clone (which I own and love)

I also agree with the criticism, it needs to be easier and faster to create and find friends and random games. Chat is worth sacrificing, if necessary (none of Playdek's games have chat...). I have friends that, for some reason, hate both Facebook and twitter but like Game Center.

There is work to be done - but you've created a nice game, FixingKitty. Keep at it and don't be too disheartened by the super critical and mean posts!

Owen

nn12 said:

Must say, despite these problems, there really is a very fun game underneath.

Agreed.

bjornkri

Anyone found a way past the too many friends bug? I got two "Friend request accepted dialog" and it's impossible to dismiss the second one. Tried hard restarting, didn't work.