Phil... if only you guys had the same passion too!
Just imagine - if you all dedicated a couple of months hard work to perfecting the game... you'd be making money like crazy!
And build a huge fan-base who would buy any other cool games you bring out!
Why don't you dudes have any ambition dangit?!
Anyway, another thing y'all screwed up with this update lol - if a game has people leave, then it should go back to the previous screen and wait for other people to join... instead it just forces the game to start with Bot replacements = ruins the game!
Y'all really need to change this asap because it's killing all the fun of playing!
Here's a much better idea of how this feature should have been implemented!
- remove the two arrow buttons on either side and replace with a "Leave" and "Start" button
- make the Start button have a gradient fill which acts as the 10 second countdown as it moves to the bottom
- and make the button flash when it gets down to the last few seconds
Problem solved! Put a little more thought in to things - this stuff ain't that frikkin hard ffs!
Good to see your passion as always Mr Aitch
- Phillip@SMG
Aitch
Well SMG finally bothered to update the game... dang a ding dang doo!
But will it be an awesome Christmas present... or just make the game even more frustrating!
(If the past is anything to go by... it's gonna be the latter lol!)
Also, we can confirm the suspicion that in Australia - monthly updates actually mean quarterly updates... cos in Oz, you promise an update every 4 weeks but only deliver every 4 months!
Anyway, lets see what Crocodile Dundee Inc, has been working on all this time...
WHAT'S NEW
- Forced trade-in of cards now grants additional time in your turn
- Increased stability throughout the app
- Fixed issues with pirate maps when playing the German version
- Less "waiting for host" situations
- Additional minor bug fixes
Okay, lets break it down:
Forced trade-in of cards now grants additional time in your turn
= Sweet! (although it shoulda been like this from the start!)
Increased stability throughout the app
= Could this mean a reduction in "Lost Connection" - if so, then hallelujah!
Fixed issues with pirate maps when playing the German version
= Basically, a little hot fix which they shoulda put out immediately instead of waiting for this delta...
Less "waiting for host" situations
= Hallelujah! (that is, if they really have solved the problem lol)
Additional minor bug fixes
= would be nice to know what they are...
The last big update was way back in August - I played one game and then posted about how awesome it was... boy was that a mistake lol = https://smgstudio.freshdesk.com/support/discussions/topics/11000015000
This time - I played for a few days... and waited for SMG to put out an inevitable hot-fix... cos they don't understand the concept of beta testing lol!
So... lets see what SMG have fixed (or just as likely, have broken lol!)
Nothing new in Settings or Game Options or Leaderboard etc = sad, yet fully expected...
Starting a game did bring up something new though - this screen...
What's this - could it be a 10 second countdown, allowing you to leave the game before it starts = cool!
Way too many games start with people leaving immediately - which means you're stuck playing the Bots which takes their place... and the AI is so bad that it completely ruins the game!
This is a welcome addition - however, unsurprisingly... they screwed up the implementation!
Lets think for a second SMG - why do people leave a game... mostly because:
- they wanted to play a game with more/less players
- the game does/doesn't have Bots
- the players have too high/low rank
- their favourite colour is taken lol etc
So how would people be able to decide whether they want to play - when all they can now see is a black screen with a countdown timer?!
A smarter way of doing this - would be to reformat and squeeze the "I'm ready" (or better yet, "Start Game") button on to the main screen here:
People can then clearly see what kind of game they will be joining!
As it turns out - all the games I've played now have most of the players leave... which means a 5/6 player game usually ends up being a 2 player against 3/4 other Bots!
Also, even a trivial thing, like placing the button so it sits evenly on the screen, is not given due attention... which is surprising as SMG may have mediocre coders, but their graphic arts guys are top notch... what happened dudes?
Anyway, after that amateurish attempt at game design lol - it goes to this screen - which actually raises some much needed hope haha:
Has SMG finally decided to add Anti-Cheating measures... Praise The Lord!
Is this the reason why so many players are kicked out of games and replaced by a Bot?
Could be - but there is no mention of Anti-Cheat in the update info... so I'm guessing it's still being worked on...
However, the fact that it seems to be definitely on it's way... is shockingly good news! Bravo SMG!
I just hope they don't screw this up too lol - any chance you will let us know how the "validation" works... and will it be reliable?
The other major issues of constant disconnection and pathetically inaccurate dice, have not been addressed in any way... the dreaded "Lost Connection" screen still shows up in every game I've played, although I haven't seen the even more dreaded "Waiting For Host" screen, so maybe there has been a little improvement... or maybe I've just been lucky so far lol
I did notice one other little improvement too:
Yup, they finally learnt how to spell "Ignore" properly in Australia... hip hip hurray!