Universal Star Traders RPG - (by Trese Brothers)

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by fallen, Dec 17, 2012.

  1. nightc1

    nightc1 Well-Known Member

    Oct 19, 2012
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    I guess it doesn't hurt to try this for free... but I'd rather have a free version to try and a paid version that has all the content in it since I don't buy IAP.

    It's my understanding that on the Android Marketplace, due to the rampant piracy, that in order to make money you gotta put everything good behind IAP. In the AppStore market there are a lot of people willing to pay for stuff if it's good and they have some way to demo the game. Experience on Android doesn't equal AppStore experience. Yes this game is in a niche but there are so many millions of gamers that even a niche done well could do well. I think the hardest thing is just making people aware of your game existing... but IAP alone can cut out a significant portion of the market for any game.

    I love turn based games... I love space operas. The pictures in the appstore don't look like a space opera at all. If I didn't see this thread here... I'd never know this game existed.

    Best of luck to you. I'll still try the free portion of the game. It's just a shame that is as far as my time will go with this game since I have a few other big space operas to play through.
     
  2. undeadcow

    undeadcow Well-Known Member

    Dec 4, 2010
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    I'd be curious to hear your impressions, nightc1. Star Traders RPG strikes me more as a science fiction economics/combat sim than a space opera (space opera is such a vague term anyway).
    It is a shame if this is the impression of the App Store community. There are a lot of sham free-to-play rip-offs that exploit in-app purchases by locking things behind expensive consumable item paywalls but Star Trader RPG is not one of them. This game has a one time unlock fee of $1.99 to enlarge the playing area and add content that is fair and not exploitative of users.
     
  3. gosenbach

    gosenbach Well-Known Member

    Apr 15, 2010
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    Undeadcow: Thanks for pointing me to this game, love it. I saw the hyperlinked tag in your signature on another forum section..

    Since you have played this a bunch. does it really play much different as the other available classes?
     
  4. undeadcow

    undeadcow Well-Known Member

    Dec 4, 2010
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    #24 undeadcow, Jan 17, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2013
    I think the biggest advantage to unlocking the Elite IAP is the larger map size, this is much more satisfying than the free version. I haven't noticed a lot of variety across classes but some of the impact is subtle. There are different market prices and combat encounter rates. One of the good things about Star Traders RPG is the amount of detail in how universe location effects those things depending on what class are in but that can appear slight but because this is such a detail oriented game it is important.

    Let us know how you find Star Traders RPG.
     
  5. nightc1

    nightc1 Well-Known Member

    Oct 19, 2012
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    Played about 15 min or so of the game. Correction more like 5 min of the game and 10 min reading. I haven't encountered any battles yet (only completed 2 missions) but I lost a bunch of crew trying to explore the wilderness on a planet. I can see this being a pretty deep game. It may be playable on it's own without the IAP. Having less content for me is not a negative given the flood of games I have to play.

    Oh yeah, I wasn't trying to imply this was a sham... I just have a no IAP stance. It would take some miracle like Sega porting Shenmue and selling it for free with IAP to unlock the rest of the game for me to cave in... beyond that I can't think of anything. I've not been scammed or anything like that, I can see that stuff a mile a way (especially consumable IAP :rolleyes: ). But I just am old school and it was hard enough going digital and only getting a file to backup to itunes... it's another to buy content that maybe one day won't be available because a company flopped and they pulled the app from the appstore (and I'm not even entertaining the thought that Apple could go under or anything). If I can't back it up to my PC... it really isn't worth me purchasing.
     
  6. Ayjona

    Ayjona Well-Known Member

    Sep 8, 2009
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    #26 Ayjona, Jan 17, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2013
    IAP is just a content delivery method. We do developers a great disservice when we decry all IAP as evil. Selling an expansion through IAP (like how Fishlab sold the expansion for Galaxy on Fire 2) is not only completely unrelated to selling in-game currency and paying to remove paywalls, but is actually a great service to the player (as the alternative would be to have the customer download a separate app, which would also require a custom cloud sync solution if there are characters to be transferred).

    The IAP of Star Traders RPG is much like that. Nothing that unbalances gameplay, but simply an App Store version of one of the oldest commercial software traditions in history: shareware. Try, and pay to unlock the full game.

    There is no doubt that the vast majority of IAP are used for nefarious purposes. But it would be a shame if this trend invalidated a mechanism that can be a boon to players and developers alike.
     
  7. nightc1

    nightc1 Well-Known Member

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    #27 nightc1, Jan 17, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2013
    I'm not calling it evil at all... It's just if I can't backup the purchased content to iTunes on my PC then it seems like a waste to me since I'm not keeping games on my 16gb iPhone 4S forever.

    You bring up a good point with galaxy on fire 2. I actually bought both the HD and regular versions of that game to get one of the IAP only parts for free. If devs create alternate ways to get content updates then I'm cool with that. If this dev released a non-IAP paid version of this game... I'd consider buying it. It's not like it would be that different code wise to have two versions. Many devs in the point & click market do that.
     
  8. Ayjona

    Ayjona Well-Known Member

    Sep 8, 2009
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    Good point. Luckily, it is fairly easy to implement a restore purchases feature/save IAP purchases in the cloud, so that IAP once bought can never truly be lost. (Unfortunately, this does not go for consumables bought as IAP. But fortunately, many of us couldn't care less for those ;) )

    I can't really see any tangible difference between a light version with a full unlock and a version that is full from the outset (provided there are mechanisms in place to allow IAP restoration in the unlock edition), but yeah, if there is a sizeable demand for it, perhaps most devs should consider that, just because of the stigma attached to IAP. I wonder, though, if there are not other less desireable effects to splitting the game into two different apps...
     
  9. Daxmort

    Daxmort Well-Known Member

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    #29 Daxmort, Jan 18, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2013
    I'm hoping I won't get attacked for this, but could I ask a Fallen a quick off-topic question?

    I got a Kindle Fire HD for Christmas, on which I was looking for some more in-depth games; I came across Star Traders and Cyber Knights, the latter of which I picked up immediately, the former that I picked up soon after. I'm just wondering if you plan on continuing to release updates to Cyber Knights too, and also hopefully not jumping ship to the iOS store if it takes off? :eek:

    Just saying that as one of the first (good) indie-games I picked up for my new tablet, it'd be a huge loss to see you guys leave development of the Kindle/Google Play/Android stores to just work for the iOS platform.

    Otherwise, keep up the good work! I hope you guys get the exposure you deserve, the games are awesome.
     
  10. undeadcow

    undeadcow Well-Known Member

    Dec 4, 2010
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    Cyber Knights looks promising; I wouldn't worry about these developers going iOS exclusive given the lukewarm reception they appear to have received here. Any chance for a Cyber Knights iOS edition?
     
  11. fallen

    fallen Well-Known Member

    @daxmort - we are true Android junkies. We just release the new major story mode for Cyber Knights and the massive Narvidian Dawn campaign for Templar Assault. You won't find us giving up on Android or stopping the constant flow of updates any time soon. We are starting to announce and discuss our next game, a fantasy RPG, called Heroes of Steel. Not going anywhere!

    About IAPs -- we have learned the hard way that it seems to be something that people just don't like. We are headed toward a release of a Star Traders Elite on the App Store for $1.99 and hope that the two in combination will help us get some traction on the App Store.
     
  12. fallen

    fallen Well-Known Member

    Also -- sorry I haven't been watching the thread -- holidays really whacked knocked me off my forum watch ;)

    We are very excited to announce the latest release of Star Traders to the App Store, featuring Unlocks, Awards, captain professions and new Starting ships!

    What's New in Version 3.1.1
    - Added 29 New Achievement Awards
    - Added 18 New Elite Only Upgrades
    - Added 17 Achievement Unlocks
    - Added Starting Ship Aperio Caliga
    - Added Starting Ship Neutiquam Erro
    - Added Starting Ship Serpent Tooth's
    - Added Starting Ship Picky Beggar
    - Added Starting Ship Tempus Fugit
    - Added Starting Ship Aeternam Vale
    - Added Starting Ship Fidei Defensor
    - Added Starting Ship Vark Mordi
    - Added Starting Ship Danti Cautela
    - Added Starting Ship Mortifer Telum
    - New Captain Profession: Spy
    - New Captain Profession: Zealot
    - New "Hall of Records" in Palace
    - Fixed iPad Dry Dock Issues
    - Improved Alien Space Rumor
    - Fixed Issue with Alien Ships/AI
    - New Game Option "Longer Notifications"
    - Improved Open War Space Rumor
    - Improved Merchant and Refugee Rumor
    - Improved Valuable Shipment Rumor & Contracts
    - Enhanced Economic Rumor Effects
    - Improved Combat Performance
    - Updated First Mate Officer Artwork
    - iPad Screen Layout Improvements
    - Fixed Map Bugs (the Star 'Wolfe Dhas')
    - Fixed Bugs Reported on Forum
    - Text and Typo Fixes
     
  13. fallen

    fallen Well-Known Member

    @nightc1 - thanks for all the feedback! Star Trader's certainly isn't for everyone! That's why we are sure to provide a nice free version of our games. Happy gaming!
     
  14. pka4916

    pka4916 Well-Known Member

    Jun 6, 2009
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    #34 pka4916, Jan 22, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2013
    I remember this playing on a BBS daily.. a long time ago.. (seems like this is the sam type of game)
    You could make daily a few moves.. and all text based
     
  15. nightc1

    nightc1 Well-Known Member

    Oct 19, 2012
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    Cool to hear a premium version is headed to the AppStore. Considering the file size and how much I like these kinds of games I can see forking over the $2.
     
  16. undeadcow

    undeadcow Well-Known Member

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    I saw that update pop up out of nowhere and almost fell out of my seat; that's a lot of additions. Looking forward to diving in.
     
  17. fallen

    fallen Well-Known Member

    @pka - while Star Traders reminds many of earlier games like it (Elite and others), you should give it a try (its free!) and you will find that it is a deep and challenging space simulation that you will probably enjoy if you loved those old BBS days!
     
  18. fallen

    fallen Well-Known Member

    @nightc1 - when you reference file size -- is that a benefit (we are small) or a negative (too large!). Coming from Android, we really could not figure out how a 10 MB game on Android blew up into roughly 20 MB on the App Store and were worried that it was one more strike against us.

    @undeadcow - we hope to just keep the hits coming! Since updates are really at a slow rhythm in the App Store, we end up bundling a ton into each one. On Android, we can update fast and furious, sometimes a twice a week with new content, awards, ships, feature requests from our user community, and bug fixes. We are still adapting to this new crazy world!
     
  19. nightc1

    nightc1 Well-Known Member

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    #39 nightc1, Jan 22, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2013
    File size on this game is small (25.4MB installed) and to me that's a positive since I don't even have to think of needing to make space for this. Y'all are doing great on that front as far as I'm concerned. Big games on the other hand can be an issue... especially anything over 1GB.
     
  20. iPadisGreat

    iPadisGreat Well-Known Member

    Dec 10, 2012
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    #40 iPadisGreat, Jan 22, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2013
    Downloading...

    Looks like there is already an expansion out. Seems to be a complex game...
     

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