Fieldrunners 2 HD - (by Subatomic Studios, LLC)

[JohnSimond]

Exactly!

Originally Posted by Sojourn

I think the frustration from a lot of players (or at least posters in this forum) is coming not from the argument of IAP as an inherently good or bad thing, but from the experience we've had with the game so far:

1) The game was previewed on TA. Hype built. Lovers of the first game were excited for FR2. iPad owners were reassured that their issues would be addressed once FR2 was released, as all resources were being poured into the sequel.
2) The iPhone version launched, to great acclaim. iPad owners were disappointed -- not only was the game not Universal, but the iPad version wasn't even ready yet. But it was coming soon. So we held on.
3) iPad users kept hearing how awesome the iPhone version was. "Soon" turned into two months of waiting for the iPad version, which was especially difficult for users like myself, who were holding out for the iPad version to stay "spoiler-free". Meanwhile, the original FR for iPad did not get updated (for Retina or bug fixes).
4) The iPad version finally launched much later than originally announced. Many users, myself included, bought it instantly -- only to find it mostly unplayable. Constant and consistent crashes, lost progress. Frustrating, not only for a game that was relatively expensive, but moreso for a game we had been so eagerly anticipating, and had been told was delayed due to exhaustive QA testing.
5) Since then, it's been a month and a half, there has been one update that has fixed some but not all of the crashing, FR1 on iPad still hasn't been updated, and now we're finally getting a new update (which is already half a week late according to your forum post last week, Alec) that instead of just fixing the issues keeping all of us from enjoying the game we purchased, are adding a controversial new feature.

Here's the thing, and I want to make this totally clear -- I think you guys have put a tremendous amount of work into FR2, and it's a beautiful game that you should be very proud of. I don't want to take that away from you, because I can only imagine how much time and especially care you have obviously poured into this creation of yours. I can see it in all the little details of the game, and I love it because of that.

However. I am frustrated as a customer because I haven't gotten to fully enjoy all that care, all those little details -- because my game keeps crashing. I've been waiting for a month for an update to fix it (more), all the while being reassured that it would be put out as soon as possible . . . and instead, I'm getting an update with IAP. I don't begrudge you adding it like so many here probably will -- I probably won't use it, and I respect that you've designed it so I don't have to -- but I wish the update that would have let me actually *play* the game had come out a lot sooner, instead of feeling like it was delayed so this new payment structure could be added. A version 1.15 would have been much appreciated before 1.2. I know you have limited resources, and you're limited by the update approval process, but we've all seen developers push out bug fix updates much faster than one month later to fix basic usability issues.

In any event, I've been checking my App Store updates multiple times a day to see if FR2 is in there -- I'm really excited to give it another whirl. The times I've played it without it crashing have been pretty great -- but it's always crashed at some point. I'm excited to see that come to an end with this new update, and I hope this helps to explain the reaction you guys are getting here in the TA community. I'd love to hear your thoughts (including other TAers -- hopefully I explained the situation accurately and fairly)!

[sapphire_neo]

The simple solution to consumable iAP in high-score and leaderboard games is to immediately sandbox customers into separate leaderboards as soon as they buy iAP. They want convenience? Sure, the price is the inability to compete with people who don't want to pay for convenience.

[defred34]

Originally Posted by pavarotti2007

They were always going to add IAP regardless of whatever AtomicAlec comes on here and says. It was already prepped for IAP even when they weren't there with how unbalanced it was and the difficulty of the easy mode. Now it is still unbalanced but will have the IAP plus a top end premium price. It's a good game but the dev is shocking. They say one thing, do another and then try to back track on what they initially said. All the time trying to 'win back the fans trust.' Such BS.

How stupid do they think people are? They get flooded with emails pleading for IAP?? So they expect us to believe that people pay £1.99/£5.49, have no universal support, it has far too many bugs, then 'everybody' is pleading with them to add IAP so they can spend more on consumable IAP? Course they do.

Oh, and they have been fixing Fieldrunners 1 for iPad for about 20 months now. GOOD JOB GUYS!!!!!!!

I said the same thing in the iPhone thread. With the game being so difficult even in easy mode, I suspect it was part of the plan to incorporate IAPs some point in the future. They created a smokescreen for their envious plans. Shameful developers.

[defred34]

Here is my take on this. I copied the from the iPhone thread of the game.

Ok guys, I think I cracked the Pandor box here. I am pretty happy with my thoughts on this.

Subatomic makes Fieldrunners 2, decide to become multi-millionaires. So they bring out an iPhone version, then an iPad version 2 months later at about 2.5 times the price.

They decided that's not enough. They want more. So, from the beginning itself, they planned a higher than normal difficulty level. A lot of seemingly hardcore players found the normal mode arduously challenging (correct me if I am wrong). At this point, there were no IAPs at all, so gamers just took the higher than normal difficulty curve as a challenge.

Now, some 3 1/2 months after release, when the coffers are running dry, the guys at SUbatomic device to unleash the atom bomb (no puns). IAPs. They claim it is warranted by 3 people sending in email requests over 3 days to get IAPs in to cut short the process of playing the game.

In true fact, the difficulty was jacked up, and a lot of frustrated gamers who already spent money buying the game will think that "OH well, lets just spend another $4.99 to finish this crap off". The fact that people are defending this move simply because they're not making it more difficult is a tad foolish, since the game was already more than difficult to begin with.

I call this a bull. Subatomic are just devious people like MadFinger, just that they've done this a little more subtlety and cleverly, so much so good ol' Eli has fallen into their trap as well. What say you? To me, if indeed this is what transpired, I wish the guys at Subatomic to their graves.

TL;DR: The game's difficulty was artificially inflated from the onset with the aim of introducing IAPs at some point after release to make progress 'easier' and 'faster'.

[september]

It was fairly obvious the game was designed around IAP from first play, all the hooks were already there.

I would be more impressed if support emails were resolved before this kind of malarkey. I doubt I'll be so quick to buy another game from Subatomic in future, I've bought FR PSP, PC and now FR 2, all have outstanding issues. Part of making money is treating your customers fairly, fail that and there will be a delayed but definite impact.

[defred34]

Originally Posted by AtomicAlec

The world is a strange place. The last email I received requesting IAP was from about 20 hours ago. Nuts, right? Why would you want to experience our game in a different way than we designed it? But if someone wants to pay you money in order to do that...

What are we supposed to make of that besides simply saying "yes"? !

Aah, how convenient Mr Alec. I like the way you make this sound simple, and make it look like you're the one being victimised here.

Take my word for it, come clean by saying this was intended from the start and you'll get back some respect from some of us.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by defred34

Aah, how convenient Mr Alec. I like the way you make this sound simple, and make it look like you're the one being victimised here.

Take my word for it, come clean by saying this was intended from the start and you'll get back some respect from some of us.

Again, I would like to say I don't care about the inclusion of iAP, BUT...

How many people actually asked for iAP to be added? AND...

How many people are actually asking for the bugs to be fixed?

Please fix the crashing, stuttering audio, and loading time, I think you owe us that, at least.

[CzarCastic]

Originally Posted by defred34

Aah, how convenient Mr Alec. I like the way you make this sound simple, and make it look like you're the one being victimised here.

Take my word for it, come clean by saying this was intended from the start and you'll get back some respect from some of us.

I think you've made your point. Can we please move on? You're not going to hear what you want to hear. If you're upset, then show it with your wallet. Don't play the game. Don't buy any IAP. For the rest of us, we'll continue to play and enjoy this game.

I really like the Fieldrunners series. If I want to continue to get new content and updated editions of the game, then I need to hope for the success of Atomic. If this means they need to adapt their games to the current climate of the App Store, then so be it.

[sortvind]

Originally Posted by defred34

Here is my take on this. I copied the from the iPhone thread of the game.

Ok guys, I think I cracked the Pandor box here. I am pretty happy with my thoughts on this.

Subatomic makes Fieldrunners 2, decide to become multi-millionaires. So they bring out an iPhone version, then an iPad version 2 months later at about 2.5 times the price.

They decided that's not enough. They want more. So, from the beginning itself, they planned a higher than normal difficulty level. A lot of seemingly hardcore players found the normal mode arduously challenging (correct me if I am wrong). At this point, there were no IAPs at all, so gamers just took the higher than normal difficulty curve as a challenge.

Now, some 3 1/2 months after release, when the coffers are running dry, the guys at SUbatomic device to unleash the atom bomb (no puns). IAPs. They claim it is warranted by 3 people sending in email requests over 3 days to get IAPs in to cut short the process of playing the game.

In true fact, the difficulty was jacked up, and a lot of frustrated gamers who already spent money buying the game will think that "OH well, lets just spend another $4.99 to finish this crap off". The fact that people are defending this move simply because they're not making it more difficult is a tad foolish, since the game was already more than difficult to begin with.

I call this a bull. Subatomic are just devious people like MadFinger, just that they've done this a little more subtlety and cleverly, so much so good ol' Eli has fallen into their trap as well. What say you? To me, if indeed this is what transpired, I wish the guys at Subatomic to their graves.

TL;DR: The game's difficulty was artificially inflated from the onset with the aim of introducing IAPs at some point after release to make progress 'easier' and 'faster'.

this is spot on.

[andysmash]

I'm glad you're putting purchasable coins into the game. I plan on buying the iPad version once the next update comes out and I will very likely drop a buck or two into coins, if for no other reason than out of spite for all the children on this forum who can't comprehend how businesses work.