Rolando 2 customer service - acceptable or not?

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by arhb, Jul 2, 2009.

  1. arhb

    arhb Well-Known Member

    Mar 2, 2009
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    The App Store has changed the way that we as consumers think about casual gaming. We have access to a larger supply of more diverse games than ever before, and we can download them easily, directly to our idevices. But it is not just consumers who have changed, the introduction of all this has opened up a path for developers to create, control and distribute their work to the public directly. Avoiding a lot of the trouble that comes from developing games in larger companies. Suddenly a small team with a great idea can really succeed, and this is beneficial to everyone.
    But here is something I think everyone should remember. It's the customers that make this whole system work, to a larger extent than ever before. We write the reviews, post comments, create youtube videos, and generate the excitement and buzz surrounding these games. Apart from a select few in the apple ads - when was the last time you saw an idevice game being advertised on tv? How about never. Good reviews and comments from customers can make or break a game in this environment, and all of this comes down to our voluntarily spending our time to support developers and games we like.
    The industry has started to pay attention to this too, listening to comments, taking suggestions and involving their potential market in dialog that makes for better games and happier customers. And ultimately makes them more money.
    I think the as yet unreleased Rolando 2 is a good example of all of this. Rolando has been a huge hit, and there are hundreds of thousands of people waiting to pick up its sequel, whenever it will be released (originally slated for July 1st). So far there have been two twitter posts that I have seen saying that it was almost ready but not quite, since it was meant to be available. Is this an acceptable way to deal with the people who allow your company to exist? ngmoco:) is nominally pretty good at keeping us in the loop - but I think they dropped the ball on this one. And while I am at is - where are the rest of the secret levels for Rolando 1? Weren't they all meant to be released before R2? How does everyone feel about this situation and these issues - are you mad as h e double hockey sticks, or are you satisfied with your customer experience? How do other devs compare - lets get a list of hot or not companies going, and post our thoughts below.
     
  2. Booch138

    Booch138 Well-Known Member

    Apr 28, 2009
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    #2 Booch138, Jul 2, 2009
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2009
    I understand what you are saying. I will say though, that Rolando 1 may be missing a couple promised Secret Levels, but even with that in mind, they still have released more free content updates than a lot of other games... But yeah. I dunno what happened, and I am not really thrilled how they responded to this situation, but I am a patient fellow. It will come in time. Obviously there was something wrong with it to not be released on the said date. Personally, they can take their time. I want the game, but I also want a finished game with the proper quality you'd expect from ngmoco. If that means it's going to be a few days later, that's fine. However I do wish they would have kept us in the loop more too. It almost makes me think that they were scared of us ripping their head's off in the forums or something ahahahah
     
  3. Eli

    Eli ᕕ┌◕ᗜ◕┐ᕗ
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold

    Chances are ngmoco has absolutely no control over the situation, like most developers. Apple's App approval and deployment process is shrouded in mystery, and they don't seem to give preferential treatment to anyone- even big name developers.

    When we talked to John Carmack regarding Doom, he had no idea when it was going to come out other than "hopefully soon". It wouldn't surprise me if ngmoco were in the same situation.

    I know everyone is worked up because they're excited for the game, but from their responses it's obvious they're doing everything they can to get the game out, I'm not sure what additional information you require, or would even be relevant to anyone on the Touch Arcade forums.
     
  4. Big Albie

    Big Albie Well-Known Member

    Feb 12, 2009
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    After seeing the thread in upcoming games rack up more than 2600 posts with mostly ridiculous and rather immature posts, I'm not surprised by the lack of a response from ngmoco until the wee hours of the morning. Frankly, if I'm the dev, all the ranting and random demands made me take the thread even less seriously.

    While ngmoco missed an opportunity to build goodwill by not offering a more timely response, I don't think they had any control over the release of R2. But there is one truth to all this - a lot of the posts in that thread are/were plain asinine.
     
  5. Tuzzo

    Tuzzo Well-Known Member

    May 22, 2009
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    I agree.
    I mean, the Apps approval process is really strange and now they have a lot of work to do; with the release of OS 3.0, lots of developers are sending in the update version of their apps, and this may slow things down on the Appstore.

    I know they probably should say something, but maybe they don't have something useful to say, apart from "we know nothing more than you do", which could sound a little silly for the mob.

    And keep in mind that ngmoco:) wants the game out no less then we do; they have sustained costs for the development and they know their success is mainly due to guys like us, so it's not their intention to let us down.

    Just be patient and play something else to relax meanwhile.
    Peace.
     
  6. colorsound

    colorsound Well-Known Member

    May 15, 2009
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    #6 colorsound, Jul 2, 2009
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2009
    I think in a way, Apple is displaying that they have the last say and that they are in charge, not the developer. Rolando 2 is just another game / app to Apple at this point. It must follow the same process as Khalid's garbage.


    - Hmm, NGMoco says their game is coming out on July 1st? We are Apple, and it's up to us when their game comes out. Let's make an example out of them and release it when WE release it. We have the final say, not NGMoco. We won't let the developers push us around and tell us what to do -


    That is just an example scenario I see. I really think Apple is doing what they want, when they want.

    By the way, when I say Apple, of course I am referring to the App Store Team.

    I don't blame NGMoco as much as Apple, however, I think NGMoco should have kept their mouths shut with this July 1st crap, and just let the people know when the game was submitted and should be out soon (like MOST developers do).

    I think this proves that NGMoco thought they were too big for their britches, but Apple is in charge of releases, and things have changed - developers can't guarantee a release date any longer.

    This is the embarrasing moment that brings NGMoco down from the clouds.

    Apple doesn't care! Dev's need Apple more than the other way around.

    And Apple KNOWS the customers will be there, since the app store is the best thing of it's kind - by a LOOOOONG shot.
     
  7. Eli

    Eli ᕕ┌◕ᗜ◕┐ᕗ
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold

  8. Booch138

    Booch138 Well-Known Member

    Apr 28, 2009
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    Yeah a lot of the posts were really rediculous, but at the same time there is only so much you can talk about an upcoming game before you run out of stuff to talk about. At that point everyone is bored waiting and and when everyone is tired from being up late, and are waiting for something, and on the internet, you are bound to have a pretty poisonous thread convo ahahahahaha

    I just more or less felt bad for the people who had nothing better to do but wait for it... I mean I know it's anticipated but come on... lol. Ohh well I got some laughs out of reading a few pages.
     
  9. PixelthisMike

    PixelthisMike Well-Known Member

    Nice conspiracy theory but I doubt that's the case :) Apple give devs the option to select a release date specifically so that they can set a date in the future to plan for launch events. They wouldn't then turn around and say "well actually we've decided you can't release on that day".

    I think the most likely scenario is that ngmoco or Hand Circus found a bug (obviously a serious one) very last minute and so had to fix it and resubmit. If this is the case then it is likely that Apple actually helped them out in a big way and rushed the fixed app through review.

    Of course I have no hard evidence for this but this is another viable scenario in which Apple are the good guys and ngmoco/Hand Circus should have tested the game better.

    It's too early to point fingers, simple as that.
     
  10. PixelthisMike

    PixelthisMike Well-Known Member

    Agreed, the direction the thread headed was totally unavoidable and it's a miracle it wasn't a whole lot worse. No point taking it too seriously really, just laugh at the stupidity of them (translation: us :p) all!
     
  11. Retean

    Retean Well-Known Member

    Jun 7, 2009
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    so lemme get this right. Roland 2 came out a day late and your mad? Jesus Christ get some sun
     
  12. PixelthisMike

    PixelthisMike Well-Known Member

    You, and so many others, are missing the point. Yes there are some people who are mad it came out a day late and yes they need to get some sun! However there are many, myself and arhb included, who don't care that it came out late but have an issue with how little communication there was between the potential users and the publisher.
     
  13. Retean

    Retean Well-Known Member

    Jun 7, 2009
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    its a day dude....do you feel they really need to come in here and tell u that it will be out in a few hours? I could see if you were waiting weeks but you were waiting 24 hours. Its not a big deal. Hell its not even an issue worth discussing. Its just people being really anal.
     
  14. doodles

    doodles Member

    Jun 23, 2009
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    Man, there are some really serious gamers out here. Good luck and all. I'm enjoying Rolando 2, and its music.
     
  15. PixelthisMike

    PixelthisMike Well-Known Member

    It's the principle of the thing; keeping your customers well informed and happy. Yes I feel that they should have come in here and let people know what was going on, even if they knew nothing themselves. Or sent out a tweet much earlier. I mean how much effort does that take? At least it would show they were also concerned and help the fans feel more connected with the publisher. It's about public relations not missing a release date. You need to try being in the shoes of those who actually care, which is one extreme, and then take your attitude of not caring at all, and imagine what the middle ground is like. Those who occupy the middle ground would have appreciated being kept in the loop, that's all.
     
  16. Retean

    Retean Well-Known Member

    Jun 7, 2009
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    Release dates and when you show up on apple are different and everyone knows how the app store gets clogged up. They post regularly on our boards and i think do a very good job of keeping their consumers informed. I think people just love to complain about nothing. So it was a few hours late? Do you really need ngmoco to log on to tell you that the apple and the app store do what they want? Was it hard to sleep not knowing the exact minute rolando 2 was coming out? I always wondered if people felt better being the first ones to buy an app since everyones always so big on being the first to post when its released lol. Just calm down and enjoy life
     
  17. PixelthisMike

    PixelthisMike Well-Known Member

    Absolutely, but I do wonder if this was something else? ngmocos tweets seemed to suggest they were working on fixing something. I would be very interested to know what the delay was from a developers perspective :)

    Sadly, there will have been some who lost sleep over this :p And people definately love to complain given even the smallest opportunity, you're certainly right there!

    You might be onto something there as well, the first to get the game (not that you could prove that I would think?), the first to post on TA that the game is released, the first to finish the game, etc. etc. :)

    I think we can both agree that ngmoco was probably flat out trying to sort out the release issue, with the knowledge that a lot of the fans are not as tolerant as you or I! And what with all the hustle and bustle they probably just overlooked letting the fans know, and for this I can absolutely forgive them :)

    And good on them for pricing the game at $10 I say!! It is still a bargain for such a quality game :)
     
  18. Mormoop

    Mormoop Well-Known Member

    May 20, 2009
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    I have to say, your sense of entitlement is way out of whack.

    Sorry to be a jerk but let it go, man. Release dates in the app store change, prices go up and down, and sometimes "extras" or expansions or whatever the publisher says they want to do just won't come to pass. Deal with it.

    If a game you bought has a major flaw that's one thing but you're really out of line with what you're whining about here. And if this little nothing of a matter upset you this much you're going to have a really difficult time navigating your way through adulthood.
     
  19. PixelthisMike

    PixelthisMike Well-Known Member

    Obviously I came across stronger than I realised to have gotten a response like this! Wow! My apologies :)
     
  20. redking31591

    redking31591 Well-Known Member

    May 4, 2009
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    while the direction of the thread went in many interesting ways(I probably have some blame, I had the most posts) I think the fact that so many people stayed up and stayed dedicated to the thread show a level of dedication that is not rivaled by many games or game companies. We were waiting in line in our houses on our computers for something we could download. For those who missed the experience of yesterday and last night's thread, the experience was amazing. The sense of community was very strong and I felt at points that we were all in the same room bickering and waiting. The thread had a little of everything, Sexy Dance Parties, Snuggys, Monty Python, and more. We discuss Hodapp's hotdog and all did a little detective work with arn. Not many communities, online or not, could have had the same wonderful experience. While I'm disappointed it took so long for the game to come out, I for one am glad it didn't come out right away because we would have missed a few good laughs along the way. . But I do wish that ngmoco would have been a little more transparent in what was going on. We knew they we watching us but they said nothing.Here's Mr. Number One signing off from the epicness that was last night. Go Snuggys!!!!
     

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