Traveller AR - Space-based iPhone MMORPG --> Special early adopter price $0.99!

[oooooomonkey]

Is The tutorial good enough for a total noob (me) to understand how to play? As the trailer looked really confusing.

[Ssylex]

I've run into a bit of an issue that I can't resolve on my own. When hitting the "play" button for the first time, I accidentally canceled the tutorial. I can't seem to get it back, and I'm completely lost. I managed to find my way to a space station in Jewell, but only by flying towards what I THOUGHT looked like a planet.

Anyone know how to get the tutorial back?

[cserrett]

Originally Posted by Ssylex

Anyone know how to get the tutorial back?

If you exit back out to the main menu, select "Help" and it'll put you in the tutorial.

[magihiro]

Originally Posted by cserrett

I'm one of the developers working on the game. We had a problem today where we got alot of new players, and we had to add two more servers to handle the load, unfortunately the servers were not setup entirely correctly - so that meant the game would be working - until you got switched to the "bad" server, and the api would crash. We got that straightened out. That was a "major" problem, but we're also working through a whole series of additional problems - problems that weren't evident back when we were developing and testing with a handful of testers. We're trying to smooth things out, and there will be a series of updates coming down the pipe. One update is in the apple pipeline, should be out around saturday.

This game is in "beta" stage, so people reporting bugs, even if its just "Its crashing like hell!" is good, although more specific info like "it crashes when I select my ship, called "The Terminator" - would be better, so we can test specific ships.

And once we get the bugs ironed out, then we got a whole series of new features we'll be adding to the game. This isn't a "lets put this out and make some money, then drop it and move on to the next game" type deal - we're committed to growing and evolving this game.

And once the game gets stable and works well - the price will be going up. But those who bought it at the current 99 cents, will continue to get updated at no extra cost. Not a bad deal for 99 cents, I would say.

Perhaps maybe you should note in the app info that it is in beta? I don't think it's fair for people to buy what they think is a finished product when, really, they're testing it for you.

[Cromwell]

Hoi cserrett !

Nice to have you here with us !

I expected that it will have bugs and that smooth gameplay is not given, when I bought it.
I have no problem with that. It is an open beta, so we help you finding the bugs. On the other hand I pay less than others and can become part of the development process, I take part in shaping this game
Or more elaborately: I'm part of the hammer which forges the blank into a masterpiece ^^

Ok, here are more or less important issues which should be addressed soon:

1.) Better navigation, more steering options and more precision.

2.) Knowing exactly where I am and whereto I am flying.

3.) Universal App. --> Sharper Graphics, bigger screen.

4.) The system map is not very uselful. I can't see in which direction I am flying to and sometimes my ship "vanishes" on the map. It can happen that when you zoom in, that you only see some of the planets/stars when you move the map and hold your finger on the screen. Otherwise the map is centered and objects at the borders of a sector are not on the screen anymore.
Pinch to zoom is not working very good because the sensitivity is too high.

5.) In Cockpit view: Give the objects in space a name or add symbols or whatever —> More information about what I am seeing and what
is out there in space. Otherwise I have no clue where I am flying to.

The cockpit hud is somehow distorted/twisted and thefore the font is not readable

Ok, that's it for now. More later!

[cserrett]

Originally Posted by magihiro

Perhaps maybe you should note in the app info that it is in beta? I don't think it's fair for people to buy what they think is a finished product when, really, they're testing it for you.

Yes you are correct. I pointed that out to marketing this morning. On the traveller-ar.com website, we state it as beta. But whoever gave apple the info, left it out.

I'm not too happy about that.

[cserrett]

> 1.) Better navigation, more steering options and more precision.

yes, right now the "navigation", such as it is, is a bit haphazard. You touch the screen, and you go flying in that direction. And if you do what I usually do - is put the phone down momentarily to do something - then forget - the come back 15 minutes later - I find that I'm so far out that the sun is a tiny dot in the distance. And then it takes 15 minutes to fly all the way back. And then I repeat the process - and end up a zillion miles out in the other direction.


> 2.) Knowing exactly where I am and whereto I am flying.

Thats been a persistent problem - that has kept getting pushed to the bottom of the "todo" list, cause other issues, like crashes - keep getting put on the top of "to do" lists. We're a very small company, and we don't have a staff like you would see at Blizzard or some other big game company.

3.) Universal App. --> Sharper Graphics, bigger screen.

There is a hidef version of the map - I use it on my ipad. Its beeeauuutiful! Too bad no one else can get it. But the "AR" part of the game still needs some work before it becomes suitable as a ipad release, and some of the models have to be redone at a higher resolution. The intent was to make all art ipad ready - but in the urgency to make our milestones, things were overlooked, or had to be overlooked.

> 4.) The system map is not very uselful. I can't see in which direction I am flying to and sometimes my ship "vanishes" on the map. It can happen that when you zoom in, that you only see some of the planets/stars when you move the map and hold your finger on the screen. Otherwise the map is centered and objects at the borders of a sector are not on the screen anymore.
Pinch to zoom is not working very good because the sensitivity is too high.

Yes the map has several features that are planned for it - that I have not had time to get to. Its going to become MUCH more useful over the coming few weeks.

5.) Give the objects in space a name or add symbols or whatever in cockpit view. ---> More information about what I am seeing and what is out there in space. Otherwise I have no clue where I am flying to.

Yes we have several ideas bouncing around here on what to add to make navigation easier. You can currently double click on planets and stuff, and it'll pop up its name over it - but I find that feature a bit hit and miss. I think the hot spots get too small sometimes if you're too far away. "Finger" presses aren't nearly as exact as a "mouse click". One thing I would like is for the space stations to have blinking beacons, so you can see them from way off.

[Ssylex]

Originally Posted by cserrett

If you exit back out to the main menu, select "Help" and it'll put you in the tutorial.

Ah, okay. Thanks. I'd read the help screens before starting the game. I guess that I was still a little bewildered as to what I should be doing once I start piloting my ship.

Is there any sort of map for the system you're in? Or a list of entities in the system, with distances? For instance, without flying around blindly, looking for very small entities on the horizon, how would I know one was there?

[Cromwell]

Ah I forgot, that I cannot press the "Go to" button when I choose a destination on the map and this popup goes up. When I press on the popup it just closes. But only when I don't press " Go to"...

[cserrett]

> Or a list of entities in the system, with distances?

Not in the game yet. It is available in our administration software, but something like that will be getting put into the game.

> Ah I forgot, that I cannot press the "Go to" button

That feature apparently stopped working at some point in time. We need to look at it again and get it fixed.

The ipad version of the map - I use it to help with development. Not only is it (much) bigger - it also scrolls faster than the iphone does.