Sky Gnomes - (by Foursaken Media) [Universal]

[Foursaken_Media]

Originally Posted by C.Hannum

Found a floating point number bug with my rank, think I'm going to be stuck at Contender for a VERY long time

Hehe.... Yeah that one is fixed in this upcoming update.

[Asasnator]

Originally Posted by C.Hannum

Found a floating point number bug with my rank, think I'm going to be stuck at Contender for a VERY long time

Don't worry, just keep playing. You don't actually have to get that many points to rank up. I had that as well, and I eventually ranked up without actually getting that many points. Just play for a few more days and you'll get past it.

[Ayjona]

Why, oh, why did I just purchase Sky Gnomes? I should have known better than to ever download a Foursaken Media title again. Why did I do this to myself? Again!

I mean... I was an active part of the Bug Heroes community (though never a skilled one)... I started the Bug Heroes Wiki. I pounded the floor of every arena, with every hero, and bit the giant-sized grass till my Spider was as swollen as Beetle. I wrote long, nerdy posts about my hopes for an online competitive mode. I was there.

The words "a bug-free, smooth, competitive Highflyer Deathdefyer with brilliant online integration and clever controls" should have been warning enough.

I should have known. I should have remembered. I should have learned from my past mistakes. I should have been wary.

But alas for my current research project, journalist work, productivity, music career and literary ambitions, I chose to forget, and threw caution to the solar winds like a gnome without his engine.

And now, I can't stop falling...

Originally Posted by Foursaken_Media

1v1 battle mode out!!

Might we eventually see a true realtime multiplayer mode? If so, three cheers for Foursaken, as, in spite of the enormous charm and convenience of asynchronous challenges, this is one of the very few things I can think of that could truly expand the scope and appeal of Sky Gnomes

And, if so, might we see collision physics for the players? It would be SOOOO much fun (though durned hard) to tackle and drive each other into storm clouds, ice blocks, and out of landing pads.

EDIT: And if that rainy day where there is nothing left to code ever comes, a simple character customization engine where we change the appearance of our gnomes with stuff purchased for relatively low prices (as compared to upgrades), and then have those gnomes displayed when other players view our profiles, would probably both add to the longevity of the unlock and upgrade system (more stuff to spend on), and add a little extra to Sky Gnomes' communal sense.

[GeekyDad]

Skydiving gnomes are cute and all, but where's the sequel to NY Zombies?

[eev]

well updates and so on are cool but i would rather see some tweaks in the game. at first the whole situation with clouds and so on is unfair and more important it makes game unplayable on some maps. the best times on city and night maps are only possible if the path is more or less free. otherwise it is a bit complicated to avoid all clouds and make runs. more important sometimes at start or after checkpoints there are a lot of clouds so it's basically impossible to avoid them. even more important is that the game is extremely laggy on these levels on iphone 4 if there are a lot of clouds, it's really unplayable. would be really cool if level generations could be changed or performance improved.

[C.Hannum]

Originally Posted by eev

at first the whole situation with clouds and so on is unfair and more important it makes game unplayable on some maps. the best times on city and night maps are only possible if the path is more or less free. otherwise it is a bit complicated to avoid all clouds and make runs. more important sometimes at start or after checkpoints there are a lot of clouds so it's basically impossible to avoid them.

Uh?

Clouds are part of the game, randomness is part of the game, the game even includes trinkets to turn clouds into a boon instead of a penalty, so other than whatever iPhone 4 hangup a couple of people have claimed exists, I fail to have any clue what you're going on about. The only real problem it's that trinkets need to be better balanced such that load out relative to the weather plus skill has more to do with getting better times instead of waiting for an optimal weather layout for one of the teeny handful of vastly superior trinket combos, but clouds being inherently unfair? Ridiculous.

[eev]

Originally Posted by C.Hannum

Uh?

huhuh. all i am saying that some of layouts are too unfair, there is also an example. what is the problem, layouts or trinket balance is a whole different question. also more important are performance problems, so read before making ridiculous comments.

[Ayjona]

Originally Posted by DaviddesJ

Yet, that can only motivate a very small number of potential purchasers, since only a small fraction can be at or close to the top. A marketing strategy that makes you intensely excited about the game (but you still only pay $0.99) is going to be less effective than one that motivates a much larger number of "ordinary" users. That is the real challenge.

Originally Posted by DaviddesJ

But, even within any group, only a small fraction can be the best within their group.

To me, the trick is to have a measure of performance and an achievable goal of improvement, but not to try to motivate people primarily by a desire to be at the top, because the number for whom that is achievable is so limited.

Very good points. Luckily, Sky Gnomes is built to adress them. Unless you have an uncharacteristically good run, and as a result end up in a group far beyond your skill level, you (and all other little gnomes borne aloft by the promise of a golden cup, even if earned among the tardiest of opponents) will always have a rather good chance to end up among the top 30% (which to my mind, and those of both established mathematicians, statisticians and linguists, is more than "a small fraction" ), if you run enough races. The game adds a certain though rather small amount of random to the skill and upgrade aspects of winning each race, and with enough attempts, this small deviation can be exploited to land yourself in the first three chart positions of your groups often enough for the game to feel rewarding for players of probably just about any skill levels, pathetically lacking or impressively cracking though they might be

I (never one to play any game long or hard enough to develop any serious levels of skill, if I could at all) am currently mucking about in the silver league, and find that while a few races are rarely enough for me to move into medal contention, and stay firmly put, 10-20 almost always are. More talented pals of mine report that while they might occasionally land in a group a bit beyond the absolute limits of their skill plus the elements of randomness of the azure skies in which they plummet, one bad day will always send them back to a group where they feel comfortable.

In contrast, for those truly wishing to compete for the top spots, the high-end races feature enough skill and carefully customized loadouts that the elements of chance and chaos dwindle and give way to Gabrien- and Asasnator-like exhibits of talent and daring

As a result, the daily tournaments reward effort, in addition to skill. Given that these two elements of participation are the only two which can ever be rewarded with consistency and fairness in any competitive environment, Foursaken seems to have hit a rather sweet spot. And will probably therefore appeal to just the large number of "ordinary users" you speak of, as long as the mechanics and phenomena I describe above become apparent. Perhaps Foursaken could be more clear on this point, that there is competition to be had in the daily group tournaments for just about anyone, but I found it self-evident and obvious enough. I have seen better examples of "measure of performance and an achievable goal of improvement" (and there is much that could be done to improve the communal and even the competitive aspects of Sky Gnomes), but few for the platform.

[Asasnator]

good freaking night.....lol I FINALLY beat thomas__ms's record on Night Cup he had a 36.65 seconds...well I finally got 35.79 seconds! Like to see someone try to beat that =p

Things that NEED to be addressed are:
1.The shield not protecting against wind (though I think they already said they would fix that).

2. Need to be able to change the weather at our whim because I REALLY do not like wasting minutes of my time to fly through an immense amount of clouds with blizzard like wind conditions on the City or Night cup...its just not fun at all, almost makes me want to quit sometimes. Also if EVERYONE is able to change the weather at their whim, then its hardly "gaming the system" because we all get to pick the weather condition that we find the best to get our best record.

3. You MUST implement this, you need to make the power-ups GLOW so that they can be seen through the clouds and the floating rocks. I hate it when I'm going max speed and a cloud covers up the power up that I was going for and I have to guess where it is underneath the cloud, not fun because I normally NEVER hit it.

4. Need to make it possible to where we can remove the effect of the falling into a non-stormy cloud. When I run into a cloud it makes me go significantly slower for a LONG time...their needs to be an easy way to get rid of that affect, I would suggest maybe something like having to "twirl the throttle" around in circles two or three times to remove the affect quicker. Also would be nice if you could add some way to give us a little boost, not a big one, but a little boost for when we hit a rock and get dizzied, possibly have it be something like quickly moving the throttle back and forth twice to give us a small boost so we aren't just falling a small 1 mph. Even with these adjustments to the gameplay I really doubt it will affect the likeliness of us using the respective trinkets to completely avoid these effect entirely, because they have already been outdated by different and better trinkets, so this could only add to the playing experience. Also you could just simply make those trinkets more appealing by giving them a significantly larger boost or some other beneficial effect.

Overall, awesome game though I hope to see an update soon addressing some of these issues.

[C.Hannum]

Originally Posted by eev

huhuh. all i am saying that some of layouts are too unfair, there is also an example. what is the problem, layouts or trinket balance is a whole different question. also more important are performance problems, so read before making ridiculous comments.

I read, and re-read, and re-read a third time because I couldn't believe I was reading what I was reading and, again, your "point" is ridiculous. The clouds and layouts are not even tangentially related to the concept of fairness or balanced unless you somehow believe that you always receive a non-randomized layout that penalizes relative to others.