Storm the Train - (by Chillingo Ltd)[Universal]

[Themagicjesus]

Originally Posted by LeeH

Hi Gabrien

Sorry to hear you don't like our IAP strategy. I thought I'd try to address your points.

Superfluous dual currency: I don't think I'd call the stars a currency really. Yes, you can buy them (to jump ahead of the curve) but you never spend them. They are our mechanism for unlocking content as you play through the game and are similar to a level/xp mechanic.

Huge reward imbalance: we tried very hard to make sure this wasn't the case as it is really important to us that it is *not* grindy. Have we got it all right? No, probably not so any specific feedback would be very welcome because we want to sort it out.

Sharp difficulty spike: again, if there are balance issues then we're here to fix them.

New life prompt: hmm, I never thought of it as a pestering prompt. We tried to make sure that the cost was cheap enough that it is well within the amount of coins likely collected during a pretty swift play session and the prompt is only up for 5 seconds. We'll give this some thought - skippability is certainly a good idea.

Just ignore Gabrien. Half of the things he says are ridiculously over exaggerated.

While I usually stay away from Chillingo games because I feel they usually are freemium, this is a big step in the right direction. It's fun, has a good amount of upgrades and rewards, and I haven't had any trouble getting coins.

[GeekyDad]

Originally Posted by Themagicjesus

Just ignore Gabrien. Half of the things he says are ridiculously over exaggerated.

Opinionated? Sure. But reading his posts for a few months now, I feel his opinions are credible.

It's free, so I'm glad to try it, but based on past experience alone, I don't find his impressions of this type of game to be all that unexpected, really. And hopefully the devs do listen.

[psj3809]

Originally Posted by Themagicjesus

Just ignore Gabrien. Half of the things he says are ridiculously over exaggerated.

While I usually stay away from Chillingo games because I feel they usually are freemium, this is a big step in the right direction. It's fun, has a good amount of upgrades and rewards, and I haven't had any trouble getting coins.

I agree i wouldnt ignore Gabrien, too many people just think of his negative comments rather than positives ones. He is right a lot of times but with a huge wide range of players here with different tastes its worth giving it a go, i mean its free anyway. Some of the threads on this main page i cant believe people are interested in but again, we all have different tastes.

I kinda know what i get with Chillingo. Lock n Load was a great dual stick shooter (with IAP's) and this seems similar. Yes this ones 'free' and i will buy an IAP as i feel the games worth it, perhaps later i will get frustrated and start moaning about freemium/being 'forced' to buy things but again often in these threads on a Thursday morning its about first impressions and so far i'm enjoying it.

Granted i really love Contra style games, run n jump's, so i do like this one. I would like to know how much Gabrien has played this one, eg if hes reached 'level 5' and its forcing him to buy IAP's then fair enough. I feel some people do say 'no' the second they know its freemium (Not saying Gabrien, just other TA gamers), i say give this a try and see how you get on. With a lot of games you might hit the 'paywall' and then just move onto another game anyway.

As a run n jump fan i'll be giving this a lot of attention

[Gabrien]

@psj: I don't know, are there levels in this game? As a rough estimate I'd say I've put in a bit over an hour or so. For what it's worth, I've enjoyed the core gameplay enough to persevere past the point of reasonable doubt as to the game's design ethos.

Bottom line: I find this to be very much the typical example of what's wrong with freemium gaming: an experience primarily designed to extract payment from the player, as opposed to primarily deliver optimal gaming experience.

The stand out factor in this instance happens to be that the gameplay itself is highly promising and potentially very enjoyable. More's the pity.

[psj3809]

Originally Posted by Gabrien

@psj: I don't know, are there levels in this game? As a rough estimate I'd say I've put in a bit over an hour or so. For what it's worth, I've enjoyed the core gameplay enough to persevere past the point of reasonable doubt as to the game's design ethos.

Bottom line: I find this to be very much the typical example of what's wrong with freemium gaming: an experience primarily designed to extract payment from the player, as opposed to primarily deliver optimal gaming experience.

The stand out factor in this instance happens to be that the gameplay itself is highly promising and potentially very enjoyable. More's the pity.

Ta for letting me know, to be fair i havent played for an hour, been away, installed it this morning and had a few goes.

Like you say theres different types of freemium, some are 'light' and often 'here dev heres 69p', others are 'hold on a second, you want me to buy that 'super bazooka for 1.99 or i cant continue' which can be a pain !

I'll see how i get on !

[syntheticvoid]

I... am thoroughly enjoying this one. I love the star/level/xp system, and earning coins to upgrade everything as it's unlocked and you complete objectives is great. I haven't had one upgrade when I couldn't afford something, and right now, I've got 5k coins waiting to be spent once my next upgrades are unlocked...

I'm really thinking about buying the coin doubler... not because I feel it's needed, but because I feel that I've enjoyed the game enough to toss the devs a couple dollars... it also helps that there wasn't really anything else released this week that caught my attention. =oP

Right now, I'm at level 28 (star level...) - and with the amount of upgrades, and how they're all worked into the game, along with the crazy amount of coins you can get - I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. I really hope Chillingo sees that this is how games need to be balanced to keep a foot in the freemium scene. =oD

[tops2]

Hm..don't know I'm the only one that gets this bug... On my iPod touch 5, the interface is all messed up. It looks like the full screen and menus are too big to fit in the iPod touch screen. Things are chopped off, and I can't see most of the menus buttons. Some of the buttons that I can see are chopped off.

[C.Hannum]

Originally Posted by tops2

Hm..don't know I'm the only one that gets this bug... On my iPod touch 5, the interface is all messed up. It looks like the full screen and menus are too big to fit in the iPod touch screen. Things are chopped off, and I can't see most of the menus buttons. Some of the buttons that I can see are chopped off.

I got the same "bug" on my 5G touch, game was rapidly deleted as it's at least one update short of actually working.

[C.Hannum]

Originally Posted by Themagicjesus

Just ignore Gabrien. Half of the things he says are ridiculously over exaggerated.

I'm in your camp. I put him on ignore ages ago. Sure, if he does have a positive opinion about something that's a good sign since he's pretty much impossible to please, but others will quote or reference the positive opinion saving me the trouble of reading it directly. Otherwise, it's nothing but a seemingly infinite conga line of semi trucks carrying overly serious sour lemons. I'd just as soon save myself the trouble of voluntarily exposing myself to that level of negativity and pessimism just to read about the one game in fifty that meets the Gabrien lofty approval standards.

[psj3809]

Originally Posted by Themagicjesus

Just ignore Gabrien. Half of the things he says are ridiculously over exaggerated.

Errr so you've been here for 2 months, handful of posts yet you seem to know 'half the things' hes said ?

People will have different views, the dev wrote a great post above addressing some of Gabriens criticisms. Thankfully the dev didnt think 'just ignore his comments' as that would be stupid. Hes taken the criticism on board and has replied which is great.