FeedBack Thread- Version 0.0.5

[blackwiggle]

New version out folks.
Two new tracks to play on, New York Night time, and New York Reverse.
FF now has a pre race track Fly Over, like HD.
Menu has been updated
Lot's of textural upgrades to New York forward day time

I've just had a brief trial run....will give it a long workout later today....but, so far.

Handling - Quite a big improvement....not quite up to Wipout standard as yet, but certainly heading in the right direction :+:D ...craft still feel a bit light weight to me.

I only tried to use the rocket, but the weapon energy bar never filled, so I had Zero weapons on all three tracks.

The reverse track is going to be a great track to race on, it seems a lot wider than forward....R8 states that their a 7 lighting effects not working ATM on this track....still a work in progress...it was pretty much blurry for the entire race when I tried it [I'll try different settings to see if that changes]

Night time racing - I won't spoil it, but there is a cool effect on all the craft......The night time track has a WET look to it, so lots of reflections both on the track and to some extent above [Stinkleroy - not as bad as the Glassy Fury tracks we both loathe, but I'm getting worried]......when hitting a speed pad, a lighting effect on the crafts nose like going through the sound barrier happens, sort of like a flash.....I don't know...seems a bit OTT to me....would be a PITA racing at Phantom with that happening all the time IMHO...see what you think of it.

Ok folks, get your update and try it out!

[blackwiggle]

Here's some video of the Night track
https://vimeo.com/137035299

[MegaGeeza22]

It looks epic!

[blackwiggle]

They have given us [TPP people] 3 new tracks to try out and give comments on, they are really bare basic tracks [they make the special tracks on WO3 look fleshed out in comparison]

I'm not sure if those that are not in the TPP can view them, there's nothing really to get excited about, as there is a very strong chance that they would be changed considerably before any real effort was put into building them up, the thing that surprised me was just how long two of the three tracks were, we are talking tracks like the 3rd iteration of the WO Fusion tracks....they were long.

[Cipher]

The mails that have been sent out state that it's a private build, so no, we're not allowed to publicly share them ;)

i find it hard to test them though, i keep flying out and they don't have a Z-volume installed (which is strange, as it should be default in UDK), so it's an infinity fall :p
Overall physics feel a lot better than before, but the air brakes are in my opinion still not responsive enough, there also seems to be a bit of input latency in the new build, still not sure how i feel about the steering either

Cipher

[Lion]

the ini files now accept settings that make the game playable for me, yay! (aspect ratio correction)
the handling definitely feels more manageable in this build, and the new tracks are interesting...
I really like NY Night because I have a MUCH easier time telling where the track goes. In the day one there's not enough contrast between the grey buildings and grey track. Night has those lights along the edges. The QA/TPP test tracks are interesting, but it's making it more and more apparent that there need to be some kind of cheats available in these test builds... like a quick restart race button and/or a reset to track button. Especially when you can not just fly over, but pass through walls in certain places

[blackwiggle]

Have you got your monitor[s] calibrated?
I don't find the NY Forward Day has any contrast problems, I can see you might have a problem with the reverse track because of the warning given at the top left of the screen, saying 7 things have yet to have the intended lighting applied to them.
I have a problem with the speed blur effect when you run over the speed pads, on the reverse track particularly , if you run over every one in a lap, nearly the entire lap is out of focus/blurred........really, really annoying, I hope we will be able to turn this effect, and the flash of the crafts nose on the Night track, off in options, in the full game

[blackwiggle]

Strange going's on at the Formula Fusion forum, the moderator and developer VARSH has said he's left R8......:?::?

[AdHoc]

Doesn't bode well... but it could mean anything.

The joys of fundraising...

[stinkleroy]

That's a bit weird, Varsh leaving (or being fired, all speculation). Wonder who's going to run the site now :/

[Hellfire_WZ]

Indeed, that's now the second community manager R8 have had. He said it was his own decision. Anyway, let's not descend into speculation over reasons.

[xtriko]

Still no internal view right? Still off the game.

[dreadofmondays]

Indeed, that's now the second community manager R8 have had.

How curious. One must wonder what exactly they're doing in there.

[rdmx]

I know you said not to descend into speculation... but I reckon R8 are out of money.

They got less than 400 TPP signups. Let's be optimistic and say that everyone bought the TPP Gold pack, 13.99 GBP x 400 = ~ 5600 GBP. Some people probably only bought Bronze, some may have bought the 'E-Sports' pack, but that will do as an average.
Their kickstarter earned 79,656 GBP.

I'm not too sure how big the R8 Games team are, but that's not a terribly large amount of money to go around, especially since they've got licensed music & TDR involved.

The pre-alpha release on Steam Early Access was more or less a final attempt to get some funding, and Varsh more or less said that circumstances forced as much.

Varsh has (rightfully) bailed before **** hits the fan.

[blackwiggle]

You could be correct, but then again........ I know Varsh said he had moved into a new place to work for R8, and a lot of his gear was still at his old place a few hundred miles away.
After re reading his explanation, I kind of get the feeling that there was a personal fallout between him and a other[s] over the weekend, what that was about I suspect we will never know, I'm guessing it was probably a combo of the frustration of moving abode and the tech problems he walked into and tried to sort that brought things to a head.......when he said, "I will not be returning to R8" made me think it was kind of personnel differences.

Anyway, life goes on, I wish him all the best, he seems like a genuinely nice person.

[stinkleroy]

Still nothing over at the FF forum, some people are still having trouble accessing the new test tracks and there's nobody to help them :/

[Hellfire_WZ]

I'm also getting concerned that there has been almost no activity on the forums from anyone for the last couple of days.

[Rupang]

Is it me or is the site is down?

Edit: Oh it's back again...never mind.

Edit 2: NOPE! IT'S DOWN!

[Hellfire_WZ]

"This account has been suspended"

Something really isn't right here.

[AdHoc]

WipEout will prevail. Just not through this.

[Hellfire_WZ]

R8 just posted on social media, updates on the situation next week

[blackwiggle]

Damage control I would suspect at the forum, and a restructuring of sorts elsewhere.
I'd stop posting at the forum as I saw no point since there was nobody there to reply....I guess others felt the same.

From Varsh's post on the situation, there has been some fundamental errors made in setting up the infrastructure of the TPP / Kickstarter / Early access on Steam, especially with some people having both TPP and Kickstarter....then which Kickstarter they have bought, and their preferred platform for the finished game [or changing it].....and in lost access keys, keys that don't work, people who have lost their emails stating which Kickstarter package they bought...etc..etc..etc

Compound that with now having had two people trying to sort it, then giving up....I certainly wouldn't want to try and sort that mess out

I'm guess suspending the forum, downing tools, sorting all the account details and fixing it properly before it gets any worse, is what they are trying to do......well one would hope that's what they are doing.

If it's not that, then I'm expecting news saying something along the lines of the project has been put on hold till further notice.

[terra-wrists]

mmmmmmehhhhhhhh!!!

[blackwiggle]

The Forum is back up....no explanation for it's suspension that I could find....go figure.

[terra-wrists]

I think i'm gonna give FF a miss... seriously i'm not feeling the direction the game is taking.

I'll stick to wipEout HD Fury, if I can get a TV sorted that is - if not - goodbye wipEout :) we had fun while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end.

[JFthebestJan]

@ terra: you don't need a TV, a fast PC monitor is sufficient. if i remember correctly, you bought that badass machine recently. you surely have a decent monitor for it, right? i played PS3 exclusively on a fast gaming monitor in 2011-2014 ;)

btt: probably the game doesn't get finished at all now. i mean, it's a long way from version 0.05 to 1.00!

[Cipher]

@JF unless he got a better monitor that supports a higher resolution than 1080p (which would mean it's not HDMI), but yes, it's definitely worth checking Mosh, if you have an HDMI port at the back of your monitor, plug that sucker in! :D

And game dev takes a long time guys, especially with a small team, i'm sure the game will continue development ;)

Cipher

[terra-wrists]

I did try, and PS3 came on etc - but when I tried to load wipeout - the screen just froze out on me... also, i ahve to work out a way to get sound on it. My speakers are plugged into the PC and don't plug into the PS3 - and there is no port for speakers on the monitor :(

I think I will just have to wait - or give up. The only reason for me to have a TV is wipEout - I don't watch TV at all.

As for FF... i honestly don't like the direction of it... but will wait until official release to really make my mind up on it. truth be told, I'm way more excited about rollcage.

[JFthebestJan]

i almost always mute the ps3s sound and listen to internet radio instead. ;)
but the ps3 gives you the option to split the video and sound output to different connections. example: video = hdmi; audio = av connector

[terra-wrists]

Thanks JF... I'm just so bad at setting up stuff like this - kinda dyslexic when it comes to hardware... software though, is all good :D

I'll get some help from a friend soon.

[Temet]

Before having a TV, I had the PS3 connected a PC monitor via a HDMI<->DVI cable (no HDMI input on my monitor) and the sound was going to my 2.1 sound system via the other output (not the optical, the other one, don't remember the name).

EDIT : oh sorry, I just realized it's completely of topic, my bad :paperbag

[rdmx]

New Facebook post regarding the 'radio silence'.
https://www.facebook.com/R8Games/posts/987614194594442

(recommend reading the post on facebook as it has formatting)



So. Apologies for the radio silence, it was not intentional. We had to make a few tweaks in the office recently including letting a few people go in favour of concentrating on the core development side of things and protecting the product. That included Aaron, the community manager (unfortunately) as it was felt that we could cover that aspect, at least until we have a more stable cash flow. I think you can all appreciate that staying independent is a rough task and to get this point is no mean feat, but I made the mistake of ramping up too early to try and meet the demand for content on steam and this was the consequence. I believe in being honest so that's why I am making this announcement.
Since we delivered on Early Access, which was a version of the game that represented moving out of pre-production and into production, I will be honest with you, we ‘were’ expecting more sales – but at the same time we fully realised the predicament we had put ourselves in - going out at the high price point we set – which was in reaction to our kickstarter campaign and not wanting to piss you good people off. In doing so we kind of shot ourselves in the foot. The content doesn’t justify the price point (I think that’s pretty obvious) – but still – we’ve had a great reaction so far and we also have nearly 5500 people with the game on their wish list, which is fantastic and whilst content is a concern we have proven we have a good base to work from.
We are continuing to look at how we can balance that and for now we have brought forward our plans to sort the multiplayer side of it out, which seems an important side of the game and one that I hope (along with new content) will encourage more sales. You will also see more craft designs which we will nail down based on your input (we do read everything). It is also very important to us that we feed the QA/Test Pilot resource we have and I will communicate the plan on how we will do this with you as a sort of promise from us to you.
We may make a temporary price reduction on Steam soon to try and attract a new adopters but we also need to make sure that people that have parted with hard earned cash don’t feel disadvantaged, so we will work with you on that.
As an independent studio we have to react month by month – strategically – to make sure there’s enough cash in the vaults to support our plans, it’s a constant juggling act based on our ambitions and the reality of where we are right now. I always said I would prop up the studio by selling equity if needed but recently we had to stem the costs of the studio and bring things back in line with a more realistic approach until we get the level of investment we need to push on like crazy people again.
This week I have been trying hard to join the dots up to guarantee the console versions and the box versions and to set an ETA and I have made quite a bit of progress – it’s too early to let you know the details but I am hoping for more news early/mid next week. Making sure these products are secure means we can focus more on the core PC product. No one wants to develop hand to mouth and I am hoping that next week I will also have news to guarantee the full product in time with our plan for early Q2 next year. I can tell you that as part of the PC side we are also looking to deliver a MAC version – this will also be confirmed.
Kickstarter lit the fire and as I always said the journey at times may be hard. But for the £71k or so that we got from that campaign we should soon be able to give you a secure full product road map with all the things we had planned including the stretch goals.
Please have a little patience – we will get there..
Best,
Andrew.

[blackwiggle]

It's all very well releasing this statement on Facebook, but they haven't even bothered to mention any of this at their own FF forum [14 hours after Facebook post], which makes me think that basically that forum will not be moderated any more or queries answered [due to financial constraints / lack of personnel], and that no feeback to people still suffering technical problems will be dealt with any time soon.

If that is the case, it makes the FF forum defunct, and people will stop posting at it.......which logically will stem any feedback, which defeats the purpose of the TPP.

A catch 22 situation if ever there was one.

Maybe they should ask for a volunteer to work as moderator, they would have to be UK based obviously and have the trust of the R8 team.

Leaving things as they are now at the FF forum is like leaving a pristine blank wall to a bunch of graffiti vandals, it's going to get filled with unsightly OT posts as nobody will know the answers, that's if anybody continues to bother to post at it.....rather pointless if there is no feeback from R8, as everything posted would be pure conjecture

[terra-wrists]

I've noticed a massive drop in members visiting the FF forum since this hiccup.

[stinkleroy]

Yup, well why would people visit if nobody is there to answer their questions? Seems odd that they posted their update everywhere but the forum. I might send them a message to see what's happening and if they need a hand. I've got a lot of spare time lol.

[Cipher]

They've always kind of neglected everything but facebook, they NEED a community manager to cover all the most important social media, but especially, as mentioned, your own freaking forum, you've asked all pilots to sign up there and now you're ignoring them?? What??
They need a better manager.

Cipher

[terra-wrists]

I've lost confidence in R8 games... its a good thing I didnt back the KS programme. If management is this bad now... well, forget it.

[Lion]

They've always kind of neglected everything but facebookI called them out on that on twitter (https://twitter.com/NZLion/status/590861886536552449) in April, they stated they were going to improve but everything on there is still just facebook links :(

[Cipher]

I did that too lol, but yeah i saw it as well, it's funny because some of the facebook exported ones are messed up :p

@Mosh i'm just going to give it time and see where it goes for now ;)

Cipher