Hmmm...i thought it would go well, but apparently it's different then Would it be hard to add green/magenta support to the next version? I love Ground Effect's normal mode too, but i bought it over the competition because i felt its 3d features were groundbreaking. Anyway, it's just a personal request...if it isn't hard to do, i would love to see a magenta/green version in the next version Let's keep our fingers crossed... Fede
V1.1 already supports magenta/green glasses, it's the third option in the glasses selection menu. V1.2 will work better with all of the different glasses types though.
Great to hear about the 3D tweaking. Although I use non-3D for "scoring", I really enjoy the 3D effect. The "sensations" are a lot stronger and the drifting feels more present. So looking forward to OF...
Definitely b). I find nothing more irritating than achievements not retro-actively triggering. Just make the bronze and silver point values significantly less than the gold, imo.
But the 1st "achievement" is getting a bronze medal, if I came first or second in a race I would not have "achieved" winning a bronze medal would I? I tend to agree though, people would be far happier to see two or three achievements fly past at the end of the race than to have to race again so i'll be doing it that way I guess...
Yeah I know what you mean, but the way I see it - If I get a Silver Medal, then it's a fact that I am able to achieve a bronze medal, so I should get that award too. I know World of Warcraft, and lots of other OF enabled iPhone games operate in that way. Also, weird, superfluous achievements rule. I often spend more time doing them than playing 'seriously' in games. OH WAIT. You're talking about an achievement like "Win a Bronze Medal in any Race" - like, any one bronze medal across the game? That I could deal with. I thought we were talking about track-specific Gold Silver Bronze achievements.
I'd rather see a system where you get medals/points for 3rd, 2nd 1st place, and as you accumlate podium finishes your total score determines your rank, so that the highest rank will be unlocked with gold for each track. (On top of that, individual achievements for achieving gold , which is the only one that makes sense without ever making anything else lesser redundant). Just my two pence!
With Openfeint you can have up to 100 achievements with a number of points attached to each. I've added a few more interesting ones but there are also bronze, silver, gold and 'you beat the beta testers' (which means 'Jeep for a lot of the tracks) for each level. It also has leaderboards for each level and a leaderboard for total time (with 10:00.00 added for each uncompleted track).
The Openfeint version is ready for test. PM me if you would like to try this out. We only need a few extra testers. We are looking for: 1) Anyone still running 2.2.1 2) People who are good at Ground Effect, so we can stress test the achievements and cumulative leaderboards. 3) Anyone who is really into Openfeint. If any of these appeal to you, PM me and you could be one of the first on the leaderboards. We probably only need a little testing for a few days. Promo codes will be given to any beta tester who actually plays the game and finishes most of the levels and/or gives any useful feedback. Thanks in advance.
Voting's nearly over in 148apps' big annual app contest and Ground Effect has made the final cut in the 'best racing game' category with really stiff competition from some big names. Go on! Vote for the indie underdog! HERE
Ground Effect 1.2 has been submitted to Apple. It features: Openfeint leaderboards for every level as well as total time for all levels (10 minutes added for unfinished races) and 59 achievements with over 700 gamerscore. It also has a little mathematical fix for the stereo 3D mode that makes it so much nicer to use.
Wow! Ground Effect v1.2 has been approved after only 3 days! The new version is Openfeint enabled and you should be able to download it or upgrade in the next hour or two. To me, the game makes a lot more sense now that it feels more competitive. Your initial impressions here or to Glennx via PM would be really appreciated. Thanks so much for all your feedback & support to date.
Thanks 'Jeep. I'll get that top spot back by the way, I only need to shave six seconds off my total...
Update is awesome! I'm top 10 on several leaderboards for now. Sure it won't last! How do you best get and use boost? What's the strategy?
The Boost works like this: 1. It builds up all the time you are moving forward. 2. If you go through a gate cleanly, you get 10% extra. 3. If you go outside the gate, you lose 40%. 4. When you first press the boost, you get an 'extra kick' of speed 5. When you first press the boost, you get an 'extra burn' as it uses up a significant chunk. 6. If the gauge is full and you aren't boosting, you are wasting potential build up: Boost strategies: A: Just hold the button. The most basic way to use it is to hold down the boost and each time it gets to 50%, you will get a few seconds. B: Maximum length boosts. A very efficient way to use it is to let it build up to full and do the longest possible, that way you only pay a minimum 'extra burn' (5) price which outweighs the fact you are missing out on 'extra kick' (4). Obviously there are places where this doesn't work because not all of the turns and bumps can be taken flat out it's hard to avoid wasting boost (6). C: lots of small boosts. Every time the gauge gets to 50%, do a quick boost. This gets a lot of 'extra kick' (4) but you pay a lot for 'extra burn' (5). D: Medium boosts with a twist. Instead of boosting between 50% and 0% charge, boost between 100% and 50%. This works better than strategy A because you are always at least half full and get more of a bonus for each clean gate. You do run a risk of (6) though. E: lots of small boost with a full gauge The same issues as (C) but with the benefits of (D) F: Cutting corners Intentionally missing the gate to take a shorter route. This works on many levels but is a timing nightmare. If you miss a gate empty the cost in lost boost is negligible, if you miss it with full boost, it's substantial. What works best? I use, I think, mostly a mix of B and D with a bit of carefully planned F and panicked jabbing of the boost button at the finish line. I'd love to hear 'Jeep's take on this as he has just knocked me off the top spot on the leaderboards.
Very interesting post Glenn. To me the reason why this is my overall favorite racer by far is that everything boils down to racing, making the most with what you've got. That's an ekaranplana... well, ground effect racing machine, with two pedals and a boost meter. And the terrain. I didn't develop the game mechanics or the tracks, so I just make the most of what I've got, I go out there and try. Where Ground Effect comes into its own is the physics engine. Every factor counts, and makes a difference, sometimes very subtle but it always ads up to 100's and 10's of seconds. There is so much scope to improve your times. My current times are mostly just attempts to improve on the previous best times. I know I have some margin for improvement on almost all tracks. Some of them I haven't even tried real hard yet. I haven't even figured out the best way to go around track 14 for instance, so I know I have 15 to 20 secs to improve there. Often I discover that there is a better shortcut somewhere even after racing a track dozens of times. It's amazingly clever and no other game has this. (I'm not talking about a hidden shortcut like in Asphalt 5, here any bump or rock can be a shortcut, you don't know until you try). As for Glenn's tactics, I exclusively use B but applying point 6, and G + X. G meaning maximising jumps. X meaning racing line. Your racing line will always make a Massive difference, boost or no boost. Far more than in any other racing game. One wide turn and there go a 10th or two. All these variables mean you can always improve somewhere. Even on the most simple of tracks. But as soon as somebody else improves on one of the track records, I find myself trying A,B,C,D,E and F over and over again because I know I missed something, somewhere! I really look forward to people showing us what times are really possible on these tracks, because everytime I push myself a bit harder I'm amazed how much faster I can go, how much more subtlety there is to Ground Effect. And how accessible it is too. The thrills are instant, you don't need to upgrade or achieve something to get better. Everything you need to get to the top of the leaderboards is right there from the start. Every lap could be a record lap. You only need to play and the more you do the more you understand how it works, the more you realise all the details that make a difference. Just one more thing: I have never used the brake. Ever. (In my mind this means that I should be able to improve on some of the tracks by using my brakes at some point!) Edit, forgot, I only use the brakes on track 13!!!!!!
Thanks guys!!! Will try the different boost methonds. I've been doing B mostly sometimes boosting before 100% if I know the terrain up ahead won't support a long burn. Of course, I could always be wrong about that given the realnessxand subtlety of the game. And I thought boost wouldn't work below 50%. Is this right?
