I guess the hardest thing about a game like this is to try to get the difficulty curve just right to keep as many people happy as possible. Some people breeze though the game untill they get to the hard levels, while some people find the easy levels a challenge to get past. Obviously a lot of people love the game so we must have done ok, for many its the challenge that makes the game addictive, but there is always room for improvement. Atleast with this game, the more you play the easier it gets, its incredible how easy is after playing through impossible. I did play Trials HD while we where making JCS, but I was actually a little disapointed with Trials HD, I loved the demo levels, there where fast and fun, but the later levels are slow and technical (Still fun, but not what I expected). Most of the time it felt like just retrying the same bit again and again 100 times untill I got lucky and passed it. If I go back and try again, it still takes 100 attempts, where as in jet car stunts, you can really feel things get much easier as you learn the levels and your skill increases. JCS is a bit more like track mania, which I much much prefere over trials HD. Pernally, I much prefere the sence of achievement in finishing in a set number of tries, and the fast game play, and longer checpoint distances. (Although, our levels are shorter and checkpoints closer together then track mania to make, suits the mobile platform to have shorter levels I think) The levels where disigned assuming that failing the first checkpoint should count as a retry, but if you want to make it easier to pass a level, we can't stop you from restarting. (I assume only some players will do this) Later, when you want to break records, you will tend to just restart every time. There is atleast one level that only has 2 checkpoints, not like trials HD where levels have heaps of checkpoints. Maybe in JCS2 we will design the levels for a retry resetting first checkpoint. We are however very seriously considering adding a casual mode where retrys don't run out, and jet fuel recharges with time. Maybe that mode will be better for players who find the extra challenge unnecesary. We could put an option in the control configurations to put jet and accelerate on the same side, but it was felt it was much more important to use accelerate independatly from jet. Anyway, we have already extened the pressable area of the buttons ready for the next update, so hopfully missing will happen less often. btw, I have to feel proud toucharcade chose to put us on top of the list of best games for november with fives stars!
this game is very well done but i only have two more impossible levels to get gold in but there is always time trials i guess
Just got to the #1 spot for platforming Hard E. The last time I hit #1 (Hard C), it lasted only a few hours, so I'll be surprised if this one last much longer than that. A video of the new run (52:81) is on Youtube.
Can I suggest you change your 1st screenshot in iTunes. It's hard to make out anything, and I think it's a wasted opportunity. I think any of the other in-game shots would be much better. I would bet the majority of app store visitors using iTunes don't even know there's more than one screenshot. Also don't know if the open feint logo is required to be on the icon, but it would look better without. arn
luketrueaxis Well some of the levels in jce have the same feeling, like u just try and try to hit right direction, otherwise restart. Time trial levels are so much more fun, but it would be good to have more levels for time trials as for platforming levels.
yeah, thanks, I keep thinking about changing the screen shots around, its one of those easy things to try and see if it makes a difference... so why not. The icon is also a bit abstract, but thats what you get for having a half car half jet and abstract levels
you know when i first played it i ranked it to go on my front page of apps, but as i play it more i appreciate it more. I've beat every intermediate and hard level probably 15 times each and i keep playing. It is the longest ive put into any iphone game and im still playing. I think if there wer a tutorial level with little pop ups it would help a lot of people, or a video playthrough of one.
thats actually what i was thinking about, like a time trial-esque level thats double he length. Those are so awesome to blow through corners with burner flowing and i would love to see how close the leaderboards would be. plus new players would find them easier too. sorry for double post
That stupid AppStore bug that keeps saying to update the app is still there for me and it's extremely annoying. I don't want to try to delete it and reinstall though cause I don't wanna lose my data. If anyone knows a fix for it that'd be nice. And here's to hoping you guys get a ton of sales soon due to the holidays!!!
wait just am hour or two and update it again, one of the time it should fuly update and remove the option to update. I had this problem with zombie attack the other day.
In regards to being too difficult; I think part of the come back factor of this game is that to does take some time to master each course. With enough practice though all are eventually achievable I am sure. I personally don't hit restart each time I know I have failed as I really enjoy the driving regardless of the final result. Comparing this to trials is rediculous too. The challenge in trials is mastering your weight direction on the bike as you jump. JCS is more about control and timing. The bare bones mechanics of the game are near perfect the second any DLC or a JCS 2 is out I'm buying it.
Getting such a chunk of points for that achievement makes it feel all the better, given how may have seemed almost unattainable not all that long ago.
To be honest i think the difficult is right where it should be, it ramps up nicely and provides a challenge in the later levels thats really enjoyable. Personally for me trials worked exactly the same as JCS in that over time i became more adept to the control scheme and was able to pull off the harder levels with more ease. I also have no issue with the checkpoint distances in JCS, but more with their placement, as i said being right after a set of jumps rather than before a new set. Glad to hear of the control update... To be honest though, í'm nitpicking - it's a great game, you guys did a bang up job, and it's always the first thing i recommend to people these days... i'm extremely pleased that there's talk of a JCS 2. You deserve success with this game/franchise, and at its launch price - it's an absolute bargain.
My one feature request for an update would be that of being able to sync remote times and achievements from Openfeint (including unlocked levels within the app) after accidentally erasing the fully conquered app from the idevice. Today I had to sync for other data, but erased the v1.1 app from my iTunes list (1.0 is installed on the itouch) before syncing in order to prevent the version that has been working fine from being overwritten. THEN iTunes removed JCS from the device, leaving no way to get back to any of the harder levels upon reinstalling, and giving me qualms about attempting a reinstall for fear of having all my remote times zeroed out. That's the main thing I dislike about most leaderboard and level unlocking systems; there's always the risk that any outstanding efforts will negated in an instant, leaving no record against which even new personal bests can be accurately or conveniently compared (i.e. it is possible to compare a few from memory). So again, please consider enabling some future version of JCS to sync all Openfeint data after a fresh installation of the app. As much as I could play JCS without ever getting bored, for the time I'll have to call it quits unless there is a guarantee that reinstalling will at least do no harm to my hard-earned times
It's weird about the difficulty curve thing... Europe and Japan seem not to have a problem with it. US players are making a big deal out of it and just give up on the game stating that it's too hard. The game in the US has got a bad rep for hardness and may be putting people off purchasing. Hopefully our next update can turn this problem around
Will doing a fresh installing of v1.1 leave Openfeint times unaffected? I ask because a few games using Openfeint have had score substitution problems, causing me to lose some good scores. I wouldn't mind having to unlock the levels all over again, as long as the remote times remain locked in.
