Right, I assume this is the case. @codito: any sort of timetable for when we can expect the online multiplayer addition?
Wow, talk about narcissism. I hate to break it to you cprloe, but those things floating around you are not planets, but rather delusions. I wasn't referring to you personally, just to this general notion that is prevalent among many in the app store community that they are being personally attacked when a developer makes a decision that may affect them in a dollar sized chunk or two. I already agreed that the intro price thing was a mistake. But there are others here who act like their puppy has been kicked.
No offense to anyone posting here, but I think people have gotten spoiled by the general low price of iPhone games. This game is easily worth $6.99. I bought it immediately (after searching for "Knizia" in the App Store every hour or so for the past week), and I think that the game is of high quality. Being a novice player, I can't attest to the AI, but this game appears to be of Carcassonne or Samurai quality. Hopefully, the lower price will generate more sales, which will encourage Codito to make more games.
Happens to everybody .... Sometimes you save sometimes you sound more. My first look ra is that it is high quality, that matters the most.
Apologies We know the price drop is annoying for those that bought before it, but it didn't seem to make sense to wait any longer once we realized the price was too high. We made a mistake in not checking the latest status of the iOS board game market. $9.99 used to be the "standard" price for a universal app, so we genuinely thought $6.99 was an introductory sale price. We apologize for any inconvenience. We're not marketers, we're game makers. We aren't trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes or screw anyone out of their $2. We're just trying to get what we think is a great game into as many hands as possible. Of course, we want to make money, but only so we can make more games and better games and add features to the games that are already out! Again, we apologize and please feel free to contact us directly if you still aren't satisfied. (info at sageboardgames dot com.)
I think it is a safe rule of thumb that no price you see at the AppStore is guaranteed! Intro rates might jump up at any point and expensive games might drop in price unexpectedly. My best rule of thumb would be, if you think the initial price is inordinately high and don't want to risk being screwed, wait 24-48 hours after release before purchasing as I've noted most of the most radical price drops occur in this window of time (while you are still likely to get special intro pricing if that was initially offered).
I've now had a chance to play and so far think it's great! But I really want online play. Like Medici I really can't see a Carcassonne-type approach working due to the bidding nature of the game. I really think online games need to be live, but then you need in place disincentives to dropping out. There needs to be rankings and dropping out has to count as a loss. Something to that effect. At the sane time you have to be tolerant of temporary disappearances due to 3G coming and going on a train, for example.
Just a thought, but you might want to consider offering those who purchased the game at its original price point a code for the iPhone version of Medici? Have them forward you their apple receipt or something? I personally think that people getting into such a tizzy over two dollars is silly, but it might help to assuage those who are foaming at the bit.
I finally had a chance to play on my lunch and I have to say this is a great digital version of the board game. I am more than happy to pay $6.99 for this and if it is an extra $2 that what people would pay for it now then so be it. At least the devs get the extra cash which can hopefully go towards more great board games. Also very happy to see a stats setting added to the game. Hopefully something like this is applied to Medici as well.
Yeah, perhaps Carcassonne started a precedence here of treating the AI like local players with their own stats and rankings, but this adds another level to them beyond just giving them unique personalities that makes them almost believable.
I agree, There will also be issues with people getting phone calls and having to leave the game. Maybe when a player drops, AI can take over and fills the gap until you return? As for the price thing the description never said what the intro price would be, a few people even stated on here that they would wait to see if the price dropped. I totally understand not wanting to pay more than you have to but we've all seen games release on to the appstore before their release date and sale prices not taking effect immediately, or releasing at the wrong price point entirely (this is why appshopper was made!). Codito is pretty active on the forum and listening to fans on here and facebook so they would clear things p just like they did.
Did you revised lately the AppStore? The new "standard price" for a universal board game is around 1$... Bazinga!
Definitely. I love the fact that the devs of both Carcassonne and now Ra actually add different AI characters who all have their own unique play style. I wish more games included this, games like Samurai only have the one AI setting and they are pretty easy... actually I can't remember the last time I lost to the AI in Samurai. If they had different play styles and difficulty settings I would play against them more often.
Game Impressions I haven't spent much serious time with the game yet but already have a whine! While I think the instructions are decent, I find that font on the selected textured papyrus background very tough to read. If there were a way to increase the contrast like darker font, less frilly font, or lighter papyrus would help a lot.
I second this. I had the same issue with the Medici instructions. The font and background make them very difficult to read.
Quick update Hey folks, just wanted to say thanks for the kudos and feedback. We may not chime in that often for the next little while, but rest assured we're watching the forums to see what tweaks and fixes we may need to make. We're looking at probably a patch release to Ra in the next couple of weeks, and an update to Medici to add some of the new features in Ra (such as player stats) and other improvements. Multiplayer is still in the works. We definitely want to have it ready for both games before Christmas, if not sooner. Until then, happy gaming! Codito Development
Any chance of adding retina support? When there is a lot on the screen, as there is in this game, the extra crispness would be much appreciated.
Yes. We needed to update to the latest Cocos2d version to get Retina support and we didn't want to risk break anything before launch. We're working on that as hopefully part of our planned patch release for November.
