Great news. I have an OF account but I would much prefer GameCenter support. Hopefully that doesn't take too long to be completed after OF support. Are you planning this for your other titles as well such as Medici?
This is good, but I'm pretty bummed that it will only support two (human) players online. Will Gamecenter allow for 3+ player games?
OF is supposed to make GameCenter integration "easy", but we figured we would try to get OF support out first and then follow up ASAP. And, yes, we'll be adding OF and GameCenter (and a bunch of other updates) to Medici, hopefully in the next month or so. Future titles (Tikal next, then Puerto Rico) will have OF and GameCenter incorporated from the first release.
Yeah, we were pretty bummed at that too, but OF clearly recognizes the need to support more players so we're hopeful that will come soon. We're not sure about GameCenter yet, but of course Apple is trying to make that the choice for online enhancement so there's plenty of promise there too. We may also look at allowing two devices with multiple humans playing on each device, but that's not quite ideal obviously. We'll tell you more as we know it!
Well, you can try the update out now and let us know what you think -- Apple approved and released it today! Leaderboards, achievements, and asynchronous online multiplayer... we think it's all pretty cool, but we look forward to hearing what you have to say and hopefully seeing some increased sales as you all tell all your friends that you can now go head-to-head! You can also use the new social networking integration to post your score to Facebook and Twitter to further help spread the word about Ra and Sage Board Games. Sales of Ra will help us bring you Puerto Rico, updates for Medici, and much much more! Happy gaming!
Seriously. What were you guys thinking?! It looks awful!! I'm sticking it in a folder until it's changed back...
I agree. Not all of us care about open fient, (I can't stand to it see it pop up in any game I play and can't hit the 'I don't want these awesome features!' button fast enough) and even if we did, why does it have to be part of the icon?
I was so happy to see I no longer had any apps on my device with the OF logo then I update Ra and bam, what was once a nice logo is now ruined with the ugly OF logo tucked in the corner.
Wow, that OF logo plastered on there may be the worst one yet. Another vote for removing it ASAP! Of course I'm happy to have online in some form (haven't tried it yet), but that logo is amazingly garish and has to go.
Ok, logo aside, I'm trying to start an online game and the interface is completely incomprehensible. Either that or it doesn't really work. It said I was playing against some player, but instead I've got 3 AI players and 2 local players and I can't see any way to actually put the online player into the game! Trying to just tap the checkmark at first would briefly put up a dialog saying there can only be one local player, but now it's just doing nothing at all. Has anyone gotten this to work? What am I doing wrong?
Excellent. Excellent. Big yawn. Why on earth would anyone want to turn a 30-minute game (if that long) into some sort of six-week slog? It's just baffling that this is considered a "feature." I hope not too many resources went into this "feature," Codito. I realize that the "Asynchronous Rulez!!1one!" crowd can be very vocal, but a nice FTF experience and a robust AI are far more important factors to many more people. Oh, well ... either way, congratulations on a major release are due. I've been there since Day One I bought Medici for the iPhone the day it was released and I'll be watching the next few weeks/months with great interest.
Haven't had time to give it a try myself, just got back from the hospital after having surgery. The weather here is insane with at least 30 cm of snow expected in the next couple hours. I might give online a shot and see how I make out but I may just spend the day resting. I don't see a problem with adding asynchronous play. I mean if you really want you can play a full game in one sitting. This is just an option for people like me who can't sit and play a full game in one sitting. Having a 17 month old who is very active makes it difficult to sit and play a full game. Probably one of the reasons I like playing Fruit Ninja online.
I don't think it's just me. I, instead of creating a match, searched for, found and joined a match. The game has not started even hours later. Something tells me they are having the same problem that I did.
Wow. Surprising to hear so much hate for OpenFeint. And we're very sorry if the online setup process is causing confusion. We'll try to provide more instruction in the next update or possibly refine the process for setting up online games. In the meantime, this info might help... Quick version: Create says you want to host (setup) a game and anyone can join Challenge says you want to host a "private" game with a specific person Find says you want to join a random game that has been created and is waiting for an opponent Verbose version: An online game currently has exactly 2 human participants. One person is "hosting" the game and one person is "joining". The first step in creating a game is for 2 people to "find" each other. This is achieved in one of 2 ways: 1) The "host" sends a "Challenge" to an existing OpenFeint friend and that friend "Accept"s the challenge 2) The "host" selects "Create" to start a game with anyone who is looking to join a random game via the "Find" option Once two players have found each other and created a game, the "host" gets the chance to setup the game by adding a human player for themself and up to 3 optional AI players to fill the game up. The person "joining" will then be notified that the game is "Ready for Setup", at which point they can pick an avatar for themself and tap the checkmark to indicate they are ready to start. From there, the game can proceed as if the two players were passing the device back and forth. Turns will proceed and be sent back and forth as long as both players are in the game. (In other words online play does not HAVE to be asynchronous -- you can both just play the game and the turns should be sent back and forth with minimal delay assuming you have any kind of network connection.) If one player quits the app or has to answer a call or whatever, the game state is remembered and play can also proceed asynchronously (that is, one player does their turn, the other player gets notified that it is their turn, and so on.) Asynchronous and synchronous play can be completely intermixed until the game is completed. Again, we intend to improve that process wherever we can, and we're pushing OpenFeint on the whole "only two players" limitation as well as working on GameCenter integration. In the meantime, please keep the feedback and questions coming and we'll do our best to clear things up! Happy gaming!
I will try to create one again, but I'm pretty sure I did what you said but it didn't work. That is, I chose "create", I waited, it said I needed to set it up or some such message and I got to the setup screen. I tried to just start the game and it said I could only have one human player. I tried fiddling with things but it never worked. Whoever tried to create a game that I joined via Find, also never succeeded at getting anywhere. Now perhaps I messed something up and I'm forgetting that (and so, perhaps did that other person), so I'm trying again now. I'm at the waiting stage. I'll update later if I ever get it to work.
Right. That's probably the confusion here. There are only two humans in an online match right now. One is "hosting" and one is "joining". In order to allow both players to choose their avatar (god image) the "host" needs to add themself as a human and leave a space for the other human player to join the game. The host also has the option of adding up to 3 AI players to the game (to bring the total up to the usual maximum of 5 players.) Clear as mud? Sorry, this seemed clear enough to us when we were designing / developing it, but sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees. Please feel free to make any suggestions for how we can improve the process or make it more intuitive.
