What the heck happened in 2012?! Well in a word. Lots.
2012 was a crazy year for us. As you know we started porting and publishing games for indie developers to Android and it has been a wild ride to date. We have seen a lot of success and because of that, have started publishing games not just on Android, but iOS as well. At one point we even decided to release one game a week with our Game A Week Project (GAWP) and managed to do so for almost 3 months straight, which was no easy task. Though it was fun, we probably won’t be doing that again anytime soon. All in all we couldn’t be happier with the results of our porting and publishing efforts but more than that, we have been able to forge amazing relationships with dev teams all over the globe which has been the best part. And you have lots to look forward to in 2013 with the critically acclaimed Punch Quest coming to Android, as well as some other great games like Zombie Roadtrip (both iOS and Android), Block Block, Box Cat, Bloop, Micro Miners and more.
But now for what you really came for, the SSG2 news. You will be glad to hear that the game has turned into something more than we really could’ve hoped for, and it is not even done yet! The extra development time we needed has really added to the overall quality of the game and we hope it shows when you actually get your hands on it. The new courses are all ridiculously fun to play, and we hope are accessible to both beginners and SSG veterans. All the new interactive environmental elements like portals, gravity boosters, sticky walls and kinematic objects create something entirely new, yet familiar, in the SSG world.
The new multiplayer mode has also been a welcome addition and is so much fun to play. We really feel like turn based matches are going to be a huge hit, maybe even more so than the traditional campaign of the game. There is nothing better than hitting a sick shot and making your opponent cower in defeat as they watch the replay on their turn. For those of you who want something more frantic and fast paced, you will be glad to hear we not only have optimized the race mode, but for local games we have started working on adding up to 8 players at once. If you want mayhem, trust me when I say local 8 player race mode will be your bag. And for those of you who want to play online, you will still be able to hit up the traditional 2-4 player race as well.
So what is our timeline? Well it depends on a number of key factors but we are still on pace for a Q1 release. We will be sending out a version for some alpha testing soon and then followed up by larger scale beta testing. The beta testing will really dictate how much longer we need to work on the game as there are bound to be bugs we havent found yet. I know lots of you have expressed interest in beta testing so when the time comes, you will hear from us about how you can sign up.
In the meantime here are few more screen shots to hopefully tide you over. Note that these were taken from an in progress build so the pars are not set for all the courses yet and the frame rate and time played counters should be ignored.
It is hard to believe it is only one week into 2013, but with all the things we have coming up, it looks like it is going to be a hell of a year!
Cheers
Team Noodlecake
Thanks for the update!!
…I’d also like to take back my October 14th comment about the hats. The pontiff Stickman in your screen shot cracked me up.
Hopefully, you will continue to stay true to the simplicity of the game that we all fell in love with.
…and now here is something I just thought of…have you considered offering a automated/computer opponent in multiplayer mode? I am often disappointed to find that nobody else is awake and ready to play at 2:30am. It could be fun to have some type of randomized player (or, if it was easier, to have some of your own folks play the game and save their shots as a profile to compete against and then each game could randomly pick which profile to compete against). The multiplayer race would continue as it would normally with your automated player hitting their recorded shots. This might also give some less experienced players an opportunity to compete and practice in multiplayer mode without getting slammed by the likes of = Mr. Child =
I think the trouble with having an automated opponent is that you could never get the automated opponent’s level set right to keep everybody happy. The automated opponents in Lunar Racer are a good example of this and there are both Pro and Standard level opponents available to race against. It doesn’t take much time playing the game for your own skill level to quickly outmatch even the Pro opponents however (it’s common to lap the entire field on a number of moons) and then they just become somewhat of nuisance.
While I love this game, I have to admit I am getting extremely frustrated with those people who quit the game after they either discover you are too good OR they discover you use powerups (God, forgive me!!). At least with an automated opponent, they wouldn’t bail out of a game when it doesn’t go their way. Waiting for players is no fun…then, when you finally get matched up and they quit, it’s bogus. I started quitting on people who *don’t* use powerups under protest (which, I realize, turns me into the exact thing I despise, but I feel helpless…). Is this what the game has come to? Some multiplayer options to ease our pain would help.
I hear you about the quitters and went through basically the same process as you a while back which I confessed all to hear:
http://ncfanbois.forumer.com/confessions-of-a-game-center-douchebag-t2292165.html
I’ve played one hole of Multiplayer in about the last three months, I’m just over it. As you say, you wait ages to get a match only for the other player to quit after losing a hole or two or if you’re the non-host there’s lag issues so you quit….. On a positive note saying goodbye to Multiplayer has helped me to catch up on a bunch of other stuff I wanted to get squared away before SSG2 finally drops.
Looks good but could you please include a “pure” or “pro” version of the on-line multi-player with no power-ups, it is immense fun playing with that restriction, try it.
I totally agree that there should be a clean ball option for multi-player. It’s so much fun this way and there should be a choice to pick either as there is a different type of skill level required for both
Oh yes. I totally agree too. Please, give us a non-powerups game in multiplayers.
Can’t wait for ssg2.
Love
Zarat
Glad to hear about SSG2! Me and my colleagues can’t wait to get back into daily race matches. From one dev to another, keep up the good work!
Thanks for the development update. The original is still the best game out there for iOS/Android IMO. We play at work on our lunch breaks. We can’t wait for version 2! I’d love to help on the beta version if you’re looking for more testers.
We (coworkers) are anxiously awaiting the arrival of SSG2. The original game is the only thing keeping us from the brink of depression at work. Thank you for the update. Ditto on the Beta testing.
Alexandre we are also devs that are playing “pure” SSG multi daily for almost an year now, maybe we can arrange a little competition
Sounds like a plan!
If SSG2 does end up having 6-8 multiplayer matches, that may make it a fun thing to try.
nice!
I like the pure version also. In fact my buddy Qkarmark and I played a few games that way over Xmas. Can’t wait for SSG2!
Also, a quick suggestion, how about (even slightly) random starting points. It would make everyone learn new tricks.
I don’t really understand the fascination with clean ball matches. To me it’s a bit like tying your arms and legs together and then having a swimming race… Each to their own I guess. Honestly though even with SSG currently unless your playing in North-American prime time, it can take ages to hook up an online multiplayer match. I hope the multiple SSG2 multiplayer options don’t dilute this even further. Really looking forward to the release regardless, all the screenshots so far look awesome.
Great work as always from NS!
The “long hook up times” for multiplayer was exactly my same concern when I suggested the automated multiplayer opponent (but you didn’t like that suggestion
).
Other than *not* providing a “pure” multiplayer mode (which I agree will only serve to divide the few of us who love multiplayer and play in the wee hours thereby allowing for fewer opponents and longer wait times), do you have any other suggestions of how to decrease the wait time to hook up with a multiplayer game?
It’s not that I didn’t like your Automated Multiplayer Opponent idea, I just think it would be near on impossible to get the AMO skill level set to keep everybody interested etc. Just about every game that I can think of with automated opponents is either way too difficult or way too easy (for me).
It’s very obvious that the main SSG player base is in North America. I live in Japan, so there’s a big time difference between when I’m free to play Multiplayer and the peak of the North American players (AM and PM).
For SSG it’s very rare for me to see more than 5 players looking for a match at the same time as me. More often than not it’s the same two players every single time both of whom I have no interest in playing against due to their bad ‘sportsmanship’.
Keeping that in mind (and from past experience), I can’t see any way for me to decrease my multiplayer hook up time other than to move to North America (isn’t going to happen), getting up super early (isn’t going to happen), or staying up super late (that’s my only realistic option).
Of course when SSG2 is finally released no doubt there will be a massive influx of available multiplayer opponents (at any time of the day/night) for a month or two. The same thing could be seen previously in SSG following any of the updates.
Lunartic, your example with the swimming is not relevant at all.
When you play clean ball matches all you’ve got is your skill. When you play with power-ups, in most cases they decide who will win – it is just luck.
Well it takes a lot of skill to swim fast and if you tie your arms and legs together it doesn’t take skill, it takes effort. In regards to SSG, (with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 shots in the entire game) there is no luck involved whatsoever! The game is about 99% replicable. What I mean by that is with the same angle and power settings you can replicate the EXACT same shot over and over again (that’s people are able to achieve such low total campaign scores). The proficient use of power ups are an additional skill that needs to be masted if you want to have any ‘success’ in the game. That all comes down to practice, precision and then finally persistence. Of course if you’re not so hardcore about the game and just want to have a bit of fun, I can understand your frustration with playing against people who can consistently hole out with power ups within seconds. Add the ever present online multiplayer game lag into the mix (considering that the top ranked players nearly always host the match) and well it can be face palming to hair pulling at times.
I love Lunar Racer but I have a problem. I bought all the upgrades and all of the paint shop items, but have not been awarded the ‘overhaul’ achievement. Also, the image quality of the ads on my nexus 7 tablet is TERRIBLE.
I had the same problem with the overhaul achievement. I forget how I ended up getting it though…. I’m not sure if it just kicked in by itself after a while, or it was after I realized that in the GARAGE you can scroll right at the bottom and there are a bunch of extra BODY and CANOPY colours to buy.
You should let the top 2-hundy in multiplayer points beta test it first. (So says #176 in points. Haha).
Also, a big problem I have with the multiplayer game is that when 2 people use the same powerup you can’t tell who’s who because the trails are the same color. You guys REALLY should fix that in the next game to where the trail of your ball matches your player color, so we’ll be able to time out our nitro boosts on the nitro balls better for example, when they’re side by side with another person who is also using a nitro ball.
Just sayin…
I know this might be a far-fetched question, but will SSG2 feature cross-platform Multiplayer? With the new 8-player local games, I would love to utilize it to it’s full potential. That being said, being able to play across iOS and Android would make the multiplayer leaps better. You guys have been doing an AMAZING job so far, and I appreciated the decision to delay the game to 2013. Also, thank you for Android Multiplayer! SSG2 is shaping up to be one of my favorite games of all-time. (Yup, even with console and PC)
Thank you so much for the update. I have constantly been watching for the new one. I wanna be one of the first to know about it! When It does! Been playing ssg for almost a year at work on multiplayer and its so much fun but the courses over and over and getting wayyy to repetitive. Ssg is the best app there is. And y’all are doing a lot of hard work. Keep it up and Q1 is gonna seem like another year. But I promise when it does, I’m gonna get it the same day it comes out!!! And I’m sure 95 percent of all people who has ever played multiplayer with friends will too!
Thanks for the update. We will be looking for another one in a month or so!
Awesome job cant wait!
Chance
As far as power-ups go, me and my colleagues always use the Blue Shell Rule: only the player (or players) in last place may use power-ups. That’s helped keep our matches mostly even throughout courses, often ending up in very close finishes.
The 8 player race most sounds real exiting but can we please get a release date
All the kids on my bus play this together every day and it is soooo much fun…. I can’t wait till 2 comes out! How long does BEtA testing usually take?
Hey can you give us a release date please? I get that you guys want to make the game as perfect as can be, but a lot of us have been waiting months with very little news in that time span.
At least give us something. More info. More screenshots. How about a youtube video showing gameplay.
All I can say is soon. The beta is going well but we have some tweaks we have to make to make all the modes work perfect. We are working on a gameplay trailer right now and basically it is going to come down to Apple in the end. Once we submit we have to ensure the app doesnt get rejected before we can tell you guys a release date.
It would be awesome if you guys continued to add more courses after the release of SSG2. I’d be willing to pay for a new course on a weekly basis.
We have some amazing DLC already in line for the game
WHAT ABOUT THE NEW LUNAR RACER MIND WHICH WERE PROMISED YEAR AGO… GUESS I MIGHT AS WELL DELETE THE GAME. IT’S NOT THAT HARD TO COMPLETE ALL LEVELS AND AM BORED. MY NY RESOLUTION WAS TO GET RID OF STUFF S ON MY PHONE THAT I DON’T USE AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK