Welcome Rivals fans! For those that don’t know who I am, my name is Ryyst and I am the Community Manager for Racing Rivals and other games. I mainly maintain the forums and social pages for several Glu Games. I usually read posts on all the pages, answer/chime in when I can and let you all know of news and events. I want to expand that a bit more or at least offer you all more information on what’s going on with Racing Rivals, even perhaps touch on some of the bigger topics I see pop up on the social pages.
So here is the first in what I’m temporarily calling “Ryyst’s Blog”. Boring, I know, I’ll try and come up with something better in the future. In today’s blog I’m going to touch upon a very hot topic right now, hacks, cheats and glitches.
Hacks, Cheats, Glitches
I’m not blind, I see the posts. You’re upset about cheaters. You’re angry, frustrated, upset. We know. I know. I assure you, we aren’t happy either. The answer, the only answer we could give is that, “We are working on it.” We’ve been saying that for awhile, and in some minds, forever even. For a lot of you that isn’t enough. For some of you, it’s a lie. There is no way we could forever be working on it. Well, believe what you want, but it is true.
We’ve been fighting hackers and glitchers from the beginning. We started that fight since our Nitto Legends 1320 days. We’ve fixed many hacks and glitches since then too. We just don’t really go out and say it. We don’t give hackers and glitchers warnings. We wait and let them try again, and sometimes we catch them sometimes we don’t. What we actually do is slow them down. Hackers exist everywhere. No game is safe. You can Google almost any game out there and add the word hack to it and you’ll find multiple sites that offer hacks.
Chances are, you’ve used some hack or glitch to finish games. Cheat codes, game genies, they’ve been out there almost as long as video games have been around. For the most part, it was you versus the game, so it seemed harmless. Enter the age of multiplayer games. The same desire to cheat and hack games is still there, but now, with certain games, it no longer just affects the game, it affects other players. It’s a war that has raged since multiplayer began and probably will keep going. The thing is. People can fix hacks, and people will continue to break those fixes. Nothing is hack proof. All we, as game developers, can do is plug the holes and try and create something that is more difficult to break. As smart as someone or someones can be, there are always smarter and more clever people out there.
This brings us to the popular notion that we, Glu, doesn’t care. Which is simply not true. We don’t come in to work everyday not caring. We’re in this industry to make games, and to make games people love to play. Please, do not take the lack of visible proof as a sign that Glu doesn’t care. We do. In fact we have to often delay other better things for the game due to these hacks. A few months ago we actually did stop the APKs from working. Some of the hackers even told me straight up, that they couldn’t find a way to break what we did… yet. There is the thing. Like I said, as clever as we think we can be, there is someone out there with the determination to be cleverer. So, after about 2 months, they told me that they found the hole and here we are again with modded APKs ruining the game and we’re still doing different things to combat it.
So if we are forever fighting hacks, why haven’t we fixed this latest hack?
Here is the thing about publishing games on the mobile front. It’s not as simple as updating code. There is a process with Apple and there is a process with Google. We have to go through a series of checks with BOTH companies. This means it takes time. It means that we have to be sure we include as much as we can in each update so that the process is worth the trouble. Now, there are things we can do without updates. That means that the change is on our end. However, most major changes are changes to the game client, which is what you download onto your device. To do that we have to publish an update with Apple and Google. When that is needed, that takes time.
So where are we with all this…
Our next update, 5.0 will be the groundwork for further combating hacks. We’re updating the game in ways that will help us fight hacks like this.
Modded APKs – We will be trying something that we hope will a least make it very difficult to make these work. This would end things like auto-launches and grip hacks.
Dual Conversion – An upcoming update will fix this so that it isn’t possible to have both Turbo and Supercharger installed.
Light Lag – This is a function of most devices. Basically it takes advantage of a sort of timing forgiveness. We understand that there are 1000s of different devices, in many places in the world using different ISPs which may not all connect with our servers within the time limits of a race. “Light Laggers” take advantage of this. We are currently working on different ways to address this issue.
Car Cloning – We’ve implemented things that should stop this
Campaign Money Glitch – We’ve fixed this
Racing Rivals… the future
There have been rumors and what not concerning the future of Racing Rivals. Some people said there was a Racing Rivals 1.5… not true. Some say that we are going to be wiping accounts… not true. Some say there is a Racing Rivals 2… maybe.
So what are we doing? Well, we are going to be focused on making Racing Rivals better and on adding new features we’ve wanted
Update 5.0 and subsequent updates afterwards will contain a lot of changes to the game that fights a lot of what you are all reporting to us. The newest APK should no longer work, dual conversion won’t work, car cloning won’t work. Will that mean the game will be fixed forever. Probably not. Like I said, people made this game, people fix it and people break it. Hopefully it will take a good while before anyone comes up with a way to break what we made, which will give us time to work on some things we have planned…
What do we have planned?
Here are a few things to look forward to in 2016
• Campaign overhaul – We’re putting in a more robust campaign
• New Paint
• New Headlight colors
• Chat Improvements
• 4 player tournaments
• Team Management Improvements
• Daily Mystery Boxes
• Daily Quests
• Leagues!
Thats just some of the things we have planned for Racing Rivals.
Some of these are a ways out, so there isn't much I can say about them. Some of these things are coming in the next 5.0 update.
As we get closer to some of these features, I'll talk about them some more
Until next time!
~ Ryyst.
IGN: The Real {RR} Ryyst
Soon to be Ex-Carbonated Community Manager
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Comments
After reading up on your comments Ryyst and now your new blog, I have only two questions moving forward..
1). What do you think the timeline for 5.0 being released may be? Soon, soon-ish or maybe in May?
2). Racers who have completed the existing campaign, when this new, robust campaign is put in, will they have access to it?
Ive been playing since Nitto 1320, so yes, I love the game, the concept and the overall experience, I am willing to continue paying money for this experience, but while you are quick to reply (imo), and are very helpful as well as informative, with that being said, you come off as sort of vague when describing the updates and when they may be implemented, and also without attempting to seem insulting and maybe im a little out of line here.. You dont seem very excited about the overall current state of this game, nor its "progress" going forward, am I wrong or am I just understandably sad to see one of the best multiplayer games ever, nearing its end, maybe Im thinking too much into it at the moment?
Sure there is always going to be a bajillion dollars "floating around", but maybe this example will knock it through.. We all know BMW is an amazing driving machine, this is common knowledge.. What if all of the last couple model years they built drive like crap, had engineering flaws, faults in the electronics and safety issues? Could you really justify still spending a rediculous $70,000 on a 2017 model that drives like a $25,000 car? Maybe if youre retarted, but the vast majority of people who consume things, reguardless of how much money they have or how much money exists would not do this, unless they are retarted.
So no, no points for Gryffindor.
Thanks
Peace
Tawny
Soon to be Ex-Carbonated Community Manager
Soon to be Ex-Carbonated Community Manager
2) I don't know. Honestly, it's meant to teach new players how to play the game more. Vet players already do.
I am vague, these things we're working on a in pre-production. I'm not a developer so I don't know the nuances of these new systems yet. When we get closer to when these new features come out, I'll hopefully be able to speak about them more. This list was tow whet the appetite and ensure that we are definitely back in Dev mode for Racing Rivals. There is a bigger list that I have, but these are the ones I've been given the "Okay" to "announce".
It's hard to be excited about the current state of the game when we and sometimes me personally are constantly told that we don't care. That we are nothing but money hungry fat cats who live lavishly and that none of us actually work It's hard when we haven't had anything new in the ame for awhile. This first blog post was... is meant to address the topic of cheating and what we are doing. It's a sore spot to be sure, not only from the players but for us. We don't like it as much as you all do, but it's also not something that is easily resolved. Hackers hack. They been around a long time and there is a reason for that, they can still hack things, even when others try and fight them off. It's truly a never ending battle with no real solutions.
My "tone" will be different from post to post, I do hope to have more "fun" news in the future, but I can't really speak about cheats and hacks with a vibrant attitude. I don't think anyone would really appreciate that.
Soon to be Ex-Carbonated Community Manager
Soon to be Ex-Carbonated Community Manager
Soon to be Ex-Carbonated Community Manager
Graphics is another things thats hard to do because of data space. Plus our contracts with the car manufacturers don't really allow for player made custom graphics. Though, A lot of us would like to see that.
I'll see about getting being able to lower your cars.
Soon to be Ex-Carbonated Community Manager
Soon to be Ex-Carbonated Community Manager