Over the course of the last five years, Racing Rivals has grown into one of the most hardcore racing games in the world. This loyal community has spent countless hours competing in millions of races in “winner take all” fashion – all in the name of Turf Wars and pink slips.
However, all good things must come to an end… After spending time evaluating Rivals and its future – we’ve decided that it’s time to move on. Simply put, the revenue generated from Racing Rivals unfortunately no longer covers the cost of operations. This was not an easy decision to make.
On March 31st, 2019 – Rivals will be racing off into the sunset, and will be permanently shut down. Current players have until this date to utilize any accumulated virtual currency. We’ll be offering some massive reductions in the cost of crates, installs and repairs in addition to a reduction on timers as you race your way into the history books. Effective immediately, no new in-app purchases will be permitted.
In closing, a resounding and sincere THANK YOU to our extremely driven fans for your loyalty and dedication over the years – we hope you’ve enjoyed playing Racing Rivals as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it.
Ryyst's Blog #6 - Six Point Oh
Comments
Its not your devices fault
Its not your devices fault
It's not your devices fault.
Our game runs on many devices. The graphic settings that are optimal per device is different. That's pretty typical for video games released on multiple platforms and hardware. Higher end devices will be able to take full advantage of the new graphics capabilities, while older and less powerful devices will roughly stay the same. Just like a $10,000 PC rig will be able to play a graphics resource hungry game better than one you picked up at best buy for a deal. Both can play the game.
The issues we are having are....
1. Paint, wheels, wraps - Some are off. Right now we're in the process of fixing a bunch of wheels and paints and wraps.
2. Latency due to sever stress- As with most updates, there is a period where the servers are stressed because everyone is updating and downloading assets. As more people DL the game and DL the assess, the bandwith will go back to normal. "Renting" servers is not feasible.
3. Latency due to graphic settings - This has been the one I've been talking about. Each device has different capabilities. That is a fact, not an opinion. A Samsung S6 is more powerful than an iPhone 4. The Samsung S6 is able to handle more powerful graphics.than devices older than it. That is also a fact. So those devices should be set to a higher graphic setting than the others. We are in the process of tweaking that. So yes, it is about reporting. We don't know what you are experiencing on your device. We can't see what you see. Are your graphics blocky? Are they cartoony? When are you experiencing lag?
We need to make sure your device is first set properly. That is, we need to know that the graphics setting we've assigned to that specific device is in fact optimal. Once that has been established (by seeing how a number of similar device users are fairing) then we can start trouble shooting outlier scenarios where players with that device still experience issues.
As for outside testing. Again. Adding 100 or even 1000 players to the mix won't account for the 10000s of scenarios. Plus then we have to address security matters. We have to set up "public servers" It would almost be like running a second game. Again, it may "seem" easy enough, but it really isn't. As much as people may think being a game tester is glamorous, it really isn't. Assigning "leaders" for groups is also not feasible. We would have to go through a process of choosing, and then assigning out "subordinates" and as much as you would think a lot of people would be responsible, just judging by the forums, power tends to corrupt. Then we would have to have people watch over said leaders. Again, its like running a whole separate game. Like I said, we've done player testing, the returns were not that helpful. That sort of testing becomes a job. Once people find that out, they stop participating. Plus then we'd have to deal with the legality of it all. Contrary to belief, we aren't that big a studio.
And no, each update is totally different. Different things are updated. Different features are added. Sure the simple "process" is similar, but that is where the similarities end. Doing a graphics overhaul is way different than adding Tournaments, which is way different from adding Turf War which is way different than adding Android.
I used to work for a very big game developer with hundreds of testers, and they even had the ability and bandwith to actually do player beta testing. Each update? There were issues. Each update there were decrees that this was the worst update ever. Each update had similar responses. Several days of damage control and fixing issues, but after a little time, everything was back to normal. Did we learn something from each update. of course we did. But just like any game, each update was different.. .only similar in that.. .it was an update. Adding new features, adding new characters, adding new quest design, changing this ,changing that. Each update is like releasing a whole new game. That doesn't mean that each update would be smooth and problem free. Again, with their resources, surely they could have found every single thing wrong, right? Clearly if they played the game, this issue should have been found! Afterall it's huge!
Yeah, but like us, when you go from a small group of players to a vastly larger group of players, crap happens and small variables can affect huge things in ways we could not have foreseen.
So while in a utopia, anytime a software company releases something new, there would be no bugs. Everything should run smoothly. Unfortunately, we don't live in one, and so while we may learn that,the process of overhauling graphics.should be different, our next update will have something entirely different which when released to the public at large, a small thing that we overlooked can cause ripples. Doesn't mean we didn't learn from mistakes, means we are human, and there simply is no way to tell the future. All we can do is prepare as much as we can, which we always do, realizing that there is always the possibility of somethings going wrong. But as we always have, we will work our butts off to fix them as best and as quickly as we can.
Soon to be Ex-Carbonated Community Manager
★#1 MM ★
☆ Stalkers are creepy ☆
Sure it sucks right now but they are saying that it will be fixed.
Takes time to make a change. Give them time
No, I don't like you. I don't have a reason you would comprehend.
https://www.facebook.com/GluRacingRivals/photos/pcb.744831992394627/744824169062076/?type=3
★#1 MM ★
☆ Stalkers are creepy ☆
http://i.imgur.com/0aZDdrs.jpg