Re-release buggy tables instead of fixing them? CV2?

[DanBradford]

I can't believe Farsight is ever gonna go back and bug fix some of the older tables like CV, for whatever reason. Ok, for financial reasons. But then I was thinking, when Sony or whoever want to update Grand Theft Auto or FIFA, they don't go back, they add 1 to the name, they make a few fixes and tweaks, add some filler, and sell essentially the same game over again.

So redo it, and sell CV2 or Cirqus Voltaire Improved to me, with the price gone up by a dollar/euro. I would like to hope they would let people who already bought it have some small discount, but people who weren't interested could ignore it, and new arrivers to TPA would have no choice as the old buggy one would not be available for purchase anymore.

I know this may not be popular with people who feel indebted or that they have a right to bug fixes for free, but I can afford the extra dollar, and FS needs an incentive, or it just won't ever happen as they chase new sales and new customers and new platforms. And if rumours are true, new projects too. If enough people share my view, we can fund the (entirely random made up guess here) 10 hours of developer time needed to basically chase down bugs and do whatever else they felt would be needed to justify it. So the bug fixes fund themselves, and everyone is happy. It would just need FS to buy into the idea that instead of a kick starter-type deal where we all pay upfront, the thing would need to be built first, and *then* would fund itself. Price it right (ever thought about doing any market research, FS?) and it could be a nice little earner.

Thoughts?

 

[jaredmorgs]

If you were a developer, you'd know that doing what you wanted would be six to eight weeks.

http://meta.stackoverflow.com/a/19514

 

[vpalmer]

when Sony or whoever want to update Grand Theft Auto or FIFA, they don't go back, they add 1 to the name, they make a few fixes and tweaks, add some filler, and sell essentially the same game over again

cool story..

 

[Zorgwon]

Some people would buy it but most not. TPA is a special game, though. Unlike others (Like e.g. Zen Pinball) it will probably exist for many years without changeing the tables. A certain maintenance of what they have would be smart. Special and better Pro Tables with all kind of comfort would adress quality oriented consumers Until now they didn't go this way.

 

[McGuirk]

If people paid for a product that turned out full of bugs, and the company didn't go back to address those bugs - while releasing other titles - they shouldn't charge for it. That's my opinion, feel free to debate it, but my stance won't change.

 

[netizen]

If people paid for a product that turned out full of bugs, and the company didn't go back to address those bugs - while releasing other titles - they shouldn't charge for it. That's my opinion, feel free to debate it, but my stance won't change.

SO, EA and Bethesda should be releasing Free to Play titles any day now, Amirite?

 

[Fungi]

So the concept is... Hey, buy this product from us, and if you want the special bug-free version, buy this special higher priced one.

Or

Hey, we know you gave us money already, but if you want us to make it right, give us more.

 

[superballs]

...when Sony or whoever want to update Grand Theft Auto or FIFA...

This along gives us huge insights as to how deeply you follow game industry.

Post taken with grain of salt

 

[Bowflex]

So the concept is... Hey, buy this product from us, and if you want the special bug-free version, buy this special higher priced one.

Or

Hey, we know you gave us money already, but if you want us to make it right, give us more.

Wasn't there a company that released a broken game on XBLA and couldn't fix it due to the price of the update patch being out of their financial resources? They should have tried that business model. Possibly the only idea worse than not fixing it. Plus at least they had Microsoft to blame.

 

[Fungi]

Wasn't there a company that released a broken game on XBLA and couldn't fix it due to the price of the update patch being out of their financial resources? They should have tried that business model. Possibly the only idea worse than not fixing it. Plus at least they had Microsoft to blame.

That was Fez.

 

[DanBradford]

This along gives us huge insights as to how deeply you follow game industry.

fair enough, i admit completely to not knowing what i'm talking about. this is merely an extension of my request in the CV forum to ask about bug fixes where pretty much everyone told me to forget it as they ain't gonna bother, or words to that effect. i also agree with McGuirk and fungi above that this idea is not only morally flawed but also would be deeply unpopular. i'm just trying to do a bit of lateral guesswork.

so superballs, is your stance that since i am wrong in guessing they could release a new version (as jared says, it's no small undertaking) that therefore i can give up on anything other than bug fixes on old tables out of the generosity of Farsight's spirit? which, as many have pointed out, is something they're not gonna lose any sleep over ignoring requests for?

i love TPA and will continue to buy all their new tables. i also find the idea of having to pay for a bug fix to old tables to be an unpleasant idea. i was just saying that if it was cheap, i'd chip in to get it done. please suggest some positive comment or positive criticism rather than just being dismissive: what is your suggestion for getting the old buggy tables fixed in a way that Farsight may be interested in?

 

[superballs]

fair enough, i admit completely to not knowing what i'm talking about. this is merely an extension of my request in the CV forum to ask about bug fixes where pretty much everyone told me to forget it as they ain't gonna bother, or words to that effect. i also agree with McGuirk and fungi above that this idea is not only morally flawed but also would be deeply unpopular. i'm just trying to do a bit of lateral guesswork.

so superballs, is your stance that since i am wrong in guessing they could release a new version (as jared says, it's no small undertaking) that therefore i can give up on anything other than bug fixes on old tables out of the generosity of Farsight's spirit? which, as many have pointed out, is something they're not gonna lose any sleep over ignoring requests for?

i love TPA and will continue to buy all their new tables. i also find the idea of having to pay for a bug fix to old tables to be an unpleasant idea. i was just saying that if it was cheap, i'd chip in to get it done. please suggest some positive comment or positive criticism rather than just being dismissive: what is your suggestion for getting the old buggy tables fixed in a way that Farsight may be interested in?

No I don't think you are wrong in thinking it should be fixed. They should fix it and it should be on their dime. Though I don't experience many bugs with the table myself, they have been reported and CV is one if the worst offenders.

The table has been bought and paid for by many and people as fungi insinuates shouldn't have to pay again to get a table without bugs.

It's also sad that companies like Bethesda and ea can release games and leave them unfixed. But fs is a small studio and given that they have undertaken a project that I appreciate overall, I would hate for them to lose too much consumer confidence over such things.

 

[Bowflex]

I have faith that improvements will be made. CV was actually FAR FAR worse when it was first released. I do believe that additional bug fixes will be made (one of the more recent updates addressed something on this table as well) for CV and I also think that the table is NOT fundamentally flawed in any way that would require starting over at square one.

 

[canuck]

CV: ENHANCED EDITION

 

[brakel]

I would love to see the comments on that. People harp on having to pay for the PS4 version when they own the PS3 version. Those people's heads would explode!

 

[MegaDrive (Mark Wyda)]

I can't believe Farsight is ever gonna go back and bug fix some of the older tables like CV, for whatever reason. Ok, for financial reasons. But then I was thinking, when Sony or whoever want to update Grand Theft Auto or FIFA, they don't go back, they add 1 to the name, they make a few fixes and tweaks, add some filler, and sell essentially the same game over again.

So redo it, and sell CV2 or Cirqus Voltaire Improved to me, with the price gone up by a dollar/euro. I would like to hope they would let people who already bought it have some small discount, but people who weren't interested could ignore it, and new arrivers to TPA would have no choice as the old buggy one would not be available for purchase anymore.

I know this may not be popular with people who feel indebted or that they have a right to bug fixes for free, but I can afford the extra dollar, and FS needs an incentive, or it just won't ever happen as they chase new sales and new customers and new platforms. And if rumours are true, new projects too. If enough people share my view, we can fund the (entirely random made up guess here) 10 hours of developer time needed to basically chase down bugs and do whatever else they felt would be needed to justify it. So the bug fixes fund themselves, and everyone is happy. It would just need FS to buy into the idea that instead of a kick starter-type deal where we all pay upfront, the thing would need to be built first, and *then* would fund itself. Price it right (ever thought about doing any market research, FS?) and it could be a nice little earner.

Thoughts?

CV is fixed on PS4. Plays great, no bugs. Don't know about PC.

Mobile version isn't bad at all. Xbox 360/PS3 were the bad versions. PS3 might still get that big patch and might be in there. 360...well... They got a new publisher so, anything a possible (12 days of Xmas surprise maybe?).

 

[Rudy Yagov]

Might just be because I'm not a huge fan and didn't play it as much as others, but what was so bad about CV? I never encountered any game-breaking bugs on any of the platforms I played it on.

Not saying I'm doubting anybody, but I'm just curious as to what's so broken about it.

 

[Sean]

On iOS there's some physics issues I'm aware of; specifically around the ball lock ramp as well as a camera issue related to same where the first ball lock results in no plunger cam for the new ball launch. Others might have other problems, but that's what stands out for me and it's minor enough that I still play it, but I'm surprised it wasn't fixed a long time ago since it was introduced after the initial table launch.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[DanBradford]

Might just be because I'm not a huge fan and didn't play it as much as others, but what was so bad about CV? I never encountered any game-breaking bugs on any of the platforms I played it on. Not saying I'm doubting anybody, but I'm just curious as to what's so broken about it.

two issues, one annoying but can be worked round, the other one a game breaker:

1 (annoying) the camera moves where it should not, or doesn't move when it should.
ok it doesn't really matter that it doesn't go to the backbox for the cannonball run; and it's only an inconvenience that it doesn't go back to the plunger at the start of each ball but only half the time (so no skill shots ... then i call attendant to reset it, but this sometimes messes something else up); and sometimes the camera stays fixed on the ringmaster when the action is elsewhere; and sometimes the camera jumps about so much that you can't tell wtf is going on. all this i don't really care about.

2 (breaks game) sometimes you just lose all control of the flippers during multiball.
when this happens, no tapping makes the flippers move. you just have to watch the balls drain one by one. if they are relaunched, they just bounce about and then drain, while you frustratedly pound away on the screen (happens on my iphone and ipad). when then happens as you just managed to achieve something good, or just almost beat a high score, or just unmasked Voltaire, or just entered the ringmaster battle (it seems to only happen at the worst possible times), it makes the game pointless: wtf! i played for half an hour to get here, i'm in the penalty box and have wrong-footed the goalie, the ball is at my feet, i kick it ... it's headed in the right direction, the crowd rises, the referee raises his whistle, the ball rolls towards the open goal ... then suddenly it disappears. oh bollocks. the game is over and you lost.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

Technically CV has been remade but only for PS4, you dont even have to tell FS to RE-MAKE tables its inevitable