AAA Looking for Anti Mannisto

[Creator]

Mikko, I am aware of the outdated status of the TS page on JGG website. I guess I should have removed the old stuff but at this point I can't be bothered as all of it will be wiped out soon anyway as the new TS.com launches.

Vista compatibility is an issue, but I would think it's not very difficult to fix (an unedicated guess). It's more of a matter of when Ande has time to do so as there are quite a lot of other things in his task list I'm sure.

[Jeffrey]

So if i am understanding well the main issues are 2

1. The Website
Its very important that TS has a central webiste with this comunity forum part of it. I dont know why did JGG did not agree to give Dede, a percentage of the profits, from licenses bought from dede's site. If this option is out, i personnaly don't know what we can do unless we start a donation system (as many sites do). The donation (few from the many) maybe would be enough to pay dede for the building of the site, maybe also hosting and domain name.

2. The Game

Regarding the game, its very important that we know whats the future of the game. If no further improvement are to be done, personally i dont see what's the sense of having a central webiste. Its very important that Ande informs us what he intends to do? Maybe another programer is found to continue the project. If the game was open-source...could anyone among us continue developing the game? or we need outside assistance? maybe we could find a programmer and pay him with donations for continuing the development of the game.

But for 1 and 2 above to progress we need Ande to be active and help us, otherwise we are just wasting time and dreaming.

[Hengari]

1. The Website

As I understand it, the website is now coming and Dede gets a piece of the sells done through that. So this area is now covered.

2. The Game

Some information about coming updates would be needed.

About Open Source or getting outside developer... hmm, don't seem propable. With Open Source it would be hard to manage the project, game versions, testing and all. Developing a game as a hobby needs some love and commitment and it is hard to by money (we are not talking about big bucks here). Maybe some testers among the drivers.

It would be nice to see the code behind TS though.

[dede]

It would be nice to see the code behind TS though.

But that would be quite risky for cheats and so on.. all hash systems will be discovered easily

[Creator]

So if i am understanding well the main issues are 2

1. The Website
I dont know why did JGG did not agree to give Ande, a percentage of the profits, from licenses bought from dede's site.

This has never been an issue. We always agreed to give him a significant percentage from all the sales TS.com generates. I don't like talking about business negotiations in public but since Dede has apparently been talking about this in public, I just want to set the record straight. I would hate for people to think that what you just say is true.

He wanted a percentage of all sales (from all other sites, not just his). Since we have various agreements with other people who are reselling the game, and we already pay them a slice of the sales, having to pay a percentage of those sales would mean that there is not much left on the table. However, even though we felt it doesn't make much sense, we still agreed to pay him a percentage of all sales. The dispute is: he felt we are not offering enough, and we felt there is no way for us to offer more. After the negotiations fell through he eventually agreed to a deal we originally proposed, which is a fairly significant percentage of all sales generated from TS.com. I expect in the long run most sales will come from TS.com if the site is well maintained so this should be a good deal for everyone involved.

This is great for us - we hope TS.com will generate a lot of sales. At the same time we still have other partners who are trying to sell the game and deserve their fair share if they do well.

[The Dude]

If the game was open-source...could anyone among us continue developing the game? or we need outside assistance? maybe we could find a programmer and pay him with donations for continuing the development of the game.

To clarify some things discussed in other topics. Ande has made it quite clear that he will not release this game as open source without a capable development team to take over and support it. To start with, that would require him at the helm and he says that he hasn't enough time for that. So that option seems distant today anyway.
And like someone mention earlier. A community website like TS.com feels more important for the moment.

[mikko]

A community website like TS.com feels more important for the moment.

Exactly. The community website is most important and this has very little to do with game development. Besides Vista support, I see no urgent changes necessary for the game itself. Of course, they are some areas where development would be desirable, but they are mostly useful only for a handful of players, I think. Overall, TS is very good as it is now and the community website will provide it with significant additional value.

[dede]

a long time i didnt see you somewhere, are you alive? i know about your situation with the new coming in your family (congrats ) but give us some news-notice-replies or anything else...

We all are waiting you, pls be more active

I am alive . But yes, I am sorry I have been very inactive lately, I understand it is frustrating. I know I have always said "I am so busy" but it has never been more true than lately. My most immediate TS goal is now to help Andrea to get the new home page up and running.

One reason TS development has been in a stalemate for a while is that I am not happy about how SDL (the library TS is using for graphics) is progressing, it seems that it does not cooperate with Vista, and some old problems have got worse in newer versions. I hope this will get fixed soon. But another reason is that TS already has most of the features I originally wanted it to have and I have not had the energy to start developing any completely new big features. There are tons of good suggestions but it takes lots of time just to consider what to do. The main goal would be simply to get more players, I believe everyone still agrees on that. There are no easy solutions but I really hope I will have time in the future to for example seriously consider different demo version systems.

{originally posted by Ande in the ts.com test forum..}

[Etana]

A community website like TS.com feels more important for the moment.

Exactly. The community website is most important and this has very little to do with game development. Besides Vista support, I see no urgent changes necessary for the game itself. Of course, they are some areas where development would be desirable, but they are mostly useful only for a handful of players, I think. Overall, TS is very good as it is now and the community website will provide it with significant additional value.

There really is problem with Vista? I have used TS with it for some months now and there haven't been any problems with it or is there only problems with certain Vista versions?

[Ande]

There really is problem with Vista? I have used TS with it for some months now and there haven't been any problems with it or is there only problems with certain Vista versions?

Actually, I would be interested in knowing that, too. How many people are using it with TS working and how many have problems?

When the first people started using Vista, they complained TS didn't work, not even when they updated SDL to the latest version which was supposed to support Vista. And some people complained that after the update, there were some additional new problems. Personally, I still don't have Vista (I have heard so many different problems people have had with it it has not encouraged me to upgrade) so I can't really test it much myself yet.

[dede]

Actually, I would be interested in knowing that, too. How many people are using it with TS working and how many have problems?

My friend tried TS yesterday on Vista. He first said the game didn't work. But after a reinstall, it worked. Quite weird.

[Jeffrey]

But another reason is that TS already has most of the features I originally wanted it to have and I have not had the energy to start developing any completely new big features. There are tons of good suggestions but it takes lots of time just to consider what to do.

Personally i think that these 2 features are imp to have

1. Qualifying Session - a time period can be set and lap times are sorted and displayed. Maybe even than during a qual session cars start from pits and not from the starting grid, so that cars can leave pits when every they want.

2. The option for more spaced grid lines, to avoid 1st corner rush and bumps.


But it nice to hear that Ande is still with us!

[Mouse]

But another reason is that TS already has most of the features I originally wanted it to have and I have not had the energy to start developing any completely new big features. There are tons of good suggestions but it takes lots of time just to consider what to do.

Personally i think that these 2 features are imp to have

1. Qualifying Session - a time period can be set and lap times are sorted and displayed. Maybe even than during a qual session cars start from pits and not from the starting grid, so that cars can leave pits when every they want.

2. The option for more spaced grid lines, to avoid 1st corner rush and bumps.


But it nice to hear that Ande is still with us!

1 - yep, timed racing too (endurance style) can be nice!

2 - In battle mode, you can edit exactly where each car starts. This feature would be GREAT for racing mode.

[Mike Nike]

Maybe even than during a qual session cars start from pits and not from the starting grid, so that cars can leave pits when every they want.

no, it just means: additional pitzone grids and problems with startfuel: you are in pitzone and start filling fuel - not that much...but still too much extra code needed to realize this

The rest i agree though, more space between grids we really keep on missing...
Fastest laps visible via tab-stats during the race would be fine too