Turbosliders is history :-(

[Wolfi]

It is sad what happened to this game. When I wanted to race again I still only saw empty servers all the time.

There were a lot discussions about a new demo mode, a community manager etc. but nothing happened. It's now more than 1 1/2 years that this game suffers from missing online players. And what are you doing now? Discussing if videos of Punaball help getting more players. Come on, this is ridiculous... This is ment to be a racing game.

Also saying that I should play on a server until others come is not a big help because I have to drive alone and bored for half an hour until there are maybe 3 others who will quit at the end of the cup.

As long as other games like Trackmania are Freeware you have to accept that no one will pay $19.95 for a game like this. Especially if the only thing you can do with a registered version is playing Punaball in the evening or racing against others once a week (if you have luck and are at home that time).

So I rather play Trackmania from now. It has what Turbosliders misses now: Enough online opponents 24 hours a day. No need to organize a cup - just start the game and join the server! Funnily big 3D Tracks there don't need longer to load than all the new Turbosliders tracks where unfortunately everyone had to make his own tiles.

It's sad but true - I came to the decision that this game is dead now and I have to change to something else. Trackmania is not as fun as Turbosliders used to be when tracks were crowded, but it's more fun than Turbosliders like it is now.

[Jeffrey]

Wolfi. I don't agree with you.

First of all don't compare turbo sliders with tarck mania from nadeo. They are totally too different games. TS is 2D while track mania is a 3D game. There are other games to compare with TS. And Trackmania as far as i am concerned its not freeware. You have to buy it as original software.

But having said that, TS has a great racing gameplay when compared to other games like it.

I agree with you 100%, most of the time servers are empty. But that does not mean the game is dead. Or at least its not dead to me.

I have my own local championship, you can see the site here: http://www.turboslidersmalta.com We are 14 drivers and every thursday at 9:30 pm we have a championship race on a hidden private server. Why hidden? Cause the championship is open to peopel from my country only. The reason is to prevent lag problems. In summer when we have a break from championship i will organise soemthing between the best 4 of our championship and some other dedicated foreign players.

So what is my point. Personally what this game needs is serious organization. I dont know from where you come. But you could set up a website, find 10 drivers from your country and organize a championship or something.

Something else i notice is that there are different type of people. Those who like the 5 standard cars which come with the game, others like formula 1 cars etc. Som others like plain, small simple tracks, others want large, tileful tracks. So there is a mixture. Which makes it very difficult to organize something across nations.

So to conclude TS is not dead. You make it dead or alive.

[dede]

It is sad what happened to this game. When I wanted to race again I still only saw empty servers all the time.

There were a lot discussions about a new demo mode, a community manager etc. but nothing happened. It's now more than 1 1/2 years that this game suffers from missing online players. And what are you doing now? Discussing if videos of Punaball help getting more players. Come on, this is ridiculous... This is ment to be a racing game.

Also saying that I should play on a server until others come is not a big help because I have to drive alone and bored for half an hour until there are maybe 3 others who will quit at the end of the cup.

As long as other games like Trackmania are Freeware you have to accept that no one will pay $19.95 for a game like this. Especially if the only thing you can do with a registered version is playing Punaball in the evening or racing against others once a week (if you have luck and are at home that time).

So I rather play Trackmania from now. It has what Turbosliders misses now: Enough online opponents 24 hours a day. No need to organize a cup - just start the game and join the server! Funnily big 3D Tracks there don't need longer to load than all the new Turbosliders tracks where unfortunately everyone had to make his own tiles.

It's sad but true - I came to the decision that this game is dead now and I have to change to something else. Trackmania is not as fun as Turbosliders used to be when tracks were crowded, but it's more fun than Turbosliders like it is now.

Boring... Everyone is criticising but noone is purposing. I see you got the point on Videos etc... no words... Go to play TMN. Bye bye.

[Wolfi]

Jeffrey I guess you do not understand. I'm not interested in taking part in a cup that only takes place at certain times. I cannot predict when I am in front of the computer but when I am I sometimes want to play a game.

Sure, Trackmania is a different thing but usually people do not play only one game on the computer. And if one game has no players anymore then they go on playing other games more at some point when the situation with their favorite game is hopeless. That's what happened now. And by the way: It's really free.

You can be upset about it but fact is that the numbers of players show that only a small circle of players is left - the ones posting here and complaining every time when someone says the truth. But if you are glad that other players leave.. fine it's your private game now anyway.

[Flexman]

I do not understand why you complain dede nor what you mean at all. Wolfi is absolutely right.

Sure, you belong to the small circle of players who still play but generally I didn't see any new guy on the road nor in the forum. At least not on European servers. And that is what makes the difference between dead and alive.

The sooner someone of the managemant sees the facts the better it is for the game. But there had been many discussions in the last 1 1/2 years and nothing happend - the anmount of players just decreased and decreased. So I think too It's hopeless now.

[dede]

I do not understand why you complain dede nor what you mean at all. Wolfi is absolutely right.

I agree, but he should have read better what I wrote about videos. His comment about them was a bit <<ridiculous>>, not my topic.

[Wolfi]

Sorry dede about the misunderstanding with your idea. There is nothing bad about the idea itself, I also didn't want to say that it is ridiculous, I jused used it as synonyme for what is happening with the game now.

I mean... all it needs is more players. And I do not think that such changes help increasing the players nor I think it's worth of making any changes to the game unless you have more players.

So apart from that part with the video I hope you agree that there is a problem with the anmount of players that needs to be solved as soon as possible. I hardly see new players, it's only the same guys around everywhere. That's not what a game needs that wants to have a future...

[dede]

Sorry dede ..

Oki

I hope you agree that there is a problem...

Of course I agree, but probably they don't care about this. At this point it's almost better going back to crackz0r servers.

[Flexman]

I agree with you 100%, most of the time servers are empty. But that does not mean the game is dead.

No? If players are decreasing and decreasing what does it mean then?

It also means that something goes into the wrong direction because servers were not always that empty. They were not well visited but the situation is even worse now. A prospering game needs new players.

[mikko]

Instead of filling the game with new features of which only few players are interested of, it would be much more important to focus the apparently very limited resources on development of an improved demo mode to attract new players. This has been discussed before, but only discussed. So far no reaction whatsoever.

[Hatu]

The only thing I really agree with here is that the price @ $19.95 is overpriced for a game of this quality. IMHO.. Just my opinion. I would feel it would sell better if cheaper, say like $9.99...
The features/gameplay are too lacking to have a price tag of $20 USD. I belive the game would do much better if it was sold for a lower price.

And in reply to the hiring a new community manager and nothing happening. Eh, lol. I am trying and have done more here than anyone else previously. I have advertised on over 15 other websites as well as personally advertise in over 10 forums. The game needs to be changed, yes. But TS is far from dead.

[dede]

And in reply to the hiring a new community manager and nothing happening. Eh, lol. I am trying and have done more here than anyone else previously. I have advertised on over 15 other websites as well as personally advertise in over 10 forums. The game needs to be changed, yes. But TS is far from dead.

You don't get the point: the first thing JGG has to do is to change demo mode, because new players come and quit after 5-6 days (features too limited, servers always empty). We already spoke about new features (for example here).
So, how should demo version be?
In my opinion demo players have to be allowed to play everywhere, but without a real nick (smth like Demo123) and without records/statistics saving. In this way we can solve lack of players in servers. Btw, game has to be better also for registered players (we paid 20 USD, damn!!!): centralised statistics/profiles/rankings (1 license -> 1 nickname -> not fixed (if someone changes nick or team, he'll want to have all records with new nick))/team-management/.....

This is only a part of the features we need to get more players and to improve the game.

[xzeal]

The only thing I really agree with here is that the price @ $19.95 is overpriced for a game of this quality. IMHO.. Just my opinion. I would feel it would sell better if cheaper, say like $9.99...
The features/gameplay are too lacking to have a price tag of $20 USD. I belive the game would do much better if it was sold for a lower price.

Correct me if im worng but didn't most people buy the game during the first months when there was a "special price" excluding the few who got a license for extensive beta testing.

PS: Personally i'm not pleased with jollygoodgames. Activity compared to the last public beta 0.86b has dropped considerably considering that in 0.86b the game was advertised mostly by "word-to-mouth". Turbo Sliders is the only game being sold by them that is ment to be played online which demands a high number of users.

16 months have passed since the release of the full version of Turbo Sliders and 26 months from the release of the beta version 0.86b which was the first with autoserver capabilities. Activity in the past 2 years has not been lower then it is now. I don't want to race with 2-3 people in one server beause it isn't exactly fun anymore. For frack sake i can't even play punaball anymore because the autoserver is down and that wasn't even official. Punaball servers at least got full rather quickly. I raerly had to wait fo someone to join more then 3 minutes. I can't even host so there is no way for me to start a pball game.

I know complaining about no punaball autoservers is pointless since i already have done so in the appropriate topic, but didn't even get a reply. (Alright Ande at least bothered to reply on IRC a week later, but he is just the deloper what about the publisher?)

Complaining even doesn't help they do listen to us occasionally, but they dont do anything and if im wrong and they are doing something they should let us know.

ok this "PS:" got a bit long and even if someone in charge says "you are absolutely right" they still wont do anything.

I don't know if any other publishing company could have done it better or not, but what's happening right now is not good enough. Oh and Ande why did you go for an American publisher when over 80% of the players were in Europe? Sincce i have heard that has produced some problems with autoservers.

PPS

Eh, lol. I am trying and have done more here than anyone else previously. I have advertised on over 15 other websites as well as personally advertise in over 10 forums. The game needs to be changed, yes. But TS is far from dead.

I wouldn't be so sure that it is true. You are quite new to TS so you don't really know what we have and haven't done in the past 2+ years. Oh and i gave up advertizing on forums ever since that ridiculosly high price tag came along.

[Flexman]

PS: Personally i'm not pleased with jollygoodgames. Activity compared to the last public beta 0.86b has dropped considerably considering that in 0.86b the game was advertised mostly by "word-to-mouth".

You are absolutely right. I agree with everything you said here.

PPS: oh and i might mention in the public beta there were over a dozen Estonian players ever since 1.00 came out there have been 2 and both of us got the game free for our "services".

Maybe you should tell them to use 0.86 again with the alternative master server. Guess changing back to the old version is the only way we can play again like we used to. There is not much happening now here, Jollygoodgames doesn't care, only Jazzy and his friends trying to make a Formula 1 game out of Turbosliders. They only thing I was missing in the old version was the pro mode, but that can be fixed with some tools.

I'm sorry to say such things now but I'm too disappointed to care about the game anymore. Best thing would be using the old version again and leaving the new one to Jazzy & Co. Since there even isn't any official server that really doesn't make any difference for us if someone of the players changes his autoserver back to 0.86.

[dede]

Maybe you should tell them to use 0.86 again with the alternative master server. Guess changing back to the old version is the only way we can play again like we used to. There is not much happening now here, Jollygoodgames doesn't care, only Jazzy and his friends trying to make a Formula 1 game out of Turbosliders. They only thing I was missing in the old version was the pro mode, but that can be fixed with some tools.

I hope you are joking... I'd prefer quitting TS instead of going back to 0.86.

[Flexman]

I hope you are joking... I'd prefer quitting TS instead of going back to 0.86.

Guess we could absorb that one quit with some of the (not so few) players who also showed interest in changing back to the old version because of being frustrated with the current status.

Oh... and for those who only read the last site: Please read what xzeal wrote, he is absolutely right.

[Wolfi]

I hope you are joking... I'd prefer quitting TS instead of going back to 0.86.

I rather play Turbosliders 0.86 than JazzySliders 1.0.8.

[dede]

I hope you are joking... I'd prefer quitting TS instead of going back to 0.86.

I rather play Turbosliders 0.86 than JazzySliders 1.0.8.

Oh please.. JazzySliders 1.0.8 (full version) is much more better than SuckySliders 0.86. JazzySliders 1.0.8 just lacks of players.

[Wolfi]

Oh please.. JazzySliders 1.0.8 (full version) is much more better than SuckySliders 0.86. JazzySliders 1.0.8 just lacks of players.

Well then stay there and call it MilanoSliders 1.0.8 but most were happy enough with what it was like before. Did you even play it back then?

However it's easier to get players into free 0.86 than $19.95 empty JazzySliders.

[dede]

However it's easier to get players into free 0.86 than $19.95 empty JazzySliders.

Wanna bet? Cracked JazzySliders > SuckySliders. That's for sure. There are communities based on Cracked JazzySliders. Many players bought full version because they tried & played cracked version before (mostly punaball) and because they wanted to join our cups (punaball worldcup etc).

[Jazzyclub]

jazzysliders?

[mikko]

I believe that the current price of the game has no practical influence on the number of registrations. To me the game itself is definitely worth $20, I would not hesitate to pay double or triple the price, as the game is the best one I've ever played. Just consider that you would get just four beers at the restaurant for that price. For your next four restaurant nights, drink one beer less than normally each time and that's it. I think it is a question of cost vs. no cost. It is a matter of principle for so many of us not to pay for a game. For many younsters, the problem might be that their parents do not allow them to buy the game and they have no means to do that on their own. In either case the price is unlikely to be the major issue.

Without serious rethinking of the demo mode (or some other magic trick) to attract new players, JGG must soon realize (if they already haven't) that the game does not bring them money. Let's hope the game will then be released as freeware. That would be much better than to divide the community to 0.86 vs 1.08 players. The community is simply too small to afford that split.

[dragonstar]

I think it is a question of cost vs. no cost. It is a matter of principle for so many of us not to pay for a game.

I have to agree with mikko here. Of course the price tag affects a little, but $0 vs $X means more.

When I thought about buying the game, I didn't even think about the price. It was just like a thought in my head: "I like this game and I'm going to buy it." Too bad that today people seem to think more like: " I like this game and I'm going to download the full version and crack it."

So my opinion is that lowering the price isn't the best solution to get more players. (Of course it's better than doing nothing.)

[dede]

When I thought about buying the game, I didn't even think about the price. It was just like a thought in my head: "I like this game and I'm going to buy it." Too bad that today people seem to think more like: " I like this game and I'm going to download the full version and crack it."

Nah.. the problem for cracked version and servers is that people can play only with 3-4 friends.. so it's not fun, and who likes the game then goes to buy it (i know 5-6 players that after crack decided to buy a license).

[dragonstar]

I don't even know what you can do with cracked TS, because I have never used one. I was talking about games in general when saying that downloading and cracking-thing. My point was that $0 vs $X matters more than the amount of the X.