FFR's future?

[CaptainAhab]

What do you see as the future of FFR?

I talked to a number of friends about this game and virtually all of them said they thought it died, but they played a while back. I'm the only person I know that plays, unfortunately.

Do you think that FFR is dying? That it's actually growing in popularity? That it is relatively stable right now?

Curious what the folks who have been around here for a long time think.

Cheers!

[Pseudo Enigma]

Re: FFR's future?

I thought people grew tired of games that are simple like this but I mean if Flappy Bird is insanely popular FFR could be too I guess.

[JohnRedWolf87]

Re: FFR's future?

The arrows shall rise again!...depending on your settings.

[Frederic54]

Re: FFR's future?

[Tim Allen]

Re: FFR's future?

nah

[psychoangel691]

Re: FFR's future?

People want games they can play on their phones and tablets. Unless FFR becomes compatible with these things it's unlikely it will grow any bigger than it is right now.

[justin_ator]

Re: FFR's future?

People want games they can play on their phones and tablets. Unless FFR becomes compatible with these things it's unlikely it will grow any bigger than it is right now.

This.

I also still stand by my point that Facebook has potential to get this community growing again and maybe quite popular. But as mentioned in a few other threads, there are things that need to be done before we do a big Facebook publicity push (such as site revamping, song offset sync fixes, more finalized and standardized engine UI [I mean let's face it, we have three engines commonly used for one game], and lag reduction to somehow manage).

[Charu]

Re: FFR's future?



You be the judge, lol.

I'm learning that if you look at the forums and the community, yeah, it kind of looks dead.

However... looking at all those recent games...

[mellonxcollie]

Re: FFR's future?

FFR is so simple and fun, I think as people discover it they will still want to play it.

I think as long as there are people around who care to post, FFR forums will live on!~

[omega_grunt666]

Re: FFR's future?

This.

I also still stand by my point that Facebook has potential to get this community growing again and maybe quite popular. But as mentioned in a few other threads, there are things that need to be done before we do a big Facebook publicity push (such as site revamping, song offset sync fixes, more finalized and standardized engine UI [I mean let's face it, we have three engines commonly used for one game], and lag reduction to somehow manage).

Three engines because some people have trouble adjusting, problems with compatibility, or just the nostalgia factor. If we eventually pushed for facebook integration it wouldn't be too hard to just throw in some functions on a R^3 "facebook edition" to be used as an app. Maybe have a share replay button next to save that posts it on your wall, maybe a notification if your facebook friend is playing, or you beat their score or something, with a prompt to brag about it. Legacy/Velo would still be around, but not in the spotlight, as far as new facebook people are concerned R^3 would be the engine unless they had played before and saw the other engines still available on the site. I wouldn't push to change those too much because then you're hurting/affecting the people who don't care about facebook.

On a casual scale (Most of the attention drawn from facebook) I don't think the sync is a huge issue. Anyone that cares enough to go far in the game will learn about proper syncing and know how to adjust offsets that feel right for them/their setup. I know a lot of players that don't even bother adjusting offset based on songs and do just fine.

But yes, site revamp first, I really like what has been shown so far and can't wait for it to go live.

*edit*
Forgot to mention the mobile aspect, The game structure as it is doesn't really lend itself well to mobile gaming because of the bandwidth usage (IMO). Rhythm games for mobile devices almost universally have songs/charts downloaded to the device and that might conflict with conditional permissions granted for artists on FFR. Otherwise you limit the game to people playing on good wifi or with unlimited data plans that have good speeds. Not that I think a mobile port isn't viable, just that the experience would suffer over the browser or standalone versions of the game and might not be ultimately worth the development time.


*edit2*
A lot of people think the game died because it did die at one point. But obviously there was still sufficient interest or the game wouldn't be back. (I would attribute the death more to management issues then anything wrong with the game/community) I certainly wouldn't say its dying, people come and go all the time, the active userbase basically changes on a monthly basis.

[xNiX]

Re: FFR's future?

FFR is so simple and fun, I think as people discover it they will still want to play it.

I think as long as there are people around who care to post, FFR forums will live on!~

Yes, that's if there are people who do stay around.

And FFR is not nearly as simple as most tablet games that come out for people these days. Plus, the average person (from my experience), are easily over whelmed by the arrows despite what speed mod is used.

[CaptainAhab]

Re: FFR's future?

site revamp first, I really like what has been shown so far and can't wait for it to go live.

Exciting!

[Arkuski]

Re: FFR's future?

An FFR revival would be insane!

[Pseudo Enigma]

Re: FFR's future?

are easily over whelmed by the arrows despite what speed mod is used.

there's your ticket. They come for the honour of looking aszn hitting arrows like a boss so they can look better than their friends, and fail. That's a possible addiction hook right there. Just gotta put the button to replay in a nice easy location to restart, then you've got people stuck playing the song until they do it. Then their friend says "hey I passed a 20 the other day lol" and they don't believe them, so they play more.

It's the same shit as Flappy Bird, we just gotta make it more mindless to play FFR.

edit: you also gotta have some more style with FFR too. This game doesn't exactly have eye candy. And what do we know about the main-stream gamer today? They only give a shit about games that look better than the last game they were playing. Plus, if you make it bright and stimulating, the ADD/ADHD kids will hop on board more easily. The ADD/ADHD kids are the ones who never shut up about things they like either, which would spread FFR like the flu by word of mouth.

edit2: make the game F2P with buyable content so that each player has a false-sense of being unique. Skins, UI content, kavaii moe blob announcers, you name it. Whatever could possibly make the player feel as if they can play the game but aren't getting the whole package unless they fork over a couple of dollars. The League of Legends route if you will.

edit3: oh btw if you go the Facebook way, make sure to add a small energy bar that limits your games played per day, and NEVER let anyone EVER get a boost unless they pay money. Put a lottery in effect so that people might be able to play longer some days. Highscore ranking board? Have that shit set to local highscores, and make it only focus on the 2 people around you so you feel like you're always improving. Unless you're the best. Then you can press the brag button like omega_grunt said.

However Facebook games are a dying breed so I don't really think it's going to work that way. You can't play Facebook games during class in most schools for teenagers (target audience) so it's not going to be easy for them to sneak on. Mobile seems to be the most popular platform for gaming when you shouldn't be IMO.

[TheSaxRunner05]

Re: FFR's future?

I thought you've been around here enough to know Facebook or mobile development will never happen. It's not like we have paid programmers or an owner to take the game in any particular direction. We're a community run non-profit website, and any development is purely volunteer work by people who love to play the game.

The only way I see any major development would be with the return of Synthlight. But that's a fat chance in hell.

But enjoy FFR for what it is; it's ours to tweak. As long as we have a community, (and a functioning server) we will stick around.