Video games master thread

[steve dave]

 

[Pete]

level 9.  will I get access to jets at level 10?  HOPEFULLY!

birchcraft, but they are Class 2 planes.

Just made level 9.  I had a disastrous last day and half, where I have had to work at my job.  Just horrible.

[Pete]

I am seriously considering starting over.  Africa is just terrible.  Seemed exciting at first, but they are poor and do not have big cities.

Maybe I'll just move north, get a Cairo hub, and move into Europe.  I don't know....mixed emotions here.

[steve dave]

I am seriously considering starting over.  Africa is just terrible.  Seemed exciting at first, but they are poor and do not have big cities.

Maybe I'll just move north, get a Cairo hub, and move into Europe.  I don't know....mixed emotions here.

yeah, move north.  I can see exciting things happing around the Mediteranean. 

[Saulbadguy]

I just take people where they need to go, ya know?

I painted my passenger planes purple and white and named them P1, p2, p3, etc.
Cargo planes, brown and yellow, C1, C2, etc...
Mixed planes Red and yellow, M1, M2, etc...

Makes it much easier to keep track of things, IMO

[Trim]

I don't get it, reset.  You guys can show me why this is fun this weekend.

[Dr Rick Daris]

I just take people where they need to go, ya know?

I painted my passenger planes purple and white and named them P1, p2, p3, etc.
Cargo planes, brown and yellow, C1, C2, etc...
Mixed planes Red and yellow, M1, M2, etc...

Makes it much easier to keep track of things, IMO

so saul makes his "mixed" planes red and yellow, huh? jfc.

[pissclams]

I am seriously considering starting over.  Africa is just terrible.  Seemed exciting at first, but they are poor and do not have big cities.

Maybe I'll just move north, get a Cairo hub, and move into Europe.  I don't know....mixed emotions here.

yeah, move north.  I can see exciting things happing around the Mediteranean. 

this is a good plan.
there's a ton going on around the Mediteranean, then you can begin to work your way through the Middle East/India, and into LSOC's neck of the woods.  that was my route, although i started in Spain and went into N and S europe, n africa, and east into the former soviet blocs. 

[michigancat]

oh man, the 13th floor is "70's Apts." so zany.

[SwiftCat]

oh man, the 13th floor is "70's Apts." so zany.

I'm getting ready to build new Apts on floor 9. should I wait?

[michigancat]

oh man, the 13th floor is "70's Apts." so zany.

I'm getting ready to build new Apts on floor 9. should I wait?

not if you need workers!

[michigancat]

also, one of my favorite things to do is evict losers immediately after they move in. Oh, you're dream job is a coffee shop and your motivation is a 3? GTFO.

[steve dave]

I got a person that was all zeros and her dream job was "vegan".  lmao. 

[SwiftCat]

oh man, the 13th floor is "70's Apts." so zany.

I'm getting ready to build new Apts on floor 9. should I wait?

not if you need workers!

I need them! I'll do it!

[SwiftCat]

  Nice try Vanessa

[Kat Kid]

oh man, the 13th floor is "70's Apts." so zany.

saw that!

how cute!!!

[steve dave]

level 12.  mainly flying birchcrafts LA to Chicago.  using about 4 smaller planes to feed chicago with LA passengers/cargo. 

[Dugout DickStone]

level 12.  mainly flying birchcrafts LA to Chicago.  using about 4 smaller planes to feed chicago with LA passengers/cargo.

Level 9.  Work has been eating up a lot of time and also battery life when I was in a 2 day depo.

I am up and down the pac rim.  Sapparo down to Hong Kong.  Next stop, Bangkock then the jewel in my crown....Sydney

[Saulbadguy]

I am seriously considering starting over.  Africa is just terrible.  Seemed exciting at first, but they are poor and do not have big cities.

Maybe I'll just move north, get a Cairo hub, and move into Europe.  I don't know....mixed emotions here.

yeah, move north.  I can see exciting things happing around the Mediteranean. 

this is a good plan.
there's a ton going on around the Mediteranean, then you can begin to work your way through the Middle East/India, and into LSOC's neck of the woods.  that was my route, although i started in Spain and went into N and S europe, n africa, and east into the former soviet blocs. 

stay the eff out of central america. that is my turf. You can still send me plane parts though.

[Dugout DickStone]

I am seriously considering starting over.  Africa is just terrible.  Seemed exciting at first, but they are poor and do not have big cities.

Maybe I'll just move north, get a Cairo hub, and move into Europe.  I don't know....mixed emotions here.

yeah, move north.  I can see exciting things happing around the Mediteranean. 

this is a good plan.
there's a ton going on around the Mediteranean, then you can begin to work your way through the Middle East/India, and into LSOC's neck of the woods.  that was my route, although i started in Spain and went into N and S europe, n africa, and east into the former soviet blocs. 

stay the eff out of central america. that is my turf. You can still send me plane parts though.

Yeah, I am willing to defend the pacific rim with my blood (actually the blood of my pilots/stewardesses/baggage handlers) if necessary.

[hemmy]

what a bunch of dorks.

[Rage Against the McKee]

I think the plane game sounds pretty fun. Maybe one of you guys should just print out the instruction manual and mail it to hemmy so he can see what it's all about.

[8manpick]

Can't wait til you all lose your progress

I was never a big fan of Nimblebit’s Tiny Tower. Despite its immense popularity and critical praise (even Apple got in on the act, awarding the game its Game of the Year Award), I felt the title hardly qualified as a “video game” at all. The whole thing was a little too lightweight and casual for my taste.

Still, I’m nothing if not open-minded. So last week I eagerly downloaded Pocket Planes, Tiny Tower's spiritual sequel. It was love at first flight. Pocket Planes immediately seized me and wouldn’t let go. All of last week and into the weekend I checked in on my burgeoning airline empire constantly. On my way to work. In the middle of meals, podcasts, conversations… virtually any opportunity to steal away a few moments. I was addicted.

Until the game deleted all my progress and forced me to start over.

Sunday night was progressing much like other recent evenings. I was watching Netflix and checking in on my Pocket Planes fleet every 20 minutes or so. But then, out of the blue, I fired up the game only to be greeted by the tutorial dialogue:

I killed the app and re-started it, only to encounter the same issue. My level 10 empire, built up over many hours, was lost.

This is disheartening enough when taken on its own. I was really enjoying Pocket Planes. My growing flight crew was about to expand from the Southwest United States into Mexico City and beyond. But more troubling than the loss of time is the potential loss of money.

Pocket Planes is a free-to-play game. I had banked over 60 “Bux,” the game’s premium currency, or about $3 worth. The loss of my progress also wiped out these holdings. I hadn’t spent any real money in Pocket Planes yet (Bux are also awarded through standard play), but it’s very concerning that Nimblebit’s lack of server stability could potentially erase someone’s $40 In-App-Purchase in the blink of an eye.

To the company’s credit, anyone that reaches out on its public customer support hub does seem to be having their account manually credited. But Pocket Planes, like Tiny Tower before it, appeals to a very broad audience. How many hundreds (thousands?) of gamers will download the game on a whim only to have it eat their progress and potentially their real-world money? Many of these gamers will likely not have enough internet know-how to visit the company’s feedback page and have their purchases restored. Anecdotally, the game’s GetSatisfaction hub is filled with page after page of lost progress.

Nimblebit developer Ian Marsh shed some light on this issue in a statement to IGN, while also reiterating that any affected player can have their progress manually restored by contacting Nimblebit customer support:

“…There have been a small number of users reporting issues with data loss since launch last week. There are limits to the size of beta testings we can run, and unfortunately there are issues that only become apparent when you have a million people playing your game. Luckily we rushed an update out (1.0.2) on Friday which fixes the worst offending bugs. If users haven't updated to 1.0.2 we highly recommend it. We're working on eliminating any other issues that pop up and will be submitting another update shortly,” Marsh told IGN via email.

“Anybody experiencing issues with Pocket Planes can contact our customer support at http://getsatisfaction.com/nimblebit where we will assist them as quickly as possible. Luckily the vast majority of players seem to be unaffected, but for those who are we make sure they are credited or receive refunds for any purchases that can't be recovered.”

In the interest of transparency, when my own progress was lost I had not updated the game to the most recent 1.0.2 patch.

Despite this show-stopping bug leaving a bad taste in my mouth, Pocket Planes is still an extremely impressive and progressive mobile game. Almost all modern freemium games revolve around allowing users to play freely just long enough to get them interested, then dropping the transaction hammer. Most modern social games revolve around building towns, farms or whatever other building concept Zynga is able to popularize with the mass market.

Nimblebit, in comparison, marches to the beat of its own drum. Pocket Planes is even looser with its premium currency than Tiny Tower, truly allowing dedicated gamers to play free forever. And although airline sims have been done before, the title also breaks new ground from a game design and game mechanic perspective. It’s compelling, casual and complex all in one addictive little package.

The severe bug I experienced aside, I have immense respect for Nimblebit zigging when virtually everyone else in the video game industry wants to zag. But I’m not sure if I have it in me to start my airline empire over from scratch, or jump through support hoops to get my progress back. The momentum has been broken. Still, if anyone hasn’t yet checked out the simple title, I am willing to recommend it wholeheartedly. As long as they start with the (hopefully) safe version 1.0.2, that is.

[Dugout DickStone]

Is Shanghai to Manill profitable?  Why yes, it is. 

[Dugout DickStone]

Level 10, 8 planes.  I run from Sapporo to Darwin Australia.  Manilla really opened this thing up.