19 replies to this topic

[KingJur]

To all our Stratego fans and players,

 

We recently updated our Stratego Multiplayer version on Android and iOS.

Many people enjoy this new version, but some players are not yet fond of it.

 

The reason we chose to change parts of the game is to renew the IP and attract more players, without changing the core meganic of Stratego, as we believe a great game should have a large and diverse player base. In that, we have succeeded. Already the amount of  people logging in on mobile devices has grown with over 438%

 

Of course we value the players we already had. In fact, we believe these are very important! We noticed some of these players don’t agree with the update and the path we took, but please keep in mind we listen to you and we keep on improving and updating the game and the experience.

With this new version we took the modern day usage of mobile devices in mind. More and more people only play games on mobile devices nowadays, we did not want to neglect this. The old version was made with software not compatible with a lot of modern devices. So we rebuild the game in new software as  we wanted our game to be playable on as many mobile devices possible.

 

Another big change is the split between Single Player and Multiplayer. We did this so we can truly focus on what is important for the experience. With Single Player, this is a well balanced AI. An AI that should be competitive but still fun to play against. And trust us, creating an AI for Stratego is one of the hardest things to do in Game development!

The focus on Multiplayer is on matching and connection. A game needs to run smooth and should be fun to play against people of similar skill, whether you are at home or in a train, on a 3G or Wi-Fi connection.

 

Also important is to focus on the positive players that have earned their respect, while also trying to wade out the bad people who are cursing and messing up games. We will do our best to improve this more and more and remember that you can always reach out to customercare@stratego.com if unpleasant stuff is going on.

 

So, long story short, we are really happy we can work on such a beautiful and epic game!

And it’s great that after times of no development we can finally grow and improve on this fabulous franchise!

Sometimes we make decisions that will take time for some players to embrace. But in the end we will continue to do our best to make the game for all people who love to play a game of Stratego!

 

We are happy with your support and you can expect we do the best we can every day!

 

The Stratego Team

[Lonello]

Good to know Jur. And to add on here:

 

Also important is to focus on the positive players that have earned their respect, while also trying to wade out the bad people who are cursing and messing up games. We will do our best to improve this more and more and remember that you can always reach out to customercare@stratego.com if unpleasant stuff is going on.

 

MT ofcourse will remain to do its upmost there too .

[Fairway]

Have you updated it too all of the apps yet?

[GaryLShelton]

Jur, thank you for the update today. It's good to hear official news about this most important of current events. I have a few questions if you have the time to answer.

I am not sure why it was necessary to "renew" the IP of stratego. The old program/game appearance was only a few years old. Does something like IP expire in so little time?

The numbers you state of a 438% increase in mobile device logins is a good thing, but all new things have an initial appeal of novelty. Is it a temporary spurt? Has there been an equal decline in web logins at the same time? Do we know what part of the 438% new logins represent actual new users, as opposed a few persons logging in on mobile devices many times?

I understand the old program was not meant for certain mobile devices. The old app was/is impossible to play on a normal size Android phone, while the new app works decently there. Nonetheless, couldn't the old artwork and appearance have been retained and the problems fixed? It seems to all who see the new artwork that Jumbo has decided to take the game out of the realm of the serious stratego player in favor of the younger audience members only.

The old version will have the interesting asterisk to its life that it spent as much time in beta as out of beta, or nearly so.

I must admit I fear what will happen to this site when the elite players of this game who regularly play here see this new artwork on their computers. Right now there are various programming issues like the old web version had in its infancy. Do you believe these will be satisfactorily addressed and that the new artwork will serve to retain the highest caliber of user here, so very many of which are your fellow Dutchmen?

It appears to me that nothing has changed, in a substantive sense, with the way the game functions. Only the artwork has changed. That is good that the game plays similarly to the old version, but...

Is it possible that you would hear a list of programming requests, most of which have been made for years on the site? If you would address one thing alone it would be huge, and that is the elimination of the double chase. But there are many other good ideas. Over the years they've fallen on deaf ears.

Thank you again for today's post. It was very good to hear from you.

[Fairway]

Again, does anyone know the answer?:

 

 

Have you updated it too all of the apps yet?

[jwolf6589@gmail.com]

I want the old version back. How can I get it back on my iPad? Thanks..

[Fairway]

As far as I know, you cannot. It is mandatory.

[texaspete09]

 It seems to all who see the new artwork that Jumbo has decided to take the game out of the realm of the serious stratego player in favor of the younger audience members only.


I must admit I fear what will happen to this site when the elite players of this game who regularly play here see this new artwork on their computers. 

 

This is exactly my point. 

[Fairway]

I would stay if all they do is make the quick game setup time 1 minute and let us create our own. I hate the piece art, but can still stand it. But the last straw is not letting us create quick game setups. This is ridiculous and takes away the whole point of the game.

[GaryLShelton]

Again, does anyone know the answer?:

Fairway, the versions released so far are for Android and Apple. Nothing has of yet been released for web version. So far being the catch phrase here.

[MickM]

Again, does anyone know the answer?:

 

As Jur said as well, in the end, all versions will be updated.

[KARAISKAKIS]

As Jur said as well, in the end, all versions will be updated.

 Let hope that the version in web will be updated  according what Napoleon asks in a previous post ''at least not before a 1:1 equivalent platform exist that will allow 100% of the existing features (including existing design) to remain and that will have been tested and approved by some of the fans of this forum or from international stratego federations.''

[MickM]

 Let hope that the version in web will be updated  according what Napoleon asks in a previous post ''at least not before a 1:1 equivalent platform exist that will allow 100% of the existing features (including existing design) to remain and that will have been tested and approved by some of the fans of this forum or from international stratego federations.''

 

We'll continue to update and tweek the current new version, making it the best version Stratego has ever seen.

[Nortrom]

I hope you guys are paid per hour in that vase

[Fairway]

I hope you guys are paid per hour in that vase

They'd better be....

[trickz]

I have some questions in fact :

 

1) Will this site be renewed with the lay out of the appgame then?

2) What about the ranks, stats and matches of the players?  Will it be implemented in the new site?

3) What if I just don't want to play on a phone, tablet, ipad or whatever other crap (yes, for me playing on such devices is just pure crap, I just don't like it, not comfortable but I guess that's just an opinion) ?  I just want to play online ranked matches on my desktop like I always did.  

4) What about the personal achievements in your player profile, also gone with the wind?

5) What about the online tournament rankings and related stuff based on the current software?

 

 

Personally, I very much like the lay out of this site, the gameplay, the screens, it's all very clear, it's practical and it's fun.

The only thing I don't like, and I think we can all agree on that, is that this software was and probably still is in beta mode so it's not bugfree,.........once and a while you will lose or win a game while the other got kicked out for nothing.

If renewing the site means you make it completely bugfree, then you will get the benefit of the doubt for sure.

I even want to pay a fee annually to be sure of a good quality bugfree fun site with lots of options.

 

 

I hope someone can answer these questions for me.

 

 

Kind regards, 

 

Trickz

[Fairway]

I am pretty sure that the data is transferred over to the new app. Gary switched from the old app to the new app and kept his rank.

[GaryLShelton]

Trickz, I'll let Mick answer you but I wanted to tell you what I know for sure.

1) Letting Mick address
2) Ranks and stats transfer over to the new app. I play Android and can't speak authoritatively on Apple but there's no problem with the info end. There aren't any more elaborate/detailed statistics, but they don't get any worse. The one thing that's different is that the color rank and rank names are not shown on the new app, only the ELO. At least for now, but Mick mentioned they were going to be re-doing this soon.
3) Right now the web version has not changed and you can play on it with the old artwork and game. You'll never be forced to a wireless device. In fact, you'll get the last switchover to the new programming if you play on the desktop. Once everything is all the new look and programming, you'll still be fine to use only the web version.
4) Personal achievements are indeed, at this point in time, gone with the wind. You cannot access them any longer on the new app. But they may still change this. Glad you brought it up.
5) Not sure if I can answer this perfectly but I can say I've been playing in the WC tournament and just won my first game last Thursday night using the new app. A big problem here is the lack of the opponent's name on the victory/defeat banners. But the TC received confirmation elsewhere on my win, I guess.

Trickz, the biggest problem with regular game play on the new app for me is the lack of a constantly visible buffer. Now it only appears when the move timer goes past your fifteen seconds and you begin using the buffer. Then it appears. I think this is crazy. To find my buffer I have to make my opponent wait fifteen seconds. Then it appears. It's a bit crazy, but that's the way it is.

Hope that's of interest.

[Napoleon 1er]

As Jur said as well, in the end, all versions will be updated.

Hi Mick

Is it possible to have a kind of calendar? When is the upgrade of the existing computer version going to be ready for testing by stratego.com fans? Are you also going to open a "scouts" team for that?

[MickM]

I have some questions in fact :

 

1) Will this site be renewed with the lay out of the appgame then?

2) What about the ranks, stats and matches of the players?  Will it be implemented in the new site?

3) What if I just don't want to play on a phone, tablet, ipad or whatever other crap (yes, for me playing on such devices is just pure crap, I just don't like it, not comfortable but I guess that's just an opinion) ?  I just want to play online ranked matches on my desktop like I always did.  

4) What about the personal achievements in your player profile, also gone with the wind?

5) What about the online tournament rankings and related stuff based on the current software?

 

 

Personally, I very much like the lay out of this site, the gameplay, the screens, it's all very clear, it's practical and it's fun.

The only thing I don't like, and I think we can all agree on that, is that this software was and probably still is in beta mode so it's not bugfree,.........once and a while you will lose or win a game while the other got kicked out for nothing.

If renewing the site means you make it completely bugfree, then you will get the benefit of the doubt for sure.

I even want to pay a fee annually to be sure of a good quality bugfree fun site with lots of options.

 

 

I hope someone can answer these questions for me.

 

 

Kind regards, 

 

Trickz

 

Hi Trickz!

 

To answer your questions:

 

1. With "this site" do you mean the forum? Because then no. As of now there are no plans to redesign the forum, because the backend of the forum is VERY outdated and reskinning it, would take a lot of time. Time we'd much rather spend on the game!

2. In the upcoming update, we will do more with the ranks

3. Totally understandible. You can still do that. All versions of the game use the same server, so people on the new app are playing against people on the old app/desktop!

4. Not gone, just temporarily stored until we decide what to do with it!

5. What about it actually?

 

I do like to hear your feedback and we do hate the fact that the old game was not bugfree. Which is why we intend to make the new app much more stable.

 

 

Hi Mick

Is it possible to have a kind of calendar? When is the upgrade of the existing computer version going to be ready for testing by stratego.com fans? Are you also going to open a "scouts" team for that?

 

I'd love to, but gamedevelopment is hard to put in a calender.

We are working on so many things, and although we work with an internal calender and planning, it's hard to make that public, because gamedevelopment is such a dynamic process. It might happen that after a week, we change course because there are special bugs or other pressing matters. Gamers tend to deal with changes in development a little less understandible than developers