They’ve promised it, but there’s been no update on it. I’m not holding my breath…
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i have a bad feeling about this.
please not another broken promise!
North Star Games sent out an e-mail survey sometime today or yesterday and interestingly it mentioned beta testing for pass-and-play and asynchronous play near the end.
The survey itself was slightly worrying because it was shaped in a way that made it sound like they were trying to come to grips with why the game isn’t doing as well as they hoped.
That was the exact gist I got from it too… I stressed the lack of async multiplayer in just about every response. The app is really well done otherwise and the game is a ton of fun, but sync games just don’t do well. Guess it’s hard to wrap your head around that when all the devs are sitting around the same table playing lol
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Evolution just updated again to include single-player challenges, which I’m sure are fine. The game is pretty polished, plays well, and is overall a good digital adaptation.
I finally broke down, though, and left a 1-star review on app store with a direct quote from the developer promising asychronous play “in a couple weeks” - back in February. North Star brags about the months spent beta testing single-player challenges but hasn’t delivered on their promises from launch.
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Yep. I could write a book about Evolution and how not to make a board game app.
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Definitely in the running for disappointment of the year. I had such high hopes for this game, but without multiplayer it’s merely a puzzler.
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I’d read that book! And then post about it in our boom thread!
That is some stiff competition. Scythe’s complete absence, Terraforming Mars falling into limbo…there were some big disappointments.
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Eesh, forgot about those… I’m sure there’s something else lurking out there…
Widower’s Sky comes to mind…
As long as Dire Wolf comes through with an awesome version of Mage Knight, all will be well.
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Oh my god. It’s the first time I hear about this!
I think there’s definitely something bigger to dig into regarding digital board game adaptations on mobile. Asmodee Digital were bringing everything of theirs to mobile at one point and now they’re… not.
And then you’ve got all these indie people who’ve games have been a mix of really good to not as good as they could be. Say Raiders of the North Sea on one end and then Evolution on the other.
I k ow very little about the industry but it seems the profit just isn’t there for most board game adaptations. That said, I believe @RachetAcram has stated that the bulk of their sales come from mobile. I’m also going to (wildly) guess that a nice chunk of board game app sales come relatively close to release, driven by hype and the board game community who is eager to gobble up any new apps from their respective hobby. That would explain why so many board game apps fall by the wayside and aren’t maintained as well as they should be (ahem, Asmodee). This is why I tend to be more loyal to developers these days than to any specific game adaptation; you know the quality you are getting. CGE could come out with a Monopoly app and I’d buy it sight unseen, for example.
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The problem with evolution is that is was in development for 4 years which is what you’d expect from an AAA title, not a niche board game that’s going to sell for under $10 on the App Store.
there was no way they would recoup the Dev costs unless the app was as polished as…well something from CGE. That was their intention by polishing and polishing. Hell, we saw the app working and playable for 2 gen cons before it came out and kept getting told that they wanted it to be the board game app to beat all board game apps. Then to release without the main feature (online multiplayer) that could have made it a contender?
It’s as if they’d never played another board game app.
Anyone trying to make a BG app (that’s not based on a solo game…I will take my Black Sonata or Mage Knight app sans online multiplayer, thank you) should be worshipping at the altar of Playdek and CGE and, if you can’t pull off something at least close to their online model, don’t bother.
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And that’s being generous to RotNS, which launched with reliability issues and questionable design decisions as grumbled about at length in the game thread.
Unless your point is that the range from RotNS to Evolution (in whichever direction) is the best we can hope for for board game ports nowadays.
[quote=“Neumannium, post:35, topic:1771, full:true”]
Anyone trying to make a BG app should be worshipping at the altar of Playdek and CGE and, if you can’t pull off something at least close to their online model, don’t bother.[/quote]
Quite. This is a solved problem. At least, maybe realise that other devs have done the hard work and come up with a good model.
Maybe that’s a good interview question, or the no-brown-M&Ms test. “So, what do you think of Playdek’s multiplayer?”
Can confirm, PC is still a token of what iOS or Switch do for us.
In terms of multiplayer - it’s a journey to develop that, make it actually work and keep it working. We (Acram) are improving ours slightly game after game, and I myself am one of the main combatants here to keep it running.
On one hand I do realize why studios don’t. As I said, it’s a ton of work and inconvenience. On the other, if you promised players a working multiplayer, or they simply expect it due to the nature of the game, say, oh I don’t know, a DIGITAL BOARD GAME, you kinda need to deliver. Else, in my opinion, you’re releasing an incomplete product.
At least half of the appeal, at least in my opinion, comes from an operational multiplayer when it comes to digital board games.
I’m also going to (wildly) guess that a nice chunk of board game app sales come relatively close to release, driven by hype and the board game community who is eager to gobble up any new apps from their respective hobby.
Actually not really the case. Sure, the release is a spike, but our games keep selling at a steady trickle, so to say. I’m not in on the exact numbers, and even if I were I would not be sharing those, but yeah, our stuff keeps selling, and it’s definitely not counted by “this better pay for itself on release”. Then again there’s never been a hype around any of our releases like there was around Scythe or Terraforming Mars so 
P.S. I should probably write all that from my personal account rather than work account, but I don’t have one so… oh well! 
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Thanks for the insight! I’m not fishing for any closely held inside information; I do think it is interesting to hear industry insights, though.
Oh yeah, totally. I was more saying that to myself so I don’t say something silly that I should not have 