Hi Guys!
So, I have the answers to many of the questions you asked. Also, I'll stay around and answer some questions for about an hour.
Communication+12 - Can we get more regular updates of information of progress? Letting us know what is/isn't being worked on. Maybe a list of known issues and progress on resolving them?Yes. Since the open beta launch we’ve made a concerted effort to spend more time in the Board Game Geek and Dominion Strategy forums. However, keeping track of different threads and the different conversations is challenging in that environment. So we are going to spend our time responding to questions in Get Satisfaction and we’re going to issue updates every 2 weeks. These updates will include bug fixes, feature updates, and any other announcements.
That said, here’s what is being worked on now:
IE9/10 support
New Card Sets (Dark Ages, Hinterlands, etc.)
Tutorial
Google+/Chrome Store
Facebook integration - We want to get the browser experience solid before moving into mobile
And here’s what is coming after that:
iOS app support (iPads)
Android support (tablets)
Improved matching
Improved adventures with more variety in each game
+9 - Any word on release schedules for the unimplemented cards?Part 2 of 3 for Dark Ages - We will be releasing that soon to select few beta testers to see if we missed any specific card bugs, then releasing it to the general public shortly afterwards.
Part 3 of 3 for Dark Ages - A few weeks after
Cornucopia - Sometime in November
Order thereafter:
Hinterlands 1 of 2
Hinterlands 2 of 2
Alchemy
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7 - Please can we have more information about in game advertising?In a couple of weeks we’ll start introducing a video ad between the game launch and start of game. You’ll only see this every 10-15 minutes. However, if you decide to purchase an expansion, you won’t see any ads.
+5 - What is the purpose of the 'invitational' beta that is still running but with an old version of the software? Is there a reason why there was no announcement made to the invited beta testers that a public beta was launched, or that the version they were testing was now outdated? Would you like to tell the invitational beta testers what their role is now?Going forward we will update the invitational beta with new cards and features before we roll them out to the public. So when part 2 of Dark Ages is released, there will be a testing period on the invitational beta before the cards are released to the public. If you’re a beta tester, we’ll send you an email to let you know when those cards are available to test.
We intentionally did not publicize the public beta as we wanted to test our systems with organic traffic before telling people about the beta. Once we’re comfortable with our progress on bug fixes, we’ll start letting more people know about it.
+4 - Do you have a target date for a public reboot? When do you plan to add on new Beta users?When we exit open beta is purely a function of quality. As soon as we have addressed the issues discussed above (IE9 in particular), we’ll consider letting more people know about the game. We will be sending emails to those who have signed up in the various places starting in a week or so. However, we want to ramp carefully, so there will probably not be any big public announcements for a few weeks.
+3 - In the last Q&A you were asked about which other games Goko signed on for. Can you give us an answer to that now?The next games on our roadmap are Treasures & Traps, Race for the Galaxy and War Factory. We’re anticipating private betas for those in the next few weeks. Those will be followed by Citadels and Empire Builder. We’ll open up Catan World to a larger audience in December.
+3 - Have you guys considered starting a blog on your website?We have. All resources are focused on game development and bug fixes at the moment. But a blog is a good idea and something we’ll set up later when we have the technical resources to implement.
Bugs and Security+5 - Are the reported memory leaks fixed?This was a priority for the last couple weeks and we believe they are. However, if you find that this is still an issue for you, please let us know. It’s a top priority for us.
+5 - There are still a ton of bugs/issues/etc that people have. Would it be helpful of us to list them individually on GetSatisfaction?It’s always helpful to have bugs listed individually so we can close the bugs as we get to them. One big thing of why we used Get Satisfaction is it allows threads, so it’s helpful to do a search and see if your bug or feature request already exists. If you’re reporting a bug, it also helps us if you list your OS, and your web browser with it’s version number. We have heard of some people having problems with GS, so if you are email us at
help@goko.com.
+2 - What specific steps have been taken to close any security flaws (present in the original beta) in your system?A quick summary of the security updates we did:
Usernames & Passwords are not sent in plain text.
This information is encrypted and sent via HTTPS. You’ll note the entire site isn’t HTTPS. We reserve this for information like usernames and passwords that needs to stay secure.
Passwords for the accounts that you set up in game or on the game site are stored on our servers in their encrypted state. We can never provide you with that password (because we can’t unencrypt it) and can only give you the option to reset it.
However, passwords used to access the closed beta site and sent to you via email are not secured in this way because are not attached to an actual account. They are just used for basic site access.
Javascript can no longer be inserted into meeting rooms or usernames. Users cannot execute Javascript on another’s computer via either of those methods.
Game servers now validate messages from the game client. Users cannot play cards that they don’t own or manipulate card properties while playing a game.
Some users have reported being able to see an opponent’s hand via a bug in the game client. We specifically designed the system to not let this happen and have tried repeatedly to replicate this.
We also hired a security consultant who evaluated the site and attempted to break our security. We’ve made changes he recommended and will update you once he’s completely done with his analysis.
+1 - Did you release today (sept 21)? If so, how do we report bugs that we encounter in the release version?We did a quiet launch of the Open Beta on September 21. There are two ways to report bugs. First, you can go to Get Satisifaction.com/goko, and report bugs there. The second way to report bugs is to send us an email at
help@goko.com.
Payment, Accounts, and Accessibility+7 - Is the google requirement to obtain walled village firm? (this question is in reference to this)
+4 - If the google requirement for walled village IS firm, is it possible that we can enter our google account once when we purchase walled village?Yes, using a Google+ account is firm for acquiring a Walled Village. However, we will be adding ways to consolidate multiple authorizations to your account at
www.goko.com in the future. Though, that’s at least 2 months out now.
+4 - As you are accepting real money now, I suppose there will be no hard database resets anymore which result in losing our Adventure progress and game stats. Is my assumption correct?Correct, from this point on, everything will remain intact going forward with regards to things you purchase, progress you make, and currencies earned.
+3 - If you buy the expansions in the beta with PayPal, will you get to keep the cards when this officially releases?Anything you buy you will keep from this point on.
+2 - Will it be available in the app store? (even the computer version?)Yes. That is important. We’re focused on desktop fixes now and will train our efforts on mobile apps as soon as we’re satisfied with the quality of the desktop browser version.
Game Play+7 - Will quick play be implemented for the launch? (like isotropics auto-match)No. We do have a design for quick play, but we’re tackling other issues first and won’t roll it out right away.
+7 - Is there any chance we can have our preferences saved from session to session?Certainly. For the Create Game in multiplayer, we are now saving your settings within a session. We are interested in hearing what people want to save from session to session.
+5 - Will there (ever) be the ability for users to combine sets they own to play a game?Not right now, as there are other things we’re putting our resources towards in allowing specific set randomization.
+3 - When the iphone and other versions are implemented, will those players be able to play with players using a desktop?No dates yet and it will be after all the desktop browsers are working well. Yes, mobile and destop users will be able to play together.
+5 - Is there any chance that "very fast" animations will be changed to "turn off" animations?Unlikely at this time. We aren’t seeing a great increase in speed when animation is turned off. However, we are working on making things faster, especially while playing longer hand games.
+2 - I enjoy playing with random decks and choosing which deck i want to play. But since i bought the pack of 3 extension, i can't do random decks game like i want to do and i'm very upset since i paid money for something I could do by paying less!We totally agree with this, and want to see this feature. Right now we have someone working on this feature but I don’t have the timeline for when it will be available. Soon, though, I hope.
Other+12 - Is there anything that could be done to leave isotopic running? (for example, put it behind a goko pay wall)We know that this won’t be popular, but the answer is no. We negotiated an exclusive license to build Dominion and believe that in order for the game to be self-sustaining
there needs to be a single version that can be played by one community of players across devices.
+9 - Has any thought been given to alternate methods for obtaining the promo cards?We have! Right now, we’re looking into various ways to earn VP tokens outside of Adventures and Tournaments. There are a few things on the table and we will roll these out as we get time.
+4 - How does the rating system actually work? Numbers and formulas please.Our rating system function very similarly to Isotropic’s. However, players in Goko’s Dominion start at 1000 points instead of 0. As you play more, your actual rating becomes more clear to our formula. So your rating will start to fluctuate less. Your rating, a number from 0 to 10,000, is shown in the Rating column of the leaderboard. A number in parentheses indicates the number of points rating points you gained or lost in your last game.
A "P" indicates that your rating is "provisional", i.e. the system does not yet have a good estimate of your ability. While you are provisional, you'll see your rating in the leaderboard, but nobody else will. We do this because the initial standard deviation is so high.
Ratings are adjusted based on the following:
* What place you come in and how many players are in the game.
* The ratings of your opponents (The higher the level of your opponent the more you’ll move up)
Ratings are not adjusted based on the following:
* How many points you win by
* Number of turns
+2 - What are the plans for the tournaments which give Victory tokens?This is on our roadmap and something we’ll roll out after we get the game up and running to our satisfaction. Look for information in one of our bi-monthly status updates.
+2 - I personally think it is fair that we, the fans of the game, should be able to play the game with all the currently released cards (i.e. everything including all of Dark Ages) and with a decent interface. I would like to know why you won't give the OK for us to play with all of the Dark Ages cards on Isotropic?We know that everyone is anxious to play with the new dark ages cards, and we’re working on getting those out as soon as possible. We’ll start testing the next batch this week with beta testers and will roll out the final Dark Ages cards shortly after.
+1 - How much work is being put into the iOS and mobile versions of the site? I tried playing on iPad and it made games ridiculously slow.We’re planning on releasing an app version of Dominion for iPad later this year. This is the same game that you can play on the desktop browser, but inside of a mobile wrapper app that helps address the issues that you experienced in a browser. It does this by giving our game access to hardware resources on the phone that improve speed and performance.
For the open beta, we’re focused on desktop browser only. We didn’t optimize for mobile browsers and are now telling users who try to access the game from mobile device about the performance issues.
