A NEW RSF IS COMING

[luques]

So I guess many of you were waiting for this post for looooong time.
Sorry but 2020 was a bit of a mess, especially for those involved in lockdowns / restrictions and whatsoever.

However, now that time is coming and a new year is approaching it’s time to explain what will be with RSF in the future, will it close? Will it be alive? Flash / Not Flash?

So here it is!

FLASH IS GOING TO DIE (REALLY?)

As many of you already know Adobe and, consequently, major browsers are going to stop the support of Flash from 2021.
To be honest, as per communication of Adobe, they will stop supporting Flash after 31 December and will block Flash from running from 12th January 2021 (so not really at the end of year).

So every project in Flash will die? Not really, there are a lot of projects going on to try to save all these projects and translate them automatically into a new format, unfortunately full compatibility isn’t reached yet but there are lots of updates going on.

NOTE: Flash support on Chrome will disappear once the version 88 of the browser will be out, that will be around 19th January 2021.

I don’t discard the idea that in the next near future there may be 2 versions of RSF going on, the classic flash one (that won’t be really flash and without updates but stable) and the new no flash version.
So the new version?!!?


THE NEW NO-FLASH VERSION OF THE GAME

Yes, before new year we will have a new no-flash version of the game.
It isn’t really tested, so the community will have to be patient and help a lot.

It will be really the same as the actual game (yes I understand the delusion about that), but will be playable from every browser also the mobile and tablet.

It isn’t a RSF 2.0, it is more a RSF 0.1, a new beginning that we have to build together.
At this purpose, I am probably donating some free license points at beginning of year to try to compensate all the possible problems of the start.

Could have been better (could have been also worse), I know, unfortunately there are many things going around and not always the path is straight.


However, some things have changed and will change immediately.

LUQUES HAS THE SERVER
As some of you noted, now the server of RSF is officially of Luques (no more complains to Buh so!).
That means I take the good parts (license and so on) and the bad parts (server expenses and so on).

I know some of you had problems with the payment, that is an issue I am going to fix through alternatives to Paypal (using other providers).

Prices and packs will probably change in the next months, especially for those most economical, as they are not convenient because of commissions (also here need to see what providers I can find and what are their tariffs).


COMMUNICATION WILL CHANGE FROM JANUARY

With the new version it will be much easier and fast to deploy new versions and work on small features.

The idea would be, exactly as we do with the calendar, every beginning of month writing down a list of features we are going to implement that month (or working for that month).

In this way everybody will be kept updated, and feedbacks will be much easier than the current way (where there are lot of topics to go through).

The idea of a newsletter also to update about the next month calendar or to remember people important things (like race starting or next month races and so on) is on my mind.


PLAN TO REINVEST ON THE GAME

Not immediately, but I plan to invest (not too much to be honest) a small amount during the summer, especially between Giro and Tour (if Covid allows that).

The idea is to bring new players, try to get new inputs and, in general, expand a bit the game.
I still think that this game may have a future, surely can’t be as a top game, but I think we can have a nice niche of players that keep the game enjoyable for everybody.

I want to be honest, at the moment the game is slightly in loss, licenses don’t cover expenses of the server (and obviously don’t cover my time), however I think it’s good to give it a try again.


FIX ALL THE BUGS

Too much time is lost by me and collaborators over fixing bugs.
The first priority of the new version will be to fix all the existent bugs, only from a stable base we can go on develop the game without further problems.

So I will make a big roundup of all the existing bugs and also the new ones that will occur with the new version and we will fix everything (or almost everything).

That’s the base otherwise we are always risking to implement things on unstable base and everything is going to collapse.



Long time plans, instead, other than implementing new features (something that must be done)

GIVING MORE ADVANTAGES TO LICENSE PLAYERS

There is too little advantage in being a license players.
I would like to unblock for them special stats, graphics and so on.

Another thing I would like to work is partnering with some cycling sites either to provide a news part or for offering discounts to buy products on specific stores online.

In general, I would like that having a license on RSF isn’t just playing without short races, but also having a better game experience and be able to get more advantages even outside the game.


RESTARTING WITH SOCIAL

I relaunched it for a bit last year and have to say the result wasn’t bad.

We know that the organical reach on FB is decreasing always more but it could be a nice way to keep informed our community.
YouTube / Twitch, who knows? Not excluding anything anyway.

GIVING A NEWER LOOK

As I said the new version will be practically as the old one.
But a new graphical version is necessary to be up to date.

The same game dynamics can probably be a bit old and boring, so in the future I hope to be able to reinvent a bit some parts to be a bit more dynamic.

----------------------------------------------------


I hope I took all the important points. For more questions or advices you can write.
Hope to bring you good news soon.

[Gipfelstuermer]

Good news, luques. Some hope for the survival of RSF. I noticed there are no server problems in the past few weeks. That's the first small improvement, mh?

Anyway, please let us know if/how we can help. You may need people to support you with

- testing the RSF 0.1
- creating and tracking list of bugs and how to prioritize them
- creating and tracking list of new features and how to prioritize them
- investments, e.g. if you are serious, a crowdfunding can be an idea (on solid legal basis)
- somebody for monthly newsletter
- somebody for social media

Other things probably, too... So it can be difficult to do everything alone, I guess.

For the gameplay, I hope nothing changes too quickly. People seem to love the gameplay and how it was balanced by Buhmann (even if it can be improved in some details.) So should only change things after successful testing and if a large majority of players wants that.

[IDF]

Good news, luques. Some hope for the survival of RSF. I noticed there are no server problems in the past few weeks. That's the first small improvement, mh?

Anyway, please let us know if/how we can help. You may need people to support you with

- testing the RSF 0.1
- creating and tracking list of bugs and how to prioritize them
- creating and tracking list of new features and how to prioritize them
- investments, e.g. if you are serious, a crowdfunding can be an idea (on solid legal basis)
- somebody for monthly newsletter
- somebody for social media

Other things probably, too... So it can be difficult to do everything alone, I guess.

For the gameplay, I hope nothing changes too quickly. People seem to love the gameplay and how it was balanced by Buhmann (even if it can be improved in some details.) So should only change things after successful testing and if a large majority of players wants that.

Yes, some little changes, the gameplay is very nice

[Berliner Bären RC]

Hi all and thanks to Luques,

I am still one of the newcomers and I can only say that the game is really fun.
You are always offered help by many people.
Sometimes, however, it is a bit annoying that you are sometimes forced to drive a certain style.
Everyone who plays C4F will have watched cycling races on TV or even races on their own bike at some point and everyone has their own goals. For Division 4,5,6,7, top 10 places on a tour are certainly a goal, which the Div 1 teams just shake their heads at.

In any case, thank you Luques for trying to push the game. I'm happy to pay a small monthly amount for that.

1-2 more wishes for the future
1) The skills are often too predictable. Either the form should have a greater impact or there should be some kind of weather bonus or, even better, an experience value that influences the basic skills.

2) And what is still too predictable is the visible display of the speed for others.
Isn't it enough that you can see at speed or not at speed? There is more room for tactical games if the tempo level is not visible to everyone.

Kindly greetings
Torsten from Berliner Bären

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[Chense]

Hey luques,

first thanks for your big effort and the announcement.

As my timetable is often pretty unpredictable and also what i do with my spare time is i can´t really offer you longterm help.

But if there are any short term things to do e.g. about translations or co-work on some idea feel ever free to contact me and i will be happy to lend you a hand!

For now your ideas and plans look very well overthought so i wish good luck to you and all of us to make america ... uhm rsf great again

To all guys just one idea from my side for now - FIRST: Help test and find the worst bugs - SECOND: Promote promote promote - THIRD: Think about changes and if then always keep in mind its an over 10 years old engine we play on so think well if a minor change is needed or if it should be part of a discussion for the one big change that will happen somewhen when we reached 1.0 again.

About some other thing i will contact you personally in the next days.

[Bear]

Thanks Luques! This sounds really great.

I will try to help as good as possible with testing, giving ideas etc. but time is very limited unfortunately because of work.

I like the way you think... first get the new one running without bugs and then start to change things if needed.

Design is one of the keys for new players probably and maybe also social media. Pro cycling had much better media when rsf started. So I think with cycling getting a huge jump at the moment, this could lead to a bigger interest in pro cycling and also for games like rsf. Just my positive guess.

[luques]

Added a little note for those curious:

NOTE: Flash support on Chrome will disappear once the version 88 of the browser will be out, that will be around 19th January 2021.

[luques]

NEW NOTE:

So, from tomorrow Adobe will stop supporting developers for Flash. That doesn't mean (or at least that's what they say) that flash won't work.

Total flash support will be removed from browsers around half of January, as most of you probably use Chrome, the date is set for the release of the version 88, released the 19th of January (https://www.chromestatus.com/features/schedule ). Adobe will really stop the support on 12th January.

Basically the roadmap at the moment is this one:

Around 5th-6th of January, you will see a button appearing below the PLAY NOW, that will let you access to the alpha no-flash version.
That version will have (if my tests go right) all the core functionalities of the game, that for me are the inscription/race part, the training part, the transfermarket and finance part.

A week later it will be available a new version, where more parts will come out as the News part / calendar / statistics / profile and so on.

So let's see PRO and CONS

CONS:

1) Some parts of the game that you probably like won't be immediately available, but they will be later on (probably during the same month of January). As example, the replay of races, real maps in the race, interviews.

2) The game at the beginning will be ENGLISH ONLY, I will put on the forum parts that can be translated and I will need help on that. The interface will stay basically the same as the flash one, so even with a different language shouldn't be hard to get for old players.

3) There will be bugs, many all around, so need to be a bit patient, if possible always report in the forum if you find something wrong.

For these reasons I will gift 30days license to everybody in the game tomorrow (who has and hasn't a license), so that the month of January will be basically free to play during the transition.

After telling all the bad parts, let's see the good ones:

PRO:

1) The game should be faster and more reactive than flash, at least for me on Chrome, the old/flash game drained lot of resources.

2) The game will be playable on the phone without apps (even if probably wouldn't be bad to do one aside). That said at the launch I don't think it will be "really" playable. I mean that while everything will work, the user interface won't be friendly enough to allow racing (at least in my point of view). Suggestions on this will be nice.

3) The new framework used will allow for lot of bugs corrections and improvements in a much faster way. So you can even expect weekly new things coming out (graphics / bug fixes / new features and so on). For long time the front part was untouched even when there were bugs, now will be the opposite.


Happy new year!

[Gipfelstuermer]

Luques, happy new year! Good start into 2021! Very good news and can't wait for it!

Some ideas:

- For the new alpha version, some statement could be helpful on the start page, too. Just to explain to everyone what's going on. Not everyone is reading the forum (only 20% perhaps...).
- For the flash version, as long as it is possible to play with it, perhaps a description/manual on the start page can help? I mean just a step by step how to get your system setup to be able to play, e.g. how to keep Flash installed, which Browser still works, etc. Otherwise people will just end up on the page and see that it doesn't work and then they leave (forever)?
- For testing the alpha version, perhaps it makes sense to allow some players to create a 2nd team? (which will be deleted later) So they can use that team for testing functionalities and report bugs to you. Otherwise people might continue with flash as long as they can and never use the new version.

[Chense]

Luques, happy new year! Good start into 2021! Very good news and can't wait for it!

Some ideas:

- For the new alpha version, some statement could be helpful on the start page, too. Just to explain to everyone what's going on. Not everyone is reading the forum (only 20% perhaps...).
- For the flash version, as long as it is possible to play with it, perhaps a description/manual on the start page can help? I mean just a step by step how to get your system setup to be able to play, e.g. how to keep Flash installed, which Browser still works, etc. Otherwise people will just end up on the page and see that it doesn't work and then they leave (forever)?
- For testing the alpha version, perhaps it makes sense to allow some players to create a 2nd team? (which will be deleted later) So they can use that team for testing functionalities and report bugs to you. Otherwise people might continue with flash as long as they can and never use the new version.

First 2 ideas i think are good and i would support them. But not the 3rd one - I think most of those players that are a "reliable" part meaning the core of the game will be changing directly anyway as they want to help and test the new system.

[luques]

Good news, luques. Some hope for the survival of RSF. I noticed there are no server problems in the past few weeks. That's the first small improvement, mh?

Not really, as nothing changed, guess it was just luck

Some improvement will be in the future, especially when we will create a staging server to test new things being a bit more quiet than now where everything goes directly into production basically

[CrazyV]

Hallo zusammen

Da mein Englisch nicht sonderlich meine Stärke ist, und ich seit längerer Zeit nicht mehr ins Forum geschaut habe, möchte ich jmd. bitten, mir kurz zu schreiben, was Stand der Dinge betreffend neuem RSF und vor allem auch dem Problem mit Adobe Flash Player ist. (kann auch gerne eine PN sein).

Danke schon einmal an denjenigen für ein kurzes Update!
Habe wieder mal Bock, ein paar Rennen zu fahren

[Alkworld]

Hallo zusammen

Da mein Englisch nicht sonderlich meine Stärke ist, und ich seit längerer Zeit nicht mehr ins Forum geschaut habe, möchte ich jmd. bitten, mir kurz zu schreiben, was Stand der Dinge betreffend neuem RSF und vor allem auch dem Problem mit Adobe Flash Player ist. (kann auch gerne eine PN sein).

Danke schon einmal an denjenigen für ein kurzes Update!
Habe wieder mal Bock, ein paar Rennen zu fahren

Schau mal hier (ja, ist auf Englisch, aber Google Translate könnte helfen):
http://www.radsportfreaks.de/RSFForum/v ... 9&start=25