Post by Barracuda Bay on Mar 23, 2012 18:18:47 GMT -5
So as to avoid bogging everybody down with excessive reading, I am not gonna re-produce the letter I sent to Katelyn Oldmstead last night thanking her for her insight into what is happening with Booyah and MT2. Suffice to say, like you, I wanted to know more, so I asked her about new land, new levels, and getting more gifts. Below find her response to me in full, which answers not only that but the additional questions other have had regarding the Shinto Shrine and new content.
Please feel free to give imput on this thread or directly to her by PM here on the forum ay username BooyahKate. She is reading all our feedback and any ideas or critique from MT2 veterans is appreciated. Just a word of caution, please address customer service issues such as gameplay issues to Booyah itself through its official channels. Thanks.
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Hello David -
Thank you for posting my message to everyone. It was great to read everyone's feedback and is definitely valuable and has given me a lot to think about and pass onto the developers.
I was most pleased to find your forum here. I think that you ad Sol have build a very great community and I would love to do what I can to help it grow and flourish. I think what you have given the players of My Town 2 has been fantastic, and that you have made this game all the more enjoyable for them, so thank you for that.
In regards to the things you outlined, I would love to address them more and let you know where I stand and where the developers stand for each topic. Again, feel free to pass all of this onto the community in however you see fit.
1. MORE LAND/EXPANSIONS - You are 100% correct in all that you wrote. Land & Expansions absolutely needs to be a priority. I know this and express it to the developers, however for some reason they are extremely resistent to the idea. One of the main reasons they are resistent is because the more land you have, the bigger you can build your town, and the bigger your town is, the more resources it takes from your device. If you have one of the older devices, such as an iPhone 3GS or 2nd Gen iPod, the more resources that are being used, and the more likely that the game will struggle to function normally on your device. That being said, I am going to continue to push for this, especially as we release new content for players to obtain. As you mentioned, because many of the players have hit the cap on land expansions, they are less likely to enjoy any new items that we release because they simply have no space to place them. I have also mentioned a "storage" feature to the developers, as a possible way to alleviate the need for more land, however they are concerned that the storage would annoy the players more than help them. That scrolling through all the items they have placed in there would become cumbersome and annoying. I have tried to explain that something at least needs to be done, and like I said, I will continue to push for this. I do not think that it is fair that a player should have to delete items to make room for new ones, especially since when selling them back you are taking a loss in terms of coin/buck return.
2. NEW LEVELS - Adding 50 levels sounds like an easy thing, but actually adding levels takes quite a bit of work from the developers. That being said, we NEED more levels (especially with the Spin to Win granting XP), and we need them on a regular basis. As I understand the plan right now (and what I am pushing the developers towards) the hope from our developers is to more regularly release new levels rather than just large chunks of levels here and there. Additionally, like you mentioned, we also plan to make levels at 50 more difficult to advance through, so that the content doesn't get stale as quickly.
3. MORE GIFTS - This is actually something new that to be honest, I had never thought of, but you are definitely correct that more than 5 are needed, especially if we want to make this game more social. I am going to pass this onto the developers right away and try and push for at least an increase in the number of gifts each person can send out on a daily basis.
In regards to the contest, once you have it up and running I would absolutely LOVE to promote it on the Facebook Page and Twitter. I just need a link to the contest (that includes the rules) and I can promote it on a fairly regular basis for the length of the contest/event.
I noticed there were still a couple questions the players had that I failed to address in my last message to you. I figured I would address those here.
1. Shinto Shrine - We have done one round of awarding of the item, but because of all of the issues over the last two weeks we have had a bit of trouble pulling all of the data we need for the remaining users. I am trying to push the team on getting an ETA on when these will go out, but I am kind of getting the run around. IF next week starts and someone is still missing their Shinto Shrine just email us and I will hopefully have more information.
2. Upcoming Content - As you noticed we have some fun events this weekend that hopefully everyone can enjoy. Additionally, next week we have more new items coming out which should be pretty nice. The game team is also in the final stages of planning out the next major release, which should come sometime later in April.
As you know, change takes time, but I can assure you, and this community, that I am going to continue to push for many of the things we discussed and more. I honestly won't be happy until the players are happy.
I will continue to provide you and this community with updates and communication from Booyah, though I likely will not be posting on the actual forum. However, I will be checking my private messages on a regular basis and will respond to them, so if anyone ever wants to contact me, they can send me a message here (within reason of course). However, just make sure everyone knows that if they need customer support, that should always be done through the official email channel.
Thanks so much!
Katelyn Olmstead
Please feel free to give imput on this thread or directly to her by PM here on the forum ay username BooyahKate. She is reading all our feedback and any ideas or critique from MT2 veterans is appreciated. Just a word of caution, please address customer service issues such as gameplay issues to Booyah itself through its official channels. Thanks.
--------------------
Hello David -
Thank you for posting my message to everyone. It was great to read everyone's feedback and is definitely valuable and has given me a lot to think about and pass onto the developers.
I was most pleased to find your forum here. I think that you ad Sol have build a very great community and I would love to do what I can to help it grow and flourish. I think what you have given the players of My Town 2 has been fantastic, and that you have made this game all the more enjoyable for them, so thank you for that.
In regards to the things you outlined, I would love to address them more and let you know where I stand and where the developers stand for each topic. Again, feel free to pass all of this onto the community in however you see fit.
1. MORE LAND/EXPANSIONS - You are 100% correct in all that you wrote. Land & Expansions absolutely needs to be a priority. I know this and express it to the developers, however for some reason they are extremely resistent to the idea. One of the main reasons they are resistent is because the more land you have, the bigger you can build your town, and the bigger your town is, the more resources it takes from your device. If you have one of the older devices, such as an iPhone 3GS or 2nd Gen iPod, the more resources that are being used, and the more likely that the game will struggle to function normally on your device. That being said, I am going to continue to push for this, especially as we release new content for players to obtain. As you mentioned, because many of the players have hit the cap on land expansions, they are less likely to enjoy any new items that we release because they simply have no space to place them. I have also mentioned a "storage" feature to the developers, as a possible way to alleviate the need for more land, however they are concerned that the storage would annoy the players more than help them. That scrolling through all the items they have placed in there would become cumbersome and annoying. I have tried to explain that something at least needs to be done, and like I said, I will continue to push for this. I do not think that it is fair that a player should have to delete items to make room for new ones, especially since when selling them back you are taking a loss in terms of coin/buck return.
2. NEW LEVELS - Adding 50 levels sounds like an easy thing, but actually adding levels takes quite a bit of work from the developers. That being said, we NEED more levels (especially with the Spin to Win granting XP), and we need them on a regular basis. As I understand the plan right now (and what I am pushing the developers towards) the hope from our developers is to more regularly release new levels rather than just large chunks of levels here and there. Additionally, like you mentioned, we also plan to make levels at 50 more difficult to advance through, so that the content doesn't get stale as quickly.
3. MORE GIFTS - This is actually something new that to be honest, I had never thought of, but you are definitely correct that more than 5 are needed, especially if we want to make this game more social. I am going to pass this onto the developers right away and try and push for at least an increase in the number of gifts each person can send out on a daily basis.
In regards to the contest, once you have it up and running I would absolutely LOVE to promote it on the Facebook Page and Twitter. I just need a link to the contest (that includes the rules) and I can promote it on a fairly regular basis for the length of the contest/event.
I noticed there were still a couple questions the players had that I failed to address in my last message to you. I figured I would address those here.
1. Shinto Shrine - We have done one round of awarding of the item, but because of all of the issues over the last two weeks we have had a bit of trouble pulling all of the data we need for the remaining users. I am trying to push the team on getting an ETA on when these will go out, but I am kind of getting the run around. IF next week starts and someone is still missing their Shinto Shrine just email us and I will hopefully have more information.
2. Upcoming Content - As you noticed we have some fun events this weekend that hopefully everyone can enjoy. Additionally, next week we have more new items coming out which should be pretty nice. The game team is also in the final stages of planning out the next major release, which should come sometime later in April.
As you know, change takes time, but I can assure you, and this community, that I am going to continue to push for many of the things we discussed and more. I honestly won't be happy until the players are happy.
I will continue to provide you and this community with updates and communication from Booyah, though I likely will not be posting on the actual forum. However, I will be checking my private messages on a regular basis and will respond to them, so if anyone ever wants to contact me, they can send me a message here (within reason of course). However, just make sure everyone knows that if they need customer support, that should always be done through the official email channel.
Thanks so much!
Katelyn Olmstead
I can understand (sort of) the issues the developers are having with the items we want so badly now that she has explained their position a bit. 
??
