New iGP launch schedule

By Jack Basford
Last updated: Fri, 03 Jun 2016 21:57

If you have been playing the iGP Manager open beta, you will already know we aren’t just testing, but actively developing and improving it based on your feedback. Much of the initial feedback requested more depth, which was expected. We started with very simple interfaces and simplified procedures throughout the game. We decided to add depth incrementally based on feedback, to strike the right balance between the desktop version and coming apps. After a season or two, many players are enjoying the game a lot, finding it has the same depth combined with more convenience. We will keep adding depth and variability to strategy right up to launch, to keep everyone on their toes.

Open beta is a great place to experiment with this, as we can tweak things daily. We would like to stay in open beta for a while longer and capitalise on this opportunity. Once we go live, this kind of rapid deployment will not be possible, as the balancing act becomes slow with everything needing very thorough testing before being put live. In some ways, the open beta can be viewed more like alpha testing in that sense. We’re using it as a chance to make rapid updates with few distractions from development.

Because we want this flexibility to continue developing the game in open beta, and even adding a new feature or two, we’ve decided to extend the launch by a few weeks. So, our target for releasing the new web game to igpmanager.com is August.

The extra time will bring several benefits to the final version of the game. One of the major benefits of this will be a mobile launch that quickly follows the desktop launch, meaning they will be weeks rather than months apart, as well as being a more polished and refined game.

This is important because it will also minimize confusion with our mobile audience. The mobile game is going to be an app, but we’ve seen many in open beta thinking it is meant to be a website, just because it can be opened in a mobile browser. While the entire game can run on some devices in the browser, it’s not intended and we want to be sure that everyone has the app available to them as soon after the desktop web launch as possible.

We also have a couple of new things we are working on with this extra time. Nothing major, but some nice finishing touches that we think everyone will appreciate. :)

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Keith Clan 7 years 248 days ago
How much warning would we have before it cuts over? Keen to finish the current season in the "classic" iGP!
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Eyo Sama 7 years 276 days ago
Which Smartphone OSes will have an App available, and will they all be available at the same time?
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Jamie R 7 years 289 days ago
Maybe a there could be something setup where inactive teams are removed from leagues automatically if they have signed in in something like 30 days or a full season?? I remember planetarion did this to cut down on the amount of ghost galaxies they had. Would also mean if that person decides to return they would come back to their team, probably still have their team and drivers etc? Pick up where they left off?
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Jamie R 7 years 289 days ago
@Ray

I think the question is now about leagues with a handful of teams... there may be small groups of people who just like to race within themselves. I think its most the ghost leagues of 16/32 cars that all race for the first few races as their cars auto refit and by the end of the season no one is left running. You then look more closely and find most of the league hasnt signed in for years,

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Ray Parker 7 years 290 days ago
One thing I haven't seen, and maybe I've just missed it, how will the non-championship races be run? and will the basic league structure change, or will they be more under IGP control? the big question, will you have any way to limit the number of empty leagues or leagues with only a handful of teams?
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marco simoncelli 7 years 291 days ago
I hope, i can set up my team in mobile phone, would be better if i can see live race in mobile phone. so i can handle my team anywhere anytime... thank you jack ...
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James Pinsker 7 years 291 days ago
This game looks very tasty, but, like Jay and Jose mentioned, would there be a possibility of running this game seperately on older servers? So those who just want a more basic platform can use it on occasion.
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Jamie R 7 years 294 days ago
Sorry Jack,

Have asked in a few places and havent seen an answer.

Any plans to bring back loading last seasons strategy? And also being able to review seasons gone by?
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Nirvaan Daruka 7 years 296 days ago
I really think the beta is lacking a lot of depth as well, the old version is just amazing, the level of depth it includes is also very good, and is much more interactive for players. Whereas the beta, is just very animated in my opinion. Mainly the depth is the big issue. Apart from that, I think drivers need to have more characteristics, like how it is in the old version. The car performance and modeling as also been simplified too much. The complexity and depth adds fun to the game.
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Jay Loh 7 years 298 days ago
So I feel like I am playing a game that is base on tablet version and then to the viewer(pc) so the main core of the game itself might be the problem I think.
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