Peter
As a player who started racing in 2017, this update, and the ensuing fixes is not a complete surprise to me, but I do feel sorry for the newer managers who are not used to the 'iGP Manager: way of updates'
Solid testing before releasing this update, would have saved many managers from quitting this game, instead of the release, and fix in the live situation.
Sad to say this, but this way of releasing updates harms the iGP Manager brand and reputation.
You are right, of course. Just know that if I had a choice, I too would choose the obvious right way to do things. Some things had to be "forced through" the pipeline. I don't think we're ever going to have another infamous "iGP update" after this. This was what I aim to be the last total "platform reset" type update (e.g. 3D in 2021, massive changes in 2025, another massive change in 2026). These things can be done really cleanly if you're working in an offline environment, or launching a game for the first time. Pivoting a 4m user database with billions of rows of data in a live environment to a new model is almost never going to be clean.
Imagine if Amazon.com completely rebuilt its website every few years. Even they would end up with countless issues after the launch, it would be inevitable, even with their budget. Now imagine if only Jeff Bezos was doing the entire thing on his own, and you're not far off what I've had to do this week. 😂
What I'm not saying is that we couldn't have done better. We absolutely could have, but what's done is done, and now it's time to get this feeling as stable as 2020 again ASAP, because there are things to build now. I really think we've found the formula this year, the right balance to push us into the years ahead with your confidence. I fully appreciate right now many can't see that, and they've heard me say things like this before, but in previous years I wasn't able to move development forward almost telepathically. We were so constrained and many of those constraints are now gone.
Elias
That all we want from this game is simplicity.
The strengths of iGP (what made it unique - the blueprint that should always be kept in mind):
-simplicity, accessibility, full grids and hard but fair strategic racing, no nonsense, no gimmicks
-being able to pick up the game and being competitive within a few months.
I actually think we're moving back towards this. We're making it harder to add complexity, and simpler to have simplicity.
I ask everyone's patience one last time on this: nobody but me can really see this at 30,000ft, the back-end servers, the costs, what keeps the lights on around here so you can keep playing after 10+ years. I can see all of this, and with the benefit of hindsight, last year was the false start that this year will deliver on. I tend to be very optimistic and am a bit of a futurist with technology, and I over-estimated the rate of change last year. This year the tools have caught up with my ambition, and it's not a dream, we will ship. W2W is all I need to point to. That task scared away some of the best devs I've ever met, because it was too complex, and then I built it (with AI's help). Alright, it's been super buggy in the first week, but from tomorrow it looks like it'll be stable.
Being here again, directly interacting with everyone, I'm much more in touch with things on the ground now. I see what you're saying, but we also can't pivot back to 2018, and we've got to keep moving forward. I'll do my best to incorporate those aspects you've described so well. For the real oldies and purists, that's why I am going to add "classic mode" (2D only) and "offline mode" early in 2026.
Elias
You know; like it used to be when iGP was a hit, with full grids and active players and banter everywhere. The days of 2018-2021. What a great game it used to be, and unique in the gaming market.
The life was largely due to marketing, which we'll re-activate shortly. You'll notice the difference once the game is being pushed to people again, and not relying on them discovering it.
Elias
Secondly, another thing we kept repeating was the endless and hopeless struggles of lower level (new) managers against the almighty level 30's. With no end in sight, that's why they eventually stop playing, of course they do! Who wants to play catch up for 2+ years? But your solution has been to give all levels the same research power, and even worse: 10 extra levels to make their struggles even more endless?
The playing field has been largely levelled in this update, research needs tweaking though. Drivers + staff matched across all levels and more has made it much more equalised.
Elias
Sorry for showing my obvious frustration, and I know you've been working like crazy on this update, and there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious. I’m not saying it’s all bad, I do believe there may be some unlocked potential in the new game once it’s working. I’m just not sure there will be enough player base left. I have most respect for what you have achieved with this game, and hit the sweet spot around 2020 with a unique and simple yet addictive formula. The effects of the push levels, the tyre dynamics, that was great, that was enough. Then add more options per league, great! Without losing touch with the blueprint that made it great. Maybe going forward you should consider to start listening to your customers first. That’s all I want to say really. We are the customers, the ones playing the game, so it's important to listen to what we want.
I'm listening. Thank you for this.
In recent years, interacting with middlemen rather than everyone directly, in some ways I forgot the privilege it is to be able to work on this and to interact with everyone in the community. That's not something I take for granted. I will keep delivering updates and hopefully I can win you over with time. If you decide to leave before then, I understand. The rate we can ship at this year will be unmatched though, and as the features and events arrive it's a whole different game, literally.
CEO & CTO
