Let’s Talk About Red Dwarf XI: The Game

[Ian Symes]

The game is now out! Well, it’s out on the App Store at any rate – the Play Store will presumably follow soon. It’s going to be pretty tricky to discuss this on the front page, as the game contains spoilers for Twentica, and people are watching at different paces. Also, some people might want to play through without having any surprises spoiled.

So, for now at least, let’s confine any specific discussion of the game’s contents to this thread. ONLY READ AHEAD IF YOU’RE OK WITH GAME SPOILERS!

My very early impressions were as follows:

Ooh, Robert Llewellyn voiceover!
Haha, they spelled “welcome” wrong.
This is pretty good.
This is tricky.
Ooh, it’s a prequel! That’s clever.
ZOMG, I’m playing as Rimmer.
FUCKING SHOOT THE BAZOOKOID PROPERLY
HOW CAN I DIE, I’M A HARD LIGHT HOLOGRAM.

[Jonsmad]

I new my iphone 4 would be just below the tech level required to get on the same operating system. I might as well be a broken toaster in the 1920’s/50’s. I can down load a tension sheet app apparently!

[Jonsmad]

Exclusive content written by Doug Naylor. Play as your favourite characters. It says on the screenshots.

[Jonsmad]

Frequent “Free” updates will be released as the series progresses mirroring the storylines featured in the episodes.

[si]

I’m shit at playing games. I played for about 45 minutes earlier, and have got no further than the third part of the scanning bit. My brother had managed to get on to Rimmer’s bit when I left him, but he told me that it had got stuck and the target wouldn’t moven or something.
Liked the beginning, though. Looking forward to exploring a bit more later.

[locusceruleus]

I’m waiting for it to pop up on the Google Play store. Think releases are generally midnight on there, so fingers crossed for an hour or so.

[curtis]

Finished the first set of levels. Pretty hard. Quite nice though. Kind of massacres the Twentica script.

[pendo86]

Enjoyed it for what it is. I like that some of the levels explored things not seen onscreen, such as collecting the Casket of Cronos and what Rimmer did when he was taken.

The controllability of the characters is awful, and don’t get me started on those car levels. I’m looking forward to seeing what Samsara brings to the game.

[locusceruleus]

Bah, No sign.

[typeforty]

The controls for Rimmer are absolutely abysmal. If, as is suggested above, that’s the case for future sections, that may be a game breaker.

That said, I enjoyed the first and third sections (and that’s as far as I’ve got so far). They’re tough but enjoyably so.

I could have done without the twentica script being presented like that. Cover the plot point in a couple of dialogue boxes and move on – let people watch the episode in its own form.

So yes, I’ve got gripes, and the control thing is a big one, but the main thing for me is that it’s not another bloody match-3 game, and even if the rest of the game turns out to be a massive turd I’m happy to pay money for developers to show a bit of ambition and try something different.

[Bezzy]

I’m quite enjoying it. It’s a bit fiddly and the controls on some of the parts are strange, but theres a lot of variety.

[Pete Part Three]

Well, the first level is a bit cack. I played for about 3 mins on the tube earlier and got very quickly bored of simply mashing the screen with my thumb. Pretty hard to aim with something that obscures the view of what you’re aiming at.

[John Milhous Nixon]

My thoughts so far:

– Fun little game, nothing mind-blowing but certainly worth the asking price of half-a-pint.

– That difficulty level. Hmmm. I’m geeky enough to have completed Halo games on ‘Legendary’ difficulty, so I like to think I’m reasonably good at games – but some parts of this are TOUGH. That could alienate a lot of potential players (hell, I even ragequit a few times) which is a shame. Can’t have been that hard to add Easy/Normal/Hard options, can it?

– Episode-themed content. When this was announced, I expected it would just be tiny additional stuff added to a base game, like extra lines of dialogue or new items in the cockpit. But no – it seems like each episode is going to have a multi-level story devoted to it (I assume). That’s a lot of content being added for free each week.

– Controls aren’t great, but they very rarely are on ios games.

– Ship scan level had me worried at first – is this what the whole game is going to be like??? But, no, there’s a lot of variety. Rimmer hostage level is fun, Time Surf reminded me of the bonus stages in Sonic 2 (yes, I’m old), the piloting Starbug bit is a nice reaction-time minigame, and the Kryten nipple level is … well, a Kryten nipple level.

– Overall I’m really impressed. It shows that a lot can be done with the license. It would be amazing if Doug teamed up with someone like Telltale Games to make an episodic, console-quality experience.

[(deleted)]

I can see Red Dwarf fitting the Telltale engine very well. Like Doctor Who it’s something which is surprisingly difficult to reimagine as a game so I can only visualise it as a reskin of something already existing.

The Lego engine would suit it. Not completely impossible, though my tolerance for “Red Dwarf” and “Lego” in the same breath has worn down to a nerve. #votesmeng

[Brayds2006]

I just get a black screen when I open it. Anyone else get this?

[Brayds2006]

Wait nevermind just had to turn the phone off and on again.

[(deleted)]

Spoilers.

[Brayds2006]

At first I liked it, didn’t love it. The controls on the Rimmer level were quite wonky. But any game that lets me recharge Kryten’s Nipple Nuts gets an automatic 9.5/10 from me.

At first I only thought there was a few levels per episode but no, the whole fucking episode is playable. I thought it was just until the time jump. I’ve yet to go beyond just after the crash but so far so good.

[si]

Downloaded on iOS last night, managed to get no further than Scan Ship part three. I’m shit. Plus my frenetic tapping of the screen meant my mum kept thinking I was sitting having a fit over in the corner.
Although, having said that, my brother’s managed to get further than me and has suggested that I might want to let him take over when I reach the Time Surf section as it might not be great for my health.
Downloaded Android version this morning (i have two phones at the mo due to me smashing my brand new Android phone after my Council Tax went up), and have managed to get as far as the same point, and failing in exactly the same way.

[JEZZMUND]

Anyone else seeing typos and cringing like fuck?

[Bezzy]

The car levels controls are horrid :( also feels like the level is never ending

[JamesTC]

An octopus has three hearts.

[JEZZMUND]

Ugh… the car levels were fucking awful. If you slow to a stop it’ll often bug and stop moving no matter what you do.

The sneaky levels are a bitch though…

[Pete Part Three]

I think I’m done. The Starbug Controls level is just too dull, and every stage lasts for an eternity testing your patience with the awful controls rather than any skill. I’d have deleted this straight away if it wasn’t Red Dwarf.

[typeforty]

It does get a bit repetitive. “That level was diverting, wasn’t it? Almost fun, even. Now please repeat it three more times but slightly quicker.”

[Ridley]

It does get a bit repetitive. “That level was diverting, wasn’t it? Almost fun, even. Now please repeat it three more times but slightly quicker.”

I hope that’s a line from the game.

[Pete Part Three]

I got a Lex Luthor in Superman 64 vibe in the first stage, frankly.

[GlenTokyo]

Controls are pretty bad but it’s the camera more than anything. The controls are pretty standard for a non specific genre mobile game.

What they really need are health pickups, put those in and you’re golden because there are some levels where as far as I can tell, you can’t not get injured. Like the Rimmer escape, even if you nail the expenoids within the first swing, they fire a shot at you.

[Bezzy]

The car level needs health pickups

[JEZZMUND]

I wonder if, as your ship levels up and the new episodic content comes in, you get to spend that ‘XP’ on more weapon damage / bigger health pool etc

[GlenTokyo]

Are there leaderboards somewhere?

[Bezzy]

I like that the game starts before the episode. Where you find the attack ship. There’s a few additional writing parts there. Dunno if those parts are written by Doug or not.

[Jonsmad]

https://youtu.be/y3zv017TIow

[Jonsmad]

https://youtu.be/CccfDMW2TN8

Nah I dont buy this being in universe. Rimmer would run away!

[Jonsmad]

https://youtu.be/LAPC_mB5kJ8 Ah there is the ad on the official channel.

[Jonathan Capps]

We’ve done published a first impressions video over on the YouTube channel. This is me playing blind, and covering most of the first three missions:

I’ve since completed the Twentica comment and… well, yeah it went a bit downhill for me. There are problems, but they’re interesting ones, so there’ll likely be a short review coming in the next few days to wrap up my thoughts.

[Jayenkai]

I haven’t gotten very far. I stopped midway through the Rimmer level where bazookoids suddenly fire lasers that no longer fizz when hitting the scenery.
Honestly, I was bored.
I’m not a fan of “now do the same thing three more times” gameplay extensions.
At the very least, give us a “I CBA” one-round-per-game mode.

I’m also not a fan of static “show photo of person, add text.” gubbins, either.
Remember the Mobisodes?
Imagine a 3D cockpit/scene, with mobisodes style characters, and little speech bubbles with the dialogue.
.. infinitely more interesting than “here is a picture with some text”
You have an engine, use it!

Speaking of which, why is that a static photo on the titlescreen? Why is that not a full featured 3D model that we can pan and scan around? Seriously, why??! With options to switch the titlescreen for other unlockable models along the way.
That would be nice.
That would be more interesting.
Bah..

I’m very disappointed by this.

.. and that’s pretty much without complaining about the actual games themselves.
As the creator of many many (many!) games, I know what bad gameplay is. When it’s boring, repetitive, uncontrollable and dull, that’s not a good game.

[Ian Symes]

I’ve just got to the driving level and ARGH GOD NO STAB STAB KILL

[Bezzy]

The driving levels are terrible. I like that it’s a variety of minigames and looking forward to what the others bring but the controls are horrid. I liked the look of the Starbug cockpit controls though.

[pendo86]

GameDigits got in touch with me after my comments about the controls on Twitter and asked me for some feedback. They seem really keen to make the best game possible and want it to be good for the fans. I told them about the controls on some levels and they have gotten back to me about it:

Thank you so much for this write up of the game, it’s very much appreciated and very useful indeed. We didn’t want to make just a cash cow game for this, like a match-three game or similar so we went to a variated comprehensive game that mirrors the series.

Given the time constraints on the project this was always going to be a bit of a risky strategy, but far better than creating something throwaway.

Now that the game has been released and we can get player feedback, this write up is perfect. We aim to go through and rebalance the game, and we agree with points on here – the controls need work, the car especially (incidentally, that was a game suggested by Doug Naylor himself). The car level itself is a real killer to complete, the most damage is dealt when hitting characters, but I feel we balanced was way too harsh on initial release. Kudos for finishing it though!

We purposefully made the game hard on first release because we believe the first wave of players would be die-hard Red Dwarf fans and likely to be gamers too – we may have gone a little too far in that respects!

We’ve already put an update into submission and waiting for Apple to review it, it doesn’t address all the issues we we felt it was necessary to get it out to fix the majority of them anyway. We’ve made it easier (still, not too easy) and we plan on added health pickups and helpers along the way too.

I cannot fault the guys at GameDigits one bit, and the game, despite it’s control issues, still is fun and entertaining and I really enjoy it.

(Ian from GameDigits also told me I was the first person to complete it. How smug does that make me haha!)

[Jonathan Capps]

Solid community management, there. That’s really good.

[Pete Part Three]

The updated version is available on iOS.

[Bezzy]

That’s great! I love their apology for the ‘wellcome’ lol

[locusceruleus]

Anyone else having trouble getting it to install on Android? I’ve got nearly 1gb free but it fails every time. Downloads all the way then ‘can’t install’.

[Bezzy]

The update hasn’t changed much , other than in the car episode there are more Expanoids and less wondering civilians , bumping into barrels doesn’t hurt health as much as it did.

[Jonsmad]

Really enjoyed that video first look. Thanks. Mainly as I’m interested in the games design and links to the episodes, and not fussed about actually playing it. Watching it was a bit like a dwarf cast version of Marooned. Instead of the whole team commenting on an episode we get just cappsy in peril being hits with rocks!!!

I’m trying to remember if that first line from cat about dungarees was cut from early in the starbug scenes, I think it might have been from memory of the recording night. Not sure though.

Confirmation there from game digits that doug wrote in the car into the episode with at least the game partly in mind in the process.

I look forward to the review finishing up video. Would love a walk through video of the entire game to be honest . Though I might try that emulator you speak of.

[GameDigits]

Hi Guys, I’m Ian MD/Developer from GameDigits who made the Red Dwarf XI game.

We’ve been following this thread for a while now and thank you for all the comments and feedback on the game so far. Especially to Dan for his feedback, and Jonathan for putting together the first look video. It is a very fair summation of the first parts of the game, great work (by the way, top tip: you can shoot and scan at the same time on the Ship Scan).

Although there’s a very mixed response on here, there’s certainly a lot we can take from here to improve the game and we plan to keep updating the game responding to feedback as much as possible as well as adding new content for the upcoming episodes too.

Admittedly, the game was created within a tight time frame (a lot of mobile games are due to the risky nature of the business) and we could have easily played it safe and made a match-three game, or some short throwaway experience. However, we didn’t do that, we wanted to make something much more ambitious than that for you guys and given the time & budget on this, what has been produced has been truly phenomenal. We also didn’t pander to the free to play mechanisms that spoil a lot of mobile game experiences.

That said, the game isn’t perfect, we understand that. However, we want to make the best game for Red Dwarf imaginable, we’re huge fans, why wouldn’t we? Now we have the feedback from initial release, we will act on it and keep improving the game.

Please bear in mind that this process isn’t an instant, the first update you have seen was literally a days work. This is because Apple’s review process takes 2-3 days to complete in order to get the game on to the App Store, therefore we made a first pass of fixing the major issues within the first day of release! We are currently working on another update right now, with health pick ups, better camera/controls on the characters, easier game balancing and much more given the feedback from threads like this.

Ultimately, if we have your support on this, there’s a likely chance that we would make an other game for Series XII – but we would have much more time and budget and really go to town on it, how cool would that be! Unfortunately, this isn’t likely to happen if people are giving 1 star reviews because not everything is fixed in the first update given one day of development time. Therefore, it’ll be great if you could keep supporting us on this, we’re on the same side, give us the constructive feedback we need and we will continue improving it, making it the best Red Dwarf game ever made!

[Ian Symes]

Ian, you are a top man. Thanks for signing up.

[Bezzy]

Thank you for joining up Ian. From the reviews I’ve seen on the App Store people have just played maybe the first part, assumed it’s all like that and left it. I’ve given a good review and I’m still playing it (trying to get better scores and upping my space miles) . Looking forward to all the added extras and improvements.

[Jonathan Capps]

Thanks very much, Ian, this is superb support. I think in the opening Starbug section I was a bit screwed by using a mouse on an emulator, hence why I wanted it to be clear I was playing on an entirely unsupported platform, with an unsupported control system. I’m difficult like that.

I’m putting together a brief review of the rest of the episode today, so I’ll highlight your post here and keep directing discussion to this thread so we have a single place for discussion. I’m very excited to see the future updates and content, especially now we know a lot more about the development circumstances and your intentions.

[peas_and_corn]

I haven’t played much of it, I got up to the Rimmer bazookoid part, and so far, it’s… all right? I quit when Rimmer got stuck behind a wall he couldn’t walk around. Well, I tried to quit, quitting just dumped me back to the tutorial. I had to force close the app. Ehh, it’s a mobile game- limited by the nature of the device it’s on, especially when it comes to controls. At least it isn’t a freemium game.

[curtis]

Enjoying this game and nice to see the feedback is being taken on board. If I was to make a comment it would be to say a scoring description might be useful for each level. Are scores based on time taken to complete the level, damage taken, a combination of the two or something else entirely? Also, I can’t find a way to replay the introductory video. Is there a way to do so, and if not, could that be incorporated?

[Ian Symes]

“Find The Club” is still impossibly difficult for me, even after the update. Now that running into barrels and exponoids isn’t so damaging, I’m no longer dying on the first straight, but I can’t seem to beat the level because it’s so relentlessly long, with no checkpoints or health pick-ups. I finally mastered corners by slowing to a halt before swiping to turn, waiting for the camera to catch up, and then swiping again. But this is a long process, and some corners have exponoids positioned to shoot you in the face. So you have to go through them quickly, and end up scraping the wall.

How did anyone manage it?

[Karnie]

Ian, I finally got through it by swiping wildly to the side as soon as I saw a corner coming up… even still, barely made it with enough health points to spare.

[Karnie]

I’m just glad I’m able to play it, since there’s actually some new material in it for the Encyclopedia Addendum. Not much, but every so often they’ll throw a line in that wasn’t in the episode (Standard Protocol: 1-2-3-4!)

[Ian Symes]

I’ve done it now! Turned out that careering through the corners that contained exponoids left me with just enough energy to get through it provided I was careful for the rest of the way. Thereafter, I finished the rest of the episode within half an hour, only losing one life along the way (Find Einstein, when I tried to just leg it through on the first attempt and got stuck). Bizarrely managed the second driving level on the first go, despite it being identical to the first.

The repetition of the games is slightly disappointing, but then it’s understandable that a mobile game would have to recycle the same mechanics a few times.

[Bezzy]

At least in the game it shows them actually going home ;)

I’m loving the game. Been trying to up my scores. The multiplier you get as you level up Red Dwarf helps :)

[Karnie]

Everybody get the two collectible items in the first episode?

[Bezzy]

I have 3 : the Exponoid helmet, the toaster and the Pram :)

[si]

Just had another ten minutes or so. Still not got past Hostage Rimmer.

[GameDigits]

There’s been some great feedback from this thread, and thank you to all of those who have emailed us through the game too and directly to Support@gameDigits.co.uk too.

I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that we’ve been working around the clock for a new update to address the majority of issues raised both here and various other forums, social media and the app stores themselves.

The game is hard, there’s no doubt about it and I admire you guys pushing through it and coming out the other side! Although Si, I think you might want to wait for the next update, sir ;)

We have already fixed a large number of issues raised here, to name a few, the awkward controls, the enemy encounters being too difficult, the car mechanics and we will continue to add more content to these existing games too as we progress to make them more interesting and challenging to play. We’re hoping to get this new update submitted within the next couple of days, but please be aware it take 2-3 days for Apple to approve it and get it on the App Store too.

We’re also working on the Samsara update too and there’s some really cool ideas coming for that. We had a great brainstorming session with Doug and there’s some really nice game ideas coming up for that.

Ultimately, to manage expectations here – the Samsara content update will after the episode is aired, even possibly weeks after. This is because it’s simply unfeasible to make an entire set of games based on an episode every week, which I’m sure you can appreciate. So the game will continue to be updated with episodes even after the series has ended. Which in a way, if you follow the game’s progress, would be an interesting journey in itself.

We also need to work on the feedback we receive as we progress too in order to improve the game. As we’ve said, we’re not going anywhere, we want to make a great game from this even after the series has long gone! So the development time is split between new content and updating the current game, which I’m sure you understand makes most sense for us to do.

Hope you guys are enjoying the game and keep the feedback coming. I hope you enjoy the new update later on this week too!

[Jonsmad]

Can you bring out the game that appears at the start of Samsara as a mobile game? Or would waddington’s sue you?

(I cant name it, I’m not sure of spoilers policy in this thread?)

[Bezzy]

I’m Currently 2nd on the (iPhone) leaderboard. Probably won’t last…

For G&T!!!!

[GlenTokyo]

How do you get to see the leaderboards?

[Bezzy]

On the main startup screen (with RD ) in the top left corner there should be a blue button that displays the leaderboard.

[GlenTokyo]

Ah, not an option on Android it seems. Unfortunate. I have 47775 space points and 1643 stars though, I’ll have to check it on someone’s iPhone, see how I stack up.

[Bezzy]

It puts you 22nd on the iPhone leaderboards :) nice!!

[si]

Ooh, New update. Added health pickups, and Rimmer’s easier to control, for a start. Might progress further yet.

[GlenTokyo]

Seems like a good update – main things I noticed from a quick play through just now:

Ship Scan – One less stage (I think), more stars (I think), the asteroids seem to be generally less numerous but more likely to smack you in the face occasionally if you’re not paying attention

Rimmer Escape – extra level furniture to stop you getting stuck in the corner, health pickups, and the Expanoids don’t shoot you until 2 complete arcs of your targeting sweep. Camera is improved.

Time Surf – Possibly more deviation in location of stars and obstacles.

Starbug Controls – Everything’s a little bigger for those with smaller screens/ fatter fingers.

Find the Club/ Twentica Escape – the camera improvements are a game changer here, massive, humongous improvement. It being easier is balanced out by the Expanoids being extremely trigger happy. They will shoot the shit out of you. Also, Health pickups.

Speakeasy Entrance – Questions didn’t seem to repeat as quickly, I’d been getting regular “question a, question b, question a, question c, question a” type situations, didn’t have one just now.

Find Einstein – Health pickups, pedestrians. You can push the pedestrians around, so maybe you could use one as a human shield – I’ll investigate. I also got hit by a truck for the first time, not sure if you could before.

Good stuff all round.

[Renegade Rob]

So I beat the entirety of Twentica. The update helped, though blimey those car sequences were still tricky. For the life of me I can’t round a corner without getting stuck and losing a lot of health on crates.

But otherwise, I really do like this game, and I like that it is challenging. The idea of there being multiple mini-games works, and I like the HUD, menu, and sound effects. The whole thing is very crisp and looks and sounds beautiful.

Question: What do you get for upgrading the ship? Bragging rights? More health?

Also: Is it Casket of “Chornos?” That spelling kept coming up. I was pretty sure it was “Chronos.” Chornos sounds like a tortilla chip brand or a niche genre of adult film.

[GameDigits]

Glen was pretty much spot on there with the summation of the changes last night on the Android version. We’ve also just pushed the big button on the iOS version too so the update will be live today.

Rob, if you get this latest version you’ll find the ‘Chornos’ text is fixed too.

Also, just for you guys, who know the Twentica script inside and out, we’ve added a ‘skip’ button for the cutscenes so you don’t have to go through it in text form. However, be aware there are some additional lines here and there that Doug has written in for us, and we are working from the original script where some lines had been cut from the show. So it’s quite cool to try and spot the differences…

It’ll be great if you could show your support with store reviews guys! If we get a great response then it means we can continue to improve the game and make a much bigger & better game for the next series.

Here’s a full list of what the update contains:

– Major improvements to the player characters controls & camera
– Added health pickups at critical places throughout the game
– Added a skip button for the cutscenes
– Made the ship scan game shorter and added more variation
– Better controls and handling on the car sub-game
– Fixed collision issues on the Rimmer Escape game
– Made the enemy engagements on Rimmer Escape less difficult
– Made buttons bigger on the Starbug controls game for smaller devices
– Fixed some ‘Chronos’ text errors
– General bug fixes and game balancing

We’re busy working on Samsara, it’s shaping up really nicely! Also, we’ll continue with making general updates to the game given the feedback we receive.

Thank you all for the feedback so far!

[Bezzy]

So I’ve added the patch and I’ve lost space miles :( I was at 91,406 and now I’m down to 84,000 :(

[(deleted)]

I honestly wasn’t going to buy the game til I saw the GameDigits posts on here and the genuine commitment to making it all work. Infinitely commendable, that £1.99 is yours. It would only have gone on Wispas anyway.

[GameDigits]

“So I’ve added the patch and I’ve lost space miles :( I was at 91,406 and now I’m down to 84,000 :(”

Sorry Bezzy, yes, this is because we had to take out the final stage of the ship scan because people said it was too long.

Therefore the points can’t be awarded for that final stage anymore and we have to keep a level playing field across all players, new and old. Otherwise you’d have an unfair advantage against other players who have just purchased the game… Which would be cool, sure, but not right.

I hope that explains it. All the scores are still relative, so you’ll still be ranked the same alongside others.

[Ian Symes]

I’ve just played through again and now I’m number five on the leaderboard. In your face, all but four other Red Dwarf fans.

[Ridley]

“The ship’s scan is too long for a computer game.”

[Bezzy]

Im currently 2nd on the iPhone leaderboard :) pleased with that. Although did want to be the first to hit the 100,000 space point barrier

[GlenTokyo]

I’m up to 74000 points, level 10, really wish they had Android leaderboards, I think android have moved away from that Game Centre thing and their achievement system.

As for the game though, have to say, had an issue and the support has been great.

[Jonathan Capps]

It appears to be half price off on both stores.

[(deleted)]

Indeed, I can have that 4-pack of Wispas after all.

[locusceruleus]

I’m not going to lie, it’s been sat on my phone untouched for a week on the 3rd part of the first Starbug stage. It’s so tedious. Tappy tappy tap. Scan. No. Tappy tappy tap. No. Tappy….

[(deleted)]

Try it again. That third part no longer exists…

[locusceruleus]

Cheers Darrell! Going to update and give it another go.

[Bezzy]

Can’t wait for Samsara update. I think I’ve played this episode to death!
Back at no1 (on iPhone) :) only just mind

[GameDigits]

Great to see people are looking forward to the Samsara update!
We’re still working hard on the update and will have it available as soon as possible.

I’ve mentioned this before, but might be worth saying again – please note, it is unfeasible to implement an episode every week, therefore the updates for the game will continue beyond the first airing of the TV series.

Also, all these updates will be free and progressive, so as you finish the previous episode the next will unlock. After six full episodes, the game is going to be huge!

Alongside this, we are continuing to respond to your feedback to improve the game too. Given the first couple of weeks, we’ve had some great feedback and the game has progressed a great deal as a result.

We’re now looking forward to finalising Samsara and then moving on to Give and Take.

[Jonathan Capps]

Thank you, Ian GameDigits. I’m personally thankful of the longer release schedule for the game, since we’re pretty maxed out with coverage at the moment anyway!

I do have a quick question that I’ve been wondering about. Your menu shows a ‘Restore Purchases’ button that currently doesn’t seem to relate to anything, so I was wondering whether we’re seeing any IGP in the future? Is my assumption that it will be for unlocking future episodes before you’ve satisfied the in-game requirements correct?

Thanks again for the top notch community management.

[GameDigits]

Thank you Jonathan, glad to be of help and keep you guys informed.

With regards to the ‘Restore Purchases’ question. You’re absolutely right, there will be in-app purchases for players who want to unlock the new content without completing the previous episodes. This is quite standard practice and isn’t forced upon anyone, you will still be able to play through the whole game including all the episodes after buying it once from the App Store or Google Play.

[Jonathan Capps]

Excellent, thanks for that.

I was hoping that might be what it’d be, not least because I’m having troubling getting my emulator to save my progress so at least I have the option to pony up if I need to get to the new episode!

[Danny Stephenson]

Loving following the development of this game. Thanks GameDigits!

[locusceruleus]

It’s quite baffling to think, how are the devs going to come up with minigames for say, Give & Take? A sci-fi/new environment type of episode like Twentica, yes, but some of the ship based sitcommy ones seem like they’d be challenging to adapt to a game. Krysis too.

[Chris Stokes]

Yeah I’ve been trying to work out what sort of thing my we’ll get. I have a feeling that answering the questions to get into the club from the Twentica game will be redone for Samsara but with correcting Cat’s mistaken knowledge of scientific history.

[Dave]

It’s quite baffling to think, how are the devs going to come up with minigames for say, Give & Take?

Trying to escape from a killer robot and creeping around a ship without being seen by your past selves both seem like ideal video game scenarios.

[Ben Paddon]

It’s quite baffling to think, how are the devs going to come up with minigames for say, Give & Take?

[Taiwan Tony]

The Meaning of Life game had that organ donor bit in it.
I never completed that fucking game.

[Phil]

I loved The Meaning of Life (the best of the Python PC games), but my computer kept crashing when I got to the attic(?) part near the end. I never got to see the ending, which I assume is just that clip from the film.

I liked that one, though. I was very surprised and impressed that it wasn’t entirely specific to the movie; it mixed in a good deal of general (and relatively obscure) Flying Circus stuff.

[(deleted)]

A big chunk of the second half of the MoL game was recycled from an unfinished game based on Terry Gilliam’s ‘Animations Of Mortality’ book.

It wasn’t your PC by the way – that CD had a fatal, game-breaking glitch in it towards the end (as did the Grail game – wonder why 7th Level went under…). This being the days before updates and patches, that’s how it stayed. A shame because, as you say, it was good.

[Taiwan Tony]

I too encountered that glitch. I still have the game somewhere.
Another game I didn’t finish was the first South Park game. The one where you had to throw pissy snowballs.
Nowhere near as entertaining as the Meaning of Life game, but vexing all the same.
And then there was Batman Returns on the Lynx…

All tie-ins, I just realise!

[Phil]

Ah, interesting. I honestly just thought it was something to do with my PC. Can’t remember how I reached that conclusion, but I always just figured I’d finish the game whenever I finally got a new computer, and then never went back to it. Good to know I wasn’t alone. (Or maybe it’s bad to know. I can’t decide.)

Also interesting that it contained so much content from an unfinished game. I guess that explains why it seemed like the game was about to end, and then just kept going into what felt like new, completely different (ahem) territory. Maybe inelegant, but it’s still pretty neat that that resulted in a much bigger game than we would have gotten otherwise.

I did finish the Grail game, so I don’t think I ran into the bug in that one. But I also didn’t like the Grail game, so…there’s that.

[Danny Stephenson]

I never knew there was a Meaning Of Life game…

[peas_and_corn]

>And then there was Batman Returns on the Lynx…

Oh man, that was a tough game.

[si]

I don’t play games too often, as I may have mentioned, and I still haven’t managed to get past the Car stealth level!

[GameDigits]

We’re still busy working on the Samsara update and can’t wait to release the update with it in. As mentioned previously, it would be unfeasible to implement a whole episode per week. But we have plenty of great ideas from the series to work on and in the end is going to be a very comprehensive game.

It’s interesting to read the comments on here actually, speculating on what games will be developed to fit with the series. However, by all means, if there’s a game you think would work perfectly just let us know!

Alongside this, we’re also improving the existing game given the feedback we’re getting. In fact, some sections have had a complete overhaul. We’re also putting in more script specifically written for the game by Doug and this really adds a lot to the experience.

I’ll keep you guys posted – keep the speculation coming, let’s see who guessed the games correctly when the update comes out ;)

[Ben Paddon]

>And then there was Batman Returns on the Lynx…
Oh man, that was a tough game.

And those Clangers, eh?

[Bezzy]

In looking forward to the Samsara update. I think I’ve played the other missions to death :)

[Jason aka Smeg4Brains]

There’s got to be a Pac-Man type mini-game for Officer Rimmer, right?

[Karnie]

Looking forward to the next installments! It’s great that you guys are so hands-on with the fans.

[Dax101]

I noticed they changed the controls for the first level with starbug flying through the astroid field, now you both control starbug and fire which has removed the button smashing and i am kinda disappointed as i enjoyed the touch screen shooting at objects

[flanl3]

Haven’t played any of Samsara yet, but I’d hope there’ll be flashback games? Yeah?

[curtis]

Samsara hasn’t updated yet has it?

Much improved Starbug game though

[GameDigits]

Hi Guys,

Just to let you guys know, the new Samsara update has been submitted to Apple today and hopefully it’ll pass their review process within a few days. We’re looking forward to making it live and it’ll be great to hear your comments on it.

As always, we’re very keen on listening to what you guys think on here. There’s such a broad range of possibilities of what a game based on the Red Dwarf license can potentially be, it’s interesting to hear your perspective on the route we’ve taken with it.

In the meantime we have released an update recently tackling the main issues people have reported about the game so far. Just so show that we’ve been very responsive since release, this is the fifth update we’ve released since launch and Samsara will be the sixth.

We have updated the way the Ship Scan works as many people complained about the ‘tap, tap, tap’ method of gameplay saying it was too repetitive. It also had some finger occlusion problems where you couldn’t see what was coming up, or if a valid shot had registered on small devices. The new controls eliminates the finger occlusion problem and it’s also more interesting to play as you can dodge the hazards as well as aim and shoot.

We have also updated the controls to allow 360 movement on the characters. Initially, only allowing forward and side movement was purposeful game mechanic, so you had to think carefully where you were going. However, many people found this more of a frustration than a challenge. Therefore, we have changed the controls to allow full movement across the levels where the left side of the screen acts like a directional-pad.

We’ve also added more bespoke in-game scripting from Doug, especially in the Rimmer Escape levels. We had received some complaints saying that the game sections were a little too ‘dry’, i.e. lots of dialogue within the cutscenes, but then hardly anything in the games themselves and the characters didn’t really come through. We hope to add more in the future, but we have addressed this directly and added more bespoke scripts as you play the game written by Doug specifically for the game.

These are just the main items we’re changed in the update, there are many improvements on a more detailed level, but too many to list here.

I hope you guys agree these are great positive steps forward for the game and if you’re feeling especially generous, please pop in a review for us and we’ll keep it going.

Hopefully the Samsara update won’t be long in Apple’s review process and we’ll be able to make it live shortly. It’ll be great to know your thoughts on that…

Also, if you spot any issues with the update or would like to request something directly, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at Support@GameDigits.co.uk, we’d love to hear from you.

[Phil]

Probably an annoying question, but I’m an annoying kind of guy so I’ll ask it anyway!

Any chance of this making it, at any point, to North American app stores?

[flanl3]

I’ve already got it in the US…

[Phil]

Huh, it is in the app store after all. I could have sworn it wasn’t. Thanks!

[flanl3]

Haven’t played any of Samsara yet

I made this statement thinking it was out yet, who knows what I was thinking.

[flanl3]

Wait, how does it make any sense for there to be a question about Einstein and theory of relativity if it’s said just moments later that in his reality, it wasn’t his?

[Bezzy]

Can’t wait for Samsara update!

[flanl3]

Has the update not gone through yet?

[flanl3]

Wait, no, it’s there now. Felt really good and original, however, ‘Escape Samsara’ isn’t unlocking for me? Help?

[flanl3]

Ha never mind it’s there just such a clone of Find Samsara to the point that not only does it pull the same quotes, it literally labels itself at the beginning as ‘Find Samsara’. I’d assume it’s just a pointing error from test versions which will be fixed soon.

[Chris Stokes]

None of the updates are there for me, nor even the option to update in Play store.

[Pete Part Three]

This level where you have to choose the most out-of-character dialogue for The Cat and Lister takes ages to complete.

[flanl3]

Really? I swept right through it.

[Chris Stokes]

Anyone else not getting the updates via Play Store?

[Dax101]

Those security questioned puzzled me for ages, i thought they were meant to be references from past episodes but i couldn’t remember any mention of a hover-car and first kiss,i managed to piece together the hover-car one but i am still puzzed about the first kiss one.

[Dax101]

ohh i know what it is now, scratch that last post, it was abit obvious.

[Jo]

Anyone else not getting the updates via Play Store?

Nothing on Play yet, but then we got it later than iOS when it initially came out, so maybe this afternoon?

[GameDigits]

You guys are so quick off the mark! It’s great to see you’re eager to get their hands on the new update.

The Samsara episode is now live on the App Store and will closely be followed by Google Play (we’ve pressed the ‘go live’ button and we’re just waiting for it to propagate through the stores). We have also made some improvements to Twentica too given the feedback we’ve had so far.

The security questions in the Explore Samsara game was an interesting one, we actually used parts of the original script that didn’t make it into the televised episode as they attempt to enter the Samsara ship.

Also, thank you flanl for letting us know about the final game stage. Yes, it must’ve crept in during the final stages of testing and we’ll get that fixed as soon as possible.

As always, it’ll be great to know your feedback. We’re very active in making updates and responding to feedback so please let us know what you think.

If you’re feeling generous, it would be fantastic if you could leave a review for us on the stores to show your support and we’ll continue on with making this a great game for the series.

[si]

Not being good enough to actually complete Twentica myself, I’ve opted to pay to unlock Samsara. Had a quick play of the first level, and got to say that I’m liking what I’m seeing so far, good fun. :)

[Niki Hutchinson]

For GameDigits the Find Rachel level fells as if when you get sported it takes off too much of you hidden status, very quickly.

[Dax101]

Yeah the finding rachel game is very difficult and long

[typeforty]

I’m enjoying the Samsara update (Though Find Rachel has me challenged), but the game desperately needs a proofreader. Green in the Rachel level has a couple of misspellings that never should have got through – ‘affaire’ and ‘squeeky’. And I hope that Doug Naylor didn’t have anything to do with the awful Rimmer tights gag… Minor quibbles though.

[flanl3]

Awful? I personally really enjoyed the tights joke.

[Jo]

I like that there’s a little monitor at the side during the asteroid navigation, to show you how much further you have to go, but I’d like that on every level – it’s something that I would have liked on the Twentica levels too.

The Find Rachel level is incredibly frustrating and I’ve just given up on it for now, after much swearing. I seemed to be walking for ages and having no idea how much further I need to go (whether I’d almost made it to the end of the level, or was nowhere near), means that I’m less motivated to try again.

[flanl3]

The squeeky shoes remark tells you you’re on the homestretch, fyi.

[curtis]

Karma Hack is driving me insane

[Dax101]

You need a very good memory for the karma hack, especially the second part.

[flanl3]

Or a pencil and paper.

[curtis]

If it was any other game I’d have cheated ages ago.

[Pete Part Three]

>Really? I swept right through it.

Like it swept over your head?

[GameDigits]

Thank you for the feedback folks!

This forum has certainly been the best at given us actual constructive feedback that we can use to improve the game for future releases – thank you so much!

For these comments we can see that:

– We pitched the difficulty of the Find Rachel game too high to the point of it being frustrating rather than challenging. We’ll change that and definitely make it more forgiving, there’s a lot we can do with that.

– Having progression markers on many of the levels is a fantastic suggestion. Now you mention it, we can see it can be difficult to know how far you are through a level, and frustrating not to know just how far you got on your last attempt. We’ll aim to get these in wherever possible.

– Spelling mistakes. Looks like these came through from the original scripts. I guess these kind of mistakes can go unnoticed when it’s a performance for the show, but it’s happened a few times in the game, so we’ll tighten up that process and include proofreading. We’ve fixed the ones mentioned already.

As for the tights gag, yep, that’s from Doug – come on, it’s a classic, why not? The majority of the game script is actually written by him, we then add in a few instructional elements here and there to make it all hang together as a game.

As for the Karma Drive. If you think that’s hard, we actually had a stage where you had to remember the sequence backwards considering you’re reversing the protocols. Now that really messes with your brain! We eventually took that out after finding our testers dribbling and crying in the corner.

Thanks again for your comments, hope you’re enjoying the game and we look forward hearing more fro you…

[flanl3]

The best part about he Rimmer tights joke is that I’ll never forget stalactites vs stalagmites again… lol

[International Debris]

Heh, that’s how I remember stalactites as well. Wouldn’t have complained about that gag in the show so certainly not in the game.

Agreed with Find Rachel getting a bit frustrating – I’d say taking off 10 instead of 20 would be a good idea maybe? Also it gets quite repetitive. I know that making densely packed levels on this kind of game is probably out of the question, but when it seems like you’re going around the same four or five rooms about ten times the fun disappears. Plus it means each room is either super-easy (if you’ve cracked the best route) or super-hard (if you can’t work it out), whereas somewhere in between would really be ideal.

Karma Hack is a bastard, but that’s not a complaint. I got stuck on the very last one about ten times before I ended up having to write it down. I found the easiest way to do that is to give each symbol a single syllable name (“O, flash, square, moon”) and then they’re easier to repeat. I reckon if I’d not been listening to music I might have been able to crack that last one without paper.

And yes, Escape Samsara is currently identical to Find Samsara!

Otherwise good stuff, killed an hour or two this afternoon.

[si]

I remember the difference between stalagmites and stalactites because of Harry Hill. You’ve got to have a system.

[Dave]

But which is better?

[GameDigits]

Marlon Brando….. Suzanne Dando…

[International Debris]

Stalactites hang down like a pair of tights (or, they hang on tight). Stalagmites stand tall at might-y.

[si]

I know I’m always years behind everyone else, progress-wise, but I’ve completed the Escape Pod, and moved on to Find Samsara. Haven’t completed that yet. But when I go back to try again later on, the level’s still locked and I have to complete Escape Pod again, even though I’ve got my points for the completed level there. Having to do it again doesn’t make sense.

[GameDigits]

Si, when you started the Escape Pod mission did you go through the ‘Play’ button on the main screen, or from the ‘Episodes’ section from the menu?

I’m sure you do this already, but if you’re in doubt always play the game using the ‘play’ button on the main screen to progress through the story.

If it’s still repeating on you, please email us at GameDigits@GameDigits.co.uk and we’ll help you out.

You shouldn’t have to complete the Escape Pod mission again to progress, unless it didn’t save your progress for some reason last time you played it. It can happen sometimes if the device runs out of battery.

[Chris Stokes]

Well I don’t even want to meet Rachel anyway…

[si]

Ah, well, in terms of game progress, I’m actually only halfway through Twentica, so play Samsara through the menu. So I guess I can only get through to Find Samsara and beyond if I’m playing in one session. That would kind of make sense.

[Taiwan Tony]

>Marlon Brando….. Suzanne Dando…

Highlight of the thread.

(To the tune of “TV highlight of the weeeeek.”)

[GameDigits]

Si, actually if you select Samsara from the episodes game menu so it’s highlighted in green. Then press ‘Play’ from the main ship screen, you will continue with the Samsara episode story.

You can swap between the episodes this way and progress through them as you like. So, select your episode from the menu, then select Play from the ship screen, then you’ll always progress where you left off on that episode.

Admittedly it’s not obvious, so we’ll aim to make this clearer in future updates and thank you for making this apparent.

In other news, we’ve just uploaded a new build of the game with a first pass response from the feedback on this very thread. It’ll be available this evening on Google Play, and 2-3 days on the App Store after it has passed Apple’s review process.

[si]

if you select Samsara from the episodes game menu so it’s highlighted in green. Then press ‘Play’ from the main ship screen, you will continue with the Samsara episode story.

Oooh, yeah. Ta. :)

[Pembers]

Enjoyed Samsara though its noticeable shorter than Twentica. I actually think the difficulty for the most part is about right, although that Karma hack was a doozy. I eventually did it without cheating though there was a bit more luck than judgement involved at the end.

My advice to anyone struggling with ‘Find Rachel’ is that fortune favours the brave, don’t be too slow and timid.

[Stephen R. Fletcher]

Those security questioned puzzled me for ages, i thought they were meant to be references from past episodes but i couldn’t remember any mention of a hover-car and first kiss,i managed to piece together the hover-car one but i am still puzzed about the first kiss one

Feeling frustrated – and a little embarrassed – about this but I still can’t get past the bloody hover-car one! And I’ve gone through the episode and the bunkroom scene where Rimmer mentions a hover fare just to see if I’ve missed a reference.

[International Debris]

I don’t remember it being a reference, I just worked it out from the letters.

[si]

Ditto.

[Chris Stokes]

Same. We’re all familiar with how Doug writes a joke. That’s how I got the hover car one.

[Dax101]

Yeah I figured out the hover-car one just by guessing the letters, I couldn’t remember any mention of a hover car in the show so it is a weird question.

[flanl3]

What if it’s an accidental XII spoiler? *X-Files theme plays*

[flanl3]

Also if would legitimately pay more money to have the actual music cue from the show play on the pod-launch scene in Samsara. Idk how hard it would be to get your hands on, but it’s a thought.

[NitroChrisUK]

just got the game yesterday as have only just upgraded to the phone which would allow me to play so this is my first mobile game !!

wow it’s really really good! went straight through Twentica without much frustration, i can tell from the videos i have watched before that the controls have really been tweaked with and fixed. found the walking/ stealth sections to be easy to control and the driving ones not to bad either.

Really hope there is a Level in the Give & Take Episode where you play as the Engineer using the stasis Booth to go back and warn himself only to be killed.. by himself. and of course Snacky! so many opportunities to be had.

really enjoying it at the moment and it’s sure going to help me on my 10 hour train journey next week.

[flanl3]

Well, the new update is nice, really enjoyed the change to meet Rachel, but I believe in ‘Kryten, figured it out’ at the end of the episode still has an unnecessary comma.
Also, I sincerely hope the Officer Rimmer game includes ‘Make a To-Do List’ as the final mini game from the perspective of the Rimmonster.

[si]

Okay, an hour or two ago, I was playing the final part of Samsara, having actually managed to almost complete the episode. Just gone back to try again, and all bar the first Escape pod bit is locked again. Hoping it’s just me doing something wrong. But don’t think it is.

[Jonathan Capps]

Meet Rachel is vastly improved. Probably the best balanced bit of the Samara episode now.

[si]

Well, despite all that time I spent getting through the Karma Drive stuff on Saturday night, I’m now currently attempting to Meet Rachel again. Extremely frustrating.

[Stephen R. Fletcher]

Managed to (FINALLY!) get past the second security question yesterday (Thanks for the hints, guys.) Now just stuck on ‘Meet Rachel’. Probably for the next few days, knowing me.

[GameDigits]

Si, sorry to hear there’s an issue with the game locking on Samsara and thank you for letting us know.

It seems it’s isolated issue in this case and we’ve managed to produce it here. We’re working on a fix now and we’ll have it sorted as soon as possible. Your progress is being saved, it’s just that the menu is showing the games are locked in this instance. We’re also going to put in a brute force backup to unlock games remotely if it happens again…

Could you let me know if you’re on iOS or Android?

Glad you guys are enjoying the update and the changes to Meet Rachel. We’ll continue to improve the game generally and we’re currently working on the next episode too.

If you have any more comments on the game, or would like to suggest anything for future episodes, we’re all ears – Thanks guys!

[si]

I’m on Android. But don’t worry about me, I’m just being a whiney little get. I’m sure I’ll work my 21st through again. ;)
But its great to know you’re looking out for us and updating and adapting the game.

[si]

“21st”? How the fuck does autocorrect change “way” to “21st”?

[si]

Oh, good. After an intense 20 minutes play, I’m now back through to Escape Samsara, which is where I’d got to before.
Which is nice.

[si]

Whoo. Samsara level complete.

[Maddie]

In the scenes in “Twentica” when Starbug goes through the wormhole that’s featured in the Time Surf game, there’s a line of those energy pick-up stars from the game. I wonder if that’s where the idea came from to have those in the game.

I was kind of hoping they’d be connected to an Easter Egg on the DVD, but no joy.

[NitroChrisUK]

Is it possible to replay through both episodes from the start with all the scenes in-between intact?? I go to start twentica again to the first scan mission then takes me straight to the start of samsara each time rather than let me progress through.

[flanl3]

If you tap Twentica in the episode select screen, then don’t select a stage but instead just return to the opening screen, then hit play, it should work.

[si]

In an exciting development, I finally completed Twentica yesterday afternoon.

[curtneedsaride]

Well, just downloaded and quickly finished the second episode. It’s disappointing that I still haven’t even been able to see the television episodes yet, but hopefully some decent links will surface for us US fans.

Anyway, the second episode was shorter, but pleasant. Guessing the passwords took a few minutes before the answers clicked, so I’d suggest hints there for people who aren’t into word games. Also, the memory section was a bit frustrating because I sometimes miscounted or got lost in a sequence. Fun to figure out in a way, but it would have been a more enjoyable experience if there was some visible highlight when it registered me tapping on a symbol. Also it would have been nice to have underscores in the number of symbols we needed to remember on the bottom of the scree. And as we tapped on each they would appear on top of the underscores to show the sequence we were inputting. Just a thought.

Also, there seems to be a couple missing words in one of the Kryton dialogues: “But there’s no cause for alarm. We’re under no danger as long … don’t do anything vindictive, selfish, or unethical.”

Overall, though, I enjoyed it as a fan of the series, and I look forward to the other episodes! The settings page has three dots on the lower left. The first is red, and I always expect the second to turn red instead when we switch to the next settings page and same for the third. Just a small observation about UI. Also, I wouldn’t be offended by a donate button in the settings if you could add one. ;)

[Ian Symes]

It’s disappointing that I still haven’t even been able to see the television episodes yet, but hopefully some decent links will surface for us US fans.

How about this link?

[flanl3]

Any news on how close Give & Take might be?

[GameDigits]

Excellent feedback guys, all very valid points and as always, we’ll be taking them onboard for future updates of the game.

As for when Give & Take will be released, we’re still currently hard at work on that and it’s looking great so far. We’re also making updates to the original game from the feedback we get too, so the workload is split between the two, but we hope to have update out over the next few weeks.

Also, congrats Si on completing Samsara!

[si]

Thank you vwey much. :D

[NitroChrisUK]

Still can’t play any level from twentica and go straight into the next level, it always takes me to the start of samsara. I have tried what was suggested and clicking on twentica then going back and that does not work, play one level then back to start off samsara. Looking forward to g&t update!!!!

[Karnie]

Trying to update the Encyclopedia and I noticed a few lines of dialog was changed between updates…. You guys are killing me! =)

[GameDigits]

Just thought I’d pop in and give you guys an update on how things are going regarding the Give & Take update of the game.

We’re still hard at work putting together this next instalment and we aim to release it this month. I understand this is quite a large window, but I just want to let you know that we’re making good progress on it and it’s looking great so far.

As usual, alongside this we’re re-evaluating the current episodes and making improvements given the feedback we receive and our own internal play tests. So Karnie, there’s bound to be some more dialog changes involved in that – sorry! ;) Still, it’s really cool to see the game evolving into something more beautiful, and as we’ve always said, we want to make a great game for this license and we’ll continue to pursue this (no matter how long it takes!). I hope you’re with us for the ride!

As for the issue with switching and playing different episodes as NitroChrisUK pointed out – we have fixed this issue now and it will be available in the next update. It also tells you which episode you’re currently playing in the main ship screen and you can jump & progress through different episodes at your leisure.

We’ve also implemented other requests from this very forum and Richard’s most excellent playthrough videos too. We hope you’ll be pleased with how it’s progressing and we’re looking forward to getting the next episode update out there for you.

Incidentally, I have a question for you all:

What folders and files would you expect to see in Kryten’s internal filing system?

I’ll leave it up to you to decide if this is game related or not ;)

[(deleted)]

“HOW RED DWARF WAS SAVED FROM THE HIGHLY CORROSIVE MICRO-ORGANISM”

Cause everyone loves a running gag.

[(deleted)]

“KRYTIE TV: FROM A-Z”

[flanl3]

“SPACE CORPS DIRECTIVES”

[flanl3]

“SILICON BIBLE”

Oh, and since he’s got an oddly named Rimmer folder, might as well see if you can’t come up with sassy names for the others, including himself.

[International Debris]

Mr. Lister’s Jockstrap Gusset Stains: A Compendium

[Karnie]

As per the episode “Legion”:

A folder for off-world eating techniques, with files in it for Mamosian anti-matter chopsticks, Jovian Boogle Hoops, and Mercurian Boomerang Spoons

[Jason aka Smeg4Brains]

Comforting A Crying Woman using the Heimlich maneuve
Nega Drive
Moose Facts
Star Trek Crap *don’t access till after noon* (I know you probably can’t really get away with that one)

[Dave]

Folder: Bay City Rollers
Contents: “Bye Bye Baby”

[Chris Stokes]

A folder marked ‘Best Guesses’

[flanl3]

A folder ‘Guesses’ with subfolders ‘Best’, ‘Good’, ‘Alright’, ‘Bad’, ‘Worst’ etc.

[Jason aka Smeg4Brains]

I wonder if he’d have any robo-smut. Maybe blueprints for a triple-bag, easy-glide vac, with turbo-suction and a self-emptying dusting.

[Jason aka Smeg4Brains]

Fucking dustbag!

[flanl3]

“Episode titles listed on the Red Dwarf IX case we encountered in the elation squid hallucination”

[Dave]

“Cloche”

[GameDigits]

Great suggestions guys!

I’m pleased to say that *some* of these suggestions have made it into the game and it’s fantastic we’re able to do this – but you’ll just have to wait and see which ones.

We’re still hard at work finishing up the Give & Take episode and we aim to submit the game soon prior to Apple’s Christmas closure period.

Here’s a sneak peak – http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/news/2016/12/16/level-up/

More suggestions for Kryten’s folders & files are always welcome as there’s still some time before submission, and of course they could possibly make it into future updates too.

[Jason aka Smeg4Brains]

That’s great to hear, can’t wait to play. Thanks for taking the time to engage and communicate with the fans.

[bloodteller]

played through the Twentica and Samsara portions of the game today, eagerly looking forward to the Give And Take levels. only issue i really had with it was that the game felt far too quiet at times. it’d have been lovely to see some music or something in some of the levels.

[GameDigits]

> It’d have been lovely to see some music or something in some of the levels.

Thank you for this, and we completely agree!

We unfortunately don’t have the licenses to use the official music tracks (we wish we did!), but we have added ambient music ‘stings’ throughout the game for the Give & Take update. These also reflect the mood of each sub-game too, so hopefully this will fill the void for you.

[bloodteller]

>We have added ambient music ‘stings’ throughout the game for the Give & Take update. These also reflect the mood of each sub-game too, so hopefully this will fill the void for you.

that sounds great, really looking forward to it!

[Ian Symes]

GIVE & TAKE IS OUT NOW!

I have been lolling for a solid ten minutes at one of the files in the Kryten level. You’ll see which one when you get there.

[GameDigits]

As the other Ian said – the Give & Take update is OUT NOW – GO GO GO!!!

App store – https://appsto.re/i6hK7Qw
Play store – http://bit.ly/2cqHCe4

…and Mr Symes – I think I know the one, glad to be of service ;)

[GameDigits]

… and also, if you’re feeling generous please take some time to put in an App Store or Google Play review if you like the game. They make us really happy.

Merry Smegging Christmas folks!

[curtis]

Enjoying it. But by Christ how do you manage to get onto those four pads in time in the finding Snacky level?!

[curtis]

Never mind. Sussed it :-)

[si]

Had a play through the first couple of levels, great stuff. The Kryten’s Files section is excellent, really well done. However, I’ve got the flying level coming up now, so God knows how long that might take me. I’ll have a good look at it later on.

[International Debris]

That particular file in Kryten’s level is magnificent. Well done, sirs.

[Stephen R. Fletcher]

The latest episode is still not showing up on the iPad for me :o( Anyone else having this problem?

[flanl3]

Have you actually gone and updated the app?

[Chris Stokes]

Locate Snacky is driving me mad

[Chris Stokes]

Managed it now. On the very next go after typing that.

[Stephen R. Fletcher]

Have you actually gone and updated the app?

Oh… umm thanks for that. It worked and managed to complete the whole episode in one go yesterday. First time I’ve managed that and can now feel a little less thick for a change.

[Dax101]

Do you need to complete the previous episode to play the next one? i did complete Samara but to a certain degree i had to cheat on the memory game because it was pretty tough and id be surprised if many casual players would even bother trying to cheat to get through it to play the next one.

[Ben Paddon]

Finally picked up the Android version yesterday – 99 cents! Wotta bargain! – and I mostly find myself playing it on the toilet, as is the custom with handheld titles.

So far I’ve found it to be incredibly easy. Maybe that’s because I’m playing this off the back of (almost) finishing SuperHOT on the Xbox, and I acknowledge that as mobile games reach a much wider audience they maybe need to be a little more forgiving, but I’ve literally been able to plough through some of the Metal Gear Lite areas by just charging forward and taking the hits. Possibly that was harder before health pickups were sprinkled around the game like confetti.

I’m digging it, though. It’s a little more robust than your average mobile game offering. Just, y’know, a bit easy for my tastes.

[(deleted)]

The difficulty level was more gamer-y at the start, but after feedback it seems that they realised it might have been a little bit out of whack with what the average audience for the game was after from a mobile tie-in title. For me personally, the softened difficulty curve has saved this one for me.

I’ve been a gamer since I was little and I’ve never understood the appeal of wilfully ‘difficult’/’hardcore’ games – I play them to escape the stress and anxiety of life, not to add to it. I’ve got a mate who’s a Rare superfan and virtually everything they’ve ever made descends into crazed masochism by the end (when I was young I had their Marble Madness and Digger on the NES and both were like psychological warfare within about 20 minutes). If a game ever tips over the line into taking the piss for me now, I just stop, I’m not a typical 101%-er like said mate is. I know there’s a decent market for these, and I like watching other people ace them, but I’m glad the Dwarf game has pulled away from that territory a bit.

The way around this might be to have, as previously mooted, different selectable difficulty levels. That way the gamers are satisfied but the casuals still get to see all the levels and jokes.

[Ben Paddon]

I’m seldom a 101%er these days, either – the last game I got Everything™ in was probably batman: Arkham Asylum on the 360, and I’m about to do it again on the slightly-disappointing XB1 remaster.

[peas_and_corn]

I’m having a small issue. In the first level of give and take, when I destroy the first turret it gives me a score then dumps me to the tutorial screen. When I go to the list of levels the next one isn’t available

[Dax101]

i had that same issue, but that was because i went on the level rather then just hit the episode title then went back to the title screen and hit “play”

[Jonathan Capps]

I’m pretty sure that first mission has a bug that finishes it early. I only destroyed one turret on my playthrough and it ended the mission straight after it both times.

[GameDigits]

Hope you guys had a great New Year!

Thanks for letting us know about the first gun issue on G&T (especially if you have ‘Capps Power’ while using an emulator) – sorry Jonathan, but we’ve fixed this now and it will be in the next update ;)

Also, for anyone trying to progress through the story, please make sure you start the game using the ‘Play’ button from the main Red Dwarf screen, not from the options menu where you select the individual subgames. From our feedback, it seems this has caught out a few people, so to remedy this we’ll add the option to play the story or just one subgame from the menu.

Just as a heads up, we’ve also added an on-screen thumbstick to the majority of subgames. It’s not something we initially thought was required and we wanted to keep the HUD elements quite light. However, we do have to cater to non-gamers too and people have asked for it. Plus, it’s something that would avoid any confusion about how the controls work.

We’ll aim to get an update out soon with various improvements and fixes. Plus, we’re also working on the next episode as we speak!

[Chris Stokes]

Do you think you could give it an ending?

[International Debris]

I expect the last level to end a few seconds before you reach your final target.

[GameDigits]

It’s tempting… so very tempting.

[si]

Hm. Got a new phone and downloaded the game. Logged in via Facebook, but I’ve not got any saved progress on there. Am I going to have to start over because it’s a new device? :/

[Karnie]

“Hm. Got a new phone and downloaded the game. Logged in via Facebook, but I’ve not got any saved progress on there. Am I going to have to start over because it’s a new device? :/”

Probably. I started a new game on my iPad after playing on the iPhone for a while, and nothing carried over.

[si]

Bollocks. Took me ages to complete all that.

[Jonathan Capps]

Yeah, saves are device specific.

It’s ok, si, you can do it. I slightly believe in you.

[si]

Cheers Cappsy, that means a little.

[GameDigits]

Sorry Si that your game progress hadn’t restored, we’ll look in this and aim to have a fix for you in the next update. If you could let us know your player ID number (found the options menu) this would help us a great deal to find your profile and fix the bug.

In other news, we’re busy working on the Officer Rimmer episode as we speak and I can assure you the Pac-man style Rimmer game will be making an appearance – it’s coming along very nicely too.

[flanl3]

In other news, we’re busy working on the Officer Rimmer episode as we speak and I can assure you the Pac-man style Rimmer game will be making an appearance – it’s coming along very nicely too.

Well, I’ll need to clean up after reading that.

[si]

Sorry Si that your game progress hadn’t restored, we’ll look in this and aim to have a fix for you in the next update. If you could let us know your player ID number (found the options menu) this would help us a great deal to find your profile and fix the bug.

Cheers. My Player ID is 49, although I’ve actually managed to get through Samsara now, and am pretty much in the same place I’d got to before, anyway. :)

[si]

In fact, I’ve got further than I did before!

[Karnie]

Just a punctuation error:

In Give and Take, after Lister and Cat get tranquilized, Kryten says “Mr. Lister, sir. Mr, Cat?

Should be question mark after Lister, sir
and the Mr before Cat should be a period, not a comma.

[ClareGC]

Do Mr Lister and Mr Cat even have periods? Times change, and I expect it’s different in the States.

I haven’t really noticed the punctuation, as I’ve been rushing through to play each game. I’ve loved them all! Pac-Man in the arcades was about the last time I played anything, but this is very intuitive to me, and the controls are lovely and smooth on my iphone. I’m amazed how much detail and variety there is, considering it’s nearly free. I can’t wait for Officer Rimmer!

[GameDigits]

Thank you Karnie you have a very keen eye, sir. I’ll double check with our resident grammar expert (yes, we do have one!) on how that line should read and make sure it’s fixed for the next update.

ClareGC we’re really happy that you’re enjoying the game and there’s plenty more to come! It’s quite an ambitious project considering the resources, but we really didn’t want to resort to something like a themed match-3 or rehash of a overly saturated mobile game idea.

Regarding the upcoming update, not only will the new Officer Rimmer games be included, but we have spent a long time improving the controls and issues brought up by the fans. We’ve also rebalanced and updated a huge proportion of the existing games too – it’s quite a monster update!

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions relating to the game – we’re all ears! Without you guys we’d be cloche-less, and for that we’re truly grateful.

[Jonathan Capps]

Excellent! I think at some point I’ll have to do a proper full playthrough of Twentica to cover the balance changes that happened over the months.

[Karnie]

“We’ve also rebalanced and updated a huge proportion of the existing games too – it’s quite a monster update!”

That’s great, except I literally just submitted my additions for the Encyclopedia Addendum to my editor for Series XI and the first two episodes of the game…. =O

Shucks, guess I’ll have to play them again once the update hits to see if any dialog’s changed or new material added. =)

[GameDigits]

No worries Karnie, the changes are mainly gameplay related and the dialog has remained largely intact.
It’s still worth playing the game again though… ;)

Speaking of which – if it helps your Encyclopedia work, I’m happy to send you the game scripts as the episode updates are released.

[Karnie]

That would be incredibly helpful, thank you! I’ll Email you my contact info.

[TyGar]

Any ideas as to when we might expect the next release?

[si]

I didn’t want to seem overly impatient, but yeah, I was wondering about that, too.

[GameDigits]

Glad you asked!

We will be submitting the update to Apple this week, with a view to releasing it nearing the end of the month.

We’ve been working hard on the Officer Rimmer episode and have also made a huge number of improvements to the existing game too – it’s a major update!

In other news, we’ll be showing the game at the Dimension Jump event next month. So if you’re there it’ll be great if you could come and say ‘Hi’ and let us know your thoughts on the game.

[si]

Ooh goody. :)

[si]

Okay, downloaded the Officer Runner update this morning. Only had a quick go before breakfast, but didn’t get past that first game because all those flashing lights frighten me! Plus I kept having to think how you make purple… (It’s early)

[curtis]

Literally no idea how to open the grate. It was opening and closing before I could get to it earlier but now it remains shut even though I’m seemingly repeating the same action. I’m sure I’m missing something but no clue what that could be.

[curtis]

Completed it. Best episode, best game update. Still completely clueless as to how I managed to get that grate open though. Seemed random.

[si]

Officer Runner

Damn you, autocorrect.

[GameDigits]

Great to see some of you already playing the latest update, we haven’t officially announced it yet – you guys are quick off the mark!

It’s quite a monster update. Not only has it got the new Officer Rimmer episode, but also a large amount of improvements and updates across the game generally:

– Improved controls across all games
– Added game-pad visual to match the touch controls
– Rebalanced and added new content across all sub-games
– Added additional objectives on some of the game stages
– Movement controls across the whole screen, not just the lefthand side
– Added option to continue with story, or just play a specific sub-game
– Added additional audio throughout the game
– Made Karma Hack game easier
– Improved firing controls and timings
– Fixed issue with sections not appearing when walking backwards
– Fixed cheat scores for quiz sections
– Optimised download size
– General bug fixes and gameplay improvements

Si – Glad you’re passed the first game now but if the flashing lights frighten you, I wonder what you’ll make of the Rimmer Monster later on!

Curtis – Really glad you enjoyed the episode. I’d suggest that you go through the previous games again, see if you can beat your scores and check out the updates.

**SPOILER – GRATE HINT**
As for the grate, it’s not random and here’s a hint on how to solve it if you’re having trouble.
There are four buttons in front of the grate, two of them need boxes on, then you need to step on a third button to open the grate. The grate closes again quickly, so pick your buttons wisely so you can reach it in time.

As always, it’s great to have feedback on the game and G&T have been fantastic for it, so let us know how you get on!

[Stephen Abootman]

Gilbert, will you escort Mr. Runner to the door?

Completed this, another mighty fine addition. Was OK with the grate but took about 5 minutes after that to work out that I couldn’t go through the door at the end and had to revisit previous areas, though that might just be me being a bit thick.

[International Debris]

Not sure what happened here. Was totally unable to move the collapsed Rimmer and had to go back to the previous level. Once I’d completed that again, it then moved me straight on to Pac Rimmer. I had to go back and do the first Monster Chase separately at the end.

Otherwise excellent stuff. A couple of tricky bits stopped it being too easy – like Mr. Abootman above, I was trying different combinations of the boxes and such to get through that second door before realising that I was actually meant to go back. Thought that was a nice touch that added variety to the typically linear feel of the levels.

[Ian Symes]

Twister is a three player game. Everyone here’s just waded right in!

[si]

Christ, people. I haven’t even got past the Torpedo Run yet.

[GameDigits]

Thank you for letting us know about the Twister issue. We’ve fixed it now and an update will be released soon.

It was quite rare, but it seems the monster Rimmer character can get tangled up with a fast moving skutter and its collision can throw Rimmer off.

… and Monster Rimmer has such an unfair advantage when playing Twister!

[International Debris]

Ah yes, that’s exactly what happened. I thought it had got Rimmer and was going to devour him for a second, then realised that it was actually a bug.

I really like the fact that the skutters are just tootling around on their own.

[Dax101]

Was quite a difficult episode, i managed to get through it but you need to be so quick on the printer game and the pacman game was tough.

[quinn_drummer]

How the hell do you get into the junction room in Office Rimmer? There doesn’t seem to be anything to trigger opening the door

[International Debris]

Don’t think so linearly.

[Stephen Abootman]

Any news on Krysis yet? Being stuffed full of clochey goodness with any luck.

[International Debris]

Hmm yes, I’m hoping we get the full thing before XII comes along. Not to downplay the efforts of the developers – who have been absolutely brilliant, obviously – but it would seem pretty odd having the Can of Worms level go out midway through XII, which is likely to be two and a bit months away now.

[(deleted)]

I fear against hope that it’s been shelved.

[sd99]

Have the last two episodes been canned then? I’m wondering if they’re developing a series 12 game instead to cash in on when it gets aired. Or is that just me being cynical?

[Anonymous]

They are indeed working on a free game for RDXII. Official line is that the RDXI game is on hold until that is done.

[sd99]

I’ve finished the first four episodes and still waiting for the final two, however I’m getting a new phone tomorrow – presumably I’ll lose my progress? Or is there a way to unlock the episodes I’ve already finished (for free)? I don’t really want to have to play it all over again once the last two episodes are out.

[Ben Saunders]

I think you can transfer the data manually but I doubt there’s any automatic process to help you. Just drag the game folder over from one phone to the next on your computer, I should think.

[sd99]

Well I tried android’s transfer util when setting up, and most of the settings and files were automatically moved, but for some reason only the scores for the first 3 episodes and the first level of 4 were moved, so looks like i have to replay officer rimmer again, which is annoying.

[Jason aka Smeg4Brains]

So I’ve just seen this on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GameDigits/status/930042766314360832

Seems odd when we haven’t had a new game episode since March

[bloodteller]

apparently they postponed the XI game updates so they could work on the XII game or something

[si]

So, will there be completely different XI and XII games? Will I have 2 different icons on my home screen? Or will you be able to combine the two? Can you just update the XI game for it to become just an un-numbered ‘RED DWARF’ game? And what’s with all these question marks?

[flanl3]

Supposedly it’s not in the format of the XI game? Otherwise, I look forward to the minigames on the Enconium where it lets you advance with a perfect score no matter how you do.

[Ben Saunders]

Will they combine two games into one?

[quinn_drummer]

I personally look forward to make 1,245 Sugar Puff sandwiches.

[bloodteller]

grilled, with cheese

[si]

GameDigits just Tweeted.

Great to hear from you Si and thank you for asking! It’s a completely new and separate download, mainly due to the fact that it’s free. There are no plans on combining the two in order to have an overall ‘RED DWARF’ game as they are very different.

So there. Now we know for sure.

[si]

Here’s something. Whether you consider it interesting or not is up to you.
But I just looked on the game’s Google Play store page, and that lists the developer as UKTV, as offered by UKTV Media. Same with the Storage Hunters game (although that does still give a GameDigits email address).

[quinn_drummer]

Huh … yeah, the Apple App Store also lists it as UKTB Interactive Ltd, releasing Red Dwarf, UKTV Play, Storage Hunters UK and Hairy Bikers

It always used to be listed as GameDigits right? Maybe they are just taking a back seat the devs and UKTVs brand is putting them out?

Also interestingly enough … the Red Dwarf XI game was updated 7minutes ago with improvements to the Office Rimmer episode. Maybe they added an ending?!? hahahahahahahahaha

[Jason aka Smeg4Brains]

I’ve just had this from them on twitter when I asked if they would be finishing RDXI first.

Thank you for asking! It was a difficult decision, but with only 1% of the players reaching the Krysis episode in the previous game, it made sense to put it on hold and focus on the new free game for series XII.

That 1% figure really surprised me. Maybe people were just past the Red Dwarf hype after so long after XI had aired.

[flanl3]

They must have thought the game was done after Twentica and deleted it.

[GameDigits]

Hi guys, just thought I’d step in here and answer a few questions I’ve seen on this mega-thread.

Just to avoid any confusion, the games we develop for UKTV have always been under the UKTV store accounts, our own game IP (such as Dream Machine & Auction Wars) are released under GameDigits. There are many reasons for this, but they’re mainly contractual. No game has been moved, or deleted from one account to another.

Although it’s always painful to put a project on hold, there are a couple of major reasons why moving on to a new Red Dwarf XII game made absolute sense.

Firstly, the drop off of players progressing through the game was very large – in fact, 99.3% of players haven’t actually reached the point where they would see the next episode. The decision to put it on hold was tough, but we have to be realistic about what’s achievable here without running the risk of losing so much that we go out of business – I’m sure that’s understandable.

Secondly, one other result of the previous game vast majority of people who viewed the game were put off by the price. I’m not talking a small amount here, again it was a percentage over 99% and this is at the point where only the icon and price are visible, they hadn’t even seen the game yet. This fact was also echoed by the fans at the last DJ event too, so it’s something we really wanted to address.

Therefore, it made sense to focus on making a free game for series XII – and it’s a great game too! We’ve listened a great deal to the fans and aimed to have wider appeal. That’s not to say XI has stopped completely, it’s on hold and we’d love to pick it up again (in fact we had almost completed the Krysis episode when the decision was made).

We’re aiming for a release very soon, so I’ll keep you posted!

[bloodteller]

thank you

[Dave]

Thanks for keeping us updated with all this. I’ll definitely check out the XII game when it appears.

[flanl3]

We’re aiming for a release very soon, so I’ll keep you posted!

I am attempting to convey my excitement without sounding sarcastic but this is like my fourth time rewriting this post for that purpose so I suppose I’ll just say that I am excited and that is not sarcastic.

Yikes, that didn’t work either.

[bloodteller]

i’m excited!!

that’s how you do it, flanl

[flanl3]

Ah, I see.

[cwickham]

Even if the XI game isn’t unpaused, will we at least get to see what was done for Krysis?

[Dax101]

Someone just uploaded this to youtube, is this the new Game?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56gdoyCjPM0&feature=youtu.be&a=

[bloodteller]

i think so

[bloodteller]

okay so i just watched the video, and although that doesn’t reaallyyyy look as good as the XI game, it looks to be at least worth playing

[Dax101]

I was kinda hoping for something abit more different this time round but its basically the same sorta gameplay

[bloodteller]

they spelt “Bryceman” wrong in Ziggy’s name i think?

oh bollocks who cares about him anyway

[si]

Looks nice. :)

[Ben Saunders]

Will there be a Timewaveless version of the game? I want to pretend the episode doesn’t exist.

Real talk though I will check the XII game out, it is free after all (;

[cwickham]

I like to think referring to Skipper Rimmer as “Retro Rimmer” is a G&T reference.

[Jonathan Capps]

Here’s your place for that XII Game chatter: http://www.ganymede.tv/forums/topic/lets-talk-about-red-dwarf-xii-the-game/#post-

[GameDigits]

Thanks guys – and yes the game is out now!

http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1279716477
http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.uktv.rdxii

It’s free this time so why not give a go! (It’s also worth keeping in the back of your mind that it is a free game too when giving feedback). We do monetise it with adverts, but they are all optional as reward videos – we never force you to watch an advert throughout the game.

We’re very responsive to feedback, so let us know your thoughts. We know that the Red Dwarf audience is very varied, so we can’t hit the mark for everyone – but we’ve aimed to include different modes in the game to cater for different types of players and it’s not linear either.

Plus, I expect ALL of you on here to ace the quiz!

As for the spelling of Ziggy – I know it’s an odd spelling, but it is correct in the game. We actually had it as ‘Bryceman’ at first, but after double checking the freeze frame on the picture he made in the Econium ship in the episode, it’s definitely ‘Briceman’.

[Jonathan Capps]

Just going to close up this thread for now to shift everything over to our XII thread. Ian, I’ll copy your post over so we can more easily manage the XII chat.

[Author]

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