

Show HN: Massively Multiplayer HTML5, Node.js, MongoDB Game - james33
http://www.crpg.me/c

======
Throwaway0812
Using the latest version of Firefox, this is what happens...

1\. It loads up and I'm on the casino floor with some slot machines,
blackjack, poker etc. I assume I'm the character that's just standing solo in
the room (woman in yellow), so I try to move. This does nothing.

2\. I mouseover the games, and they say _play slots_ , or _play poker_ , so I
click them, and nothing happens.

3\. A box appears in the top left saying _create character_. I click that, and
an error flickers saying the connection was lost.

4\. Instantly I'm forwarded to a page that looks like an advertisement for the
game, with a big button to _play now_.

5\. Before I can do anything, it forwards to the original loading screen, and
I'm back to number one in the casino room.

Chrome...

1\. It loads and I actually see other players and their names in the casino
room.

2\. Similar to above, the buttons do nothing, and should at least have a popup
asking me to register.

3\. The _create character_ button doesn't display an error, but forwards me to
the game advertisement, and then loops back into the game like Firefox before
I can click anything.

In both browsers I'm in an endless loop. You should really consider letting
the user play for 5 minutes or 10 minutes without needing to register, and
then once they're hooked, prompt them to register to continue.

~~~
james33
Thanks, looks like there's an error in the guest view from a recent update,
should have the updated soon. As to the looping you are referring to, that one
is stumping me at the moment as none of us here are able to get that behavior
to happen. Still digging...

Edit: Okay, the bug with clicking on things not working is fixed, still
haven't been able to reproduce this looping issue.

~~~
Throwaway0812
Thanks, I'm in now. I used Chrome, and during the loop, I clicked the create a
goldfire account button before it automatically forwarded. Then I created an
account, and it gave me the option to select one of three games. I selected
the casino game, and it loaded and went back to square one, in the casino
room, with the _create character_ button. I clicked that button and went into
the loop again, clicked the goldfire button once more, and then it loaded the
game and I was suddenly logged in.

I played around for 20 minutes, but I don't think I'll return. It's clear _a
lot_ of time and effort went into this game. It's missing the two most
important things I enjoy in a game though, it needs to be fun, and it needs to
be simple. I'm likely not your target user though, since I've never been too
involved in online casino games. Congrats though, I'm impressed at how much is
built into this game, and how much you achieved here.

~~~
james33
Sorry you had to go through all of those hoops, had never seen that issue or
had it reported before. I think I've found the problem and fixed it now
anyway. Our early player flow certainly has some issues that we are putting a
lot of work into redoing right now (mainly it takes too long to get into the
meat of the game). If you don't enjoy casino games then true, you probably
wouldn't enjoy the early gameplay. Thanks for the feedback, we really
appreciate it!

------
aurora72
I hate and ignore those apps which require registration w.o. displaying the
main page. Quora is another example to this.

~~~
james33
This is an MMO, it requires registration, but we display information,
screenshots and video about the game on the main page. This link is also the
guest view, which lets you see inside one of the casinos live without needing
to be logged in.

------
jt2190
Blog post and trailer video about the game:
[http://goldfirestudios.com/blog/134/CasinoRPG-Official-
Launc...](http://goldfirestudios.com/blog/134/CasinoRPG-Official-Launch-and-
Trailer)

------
epa
Hey James I have been following you guys for a while, great concept and looks
pretty smooth. Reminds me a lot of Habbo Hotel, great market with lots of
revenue potential. Keep it up.

------
MrKristopher
I liked the look of the first page I saw, where I could click on tables in the
game room. But after going through registration via Facebook, I got back, and
it looked like a boring web page. Whatever that page was, it was boring, so I
closed the site. I forgot to get a screenshot, but it mostly was a solid green
background.

~~~
james33
Solid green background? I'd be really curious to know what page you are
talking about as I can't think of any page or screen that is solid green
besides the felt on the poker/blackjack tables.

------
dested
I've been following this for a while. Great progress, great play experience,
great game!

------
supsep
This is very impressive! Good work, I can only wish to be half as good with
Node.js

------
tieTYT
Nice. What libraries/technologies are you using to render the front end?

~~~
james33
We are using a modified version of the Isogenic Game Engine and a little over
2 years of work (there's a whole open world outside of the casino floors).

------
Kiro
I wanted to inspect the network tab in Chrome and it froze the whole browser.

~~~
james33
Yeah, that has actually been an issue for us during development. Something
like this requires quite a few more assets than a normal webpage, and clearly
Chrome's Dev Tools don't handle that too well.

~~~
james33
We don't really have a good solution so far. We mainly try to avoid the
network tab, but if we must use it, we pause the game to free up some extra
resources and generally it won't crash.

------
gnopgnip
I dislike having to create a separate account to play this game. Using twitter
still requires a separate password and account to create. In firefox the game
loops when clicking create character.

~~~
james33
Hmm, not seeing the looping issue you are referring to in Firefox. The game is
an MMO, so we need some way to keep track of your player and sync with
everyone else.

~~~
gnopgnip
With Oauth you should be able to use a twitter account as your account without
having to sign up.

------
lukasm
1st freeze with mirror 2nd at the table. couldnt do any moves. and now I
cannot join "premium members can only play at 2 tables"

~~~
james33
Interesting, haven't heard a report of that before. Looks like you got
automatically cleared out of that table now though.

------
igl
Latest chromium on ubuntu: 1 Loading up a room with a bar and slot machines 2
i click on the bar 3 screen fades to 50% black the end

------
blakestein
Maybe I'm missing something but this game didn't work at all for me in Firefox

~~~
james33
What version of Firefox? The game works on every browser newer than IE8. As
long as there is HTML5 Canvas it should work. That being said, Firefox does
tend to have the worst performance of all of the major browsers.

~~~
blakestein
Huh, seems to be working now. Maybe it was a poor connection.

------
danielweber
I thought it was going to be a game where I could use node.js against my
enemies ;)

~~~
james33
Ha, I guess I could have phrased the title a little differently. That would be
fun though too!

------
bagosm
Sooo they found a way to gamify the gamified process of handing over your
money!

------
jawerty
Looks really great! Are you monetizing this (if you don't mind answering)?

~~~
james33
Yes, we actually first built a social gaming platform
([https://goldfire.me](https://goldfire.me)) and built this game around that.
Through the platform we monetize with virtual currency purchases and an
optional monthly subscription, though we've been careful to balance things so
that no spending is ever required.

------
bronson
The fish tanks look like the most interesting thing in the room.

