I used to do some game-programming some years ago, using C and C++, just for learning purposes, always as a hobby. I never used Java, only used Object Oriented approaches a little in C++, and I don't code anymore since 2009. But I kept reading a lot about mobile programming (not practicing, just reading) since then, learned a bit about Symbian and now my cousin is messing with Android development, and I am learning a bit with him, only for curiosity, in a superficial way, nothing serious - I am a very curious guy.

I wrote all of this just to say that, despite not being a real programmer, my little knowledge is enough to make myself assured that fixing the DF game's problems don't require months of work, nor lots of money. All these complains about lost connections, glitches, bugs, no names, team killers, spawn killers, game crashes, poor graphic quality, could be ceased if some work was done by Z. It would be a matter of days.

Some could defend Z saying that "this game has soul", or "this game is very good despite its flaws", or "Z is a one-man-developing-team", or "the game is cheap", bla, bla, bla...

But the fact is that, for a mobile game, I believe Z already made some serious money, enough to deliver us something better. I bought the pre-paid version, and bought in-game-credits enough to have all the planes and plane's upgrades right when I reached the 11th level. So, Z already had all the money I could pay him - and I certainly can donate some more if asked!! But sadly, I am beginning to suspect that Zuperman simply abandoned us, maybe considering that the game, as it is now, is already good enough for people like us...

I am really upset, really angry for not seeing a single word from him in this forum about all these complains!!!! So I believe that its time for us, players, to do something a little bit more effective to bring Z to reason, and touch him to make him to finally fix these game flaws, or at least leave other people do the job, or at the very least, give us some feedback!!!!! I am taking his silence as a debauchery, a mockery!!!!!



Any ideas?

This game is great, but I believe it isn't so due to its gameplay or something like that. I think what makes the game so successful is the community.

Seriously, if it weren't for the awesome people in the forums and in-game, then I would have stopped playing months ago.

I mean, sure, the game is fun, but it isn't really the coding that bring people back. It's the players. It's because of these players, I could look past all of the glitches and bugs, and enjoy the game.

So, if Z no longer gives a flying feather about Dogfight, I really can't blame him. I gave money to this game too, and considering the experience, it was well worth it.

Of course, of you feel so strongly about this, we can do like the Workers Union:

Start a boycott on the forums and in-game. That'll get his attention.

Thanks again, Princess.

That is what I was initially thinking about: a boycott. But I didn't know how to write it in English...
(I considered using the term "strike", but it has too many meanings to be clear).

Now that we have the "word", what about the action? I am in!!!

In zupermans defense I am going to say give him till christmas because he might have it all made and is just going to wait to get it released then. Also he is working on 3 other new projects that some person hired him to do since he is now a app company were people give him there dream or idea they pay him and he makes it.

You can find his operation hear ---> www.echoboom.es/en/index.html <

---

You cannot defend the indefensible. This has gone on FAR too long.

Using OUR money to create new games is not a proper use of the money when WE have been chosen to be ignored.
Check the link above....the mission statement is in direct conflict of what he is doing here.

Rate the game negatively and people will see what it's like & will not purchase anymore. Also, his prospective customers will look differently at his operation.

HIT HIM IN HIS WALLET UNTIL HE FIXES THIS!

He's killing his golden goose as he lets THIS turn into a turkey!

I have always supported ZUPERMAN & his operation, however, no fixes (even small ones) and especially no communication, is extremely frustrating.

Why wait until Christmas? Give me my gift early. I paid for it!

Paul Mantz, Jr. wrote: You cannot defend the indefensible. This has gone on FAR too long.

Using OUR money to create new games is not a proper use of the money when WE have been chosen to be ignored.
Check the link above....the mission statement is in direct conflict of what he is doing here.

Rate the game negatively and people will see what it's like & will not purchase anymore. Also, his prospective customers will look differently at his operation.

HIT HIM IN HIS WALLET UNTIL HE FIXES THIS!

He's killing his golden goose as he lets THIS turn into a turkey!

I have always supported ZUPERMAN & his operation, however, no fixes (even small ones) and especially no communication, is extremely frustrating.

Why wait until Christmas? Give me my gift early. I paid for it!

I totally agree with Paul. Communication is the key!! Right now there is none. I've been waiting and sitting patiently in the background for some resolution or insight on when the issue(s) will be resolved. Like Paul and the lot of you DF players, I'm frustrated!! Losing connection at a climatic point in a game is very, very annoying. I can understand happening a few times but 3 times within an hour is absurd!! Z has to know what's going on with the issue(s) that haunt this game and communicate it with his customers. Otherwise, the game will lose it's appeal and interest among veteran/new players. I'm almost to that point. What's keeping me from abandoning ship is the DF community. Experiencing the friendship and camaraderie is what's keeping this DF ship afloat. Like Pedrinho says, something has to be done in a dramatic fashion so Z can longer ignore his customer's. If boycotting is the answer, so be it. Unless someone else has any other suggestions. And simply sending Z an email will not suffice. It's already been done.

CHECK GOOGLE PLAY STORE REVIEWS FOR AN EXAMPLE.

Was I too optimistic?

I pm'd Z on the 4th of November for some advice about the game, to date he hasnt even read it. I've been thinking for some time now that DF has been shelved, forgotten. A boycott of any sort would achieve us nothing, you forget, he already has our money, so how on earth would a boycott affect him. What would work is if every player contacted the seller, that is Apple and Google, demanding a refund and even threatening action of some sort, contacting computer magazines for example.
After all if you buy a tv from a shop and it doesn't work, you go back to the shop for a refund or replacement, the shop then deals with the manufacturer. We purchased a product, this game, in good faith that we would get a working playable product/game, it doesn't work, so the people we payed our hard earned cash too should be made aware that they have sold us an inferior product.

I got a immediate response from him. When do you send him a message include links to what he is looking for...for example: Tank spawning problem? Send the link to him.

It probably won't help but that's what he said to do.

Maybe it would help if someone took all the glitches and issues and listed them in a thread. Everyone could then vote on which one was the most annoying or caused the most issues. Then take the top 3 to 5 problems based on votes and submit them to Z and ask if it’s possible to fix those problems; or at least one of those problems. Or at least ask him to respond as to why he can’t fix them. Maybe there’s a reasonable explanation.

Alternatively, maybe we ask Z to list out the top 5 glitches that he has on this plate to fix in the near future and list in a thread for us to vote on.

Friends, lets do the first step in this type of boycott. We must chose a date , and share that information to the whole Dogfight Community. In that date everyone ,and hopefully the mayority of players or a big bunch of them ,leave their reviews about Dogfight game in Geogle Play Store or Apple Store. This would be a great call to those guys. LETS TAKE ACTION !!!

I got a better idea. Before you go leave the bad reviews email him first tell him what needs fixed and tell him that if there not fixed by a certain date then every one will leave bad reviews. I honestly think that leaving bad reviews before going to talking to him about the problems and stuff of that sort could make him just give up on it completely and go make something else, and that leaves to the death of this game and ending up losing contact with many of your friends by them leaving because of the end of new pilots coming. Email him first alright because i don't want to see dogfight die because of us going and posting bad reviews when the game works fine. You may lose connection in 1 out of 20 games and it may took a few more shots to kill some one but the game dose work. We can run the game get kills get points rank up bomb kill the Zeppelin capture the carriers. The game works completely fine it just has some minor annoying glitches. So you guys email z first tell him whats up and why your mad. joaquin Grech <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> He always responds back to your emails.

Skydavis1 wrote: In zupermans defense I am going to say give him till christmas because he might have it all made and is just going to wait to get it released then. Also he is working on 3 other new projects that some person hired him to do since he is now a app company were people give him there dream or idea they pay him and he makes it.

You can find his operation hear ---> www.echoboom.es/en/index.html <

---

Sky has a point.

I don't see a need to take it to the extremes. Demanding repayment and declaring DF to be an "inferior product" seems to far. Mind you, Dogfight costs, what? 5 dollars? In good faith, let's make it $10 counting in-app purchases for points. $10 is around the cost of something like a meal at a diner, or a pair of cheap earphones. I dunno about anyone else, but I'd trade a stack of buttermilk pancakes for the experience I got from Dogfight any day.

Don't take it too far, is all I'm saying. Looking past all of the glitches and bugs, Dogfight is fantastic. Without it, I wouldn't have met any of the awesome people on the forums. I wouldn't have a chance to interact with them with a gaming experience that we all like (most of the time). Think about it: we wouldn't want DF to turn into the next Hostess.

Thank you for saying my point in a more understandable way.

No Twinkies AND no Dogfight?

Beyond that, I do agree that there are a lot of annoying glitches that have already been mentioned .. the numerous disconnects being my biggest beef at the moment. However, I also agree with Luna that DF is more than just the game .. it is a community, however dysfunctional at times.

One suggestion to Z would be to follow examples of some open source projects where bug reports can be posted. There's a number of bug tracking applications he could use, Atlassian Jira being one example. As mentioned, post bugs and folks vote on them so they get prioritized and we can then view the status of the fix so we have feedback that something (or nothing) is being done. Of course, that assumes that Z gives a "rat's arse".

wow guys, i wasn't planning to reply but since I saw some serious accusations and and some very idiotic reviews like the one on google play I feel compelled to say so.

1) The person talking about I'm making some serious money has no clue what he is talking about. I've be completely clear and open about this. The money coming from Dogfight cannot even cover the cost of ONE SINGLE employee at any given company at this moment. I purely do it out of fun as I've always done it and I'm in fact trying to get funding several ways since very very very few people pay for the game. I'm talking about less than 1% of user base that actually spend $1.

2) The money gotten on Dogfight is used on Dogfight, because it's really expensive to keep updating it and to keep servers and traffic up to speed. NO money from Dogfight is ever used to do other games, although it would be completely legit like any business. The reality is that since Dogfight does not generate enough money, we were forced to look for other business: creating different games and developing apps. So Dogfight actually runs mostly thanks to the other games and businesses not viceversa. In short, if it wasn't because we have other games, apps and sales, Dogfight would have been shut down long ago because we simply wouldn't be able to afford it.

3) If you feel abandoned and want to do a boycott, this is my personal and honest reply: you are wrong. As you can see on this reply, I read the forum, on daily basis. I also reply over 2000 emails per day (yeah, you know who you are because it's very odd I don't reply any email so those comments of not getting replies are simply not true). I've also developed patches (revision 197 you can check yourself on google play) and spent long nights without sleeping just to keep this game running as smooth as possible. If you look through the forum you will find from the early days of Dogfight to today that almost everything that has been requested has been added, even after months of work. And others I've promised to add and that are already in progress.

4) I enjoy this game, I've always enjoyed it because it's my little baby. I did not create it with the intention to become rich and I will keep it running and improving it because it's my hobby. I still play it almost on daily basis (and test it daily!) and I've looked with partnerships all over to keep it running even if not profitable. Anyone even suggesting otherwise it's insulting so next time you go online and just connect for a few minutes, think that someone has spent well over a year of work for that to be possible. There are tons of volunteers making this happen and some people who has tried to stop it (that's why you have a big chunk of legal stuff at the beginning of the game, that was not there before). It takes lot of effort.

5) If you are not happy, leave, but don't aim to destroy what others have put their efforts, time, money and mostly passion on. You are not aiming for a higher purpose by doing so. If you want to make a change, offer ways to help. That's why you belong to this community.


As for the "expert" developer that started this thread. For more regular people like me, it takes me over a year to develop this game, and months to push updates, because there are things that are not just programming. Like for instance, getting partnerships with different vendors that charge lot of money to be able to release fixes quick. Deal with Apple, Google, Samsung and Amazon so that patches are released simultaneously (with months of delays) because otherwise it would make all other players without the patches crash. Talk to hosting companies so that they don't think that certain traffic is an attack. Get special permissions for certain ports. Get again special permissions from telecom companies to allow for heavy traffic on the game and don't block it. Release the update and test it for iPhone 2g,3g,3gs,4,4s,5, iPad 1,2,3 and mini. iPod gen 1 to 5. 700+ Android devices and tablets. Fixing bugs on things that are not my fault (submitting bugs to smartfoxserver, rewriting their library, doing the same with unity3d, talking to google android about bugs that make some phones crash or act randomly, talk to samsung about bugs on distributions, htc, forwarding them complains and reviews, crash reports, bug fixed on their code by myself, etc...) and yes, I do have to do almost all this for every single update because the user base is huge and not a simple tetris game. I also have to do the daily support for the community that you simply cannot see because most are private (change of emails, passwords, fake emails to correct, google charging for points but not assigning them, etc...) Hundreds a day. I could go on and on about the long list of things to do for every single regular day on Dogfight, and it's not boring, simply put it's a huge amount of work and takes time from other tasks.

Options mr expert? learn to appreciate the work of others, because if you are going to program you will find yourself on the other side of the table very soon. You could have bothered to write an email to echoboom and find out quick that we do care in fact a lot for Dogfight and are constantly working and striving for it to be a better game. You only needed 1% of effort of what you spent in here and google play to begin your small boycott to find out a simple fact: we do LOVE this game and CARE for this community.

Thanks for reading and mostly to all of you who have been understanding and helping make Dogfight a better game. I hope to post a video very shortly with news and on why we need funding to release all the updates as quick as possible.

As always, you know where to find me: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. you can write there too even if you don't feel abandoned (i love getting happier emails :)
Joaquin Grech

Woah thats a rattled cage.lol
Hey Z.This is all these kids need is a bit reasurance sometimes.

Wow. Someone finally pissed Joaquin off. I hope you guys believe him, even if you won't believe me quoting him.

yeah, it's almost 2 am in here and i'm finishing my day after programming.. and i see that happy post about a boycott because i don't work fast enough. I had to take a few deep breaths to stop myself from writing some really nasty stuff.
jezz, i'm human, not someone' slave.

Thank you Z for the reply. I'm sure a few of us feel a little embarrassed. Communication from you goes a long way to most of us.
Why can't you do the subscription method you originally had? Keep the lower planes for free players and charge subscriptions for the top planes? This would keep new players in to try it out and charge a premium to those who use the game a lot.
Put official T shirts on ebay. I know it wouldn't be a big moneymaker but it's advertising. Biggest thing I see for getting new players is letting them take off. More than one person I've told about this game told me they don't care for it because they are shot down before they hit the end of runway.

2am.I want atleast another hour out of you lol

zuperman wrote: yeah, it's almost 2 am in here and i'm finishing my day after programming.. and i see that happy post about a boycott because i don't work fast enough. I had to take a few deep breaths to stop myself from writing some really nasty stuff.
jezz, i'm human, not someone' slave.

You should have said the nasty stuff most of us would have not minded that since you were accused of a stupid thing. Now all of you that wanted to boycott the game say your sorry and mean it because I have gotten a new way of killing in-game and i don't think you want to learn what it is.

zuperman wrote: yeah, it's almost 2 am in here and i'm finishing my day after programming.. and i see that happy post about a boycott because i don't work fast enough. I had to take a few deep breaths to stop myself from writing some really nasty stuff.
jezz, i'm human, not someone' slave.

Wisdom.

Cheers Joaquin, I truly appreciate your hard work; hence why I love giving back.

If we got anything- we got your attention.
Know that the work you do, and your team is very much appreciative. I'm sure everyone would agree...
We've gotten something very valuable from you - communication. And again, I'm sure everyone feels the same way as I do,
1. Are you aware
2. Is there a solution on the way
Its just as simple as that, some of the longer players would email, or notify your team in some way. It may not be everyone choice to do so, some may feel, as if a red flasher may appear signaling you of server interruptions...lol but who knows. It just makes people in general to hear from the big guy. And that your on top of things, and patience will be applied...

Now get some sleep, you have a big day tomorrow...

well... my thoughts on this matter...

i understand the frustrations of other pilots. but honestly, none of the glitches have bothered me that much, except one. the one that bothered me was a few weeks ago when we all kept getting kicked out of game when we tried to login. other than that, i am COMPLETELY happy with this game. and like Luna said, it is not so much the game, as it is the community. however, i do love this little game and its graphics and simplicity, for me, its perfect. and i would love to see it continue and grow, and i believe it will. even before zuperman replied to this thread, i had the impression that he was very sincere in his effort to keep this game going and make it as best as he can. and i firmly believe that Z was very forthcoming and honest in his post on this thread. i trust him. and i am certainly not worried about my $10 bucks. nor would i ever say anything bad about this game in any review anywhere on the web. why do that? even if this game died tomorrow, i would never say a single bad word about Z or the game. this game is a little treasure for me and i love playing it and chatting with all in the community.

i am a business owner of three businesses so i can imagine what Z is dealing with on a daily basis. the only thing i think is reasonable for us to ask of superman is for him to continue to do his best and care of his little baby, his hobby, by making incremental improvements as he can, with the resources he has available. i dont think he can do anything more because he is not Superman, he is only Zuperman, or as he put it, he is only human and 2 am is his bedtime.

thanks for your efforts zuperman. please dont shut our game down and continue to do your best to keep it alive. we need it.

and zuperman...if you are ever in florida and want to go offshore fishing, call me up, i will take you out for one trip on the house. (this is what i do for a living. fishing charters)

woof,
helldawg

Hey zup really sry about this. I am one of the people that complained not boycott though. And zup if u see people complaining plz post something like i am working on it or some thing, that way no one will complain. We will be patient with u no matter what just tell us thats ur working on it or something and all of us other forum users will respond if someone elze raises the question.

Thanks for the amazing game, ur the best and u should go to sleep right now.

By the way jaff, u were one of the first thats complained about how we paid money and thats zup was suppose to provide a service. Dont blame it on others

Whoah, way, whoah, whoah. You guys, Dogfight is just a game. You guys must be really obsessed with this game if your gonna put so much thought into what I've seen on this thread so far. Can't you at least let Zup catch his breathe and take it easy? Sheesh. You guys expect to much out of Zup. He must be in a tight position right now; seeing all this nonesense about boycotting. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves...

And i hate how jaff blamed in on the kids, all the kids defended zup and it was def not the kids that boycotted.


And fly/paul thats review was not needed. Putting reviews like that now one will buy the game and i can't blame Joaquin if he actually did abandoned us. Just be happy that for $5 u got to meet all the great people.

Besides, if you look at it, DF is probably the most community-oriented game I've ever played.

I dunno if any of you are MLG or anything, but what Zup is doing can be considered remarkable compared to other games. Think about it: when have you ever gotten the chance to speak DIRECTLY to the developer, and give feedback and requests that will certainly be taken into consideration?

Do you speak to the creator of Minecraft? Call of Duty? World of Warcraft? Probably not.

The games mentioned above are also much better equipped than the staff of Dogfight. And I'd much rather play DF than COD.

Wasn't it recently Thanksgiving? Thank you Zup, and the staff of DF, for creating this awesome game, and not losing faith though others may. Thank you, to the mods, who keep this community running the way it's supposed to. And thank you, to the DF community for being such fantastic people. People, who are seperated by 100s of miles, yet feel as close as my next door neighbor.

I could go on, but I'l start to sound like a kiss-up. I probably sound like one now...

But I mean what I say. This place is awesome, and I'm not going to be leaving because of some bugs.

Luna6 wrote: Besides, if you look at it, DF is probably the most community-oriented game I've ever played.

I dunno if any of you are MLG or anything, but what Zup is doing is remarkable compared to other games. Think about it: when have you ever gotten the chance to speak DIRECTLY to the developer, and give feedback and requests that will certainly be taken into consideration.

Do you speak to the creator of Minecraft? Call of Duty? World of Warcraft? Probably not.

The games mentioned above are also much better equipped than the staff of Dogfight. And I'd much rather play DF than COD.

Wasn't it recently Thanksgiving? Thank you Zup, and the staff of DF, for creating this awesome game, and not losing faith though others may. Thank you, to the mods, who keep this community running the way it's supposed to. And thank you, to the DF community for being such fantastic people. People, who are seperated by 100s of miles, yet feel closer than my next door neighbor.

I could go on, but I'l start to sound like a kiss-up. I probably sound like one now...

But I mean what I say. This place is awesome, and I'm not going to be leaving because of some bugs.

Or even because of some guys who bug you.