Richard Hofmeier IS a 'Hater'

[unseen4ce]

Richard Hofmeier frames legitimate customer concerns as 'hate' and calls such customers haters. He hates his own customers, customers who just want to see the best of Cart Life.

This is a childish tactic intended to relieve Hofmeier of the responsibility of answering and resolving genuine concerns, many of which are significant bugs.
I suppose the acclaim Hofmeier received from the industry has gone to his head, and he feels that the only way anyone could criticize this game is if they are jealous or just want to 'hate' for some implausible reason.

However this is not the case, many people enjoy many aspects of the game and just want to experience the game to it's full potential. So 'haters' is an innaccurate description, a more accurate label would be 'fans'.

I hope Hofmeier realizes this soon ...I emailed Hofmeier with to tell him that it would be easy for him to update the game with free DLC, other devs on steam update their games frequently ...so Hofmeier doesn't have any basis for this assertion that he 'can't' update Cart Life.

[highbred]

Good work mate =)
I'm a huge fan of the game 'literally'
He can still recover from this, all he has to do is take advice from his fans, after all we are the people that want to see him succeed the most, that way we can really enjoy the game to it's full potential! hopefuly he can fix his errors and continue to make more charming games in the old fashion DOS format/engine whatever you want to call it.
It takes you back to a simpler time when graphics wasn't the selling point of a terrific game.

[Moss]

Yeah I was really interested in this game and was very close to buying it, but his comments and attitude made sure my money stayed in my pocket.

[LexieTanium:]

=o You guys should try the game for free first then.

[Hesh Ballantine]

Many of us didn't find out there was a free demo until after buying it, because that free demo was not offered on Steam, and Steam is where we found out about the game. You're more or less victim-blaming by saying "oh you should've tried it free first." Also, encouraging players to "try before they buy" is essentially a tacit endorsement of software piracy. My habitual "try before you buy" with EA games means they haven't gotten a cent from me in a decade. (Nor should they, EA turns out rehashed rubbish, but that's another topic.)

Anyway, as I said in another thread, I was sympathetic with the author until he turned up and called dissatisfied customers "haters." I find the game extremely charming, and agree with most of the critical acclaim it has received. That said, game breaking bugs are a serious issue, and things like the cash register bug or the bug where you can't talk to the woman outside while looking for Mr. Dombrovski have existed for about three months now. That's not really acceptable. Seeing someone raising this legitimate issue get called a hater by the author means I probably won't send Mr. Hofmeier my $5 again.

[tinytinytoes]

Yeah, it's unacceptable to allow these bugs to continue to exist. Steam also made a poor choice by allowing the game into their store. I trust Steam to sell me complete, playable games, and they violated that trust.

LexieTanium: defending the indefensible choices of a developer like this only strengthens that reviewers care more about currying favors than reviewing games. Game-breaking bugs are unacceptable, period. Don't blame the customers who were duped.

[fidelio]

hollow_conscience eredeti hozzászólása:

I trust Steam to sell me complete, playable games, and they violated that trust.

precisely.

[J]

I feel he is either really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cheap or really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lazy. You know what? He's both. I don't normally buy random games without feedback, but I did. HUGE MISTAKE. This game is buggy. Cart Life has been out for how long? 1-2 YEARS? I made the mistake of buying this game. The EA route is never right. I know games can be rushed sometimes, but come on. Indie games aren't meant to be rushed. This game should either get fixed or leave Steam. (Quick question. Can we get refunds for this or no?)

[fidelio]

steam gives back less money than a NYC landlord.

i actually had a back and forth with them which took over a month to conclude.
I couldn't even convince them to look at this forum to investigate the complaints from the community.
in the end, i'm out money, don't have a working product, and this train wreck is still for sale. so they did, exactly nothing.

as a result, i have all but stopped buying on steam.

[Rere]

I was just about to buy this game because I saw a Gamepot vid recommending it, BUT, I came here first and after reading this, I sure am not going to give this game any money.

Mr. Hofmeier, I hope you're reading this. And I really hope other potential buyers will do the same as I am doing right now. You should treat your game and your 'customers' with a little more respect than that.

[TheRPGunit]

I'm impressed you guys were engaged enough to play long enough to even find bugs. kudos.

[fidelio]

for me, my monitor is a 16x9 hdtv, and there is no resolution i can set in the game which will display on my screen. the resolution options in the game are all non-standard. there's no support at all for 16x9 aspect ratio. an example: standard resolution is 640x480, the game is 640x400. the other resolutions are just as crazy. my screen has about 20 resolutions it will switch to, and not one of them matches with the options in the game.

[spacejumper]

fidelio eredeti hozzászólása:

for me, my monitor is a 16x9 hdtv, and there is no resolution i can set in the game which will display on my screen. the resolution options in the game are all non-standard. there's no support at all for 16x9 aspect ratio. an example: standard resolution is 640x480, the game is 640x400. the other resolutions are just as crazy. my screen has about 20 resolutions it will switch to, and not one of them matches with the options in the game.

It obviously uses art assets that aren't 16:9, 16:10 or 4:3.

If it were fullscreen you would see a letterbox effect, perhaps suggest this.

[fidelio]

the response from the developer for these issues is:

R. Hofmeier eredeti hozzászólása:

Ticking the box for "side borders for widescreen monitors" has helped a few folks with this problem, but every machine's different I s'pose.

this didn't help me at all, and i refuse to believe the problem lies with a $2000 hdtv engineered by the world leader in flat panel displays instead of the $5 indie game made by one person who calls himself a fraud.

it's a harsh assessment but if you want to make games you can't/don't/won't support even at the most modest level great, but you shouldn't sell them to the general public for money until you're willing to undertake the responsibility of operating a business, or hire someone who will.

he's right about the fraud though. the product customers receive is not the product as advertised on the store page.

[Aerothorn]

Fidello: This is a limitation of AGS, the engine. It's designed to be played windowed, so I recommend that as an option - works great on widescreens and looks better to boot.

[fidelio]

that's not stated on the product page.