Sonic Dash (iOS/Android)

[Jet Prower]

My guess is if we don't get enough presents, they'll suddenly decide to extend the challenge or fiddle the numbers so we'll magically win. I mean, can you imagine them saying "Whoops, you all suck. Those two weeks of effort playing this game were a blatant waste of your time."?

 

Pretty much yeah. Just saying, you all didn't do enough to deserve this would upset the people that did put the effort into the game to try and unlock him. As I said, they would either fiddle with the numbers or slowly jack them up towards the end to make it look like we are all doing it. Thus, why the other one I was a part of, didn't seem to be going up much, yet right at the end, it started going up very fast.

[Tani Coyote]

Yeah, even if we lost the challenge they'd still unlock him, just we'd need to pay for him with Red Rings.

It'd be nice if they'd still give him away to those who participated, holiday spirit and all, but one word: corporation.

Speaking of business models, that "watch a 15 second ad to get a free revive" feature is genius. It generates them some revenue from their sponsors while also allowing you to basically get two revives for the price of one, since the next revive still only costs 1. It's a diabolical way to extend your score, so it pays off on both ends.

[Jolt_TH]

Unless it's a stupidly high Red Ring price, or it's a fairly new player, they might aswell give him away, I have around 127 red rings and I can imagine most people have around that or higher! (Assuming they have done all the missions and not spent any)

[Willsy]

I think they will look and see who have contributed a lot (if that's possible). Say, over 200 presents or something.

[Tani Coyote]

At this point, they give out red rings and such like candy, so I can only imagine microtransactions don't really make them that much anymore... then again, I think we're probably not representative of the wider Dash demographic.

It makes sense they're making use of ads; it's a simple way to make revenue without charging money.

[Jet Prower]

Yeah, even if we lost the challenge they'd still unlock him, just we'd need to pay for him with Red Rings.

It'd be nice if they'd still give him away to those who participated, holiday spirit and all, but one word: corporation.

Speaking of business models, that "watch a 15 second ad to get a free revive" feature is genius. It generates them some revenue from their sponsors while also allowing you to basically get two revives for the price of one, since the next revive still only costs 1. It's a diabolical way to extend your score, so it pays off on both ends.

 

Oh the watch a video thing is a tiny little ad? I've never clicked it thinking it was some several minute long video picked at random that they wanted us to watch, not just one of the random ads that pops up between game matches.

[Tani Coyote]

It's only about fifteen seconds long, yes, so I think it's a pretty sweat deal. That it doesn't count towards your revive count (it'll only cost one revive to come back if you die a second time) is just awesome.

[Brad]

Gotta say, whenever I decide to give this game a whirl it's all well and good till you beat Zazz. Then it throws every dick obstacle at you possible, and it'd be impossible to avoid some without having the foreknowledge of how to predict what's ahead of you... by already dying because of that obstacle. 

 

This is what I really hate about these freemium games. They want the player to spend their money so much (and to ridiculous amounts, might I add) that they choose design choices that make the whole experience worse. 

[Tani Coyote]

My favorite obstacle forever remains the two pillars with a gap on the side. You have to time jumping, quickstepping one way and then quickstepping back to survive.

It was said not too long ago in the thread that the boost exists for no real purpose other than to avoid taking chances with obstacles, in the process eliminating your score bonus and also squandering bonuses from enemies... true indeed.

As memory serves you still get points for killing Choppers while boosting so hey, that's a plus. I'm just glad the Choppers aren't a possible death anymore; for a while I remember the Homing Attack didn't want to work for me so I fell to a watery death more times than I can count.

[Willsy]

Alright guys, we're just a tiny bit away from completing the first stage. Keep going!

[castell-neath]

I think this is beyond frustating. I've already gathered over 200 presents, and was up to over 50 by the end of day 1!

 

I think think the lacklustre showing so far is indicative of what people really think of Silver. To be honest I think a majority of current players are android based.....most iOS players have had ages to play this game and have "moved on" from it.....in my view!

[The Tenth Doctor]

I don't know man, Silver has quite a lot of fan girls. They all seem nuts for him on Facebook anyway.

[Jet Prower]

I don't know man, Silver has quite a lot of fan girls. They all seem nuts for him on Facebook anyway.

 

You know, I've noticed that a large number of the people that tend to like Silver tend to be female for some reason. Not always the case, but I've noticed this alot before with several females I've seen before.

[MykonosFan]

I think this is beyond frustating. I've already gathered over 200 presents, and was up to over 50 by the end of day 1!

 

I think think the lacklustre showing so far is indicative of what people really think of Silver. To be honest I think a majority of current players are android based.....most iOS players have had ages to play this game and have "moved on" from it.....in my view!

 

I think it's probably the latter reason. Most people have definitely moved on. I'm sure this challenge will get some mysterious boost in the last few days of the challenge, we'll be congratulated for being awesome and etc. like last time.

[The Tenth Doctor]

We did Stage 1. Im about 25 presents into Step 2.

[Jet Prower]

At least it is going up now, but this does seem rather similar to the last challenge I was apart of. The time frame for how much the meter is going up seems rather similar to how it was going up last time.

[castell-neath]

Hardlight you b*****ds! presents do not carry over to the next stage!!! sod this crappy challenge, its just not fun, neiher is only giving 1 red ring a day away!

[Willsy]

Only get about 50 presents a day, then you should be fine.

[Jolt_TH]

One red ring a day is fine really, it's better than only getting some when you complete a mission

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

One red ring a day is fine really, it's better than only getting some when you complete a mission

Yep, especially when there are no missions for you to at the moment. =/ Got a new iPad mini with Retina for Christmas and wow - Sonic Dash is much more open and clear to see then my 5s. Don't get me wrong, 5s plays the game buttery smooth and has excellent graphics but with an iPad... you can actually see more detail put in to this game. This game has gone a long way. Seriously. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Tani Coyote]

Limiting the red rings to one a day was a good marketing move, as it incentivises microtransactions. Bad for you, but good for business. As a SEGA shareholder naturally I'm torn. ;P

Anyway, I've done stage 2 of the Global Challenge; now to wait for everyone else to catch up.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Hardlight really does rig these so that it always ends up passing. For one, it makes it so that people don't feel ripped off, and for two, it's actually a really clever business move. These challenges theoretically will excite the player base to play even more, which will lead to a) more micro purchases, or more advertisements watched.

Don't think the latter is lucrative? Let me put it in perspective: I've worked with companies before that pay you two cents to watch a fifteen-second ad, and that's with them also getting a cut of it. So even if only a fraction of that much was being given to Hardlight, every time you watch an ad for a free revive, they're probably making a penny or even half a penny. Add that up across thousands/tens of thousands of active players and you've got a substantial amount of income coming in for a free game.

10,000 players watching a one cent ad is 100 dollars, and when you take into account these challenges greatly increasing the number of players, and the fact people can watch more than one ad... well, you get the idea. Throw in microtransactions, and Dash is likely fairly lucrative as a percentage despite its free nature.

[Blue Blood]

I've now got over 400 presents. Still quite fun to play, even if the world is really slow at progressing.

 

Also, want to know who's going to be available in the future?

[Jet Prower]

I've now got over 400 presents. Still quite fun to play, even if the world is really slow at progressing.

 

Also, want to know who's going to be available in the future?

 

Not the two characters I would have picked, but if that's who they may want to go with the in the future then fine with them. Of course, not sure that is official is it?

[Blue Blood]

Not the two characters I would have picked, but if that's who they may want to go with the in the future then fine with them. Of course, not sure that is official is it?

 They're models ripped from the game. There's three of each, in varying detail for the capabilities of different platforms.

[castell-neath]

Well, im still waiting for my cream and vector update in Sonic Jump....lets see how quickly these extras are released in comparison!!