New Carcassonne App for Android

[danisthirty]

As some of you may already have seen, a new version of the Carcassonne app for Android was released recently by Exozet games. It's a fairly major update (50mb or so) but in my opinion they've taken away more than they've added and there's still no support for playing online.

Here is a quick summary of the changes:

Plus points:
- Improved graphics. It does now look pretty good.
- Improved music (which I never have on).
- Inns & Cathedrals, Traders & Builders, Corn Circles & The Festival are all available.

Neutral points:
- "Improved UI" is still equally playable but offers little over the old UI in terms of gameplay. I can't decide which I prefer but the fact that I never used to struggle to deploy meeples onto the correct part of the tile (but now do) suggests that this is actually a negative point.
- No change to AI opponents as far as I could tell. They may have been tweaked slightly but this hasn't ramped up the difficulty at all.

Negative points:
- You have to pay extra to play with any of the new expansions listed above (River 2 is still free). I might expect this from a free game but not from one which I've already had to pay for.
- No achievements to aim for. This really bugs me, but not nearly so much as it would have done if I'd still been working towards any of the achievements in the old version before this one replaced it.
- No way to randomise which player starts or to change the background/ "table" colour behind the tiles on the main game screen (that I've found so far).
- Always seems to default to a certain opponent rather than leaving it on "random" so I have to reset this every time I want to play a game.
- Takes way longer to open and start games than the old version used to.
- There is still no way of playing against an online opponent. Since this is one of the main things that most people have been asking for since the previous version was released it seems crazy that they haven't been able to implement this yet.

Overall I'm really disappointed with this update. I was expecting the new expansions based on an email I had from someone at Exozet back in January but the same email also told of ongoing work on an online multiplayer mode which apparently doesn't exist. Maybe it will come in a later update, who knows? But for the time being it just feels like they've taken a really good app, beautified it for the sake of it and then just chucked it out there without really testing it or thinking about what it really had to offer over the old version.

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=796.0

[AlbinoAsian]

Agreed I hope they didn't just put a fresh coat of paint on an old house... Seems like they went with what will make them more money (add-ons) rather doing the things we've been requesting for ages

[Jéré]

Negative points:
- You have to pay extra to play with any of the new expansions listed above (River 2 is still free). I might expect this from a free game but not from one which I've already had to pay for.

Try this at your local game store: Tell the owner you should get the Carcassonne expansions for free because you already own the base game, just to see...

[danisthirty]

I fully understand your point Jere, and agree with it to some degree.

But whilst I don't think charging for the expansions is unfair as such, the fact that it costs extra money to play with these expansions is still a negative point just as it would have been an additional positive if they were free.

[exozet]

Hey guys! Exozet here Hope it's ok for us to give a little feedback re. Carcassonne on Android (also available on Windows 8 btw!).

Neutral points:
- "Improved UI" is still equally playable but offers little over the old UI in terms of gameplay. I can't decide which I prefer but the fact that I never used to struggle to deploy meeples onto the correct part of the tile (but now do) suggests that this is actually a negative point.

There may be issues on a few devices with the UI. We are already investigating on how to improve it.

- No change to AI opponents as far as I could tell. They may have been tweaked slightly but this hasn't ramped up the difficulty at all.

We plan to improve the AI with an upcoming update.

- No achievements to aim for. This really bugs me, but not nearly so much as it would have done if I'd still been working towards any of the achievements in the old version before this one replaced it.
- No way to randomise which player starts or to change the background/ "table" colour behind the tiles on the main game screen (that I've found so far).
- Always seems to default to a certain opponent rather than leaving it on "random" so I have to reset this every time I want to play a game.
- Takes way longer to open and start games than the old version used to.
- There is still no way of playing against an online opponent. Since this is one of the main things that most people have been asking for since the previous version was released it seems crazy that they haven't been able to implement this yet.

We are working on pretty much all of these points above. New features will be added with future updates. Online multiplayer is already in development.

[danisthirty]

Hi Exozet, thanks for your response. It's reassuring to see that you're taking an interest in what's being said about your game.

The device I use is a Samsung Galaxy S2 phone so the screen is quite small anyway. Being unable to place a meeple where I'd like happens maybe once or twice a game but I can get round it by zooming in (and then back out again so that I can see the rest of the playing area).

I'm looking forward to seeing how the features you're currently working on turn out, especially the online mode. And if it's not something you're already aware of, please could you also add to your list the bug whereby farmers who are placed on enclosed farms (e.g. farms that are surrounded by closed road(s) for example) aren't scored at the end of the game?

Thanks again for your feedback; hopefully you know where to come if you're looking for people to test things before your next release!

[exozet]

And if it's not something you're already aware of, please could you also add to your list the bug whereby farmers who are placed on enclosed farms (e.g. farms that are surrounded by closed road(s) for example) aren't scored at the end of the game?

I'm not 100% sure what you mean. If possible, could you send a screenshot and some details to ms@exozet.com? That's our mobile support email adress.

Thanks again for your feedback; hopefully you know where to come if you're looking for people to test things before your next release!

We'll probably do a closed beta for the online multiplayer (like we did for Catan). I'll let you know once you can apply for it

[danisthirty]

This farmer should be worth 3 points to blue in the final scoring. Instead of this though, he will actually be worth nothing as he won't be evaluated along with every other meeple left on the board at the end of the game. He will simply be ignored and will be left on the table. Poor guy.

This used to happen in the old version of the app as well, and it wasn't rare for a claimed farm with 2 or 3 cities on it to be ignored when the final scores were calculated if the farm was surrounded by road in this way.

[exozet]

Thanks a lot! This bug has been forwarded to our development team for investigation.

[AlbinoAsian]

Thanks a lot! This bug has been forwarded to our development team for investigation.

Much respect for taking the time to comment here on the forums. Glad to hear that you're still working on improvements.

Should multiplayer mode be added I know that your app would become an instant hit here and a great avenue for us to run tournaments

[Scott]

Great to see the developers interacting with the players!

[rfielder]

Where does one fine the expansions for this game?

I installed it onto my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and it works fine, but I don't see where you get the expansions, either ingame or on the Play store.

[exozet]

Where does one fine the expansions for this game?

I installed it onto my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and it works fine, but I don't see where you get the expansions, either ingame or on the Play store.

Where did you get it from? If you got it from Amazon App Store you should be able to update your game now to the new version.

[rfielder]

Where did you get it from? If you got it from Amazon App Store you should be able to update your game now to the new version.

I got it from the Google Play store.

Your response did not make sense, so I went back to the Play store.  My original download was free - now it is a $4.99 game.  That is a major change, and it also explains why the version I have did not automatically update to the latest version.

That is pretty expensive for an Android-only game, 'specially if it does not support multiplayer across multiple devices.  I will have to think about this one.....

[exozet]

Where did you get it from? If you got it from Amazon App Store you should be able to update your game now to the new version.

I got it from the Google Play store.

Your response did not make sense, so I went back to the Play store.  My original download was free - now it is a $4.99 game.  That is a major change, and it also explains why the version I have did not automatically update to the latest version.

That is pretty expensive for an Android-only game, 'specially if it does not support multiplayer across multiple devices.  I will have to think about this one.....

Our version of Carcassonne has always been 4.99$. Did you download "Carcassonne Online" by 7cities? This one is an illegal upload and not licensed.