an avid fan's heartfelt complaint to Telltale

[Hinchy]

Telltale, I love you. I own at least one version of every game you ever released (EDIT: well, except for CSI). Your games bring me laughter and entertainment the whole way through.

Except for one, and that is the new Sam and Max: The Penal Zone on iPad.

It is buggy, glitchy, and choppy. Its framerate varies from being as smooth as butter to as smooth as a pit of spikes. The game will periodically freeze for no good reason for up to 30 seconds at a time. Sometimes the visuals will not match up to the action and lag behind for a few seconds. Loading takes sometimes as long as a full 45 seconds between areas. Sometimes the audio will freak out and play blaring glitchy static tones. The game is barely playable.

Now I understand you _probably_ had no access to a real iPad during development, so I'm not REALLY REALLY angry. But, Telltale, I ask you this: could you either fix this mess, or at least refund my $10?

[elzbenz]

How laggy is it... is it unbearable like the wii version of TOMI, or worse?

It must be at least bearable because people are raving about it on the "customer reviews".

[Avel]

I know next to nothing about the iPad, but I figure this could potentially help, you don't happen to be accidentally multitasking while attempting to play? The iPad only has what, a Ghz to play with?

If not, I'm a know-nothing idiot whom shall fade into the wallpaper subsequently.

[patters]

Originally Posted by Avel

I know next to nothing about the iPad, but I figure this could potentially help, you don't happen to be accidentally multitasking while attempting to play? The iPad only has what, a Ghz to play with?

If not, I'm a know-nothing idiot whom shall fade into the wallpaper subsequently.

As far as I understand you can't multitask with the Ipad.

[Avel]

Originally Posted by patters

As far as I understand you can't multitask with the Ipad.

Ah, I thought it was using the new iPhone OS, which I think finally got multitasking without a jailbreak.

[light_rises]

Originally Posted by Avel

Ah, I thought it was using the new iPhone OS, which I think finally got multitasking without a jailbreak.

AFAIK, this is still more of a rumor than a sure thing. It's "expected" for 4.0, but not yet confirmed.

As of now, a few of the Apple apps bundled with the iPhone/iPod Touch can run in the background, including iPod, Mail, and (if it's an actual iPhone) the phone service itself.

[Hinchy]

The iPad normally runs slick and smooth for me, just mentioning. Mirror's Edge, a game with dare I say more graphical intensity than Sam and Max, runs phenomenally. I suspect something is up with this port job in particular.

I'd love to give Telltale the benefit of the doubt however, and if the problem IS just me, I'd love to see them help me fix it.

[ahintz]

The iPad version definitely leaves a lot to be desired, and from my experience with other apps on the iPad it shouldn't be the hardware. I'm tempted to ask for a refund through iTunes, but I am going to hold out in the hope that Telltale is able to release a patch soon that brings the quality up to par.

[The Gentleman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko

Let this cheer you up. Don't breath this.

[joeldee]

Hi all

Yes, iPad does support multi-tasking. That said, 3D games with rich graphics run best when you don't have multiple apps running.

Suggestion for tuning performance:

1. Hold down the sleep/wake button at the top of the device for a few seconds until the screen displays the message 'slide to power off.'
2. Power off the device by moving the slider.
3. Hold down the sleep/wake button again until the device powers back on.
4. When the home screen is displayed, relaunch the game

- Joel, Telltale

[Ripcord]

Originally Posted by The Gentleman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko

Let this cheer you up. Don't breath this.

Please stop posting this to every iPad-related thread.

[Hinchy]

Originally Posted by joeldee

Yes, iPad does support multi-tasking. That said, 3D games with rich graphics run best when you don't have multiple apps running.

um... please enlighten me on how it supports multitasking. Not only do I own one and can confirm the most it can run is music and one other app at a time, but you can check elsewhere on the internet too. and this "fix" doesn't help the game's performance for me at all.

[Avel]

Originally Posted by joeldee

1. Hold down the sleep/wake button at the top of the device for a few seconds until the screen displays the message 'slide to power off.'
2. Power off the device by moving the slider.
3. Hold down the sleep/wake button again until the device powers back on.
4. When the home screen is displayed, relaunch the game

Um...I feel kinda bad for asking this, but did you just suggest, in so many words, to try turning it off and turning it on again?

(and more on topic: the iPad doesn't have any power-saving settings that could down its performance?)

[Yohmi]

My question on that is does Telltale have in mind to upgrade this very release, or will it be too difficult because of the monthly release rythm ?

For sure, yes, the only thing you can do is to restart the device, so the home apps running behind the hood will only run again when you'll open them. It's not convenient but it seems to be the only way to improve a bit the performance of the game. Obviously, the simulator wasn't accurate enough to really predict ipad's hardware behavior in heavy graphic use. And it's the first iPhone OS port Telltale has ever done. I just hope they'll still have time to fix it, and that the next episodes will be more optimised thanks to tha ability they have now to make it run.

And by the way, even if developping for iPad or iPhone is done through a simulator, you can build on the go a beta version of your app and import it to a registered device in order to see how it behaves. This case is quite unique because the device wasn't out yet, but future releases will have the opportunity to be tested.

[The Gentleman]

Originally Posted by Ripcord

Please stop posting this to every iPad-related thread.

I'm not, I've only posted it here.

[Hinchy]

I don't mean to be rude (really!) but I'm still waiting on a response to my question... perhaps I didn't make myself clear enough. I'll admit the way I worded it was a bit off.

Basically, what I mean to say is: Is there going to be an update to The Penal Zone for iPad? If not, I'm extremely dissatisfied and want my money back. (If it's any comfort, I'm almost surely going to spend it on the PC version, so I'm not trying to say "I hate you and you're stupid!" or anything.)

[roberttitus]

They would rather sell there souls to the devil then give your money back or give you a version for another system (been there & done that with the massively inferior wii version of the first season that would just randomly crash & moved slow as balls when it did work *they blamed my system which plays every other game perfectly*). It looks like you are just shit outta luck friend.

[Giant Tope]

I'm pretty sure they can't do much when it comes to console sales, considering its another group handling sales.

[Ripcord]

Originally Posted by roberttitus

They would rather sell there souls to the devil then give your money back

Telltale generally have no problems giving refunds. There were no shortage of offers, for example, when the Mac version first came out and some people were having problems with it.

However, yeah - on the iPad it's not Telltale giving refunds. It's Apple. I have no idea how difficult it is to get refunds (stories I hear are that it's not hard, but they don't refund the 30% fee that Apple took as their fee, which is ridiculous if true).

[Gman5852]

Originally Posted by elzbenz

How laggy is it... is it unbearable like the wii version of TOMI, or worse?

Uhhh, THE WIIWARE VERSION DID NOT SUCK AT ALL!!!! I dont see where you guys keep complaining about it. I can run it FASTER than my PCs(of course right now my PC refuses to play it at all but you get my point) You guys really must have an issue with your Nintendo, or are just saying it for the purpose of argument because there was NOTHING wrong with the wiiware version, no freezing, no choppyness, no issues.