Official Launch of www.linerider.com

Hey WRTL,

Matt (mhenr18) and I (David) are excited to announce that we've partnered with inXile and have just officially released our build at https://www.linerider.com!

The goal of this initial release is to rebuild a user base. We need to expose Line Rider (the app itself) to as many people as possible to show that it exists, and the way to do that is to make it as easy as possible to share tracks.
I strongly believe that there are other people like the rest of us at WRTL who see the potential in Line Rider for pushing technical limits, creating new aesthetics, and telling stories. But we need to reach them first. We already have the advantage of how Line Rider is meme-material (in the original sense of being viral and easily shared) (nostalgia factor works too), and we’re trying to facilitate that.
Build up a user base, and those who care will stick around.

We felt that accessibility was the most crucial thing for bringing Line Rider back to life, so we haven't put time into polishing up some of the new tools/features that I implemented, and are leaving them out for the initial release. We hope you are understanding of why we are currently prioritizing casual players over power users (you can still use LRA or the separately maintained version of LRJS in the meantime).

We were not transparent about this partnership with inXile primarily because, in the past, we’ve made too many promises that we've broken, and didn’t want to risk that again in the face of uncertainty (No Man's Sky is a cautionary tale). In addition, as I’ve stated earlier, this release is directed towards casual players, not power users like us, so as a practical matter, this release isn’t directly useful to you guys anyways (though it's great for track sharing!) (and hopefully getting new players).

Features

The primary new features we've added are cloud saving, and view/edit link sharing, similar to how Google Docs work. There's also some built-in versioning. We haven't implemented a user management system because of time constraints (and also it should be optional anyways to lower the barrier to saving/sharing).

Saving

When you save a track, it gets uploaded to the server by default. The saved track can be accessed in the Load Track dialog. After you save your track, you can choose to share it, detailed below.
(You can also choose to save to file, and load from file. .sol and .trk import still work.)

Sharing

Share Dialog wrote:View Only
This link lets people view this version of your track. They won't be able to edit it or save their own copies.

Share Dialog wrote:View + Edit a Copy
This link lets people view this version of your track and edit their own copies. Their copies will include an attribution to your track.

Note that it is specifically worded "this version of your track" for the following reason.

Versioning

A track has many versions. When you edit a track and save it, a new version is saved. No version will ever be modified or deleted (except in some cases). This means that, when you share a view/edit link for a version, those links will only load that version, even if you make more edits. We have not yet implemented a feature that allows you to browse older versions of a track.

Backlog

For our next steps, the major features we'll be working on are:
- autosave
- advanced tools
- monetization via ads*
- mod support

*We have permission from inXile to work on this, but we are not being funded by them, and all expenses are coming from our own pockets, right now. We hope you understand why it's necessary to eventually include some kind of monetization.

- advanced tools



Some great news. Glad to see InXile is letting us do this, even if they aren't helping with costs/development. This is still almost as good.

As for new versions of LR I really want to know what "advanced tools" means.

Awesomeness.

So glad to see how this project grew to what it is today! I played around with the good ol' pencil tool and it felt like 2007 all over again (good times). Maybe we'll see a resurgence in popularity, no?

I'm looking forward to using this and publishing any new tracks I make using the platform (there actually might be some, haha).

Also, thanks for the neat npmjs.org packages! It was pretty unexpected to see them there.

This is good. This could be big. Thank you very much for your work, Conun and Mhenr! <3

Hey guys, great work and congrats on your launch! I'll be keeping an eye on this... =p

Love the work you've done.

BTW trying to make slagwells locks up the game for me, chrome/win10 new track
0. new track
1. select line
2. left click to start drawing line
3. press backspace key (to try to delete the previous line, in the case of slagwells)
4. frozen

Pessimistic points ahead: I have to wonder about the possibility for LR to see a second life in 2017, LR is not really at the Minecraft-tier of accessibility...

Spoiler:

all expenses are coming from our own pockets, right now. We hope you understand why it's necessary to eventually include some kind of monetization.

daaaang dudes. good luck shooting for dat bigcorp buyout /s

Absolute heros!

Will try my best to spread this around, the original URL being dead for so long was such a terrible outcome for the community. Great to see it salvaged with such a lovely new version!

this is the best thing ever. thanks for the work you put in <3

Congrats you guys!
Thank you so mcuh for all the hard work, looks really good

Thanks for the positivity guys!

Ktk wrote:
BTW trying to make slagwells locks up the game for me

I saw this in your facebook comment and reproduced the issue on my end. We'll look into a fix for this.

Ktk wrote:
:XXXXX I'd like to be wrong

While this launch might feel like the end of a long time coming, it's really just the beginning. I'm excited to see where next year will take us!

I haven't used that link in so long that my fingers tried to sabotage me when I typed it in today. Ended up with something along the lines of "www.lineridertheli" before I even realized what I was doing. So glad you brought the url back though, and hopefully people searching for the game will be able to find it again.

This is great news, definitely a good leap in the right direction of introducing new players to this wonderful toy.

But I believe I've found a bug: Pressing 'M' while already playing in slow-motion causes the game to play at flag, or at start if there isn't a flag. Pressing 'Y' while in slow-motion causes the game to cease slow-motion.

Shouldn't these two functions be switched?

Yo, How did you manage this. Do you want to go through the process. But, really great job dude I am proud of you both.
Also are you going to add any linkage to wrtl.

Wow great job guys! That is amazing that you are willing to do this. How do you plan on the monetization of the site? I'm sure you don't want to pay out of pocket forever.

I think I'm gonna abandon LRA based on this news.

If i do ill put out a version and then release the source.

You win, conun.

mhenr18 wrote:Thanks for the positivity guys!

Ktk wrote:
BTW trying to make slagwells locks up the game for me

I saw this in your facebook comment and reproduced the issue on my end. We'll look into a fix for this.

Ktk wrote:
:XXXXX I'd like to be wrong

While this launch might feel like the end of a long time coming, it's really just the beginning. I'm excited to see where next year will take us!

Don't get me wrong I'm excited for you guys best of luck!

also omg. i don't know if you guys had this idea, but sharing + edit track is essentially codepen for line rider. that's an excellent way to lower the knowledge barrier.

ex:
Gravity well: https://www.linerider.com/edit/CTEK16/Gravity-Well?k=XCS35d6AfHZI
Infinite nose manual: https://www.linerider.com/edit/6187S4/Infinite-Nose-Manual?k=4Rh3COBEnvrq
Fakie: https://www.linerider.com/edit/V6T9FA/Fakie?k=IJf6fNCmYWqg

And this would be a very low-effort way for currently active members to contribute to the knowledge bank without a lot of work.

JealousCloud wrote:I think I'm gonna abandon LRA based on this news.

If i do ill put out a version and then release the source.

You win, conun.

what. no. nooooooo!! its not about winning, the competition is over. bury your egos and work together!

Lukking wrote:

JealousCloud wrote:I think I'm gonna abandon LRA based on this news.

If i do ill put out a version and then release the source.

You win, conun.

what. no. nooooooo!! its not about winning, the competition is over. bury your egos and work together!

Once LRA and lrjs became active projects the development of LRA became a questionable cause at best. Sure, there is preference for some people of it, and I intend to open source it for the sake of those people. Personally, I could never use lrjs. It has lagged across browsers across operating systems across PCs for me from low high end to medium to low, the controls are unusable to me, it lacks features that matter to me, the features it does have are implemented in ways i personally don't like, etc, etc. I'm not the only one who felt at least some of those things, and they used LRA. The thing is, there are plenty of things wrong with my version too. Including but not limited to the fact that I haven't released an update to the 100% trash tier 0.3rc in like 6 months. Lra takes a lot of my time and conun's got the domain and the ability to _monetize lr directly_ and whatever comes with partnering with inxile despite no funding or help. It's not like I expected to make much if any money (Shout out to those who did help me out in the ways they could, looking at you sheldon) but I'm broke and if someone else does that really pushes me away.

Lastly javascript isn't a language i've worked with so i would probably be a bad addition to the dev team, not to mention conun and I (almost certainly) don't get along from a programming perspective. Him being college educated and all, and me just being some self taught scrub. Every commit I'd make would be (almost certainly) changed so I may as well not even touch it. Also, him and I have had creative differences from the get-go, hence the difference between the versions.

It just doesn't make sense for there to be two active versions when one has inxile on its side.

Woah. This is the biggest news we've had in years! I'm honestly shocked that you've been willing put so much dedication into bringing Line Rider back to life. I really hope it works out for you. I think it will, you have an eye for success!

If you ever need help on marketing or business-related stuff I can help out. I'm pretty good at it myself and I'm friends with one of the best marketeers in the country. Can't put as much time in it as you guys but I'm always willing to answer questions and give tips!

Also @JealousCloud, I'm sure there's a way you can be an addition to the team, and I think it'd be a great move from Conun and Mhenr to assign you a function you'll both happy be with. You're a great programmer with knowledge of and heart for the game, of which there are only a handful of people of in the world. Get talking!

JealousCloud wrote: Personally, I could never use lrjs. It has lagged across browsers across operating systems across PCs for me from low high end to medium to low, the controls are unusable to me, it lacks features that matter to me, the features it does have are implemented in ways i personally don't like, etc, etc. I'm not the only one who felt at least some of those things, and they used LRA.

yepyepyepyep

I probably can't change your mind, but I hope you'll consider releasing a somewhat finalized product, and urge you not to simply quit. I also feel like there are more options here. Why can there not be two official versions? they both appeal to a different parts of the demographic, and frankly, lra is better by a landslide for technical things, and is far superior when it comes to learning the game mechanics. And no, lra is not only for technical players. Every single new player we've had over the past two years, miner, shiny, issa, me, (etc?) all seemed to prefer Lra. Doesn't this prove a fairly important point?

I can't help but feel a bit cheated. If it was all a matter of getting in touch with inXile first, everything you guys did, conun and jc, to one-up the other, has been a waste of time. If the official version is not decided based on the product itself, what really qualifies lrjs to be the "right" one? Lra and lrjs are inherently different. But what makes one more qualified than the other? the developer talked to the right people? that's where i feel cheated. I am not saying you've done anything wrong, conun, but considering the size of this community and the impact this decision will have, I do not feel like it is a decision only you get to make. Now I know linerider isn't owned by the community, but enforcing one version can potentially hurt it, so I ask you not with a sense of righteousness, but with a plea for empathy.
Obviously inXile has the final say, but I also want them to be fully informed of the options, before going through with this.

Why can't there be two official versions?
And what makes a version official? The domain name? What's to stop me from creating my own company, purchasing domain "sledgame.com" which redirects to an lra download, get a deal with JC where i say ill put my company's name on his product in return of nothing and also i wont pay him, and slapping an "official" sticker on it? Both lra and lrjs are so different from the beta version, inxile barely has a claim.

With all this being said, I must say I don't think you've done anything wrong, Conun, but I hope you see where I am coming from.

@Anton, @JealousCloud,  I think there is discussion to be had, but this is not the place to have this discussion. I'm doing some rearranging some stuff today. There will be space for this once I'm done. Thanks!

Let me make this explicit:

You should continue using LRA. You are all power users. Line Rider Advanced is Advanced. We want to eventually get to advanced tools, but our priority is rebuilding a user base by making Line Rider accessible. What we have right now isn't going to help you with your track making!

Dope

ALSO AC PM ME PLEASE.

I'll admit, I'm actually a bit surprised inXile even responded to this. Props and Kudos to you folks that were persistent and made things happen. Big hopes that it does everything you hope it will do!