As always, thanks to everyone who pitches in and helps when issues are uncovered.
With 69 games across multiple devices and platforms (68 on IOS), the code base for Riverboat Gambler has grown tremendously.
As my first app, this was originally/simply meant to be a fun diversion. Now, though, it has grown into a popular
application with a loyal Player community and it requires a lot of care and feeding to maintain.
I really couldn't do this without your help!
~ Danny
This release includes bug fixes, enhancements, upgrades to 3rd party libraries, and the removal of a dependency on a 3rd party service.
It's a lot. I've done my best to test things, but there's always the chance that something I didn't anticipate was impacted. If you find any issues, please use "Send Feedback" to let me know.
If you've been playing RBG for any amount of time, you know that I take Player feedback seriously & do my best to respond as quickly as possible.
Third Party Library Updates:
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RBG relies on a 3rd party product for its "local database". This is where things like Preferences & Achievements are stored. When I updated my development environment,
I began to see warnings that indicated that a configuration on that database should be adjusted to help performance. I honestly don't completely understand the setting, but I changed it.
In my testing, there were no adverse impacts.
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Folks that maintain a library upon which I relied to publish important “Instant Messages" for things like bugs was updated. For their reasons, the publisher decided to drop support for IOS versions
prior to 13.0. As a result, I had two choices: a) I could drop RBG support for those earlier versions or, b) I could stop using that library (Google Firebase IAM). With Players' best interest in mind,
I opted for the latter. Towards that end, I had to create my own system to publish those messages. I've exhaustively tested my custom solution, but there is always the chance that something is wrong.
Please bear with me as I work to perfect that code. On the upside, there are not a lot of instant messages because there are not a lot of bugs so you may not be impacted much at all.
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Ads: I hate them as much as you do, but they are crucial to how I generate revenue. In this release, I updated the libraries for the 3 providers that show ads in RBG.
It's always a risk that something in those libraries will become problematic but I have done my best to test them.
Enhancements:
The major enhancement relates to Craps & Crapless Craps. Let me start with "I get it". Folks seem to be conditioned to expect that games they download are "fixed".
I place a lot of blame on slot machine apps that "guarantee you'll win $1 billion in the first 10 spins". RBG is completely random; it's really as random as it can be.
What I try to remind folks is that they will play more hands, roll more dice, and generate more spins in a given timeframe in RBG than you can in a real casino in that same timeframe.
That's simply true because there are no delays waiting on other Players or the payout processes.
In the case of Craps, folks get a little worried by what they consider to be "too many 7s". The fact is that 7, at a probability of 16.67%, should be the most expected outcome of two, six-sided dice.
In an effort to help folks feel more confident in the randomness of the dice, this release adds a histogram of the roll history ACROSS ALL SESSIONS. Over time, folks should expect to see a natural
bell curve of their dice. Please refer to "How To Play" for more information because I'm running out of release notes space!
In absolute candor, if the histogram cannot help you accept that the dice rolls are completely random, I don't know what else I can do to help you. You may want to consider a different casino simulator.
Bug Fixes:
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Pai Gow: Huge shoutout to Dean who reached out about a rare edge case where the House Way was not properly playing the hands if "The Wheel" was possible with a Pair.
I appreciate that you took the time, Dean!
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Three Card Sabotage: I really appreciate that Don contacted me via email to call out an issue in this game. There were cases where the Dealer had 2 Pairs in his four cards and the hands were not
being compared properly.
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High Flush: Don also reached out to request that the game instructions not stay on-screen as long as they were. This was actually a bug related to my
recent change to how those messages are handled. I honestly never would have noticed it because I don't play High Flush/I Love Suits.
Thanks for your support & assistance, Don! You just made a lot of people happier!
Thanks everyone for your support!
~Danny