I don't know if anyone else has done a thread about this, but the boat game is frustrating the hell outta me! Not only is there a short limit of time, but the controls are wonky as hell, and once you get stuck, you don't have time to get freed! Also, as soon as your boat faces down, the controls get inverted, which annoys the tar outta me!

Please fix this so we can use either the mouse instead, or a lot of us users aren't going to be able to continue the plot, and that'll annoy the living tar outta me.

Some Suggestions: *Give the option of using a mouse/touch controls - There's been a lot of users, myself included, getting frustrated about the controls, especially when your boat points downwards and the controls get inverted, but it's worse for people with mobile devices such as tablets, as they can't even play the game to continue because it requires a keyboard, something that many tablets/iPads/touchscreen smartphones don't have. An option to use the mouse/touchscreen would make the game able to be played by everyone and not just the ones with keyboards.

*Time Limit - One thing I've noticed is that as soon as you start the game that you have a time limit to get to the pirate ship, and while I understand that it's a "race" to get to the pirate ship, there may be people who stress out when being timed, like myself. It might be better to give users the ability to grab something that adds maybe 30 seconds to the time when picked up or just increase the time ever so slightly (like a minute and half or two minutes).

*Collisions with Rocks - This has been one of the more frustrating things for me, and it ties in very well with the first two points. Having to move fast to get to the pirate ship is one thing, but when your controls are all wonky like they are in this game, you're going to get stuck on rocks, and then it takes several seconds of precious time to get unstuck, sometimes leading to very many game overs if you're stuck near one of the giant octopi or just running outta time in general. If the controls were fixed a bit or given a choice of options as stated in my first point, this wouldn't be so much of an issue.

Hopefully, these points will be addressed when the game is looked at so the rest of us can get the chance to play the next game and more importantly, advance the plot.

Thanks again, and thanks for listening!

I had to go through the race a few times until I started taking the outer edges of turns in order to straight up avoid certain obstacles, especially the logs/rocks. I haven't even started trying to make combos or whatever, but... we'll see how it goes.

Overall, I think it'd be even harder with a mouse, but I do feel for mobile-only users who can't play games like these easily!

IhatethisgameIhateitIhateitIhateit

I don't like the timer and that we HAVE to abide by it. I think that if they do things like this again they should instead have a built in clock that doesn't end the game for us, but achievements attached for their desired time frame. This way users can do it and continue on with the plot instead of getting stuck on something like this. And also making it so users can go back to it and try for the achievement(s) if they desire. As it is you have to do it in their limited time frame in order to progress. Don't do it ? Oh well. All of that while knowing Subeta's coding is glitchy, this was a poor choice.

I was definitely not a fan of this game and the wonky keyboard controls frustrated the hell out of me. I think a mouse control would be great, where the boat simply follows your mouse.

The controls were awful and I kept getting stuck on rocks. I finally beat the game after probably 30 tries last night and I never want to look at it again.

I agree with the timer issue so Subeta you really mucked up on this one many people will be able to take part in this plot this time around as everyone likes when there is a plot.

For me it is not really about any prizes it is being able to take part in this plot so if like me many cannot continue there will be a lot of very unhappy people on here. People like being able to catch up like me at their own pace as I may miss doing things in a plot due to health reasons (chemo)but have time to catch up.

Please take away that timer to give us all a chance.

While I agree that there really should be mouse controls for this game, I do not agree that subeta should have to code these games to be touchpad friendly. This is NOT a mobile site. Keith has said many times that he doesn't recommend the mobile version of subeta because it's outdated and it's not worth it to fix it when the regular site actually needs revamped in the first place. There are just some things on subeta that you can't do on mobile, and you'll just have to deal with it. Borrow someone else's computer, go play in a public library.

The timer is NOT unfair. The easiest way to beat the game to get past this step is to avoid any obstacles and just ignore the sharks and octopi when you can. It only took me about 5-6 times of playing the game to realize that and finish the step.

The controls aren't wonky. I don't know what y'all are doing when you're trying to row the boat, but I've played countless games on neopets and other such places that are extremely similar to this and no one ever complains there. These are flash games, of course they're going to be a bit harder than something like Seashell Spotter. The controls are pretty standard, and they work as they're supposed to do.

Perhaps the ability to skip certain steps that involve games would be a good alternative. Obviously you're missing out on the prizes and the achievements, but it could be something to consider. Especially considering a good number of the subeta userbase is older and might not be able to play flashy games due to arthritis, carpal tunnel, etc.

So much hate for the boating game. :P My husband wasn't a fan either, but I gotta admit I liked this game for the single win challenge it is. I didn't have any issues with the keyboard controls. Call me crazy, but the controls worked just fine for me. Typical arrow keys and spacebar setup.

I like the idea of being able to skip plot steps in exchange for sacrificing earned plot points at the end. It would practically require an act of god to get me to use that feature, but I'm guessing there are plenty people who would be thrilled if something like this were available. If the plot step point values were assigned based on difficulty that would keep things pretty fair too.

When trying to maneuver the boat's angle I got three results:

1. No movement. Not even a nudge. This wastes time and isn't how it's supposed to work.
2. Slight nudge, probably how it's supposed to work.
3. A full 180. Annoying and not how it's supposed to work. It also wastes even more time while I try to fix the angle with even more small, spaced out taps... Which usually resulted in ANOTHER 180. How is that not wonky ? Mind you, each tap was consistent and spaced out when I was trying to see what was up. Except when I got annoyed over it not working and held down the key to make the boat spin

Also, how is "just completely skip a step" a better alternative to separating a timed achievement from the time allowed to complete the task ? Either way you don't get the reward and at least without a time restraint people do the task.

Okay, so I had issues with this game at first, until I heard the advice just to book it through and ignore all the obstacles and enemies. Then I only needed one last race. (and finished with many seconds to spare) The course stays the same, as far as I can see, so it's easy to know what route to take. You can run over logs and into a few enemies and still be fine.

As for controls- okay, I think it's unfair to people who play on mobile and/or have disabilities that limit their arrow key movements, but otherwise, it's just fine. People keep talking about switched controls when it gets upside down or something.

My advice- try not to think of the arrows in a sense that the playing area is facing up, rather, think of it as if you're standing on the bow of the boat. If the boat is facing towards the bottom of the screen and you need to go to the left of the screen, it's a right arrow, because it's still a right turn from where you're standing on the bow of the boat.

(tl;dr: I'm glad the game isn't sticking around, and I'm glad users will be given a chance to skip, but I think many of the people complaining about the game simply aren't trying enough. (And if I can finish the game in 15 seconds, then we shouldn't have items adding 30sec to the timer...))

The game was really easy and short. It took a couple tries to get the hang of it but after that it was fine.

This is by far the game my hands hated the most and this includes all plots / games we ever had on Subeta. I'm so glad when I heard we get an opt-out option for it and, unless there's going to be a mouse version that is easier to manage, I won't shed a single tear if we never see this game again. The art is awesome once again but the controls were just frustrating for me.

If this game is making you crazy take a break and do a few quests to rest your mind. I had a hell of a time with it but did get through, eventually. I'm seriously thinking I should change my name to RockRider since that's where I spent most of my time. By-passing the obstacles is great advice except for the (I think) 2 Octopi you have to get through. For those, just start madly hitting the space bar as you approach so they're gone by the time you reach them. If I remember correctly you had to go through an Octopus, head up and then navigate a sharp left turn. I completely missed that left path, just didn't see it. Next time, I'd head down and reach a dead end so then I'd head up, and reach another dead end. I was about ready to toss my keyboard! I'd love to play it again, just to see if I could do a bit better.

yeah that game sucked major balls. i mean it only took me a handful of attempts, but by god were they frustrating.

Thank you for the skip option. I tried umpteen times to get through yesterday but just couldn't manage it. I've now been able to play the Pirate Game and can move on with the plot.

It took me two attempts to complete this game. The first attempt was my usual, figure out how the game works attempt [since I refuse to read instructions haha] and the 2nd attempt was the actual real attempt, which I just blasted through. The map never changed, which made it a lot easier, since I just recalled what it looked like. I finished with plenty of time to spare, and was able to collect all the jewel pieces. I don't get why some are having such a hard time, its a style game I have seen used on so many sites before.

For some reason this was my favourite game. I only got to play a couple times and I was sad to learn that you can't go back and play it some more. I thought there would be achievements for like, finishing under 40 seconds

God I hated this game. Even ignoring the obstacles and taking hits it still took me more than once to get through. I don't know how anything is supposed to complete the game with killing all the enemies. The shooting mechanic is absolutely terrible too.

On top of it, aside from a SLIGHT noise you can't actually tell you've taken damage. It took me THREE GAMES to realize my damage counter was the sP amount on the side of the screen. HOLY BALLS THIS WAS TERRIBLE

Just avoid the sharks and octopi and you're fine. The controls were fine for me, I've played other games on numerous pet sites that had the same controls. but dont even get me started on the pirate panic game jfc i hate it

I played a game a lot on Neopets that had similar controls so I didn't really have a problem with it. But I do agree that the time should at the very least be longer for the actual plot step, since it does take awhile for some people to get used to (myself included) and I don't really see a reason for it.