Win with howfargolf.com - new fantasy game

[TomC]

We've teamed up with an exciting new fantasy golf game called How Far Golf (www.howfargolf.com) to give GM Forum members an exclusive chance to test out the format on a prototype for the USPGA Championship this week before the game goes live later this year.

There are three different formats, but we'd like you to play the 'Stableford' version, where you can choose a player or players and apply a handicap bonus on holes at Valhalla where you think they’ll need it most. You’ll need to log in through a Facebook account and, at this stage, you’ll play using 100 fantasy credits.

The game must be set up prior to the start of the tournament and we suggest you follow your game prediction live on your tablet or computer whilst watching the action on TV. You can invite and play with friends, so why not compete against other Forum members or mates outside it?

Everyone who plays the game and answers the questions below will be entered into a draw to win a brand new SuperStroke putter grip of their choice. We'll be giving away three grips at random, so be sure to play the game and let us have your feedback. The Forum member with the best score over the whole tournament will win four pairs of Kasco gloves, one for each season of the year.

> How easy was the 'Stableford' concept to understand?
> After setting up a game of 'Stableford' and following the results on television, how much did you enjoy the experience?
> How could the 'Stableford' game be improved?
> On a scale of 1 to 5, how enjoyable did you find the game and using the website?
> Would you recommend this site to your friends?
> If there was money involved, would you consider taking a wager against friends or fans on the site? If no, why?

> Did you play either of the other two games ('Fancy' or 'Liteford') on the site and if so, how did you enjoy those formats and where could they be improved?

We hope that you'll give us your views on the game, but if you only visited the site once, please let us know why.

Please note that the game has to be played on a computer or laptop at this stage, as a mobile phone version is in development!

Good luck!

 

[Rooter]

I have signed up, i am trying to follow their instructions to select 5 players for my team, it just lets me select one though.

Sorry, but initial feedback is not good. if someone has an idiots guide, please let me know as the concept is good, it might be just me being an idiot (most likely)

 

[full_throttle]

select one golfer, enter, select handicap holes, choose stake then pay to play. Repeat for all players

 

[Rooter]

select one golfer, enter, select handicap holes, choose stake then pay to play. Repeat for all players

Ok so i have selected 5 players and all the other stuff. is that it? did 20 credits per player as there were 100 free credits. how do we set a forum league up?

 

[full_throttle]

as far as i can tell, we just wait for the tournament to start. what happens after is a mystery. tbh I doubt I'll bother with it as it seems a chore to select the golfers

 

[Rooter]

as far as i can tell, we just wait for the tournament to start. what happens after is a mystery. tbh I doubt I'll bother with it as it seems a chore to select the golfers

OK cool, will have a log in thursday when its all kicked off and see what options there are. I like the concept, as with any game like this, the more buddies you get playing the better.

It was quite a chore to set up initially, should have allowed you to pick you team of 5 in one go, multi select..

will wait and see what happens thursday! i will beat you anyway, so its all good!

 

[TheClaw]

The intro video on the homepage has a cartoon of Phil Mickelson hitting a right handed shot! Unforgivable mistake

That's as far as I've got at the minute.

 

[jonasion]

I have signed up, i am trying to follow their instructions to select 5 players for my team, it just lets me select one though.

Sorry, but initial feedback is not good. if someone has an idiots guide, please let me know as the concept is good, it might be just me being an idiot (most likely)

Hi Rooter, thanks for the feedback. No, you're certainly not an idiot as any good design should make it easy for users to interact with a system. We are currently reworking our "help notifications" on each step of the game wizard, and we're also going to publish an actual tutorial system explaining the games. It simply takes time to do these things, but they are coming! Please let me know if there is anything else you'd like to see different, just PM me privately or write me an email to simon @ howfargames . com

all the best,
Simon

 

[jonasion]

Hi Journeyman,

I am really keen on understanding how you'd like the selection process to be easier to get done. Any suggestions as to how to optimise or smooth it out would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Simon
How Far Golf

 

[Rooter]

Hey simon, when the help box pops up on the initial select player, it says pick 5 golfers, 1 from top 10 etc.

At this point, in my opinion it would be much slicker and easier to select all 5 at this point.

Then at the next stage, you have 5 columns with the holes to select the handicap holes, allow the user to select each hole for each golfer, or maybe have an "i feel lucky" button where the system chooses the handicap holes.

At the end, the stake will be 100 credits for the 5 golfers you have selected.

Once your "team" is set up, from here you should be able to find friends, invite people and create or join a "private league"

One other thing, is the world rankings need adjusting to the latest numbers, but thats a minor detail.

So far i think it has really good potential, how are you seeing the future of the game? Are you thinking of users buying credits? if so, i dont think it will fly, there are too many free games online, people wont pay 99p for an iphone app these days, let alone an online game you could play a similar game for free elsewhere.. I suppose your income stream would be site adverts etc, just keep this as discreet as you can while obviously maximising your incomes!

All the best with it, like i said, i think it has great potential!

 

[jonasion]

good potential, how are you seeing the future of the game? Are you thinking of users buying credits? if so, i dont think it will fly, there are too many free games online, people wont pay 99p for an iphone app these days, let alone an online game you could play a similar game for free elsewhere.. I suppose your income stream would be site adverts etc, just keep this as discreet as you can while obviously maximising your incomes!

All the best with it, like i said, i think it has great potential!

Hi rooter,
Great feedback, and I'll bring it forward. We're actually working on a new "game creation wizard" which will debut next week, so any feedback to this then please, let me know, I'll gladly take that with me as well. The "I feel lucky" feature is a good suggestion, I'll see what we can do around that.

The game is meant to be a game where you play for money against other fans as well as friends. The friends features are still under development, and I know fully well that this part is really lacking. We offer a free-2-play part of the game as well, for those that do not wish to play for money. I do believe that these games will be much more fun if you play for 2 GBP and can win e.g. 16 GBP for instance in a room with 6 participants.
We're also working on a "match-play" type game which will only last a round and be for 1 vs. 1 players so that friends can really go head to head.
But, like already pointed, the social features needs to really improve.

Would playing for money turn you off, or increase the intensity / excitement?

 

[Rooter]

Would playing for money turn you off, or increase the intensity / excitement?

I see now! OK, so paying just to play would turn me off. However, playing for money would be cool, I like the idea, everyone in the "league" pays a few quid or however much, you have varying stake options and winner takes the money!

Sounds very interesting, could see it being developed and then sold on to a gambling/gaming co! good work, happy to help!

 

[mikepops]

Interested to have a go at this - but bit of a problem already - a couple of the Pars are wrong on the scorecard.

2 and 16 are both par 4s (though 2 does play as as 5 for us mere mortals).

Be great if that was fixed before tomorrow.

 

[mikepops]

I have selected 3 players, but I went to edit one of them, as I wanted to reallocate the handicap strokes.

I now can't add any more golfers (by clicking Play again, as I had for the first three). If I choose someone else, it just replaces one of my existing golfers (with the handicap strokes already filled in according to how they were allocated to the previous golfer).

I can't work out a way to break the cycle?

 

[jonasion]

That is a serious issue, I will have a look at this immediately. It could have something to do with our data provider as we get the the pars for all tournaments a long time in advance. We'll investigate this now, and hopefully come up with a hot fix for this today, tomorrow morning early. But, play under the assumption that this will be fixed prior to Sunday's results.

Thanks for that very important bug!

Interested to have a go at this - but bit of a problem already - a couple of the Pars are wrong on the scorecard.

2 and 16 are both par 4s (though 2 does play as as 5 for us mere mortals).

Be great if that was fixed before tomorrow.

 

[jonasion]

1. if you reload the page, by hitting F5/cmd+r or click in the top to reload.
2. we're working on a permanent fix for this issue too.

I have selected 3 players, but I went to edit one of them, as I wanted to reallocate the handicap strokes.

I now can't add any more golfers (by clicking Play again, as I had for the first three). If I choose someone else, it just replaces one of my existing golfers (with the handicap strokes already filled in according to how they were allocated to the previous golfer).

I can't work out a way to break the cycle?

 

[Rooter]

Simon, one thing i would like to see is an identifier on the players live scorecard of where you have used your handicap holes. OK you can work it out, but would be good if they were highlighted, starred or italic etc...

PS. anyway of getting rid of Angel Cabrerra now i have picked him!! LOL he is on minus points!!

 

[jonasion]

Simon, one thing i would like to see is an identifier on the players live scorecard of where you have used your handicap holes. OK you can work it out, but would be good if they were highlighted, starred or italic etc...

PS. anyway of getting rid of Angel Cabrerra now i have picked him!! LOL he is on minus points!!

1. this is 100% going to be done, in the old design this was actually the case, but we are in between a major overhaul. But it will be very clear. We're aiming for a full release for Ryder Cup, but if you guys keep it up with suggestions we'll keep improving
2. haha, ahh well, if you promise me your first born son, and 50% of your winnings, I'll see what I can do. But, I don't think half a putter will be that useable to neither of us.

 

[Rooter]

2. haha, ahh well, if you promise me your first born son, and 50% of your winnings.

LOL you are welcome to my first born son, he is a little bugger that likes to get up at 5AM and watch Peppa Pig! you want some of that???

And is 50% of nothing, still nothing?? I like this deal!!

 

[mikepops]

Simon, one thing i would like to see is an identifier on the players live scorecard of where you have used your handicap holes. OK you can work it out, but would be good if they were highlighted, starred or italic etc...

PS. anyway of getting rid of Angel Cabrerra now i have picked him!! LOL he is on minus points!!

seconded on both fronts...except I'd quite like to sub out Jason Dufner (stuck him in before I knew about his neck)...!