Triviador stripped of Indie Gamer Chick Seal of Approval

Update: Triviador is fixed and the Seal of Approval has been reinstated.

Well, this is a first.  Last month, I reviewed a really fun Facebook game called Triviador, which I awarded the Indie Gamer Chick Seal of Approval to.  I’ve never had to retract my Seal of Approval from a game after it won it.  Unfortunately, I have no choice but to do so with Triviador.  In November, the game received an update, taking it from its beta stage into a more polished, final version.

Unfortunately, the updated graphics are the only positive thing that came from the change over (and they’re not really that much better).  Triviador is so full of glitches now that unfair losses or cheap wins earned when another player gets dumped out of the game are sometimes more prevalent than a fully functional round.  The chief problem is disconnects.  Triviador frequently hangs up and disconnects players.  At least once every four games I was disconnected.  On games where it didn’t happen to me, it would typically happen to one of the other players, which eliminates the thrill of victory and the entire point of the game all at once.  This only happens during the fastest-finger tie-breaker questions, but it happens constantly.  This problem also doesn’t seem to discriminate between different operating systems or web browsers.  Often, the disconnects seem to be tied to using the premium boosters that you can either acquire through gameplay or purchase with real money.  I spent $9 to buy a stockpile of parrot and telescope boosters, but the game most frequently locks up when attempting to use those.  At the time I bought them, Triviador was stable and playable.  I wouldn’t have bought them in the game’s current state.  Nobody would have.

Such a shame.  Triviador was a wonderful game.  But the latest update is unstable.  In a game where experience points are based around winning streaks, making sure wins and losses are achieved via fair means is very important.  Unfortunately, those streaks are impossible to maintain because you’re unlikely to be able to play too many games before getting taken out via a disconnect.  For this reason, I have to strip Triviador of its Indie Gamer Chick Seal of Approval and remove it from the Leaderboard.  I have never seen a game so thoroughly ruined by an attempt at improving it in my life.