ModNation Monday: UFG is Listening

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Hi, it’s William Ho here for the Pre-E3 ModNation Monday post. I’m excited to give you some updates about ModNation Racers and what’s been cookin’ at United Front Games.

I can’t believe it’s been a year since we announced ModNation on stage at E3, now it’s out in the world! It’s been exciting to see the massive amounts of Racing, Creating, and Sharing going on. Our dev team couldn’t be happier to see our supporters enjoying the product of two and a half years of love and labor. We enjoy playing ModNation Racers as much as you do.

Now while there a lot of people that love the game, we know there are some issues that are affecting the fun factor of ModNation, and we just want to say-

United Front Games is with you for the long haul.

I’m always asked, “what are you guys up to now?” The answer is always the same: job number one is actively monitoring and supporting the ModNation community.

We are amazed by your published creations every day. We’re enjoying online races with you. We read your forum postings and your tweets. We discuss all of your suggestions, no matter how big or small. We watch. We play. We listen.

We are working on multiple fronts to make your ModNation Racers experience even more fun. You’ve already seen some improvements in our online racing. Our friends at Sony San Diego Studio officially launched community.modnation.com so you can stay connected to the ModNation community from just about anywhere. And there’s much more to come.

With that said, I have something exciting stats to share with you. The ModNation community has exceeded the 500,000 creation mark! We worked hard to build the most accessible, freest, and deepest sandbox for you to play in. With a half million creations and counting, I think we achieved that goal. Here’s just a few of the half million awesome creations created by the ModNation community:

ModNation Racers - Glass-eye Phil

Mod: Glass-eye Phil, Creator: Reavyn1

ModNation Racers -Glass Eye Television Repair

Kart: Glass Eye Television Repair, Creator: Reavyn1

ModNation Racers - Modcoaster ModNation Racers - Modcoaster 2

Track: Modcoaster, Creator Name: hellstorm0157

Also, you’ve played more than 1,000,000 ONLINE RACES. That’s an amazing milestone for a community that’s only a few weeks young.

We can’t thank our fans enough for your support. We’ve appreciated your enthusiasm since we revealed ModNation Racers at E3 one year ago. We’re thrilled with all of the e-mails, forum postings, tweets, and fan sites, so keep ’em coming! We are dedicated to make the best possible Race, Create, Share experience possible and know we’re working hard on some rock-solid upgrades to ModNation Racers.

Look out for more information after E3, you’ll hear about it first on the PlayStation.Blog!

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255 Comments

44 Author Replies

  • I think you REALLY need to add the ability to gain XP when playing with friends, even if its just half of a regular XP Race.

    Since you don’t allow us to play with even 1 friend in XP race, XP race is a barren wasteland and everyone plays casual games. Motorstorm PR allowed us to play with up to other 3 friends in a ranked XP race, so I’m not quite sure why this feature was overlooked at UFG when you were creating the online for ModNation.

    Otherwise though, I love the game, and the creation community is constantly turning out awesome new content.

    • We definitely want to allow Friends to compete in XP Races and XP Series together too. We’re working on it!

  • IGN is praising the Playstation Move. Keep up the great work Sony.

  • Pretty sure I’m gonna get flamed but where is that loading patch?

    • It’s on its way! We’re improving the flow in several different ways — it’s not a trivial change. And we want to make sure it’s all seaworthy before it sets sail.

  • Also, I think we should have the ability to play a ‘Casual Series’, rather than having to jump back to the lobby after every casual race.

    Ok, that’s it for my suggestions :p

  • My only gripe has been the load times, which I know has been said already and I’m sure you guys are already working on trying to improve it.

    Otherwise the game has been a huge barrel of laughs every time I pick it up. I finished Red Dead Redemption last night, so I will definitely be playing Modnation Racers a whole lot more in the coming weeks.

    There is something I was concerned about though, which was also a problem with custom creations in LittleBigPlanet which is the creation of licensed material.

    The first time I logged into Modnation Racers online, I was confronted with a giant statue of Mario! I know you don’t have control over what people create, but isn’t this a concern? I’m surprised Nintendo hasn’t slapped you with a lawsuit already over this since Modnation is in direct competition with Mario Kart.

  • i put this game on hold because i couldnt connect to the server at all.. and when i did i would disconnect every 5min

    im really hoping for a patch to fix this as i really want to get platinum on this game

    • Some players encountered disconnection problems early on — admittedly, I was one of them — but I’m glad to say the online servers are very stable now. Just ask anyone who’s recently raced online for hours and hours on end…

  • Something must be done with the Online Multiplayer for XP…I could have a full room and everyone just disappears leaving me the only one in there so I’m stuck waiting again. Modspots should be increased to 50+ players at once…kinda like how Hot Shots Golf Out Of Bounds where there are lobbys and you could pick the one you want. THINK BIG UFG!!!

    You’ve created a masterpiece, but need to fix the bugs. I will buy your DLC once I see major improvement.

  • I was just about to pick the game up, but I have a question, do the beta creations transfer over?
    I know I don’t want to make this(and others that I spent a large amount of time on) all over again.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/45800055@N03/4206567228/

    • We released the public beta versions of ModNation Racers relatively early in the development cycle. We made many, many under-the-hood changes and improvements to the customization tools after the public beta based on our findings from it. So the truth is importing those creations is not an easy slam dunk. We do continue to investigate this possibility though.

  • Yeah, that’s great that I can connect from anywhere… Now, about those load times.

  • I agree load time is long and seems very frequent having to load for everything.
    What’s the deal with the left side mirror on a kart taking more budget than the right side mirror?
    Overall I love the game but it’s sad that the top creations are burying a lot of original creations with remixed creations getting the remixer more XP than the original creator, yeah I’m looking at you shiny Ironman.
    Can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next!
    Thanks UFG!

  • To everyone at UFG, Thanks for making such a great game!!!

    A Suggestion i have deals with the TOP 3 Podiums… It would feel alot better if after each day carts and mods get a new TOP 3 that hasnt been featured before, Because it feels like anything i make doesnt have a chance competing against spider man, Iron Man, mario, Mystery Machine, F1 car and A-team van.

    or maybe feature random people from time to time so that the under dog can get noticed.

    • The Top Mods and Top Karts you see really did earn those spots based on input from the ModNation community. So congrats to those creators!

      Having said that, we are working on spreading the fame around to more awesome creators. Stay tuned…

  • Keep up the good work.
    *nudges* Showing anything at E3 *nudges*

  • loved the beta, loving the real game even more – thanks for the love guys! :D

  • Any ideas on randomly promoting levels peoples level? I’d love to randomly play other peoples tracks and let them play mine.

    Still trying to do Split-Screen vs Split-Screen online with my friends, but it doesn’t seem to be possible. will there be a patch?

  • Tap into all that creativity better. Let us XP race on any track we want, with anyone we want. All those tracks are going to waste. Throw them at us randomly, let us choose our favorites, whatever.. keep it fresh.

    It’s a kart racing game. Ease up on the control.

    • You will see user-generated tracks in Hot Lap and XP Races/Series in the future. Will yours be one of them?

  • I agree with F-Minus (#10) the top three have been the same since I bought the game more than two weekes ago.

  • I really want this game, but I bought Red Dead and Mario Galaxy 2 instead.. I am now out of spendable money and haven’t even had time to play Red Dead ( I WILL SOON THOUGH!! )..

    So Sony, can you please send me a complimentary copy of ModNation Racers? I will vow to make at least 10 really good tracks!

    :D :D :D

  • The game is fantastic. All I’m missing is a battle arena.

  • Just some advice:

    – Patch the 250.000 XP trophy. The games doesn’t help to get our creation popular. The only way to get that trophy is to make copyrighted mods/karts. Change the goal to 100.000 XP or below, or simply remove it. Gaining level 30 in multiplayer is an enough longevity and enough hard.

    – Speed up loading times

    – Resolve the bug when you start in the Modspot and you have the “option” to press square and go to the “Action Menu” of an unknown invisible player.

    I completed the single player, so I’m not a new comer :)

  • Please the “Loading” patch and the game is nearly perfect :D

  • It would be great if you guys could improve the loading times. I have enough time to take a bathroom break and grab a drink hahaha XD
    Also, another thing would be the servers. I experience loss of connection to the servers about every 30 minutes, and so do some of my friends. That can be VERY annoying, considering that if you are in a good room with some strangers talking a good conversation, it really sucks to lose them. With that said, if you could somehow choose which mod nation center you would like to join would be wonderful. Another necessary addition would be at least to be able to join a race or such with all the people in the room. You need to somehow be able to connect with them, in a way similar to the Pod in Littlebigplanet.

    There is also ONE VERY VERY BIG PROBLEM THAT I NEED TO ADDRESS.
    The hot lap is basically useless. I can’t win a single one, because people can find a glitch on almost every track and finish the lap in under a second. Its not fair at all, I want to see how I daily stack up with others, but its impossible. That really tends to get on my nerves.

    I guess no game will be flawless, but with a few minor fixes you guys could come pretty damn close.
    Thanks again, ModNation peoplez.

    • We love playing Hot Lap too. It’s a great way to measure yourself against ModNation’s best drivers — but only if it’s a level playing field.

      We’re testing a fix for this problem and hope to roll it out ASAP!

  • Hi William, couple of questions. Will the game have region locking of online MP removed at some point and also do you know if the Japanese version will have English support? There are a bunch of expatriates living in Japan who are waiting to pick up the game when it’s released there depending on the answers. Thanks.

    • We are looking into how we can guarantee quality of service across regions in races that have twelve custom Mods and Karts racing and pummeling each other on dynamic tracks. This is not as simple as it seems on the surface, but we’re aiming for it.

      And the Japanese version of ModNation Racers will definitely be playable with English text.

  • Forgive me for a second post, but I cannot explain how true F-Minus is.
    It is VERY frustrating to see the same mods up there DAY TO DAY. A random feature addition would be amazing.

    But one thing that personally frustrates me is how I make complicated artwork that came straight from my mind and my emotions, and I put this work onto my mods, but then the people with recreations of something popular but simple get more credit. Anybody could recreate Mario with the amazing features you guys have. Its frustrating to see such un-refreshing, unoriginal artwork up there everyday.
    I doubt that it fixable at all. But I hate it.

  • Absolutely loving the game! Good work, I can’t wait to see what’s next for the ModNation community.

  • More Novelty objects for races such as fruitstands and people walking across road with panes of glass and the ability to place fans along the track or grandstand areas that you can fill with people. That would make it a little cooler.

  • As a person who really feels that trophy tie-in is a big part of my playing experience, particularly in the longterm, I can’t explain how disappointed I am with the entire 250,000 create xp trophy.

    But seriously 250,000 create xp is a completely unrealistic and unreasonable goal. I have spent hours in the Mod Studio and have spent a lot of effort in making my mods, karts, and tracks. To see that I can have some that have near a hundred downloads, raced over 50x, and dozens of views only bring home 300ish xp towards a 250,000 chunk is unrealistic. You guys need to fix it and soon.

    Already a vast majority of my friends who bought the game, or planned on buying it were put off by the problems of initial release. This is just something that I can honestly see detracting you from keeping people in the long run. If you care about the consumer, the potential word-of-mouth, and the future of not only this game and future projects – you would listen to the outcry of the people complaining how unreal your expectations for particular trophies and in-game problems affect the community. Thanks for listening.

  • It’s been said about the load times, but it’s worth mentioning until it happens.

    As for the top 3 creations, there really does need to be some sort of rotation. Like, instead of Top 3, make it Weekly top 3. If you’re in top 3, then you get it for a week and those creations can never appear again. Then, the next top 3 go up.

    Reason being, if people are top 3, then that many more people see them and vote on them constantly thus they will just stay there forever. Having a cycle would really get all deserving people up there, plus not make the lobby look the same all the time.

  • I guess we can’t expect them to tell us what they plan on fixing until it’s going to be officially released…

  • “United Front Games is with you for the long haul.”

    Do you mean you’re with us while the game is loading?

    I had some friends over on the weekend and was excited to show off ModNation Racers (and try out the split-screen). My friends really enjoyed the game, but after three races, everyone was complaining and making fun of the amount of time it took to actually get into a race.

    It got to be quite embarrassing — and it ended when someone said “Let’s play something else” — and everyone agreed.

    This has potential to be an amazing party game, but not the way it stands at the moment.

  • loving the game, but agree that the TOP 3 mods and karts display should be randomized sometimes…also, the addition of a ‘free-draw’ tool would be great to customize our mods and karts..having to use the stickers all the time gets difficult to produce some artwork

  • UFG may be listening but why aint you guys answering!??!

  • lately i have been seeing some insanely fast HOT LAP times… 13.3 seconds on the fig 8 track. and while waiting in a few series rooms it showed some of the fastest lap times for some track as .5 sec…. how is that possible. Is there anyway you can moderat things like that? possably review the ghost replay to see if the lap times were legit and not glitches

  • Just bought this yesterday! That’s great news and Congrats to UFG! I am really enjoying it, but only problem is the load times :(

  • Please fix:

    – Loading Times
    – Rubberbanding AI
    – XP Races and Series with Friends (have a friend slot or something)
    – Alter the 250k create xp because unless you make Mario or a trophy track (yay mnr has had the lbp syndrome since before the game even came out here in the US) you don’t stand a chance at getting create XP
    – Fix connection issues

    And i think that’s it for now.

  • Oh yeah, fix the fricken glitches/glitchers!!!

    0:00.7 seconds as a top time is down right absurd.

  • I love how they say UFG is listen, but they have yet listed what they are fixing! The game still has a lot of problems.
    You don’t need to show me mods, karts, and tracks to try to entice me to buy this game (I already have the game). Please show me the list of things you guys are “improving” on, cause I have yet to see it.
    I have it annoying that in XP races, I have been playing the same 5-6 tracks over, and over, and over again! Not only that right after an XP match it takes me back to ModSpot, with the question do you want to race another XP game! Why not just put me back where I was, and if I want to leave the race I will? I career mode is a huge mess with all the bonus, and payoffs! Fix that now!!! Stop showing us mods, karts, and tracks! I can do that by myself, but I can’t fix the game by myself cause I did not develop the game.

    • We’ve got some flow improvements on the go right now, but we want to make sure they’re rock solid before we release them into the wild.

  • I haven’t had too many problems with the game. I didn’t think it was gonna be as fun as it is and now I’m totally hooked! You guys created a great game here and I’m loving it right now.

  • Well everything have pretty much been said.
    Fix loading time.
    Take away the region lock so we can play with more around the world.

  • Please fix the IA in career mode. You know they cheat, and it’s cheap, and annoying. They give you a great challenge, which is nice, but they cheat, and attack you right when you are about to get to the finish line.

    Or at least, make the shield drain slower please.

    Anyways, the games is awesome, but the IA in career mode, somehow ruins it.

  • Since everyone is complaining already, I won’t bother trying to add some constructive criticisms… Instead, I’ll just give you a HUGE thanks!! I’m not a racing fan, in general, and I’ve been playing a ton of this game over the past couple weeks.

    I really admire what you guys have created here, and I love the depth and thoughtfulness put behind the core mechanics of the game. I wish you guys nothing but the best!

    Keep on Moddin’!

  • I love this game! As a software dev, I think there could be a couple tweeks to the UI that sort of annoy me.

    1. When initially starting the game you have to wait a long time for the title screen to load then hit a button then wait some more to load the game. What is the point of hitting the button? Couldn’t you just load right into the ModSpot w/o user input?

    2. Also after a race, why not ask the player what they want to do (go to ModSpot/creator/new xp race/casual race)? If you choose a single xp race after it’s over you go to ModSpot automatically. If you wanted to play another xp race, you can basically eliminate returning to ModSpot (so you only have to wait for loading one time instead of two).

    #1 is my biggest gripe. Most of the time I just start up a game and walk away until it is ready.

  • Why can’t we remix DLC content? I mean LBP allows us to remix DLC content to create our own avatars using components from DLC..

  • United Front has just hit the JACKPOT with this game! Hope to see some super-ultra-mega DLCs packs and stuff!

    But yesterday when I got the game, my enthusiasm has just chilled out with this gargantuan loading times… it really kills the mood. Hope to be fixed very soon.

    Nonetheless, I LOVED the game and every spotlight artist videos from PSN (David Jeff and Jesse Hernandez r the best ones).

    Keep up with the good work!

    • We were flattered that some of the urban vinyl artists whose work we admire also admire our work. Kart racing and urban vinyl go together like chocolate and peanut butter!

  • Give every one a damn chance to be in the Top Mods and Karts, Make it to were friends can do XP Races with us, i got lucky one day and got to race a friend in an XP Race, but i should be able to Inv them to XP Race or Series, hell look at blur you can race Ranked matches with up to 8 of your friends and do Private Races and still get XP and Achievements. So add this and i will keep the game other wise i am trading it in for Split Second or blur for the PS3..yeah i have blur on the 360.

  • The only thing I’d suggest changing (besides load times), is making it easier to gain CREATE XP. That trophy is damn near impossible unless you’re super popular and have dozens of characters, karts, and race tracks.

  • 1) Fix the loading times
    2) Fix the 250,000 create exp trophy
    3) Make the career mode easier to unlock more stuff so we can create (or atleast have difficulty options on it)

    and you’ll have yourself a perfect game!

  • I am little disappointed with the PSP version. In create mode, the tracks are always too small. Also, that annoying white path way that shows you where you will go next always gets in the way. I think that there should be more room for making tracks on the psp.

  • I also agree with F-minus (post 11) that there needs to be a podium of random peoples creations. beucase looking at the top mods/karts and even the top downloaded tracks is getting ridiculous.
    Other than what other people have already posted this is an excellent game that me and my g/f love to play, keep up the great work.
    oh yes, id like to see some more track creation themes, not just mods w/ there karts, i mean those are nice but tracks would be better. =D

  • Great game, please bring out more weapon goodness :)

  • Change the trophy where we have to get 250,000 create points. It’s almost impossible. Only a few people in the world can get this trophy. The only people who can get them are the ones who made those popular mods when the game first came out.

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