Car Jack Streets: Forgotten but still awesome?

I'm both surprised and pleased that our 'little' game is still subject to debate alongside the heavy weights of Rockstar and Gameloft!

Car Jack Streets was developed in four months by a team of four and a cost of approx $50,000 (that's tiny in games industry terms but a lot when you're self funding. I'm very pleased that the game is even mentioned in the same breath as Gangstar (created by a huge team) or the multi-million dollar budget GTA CW!

Given a comparable budget to those titles just think what we could do!

Whilst it seemed that as many players hated the game as loved it features such as the real time payments broke new ground and I'm proud we tried some new and interesting ideas in the game.

So thanks to all of you that have bought the game and loved or hated it. You all matter to us! We hope to come back with a new and improved Car Jack in 2010. The competition is tough, we don't have millions or a factory of thousands of Chinese developers at our disposal but we do have a vision and the passion and commitment to see that vision bought to life!

Thanks again to everyone that reads and participates in these forums who love iPhone gaming and support the independant game makers like Tag. You help make the iPhone the best device for building interesting and new games!

Cheers paul

ps feel free to email me your ideas for CJS 2 to [email protected]

also look out for our new titles B-boy Beats and Astro Ranch out later this month

 

I really liked the game, but there was a lack of missions and using real time, while a cool thing to use, was implemented wrong. I really felt rushed to get that money in, and sometimes I don't pick up a game for a week or so and then I play it a ton that week or so, so I hate the way it's set up. And like I said, the missions got old. Really old. I just found myself doing them so I could run around stealing cars and killing people.

On the other hand, it was the first of its kind to really hit it big. Sure there was Payback, which is still pretty fun, but it was lacking something. This game had it. It was the humor or atmosphere or something, but I found myself playing CJS more. Plus there was a bigger variety of cars/guns/etc. It was definetly an awesome game.

Had they ditched the 50k a week system, this game could have been really awesome.

 

Hey somerandomdude in update 1.6 we did ditch the $50k a week requirement based on player feedback!

The game is still selling a fair number a day seven months on and the release of GTA CW actually improved Car Jack sales for a while!

 

Hey are you planning to make CJS 2 in 3D? Can you give us any more info about the game?

Cheers,
LBG

 

I am very much looking forward to CJS2 an I sure hope it's as good as the first! Hopefully better and in iso 3d but better looking than payback!

 

My only one gripe was the time constraint. That was a pure gamekiller and only reason I deleted it. I took a breaking from gaming during finals week at school. Came back to play after finals, result...FAIL.

if there was at least a way to turn the time constraint off or a vacation mode I'm positive I would have loved cjs. To bad that wasn't the case because after I had to start over for such a crappy reason. Cjs was deleted and I never looked back...

I am looking forward to Astro Ranch in a major way though.

 

SICK! I loved the gameplay, but feeling the pressure of 50k/week really turned me off from the game. Time to re-install... Oh yeah, whatever happened to that survival mode you guys were working on?

And as for CJS2, if you can, try the Gangstar camera angle but with the fun of CJS. Or else a top down 3d one like Payback or GTA.

 

Great! CJS2, sounds neat. I did like the first despite some of its shortfalls. I hope u keep the same art style in the second game, the art is very nice. But if you really want to u can try going for 3D kinda payback style. Also i really hope u make the buildings different. So if u have to go to the hospital, it looks like a hospital and a pizza place looks like a pizza place. anyway i would like to see some more guns, maybe an assult rifle, magnum, pistol, meele stuff, etc.

 

Car Jack 2? We aren't talking about it much other than what's already been written in the press, namely:

1. The game didn't sell as well in the US as the rest of the world. We think this is because of the fixed topdown camera. The game IS a full 3d engine but I think the fact it looked flat most of the time was a turn off for our US players. CJS 2 will use a different camera position.

2. Real time gameplay. Seemed like a good idea but lots of players hated it. Won't be forcing weekly payments again

3. More linear misson narratives. Players found the CPU generated mission approach too boring. So there will be a less open aproach and more focus on story in cjs 2

4. A different visual style to gta and gangstars. Think crazy taxi meets jet set radio!

5. Improved vehicle handling and collision physics

and lots more!

 

All I can say is that this is gonna be awesome. And huge. Any ideas on when it will come out?

 

I say that most people disliked the 50k requirement.... how bout make a long term payment of 1 million dollar. i mean, if you dont want to end the game, just dont turn in the money. that way, you can place as much as you want without finishing it. also, can we have boats like we have in gta? that would be mighty fine. and also gang war, more gang members for you, and islands, and your own house. you can soon buy your own house and upgrade it up till a mansion in your own island.

 

I still LOVE CJS!
C'mon TAers its by the same ppl who made the 1st GTA thing!
These ARE the minds of wht GTA is TODAY!!!

I just do not like TWO things of this game... the REAL TIME thing & a NO save slot / Resume after interruption.

Why?

REAL TIME thing just coz If i do not PLAY it for a week, the moment I start again, the Thugs ARE aftr me where in I did not REALLY get the time to play it.
The 2nd reason is kinda connected to the 1st one...
If I am with like 960 on a flamethrower, 600+ on machine gun, 400 + on shotgun & I have to interrupt the game.... I always have to go to the condo. (one app at a time?, wht about iPhone users who get a phone call?)

I am NOT sure if they hav been fixed, I launch this game only when I hav 7 to 8 hrs in hand & play it to the fullest... ofcourse I end it by going to the condo

C'mon Paul! Fix them for me & I can PLAY CJS in MOST of the times.
(Also, the gps has a few bugs but managable)

Apart from these too issues, there is NOTHING that makes me NOT play the game
It is ONE amazing game.

EDIT: Paul!
U were indeed here.... Nice
I will email U surely, I do not just like the 3d idea, topdown surely rocks! well, tht is just me though

EDIT1 : I do not recollect reading about CJS2 from U some lil time ago

 

In spite of its limitations and issues, I enjoyed CJS a lot. I think it has done a lot to advance idevice gaming. It has done so by trial and error, and I think Paul and Tag deserve a lot of credited because it was a brave move. They were also one of the first indie devs to engage with TA members for feedback. I think this attitude will show again in their upcoming games, in the sense that they try to always bring something new to the table. And they have learned a lot.

So I'm very much looking forward to Astro (and the next beta! ), and CJS2.

 

I had a lot of fun with Car Jack Streets, especially after they added the new steering controls. The realtime thing sucked though, I think I just flat-out restarted twice because of that. (I thought that was removed in a later update though I'm not seeing anything about that on iTunes...)

Now that I've been playing the real thing I need to go back and give CJS a comparison. I got the game the first time it went on sale for a buck, and never regretted it!

 

Cjs suk imo

 

CJS 2! Cant wait for it! I have a lot of suggestions. What I find makes GTA style games fun is the sand box free to do anything kind of feel. Sure, I do the storyline in GTA, but I find myself going off and doing random things, getting my wanted level up. Speaking of that the police should be harder. I think CJS was missing a much wider variety of missions and things to do. Also, CJS feels lifeless in comparison to GTA: CW. The graphics were probably a turn down to most players. CJS 2 should improve on these areas. Also think about serving a wider audience, and try to implement ways to draw more people in to the game.

One thing I really enjoyed in CJS is when you fail to pay, and millions of gang members come at you. I try to survive as long as possible, and have outlasted until i got bored (like 5 minutes in.)

 

Thanks for all the feedback - might be an idea to do a Car Jack Streets/Astro Ranch mash up where Randal gets teleported to the ranch and has to fight off alien wild animals with a flamethrower and a shotgun!!!

P

 

CJS is pretty bad looking back on it.

I would rate the 4 this way:

GTA.....................................................Payback...Gangstar.....CJS

 

I still enjoy CJS to this day. It was definitely very influential for future iDevice GTA style games.