I just started playing Rumble League a week or so ago and it's great!
It's not perfect and it could use some improvements but it is a lot of fun.
I'm sad to see it shut down so soon after I finally got to play it.
I saw RL in a youtube video about new popular android games several months ago and tried to play it then but I couldn't find a way to install the game.
Google Play was hiding it from me and still is even now.
I originally thought it was an android version issue but I have looked today on devices ranging from version 5-9 and none of them have RL listed in the GP store.
The only reason I was able to play RL at all is because it was added here to apkpure.
Even on apkpure it is listed wrong.
When searching for RL on apkpure, it comes up as Rumble instead of Rumble League.
Unless you recognize the character picture you could easily blow right past it and I nearly did.
The only place it shows up as Rumble League is on the app page itself.
The search result page just says Rumble.
With that explanarion out of the way, I just want to say that I think the devs are crazy to shut this game down.
RL needs fixes and improvements but everything wrong with it is fixable and most of it isn't that difficult to fix.
All of the core systems are solid.
In no specific order, things to fix include:
1) The ranking system needs to be fixed.
Gaining 5-9 trophies on a win only to lose 20-30 on a loss is far too punishing.
In the earlier leagues it's not that bad but by high platinum this starts happening.
There are 3 or 4 leagues above platinum, the loss shouldn't be that severe in only a mid range league.
Also, that much of a penalty discourages using different characters in favor of your best character.
Since characters need to be leveled up to get all their talents they need to be played, even if a loss is likely while learning and upgrading them.
RL needs a non ranked mode that doesn't punish you for playing characters you are less skilled with.
2) Some characters feel a bit underpowered compared to others but that happens in a competitive game.
They need to be tweaked but none of the characters are truly unplayable.
3) Fix your availability issues.
Google hiding your game is a problem.
4) Improve your youtube presense.
There are barely any critical reviews for RL on youtube.
Most of the information I could find was in top ten new game videos rather than by actual reviwers.
5) Fix your business model.
I only got to see the gem prices for bundles because I started playing so late.
If the quantity of gems was any indication though, they were selling for upwards of $10 per skin.
This is a mistake most F2P games that monetize cosmetic items make.
No skin in a desktop or mobile game is ever worth $10+.
They should have been sold at $1-2 at a maximum, especially with this being a mobile game.
Skins are a fraction of a fraction of a game and are infinitely reproducible without additional cost.
They should never cost as much as an entire new indie game or discounted AAA game.
Doing that only monetizes a tiny portion of your player base and makes your game dependant on that small number of players that massively overpay, which is a significant weakness if enough decide to leave.
Also, ditch fan club and just sell the skins.
Sell one version of each skin and give the player a color wheel to tint the colored part of the skin whatever color they like instead of having a very limited set of possible colors.
6) Separate talents from currency.
Don't make the player have to upgrade their character.
RL was selling level boosts which affects how many talents a player could unlock since level up provides the currency needed to unlock additional talents.
Doing that allows a player to buy power to an extent and is not a good idea for balance.
Just have each set of talents unlock at a preset character level.
7) Allow players to choose their game mode instead of having a random playlist.
Some characters may be better for a player depending on game mode.
It being completely random makes it easy to chose a character that for the player is not suitible for the match type they end up in.
In the likely event that the Devs still decide to shut down the game for good.
Please consider releasing the game to your community.
Release the source code and anything else that would be needed to run and edit/improve the game.
Let people run their own servers profit free and Improve upon what exists.
Allow them to accept donations to cover server costs.
I'm not saying the devs should give up any rights to the IP, just work out an arrangement with the people hosting the servers that they are allowed to run the servers as long as they don't make any profit from doing it.
Other multiplayer games have been preserved this way.
Allow yours to be one of them.
Don't let this awesome game die.
Don't kill it just because you don't want to continue working on it.
There are other options.
