Goko

Revision as of 22:05, 26 November 2012

Goko is an HTML5 gaming platform which holds the rights to create online versions of a variety of Euro style and other games. Initially known to the Dominion community as FunSockets, Goko's Dominion is the official online implementation of the game. The software is currently in a public beta status, and once it is fully released, will cause all unofficial versions of Dominion (including Isotropic) to shut down.

Goko Dominion

Gameplay

Reception

History

Speculation

Failed Release

The official online dominion game was expected to launch to the public on August 16, 2012. This date was chosen to coincide with the release of Dark Ages at Gencon, and Goko's press release found its way to the front page of blogs and news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Kotaku, and Mashable. However, there were a host of issues at the time of release, so FunSockets decided to bring the release back into beta status. There are a number of blog posts/articles (1,2) and forum threads (1,2,3,4,5) related to the failed release and return to beta status.

Public Beta Status and New Release Date

On September 21, 2012, Goko quietly released their Dominion product in a public Beta. At this point, there are still a number of bugs, and updates are still coming regularly as the problems are solved. They are at a point where they are accepting money for the purchase of expansions, with the prices significantly reduced (from ~$6 to ~$4 per half set) from the previous release.

Goko has at this point not released a date for an official full release. The continuing uncertainty has led to forum members (prior to the beta release) making a guessing game of when the product will fully release.

Goko Interaction and Current Online Dominion

Much to the dismay of many on these forums, there has been little information flow from FunSockets about their product, a problem which dates back to the first hints of an official implementation. Fortunately, the volume of interaction has increased in recent weeks. There have been two separate Q&A sessions so far, both exclusively catering to members of this forum.

• Q&A #1 - Submitted Questions, Video Response, Transcript

• Q&A #2 - Submitted Questions, Answers

At this point, people are free to play Dominion on FunSockets as well as unofficial implementations such as Isotropic. Trisha from FunSockets stated that Isotropic (and presumably all the other versions) would not be shut down until "Goko is completely up and running, open for everyone, and completely stable." Presumably, the Public Beta does not qualify as 'completely up and running', so existing implementations will remain unaffected. dougz, creator of isotropic, stated that the shutdown date would likely be one week after the eventual Goko release date. At this point, all online versions would be required to be taken down, per the agreements with Donald X. and RGG.

Other

• The game has been shown to work on most browsers and mobile/tablet devices. There are currently some issues with Internet Explorer which are being hammered out. Additionally, there are dedicated iOS and Android apps reportedly on the way.

• The official version features AI in the form of a variety of different bots to play games against. There is also a campaign/adventure mode where the players have to overcome disadvantages to win the game. There are rumors that the product will eventually offer some way for users to create AI's.

• The base set will be free to play for the public. To offset this free play, there will be a video ad once every 15 minutes or so between game launch and start of game.

• Cards from the expansions will be able to be purchased for use a half set (or full small set, about 13 cards either way) at a time. These mini-sets currently cost about $4 each (slightly cheaper for package deals) and require the use of the intermediary currency of 'Gokoins'.

• Goko's rating system is functionally very similar to the TrueSkill rating system Isotropic used. Goko's rating system is discussed here and here, and you can learn more about Isotropic's system here.

• The promotional swipe cards which come inside of the recently released Base Card expansion and Dark Ages allow you to receive a free promotional pack of 5 cards for use on Goko's platfform. The cards included in this pack are Nobles, Haven, Hoard, and one (yet to be determined) card each from Hinterlands and Dark Ages. It is said that you can also get these cards by accessing Goko through this website.