[Mystalic]

Okay, I'm going to rail into you. This is only because it will help you out in the long run

1) Your website looks like a slipshod piece of junk. It's a crap blog format with some images. Where's a video overview of the game? A column showing recent scores and users? A smoother interface? Come on, there's tons of things you screwed up on.

2) Where's the hook? I need a 6 word hook, a tagline, something to say "Maybe I should keep reading about this." Nothing.

3) I don't give a damn about taxis, so why should I give a damn about your game? At least with other games, I'm building a galactic empire or taking over the world. Those far more attract to imaginative personalities that play these games.

4) What's the reward?

5) Your logo's a piece of junk built with standard templates in photoshop. The lack of effort in your logo shows.

There's an entire lack of effort on the front-end and a lack of hooks to get me to EVER play this.

And what's the business model? Advertising is going to make you money? Not in this market. Freemium is dying.

This is jumping on an ancient business that's dying out rapidly. The Facebook application is the only positive I have.

Sorry if I was harsh. This is how I feel, and I hope it helps.

[mlinsey]

Agreed with the design criticisms; disagree strongly about 2 and 3. It sounds like you might not be in the target audience for these sorts of games. I absolutely loved games like Theme Hospital, Sim Tower, Roller Coaster Tycoon - all games which are about rather mundane businesses, certainly not "taking over a galactic empire" or "taking over the world". The idea of a Sim Taxi/Taxi Tycoon game on real streets with google-maps street-level views of my taxi routes tickled me. That enough was a "hook".

Granted, there are probably more gamers like Mystalic than gamers like me, which is one of the reasons why Civ II and Imperium Galactica sold more copies than say Theme Hospital. Which market you go after should depend on your business model.

That said, here's some more criticism (hopefully constructive!) from someone who buys the idea but not the execution (yet):

1. You badly need a strong artist/designer to give the game its own personality and charm. One common thread around these quirky business games like Theme Park or Gazillionaire is that they are funny and amusing to look at, which is important when large parts of the game are spent simply watching your business run.

2. Your interface has far too much clicking. Why do I have to click on "cars" to send my one taxi somewhere? Why can't I see how tired my driver is just by hovering over his cab? Etc,etc.

3. Your tutorial isn't very helpful. Not only does it look like experts-exchange.com instead of a game (see #1), but because it's all in one place instead of some bright AJAX popups showing you around the interface, I don't even learn where my vehicle page is because I click the link in the tutorial. Why there should be a "vehicle page" that isn't clearly marked by a brightly colored icon of a car is another matter, but at the end of the tutorial I still had no idea what I was doing.

4. I don't think what appears to be your core gameplay mechanic of trying to "find the best route" by clicking a bunch of short-distance waypoints to form a route to your passenger and the destination is very fun. The fact that your interface is on top of a Google Maps mashup only reminds me of how a computer could do a better job than me at this.

When I thought "taxi sim", I immediately thought that the game would be about keeping your taxi busy and managing the balance of (a) getting people there fast by avoiding traffic (you are using google maps for a taxi game and don't incorporate traffic?!) in hopes of getting better and more tips and (b) getting people there slowly, choosing the bad routes, and stalling in traffic, just like it seems my cab drivers always do, risking fewer tips but ensuring you're getting a fare for every mile you drive. Or how about choosing what areas of town to patrol to try and snag fares from rival firms, rather than be presented with a plain old list of customers to click on?

I'm not saying that any of the above gameplay suggestions will fix the game or are even necessarily a good idea, but if you're dead-set on trying to make a company based off of one game (as opposed to a site hosting or aggregating games), you'd better spend lots of time brainstorming and refining your core gameplay and making it fun before even worrying about your logo or artwork or front page videos or any of the other stuff suggested by either me or the parent. Spend some more time playing Railroad Tycoon and Sim Golf and how about Crazy Taxi, which you can find for like $10 for your PS2, with a critical eye towards what makes those games fun.

[thorax]

I didn't have so nearly a negative reaction. How it went for me:

* Visited the page

* Saw screenshot on right (thought: "cute enough")

* Read paragraph next to it

* Said "huh.. running a virtual taxi service? might be kind of fun to try out sometime especially if friends are involved. No time at the moment, though"

* Closed browser tab

As a potential user, I wasn't turned off immediately by much of anything else named above. I agree that I'd work on some of those things if you're trying to make a stellar product, though.

If it's more for a fun project, I wouldn't worry about the "bad mood" sort of review above. I've seen worse from games that I've enjoyed a whole lot.

If you made this into a decent iPhone game, I and my friends would definitely install it to try it out, just from the initial description.

[villiros]

Thanks. Most of your points are very much valid, and this sort of frank opinion is very much appreciated. Naturally, we will be improving the site based on the feedback we get.

[amobilebiz]

No offense to the poster asking for feedback, but WOW this has to be one of the best, and most honest, reviews I have seen in a LONG time. I think many times when people post looking for feedback not everyone is as frank and honest about the website, app, or business model. This only ends up hurting the poster in the long run as they are given false hope about the possibility of success.

Maybe this game IS the next big hit, but without honest feedback like this the poster will never be able to take it to that level.

To the poster, the best advice I have (since this comment hit pretty much everything I was going to say) is never get discouraged by any feedback (good or bad) you receive and take the bad feedback as the best feedback and driving force behind making your app/website/business all that much better. I can't say if you will succeed or not (some apps I thought would never make it went on to make millions and others I thought were a sure thing went on to fail), success is what you make of it and if you are willing to take the advice and feedback gained from HN your chances will only increase.

I wish you the best of luck!

[okeumeni]

This is one of the best review I have seen in a long time on HN, Harsh and constructive. Take it with a positive mind and go back to you drawing board and remake it for the better.