Promoting Spring to the outside world
Moderator: Moderators
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Complicated
- Posts: 369
- Joined: 06 Jun 2007, 18:51
Yes, it's very easy to develop a "powerful editor"Scratch wrote:My main point is if you guys decide to make campaigns for single player, make it very easy for designers to make campaigns, using a powerful editor of some sort. If you make it fun to make campaigns, in the end you could actually choose from the best and make an excellent starter package.
Yeah, singleplayer is very important but it's not as if we have loads of developers who will just make everything work.
Actually we have plenty of potential developers. The problem is when they see these projects there are too many question marks so they mvoe on and they get lumbered with a different project untill 8 or 9 months later when the same thing happens and the opportunity is wasted yet again.Yeah, singleplayer is very important but it's not as if we have loads of developers who will just make everything work.
You want a boneyards recreation but cant do the code? Or a campaign map? But you can do the graphics, or the sounds, guilt trip a developer into it by making everything you can for it, it will at the very least speed up any future development. Outline what would be needed and how it would work in a design document. Really sell the idea to anyone who just happens to have free time or will have some coming up.
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Felix the Cat
- Posts: 2383
- Joined: 15 Jun 2005, 17:30
Dude, shut the fuck up, who the fuck made you a moderator?Complicated wrote:Anymore of that and this thread will be closed.
Going back to something important now.
AF insists that we need to have a bunch of different lobbies to pick from, and that there shouldn't be an official lobby. I find it highly ironic that he pushes his little personal agenda... in a thread about making Spring easier to pick up for new players. Really? What the fuck have you been smoking? It's already hard as hell for new players to get into a game - having to figure out where to download mods and maps, figuring out what all the settings mean, not to mention getting used to the mod itself. Now it's proposed that new players be forced to figure out where to get a lobby, how to install it, and how to configure it - and all of this before all of the usual confusing hassle they already have to deal with? That's the most complete and utter bullshit I've heard in a while, and it shows that AF is thinking more about promoting himself and his latest little pet project rather than actually making it easier on new players.
IOW: spec stuff out, try to reach consensus on the most wanted feature, prioritize, get people with different skillsets to contribute to the discussion, write detailed functional design docs.Actually we have plenty of potential developers. The problem is when they see these projects there are too many question marks so they mvoe on and they get lumbered with a different project untill 8 or 9 months later when the same thing happens and the opportunity is wasted yet again.
And, to all those potential developers out there: don't fear to make (wrong) functional decisions, just make them. No one should care if they are wrong, a working solution with some (major) flaws is still much better then no solution at all.
Complicated; Felony 4. Warning.
Felix; Felony 1. Warning.
Tombom, we do need people to spearhead editor development. You can code, right? What do you think we need for the project, and how would you obtain it?
I want to see an editor, I can't make it myself, and I think you might be able to manage it.
Felix; Felony 1. Warning.
Tombom, we do need people to spearhead editor development. You can code, right? What do you think we need for the project, and how would you obtain it?
I want to see an editor, I can't make it myself, and I think you might be able to manage it.
tc made sketch drawings. A few months later they where screenshots and source code in the springlobby website.
I made paint drawings, a few months later they were aflobby alphas.
I made design docs, a few months later they where NTai.
Qman made visio docs, and a few weeks later they where QAI releases.
I made paint drawings, a few months later they were aflobby alphas.
I made design docs, a few months later they where NTai.
Qman made visio docs, and a few weeks later they where QAI releases.
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Complicated
- Posts: 369
- Joined: 06 Jun 2007, 18:51
Firstly I wasn't saying I was a mod, secondly I have the power to summon a mod to close my threads.neddiedrow wrote:Complicated; Felony 4. Warning.
Felix; Felony 1. Warning.
Tombom, we do need people to spearhead editor development. You can code, right? What do you think we need for the project, and how would you obtain it?
I want to see an editor, I can't make it myself, and I think you might be able to manage it.
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Felix the Cat
- Posts: 2383
- Joined: 15 Jun 2005, 17:30
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Pressure Line
- Posts: 2283
- Joined: 21 May 2007, 02:09
this is my part of work to promotion this game :D
http://www.TaspringPL.yoyo.pl
My Englisch isnt very good , dont be a polite :D
This is web site fot Polish players but i remember to make english version :)
XTA 9.1 Trailer !!!
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=zSYP-hbTqI8
http://www.TaspringPL.yoyo.pl
My Englisch isnt very good , dont be a polite :D
This is web site fot Polish players but i remember to make english version :)
XTA 9.1 Trailer !!!
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=zSYP-hbTqI8
The way to best promote this game is to have regular tournaments.
You don't need more new players, you need to hang onto the ones you have for a longer period. At the moment the problem with the game is that people get to a certain level of competance, dont see anywhere to go, play a load of really long 4vs4 games on choke point maps, get bored and go off to play something else. The game has no lifespan!
The benefits of regular Tournaments would be:
1) Competition. Nothing like a bit of healthy rivalry. It's done the Supreme Commander community alot of good. Helped keep TA alive long past it's sell by date. People need something to aim for to raise their standards.
2) More 1vs1 matches being played for practice. Shorter games. More action. People need variety to keep from losing attention. There are far too many overlong team games being played.
3) Promote new mods, and good map choice. If there are specific mods or maps selected for the tournaments, people are going to practice those mods and maps. This would encourage people to go with new and/or better quality third party creations instead of sticking with the played out old favourites the whole fucking time.
4) Improved mod balance. You can have lots of long discussions on balance in forum topics but it's very easy for people with a specific grudge to put forth an argument that exists in their head but isn't actually a problem in the game. The best way to test balance is to have lots of demos of the best players duking it out. They understand the mod better than the person who created it, and they'll be the ones who break the balance and it'll be pretty obvious given enough time for the current build to gestate which units are wrong and which are right.
Supreme Commanders ranked battle system is really rather brilliant. I'm sure it's not childs play to replicate, and with the number of players we have at the moment it'd be hard to do without picking one mod to rule them all, but it'd be quite a boon if such a system were put in place. Alternatively a simple ladder might do the trick. The game just needs something to get a bit of depth into it.
You don't need more new players, you need to hang onto the ones you have for a longer period. At the moment the problem with the game is that people get to a certain level of competance, dont see anywhere to go, play a load of really long 4vs4 games on choke point maps, get bored and go off to play something else. The game has no lifespan!
The benefits of regular Tournaments would be:
1) Competition. Nothing like a bit of healthy rivalry. It's done the Supreme Commander community alot of good. Helped keep TA alive long past it's sell by date. People need something to aim for to raise their standards.
2) More 1vs1 matches being played for practice. Shorter games. More action. People need variety to keep from losing attention. There are far too many overlong team games being played.
3) Promote new mods, and good map choice. If there are specific mods or maps selected for the tournaments, people are going to practice those mods and maps. This would encourage people to go with new and/or better quality third party creations instead of sticking with the played out old favourites the whole fucking time.
4) Improved mod balance. You can have lots of long discussions on balance in forum topics but it's very easy for people with a specific grudge to put forth an argument that exists in their head but isn't actually a problem in the game. The best way to test balance is to have lots of demos of the best players duking it out. They understand the mod better than the person who created it, and they'll be the ones who break the balance and it'll be pretty obvious given enough time for the current build to gestate which units are wrong and which are right.
Supreme Commanders ranked battle system is really rather brilliant. I'm sure it's not childs play to replicate, and with the number of players we have at the moment it'd be hard to do without picking one mod to rule them all, but it'd be quite a boon if such a system were put in place. Alternatively a simple ladder might do the trick. The game just needs something to get a bit of depth into it.
There already is a ladder (http://www.spring-league.com/) and flopflop sometimes does tournerys where he always wins but I agree that there's pretty much no competitive stuff around. Almost all the good 1v1ers left/stopped playing around the same time which is kind of annoying.
I also agree that a regular tournament system would be desirable. Unless you are volunteering to spearhead them my best suggestion would be for the mod developers (who would benefit most from replays and bug/balance reports) to organize them. Most of the "better" (or should I say "more complete") mods already have their own web-pages so it would be relatively simple for them to post the information and promote it in forums/lobbies.
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TheRegisteredOne
- Posts: 398
- Joined: 10 Dec 2005, 21:39
"hey come play spring and have your noobish humiliation formalised in a tournament!"TheRegisteredOne wrote:unless you already play spring, i doubt you'd care about tournaments
Even OTA vets have difficulty with coming to spring, through both the interface, and the balance of any given mod.
Imo the best way to encourage new players is make the download --> play process as user friendly as possible. This could be through including more mods in the installer or w/e.
How many of the people posting here ever take the time to join that noob's XTAv9 small divide game, and take the time to explain UF etc to them? That could make a significant impact on the number of people who stick around.
I used to do this a lot but so many said "thanks, I need to go now, i'll be back soon" and never came back I assumed my technique sucked ;\pintle wrote:How many of the people posting here ever take the time to join that noob's XTAv9 small divide game, and take the time to explain UF etc to them? That could make a significant impact on the number of people who stick around.
