Post
by ISAWHIM » Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:35 pm
Wow, what a read...
Hope the creators see these posts. Pitty, I just found out that the "Forums" for the game, are only for paying customers. Must be why there are so few posts. Glad that this site is here to compensate!
Well, in my first week of play, these are my observations, from a low level, where 100% of the customer-base is created. (No-one starts at level 200, and if they played that long, I am quite sure level-locks are the last thing on their mind... They are already addicted, or have just mobbed every dungeon, and thus, locks are an issue. Not to mention, they are the reasons the levels are locked. As they should be. You don't let teens into a strip-club... and you don't let adults play in the ball-room at McDonalds... Restrictions are a part of life, get over it!)
Ok, now that I have officially upset 2% of the players...
What changes I think, need to be done, to get more people past the "Learning curve".
Um... First remove as much of the complexity as possible. Having a fully customizable interface is neat, but hardly needed. Create a separate "EDIT MODE", where the buttons slip and slide and move... The panels moving, when you are in the middle of battle, or normal game-play is frustrating! Nothing is worse than the mouse accidentally grabbing the title of your SIDE-MAP, and dropping it directly into the middle of the screen, where you are attempting to click on a creature that is chewing your foot off. (That happens when you try to move the view, but the camera auto-returns to make you face the thing you are fighting.)
Um... As per that lat line... Remove the code that forces the camera view to return to the creature you are fighting! We are looking for an exit, or a better creature to fight, or trying to loot while we battle, or focus on a friend, and the darn camera zipps back around, and throws any creature that is attacking me, right back in front of my face... Do that once, at the beginning of the battle, not every time the stupid thing hits you!
Um... F1 to target yourself, before attempting to DOSE yourself with a YOU-ONLY item is redundant... If it can only be used on you, then use it on you! Seriously, I have to tell you to heal myself, and not the creature I am fighting! I am sure it is safe to assume, that if I need health, and I have not specifically selected a friendly target... that I might be trying to heal myself.
Um... If I am full of health... and accidentally hit a health-stim or med-kit... Don't use it! I am full, and OBVIOUSLY did not want to heal myself.
Um... If I am Juiced-up with a buff... Say +5 something... and I hit (Juice +5) again... don't use it! I am already buff! Ok, that is open for debate. Also, if I am +5, and I hit +2 (Not the same exact buff, but same bonus.) do not downgrade that buff to the +2... Don't use it at all. (Talking about exact similar ones, inferior-health, flawed-health, great-health, super-health. +2, +5, +10, +20, +40, etc...)
Um... Create a better name-scheme, which is consistent, and commonly know as being leveled. This one deserves explanation, as it is not easy to explain.
EG, Case 1 (inferior..., flawed..., worn..., ???...., great..., superior...)
EG, Case 2 (flawed..., imperfect..., inferior..., quality..., perfect...)
Um... See the swapped orders, and non-standard names, and obvious equality issues?
(flaw = imperfect = inferior = lesser = worn = bad)
That is just confusing, and a waste of space. Call a shoe, a "Shoe", and the numbers and price will tell me how "Imperfect" it might be. If you must... say, "Shoe, (Q5)" or "Shoe, (Q250)"... Not on just half the items, do it to ALL the items, except UNIQUE, and items which have no level. The quality is 1, but a "Lock-Pick, (Q1)", should just say, "Lock-Pick".
Um... Kill those crazy paragraph-long item titles. "Zarganchaway imperfect boots from Trastivar"... Seriously... "Boots (Q200)", with the description being, "A low quality pair of Zarganchaway boots, from Travistar." In our heads, there are obviously more words then one can posibly remember, so names are not worth the effort of the reading. We are not going to know "Tristar boots" from "Flasward boots" from "Smixnar boots" from "Blisnop boots" from "Equestar boots" from "Slingnex boots".
All we see is... "Blah blah BOOTS blah blah" (Now what's inside?)
Icons are great!, they say more than words... Just stop using different words for the same icons. If all those boots have one icon... They might as well have all said... "Blah blah BOOTS blah blah"...
Um... Show people STUFF THEY CAN USE, starting from the things they own (Which you should NOT show.), and working up to possibly the next three level-sets, of stuff they MIGHT be able to use in a few levels.
No-one wants to walk into mega-mart, and see billions of choices of videos. They like Blitz-Buster, because they have pulled the NEW-RELEASES, and have a whole section of OLD-POPULAR videos, without frying your brain, sifting through 90% of the junk you can't use, to get to the scattered 10% you can use.
We still want to see what we might get in the future, and we want to see all the things from what we have now... up to the LIMITED selection of future purchases.
We do NOT want to see junk we have already purchased, especially if it is unique items, which we can only have one of. (Like the starter maps, or any maps! If we have a map to "Snork-ville" used, or in our inventory, and we can only have ONE... don't show us that map in the stores, and DON'T let us purchase it, or ask... "You have this item already, are you sure you would like to purchase it again?" Some of us may want to turn that stuff off, to shop for others, where possible.)
Um... Program sympathy-code, and smart-code! Everything in this game is smart, except the drops! Here is a neat trick... Only have your server create "Substitute items", which would be any non-common item. For sympathy, if we are low on health, make more health things pop-up... that we can actually use! (As opposed to making health with requirements above our requirements.) If I have 90% health, 1of10 creatures have health drop. If I have 50% health, 1of5 creatures drop health. If I have 10% health, 1of2 creatures drop health.
Um... From the server-side, simply "Suppress Client-Common Drop", if needed. (Like when a level 200 is trying to MOB with a bunch of level 10 creatures for easy drops.) And, vice-versa... user-side, can suppress item drops, if they are that 10% health, and health is all they want/need at that point. They don't have time to pluck health and another item. (Basically, it just delays that item on the server-side, possibly, "Sympathetically", arising in a server-suppressed drop, when the player has higher health, and time to stop and pluck additional items.)
Smart-code is code that adapts to each unique player. When a creature-container (Dead critter), is dropped... anyone who hit it, can look inside, we do not all see the same things. We see our "Cut" of the kill. You don't hit it, you see nothing inside. If you did hit it a lot... you see more, possibly. If there is something unique to YOUR quest, only the person who has that quest, sees that item. If there is a unique non-quest item, the person who opens the container first, and doesn't have it, gets it given to them in the world-view, not inside the container. (The item floats above, seen only by the player, until that player actually grabs it. Once they grab it, it becomes visible to all, and then they see the delayed "Grab". If that player fails to grab it in 10 seconds, it gets displayed to the game, up for grabs, for an additional ten seconds. Remember, UNIQUE... the player does not have one, if so... they can not grab it/see it... moving to visibility of the first person without it.)
Um... if the container is empty... don't make the body clickable, just fade it away...
Um... when the lat container item is placed into a new location. (Thus it is completely out of the container, not floating on a mouse.) Then close the darn container window immediately.
Um... If you don't have the ability to OPEN a creature container (Body), then don't show the mouse OPEN/USE icon... Show an hourglass or something.
Um... If the killer walks X-Feet away... turn the container into a "Free to open now" container.
Um... If the killer dies... all containers being locked should unlock, so we can loot the dead creatures containers.
Um... If the killer Opened, then Closed the container... Release ownership of it... They have looked, and left... (Even if they didn't take anything. I think it only release now, if they remove an item, and then close the container window.)
Um... Lock party status, once the first member joins, so loot-order is not constantly changed... (All when easy kills, then they switch it to "Greedy me first", when the hard creatures come. And they don't even get all the creatures... then move too fast for anyone to stay and raid!)
Um... That leads to this... Show PARTY-TYPE on the join-pop-up window... Is this an "All loot party", is this a "Me-first party", is this a useless "A-B-C loot party"?
Um... That leads to this... get rid of that stupid A-B-C order looting... Ok, class... Beth, then Bob, then Jim, then Sue, then Tammy... Don't forget... follow the leader! Single line...
Poor Tammy has to wait an hour, if BOB never tries to loot after BETH... EG... low-order-name gets nothing in the whole run of the raid.
Um... If the player has killed this dungeons boss, and has gotten the bosses "Goods"... suppress the treasures from his view, if he looks in the container. (Not permanently, as the player may have legitimately gotten the goods, and accidentally dropped/sold/given them away, not knowing what they were for. If that is the case, they are most-likely a higher level now, and can handle killing ten bosses, to get the treasure they needed.)
Um... Stop dropping sooo much junk! Drop items only a few levels higher, more stuff we can use... (If clan, and that is a clan-creature, then drop a clan item... If not clan, drop more substitute items.) Don't drop level 5 items for a level 200 person, just show them nothing. Let the level 2 guy see the level 5 item in the container, to swipe.
Um... Stop dropping soo many UNIQUE items, if we already have them! How many copper wires and power supplies do I have to see, if I already have one of each, and can't do anything with them! Can't trade them, can't sell them, can't use them... Well, not yet... and I might never use them... will I? What are they for? I am full of unique items I can't seem to use.
Um... Backpacks... KG??? 50 100 200??? Where is items weight located? One would think that a 100 KG pack would have twice as many spaces as the 50 KG pack... Something is wrong there, we don't need more weight, we need more space. I can put 30 backpacks in my inventory, each with 50 KG of items... Is that still 50 KG? Why would I need the pack with the same 30 spaces, for the other 50 KG, when it requires that I have twice the requirement to use it. Wouldn't "Strength" be the determining factor of "Weight" that I can carry? (The difference between a purse and a lunch-box, is that a lunch-box of the same size, holds twice the weight?!?!?!?)
Um... If I need 100 skill to install item XYZ, and my skill falls below 100, then item XYZ should be reduced proportionally in function. EG, if I have cyber-strength +10, and it required that I had 100 skill in strength to install. Now my strength, (Due to buffer / toxin / spell / virus / encumbrance...), is now down to 90... that is 10% less, and the +10 should now be twice the penalty, 20% or -2, to the +10, should be a new bonus of +8 for that item, which shouldn't even be installed, if a buffer was used. Requirements should be for NATURAL skills, not "drug / magic / psychological", skills.... Um... I think I am the hulk, because these drugs make me not feel the pain... I can handle this tank-arm-cybernetic... even though I am actually physically, and mentally still only a pop-eye looking guy... (Thus the double negative to the bonus... The requirements are there for a reason, it takes 100 strength skill to operate that arm, and your 90 strength just won't cut it! Remember, this is progressive values, so 90 to 100 is what? Like 20 points, as opposed ot 10.)
Um... Remove graphic settings that have no positive gain, they just uglify the game, and cause confusion. Not to mention, that many are redundant. You are only changing the game-view, not the actual rendering. Selecting many of the LOW settings you have actually slow-down the game, because you are processing a downgrade, from the original upgrade.
EG... Windows is 32K colors, no-one has 16K colors, that is a display setting for old 386/LCD compatibility. There is no speed gain in the DISPLAY of 16K colors, nor is there any gain from using 16K color images in the graphics card. (It is not 50% gain in memory, because windows has to turn that into 32K, to reduce it in your VIEW-DISPLAY, back into 16K colors.) Trust me... run a RAM monitor, and actually measure frame-rates of each setting to determine if there is any possible gains or losses. If the gain is minimal, remove it, or simply show on the settings, the "Possible" gains as an individual %.
(You measure any gains, by running it with all your setting on full, with one setting turned down... then measure it with all settings down, and that single setting turned up... and compare those gains/losses to the ALL-UP, and ALL-DOWN...)
EG, If you have setting A = 0-100 (0 = off) {You need to measure 1 also.}
All on = 10.45 avg*
- A = 100% (On) 10.45 fps avg*
- A = 1% (On) 10.45 fps avg
- A = 0 (Off) 11.45 fps avg
All off = 600.20 fps avg*
- A = 100% (On) 180.45 fps avg
- A = 1% (On) 317.93 fps avg
- A = 0 (Off) 600.20 fps avg*
That tells you, this setting, with all others off, and this setting on, will severely slow-down your system by almost 50%, just from having it on. Additionally, at 100% the final frame-rate is going to be about 33% of the fastest possible speed. (This setting should just be killed.)
(If you actually recorded this in a pre-run on the users system, you could auto-adjust all the settings, before the game even started. Reducing each settings maximum, to the point where losses are less than 50% from the fastest all-off values, and setting the lowest settings, to the point where losses are less than 10% from the fastest all-off values. If going from [OFF-0] to [ON-1%] is less than 5%, than don't give the option of [OFF-0] for that setting. If the value of [ON-100%], is less than 2%, you might want to just hide that entire option. The losses/gains are marginal for that setting.)
Ok, back to the game...
I know YOU are not the ones who made the game... but this is the only place I can post, since the official forums are only for paying customers, who have already overcome all these issues as normal, or they don't see them as issues.
I speak as someone who is a "Free", "Potential new customer", as someone with money to invest in this in the future. (Personal investment, not like buying stocks.)
Trust me... as technical as I am, if I am having issues with it... then it NEEDS to be K.I.S.S.ed for realistic retail, and faster expansion. (Having a cult following may pay a few peoples bills for a few years, but cults die. Look at Grease, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Starcraft, Civilization, Tetris, DX-Ball, Pac-Man, Rubix, AOL... Now take a look at the opposition, Lego, Google, Micro-Soft, Javascript, HTML, Ford, Hoyle, Sterling... Only mountains like to stay around, and decay after they have grown solid in time. Be a tree, grow slow, with many rings, and spread only as you need to. If you grow too fast, you will topple from your own weight, without that strong rooted base. Keep it simple, because simple is what people pay for. If it is too complex, they feel like they are stupid, because they can't figure it out... no-one wants to pay to feel stupid... Ok, only those people who paid millions for 1-800-dial-an-insult.)