My Concerns & the State of the Game
Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 11:41 pm
Hi All,
I'm posting this because I'm very concerned where I see the revival of SE headed. As of Beta war 7 there are just not enough players to make a viable/playable experience and more people are leaving the game every month.
Here are the statistics for # of unique players in galaxies after the no mule rule was instituted:
Beta 3: 29 players (25 players scoring > 1 point)
Beta 4: 28 players (21 players scoring > 1 point)
Beta 5: 36 players (21 players scoring > 1 point)
Beta 6: 20 players (18 players scoring > 1 point)
Beta 7: 15 players (11 players scoring > 1 point)
This is an unsustainable downward trend. I honestly don't think any war where you don't have two teams with at least 6 to 8 players active per team is viable. 4 vs 4 just doesn't work because of the power of the TRA and the impact of a single teammate not being online. Most folks with families just can't be active enough to maintain that pace without burning out. So 6 to 8 players per team at least makes it ok for a few people miss a day in the game and doesn't too negatively impact your team.
I'd like to suggest we can't keep running wars right after another. I think there needs to be some coordination before a war begins. Every war a few people will make a strong burst of activity, but then burn out by the end of it and take a few wars off. There is enough of a community here to have a strong 8 vs 8 game (perhaps even a 10 vs 10 could be possible) but with the continuously running wars this never occurs. As a community if we want to have an active war, I feel team rosters should be considered before the new war begins. Perhaps a war shouldn't start immediately after the last war to give folks time to get ready.
I'm not sure if some of those ideas make sense, but something needs to change because Beta war 7 is a mess. There's a solid team of 4 who wants to play actively but there is no one who is able to fight them. Then another half of the galaxy has limited time to play but is still PMing. This is absolutely not viable, no one is happy, and folks seem to have been leaving the game for multiple reasons the last few wars now. So with the players we still have I feel we need to start coordinating wars based on folks schedules. Reach out to folks to get them back in the game to see if we can get critical mass for at least a 10 vs 10 fight. People being online makes you want to come into the game more. Also it removes the stress of making it feel like you're letting your team down not being online if you cant because of other commitments.
*** But more importantly I think our community (and Caleb) needs to seriously assess the 'state of the game' before it completely dies out. What is our short, mid, and long term plans for the game? It would be nice to develop a timetable and plan. I feel the game is VERY playable. I'm very impressed with Caleb's work, and feel it is a better product than the original game with some of Caleb's small enhancements and tweaks. The primary thing I've heard Caleb mention is a lack of documentation for new players. Seneca and I were speaking and there wasn't documentation for the first game years ago and it still worked out fine. Documentation and articles were created organically for the old SE. In 2014 I really like the wiki type technology where a community can all contribute to the documentation. I'm strongly suspecting if the active community got together we can volunteer and divide and conquer on tasks from a documentation perspective. What else is missing before we can move forward and let the world know about this game? Caleb also seemed to have some concerns regarding the artwork aspect.
I posted a thread in early 2013 that didn't get many replies titled "Discussion on the best approach to revive SE" where I brought up some questions regarding the long term plan for SE: (I suggest folks take a quick read)
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=109
Some particular points I wrote that I will reiterate: (some of my comments may be dated since they were written during alpha testing)
----
So what do folks think about some of the following questions in terms of the best strategy to revive the game:
1) What does SE need to look like in 2013 based on the changes in the last 15 years to be successful?
1a) What is the right balance of any changes to the game, but to still remain true to the legacy of SE. (Some improvements to the graphics and move it to beta, or more significant changes?)
2) When is the best time to really get the word out on this game?
2a) What is the best approach to get the word out at attract the core players back, and especially new players? (I'm guessing we'd want to post on multiple game forums, as a fyi my two main sources of sci-fi gaming news are the following sites http://www.spacesector.com/ and http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/) What other sites are there out there, and what other ways do we have to get the word out? And if players check out the game, how do we keep them?
Also in the gaming world of 2013 I see many games move forward through sites like kickstarter. One (or a few) sharp programmers, have an idea, and publicize it. They can get the minimal funding they need and make it successful if they themselves don't have a skill in a specific area (for example graphics or music). Build a community to get feedback, test the game, and make it successful. Two good examples of kickstarter projects I think are FTL and Stardrive.
----
There must be dozens of places where information about the game could be shared so people can 'find' the game. Once more people (not just old players) find the game it can reach critical mass when it can be fun all the time for all types of players. And word about the game will spread by word of mouth and grow even faster. But at the same time I understand we might not be ready for people to find it. And I know Caleb has a job and only limited time to work on the game. But I fear without a game plan this game will slowly fade into obscurity as the communities excitement wanes and starts having some negative experiences in game.
Something we all have in common is a love of SE, and a desire to see it succeed and be revived. I just wanted to get folks talking and thinking about some of these things before its too late and too many people have left the game.
Sorry if this got too long winded. I love this game and sincerely wish to see it succeed. I know it can succeed if we work together!
Regards,
Hetulik
I'm posting this because I'm very concerned where I see the revival of SE headed. As of Beta war 7 there are just not enough players to make a viable/playable experience and more people are leaving the game every month.
Here are the statistics for # of unique players in galaxies after the no mule rule was instituted:
Beta 3: 29 players (25 players scoring > 1 point)
Beta 4: 28 players (21 players scoring > 1 point)
Beta 5: 36 players (21 players scoring > 1 point)
Beta 6: 20 players (18 players scoring > 1 point)
Beta 7: 15 players (11 players scoring > 1 point)
This is an unsustainable downward trend. I honestly don't think any war where you don't have two teams with at least 6 to 8 players active per team is viable. 4 vs 4 just doesn't work because of the power of the TRA and the impact of a single teammate not being online. Most folks with families just can't be active enough to maintain that pace without burning out. So 6 to 8 players per team at least makes it ok for a few people miss a day in the game and doesn't too negatively impact your team.
I'd like to suggest we can't keep running wars right after another. I think there needs to be some coordination before a war begins. Every war a few people will make a strong burst of activity, but then burn out by the end of it and take a few wars off. There is enough of a community here to have a strong 8 vs 8 game (perhaps even a 10 vs 10 could be possible) but with the continuously running wars this never occurs. As a community if we want to have an active war, I feel team rosters should be considered before the new war begins. Perhaps a war shouldn't start immediately after the last war to give folks time to get ready.
I'm not sure if some of those ideas make sense, but something needs to change because Beta war 7 is a mess. There's a solid team of 4 who wants to play actively but there is no one who is able to fight them. Then another half of the galaxy has limited time to play but is still PMing. This is absolutely not viable, no one is happy, and folks seem to have been leaving the game for multiple reasons the last few wars now. So with the players we still have I feel we need to start coordinating wars based on folks schedules. Reach out to folks to get them back in the game to see if we can get critical mass for at least a 10 vs 10 fight. People being online makes you want to come into the game more. Also it removes the stress of making it feel like you're letting your team down not being online if you cant because of other commitments.
*** But more importantly I think our community (and Caleb) needs to seriously assess the 'state of the game' before it completely dies out. What is our short, mid, and long term plans for the game? It would be nice to develop a timetable and plan. I feel the game is VERY playable. I'm very impressed with Caleb's work, and feel it is a better product than the original game with some of Caleb's small enhancements and tweaks. The primary thing I've heard Caleb mention is a lack of documentation for new players. Seneca and I were speaking and there wasn't documentation for the first game years ago and it still worked out fine. Documentation and articles were created organically for the old SE. In 2014 I really like the wiki type technology where a community can all contribute to the documentation. I'm strongly suspecting if the active community got together we can volunteer and divide and conquer on tasks from a documentation perspective. What else is missing before we can move forward and let the world know about this game? Caleb also seemed to have some concerns regarding the artwork aspect.
I posted a thread in early 2013 that didn't get many replies titled "Discussion on the best approach to revive SE" where I brought up some questions regarding the long term plan for SE: (I suggest folks take a quick read)
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=109
Some particular points I wrote that I will reiterate: (some of my comments may be dated since they were written during alpha testing)
----
So what do folks think about some of the following questions in terms of the best strategy to revive the game:
1) What does SE need to look like in 2013 based on the changes in the last 15 years to be successful?
1a) What is the right balance of any changes to the game, but to still remain true to the legacy of SE. (Some improvements to the graphics and move it to beta, or more significant changes?)
2) When is the best time to really get the word out on this game?
2a) What is the best approach to get the word out at attract the core players back, and especially new players? (I'm guessing we'd want to post on multiple game forums, as a fyi my two main sources of sci-fi gaming news are the following sites http://www.spacesector.com/ and http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/) What other sites are there out there, and what other ways do we have to get the word out? And if players check out the game, how do we keep them?
Also in the gaming world of 2013 I see many games move forward through sites like kickstarter. One (or a few) sharp programmers, have an idea, and publicize it. They can get the minimal funding they need and make it successful if they themselves don't have a skill in a specific area (for example graphics or music). Build a community to get feedback, test the game, and make it successful. Two good examples of kickstarter projects I think are FTL and Stardrive.
----
There must be dozens of places where information about the game could be shared so people can 'find' the game. Once more people (not just old players) find the game it can reach critical mass when it can be fun all the time for all types of players. And word about the game will spread by word of mouth and grow even faster. But at the same time I understand we might not be ready for people to find it. And I know Caleb has a job and only limited time to work on the game. But I fear without a game plan this game will slowly fade into obscurity as the communities excitement wanes and starts having some negative experiences in game.
Something we all have in common is a love of SE, and a desire to see it succeed and be revived. I just wanted to get folks talking and thinking about some of these things before its too late and too many people have left the game.
Sorry if this got too long winded. I love this game and sincerely wish to see it succeed. I know it can succeed if we work together!
Regards,
Hetulik