Messages

1

The Pit / Re: Answer above, Ask below

« on: June 03, 2018, 12:23:24 pm »

this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlgFuk20TtM&feature=youtu.be&t=2453

will goio ever be mainstream ?

2

The Pit / Double it

« on: June 03, 2018, 12:03:28 pm »

Would you like to double the player count in Goio ?

Would you like to boost your income ?

if you answered yes to these questions you are in luck

we are currently experiencing the muslims holy month, the Ramadan.

A time where muslims purge themselves from evil and whatever good deeds they do, will count double in their afterlife

"Think Safety first" has released this video to help us all reach our individual goals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4_9TR7K4S8

I would like to thank "Think safety first" for this video and wish him and all other muslims a good Ramadan and Eid.

3

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Making new players stay

« on: May 26, 2018, 07:54:22 am »

About the phrases "It's a niche game" and/or "It's an Indie Game"

To me, these phrases just seem like ways to excuse the low player base. It implies that the game have a very limited appeal to the general public. I don't think this is true, at all. And using excuses like this to try and stop improving the game is a really bad idea.

Hamster made his own suggestion on how to improve the match making system. I assume he did so because he thinks there is room for improvement and that his suggested improvement would combat the  "low retention rates" ?

Take any kind of business. If you get 10.000 customers in the door and out of those, 1 come back. Maybe there is some room for improvement somewhere ? Of course you could start making up excuses and say "most people have bad taste" or be more diplomatic and say "only a very selected group of people are able to enjoy the product I provide them with"

When you get a lot of people in the door of your business. It's because people assume that they want what you have to offer. Goio sold a lot of copies because people liked what they saw in the promotional videos and perhaps on youtube also.

This brings us to a paradox. If only 1 in 10.000 people can enjoy Guns of Icarus. Then why does it have such good ratings ? 91% out of 13.398 reviews are positive on steam ?!
(btw around 1/3 negative reviews revolve around the low playerbase)

Do you think it could be because people pick up the game, experience how awesome it is during the sale. Write a good review, while they have fun and good matches. And then once the population, surely but safely gets decimated by a broken match making system. They lose interest ?

4

General Discussion / Re: Black list

« on: May 25, 2018, 10:24:12 am »

I like the idea of being able to add a personal note to other players.  Why a "black list" instead of a "player note" though ?

I play with a lot of new players, a lot of the time. I usually add them to friends list but sometimes I can't remember them after a week, and I feel bad when they expect me too and I don't.

Also sometimes I have people blocked and it might just have been because they at a given time were very loud in a lobby. While other people are blocked for other reasons. Often times i simple don't remember why i have people blocked. So it would be very helpful to have the ability to attach notes to other players

An added bonus to having a note system is that it will be easier for mods to detect and deal with trouble makers. Sometimes someone who is out of control might not get a lot of reports but the note system would give the mods a more clear view of whats going on with a given player

5

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: New Lobby System Idea

« on: May 21, 2018, 02:05:15 pm »

I agree with the "no opponents"-lobby where the pilot is in charge of what tools the crew should bring.

About the model you suggest. Where players start out on a ship with rating 0 and work it's way up - I do not agree with. Because it does not solve what imo is the biggest problem this game have. The stomping and consequently loss of new players.

Let's say we have a stack of 4 vet's playing in the system you suggest. They get the super high ratings because they kill everyone they face. To start out with they will very likely get to stomp some novice ships since in your suggestion you mention they should "start at the bottom"

Eventually the match making will not be able to find anyone who can match their ships rating and so they wont have any game to play in.

They will either stop playing, try their luck in a custom lobby or form a new ship and start stomping the novices all over again. They can do this because their ships rating is now back "at the bottom"

About the 30 sec. unstoppable lobby pregame. I really like that idea. But I think it should be a team thing. Where you can establish communication with your allies and discuss strategy. The idea that you can see what your opponents bring and who they might be could make people leave at this point effectively destroying the game for the rest of the players before it have even started.

6

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Making new players stay

« on: May 21, 2018, 08:50:59 am »

In the current state of "match making". Sooner or later the novices are going to face stacked ships. They are gonna figure out that their flame thrower Pyramidion-build might not be such a hot idea after all. And that's usually when they lose interest in the game and quit.

It makes me sad, every time during a sale, to observe a population that is at least 10x of what is normally is. Just to have the sale end, and slowly but surely almost all of the new players introduced to the game leave.

To combat this, you could implement a match making system that puts players directly into the game, as (one of) their selected class(es). The load outs should be selected by the captain of the ship. So in this type of game, no lobby at all.  It would also have the benefit of players not being able to see what they are going up against before the match. Meaning that "let's try to counter whatever ship/tools our opponents are bringing" will not be an option.  When the match starts the only information you have about your opponents would be : who they are and what ships they have. You would not know what weapons they have until you fight them

I do understand that this system will suck for some people. Vet's who sit and stack with their friends and stomp anyone "dumb" enough to stay in their lobby will probably have a long wait in such a match making system.  So they would have to go into a custom game, and hope someone will venture into their lobby and play with them. The novices however will not venture into this area and for those players and the player base : that is a good thing !

7

Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Making new players stay

« on: May 12, 2018, 10:49:41 am »

There is no point in having people who played 20 matches play people who have +5000. And there never will be. It might be "fun" for the vets. But in the long run it will only make fewer people stay. Unless the new players "get lucky" and play with a person who have a good understanding of the game (such as a ca) it's hopeless. And even with a CA in the crew they can't win.From the start all the vets know that it's not gonna be a match it is gonna be a PURGE

What is the CA suppose to tell them when they lose 5-0, without breaking hull on the enemies even once ?

I am not a CA, but I am trying to think about positive things to say to a group of new players after such a thing

8

Feedback and Suggestions / Making new players stay

« on: May 12, 2018, 09:17:19 am »

First off, I would like to congratulate Muse Games on their release of Guns of Icarus Online, and Guns of Icarus Alliance (from here on just Guns of Icarus) on the Playstation 4 platform !

Good job, awesome to get people on console, into the player base.

The reason I write this post. Is that I have been in this game since 2014. I have seen many sales. I think I got a good idea of the problems that cause most of the new players to leave the game.

I would like to give you my input on how to make new players stay, and become a part of the community.

When I play with new people who just joined Guns of Icarus.Typically they tell me the game is awesome. They love it.And with good reason. It is indeed one of the best team based games out there. Ther is NOTHING wrong with the game itself

The problem come when they (novices) get matched against people who have 5000+ matches and they and their friends have 20. Imagine if you wanted to pick up cs:go, dota2, league of legends or team fortress with your friends. Imagine, you getting matched up against a team where 7 out of 10 players have 5000 matches played. It would not be fun for you and your friends. You would get owned and your opponents might realize how bad you are and start killing you with knifes. To "give you a chance"

In the same way, Guns of Icarus is not fun for the new players who run into stacks of high level players (and as we all know they will eventually do that). They get crushed and have a very bad gaming experience. So they exit and never come back

To combat this problem I suggest you put in place a new match making system. The one that is in place right now is not working in favor of new players. It is working in favor of veterans who are going to play the game anyway.

What would such a match making system look like ?

You select your desired class(es), you click a button and when the match is found there is no lobby. You go directly to the game. The person who is pilot, will select tools for the engineers and gunners. And while I know this takes away the "freedom" from the poor novice to pick parachute instead of a spyglass...so they at least have a chance of getting a soft landing if they fall off the ship. I think that it would help a lot in terms of getting better matches. Both for novices and experienced players

What about friends, who wants to play with their friends ?

Keep the match making lobby. Let people search as a party of friends. Let them go into the "custom game list" If they have a full team of people who are level 135; then it might take a while.And sure that sucks. But it's better than them creating a custom lobby and stomping all the novices that join.Like they do now. People who are already level 135 in any class already proved that they love this game and are probably going to stay regardless.

Typically when I bring the issue of the match making system up to other players. Their response is "the playerbase can't support this kind of system"
That might be true. The playerbase might not be able to support it. But if you keep the match making system that is in place now, you will never get the playerbase to support a superior match making. Like a snake biting it's own tail and saying "I gotta eat my tail cause otherwise ill starve to death"

finally I would like to address "smurf accounts"

Meaning accounts where a player, who is (typically) very skilled, make a new account in order pretend he or she is a novice and destroy novices who don't even see that level 135 coming at them. While i do understand that smurf account provides a little bit of cash flow. It is nothing compared to the potential value they kill with their smurf account. If they want a new nick name they can pay the 1$ fee. And while I don't know this for sure. I have a feeling that if some high level player wanted a stat reset and talked to an admin about it. They would get it .


Thank you for taking the time to read this post

9

General Discussion / Re: Dust and Air IndieGoGo Is Live!

« on: September 11, 2017, 09:01:11 am »

I played trough your game and I would like to give you my feedback.

Please put into mind, before you read the following post : I would not usually play this type of game, at all. And the only reason I did it, is because it is related to guns of icarus.

I will try to break down my experience into bits

Starting off with the autocamper and fire somewhere.  I can't imagine where that would take place ? Also I don't understand how the dialog is relevant to anything else that goes on in the game

After that we move to a gathering of people from all over the (goio) world, politics goes on...I found it interresting. And I would have liked to see some more drama. After some time the protagonist is back outside and all like "eww politics, ill rather pick up girls"

then he starts picking up girls like the insecure teenager he is. I can't relate to any of it. I mean maybe if I had been between 15, and 19 it would have made sense to me. But as of now; all I see it a inseucre teen that I can't relate to or identify with. 

I don't know what (age)group you want to target with your game. But for me to enjoy this game; I would need a lot more politics and combat, and a lot less (teen)dating. The parts I truely enjoyed were inside the forum, the music and the artwork.

10

General Discussion / Re: About auto balance

« on: April 12, 2017, 10:03:08 am »

I talked about this in a game. I was told that the auto balance is determined by how many active players a faction have. A player is counted active if he/she plays 1 game in a week.If this is correct I misunderstood how the auto balance in my original post

11

General Discussion / Re: About auto balance

« on: April 12, 2017, 09:02:39 am »

I think if you are winning more/on harder difficulties than the average member of your faction you should come out ahead

I don't mean auto balance in relation to my own faction. I mean the auto balance in the world. Where less active factions get a bonus for being smaller/have a higher level of inactivity

even if the auto balance is implemented that badly,

I don't know how it is implemented, but I would like to know

because the more you play the more you improve the 'quality' of your faction.

I thought that the more I play the bigger bonus the other factions get. I don't understand what you mean by improving the 'quality' of my faction

12

General Discussion / About auto balance

« on: April 12, 2017, 05:54:31 am »

I watched the last dev fireside, and there were some talk about auto balance of factions.From what I understood : if one faction have a lot of active members other factions with less active members gain bonuses to keep things fair.

Does auto balance mean, that being super active and doing a ton of runs will just cause the other factions to gain an even bigger bonus from the auto balance system ? I don't know if this is the case. But I kinda lost the motivation to do a lot of runs in Alliance because I got the feeling that all my effort will be translated into an "auto balance advantage" for the other factions.If I don't do any runs, my inactivity will translate into an advantage in the auto balance system for my faction ? If this is the case, I really don't see the point. I mean doing the runs are fun, but to keep on doing them it would be nice with some sort of progress that does not translate into an advantage for my opponents

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Feedback and Suggestions / Re: Night Map Discussions:

« on: January 26, 2017, 10:50:25 am »

Looks awesome. This is gonna be great!

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General Discussion / Re: Organized balanced games with rating

« on: June 29, 2016, 04:01:41 pm »

Perhaps that is a more effective way for players to learn. In the system I might make, Nobody will be excluded because of their levels.  The point of the system is not to teach novices how to play. If they have a good attitude and want to learn how to play in a competitive environment they can do that, is all i am saying.

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General Discussion / Re: Organized balanced games with rating

« on: June 29, 2016, 02:56:32 pm »

I am working the match making angle. At the same time, the system should be available to anyone who wants to play competitive matches, regardless of their levels (unless they want the pilot role)

Public matchmaking like it exist in Goio today is often hopelessly unbalanced, this is often due to the fact that people likes to play with their friends and it's often these groups of friends are all very high level and very good at the game.

With the system I am thinking about creating, you cannot expect to get in the same team/ship as your friends, because if your friend is a really  good player he might be picked by an enemy captain