Topics

1

Feedback and Suggestions / Divide Lochnagar damage by clip size

« on: July 27, 2013, 06:56:04 am »

I love the idea behind Lochnagar ammo, a high risk-high reward shot for skilled gunners. Unfortunately, I think the design is flawed. Unlike other types of ammo, which may be better or worse on different guns, Lochnagar is the only type of ammo that straight doesn't work on certain guns (such as Gatling or Flamethrower). This is bad for a couple of reasons:

1- The most obvious, it limits gameplay choices. It could be used in several different guns, but by design it can't, which leaves the gunner with fewer tactical choices.

2- It's very bad for newbies. I've seen many youtube videos in which a newbie loaded Lochnagar on his gun and wondered why it didn't work. Hell, if I recall correctly there was a point in the TGS podcast in which someone tried to shoot a gatling with lochnagar and wondered why it felt like a pea shooter (maybe it was on some other video, please correct me).

So how can this be fixed? I think there is a simple way to deal with the issue with Lochnagar ammo, and it is the following:

Divide the damage the Gun gets from firing Lochnagar by its clip size.

It doesn't have to be exactly that, it can be twice the damage THEN divided by clip size or whatever. The idea is that the weapon breaks after a consistent percentage of the clip size has been used, so if you're used a one-shot gun it will break right away, while you'll be able to empty anything from half to a full clip when using a gatling, before it breaks down.

I think this would make Lochnagar scalable between different weapons while keeping its background drawbacks (terrible rotation speed, self damage). What do you think?

2

General Discussion / Any good videos from the perspective of a competitive crew?

« on: May 22, 2013, 04:52:54 am »

I love watching GOIO footage, but most of it in youtube is by inexperienced teams, mostly first impressions / let's play channels. This can be fun but I would like to watch crews who fly properly (at Cogs level if possible) to learn from their teamwork and tactics...

Of course watching the Cogs themselves is great, but the perspective is too limited: I would like to know about the crew communication in those encounters and how things are going inside the ship.

So, any channel or  videos you recommend? Thanks!

3

Feedback and Suggestions / EMBLEMS: Feature & Business model proposal.

« on: May 21, 2013, 01:16:51 pm »

Hey there!

Now that the Kickstarter is over and falls a bit short of funding the entire AM, I think it's a good moment to brainstorm and find possible, ethical ways Muse could milk us out of our hard-earned dollars (and other people of course).

I'm not an expert in virtual business models but I know what I would spend my money on, as a consumer. I think the best way to look at this is from the example of a successful funding campaign, and one that I have a lot of respect for is Path of Exile.

For those who haven't tried it, PoE is an indie ARPG in closed beta that took a donation-based approach to funding, offering several funding "packs". This is nothing new by itself but one of the deals (the Diamond Supporter pack) has been quite successful, despite being $1000 a piece! As of today, more than 200 players have purchased a Diamond Supporter pack, which is a lot of money for an indie company!

But... Why are Diamond Packs so popular? Well, the selling feature (aside from being recognizable in the forums as a great supporter of the company, and some in-game and IRL swag)  was the ability to design a Unique Item, which as you may imagine is the soul of any ARPG. Of course the Unique designer wouldn't get a copy of the item, since GGG are strictly against Pay to Win (as I expect Muse to be) but the possibility to design anything from flavour to mechanics does indeed give the donor a feeling of impact in the game, and the possibility of designing a Unique that complements his/her particular build is tempting.

Now, I think once AM starts kicking in and more RPG elements are added to the way we build our ships, GOIO would benefit a lot from a business practice like this. However, it's clear that it's just not viable to offer players the possibility to design a ship, and even though Muse has taken steps in this direction (designing NPCs and costumes) both of these aren't that exciting to be honest.

So, what GOIO needs is a game mechanic that has an impact, is flavourful and easy to iterate upon, so that at a reasonable cost players can contribute by designing.

This is an example of a possible implementation: Emblems.


Ship Emblems
Emblems are a piece of ship equipment that could be obtained in Adventure Mode in a variety of ways. Sometimes randomly, sometimes as part of a quest... They feature a particular symbol, and a ship may have one emblem equipped at a given time. Think of them as coats of arms. Installing an emblem of the ship will make the symbol appear at certain locations, such as the flags, and the balloon will display the symbol and change colour accordingly.

These emblems may be generic or faction-specific, and be restricted for that faction. For instance all Emblems featuring a vulture would be part of the Arashi League.

Aside from aesthetic changes, Emblems give passive bonuses to the ship that tend to be conditional. All of them should of course be superstition/morale based, since we don't really have magic in this game. Note: This is only for AM. In Skirmish you can also use Emblems but they will just be aesthetic.

Some examples:

Phoenix: +10% to Max Speed. Whenever the Armour is repaired, if the hull HP was 20% of lower, the Phoenix emblem will boost the ship damage and armour by 50% for 20 seconds.

Sand Phantasm: (arashi only +10% to Maneuverability. When close to the sand, the ship displaying the Sand Phantasm will be camouflaged and very hard to see from above (It becomes translucent when seen from above).

Blazing Sun: +20% to Fire Damage. During daytime, that bonus is doubled.


Note this is just an example of a possible mechanic, the core idea is offering players something they can help design in exchange for a hefty donation (I think anywhere from $250 to $500 to design an Emblem would be nice depending on how complex they are) but any other mechanic would do. This would cover many different motivations, such as players wanting to design an Emblem just to make their ships look cool, to people wanting to complement their favourite build with the Emblem of their choosing. This could be paid by individuals or clans, and clans would naturally want to imprint their legacy into the game lore by designing their clan Emblem (of course they would have no advantage in the process of actually getting it, but they could be mentioned in the related lore or flavour text).

What do you think? Would you like to see anything similar to this in Adventure Mode? Would you donate more happily if it gave you the chance to design an item that impacted gameplay?

4

General Discussion / To Muse: Is KS a letdown, or an encouragement?

« on: May 20, 2013, 01:12:50 pm »

Typically when you follow a kickstarter it is much easier to gauge how happy the creators are about the funding received. If the baseline is met that means a green light to the project, and that amount of money is pretty much what the creator wished to cover the budget. From then on, it's just extras.

The way you guys at Muse have gone at this Kickstarter project (which I have nothing against!) has left me wondering if the tentative result of $200.000 is internally perceived as a letdown or a positive surprise. Seeing as your budget for the whole Adventure Mode sits around $500k, I could understand if you felt disheartened after the campaign, but having the line at $100k may very well mean you didn't expect to cover it all.

So, being honest, how much were you expecting to raise? Is the Kickstarter campaign turning out above or below expectations? Did you honestly believe you could pull AM off with only $100k? And if so, how much of a difference does $200k make? I pledged as much as I could, and I'm hoping the campaign isn't leaving you guys with a bad taste =).

Thanks!

5

Gameplay / Can anyone explain the Harpoon Gun to me?

« on: May 17, 2013, 05:16:14 am »

Yesterday my crew and I decided to try something for fun and fit a Pyramidion with 4 Harpoon Guns. Time to go whaling!

The idea was to use the front harpoons to attack to the enemy and ram it repeteadly. Despite not knowing much how the harpoon worked we thought it would help keeping us lined up for the ram.

Oh boy how wrong we were.

After the disaster of a game that followed, I just want to ask: How exactly does the harpoon gun work? I didn't feel any traction on my ship when we had the harpoons attached. The only effect I could measure was a completely inability to turn, apparently related to the direction the other ship was turning to. This made it completely impossible to ram, and at some points I could swear I was under the effect of moonshine, except without the awesome speed.

So, how does the Harpoon work exactly? What is it good for? Is there any loadout that uses the harpoon?

Thanks!

6

Feedback and Suggestions / Ship-specific subsystems

« on: May 16, 2013, 11:43:53 am »

One of the minor complaints I have so far about this awesome, awesome game, is that the crew dynamics are somewhat similar through the ship roster.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the subtle (and not so subtle) differences between staffing a Galleon and a Spire, and I know things must be done very differently. However, the actions themselves are the same. You either pilot, fix stuff, or fire. Despite the many shades of these three actions, I am sometimes left wishing there was a bit more.

So I was thinking about other airship games and the old Skies of Arcadia came to mind. In it, ships were somewhat similar, but each had a "special" ability of some sort. The first ship you got could fire a massive harpoon cannon, for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwihuf51Gvo&feature=player_detailpage#t=148s It required a lot of resources and had a long cooldown, but you can see how cool that was.

Of course, that's too anime-y and over the top, but I was wondering how/if it could be translated to GOIO.

So, I thought it would be cool if every ship had a subsystem exclusive to itself. Another position that can be manned, destroyed and repaired, which gives said ship a tactical advantage related to its role. Maybe this is redundant with player skills, but let me put some examples for fun:

Pyramidon: Steam boiler: There is an open steam boiler near the engines that can be manned by anyone. When manning it you can feed more coal to it in the form of a minigame. If you do it right the engines get much faster, but if you overshoot you end up damaging them. Goes well with the ramming theme.

Spire: Balloon Decoys: By heavily damaging your balloon (you're extracting gas), and a limited number of times per game, you can inflate decoy balloons and release them around you (similar to the training dummies) to act as cover and distraction.

Galleon: Lower Deck Shield: You can man a rotating crank which, when activated, lowers wooden planks that cover your side guns. This way guns will not be damaged and damage to the lower deck is reduced (of course you can't fire). Since Galleon guns usually have a long cooldown, I think it fits the theme.


What would you think of systems like these? (not particularly the ones proposed, but the core mechanic in itself).

If this sounds too extreme, maybe I would just be happy with more things in the ships to interact with. Little touches like levers that change the position of a ladder, a sliding panel here and there to offer more or less protection to a particular system, and so on.

7

General Discussion / Newbie impressions, and where I would love to see this game going

« on: May 13, 2013, 07:34:18 am »

Hey there!

I recently discovered GOIO and, being captivated by what I saw, I got hold of a 4-pack. Together with three close friends, I'm having an absolute blast.

We used to be members of an EvE online pirate fleet. This means we are used to complex mechanics, teamwork and heart-destroying levels of adrenaline. Even though EvE required quite a bit of teamwork, there is nothing like sharing the physical space of the same airship. Somehow, it makes the communication much more intimate and interesting. What I like the most is that, and I can't really put my finger on why, it is hard to get angry at your teammates if they do something wrong. You're keeping a ship afloat, there is no need for that!

I understand that, being new, I know very little about the game, but I think I wanted to offer my opinion at this stage anyway, because sometimes the perspective of a newbie is interesting. Why? Well, things that I like or dislike of the game are the sort of things that a new player will realize first, and in order to make it a successful game, appealing to new recruits is important.

So here's what I noticed: I've been showing the game to several friends since I first knew about it. Interestingly I got extreme reactions. They either showed their patent dislike (before of after playing) or got absolutely hooked. I studied who among my friends fall in each category and this is what I got:

Dislike: The sort of players who game mostly for the entertainment value. Amusement park MMO gamers (GW2, Wow...), single player orientated gamers, with interest in narrative and slow-paced, easy going, visually stunning experiences.

Like: Competitive, study-minded players. My former EvE flight mates, MOBA gamers, players with interest in complex tactics that arise from a simple ruleset on a level playing field (chess players, Go players, MTG players)...

I am not saying that GOIO can't offer good things for both groups! I am amazed that Adventure is coming and there will be more engaging content that might draw that subset of my friends to it. However, the correlation is so strong that I couldn't help but notice it. I personally belong to the second group, and I could really feel the draw of GOIO when I realized there was such a thing as metagame, proper balance, strategies, tactics...

So, despite the fact that I'm excited for Adventure Mode, I would personally love to see GOIO evolving in the direction of an eSport. I think it does have a great potential in that regard. With some effort put into server architecture and lag issues, some work on balance, matchmaking, ELO based leagues, and more engaging game modes, I would definitely tune in to GOIO streams, read GOIO guides and put hours on training. I would also love to see more ship building options with specific niche purposes, in order to develop a very rich meta (similar to MTG in which, when a new deck is introduced, the meta may quickly change around that new strategy in order to counter it).

So I guess the conclusion is: Adventure is going to be awesome, but I would also like to see more of what keeps me hooked today: Teamwork tactical PvP fights in the sky!