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Topics - awkm

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1
Dev App Testing / Gunner Improvements 2.0
« on: July 03, 2014, 04:33:49 pm »
A huge update has been just pushed with a bunch of new functionality, features, and data changes.

Here's quick rundown of why new ammo is being tested.  Buffing a gun on top of damage modifiers given by ammo can produce the highest DPS potential in the game.  That said, many crews run all Engineers buffing their own guns.  This puts Gunners in an underutilized position.  Without introducing a slew of new mechanics or breaking paradigms we already have, the best way to improve the situation is to take advantage of the 3 ammo slots that only Gunners have by introducing new, very powerful, but very situational ammo.  Hopefully, this will encourage crews to use Gunners and take advantage of the various ammo types they can carry.  And to bring it back full circle, buffing gun functionality has been changed from increasing damage output and instead to reduce reload time.  This means that buffing a gun for a Gunner reinforces the idea of changing ammo by making the Gunner better at their job.  Buffgineers should still be a valid build and despite all these changes, a Buffgineer buffing their own gun with only 1 ammo type can still benefit by the implicity DPS improvement from reloading faster.  Hopefully this is all in the right step.

Disclaimer: These are only proposed changes.  Many skills still need a lot of work in terms of balance but the numbers should indicate the desired role for each. 

Test with a grain of salt and try to give your objective, level-headed, and descriptive feedback.  Simply saying that you like or do not like something is not enough detail.  Please describe why and how you like or dislike the proposed changes and how they will influence your play style, for better or for worse.

There are many changes so take your time and play around with the changes.

Buff Tool:
- Buff to guns reduces reload time by 25% (from increase in dmg)

And a link to a Google Spreadsheet of all the Ammo changes.  Cells that have a black arrow in the top-right corner denotes a change from Production.  Hover over these cells to look at a description of what the values are on production.

https://docs.google.com/a/musegames.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0As7KK0xlixIbdENCVFEzZ09tUjktaFliLWxKekpDREE#gid=6

(You can also comment directly on each cell in the spreadsheet)

Let me know what your general thoughts are and what things need the most attention.  Again, there are a lot of potential changes here so don't take everything too seriously.  I'm not putting these into the game any time soon.

2
Feedback and Suggestions / Call for Gunner Ammo Ideas
« on: May 19, 2014, 02:08:20 pm »
Everyone knows that Gunners may not be the most popular role to play on your ship.  Many think that running Engineers is the most beneficial due to the assortment of Repair/Buff equipment Engineers can carry.  It's time to make Gunners more desirable and the easiest, fastest, and arguably best way to do it is through new Gunner Ammo.



This is a call for new Gunner Ammo that you think will make you choose the 3 slots for ammo that a Gunner has over the 1 slot that the others have.



Theoretically, coming up with ammo types that are more niche means that players will need to take advantage of the the additional gunner slots.  Non-gunners will usually decide to carry 'safe' ammo, which will give them as many gun options as possible.  Niche ammo has very specific use cases: situational and on what gun.  If a gunner is coordinated with the pilot, using these niche ammo should have a large pay-off.  That's the direction I'd like to steer new gunner ammo.

Here is a short list of things we can do, but we welcome other ideas.  However, try to keep the ammo effects localized to the gun they're loaded into.


  • Effects can stay while a gunner is not on the gun, but ammo is loaded into it (like heatsink)
  • Probably could increase max gun health while ammo is loaded
  • Modify primary and secondary damage
  • Modify damage modifier of gun
  • Modify range
  • Modify muzzle speed
  • Deal proportional damage over entire clip (e.g. reduce gun health to 20% by end of clip) 
  • There's a lot we could do... brainstorm away!





Many have suggested other things like new tools and passive abilities.  While these ideas may be good and could solve the gunner issue, these ideas require many new features, code work, UI, and will require new interaction paradigms (how to select and use things) or break existing ones.

Here is a simple rule that we try to follow as much as possible due to results in alpha and beta of the game (more about that later):
  • Ammunition is only used at a gun and forces a reload.  The new ammunition is 'loaded' into the gun at the very last microsecond of the reload time (the bullet icon filling).  Up until then, you can switch between what ammo is being loaded.
  • Repair equipment is only used when you are running around the ship and must be used on a component
  • Pilot tools is only used while on the helm.  They are active so long as you have the skill selected.
  • The two spotting pilot tools, Range Finder and Spotting Glass, are the only two exceptions to the above interaction paradigm.  We'd like to keep it this way and not introduce any more special cases outside of 'spotting' equipment.

Here is information regarding what has happened with Gunner ammo in alpha and beta:
  • Ammo affected reload time.  E.g. one ammo reloaded very quickly but had fewer shots.  However, the way in which the reloading mechanics worked we had to remove reload duration effects because it was breaking in several cases.  It was subject to a lot of abuse.
  • There were gunner passive abilities but were removed because there was a difficulty of selecting what passives were active.  Ultimately, passives caused the decision space to collapse and therefore did not offer players any additional meaningful choices.


Thanks for everyone's input.  Dev App usually has some some weird things to be tested.  Get in touch with Keyvias for a key to Dev App.

3
Gameplay / 1.3.6 Hotfix Flamethrower
« on: April 30, 2014, 01:19:36 pm »
Nerfed as requested.

1.2 Fire Dmg
18% Fire Ignition

Too much nerf?  Too little nerf?

4
Dev App Testing / How to get your input heard
« on: April 29, 2014, 01:33:39 pm »
This is mainly some guidelines so I can see your feedback more readily and the timeframe some of these issues may take to resolve.  However, some of the tips will overlap with things other than balance.

Here is a list of things that could be broken and how quickly it can be fixed.  The longer it take the fix, the earlier we'd like the feedback.  Of course, we'd like all the feedback as early as possible but some things just can't be actionable because it requires a ton of work and there's just not enough time.

- Balance: usually very fast, instantaneous change, but requires testing.  However, some that requires code features will take time.
- Art related: medium to slow, requires artists' time to adjust and even remodel things, rebuilding asset packages
- UI related: fast to medium, small requests can be handled fairly quickly like bugs but huge UI critique can take much longer since we need to blow things up
- Bugs: really depends on the bug, some are quick, some can take a lot of time.

And this is the part where it's more catered to me and balance.  If there's a sticky thread talking about a specific type of balance, please post your ideas in the corresponding sticky threads.  Those are linked to email me when people respond so I can take action very quickly.  There are a lot of posts that talk about several areas of feedback, please try to copy and paste back into the balance threads so I know.

You can always PM me if you start a new thread or have any particular comment.

I'll admit, it's hard to keep track of all the threads.  I want to read all the feedback and you probably want to get it seen too so those are the best ways to get a hold of me.

For detailed submissions that don't require discussion, also feel free to send us an email at feedback@musegames.com directly.  Usually Keyvias will check it out and log it, making sure it gets assigned to the person in charge.

And thank you for everyone taking their time testing in dev app.  We really appreciate it.

Thanks

Eric

PS, feel free to post any questions about the informal process we have or if you want more details about more specific issues and how they are resolved.  We're completely transparent so ask away.

5
Gameplay / 1.3.6 Tar Changes
« on: April 28, 2014, 03:20:30 pm »
Previously, you could exploit how tar worked.  Tar releases a cloud every 3 seconds.  It applied damage once that 3 seconds was up, so at the end of the sequence.  Tapping Tar and deactivating it within 3 seconds would prevent any damage.  You can't do that anymore.

There was some complaint to its effectiveness after the fix, therefore pointing out a imbalance in its original form.  So some changes were made to make it a little better.

Comments here.

6
Gameplay / 1.3.6 Harpoon Changes
« on: April 28, 2014, 10:31:03 am »
Fun?  Not fun?  Still useless?

Your commentary here.

7
Gameplay / 1.3.6 Flamethrower Changes
« on: April 28, 2014, 10:30:19 am »
Flame wars here, literally.

I realize that some of you are saying that the gun is OP, some may have even participated in dev app testing.  However, my impression is that most people liked the changes on dev app and therefore the changes went through to production.  If you want it nerfed, it will be nerfed.  If you want it to stay the same, it will stay the same.  It's your game, after all.  I will push back if general consensus is leading somewhere bad or something we can't do, as usual.

8
Gameplay / 1.3.6 Portable Flak Changes
« on: April 28, 2014, 10:28:07 am »
Your commentary here.

9
Dev App Testing / Goals and Ramifications of Matchmaking
« on: February 21, 2014, 04:36:46 pm »
Now that it's in Dev App, people have been worried.  I've spoken with many people individually and I feel like a broken record right now.  So here's everything we have planned. 

Not all the major features are currently in.  We are only testing the ability of matchmaking itself and if can actually work.





Problems to Solve and Goals of Matchmaking:

Matchmaking, ultimately, is an to improve player retention and user experience flow.  There are a variety of problems that matchmaking looks to solve, a small subset includes:

- Ease of finding a match
- Information overload (related to above)
- Time for match to Ready Up
- Teams being stacked
- Reduce performance overhead

Having a matchmaking system directly solves all those issues to some degree (we have more things to do with match readiness for the future).

That's the gist of it.  All of these didn't happen overnight, if we could do it overnight that would be fantastic and Adventure Mode would be done tomorrow.  We took a lot of time planning this out and thinking of all the issues that will arise with matchmaking.  It took an equally long time to implement the basic fundamentals for matchmaking.  So we need to test that first.

For now, matchmaking will try to make crews of 1 Captain/Pilot, 2 Engineers, and 1 Gunner.  For other variations, you can use Crew Formation and join matchmaking with a custom crew composition.

Ramifications of Matchmaking

There are lot of things that will change or disappear.  Here are some of those things (both what we thought of and concerns from you) :

- Finding people
- Match list
- Finding a game you like (map etc.)
- Socializing

We're hoping to remove Match List.  This is probably the most controversial step and many of you have threatened to leave if we do it, but please believe us when we say that we have a plan to solve all the complaints coming out of this.  The Match List, for us, is actually very cumbersome.  It's a huge performance overhead and performance bottleneck so getting rid of it will help us a lot in tuning other aspects of the game/servers.

We want to make it easier for you to find a match.  By using the various preference toggles, Crew Forming, or joining matchmaking on your own we hope that new and old players will be able to play the game faster (browsing a match list and waiting in lobbies is not playing) with people that will challenge them (no stomping or being stomped).

Here is what you can do:

- You can choose what map preference you have as well as size (the matchmaking system will do its best to respect your preferences but will begin relax if you've been waiting a long time.  The flow is actually very similar to creating a match that no one is interested in, you end up waiting for a long time and end up giving up.)
- You can use Crew Formation to play with the people you want to and enter matchmaking together either as a single crew or a team and still have preferences too
- And if you still can't find what you're looking for or want to do a tournament... create a Custom Match (just like how you crate matches now) and invite your clan mates, friends, achievement farmers, etc... Custom Match will be there for you.  Custom Match will completely bypass matchmaking so make sure to invite people and get full crews formed.

Things that aren't in yet

There are a few of these:

- Reducing time for match readiness.  Currently, matchmaking will just dump you into a match lobby.  In the future, we're going to streamline this so you can talk to discuss loadouts but are encouraged to focus a lot more.  This system will also prevent players from last second changing their loadout/having people stop being ready.
- Displacing socializing.  We're looking to displace social features in the pre-match lobby (when you do loadout) into a special post-match lobby.  Even add some features too.  In the post-match lobby you will be able to text and voice chat with the players, make friends by requesting to enter Crew Formation with your single crew or team and then enter matchmaking again, ask for a rematch, check out your achievements and stats (more fleshed out match-end screen), and just hang out to shoot the shit.
- Featured Matches/Events.  Because of the lack of Match List, you won't be able to see things like Dev Matches or Tournaments going on.  Don't worry, we will have a limited list of scheduled events that players can look at, be reminded of (through notification if they choose to be reminded), and ability to join.  Because it is a very small match list, the performance overhead is significantly decreased.  We will put things like dev matches as well as upcoming touraments and so worth with information on how to sign up (a part of the bigger new Community features that will also help displace a lot of other social features).


Again, not all of this stuff is in.  We are aiming to just efficacy of matchmaking only.  When we schedule tests, does it put you into a match relatively quickly is the main question. 

As with all testing, we'd like you to try these new features before you speculate.  Yes, this is a big change on how things happened before but we can't be afraid of mixing it up to take bigger steps forward.  Many of you are skeptical, and we can't blame you.  However, please give us the benefit of the doubt and help us test these features to the best of your abilities.  We are always listening to feedback and believe that these features can make the game better overall.

More details on what feedback we're looking for when we begin testing matchmaking effectiveness will be posted later but to summarize is that we're looking for if it works and user flow issues.

10
Gameplay / 1.3.5 Balance Changes
« on: February 03, 2014, 10:12:39 am »
Biggest change is the Artemis:

Artemis— Muzzle Speed reduced to 575m/s from 700m/s (Shell Life adjusted to maintain ~1330m range), Project Expansion (where the bullet hitbox expands as it travels) Reduced by 30%, AoE Burst Size Reduced to 2.5m from 3.5m, Yaw Speed decreased to 25 degrees/s from 30 d/s

Otherwise only small changes were made to capture maps in light of spawn changes (matches oftentimes lasted too long).

Refinery—Goals 600 from 650 points, Capture Time: 25s from 30s
Labyrinth—Goals: 525 from 600 points, Capture Time: 20s from 35s
Scrap—Goals: 600 from 800 points, Capture Time: 20s from 25s
Anglean—Goals: 550 from 675 points, Capture Time: 25s from 35s
Flayed—Capture Time: 30s from 40s

11
Gameplay / Spawn system post 1.3.4 hot fix
« on: December 16, 2013, 10:58:14 am »
Okay, the patch went out this morning.

I hope that alleviates most problems.  I want to stay with this system, I don't think we gained anything from the old.  If camping becomes a serious problem, we can think of ways to deal with it.  I'm going to treat this thread similar to how I treat dev app ones, please try the features out first and post feedback on it.  Try not to speculate.  Post your actual observations and experiences.  These kinds of comments are the most helpful for me when revising systems.

Please try the CK and KOTH maps, timings for those changed and I think they're a lot more fun now.  Let me know how those go.

12
Gameplay / 1.3.3 ENGINEER AND REPAIR TOOL BALANCE
« on: October 28, 2013, 01:26:24 pm »

13
Gameplay / 1.3.3 PILOT, PILOT SKILLS, AND SHIP BALANCE
« on: October 28, 2013, 01:25:33 pm »
Changes here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14-1AnOLfaEKuPvbthlY1WfNvL8_0nijTRHZDCq8XAuA/pub

No changes to pilot or pilot skills so I'm looping it into Ship balance as well since major changes happened to the Spire.

14
Gameplay / 1.3.3 GUNS AND GUNNER SKILL BALANCE
« on: October 28, 2013, 01:24:35 pm »
Balance changes here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14-1AnOLfaEKuPvbthlY1WfNvL8_0nijTRHZDCq8XAuA/pub

Guns and gunner skills balance only.  Refrain from speculation, theory crafting, etc... it is not helpful to me.  Instead please test and then discuss.

15
Gameplay / PILOTING and PILOT SKILLS Balance v1.3.2
« on: September 19, 2013, 02:49:45 pm »
FOOM!

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