new players

[argonide]

we need more of them. Most games are just old players who have been at this forever, new players need people to play with.

[Karl]

well start recruiting. the beta is open...

[skywalker]

when school starts, burn cd's with alt installer on them and give them to your friends, even if you only have 1 or 2...

[DiogenesDog]

It's hard to recruit. I've sent the game to something like 35 people (the majority of which know both me and the artist in real life) and most never even gave it a shot. Kind of worries me, honestly.

but I just posted it about ~12 hours ago on a forum where I know a bunch of multiplayer gamers hang out (they're RTS guys tho), so hopefully there will be a few new people from that.

of course, it doesn't help that we're basically a community full of dicks who's completely hostile to every new player. :P

[tmm3k]

Anyone considered posting a thread at SA? That might bring in some new players, or completely crash the servers.

[lamster]

Let's not hit up SA just yet -- I think it may be too much at this point. Once FFA and a few more servers are up I'll ask you to spread the word there.

[porpus]

Originally Posted by DiogenesDog

It's hard to recruit. I've sent the game to something like 35 people (the majority of which know both me and the artist in real life) and most never even gave it a shot. Kind of worries me, honestly.

but I just posted it about ~12 hours ago on a forum where I know a bunch of multiplayer gamers hang out (they're RTS guys tho), so hopefully there will be a few new people from that.

of course, it doesn't help that we're basically a community full of dicks who's completely hostile to every new player. :P

Yeah I get the same reaction. I've evangelized the game to a lot of my friends, even making my old roommate download it before I would drive him to get some food. But most just don't even give it a shot.

But I'm not sure there's a solution to that. I think the biggest benefit would be about anyway (noob servers, etc.) to avoid people playing for the first time, getting crushed, and never returning.

[lamsbro]

We should keep statistics on new players. How long did they play, were there any other people on at the time, did they come back, what planes did they fly, what maps did they play, did they press keys that don't do anything, did they try the tutorial, how long did they play the tutorial, how many times did they crash, did they get any kills when they played, etc. This would give us clues to the factors that are causing people to stay or go.

[Snowsickle]

Clues? Seriously? It's simple. Theres no need to overanalyze why people are leaving.

A large number of casual gamers have no interest in playing an outdated looking 2d plane simulator. The game is fun as hell, but your average gamer isn't going to give something a chance that isn't halo or call of duty. On top of that, it's already been mentioned that new people get utterly destroyed and are probably further put off when they read chat, whether it be the ridiculous banter or someone being an asshole. Nobody needs a crash counter to know that people end up suiciding repeatedly until they've gotten used to the controls.

Anyway, it's not a problem that I think Lam can do much about. Small-scale arcade-ish games aren't going to get a second look from your average gamer. The only problem that can be somewhat corrected is the fact that new players are immediately tossed into shark infested waters. I would suggest either a more intricate tutorial that makes sure players can fly on their own and shoot targets while flying, or attempting to pull off a large influx of players so the people who do give it a chance can play against people around their own level. And as retarded as I thought they were, some kind of youtube video or something might be able to illustrate that the game is much more fun once you've learned to play.

[DiogenesDog]

Street cred will also help Alt's chances a lot I think. If it becomes anywhere near as well known as something like Soldat, people will give it more of a chance just based on reputation.

So basically I think that people should just keep on evangelizing and pick up the stray guy here and there. Eventually, if we're lucky, it'll reach critical mass and then the conversion rate will jump up because people will have already heard of the game when their buddy tells them about it, so they'll consider it more legitimate and worth their time.

[Ajplagge]

I think you are making a mistake bringing people in 1 by 1. Whats the point? they join they don't see anyone playing and leave, or if they are lucky they join when a bunch of old people are playing and get crushed and leave.

Best is to bring the game up to critical mass, maybe with a 3rd party host, whenever it is ready enough to do so.

Follow the lead of handdrawngames maybe, they did it up right.

[lamsbro]

I agree with you Ajplagge, best to keep things to friends for now, and when time comes for release try to bring things to critical mass as quickly as possible. Otherwise people will trickle in, see no one is on, then leave and never come back.

By the way, where did you get your name? "Ajplagge" is how my cousin's 2 year old pronounces "snuffleupagus".

[Ferret]

Wasn't there some kind of bouncy map on the old version? I think I remember it being crap, but when I got my roommates to try the game their complaints were "I crash too much to play the game and shoot at people." The harder to make it to die by ramming into the ground, the longer new people will play perhaps. Maybe just a general way to make terrain "softer" or more forgiving on a few of the more "introductory" maps?

Like City, I feel I can get away with scraping the sides of buildings or bumping walls, but on the team cave it's a death trap if some gravel falls on your wing. Not a bad thing, but I can see it really putting off new people. Of course, I think there's still a bigger problem in the fact that every new person to the game seems to think picking bomber and going kamikaze at the base is the way to be. Altitude can very easily degrade into a 2 minute game that is a race to see how fast each team can **** on each other base without any interaction.

OP: King is tired of getting owned.

[tmm3k]

There were several maps that had more elastic polygons. But I think what you're talking about is probably lowering the damage the polygons do to planes.

Also I've found out that if the damage modifier is set to 0, the carcasses of all the dead planes just bounce around endlessly.

[Ajplagge]

<lamster>
Its the aol instant messenger name my mother created for me when I was like 12...... A derivative of Adam James Plagge.......

Yes. I'm hella creative.

[PodBot]

my first tbd_mario had bouncy floors, didnt seem to appealing to anyone as far as i could tell, the rest of the map looked like **** anyways. I posted it on piratebay and i stopped seeding a few days ago, its still alive thats a plus dont you think?
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4661..._aerial_combat. I´ve seen similar torrents die pretty quick if the content is ****. Its something isnt it?

[skywalker]

it is almost impossible for me to recruit at my school because most people use the school-issued Apple computers, and you are not allowed to install applications of your own on them.

[Spirtz]

Originally Posted by Ferret

Wasn't there some kind of bouncy map on the old version?

yes the trampoline levels were so much fun someone should remake them

[tmm3k]

Originally Posted by Spirtz

yes the trampoline levels were so much fun someone should remake them

I tried making some basic trampoline maps, but the physics in this version seem to be different, so it's not as fun. For instance, you can't just bounce forever because it will force you to start flying. Something to do with the stall coding. And even if you set the elasticity of a polygon super-high, there's a limit to how much it will bounce you off.

[Spirtz]

damn...... at least u tried