General Stuff

[nesnl]

I know that some of these things are probably on the "to do" list but I figured I would list some things that I think should be implemented, changed, updated, etc.

Reinstate a 5th Green and Blue Perk. I think that simply adding another perk in each category would give the game a feeling of more depth. I hear a lot of new players talking about how they think they aren't getting enough if they purchase. They either want more planes or more perks. While new planes is probably out of the question, new perks seem easy. I suggest reinstating Superburners as the 5th Green Perk. I don't remember exactly what it did last when it was in the game last time, but I think it should increase normal max speed (maybe 10-15%) and afterburner max speed (again maybe 10-15%). It should also reduce the energy cost of using afterburners (maybe as high as 50%). For the 5th Blue Perk I suggest you try the "Hidden Compartment" perk, which was the perk that would allow a user to carry two powerups. I think the only limitation should be that you can't carry the bomb and another powerup. Even if these aren't ideas that you think are good for the game I still think you should go back to having 5 blue and 5 green.

Introduce an auto team balance function. When a game starts it requires everyone to press F to join a team. Why not just make it so when a game starts that the game just automatically assigns everyone a team and then have the users either press F to spawn or manually join the spectators. It can be a real problem now when a team gets stacked because a lot of new users don't understand how to switch teams and it becomes a long drawn out process of typing in chat to have people switch and showing them how. In the end the game often just gets played out lopsided and the newer players get angry when they are getting steamrolled. Introducing an autobalance function might help keep newer players playing by preventing them from /ragequit when a game goes horribly bad.

The spawn times also seem like they need to be adjusted. I know this was brought up before but I still feel like the spawn times aren't adjusting properly based on team size. This is especially true when you start a game with a full team and people leave as I feel like you end up with only a few players and the spawn times are still really long (like 10 seconds or more). There is also a problem where in the beginning of a game one team spawns before the other team. Often times you are waiting to spawn initially and your timer is at 4 or 5 seconds and then you see the entire other team spawn. I have seen newer players ask why one team gets to spawn before the other and they think it's unfair.

We need a tournament mode. Something where we can set the number of players that can be on each team and therefore the rest have to spectate and cannot spawn into a game even if they accidentally press F. There is a common misconception that if you are in capturemode that you can't spawn which sometimes results in people spawning into tournament games. It would be nice if you could do a /vote tournament on servers that were setup for it and then when everyone joined their teams no one could spawn until everyone typed /ready or something. There could be a small indicator of the people who are ready on the scoreboard like an 'R' next to their name. Would also been nice to be able to name the team in tournament mode. So instead of it saying "Purple Team Wins" at the end it could say "Fluffy Bunnies Win" or whatever.

We also need a Team Death Match mode. This has been brought up in many posts. Seems simple enough, just have each team spawn at the same time and then once one team has been eliminated then both teams start over and spawn again. I think some maps could be easily adapted to having this play mode.

The explodet thermobaric rocket graphic is in dire need of an update. It seems small but I think it has a big impact. I know the graphic is different for the explosion, but it is not enough that newer players are making a distinction. Combined with the fact that they can't play the plane they don't understand why their plane is getting turned as it looks the same as the other rocket. I have often heard players asking why their plane is randomly turning. I think that both the graphic of the explosion as well as the rocket need to be different enough that players can make an easy distinction , even if it's just "oh that rocket is different." My idea is to give the rocket a different trailing effect. Instead of it having smoke, maybe give it an air rippling effect. (think the slow moving bullets in the movie the Matrix). The explosion could be some type of spinning spiral. (think a cyclone or eye of a hurricane) It should be enough that players can make a distinction prior to the explosion and during the explosion.

We need macros or some type of radio commands. Giving users the option to say the simple commands like "Have Shield" or "Cover Me" would add a lot to the feeling of teamwork. I know this has been discussed before but I think that adding this feature would be a big addition and help with user retention.

What about having a general chat for when you aren't in a game? Would be nice to be able to be able to talk with people out of the game, especially since it wouldn't require everyone to upkeep giant friends lists. They could set up matches or whatever or realize people are online just by talking in the general chat. It was also add to the sense of community and would allow groups to talk without feeling like they are taking up game spots by sitting in spectator mode.

I think you should change the opening screen back to its original "sunset" background. I know it's not just my opinion as I have heard a few people think that they new graphic of the 5 planes seems a little "off." I think that it is because in game all the planes seem to be all the same style, but in that picture they all look so different. I think it is fine as a loading screen inbetween games, but I think that the opening screen should be something different. I always thought it would be fun if you had that sunset background and then just have a small number (maybe 3 or 4 at a time) of bots that fly around behind the buttons and duke it out (without the battle sounds). Also might be cool if you had small "tutorial" videos that would load up if the user was inactive for a certain amount of time on the main screen. Things like how to use powerups, or how to bomb a base, or even the different play styles of each plane. Couldn't you program in preset flight paths for planes so that it would look like actual game play and then have the plane using a shield to block shots with text explaining what it does or showing each plane fighting and explaining the use of each weapon. You could use freeze frames to stop of specific actions to highlight important aspects. Could be an interesting teaching tool for players who would learn a lot from watching how things are done.

That's it for now. Again, I am sure that at least some of these are on the "to do" list, but I figured i would list them again because I feel like some of them have a very high programming time to end user impact ratio.

[Triped]

I was hoping that in the full version, we'd see sunrise/day/sunset/night depending on when we were playing.

[cokane]

I think you make some good points maimer.

However, I think the main focus right now should be on adding more powerups first. And then more game modes. And then more map tools (such as teleporters, boost arrows, and on).

Right now there are 5 planes, and basically 15 different kinds of planes. Thats ALOT. I don't think more needs to be added.

There are 3 total powerups. I think maybe we need a powerup brainstorming thread. I could start:

One caveat -- The maps right now should probably only have the powerups currently available. These powerup ideas are for future maps.

Invisibility (this was in old altitude). Would work for a short period of time, all bullets/missiles would be visible from the plane. Perhaps some glimmer to help targeting the invisible plane. If someone has the bomb and is invisible, the bomb itself should still be visible. But perhaps the off-screen bomb arrow should go away while the powerup is active. Depends on what people think about it.

The anti-powerup stall. (Also in old altitude) This would simply insta-stall a plane. Adds good flavor to maps, raising the cost of powerup camping. Creates interesting possibilities for map-makers as well, in terms of powerup placement.

One new idea: A burst powerup. This would be a single blast of 6 or 8 short-ranged flares from the plane, in all directions. Each blast would only do a little damage, maybe 1/2 or 2/3 of what a missile powerup does. This would be an excellent kill stealing powerup. The idea is that someone would get this powerup, fly into as big of a group as they can find, and burst! trying to get some kill steals. This could be useful in TBD too, where planes tend to concentrate a lot. The distance, size of the flares, and damage would depend on balance. I would hope this powerup would be on par with the current 3.

[Shyney]

Originally Posted by cokane

I think you make some good points maimer.

Invisibility (this was in old altitude). Would work for a short period of time, all bullets/missiles would be visible from the plane. Perhaps some glimmer to help targeting the invisible plane. If someone has the bomb and is invisible, the bomb itself should still be visible. But perhaps the off-screen bomb arrow should go away while the powerup is active. Depends on what people think about it.

The anti-powerup stall. (Also in old altitude) This would simply insta-stall a plane. Adds good flavor to maps, raising the cost of powerup camping. Creates interesting possibilities for map-makers as well, in terms of powerup placement.

One new idea: A burst powerup. This would be a single blast of 6 or 8 short-ranged flares from the plane, in all directions. Each blast would only do a little damage, maybe 1/2 or 2/3 of what a missile powerup does. This would be an excellent kill stealing powerup. The idea is that someone would get this powerup, fly into as big of a group as they can find, and burst! trying to get some kill steals. This could be useful in TBD too, where planes tend to concentrate a lot. The distance, size of the flares, and damage would depend on balance. I would hope this powerup would be on par with the current 3.

Agreed with Coke completely!, i'd love to see invisibility back, it would be great for sneaking up on the bomb to capture it, or sneaking up on bomb carrier. And is just all around fun powerup.

And anti-blank is great for stopping powerup camping, and again introducing some "fun" elements into the game, like having to react quickly to a anti-blank cutting off a choke, and good flying skills..

Kill steal blast sounds like fun too, though balance would be though. I wouldnt mind the powerups being in our regular maps, we used to have antiblank and invis there anyway...

[DiogenesDog]

My priority order for what I'd like to see addressed (adjust based on how much time **** takes, with preference given to quicker things first):

- Replace the company splash screen when the game starts. It's the first thing players see, and it gives a REALLY bad impression.

- Similarly, take 5 minutes to replace the placeholder icons in the server list that show the server you or a friend are in.

- FOV zoom out.

- Nerf Bomber.

- Nerf Thermo.

- New powerups

- Auto team balance (which should be based on some combination of k:d ratio and player level).

- Adjust mismatched spawn times

- Team Deathmatch

- New blue/green perks

- other **** is expensive (in terms of time I mean) or not that important to me.


One thing I will say though is that I think the bang for the buck for a lot of these is VERY high. Most of these are things that could be implemented in less than a day, and some could be done in a halfassed way in just a couple minutes (the bomber/thermo nerfs, for instance).

[Luke]

My opinion.. following diogene's idea to post first quicker thing to add):

- Auto team balance (balance = more fun and challenge)
- Chat messages shortcuts (i.e ALT + 1 ... 0, ten customizable messages)
- In servers list, see the players in each server (lvl and names)

I think these first 3 things are really important and should be in asap.

After that..
- Team deathmatch

And at last a couple of time-consuming things..
- Single player mode: maps with specific missions for each plane (i.e take down a group of enemy aircraft without dying, fly through a narrow passage in less than a certain time, etc..)
- A new plane.. small, very low damage but fast. By fast i mean.. really FAST.. a challenge to pilot, stall below a relatively high speed, but faster than missiles.

IMHO, of course. =)

[Vi*]

Originally Posted by nesnl

... I always thought it would be fun if you had that sunset background and then just have a small number (maybe 3 or 4 at a time) of bots that fly around behind the buttons and duke it out (without the battle sounds). ...

Super cool!

More information for noobs should be available in game. They're constantly asking what perks and weapons do. It should be real easy to add more "tips" (and take away some of the stupid ones), and put better information in the plane and perk descriptions. Ideally other resources would be added as well, in the tutorial section.

-Team deathmatch
-Planeball

[Blank]

my experience with chat shortcuts is that they're just spammed and *never* used intelligently. "Need a dispenser here!"

[DiogenesDog]

this is indisputably true.

[Esoteric]

Chat shortcuts can definitely be abused, and most often are, but there are a few case where they usually aren't. Specifically, things which happen infrequently enough to not be annoying to hear about every time and are also things that every person would want to know. Alternatively, sometimes the goal of chat messages is to be annoying and draw attention (Medic! Medic!) but I can't think of good uses there.

The only chat shortcuts I could think that would fit would be big bomb-related. Specifically, a way of letting people know the size of an incoming attack and a way for the current bomb holder (but only the current bomb holder) to tell people to either gather or push. There's certainly enough room on the keyboard to give 4 chat slots over as unlockable prestige bonuses (to further reduce spamming.)

[duck]

When someone damages the base, their name should come up along with the damage done. It seems weird that we can see every single kill yet not the more significant contribution of bombing the base.

[skywalker]

Originally Posted by duck

When someone damages the base, their name should come up along with the damage done. It seems weird that we can see every single kill yet not the more significant contribution of bombing the base.

i second this.

[gumbyy]

Originally Posted by duck

When someone damages the base, their name should come up along with the damage done. It seems weird that we can see every single kill yet not the more significant contribution of bombing the base.

I third this.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by duck

When someone damages the base, their name should come up along with the damage done. It seems weird that we can see every single kill yet not the more significant contribution of bombing the base.

i fourth this o_O. it will be done.

[ham]

related: total base damage should show up in the stats. maybe even total base damage per plane. my bip ratio is barely 1.2 because i run bomb so much. i feel like my stats are penalized because i like to run bomb, which should not be the case.

[DiogenesDog]

btw, on damaging the base, soul caliber 4 does a really click thing with their health bars that I like. kind of hard to see, but here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaezMpqwnVo

basically, the part of the bar that was just hurt turns red and then drops down and off the rest of the bar. it's very very clear how much damage was caused and it's purty.

[Vi*]

Originally Posted by DiogenesDog

btw, on damaging the base, soul caliber 4 does a really click thing with their health bars that I like. kind of hard to see, but here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaezMpqwnVo

basically, the part of the bar that was just hurt turns red and then drops down and off the rest of the bar. it's very very clear how much damage was caused and it's purty.

Wow, that *is* really click! I do sometimes wonder "did that hit?" because if I'm not watching the damage bar, it's hard to know if it went down incrementally or not. Having the damage stay red for a few seconds would be a great indicator.

[Triped]

I always figure that if I didn't notice it didn't matter, but yeah, SC does it right.

Edit: I would appreciate knowing whether my teammates are failures, though.

[DiogenesDog]

loaded up the demo for the first time today to see how the other half live, and a few comments:

- TODO and the empty Basics challenges are still there, pretty ghetto. (especially since at level 3 you get Basic Training 1, which is... nothing)

- Earned almost 5k xp an hour on one of the default euro servers heh heh heh

- an xp bar to show how close you are to the enxt level would be nice

- when I unlocked turbo, I swear it never told me about it. or at least I didn't get the little thing telling me to go add it to my plane.

- the "Get Full Game" thing on each of the locked planes is a nice touch

- no nag screen when you quit? weird. I know it's annoying, but I think they've generally been found to be effective, right?

- "Enter Key" is a little confusing in the nag screen. Maybe "Enter Reg Key" or something? When I read it, I see it as like the Enter key on my keyboard.

[nesnl]

Another note about PMs in game:

I like the fact that when I am PMing with someone that I can type /r and then it autofills the rest of the name. However, there is no way to scroll through different names if I am PMing two people at the same time. It only allows me to autofill the name of the last person to PM me. It would be nice if there was some button that allowed the user to scroll through all the people who have PMed me since i have been online. So if I type /r and then hit space the last person to PM me will autofill in and then if I could press tab or something and it would then go to the next person who last PMed me and so forth in a cyclic fashion.

Also, it would be nice if it autofilled based on whoever was online. So if I wanted to initially PM Lamster, and he was the only person with the name that starts with L who was currently online and on my friends list that I could just type /w L and then press space bar and it would automatically fill in the rest of the name.

Another small thing is that there is no explanation as to how to PM people who have spaces in their name. It took me a while to figure out that I need to put "Karl Brigante" instead of just Karl Brigante when I wanted to PM you.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by nesnl

Another note about PMs in game:

I like the fact that when I am PMing with someone that I can type /r and then it autofills the rest of the name. However, there is no way to scroll through different names if I am PMing two people at the same time. It only allows me to autofill the name of the last person to PM me. It would be nice if there was some button that allowed the user to scroll through all the people who have PMed me since i have been online. So if I type /r and then hit space the last person to PM me will autofill in and then if I could press tab or something and it would then go to the next person who last PMed me and so forth in a cyclic fashion.

Also, it would be nice if it autofilled based on whoever was online. So if I wanted to initially PM Lamster, and he was the only person with the name that starts with L who was currently online and on my friends list that I could just type /w L and then press space bar and it would automatically fill in the rest of the name.

Another small thing is that there is no explanation as to how to PM people who have spaces in their name. It took me a while to figure out that I need to put "Karl Brigante" instead of just Karl Brigante when I wanted to PM you.

/w k<press tab to cycle everyone with a k in their name>

[lamsbro]

Any reason why space shouldn't cycle or autocomplete as well?

[DiogenesDog]

convention for people that are used to console commands in similar games would be a strong argument, I'd think.

oh, and on another note, just to go back and beat a very old drum: now that there's a big enough community to support several servers at once, I think the official servers should all drop from 14 -> 12 players. part of what's causing the issues that snow / ferret talk about is just that having these packed servers ends up with so much **** in the air that it diminishes the dogfighting part of the game, especially in ffa. and I honestly don't think that new players will be put off by the slightly less chaotic games (whereas I think they'd be bored/frustrated by 4v4, which I think can be a blast for vets).

I also think a single 6-8 player max ffa only official server would be nice. a lot of the ffa hatred comes from the enormous games. I think a lot of people would really enjoy smaller ffas.

[Triped]

Originally Posted by DiogenesDog

convention for people that are used to console commands in similar games would be a strong argument, I'd think.

oh, and on another note, just to go back and beat a very old drum: now that there's a big enough community to support several servers at once, I think the official servers should all drop from 14 -> 12 players. part of what's causing the issues that snow / ferret talk about is just that having these packed servers ends up with so much **** in the air that it diminishes the dogfighting part of the game, especially in ffa. and I honestly don't think that new players will be put off by the slightly less chaotic games (whereas I think they'd be bored/frustrated by 4v4, which I think can be a blast for vets).

I also think a single 6-8 player max ffa only official server would be nice. a lot of the ffa hatred comes from the enormous games. I think a lot of people would really enjoy smaller ffas.

Totally agreed except that I think the official servers should not all have the same player cap. An 8, a 12, a 14, etc.

[Vi*]

Originally Posted by DiogenesDog

I also think a single 6-8 player max ffa only official server would be nice. a lot of the ffa hatred comes from the enormous games. I think a lot of people would really enjoy smaller ffas.

Dio is correct.