The square, the score: how to live happy and lift up AC

[Flames]

You don't get it, even if we do everything you said , it wont do any good. This is because the core gameplay of ac gets boring fast for the random person out there. A better interface or a friend list or anything won't change it.

[Undead]

You don't get it, even if we do everything you said , it wont do any good. This is because the core gameplay of ac gets boring fast for the random person out there. A better interface or a friend list or anything won't change it.

what makes the core gameplay of AC more boring in comparison to other games?

[ExodusS]

Flames, I see here you never gave attention to other games such as LoL. The social aspect LoL provides "force" you non-intentionally to hop on the game when you open your computer, even if your intention is not to play at first, you will log in LoL just to see who's online, to spec a match while you wake up, to speak with friends, share stuffs, watch lastes news of the game etc...
This is not my case since LoL is a secondary game for me, I only play in fun modes because I don't really care, but I understand how people get stick into this game.

[Flames]

Flames, I see here you never gave attention to other games such as LoL.

Nope, i play dota almost everyday . When did i say social aspect does not improve the popularity of a game ?

[Luc@s]

i agree with undead's post, the game interface needs to introduce players to the community.

[ExodusS]

Nope, i play dota almost everyday . When did i say social aspect does not improve the popularity of a game ?

A better interface or a friend list or anything won't change it.

...
And Dota, LoL, almost the same thing, except Dota is with Steam if I'm right.

[Flames]

Yea, same shit except dota is harder, and read the sentence above it.

[1Cap]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/actionga...2014-03-24

Okay.'ll Improve things.
If someone has a question, report a bug, request something, go to this address and open a ticket!

https://github.com/assaultcube/AC/issues
*pls dont do it private

[Orynge]

AC was never intended to be comparable to the triple-A titles which you mention (e.g. LoL or PS2)

Maybe it isn't a major reason, but there weren't many free triple-A games in 2010. That was my point.
Though I guess AC still has the advantage in being a lot less in terms of download size.

[SKB]

The less-fun, less balanced (again, IMO) gameplay has resulted in less player numbers.

wall of text

You haven't touched the lack of content creation.



The primary way to increase retention is not though blindly altering AC in hopes of making it better for players. Sure, some changes will make players stick, but what we really need is to track a lot of various sources of feed back, such like downloads, active player base, average playing time, forum activity(?), version segmentation, etc. So that we could see a measurable impact of showing the menu on game launch by default, for example. Tracking various sources of data would allow to make data informed decisions, which should be better in the long run. A/B testing would be even better, though hard to implement.

Guys, don't let this thread be all talk. Start contributing; propose UI changes, strategies. Take things into your hands, because devs are incredibly lazy (or can't code.)

[1Cap]

I do not think developers are lazy . I do not think the developers are fasters . To this I should compare it with other things , and this is relative .
It is a opensourse project. Go to the link that I spent in the previous post and see how you can contribute.
If you want the devs be faster and the game gets better , make them feel comfortable to program .

Example : Give an idea of ​​the menu interface. You can use the Windows Paintbrush to do it...
And we'll discuss the pros and cons of you menu.

I would remind you that there is a " AC Development Blog " . It's a blog , but it's a start . You can use the link that previously went to learn more about the project .

Do it:
Create a topic : MENUS IN THE GAME
SCORE FOR A LADDER
ETC ...

Then you can talk about it with more organization and outcome. If any dev liked something is this topic anything can happen ...

I will suggest ways to help :

1 ) Create tutorials in your language about the game . Create interesting and informative videos - basic , intermediate and advanced videos .
It may be possible to link them officially .

2 ) Translate language files for your language . POT
We may be able to make the official translation .

3 ) Use your social networks to promote the game .

4 ) Join and use AC Facebook Fanpage.

5 ) Join the B } League, even with mixed team.

6 ) Participate in the forum topics here as follows : For every opinion contrary to an idea you should give two alternative suggestions . Use this rule .

7 ) Do not play in poorly managed servers .

8 ) Join and participate in others clan forums.

9 ) Teach the game to a new player every 3 days .

10 ) Try to beat Feng in ac_ghotic and post the demo here.

[Vanquish]

10 ) Try to beat Feng in ac_ghotic and post the demo here.

http://i.imgur.com/fhdu8lZ.jpg

ez

no demo thou, sry

[Undead]

Guys, don't let this thread be all talk. Start contributing; propose UI changes, strategies. Take things into your hands, because devs are incredibly lazy (or can't code.)

yeah, that's the thing. i'm nothing but an idea-man, completely useless in the development process aside from mapping/balancing. anything that creates tangible change for AC requires an experienced coder, or many experienced coders, and even then, it will likely require significant capital.

[Luc@s]

Take things into your hands, because devs are incredibly lazy (or can't code.)

Or very busy ? i guess you are too, as i haven't seen you doing anything or almost the past few years.

[Marti]

Take things into your hands, because devs are incredibly lazy (or can't code.)

Or very busy ? i guess you are too, as i haven't seen you doing anything or almost the past few years.

shots fired

[SKB]

Take things into your hands, because devs are incredibly lazy (or can't code.)

Or very busy ? i guess you are too, as i haven't seen you doing anything or almost the past few years.

I am lazy, that's why you don't see me as a dev: I prefer not to commit if I can't deliver.

I think anyone on this forum could point to at least one thing I did in the last two years, and that's not anything, that's something. Sure, I haven't done much, however, if I didn't take it slow, or do things for fun, I would probably end up being neurotic (or with other issues.) We all know how well that goes.

[Foo]

And this is why AC will slowly die over the next 2 years. The devs and other possibly contributive members of the community are too busy dick-jousting to make changes.

[1Cap]

Nah.. i tell you some real reasons...

1 - Post reporting spam/abuse (+2 points) 10th March, 2013, 23:42 Expired Bukz

2 - Throwing shit (again) (+3 points)
for post: RE: Hola, soy yo otra vez! 10th March, 2013, 18:26 Expired Luc@s

3 - Cussing out a user (+5 points) 10th January, 2014, 20:12 9th June, 2014, 20:12 X-Ray_Dog

4 -

5 -
1Cap
Posts: 456
Joined: Dec 2010
Warning Level: 50%

[Orynge]

1Cap is correct. The forum moderators are the only ones responsible for the decline of AC. 100% correct, flawless theory.

[DrauL]

1Cap is correct. The forum moderators are the only ones responsible for the decline of AC. 100% correct, flawless theory.

Orynge you sassy.

[ketar]

Ty all for contributing to this thread: there are many posts that say interesting things, But above all I see that there are still persons interested about keeping the place alive.

Before trying to organize better some proposals, I have another question to the dev team. How do you organize your teamwork? I know it is all on a voluntary basis. But are there meetings? Do you schedule your interventions? Is there someone who decide goals and all? Is there a plan?

[1Cap]

My theory is simple.
The game needs players to be fun.
Forum participants want the best for the game.
Forum participants can spread the game to new players.
We have here on forum devs acting like mods and mods acting like devs.
The way to moderate the forum shows the way of thinking about game project. <-- It is the main point.
Players need the forum to have a close dialogue with the devs.
It is a privilege to share this experience.
...
But then what happened? You come back to 1.0 version ?
The sound was worse, but it existed. (the fix dont worked)

[Luc@s]

My theory is simple.
The game needs players to be fun.
Forum participants want the best for the game.
Forum participants can spread the game to new players.
We have here on forum devs acting like mods and mods acting like devs.
The way to moderate the forum shows the way of thinking about game project. <-- It is the main point.
Players need the forum to have a close dialogue with the devs.
It is a privilege to share this experience.
...
But then what happened? You come back to 1.0 version ?
The sound was worse, but it existed. (the fix dont worked)

there is just one setting to tweak and your sounds work fine but i guess, as usual, you're just bitching about shit.

Ketar: remind me to PM you about your question. i'll do it when ihave time.

[1Cap]

You know that the download history shows that most of the players of AC use Windows. You know that.
Then releases a version after thousands of years with problems in the sound for Windows. It is not a simple problem . Just the sound disappears .
And then says it's an official version ? Shameful for any project . Shameful for any developer .
This is very serious ! . You know how many new players we lost because of it ? You know how many regular players we missed ?
No use pretending it was a small mistake , a simple adjustment solves . Humility is a sign of intelligence .
I performed the procedure described for the sound and not resolved . I need to leave and enter the server 10 times during a game so that my sound is restored again. I'll join a league and certainly i will have to play without sound.
And the answers that I see out there are: Linux is better ... Shameful .
Automatic balance of teams during the game : Shameful
Ping absurdly higher : Shameful
etc. .

Why the sound is not 100 % repaired ?
We will need to wait for the next version , if we have ?
Or the new game mode that you are creating is for deaf people?
Or rather , exclusively for Linux users ?

We know the reasons why the game is with very few players.
And we know you guys also know the reasons .

*I do not need compliment good things of this version. I've done that. I created a thread just for that.
I am speaking now in this thread here.

[Mousikos]

You know that the download history shows that most of the players of AC use Windows. You know that.
Then releases a version after thousands of years with problems in the sound for Windows. It is not a simple problem . Just the sound disappears .
And then says it's an official version ? Shameful for any project . Shameful for any developer .
This is very serious ! . You know how many new players we lost because of it ? You know how many regular players we missed ?
No use pretending it was a small mistake , a simple adjustment solves . Humility is a sign of intelligence .
I performed the procedure described for the sound and not resolved . I need to leave and enter the server 10 times during a game so that my sound is restored again. I'll join a league and certainly i will have to play without sound.
And the answers that I see out there are: Linux is better ... Shameful .
Automatic balance of teams during the game : Shameful
Ping absurdly higher : Shameful
etc. .

Why the sound is not 100 % repaired ?
We will need to wait for the next version , if we have ?
Or the new game mode that you are creating is for deaf people?
Or rather , exclusively for Linux users ?

We know the reasons why the game is with very few players.
And we know you guys also know the reasons .

*I do not need compliment good things of this version. I've done that. I created a thread just for that.
I am speaking now in this thread here.

Linux version has issues too. We're just....not as vocal.

[Marti]

I didnt have a sound issue while i have windows

I think its because youre brazilian that they have implemented an anti-brazilian sound bug to keep you guys away

[EndGame]

Undead's best post ever. Take it into account please. There are many people who can improve AC.

[grenadier]

Before trying to organize better some proposals, I have another question to the dev team. How do you organize your teamwork? I know it is all on a voluntary basis. But are there meetings? Do you schedule your interventions? Is there someone who decide goals and all? Is there a plan?

I see, that AC development - that means coding - doesn't function too well nowadays, own activity of developers is rather slight. But there was one excellent step of devs - moving AC to github. That helped to activate a few people from community (especially some ex-dev, which knowledge and feeling of AC engine and skills are invaluable ;)), which prepare pull requests with new commits, with bug fixes and new features (otherwise AC development would be almost dead currently).
Simple commits in pull requests are implemented by devs, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. But main problem is, that more advanced commits, which develop the game the most, are often implemented too slowly or not at all for long time. And in this second case there is no return information, whether they are to acceptance (or to rejection).

Example of more advanced commits: https://github.com/assaultcube/AC/pull/30 - many fixes related to physics, fix of sound bug, new features (tools for mappers: undo/redo in edit mode, map cleaner). Some commits in this pull request are from before 2 months, and nothing happened yet. Such lack of activity holds also sending other commits.
If some commit is too advanced, then the important part for devs should be, "do we want that feature" and "how can we test it" (and also imo there should be some confidence for some ex-dev, because of reasons mentioned above :)). That should be role of developers meetings. And later there should be enough the checking, whether changes are at the places, where the commit message says, if they are too difficult to complete understanding. Also remember, that commit is not set in stone - if it turns out, something was a bad idea or doesn't work right - it can be removed later with no problem.

In summary: developers meetings are needed to develop the game, and it looks, that they are missing nowadays. ;/

[RandumKiwi]

Please note, sound bug is only a recent fix.

Also note, both Jamz & I have been contributing towards testing the sound bug, so although stef has provided the fix and done a good job in this - us devs haven't been doing nothing.

Also note, I don't 'pull' code I don't understand. Pulling of code must be done only if it is understood and the dev reading that code is happy with it.

[CharlyMurphie]

Please note, sound bug is only a recent fix.
Pulling of code must be done only if it is understood and the dev reading that code is happy with it.

That sounds pretty fair, I'm not brown nosing either. It is tough to find the time these days just to play, much less(more) code. Its a tough world out here and we all have lives.