Ah, here we go. A little something for the developers to look into.
This is now your guide on what you should do.
Basically, don’t try to make this game as if it was a proper game. If you claim it’s a beta, fine. I’ll run with that. But at this point I think you should stop developing and start playtesting, as I’m getting this feeling you’re more concerned about developing. They’re two different things. Playtesting should be your biggest concern. Get our feedback, write it down, and instead of saying ‘we’re just considering it at the moment’, tell us what exactly you’re considering. Where you are currently standing in terms of a particular idea we’ve suggested. Are you discussing how to integrate it? Are you discussing if it would truly be beneficial to the game or not? Are you discussing the long-term implications? Tell us these things, even though Daniel discourages this. You don’t have to give us details or tell us how a conversation unfolded in the server room or something, just ‘We’re still trying to figure out how to implement it. It’ll take a while, so please be patient.’ will do.
If you really wanted to be good to your playerbase, this is the kind of conversation we should be seeing more often from the fingers of the developers themselves:
(Playerbase makes suggestion. In this case, let’s go for the missiles.)
(Developers examine thread.)
“Fine. We can do that for you. Give us maybe two weeks and then it should be ready.” <— Rough time estimate. We’ll be a lot more patient and understanding if you do this.
Hold on, I disagree. I think we shouldn’t get unlimited missiles per life.
Why do you say that? A lot of players think it’ll enhance the experience. <— Actively asking us to extend our replies.
Well, it removes a certain skill element, wouldn’t you say?
Do you think it would make the game better or worse? <— Confirming a vocal player’s standing.
I’d say worse.
Anyone agree with this? <— Getting as much information as possible.
(Let’s say the vocal majority agree that unlimited missiles per life is bad.)
Alright, then. We’ll get back to you in a few days to tell you how it’s going. <— Again, time estimate with a promise of information.
(Days pass.)
This is what we have so far: we developed a system with missile cartridges that replenish per life. We’re planning on dividing up the missiles per class now, so interceptors can only have small missiles, fighters medium, and frigates large. <— Giving us as much information as you have at the time, and explaining it so there are no misconceptions.
(Vocal majority say segregating missiles is a bad idea.)
Fair enough. We’ll discard that idea. What would you prefer? <— Trying to get more opinions and suggestions on what you could do. We’re here to talk to you, so asking us what we’d like is always welcome.
Why don’t you let ships keep their current missile slots, but they replenish every time you die?
Hold on! I don’t think the anomaly generator or the nukes should have more than one use per life.
Okay, so what you want is: missiles restocking per life, and nukes and the anomaly generator should be once per life? <— Affirming what we want.
(Everyone agrees.)
Great! We’ll tell you what we have planned sometime next week. Thanks guys! <— I’m just going to cut it off here for the sake of simplicity, but you get the gist. This is what I think we’d like to see more of.
