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Darkcity

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  2. Increasing social media markting effort for 0ad visibility

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Darkcity

    Context

    I was conducting a survey on newer players in the game by asking question, "How did you hear about 0ad".

    Survey: I asked it to about 15-20 players, and the response I received 90% of the times was "referred by a friend". Some people regarded 0ad as one of the best RTS they played.

    Survey insights : It points out 2 major things for 0ad.

    1. Our user growth is highly depended on referrals, i.e., on existing player base experience.
    2. We don't have presense/Infulence on social media to cater to newer players.

    Solutions

    For eixtsing players experience we are working on it alpha after alpha but to acquire newer player we need some effort. I recommend following things, and as I said we will need help of 0ad community as well.

    • Answering questions about RTS games on websites like Quora, Google forms/webistes etc.
      • If we come across a query like "What are best RTS games to try" or "RTS game list" or any other question related to RTS games.
      • Query related to free games
      • Some websites are fammous for providing free games, maybe upload our latest alpha version there.
    • Commenting about 0ad on content platforms.
      • There are videos like free games to try, or best RTS to try on YouTube. We should check for a channel that has high number of viewers and video is publish recently. We should comment about 0ad and ask the community and Youtuber to try 0ad.
      • Linux advertising. With limited game available on Linux, 0ad can be a go to game. For videos like games on linux we should shout out for 0ad.
      • Twitch and other streaming platforms. If someone watch game streaming for RTS game, they should shout out for 0ad in comment section of live stream or recent streamed videos of content makers.
    • Asking community to refer friends to try out the game
      • I have already mentioned ealrier that we should put a line on lobby welcome message, "Have fun!, invite your friends and other RTS enthugiasts to help 0.A.D community grow."
    • More gameplay videos/channels: I'm seeing few more players come forward and uplaoding gameplay videos, but we need our old stremers to be active and new players to uplaod their gameplay on content platforms.

    Extra Point

    • Modding videos to grow dev community: Right now we relay on documentations which we share to modders, but I think we need videos where all the process of modding is explained. Like from Idea to end to in-game testing, each step captured and explained. This will make more people to try and make their mods. I would recommend devs to record their sesisons and share on 0ad official youtube channel. 
    • Other activities: Like SEO, regional specific user engagement etc, I'm thinking of that line as well, will publish once thought that through.

    @Stan` Can we modify lobby mesage a little as mentioned above? Would be great. 

  4. Alpha 26 Pre-release/Release Candidate Build Testing

    in Game Development & Technical Discussion

    Posted

    Catas were used to attack long distance target. This is valid for within vision ranges as well as out of vision range buildings. For without vision ranges let's take an example.

    Lets take historical context -  Player2 (defender) has a city surrounded by walls. Player1 (attacker) explored the city and found out that certain building exists at certain places. He goes outside the walls and start attcking player2. He knows that player2 builidng exists and he will attack untill he wants to stop. He would have no way to know whether or not building destroy until he is able to see. 

    Now in our context (0ad context)

    1. Walls are useless so we are incorporating the same by allowing them to attack outside of player vision range. 
    2. Units firing catas are on same horizon as other units fighting, so they will not be able to see where catas attack are lending becasue of fog of war. But what if there is no fighting at all and catas are shooting alone, they should see the building. Well, we don't have that handling so we introduced fog of war by default.
    3. When catas are on elevated ground their vision range is increaed so I think that is managed but still there is possibility of FOG, but again we don't do such checks.

    Distant target are hard to identify with human eyes when env is even slighty foggy/dusty etc. Since, wars always will have messy env so it make snese to have concept of FOG, hence our current implmentation. 

    I'm fine with current implementation. Feel free to comment.

    • Thanks 1
    • Haha 1

  5. Forest Plantation

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Few simple suggetion.

    1. Only a forest will regrow. Example if you cut a tree in a forest/group of more than 50 trees then it can regrow, but not a group 10 trees found near cc. This solves problem of trees spawned near cc.
    2. Bushes shouldn't be allowed to regow, only tress with >= 200 wood can regrow. This will resolve problem of random bushes in the map.
    3. Trees can't regrow where building is built. (Too obvious) 
    4. You can build in area untill tree is fully spawned. Example, If it takes 20min to growback and u make builidng at min 19; that tree is gone.
    5. We can also add rule that @Grapjas suggested that, x range of cc tree won't regrow. Useful for nomad gameplays. 

    OP suggestion:
    Make builidng anywhere, if there are few trees they will get destroyed, although you can't build if building base covers group of trees>10.

    Let gaia handle the regrowth and not player. Player planting trees need more depth discusison, becasue of the issues mentioned earlier and I already see a of long list of use cases. 

    On 22/07/2022 at 11:58 AM, Lion.Kanzen said:

    In ancient times, trees were only planted to decorate places.

    True xd.

  8. Making mauryas's vishkanya aura based unit

    in Gameplay Discussion

    Posted

    27 minutes ago, Sevda said:

    I suggest we make them a special unit which only targets enemy heroes and kills the hero unit in 1 hit, by close quarter poison.

    I mean units trained only for hero would make them less useful. For starter we should have atleast for hero and champios, with special damage for heros. one hit kill is too op, just more damage will do. Later we can allow them to affect normal unit for stealth play, and special damage to heros and champions. Along with hisotircal trait we shhould also focus on gameplay. 

    But again for starter if we are considering this implementation then great. 

  11. Making mauryas's vishkanya aura based unit

    in Gameplay Discussion

    Posted

    I think given the historical context vishkanya units should be aura based units instead of archers. We already have similar units in Gauls (Trumpeter) which reduces the attacks of units by 10%. For vishkanya's I have smilar suggestion instead of reducing attack, they will reduce health by 1 dps in their range. They will be like anti healers. Following stats can be added for them.

    • Cost: 180 food, 120 metal, pop 1, 24 sec train time
    • Health 100
    • Poison: 1, 10 meters, 1 second

    It will be really interesting to do stealth play. Scenario plays

    1. Sneaking vishkanya among working units. Killing them over time.
    2. Combing with melee units for extra damage
    3. Great in playing dedensive as weak units will die under their influence.

    @borg-, @rossenburg, @Grapjas , and @alre, what do you guys think?

    • Like 1

  12. Flare disabled for observers

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    If I about to summarize it

    • Objective: Imporve observer's experience
    • Requirments/suggestions: we have 2 suggestions
      1. Allow observers to see player's flare
      2. Add an observer flare visibile to only observers
    • Analysis
      Feature Concern Context Comment
      Spec can see player's flare
      Spamming/Abuse
      		In game Only view is allowed, so no issue
      External Mediums Only view is allowed, so no issue
      Cheating
      		In game Obsever can text everyone, flare is just like any other info available to observer, so, no issue. Host bans observers if shares info.
      External Mediums Its a info avilable to spec just like anyother info, if they want to cheat they can user other important info then talking about flare. no additional cheat added.
      Observer can flare to other observers
      Spamming/Abuse
      		In Game To other observers he might annoy, but he can annoy by texting them too. A little possibility.
      External Mediums NA
      Cheating
      		In Game NA
      External Mediums NA

    There are minor points but nothing to concerned about.

    @Stan` I checked the the ticket, we didn't want to add an observer flare which is visible to player, so we disabled it. Nothing else had more description.

    @rossenburg

    2 hours ago, rossenburg said:

    planning an attack or something

    That you can tell when players starts to move or by any other means. Flare can be for any reason. Besides as I mention, whatever the reason flare is just a info about a player (which we might not know or can interpret given situation). It is like any other info about player, so, not sure why we given it an exception. It is not enabling any new way to communicate between player and observers. 

    Just my thoughs. Becasue, it is only adding more info to observer for experience not giving any new ways to allow cheat.

    • Thanks 1

  15. Flare disabled for observers

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    6 minutes ago, hyperion said:

    I'd call that spoiling not cheating, as for being able to chat to players I'd prefer if it wasn't possible honestly, then you could permit observers without concern.

    I mean message goes from observer to everyone so. But I think we can introduce a feature to mute observers be default in setting or by command in-game. But that will be separate discussion. 

    Here I justed wanted to point out that observer able to see player's flare is like observer able to see any other details of the player, so, it's not adding anything new cheating wise. I hope it was clear :p.

  16. Flare disabled for observers

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I think i'm able to clarify. Let me reiterate.

    1. Observers can't text privately to any player, they option to chat with everyone, or to single onserver or all observers. So, if they want to anything to say anything everyone will see it. [Screenshot from game a moment ago]

    8 minutes ago, alre said:

    observers are currently able to talk to players if they want to

    156837324_Screenshot(191).thumb.png.6399ac75b7756a46cf19319d0b3ec6de.png

    2. If they want to give away any strategic info, they would rather talk about pop, resources, upgrades, no of womens, any other information about player, then why it is cheating he says "Player1 has flared or Player1 has flared at 8'O clock".

    15 minutes ago, alre said:

    can easily be considered cheating if strategic information is passed.

     

    @hyperion, @alre, please help me understand the issue. Becasue oberser able to flare doesn't add any new cheat to the game. 

  17. Flare disabled for observers

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    @hyperion I'm not able to understand your conern. I need to know whats your concern on first use case "Observers able to see player's flares". Let me give you an example and what will happen so its clear to you.

    We have 8 player game. Player1 initiate the flare. 

    Current scenario: Hi team mates Plyare2,3,4 will able to see the flare.

    Expected Scenario: Observer will also see the flare.

    Now, If observer wants to do cheating he can do 2 things

    1. Text on chat which is visible to everyone
    2. Communicated by another medium like discord.

    First case, an obsever can put anything about player1 on chat, he might as well share player other stats like units food wood and women. What will obsever achieve by putting a text to everyone that "Player1 has flared or Player1 has flared at 8'O clock"? Allowing him to see the flare doesn't add any cheat. 

    Second case, again not the problem of flare.

    @hyperion If you are thinking of any other scenario, please explain, becasue I'm able to unserstand the probelm here.

    @Stan` Can you please mention the concern related to "Observers can see player's flare" becasue of that we are saying 

    On 24/07/2022 at 7:42 PM, Stan` said:

    Abuse prevention. And cheating.

     

  18. Flare disabled for observers

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    3 hours ago, go2die said:

    There should be only 1 concern - misusing it too much to "spam" other observers. So other observers could have filter on/off for such other observers flares, or limit usage 1 per minute/ should be ok...

    Hmm, this is for second feature, "Flares for onservers, where observers can flare and that will be visible to other observers", which I think we should add in mod example: Boon GUI.

    For first feature "Allow observers to see player flare", I don't think we have any (actual) issue. Should be added in main game as well..

  20. Flare disabled for observers

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    You are right @go2die. Observers can only talked to observers in the game, or send message to everyone. If a observer wants to say something (give info to a player) then he can say irrespective of flare, and besides that chat is visible to all, so host can ban the observer. 

    My point is player flare visibile to observers is not adding anything extra that can give away something or can be called as new cheat.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For the feature "observer flare", it can be added but should be tested out in mod first to test out whether it get traction from observers, becasue as i mentioned earlier.

    3 hours ago, Darkcity said:

    Not many players observer game throughoutly, so not sure main game should have it.

    And commentators usually go for Boon GUI, so it should be added there.

  21. Flare disabled for observers

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    @Stan` If players wants to cheat they can cheat on alternative mediums like discord. I understand the use case where observers might communcate falre of one team to another but that doesn't really add any additional/unique info, which they can't share on discord. Allowing observers to see player's falre for observer experience, for discussion and commerntries would be great.

     

    8 hours ago, KarissaX said:

    I think a spec flare would be useful, especially a flare that is only visible to other specs. That will aid our discussions and commentary.

    Not many players observer game throughoutly, so not sure main game should have it. It's definitely a good idea to be added in Boon GUI. @seeh if you are still making changes in it :P.

    • Like 1

  22. Ideas for game

    in Game Modification

    Posted

    Hi @vladolf1984. Welcome to 0ad fourms and 0ad. We already have some of these features available in the game.

    • Sandbox AI: You can change the AI difficulty level to Sandbox.
    • Online: You can join the lobby (in menu go to multiplayer than lobby) and play with other online players.
    • Campaign: This is work in progress, but you should try scenario maps. Example Death canon map.
    • Construction: For this allow cheat in the game and use cheat code "gift from the gods". This will give 100k resources (food, wood, metal, stones). All buildings will be unlocked and they will build instantly.

    Enjoiy!...

    • Like 2

  23. Smurf tag.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Sevda said:

    Problem: local ratings is just a number, sometimes it may be biased or anomalous. I would look closer at micro, eco and general playstyle instead of catching people out based on a single number. In addition, many players do not use local ratings nor would they have enough data for accurate ratings.

    Hmm. As long as its calculations are in right direction (+ve and -ve) then it should be fine. There are 2 cases for smurfs.

    1. They play with Pros/ Pro TGs
    2. They play with beginner

    The second is major issue compared to first, becasue they ruin the experience for new/recent players. In this case if they are coming up with baised high +ve then thats fine. Atleast, player should know that this person high level smurf compared to other low level smurf who plays pro TGs only. Besides, even if we are about to come up with new logic, it will also have some flaws, so, let's use what is existing. 

    Here decision lies with host so. Besides final decision will be on moderator, so, should be fine. 

    ====================================================================================

    On separate note, another param can be used is, win rate. Most of these smurfs has 100% win rate with few about <15 games played. But again we will need account creation date for that to validate. 

    Account creation date will be key to finding smurf or any other detection mechanism. 

  25. Smurf tag.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I see. Thanks @rossenburg. Local storgae is not a good idea, it will only allow sumrf to find a way around. 

    @Stan` Can we atleast save account creation dates for the player? I can think of following use cases for storing these field.

    1. Identifying players experience in games - This is for players.
    2. Data analytics for 0ad: It can be used both for historical data analysis as well as some for good GTM for alphas.
      1. Player retention - example old players returning in new alpha
      2. Player acquisition - New users signing up
      3. Fake account identified - More clean data
      4. Account creation behaviour over time
      5. Release in season when accounts are created the most.

        i can add more use case but get the point.

    For # of game played, it is not as imporant as compared to account creation date, but if it can be added with @rossenburg  if any player is AI Bot don't count else count. It can be considered if possible.

    Meanwhile I think we can mod the smurf reporting piece. @rossenburg I would love to check your mod once completed. If need any input from somewhere then PM me. @Sevda let us know if you want to add anything.

     

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