What's It Gonna Take... to Launch a fun and successful game

Hello Community. Well in reading that we are voting or some are voting again to get Sota on the charts, I felt a little unrest after reading all the people talking about their various choices and reasons for voting the way they did. As usual this game imo from allowing early access to all the trials and tribulations of developing a game in opened development has been twisted and turned every which way it can and has turned stories about the game into all sorts of chaotic crazy things and the public has listened to this. So as usual this game is not mentioned as a contender. All IMO of course and I'm just speculating of course.

So we have our schedule of ***Top 10*** items before launch and we have a Q1 description of what is planned with some changes coming from feedback given and nothing too much new from this imo. Here: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/q1-2018-schedule-update.106312/

I have been hoping for launch to surprise us, encourage us, and enlighten us on what to expect, but as it has been through all the 4 years I've been here the announcement and Q1 stuff came across to me as same old same old, no surprises just try to fix what we have that is broken and fix performance and optimization and then we just launch. Also the very necessary stage of fixing of performance and so many systems requiring attention instead of getting to the fun stuff as much as it is needed.

All the systems that were suppose to be so fun such as; fishing, agriculture, boating, mounts, pvp, etc all fun pushed out of them til after release and some to not even be there until episode 2. Now is that a mistake or what to launch that way?

Now while it was not said in any outright way which imo left it so we had to speculate some more, there were hints that we might launch out of early access and start advertising the game. I feel it is saying we are not launching as in launching the game for commercial sales which would then finally make it so we could finally start this game as a released game instead of in the constant state of limbo we have had on so many things.

The way this game was developed being an opened book on all aspects of the game have not been the best for advertising a game. I would advise to not do that again imo. Even though we have learned a lot, imo it has hurt the publicity of this game and so much more. Now what to do?

I know it is difficult to give a 100% positive answer to something in our (Sotas') circumstances (whatever they may be) which we don't totally know of course, and I don't want this thread to speculate on it even though my words are doing just that, but what I want us to discuss in this thread is:

****What's it Gonna Take**** to launch a full featured, fun, and successful game? That is the question of this thread. Picture it is things that have 3 months to fix or do we boycott and say no way. Ok so see my list on the next post. Imo this game really needs some surprising things making it in at launch that won't be expected. So post your Q1 thoughts to release this game. Try to not criticize someones opinion, just state your own. *cheers*

 

Ok so IMO here is my take on what Q1 should be more about.

1)Performance and Optimization and bugs repaired of course has to be first

2)Get the absolutely necessary world in Asap and then stop adding new areas until next Episode.

3)Go back to the already implemented world and update all of that adding quests, discoveries, clarifications including Hidden Vale.

4)Consider not releasing until more fun is added such as; enhance fishing and agriculture with some cool features listed as below:

Example would be More types of fish in more locations, fishing quests and bait and better fish food recipes and of course use of the space bar to reel that fish in at the appropriate time.

Make Agriculture is not just plant and water but perhaps grow some worms in that soil or get better at planting and you get some special and surprising components that can be added to food recipes to enhance them and make special foods. Perhaps your character figures out a new recipe during advancing. We have a rake emote hmmm could we rake the soil for worms?

5)Try to find a unexpected surprise that people are not expecting from this game: Idea I have is things like this:

a)taxed Row deeds earned in game after completing a lengthy quest line. Housing is advertised in this game and it needs to be obtainable to players in some way other than buying it off the add on store.

b)Treasure hunting makes it in before release. Map pieces are discovered all over the world from quests, fishing, find pieces of maps, whole maps. Include lots of scenarios. For pvp kill for maps or map pieces, for pve creatures sometimes loot them from you. Found on dead bodies or in a log. One of many ideas.

c)Pvp quests lines with criminal points earned to get your wanted poster going. Once criminal points are too high you cannot unflag until someone has killed you and turned in your head, then you can go to the oracle and get its protection again. More detailed quests could come from this.



5)Make Inn rooms rentable without the owner having to be there if that option is chosen to open the Inn to the public. Let us add room numbers to the door menu that coincide with keys we can craft.

We then place these keys for sale on our vendors labeled majorias key room 101 for example which matches the door. This would be starting housing until people could decide which housing route they are taking and some will just want to use Inns and just play the rest of the game without their own house.

6)I have been disappointed by the amount of discoveries I've found even though this has been a big request. We truly do need discoveries. I went to Elysium Mine and all those red columned gorgeous buildings that have nada in most of them.

What is up with that? Slather the world with discoveries, please over do it @Devs. This game needs it.

slath·er
ˈslaT͟Hər/
verb
informal

1. 
   1.
   
   spread or smear (a substance) thickly or liberally.
   "slather on some tanning lotion"

1. 
   1.
   
   a large amount of something.
   "slathers of cream"

7) A big pet peeve I have is finding something in a scene like *hint* *hint* mirrors and the whole scene does not mention this.

Give us some lore or hints that perhaps the creatures are mentioning things like don't let them touch those mirrors or it will make the Gods angry or whoever his name is behind that door you have to get opened.

So if there are quests that will take you to areas but not everyone will have them when they get to that area then the area should tell you something a hint, something. Also areas need quests and NPCs wandering for different reasons to give interest to the scene and explainations of the scene we are looking at.

Areas are still too dead, no NPCs wandering to give hints or quests.

This has to be added IMO.


and how about wandering healers that could even be merchants or instead of rezzing at an ankh they will rez you for a lessening of decay given.

Edit:

With the news from Darkstarr during the telethon that we will now be getting an in game achievement system which has been one of my big requests that I felt was missing in this game to help provide goals, tasks, and reasons to visit and revisit scenes, and explore scenes. So here is a link for ideas on implementing interesting and great achievement systems.

https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.co...ing-achievements-for-your-games--gamedev-3371

Here is a little preview of what the link talks about if you don't want to click on it.

"An achievement is simply a goal, and all games have goals, whether set in code or left to the player to determine. We often can't quantify these sorts of achievements, but it's important to realise that players will aim for them and that many aspects of achievement design will still apply.

Challenge Achievements
Challenge achievements are the "traditional" achievement. Find a set of legendary weapons. Blow up 10 zombies at once with a grenade. Max all your combat skills. These are objectives that let the player test their skills, and give the "true" gamer an additional layer of challenges to sink their teeth into.

Tutorial Achievements
Tutorials are boring. Players want to get involved in gameplay as quickly as possibly, which is why many games use an introductory level of some sort to let the player get their feet wet and introduce them to gameplay elements one at a time without overwhelming them. However, tutorial levels can only last so long, and eventually players will need to be set free into the "real game".

Progress Achievements
Progress achievements ("congratulations, you have completed the first chapter!") occupy a strange spot in the world of achievement design. There's nothing necessarily wrong with them, but they don't really add anything either. In a linear game like Halo or Half-Life 2, the achievements are unavoidable and will be picked up by the player just by playing the game. If an achievement is unavoidable, can it really be called an achievement?

Other Types of Achievement
There are a few other types of achievement that bear a quick examination.

Fun achievements, which don't necessarily add any challenge but add a little silliness to the game, can be a good way to break up the "seriousness" of gameplay with an interesting little diversion. Things like "kill an enemy with a rotten egg" or "kick a chicken a fair distance", while hardly deep and meaningful, can - used sparingly - make a game a much more enjoyable experience.

Summary
At the end of the day, your game should be fun. Achievements should enhance a player's experience, not trap them into decisions or limit their options. Players should feel like acquiring an achievement is a reward, not something that's been handed to them on a platter. And achievements can be used to expand players' minds, to show them how intricate and complicated your game is, rather than to just reward them for repeating the same old tasks over and over."

I love this article so I have carried it around and nagged and nagged for us to get a system in this game which to me felt very empty with out it.

So yay for another missing piece getting added to the game and thank you all who have posted so far on the thread. keep your ideas coming and cheers.

@DarkStarr @Lord British

 

Two thumbs up!

 

But not until they fix it so auto-attack doesn't target non-hostiles. I've killed three adventure scene NPCs now, because I had my weapon out while facing an NPC and was aggroed by a mob. So my character just started shooting at the first available target- the NPC.

Forgive me, Milde. All I can say is your mother died quickly.

 

This game is a blast and will win new players in March. These "doom and gloom" threads are more hurtful than helpful! How would you feel if you were looking at a game and many people on the forums were making threads about the issues with the game. Don't be a gloomy Gus!

Please keep things positive as @Berek has requested, please. We HAVE to keep positive.

 

Ahhh this is not doom and gloom. These are ideas for the game. Jump in and have some fun. I have fun in the game every day. We are getting ready for launch, Let your hair down and have some fun with your future wish lists, whatever or not.

 

Perhaps I was hasty and read the vibe of this thread wrong. I don't think much needs to be done before launch to make SotA "successful". The game will hit record numbers when full release comes in March!

 

You just took it a bit too far... but... whatever.

 

I hope we will have a decent GVG war version before launch and raids with rolled loot.

 

It needs people who say they have fun and do things that look fun and such.
But the game is criticised a lot and already judged.
Portalarium created something special.
I like it, i criticised too and i do compromises. The pro arguments for playing are stronger than the quit arguments, but i understand all those who left or wont play it for several Reasons.
This game is not for everyone.
The biggest mistake imo was to make it both a SP and MP and to add PvP without having caps and consequences.

 

Improved load times
More character customization
Rune based recall/gate system
Mounts
Full loot PvP
No decay
Dye tubs
Meaningful random encounters
More rare drops
Remove control points
Sea battles

 

To me there has to be some reason to grind rather than to just grind or at least make the combat fun.

I sign on and the only thing to do is grind resources, exp or something else and the grinding is brutal.

 

IMO the only things they should be focusing on until release are quest polish and optimization.

 

I am pretty much taking a break from the game right now until launch. Then, I will reset my quests and experience the whole completed story line.

To me the story is the most important part of the game and like @majoria70 stated earlier, that means ALL npcs have a story and schedule, as well as more discovarables and interesting lore. As someone who collects and reads every book or note he finds, this really adds a lot of fun to the game for me.

Again, this is just my opinion but I personally think every scene should have something in there to discover or explore. Otherwise why go in there? Just to grind? No thank you.

 

There is so little time to do whatever our "wishlist" is of things that we think needs to get done. The ideas are great, there is no doubt, and the thought of compiling is great. I wonder whether a well thought out poll later would do better to focus what the entire community wants.

For me, and this is a true wishlist of impossible things (because who wishes for things that are possible?!?):

1) Scaling. Scale quests, zones, dungeons in Friends Mode. Scale control points, dungeons, etc. in Multiplayer Mode. This would allow people to have a lot of fun.
2) Increase revenue for the game by selling items that are more "mechanical" than "decorative" in the Store. Mechanical can mean a lot of quality of life things, but to my thinking I would prefer items that can help me create quests/tasks for other players. We already have a public/ornate public cache chest. Along these lines, create something that allows us to give out a quest reward. Create things that we can use in PoT's to help with content creation for other players. Also, and more importantly, create some NPC's that we can use to "create" stories with branches, resolutions, timers and switches. To further that NPC idea, allow us to buy NPC mobs (create two or three varieties: low-level, mid-level and "boss" type NPCs). I would pay for this. I know others would grind in-game for similar items.

This is just me dreaming.

 

this would be awesome!

 

In general, I'd like to see more coherence to game systems. Right now, you either quest, or gather resources, or craft, or advance combat, etc...but typically only one thing at a time. In the same way that talking to NPCs while questing teaches you emotes, I'd like to be able to learn crafting recipes, unlock skills, gain skill levels, be rewarded with crafting resources, etc. through the quest system. As well, all locations should have a lore or story based reason to visit. With more coherent interplay of game systems, you would explore the game, absorb the story and have more natural character advancement. In addition to general polish, balancing, and performance, providing further integration of these systems and thereby reducing focused, prolonged grind to gain basic competency will make the game much more appealing to newcomers.

 

90 FPS or GTFO.
...but seriously fix interface issues like selection of NPCs and line of sight still isn't working correctly. March is fast approaching.

 

1) The inability to level all skills, especially crafting to foster inter-dependency, community and an actual economy. (I'm really hoping it's only like this now for testing purposes.)
2) Much more character creation options including thin to fat body-slides, hair color, facial features, etc.
3) The ability to game for all items or similar items including deeds that exist and a new revenue scheme that evens out the playing field completely.

 

population.... period.