For a commercial copy of empires with updated graphics, engine and gameplay, but keeping the core empires that I love? 80 bucks. Not shitting you. For a "sequel" made by MOOtant, as much as I respect you, you're a fucking moron when it comes to gameplay and feature decisions. I wouldn't buy Empires remade by you. Other people might, but whatever MOOtant produced wouldn't be current empires. The fact that you want to remove the scout entirely without a second thought shows me your complete lack of long-term decision making skills regarding balance.
With all due respect for relatively smart NS2 people they chose wrong language to write their stuff in - Lua and tried something that no one did before: they based 90% of game code on it. Valve has 99% in C++ and 1% in entity I/O or scripts. NS2 devs spent 1 codermonth on such a small thing as Lua code not generating too much garbage for silly objects like 3 number vectors. I can go on and on but based on everything they screwed up I know how to do it properly this time. In a way it's a circle of overconfidence: NS2 devs thought they could make their own engine along with the game (like Carmack in Q1 which resulted in most of his team quitting after shipping) because they were smarter, motivated and so on and they repeated exactly same mistake. Network/lag comp/pred brainache is there anyway whether you're writing networking from scratch or not. You still have to know every single detail of networking code when you're using someone's engine. Empty define core Empires. For me it's best seen on emp_isle and definitely nothing that you can see on slaughtered (with exceptions).
Gameplaywise, emp_isle is without a doubt one of the worst maps in Empires, competitively anyway. It takes the notion of the slippery slope to a whole new level. Mvalley is a better example, but Isle is a terrible one. Just throwing that out there.
Why would I mean clan vs clan game? It's like gathering 20 exploiters and giving reward to the group that exploits better. Everything that sucks but gives advantage will be extremely highlighted. Any kind of playing for fun will be lost. I never said games on isle are perfect. In Empires 1 game out of 50 is awesome 9 are average at most and 40 suck so you can't explain things based on other people's experiences because there's high chance they never played a good game there. But that's how pseudodiscussions on forums end. Someone nitpicks, feels better, ego raised and discussion ended. I could probably explain what I want in few hours of talking. (like I did few times with RPG )
Quoted for win. On-topic, I'd gladly pay $/€/whatever 31+ for commercial Empires if it still was based on this Empires. Removal of scout would make me happy for the annoyance it causes, but also I'll probably miss dicking about in the enemy's base sabbing shit.
I don't really care if scout is removed or kept as long as sabotage is removed or changed so that it can't destroy buildings only cripple them.
Maybe you can do a better job on the technical end, but this thread's existence screams about your entrepreneurial ignorance. You can't charge a flat rate for an indie game. The freemium model is just about the only way to go if you want to keep supporting your game. Look at Apple's App Store (which is the industry leader, like it or not). A Distmo study showed that only 4% of apps offer in-app purchases (micro-transactions), yet those in-app purchases make up nearly 3/4 of all app revenue.
What would you personally say about $40 for alpha access+notice for player like NS2 black armor and $35 at beta or later? I'm still thinking about stuff (not that I even have anything to sell atm) so don't get too attached to what you see here.
Core empires differs depending on map. In my mind the core things that make empires good can be seen on several maps: MValley is the best example of a map that has a lot of thought and strategy go into it, while the strategy each game may be the same, a LOT of thought has gone into the builds and decisions that get made each game. Duststorm shows us the best of vehicle combat in empires, with lots of open territory, plenty of space to duke it out and engage in fights involving mainly mobility. Cyclopean gives the game a unique map with specific objectives and memorable landmarks and situations that stick with us. But most of all, it's how the classes interact, how sometimes the actions of one player can make a difference, mining up a choke point might stop a push, sabbing a rax before a major assault gives the offenders the advantage, the entire concept of walls and how they interact with the other classes and the vehicles of the game, and how effective riflemen can be at infantry combat, while still not being invincible or completely unfair in a fight. Empires as it is works because it's empires, you start ripping parts out and things will fall apart. Scout's stickystuns are vital for ending comm-chases which would otherwise make a game last forever, and are excellent teamwork tools for a lagging team, a stunned heavy tank is as good as dead with a decent rifleman or grenadier. Scout sabotage is a brilliant teamwork tool and doubles the effectiveness of any given squad against a base. Concussion grenades provide an interesting game mechanic in their air-burst and sprint in tactic. The scout provides a lot of useful, niche roles that give the game more depth. He absolutely has his flaws, such as the still useless smoke grenades, and the often debated scout rifle (which I feel has established a good niche in the game) but overall his capabilities are unique and important to the game, even if he's not the best class in every situation. Also I hate slaughtered, it's among the worst maps in empires. It's up there with rainbowroad, octagons and money in my books. Definitely the worst stock map, it showcases the worst of empires, the problems with several gameplay elements are shown vividly on slaughtered, the issues caused by walls, the problems with poor refinery placement and resource allocation, and the problems with the commander (on slaughtered for example, not adhering to the strategy that is basically set in stone for each faction will result in you losing) All this said, I'm pretty biased because I like playing scout, and attempting to be useful. At the same time, you, Mootant are biased because you hate scout. Neither opinion is wrong or right, but it's important to not act on impulse. I don't like the fact that most tanks have ridiculously powerful MGs easily available that utterly annihilate infantry, but if it were up to me to keep or remove MGs, I'd probably keep them, they do less harm than they do good to gameplay.
I don't think you need a "black armor". If you absolutely need the capital at the beginning, I think you could do a hybrid Minecraft-Freemium model. Charge ~$40 for early access and gradually lower the price as the game matures (the opposite of the Minecraft model). The kicker is when you get a Freemium market into the game (and you no longer charge for access). You give the early adopters a store credit equal to what they paid initially ($40, $35, ...). That would warm up this crowd to the store and put your stuff in-game for new players to slobber over. For the stuff in the market, I would do superficial "vanity" items that do not affect gameplay (like skins or TF2's hats). To populate the store, hire artists and pay them a percentage of their item's revenue (so no up-front cash from you).
Now you're thinking about profit rather than the engineering of the game, which is going to be detrimental to gameplay and the playerbase. While rewards are neat and all, they make the latecomers feel bad and increase the gap between vets and noobs, plus in many peoples minds you're just grubbing for money.
Nobody's thinking of profit, they are thinking of collecting the necessary funds to continue to support the game. The trick is to collect those funds in a way that makes the player happy. A freemium model does that. That's why the 4% of App Store apps that use the freemium model collect 72% of the App Store's revenue. Are you talking about the "black armor" offers? I agree, those are a poor choice. I mentioned that in my previous post.
first off i think the scout discussion may want to be split from this thread but i believe i speak for at least half of this community when i say the scout as a class is indispensable to core empires. you say you enjoy playing scout but find smokes to be useless? holy shit you never play the game or something. on a 1:1 ratio smokes negate cover much more efficiently than any other kind of nade. competitive example: smoke nades gave the BE|.\\ the east side of canyon by denying NF EPIC cover from the patch of trees smattered on the corner of the canyon wall. WELL WHAT IM REALLY TRYING TO SAY HERE THOUGH is that the scout class is not as much of a primary class or a support class either but it is the class that gets shit the fuck done when gameplay comes to a halt because the other classes are so well balanced against each other and because of that stalemates often erupt.
What happens when the scout is overused before a stalemate? The stalemate might never occur as the scout-using team loses quickly. What are your opinions on noobs using scout as an FPS sniper? I think, to many of us, it seems like a wasted player. This is where all the scout hate starts, not at its proper use.
lolwut? Smokespam had nothing to do with it. The problem is pushing through a chokepoint where the enemy can attack from above. It's the exact same reason why Isle is a terrible map, when it comes to high ground vs low ground. Because attacking an area in the way that you do on Isle from low ground to high ground, means you're totally in the open whilst they have constant angular cover from the landscape. And it's easy to block off. When it comes to core gameplay on Isle, it's a chokepoint map, and no-one realises that. At least on Slaughtered and most of canyon (except that Eastern corridor) you're on an equal footing with the enemy, but having to attack through an area where the enemy can just siege you from above is just horrible, it's not fun to push through.
Although i marked the wrong section. Id be willing to pay $10-$30 during alpha. The only things i want are for the engineer class, the BE Jeep, and the NF Light Tank, to be carried over as is. (minus the fact that the LT likes to shoot itself.)
