Ns Popularity, The Game, More....(rant!)
DarkAngel
Join Date: 2002-11-10 Member: 8112Members
Join Date: 2002-11-10 Member: 8112Members
<div class="IPBDescription">More *popular* than cs? ...no..but..</div>
It's simple to explain.
NS is a complex game. It is not targetted at the casual gamer. Even someone who just wants to shoot things will find marine life more complex and difficult than they'd want. You have depth of gameplay to thank for this. The fact that NS is still a learning experience after a few hours is a very good sign.
I see a few players mentioning that they eventually tired of CS, and other run and gun games they'd played, and found NS to be a refreshing, new experience. That's great, you guys aren't kept forever satisfied by a game that you have mastered.
The thing is, the casual players which make up the majority of the gaming population, never , ever come close to mastering a game. Chances are, many of them aren't even capable of it. (not everyone is a ultra gamer..not everyone wants to spend all day playing games..)
A lot of new games on the block, not just mods , can be mastered within a few minutes. As a jaded, experienced gamer, I find this dull. Sitting down at something people have spent years making and finding it a linear, unrewarding experience, makes me feel as though I'm going through the motions of something I'm already sick of, and only the new graphics will provide me with any sort of entertainment. Graphics still don't make the game. It's always been about gameplay.
To make the long story short, NS would need to be dumbed down a lot. Plenty of it would need to be simplified and automated. This won't help the popularity amongst your gamer enthusiasts, but it would make it a fun game for casual gamers. I hope this never, ever happens.
That's enough on my "vs" rant. Now for just some rambling about the game.
What would help you pick up more casual players?
Better graphics. Better skins and models.
*better and more rewarding/powerful weapon sounds*.
When I fire the weapons in NS, only the fade bile attacks, munching and hard-hitting sounds (perhaps also the knife sounds) seem to be substantial. Hearing a fade ripping turrets apart with its claws does sound very painful.
I used to feel that having a weak weapon, should mean that it should sound weak. However this just isn't as much fun.
When I fire the marine weapons, I feel like I'm using peashooters. The pistol goes "pop!", I want to hear it go "BLAM!!". I'll be whacking together a soundpack which will eventually make its way to the public. There'll probably be a ton of them sooner or later. There's just something very satisfying about firing a gun that sounds incredibly powerful, even if the damage it deals doesn't match the power of the sound.
I like plenty of the other sounds in the game. The level ambience and the voices are well done. Many weapon reload sounds are good. All these tiny touches add a lot to the overall experience.
The models on the other hand are quite good, but could use some improvements.
The onos does not have any attack animations.
The skulks often die an epileptic, shaking death.
The fades seem to either lack death animation. I am assuming that this is recognised by the team and being worked on.
The best part about all of this rant? I'm not bitching about the gameplay. Gameplay makes the game. I'm offering my thoughts and suggestions on improving the way the game feels. Basically, the skin, the outer shell. The stuff that most games these days try to push as their main focus. This game has the guts, it has the gameplay. Seeing people focus on renovating the
way the game looks and sounds, and future releases are going to be interesting. It would be interesting to hear or see what the dev team has in mind, as far as game enhancements go.
That's enough from me for now.
AP-DarkAngel (yes!..a quakeworld clan..)
It's simple to explain.
NS is a complex game. It is not targetted at the casual gamer. Even someone who just wants to shoot things will find marine life more complex and difficult than they'd want. You have depth of gameplay to thank for this. The fact that NS is still a learning experience after a few hours is a very good sign.
I see a few players mentioning that they eventually tired of CS, and other run and gun games they'd played, and found NS to be a refreshing, new experience. That's great, you guys aren't kept forever satisfied by a game that you have mastered.
The thing is, the casual players which make up the majority of the gaming population, never , ever come close to mastering a game. Chances are, many of them aren't even capable of it. (not everyone is a ultra gamer..not everyone wants to spend all day playing games..)
A lot of new games on the block, not just mods , can be mastered within a few minutes. As a jaded, experienced gamer, I find this dull. Sitting down at something people have spent years making and finding it a linear, unrewarding experience, makes me feel as though I'm going through the motions of something I'm already sick of, and only the new graphics will provide me with any sort of entertainment. Graphics still don't make the game. It's always been about gameplay.
To make the long story short, NS would need to be dumbed down a lot. Plenty of it would need to be simplified and automated. This won't help the popularity amongst your gamer enthusiasts, but it would make it a fun game for casual gamers. I hope this never, ever happens.
That's enough on my "vs" rant. Now for just some rambling about the game.
What would help you pick up more casual players?
Better graphics. Better skins and models.
*better and more rewarding/powerful weapon sounds*.
When I fire the weapons in NS, only the fade bile attacks, munching and hard-hitting sounds (perhaps also the knife sounds) seem to be substantial. Hearing a fade ripping turrets apart with its claws does sound very painful.
I used to feel that having a weak weapon, should mean that it should sound weak. However this just isn't as much fun.
When I fire the marine weapons, I feel like I'm using peashooters. The pistol goes "pop!", I want to hear it go "BLAM!!". I'll be whacking together a soundpack which will eventually make its way to the public. There'll probably be a ton of them sooner or later. There's just something very satisfying about firing a gun that sounds incredibly powerful, even if the damage it deals doesn't match the power of the sound.
I like plenty of the other sounds in the game. The level ambience and the voices are well done. Many weapon reload sounds are good. All these tiny touches add a lot to the overall experience.
The models on the other hand are quite good, but could use some improvements.
The onos does not have any attack animations.
The skulks often die an epileptic, shaking death.
The fades seem to either lack death animation. I am assuming that this is recognised by the team and being worked on.
The best part about all of this rant? I'm not bitching about the gameplay. Gameplay makes the game. I'm offering my thoughts and suggestions on improving the way the game feels. Basically, the skin, the outer shell. The stuff that most games these days try to push as their main focus. This game has the guts, it has the gameplay. Seeing people focus on renovating the
way the game looks and sounds, and future releases are going to be interesting. It would be interesting to hear or see what the dev team has in mind, as far as game enhancements go.
That's enough from me for now.
AP-DarkAngel (yes!..a quakeworld clan..)
Comments
As for the weak weapon sounds, I love big booming blats also even if it hurts less than a slap from Monse. but, you would always get the 'My god this game is so unrealistic and the guns sound big and don't hurt worth.. blah blah" if they went out and did that I think <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> As for the animations, I am sure they are being worked on and tweaked. And <b>many</b> thanks for giving very good feedback like this, not the usual balance arguments! Everyone should take a look here and see how some good critiquing can be done, really nicely done DarkAngel. Flayra seems to keep his ideas a little secret though, even most playtesters don't know what is in store!
Actually, I think the sounds are great. With so much to hear in the ambience and the clicking of skulk claws, making the guns BOOM more distract that, me thinks. The animations are GREAT considering its a new release, and I could see them easily improving/adding more in the future.
But I love the "weak" sounds cause it makes it more realistic. Think about it from a military point of view, do you want weapons that sounds a lot and reveals your position or do you want silent weapons? Thats just one of those things that makes this mod so much more enjoyable.
This game has actually made me _DESIRE_ to join a clan in order to try out some good team play. While I find the game fun on a casual server, I too often suffer from a poor commander and an incoherent marine team. The aliens seem to manage themselves better since they don't rely on ONE person to carry them forward. It can be tiresom to tell folks 20 times in a row to lay off the gorges a bit, but that's about it. I find the aliens easier to work with as a team when you are inexperienced. The marines are more satisfying since a good commander and a nice obedient team can give that thrilling sensation of an "Aliens" flick when you and your comrades are fighting through the level, having constant attention and backup from the commander.
The sound in the flash anim for the NS homepage sounds good...bit cybernetic sorta...
I like it, gives a bit more zing..but then again, who am I? hehe
The only weapons that really lack KABOOM are the LMG, SG and HMG. The aliens sound fine. The Gorge's spit is funniest of all <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> it's as stupid as it sounds hehehe.
As I said in an earlier post of mine, why not make a user contest out of it? The prize being something minimal like a name mention. That's all a lot of people would need to make excellent sounds.
<!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wow.gif'><!--endemo-->
I like the sounds, but I can agree that it wouldn't hurt to have a few different bite sounds for the skulk since biting through a turret factory for instance takes a while and you keep hearing that sound a few times.. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
And third person model animations, well, yeah, they do lack an attack animation. That's not too critical but it would be nice to see them bite. As well as to see the skulk actually use his feet instead of his back to climb on walls and ceilings. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
The animations really need changing, or added actually, because they are many animar=tions for the aliens, but I am sure this is being worked on.
DarkAngel, the only problem I think with making your own soundpack is, I think all the files in NS must be consistent <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo-->