Noteable Quotes From The Interview With Flayra
Savant
Join Date: 2002-11-30 Member: 10289Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Join Date: 2002-11-30 Member: 10289Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
<div class="IPBDescription">...and my thoughts</div> OK, I just finished listening to the interview. It was long, but still left me longing. (perhaps Flayra could short monthly interviews instead of huge rare ones…) Anyway, I pulled out some notable quotes for the sake of conversation and debate for those who didn’t hear the interview. Please try and resist taking the quotes out of context. If you’re unsure of the intent behind the quote, listen to the interview to be sure.
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Note that the use of “ “ (double quotes) indicates a DIRECT quote from Flayra. The use of … (three periods) indicates that I am using non-contiguous portions of the conversation. (for sake of brevity) Anything inside round brackets ( ) is from me. </span>
I’m going to add my own comments, feel free to respond in kind.
<b>"That argument just sounds completely ludicrous to me”</b><i> (in regard to fades/aliens are too powerful)</i>
Finally some indication of ‘which way the wind is blowing’. This quote, combined with the one below, tells an interesting story.
<b>“I’ve noticed that on clan games the marines are overpowered and in pub games the aliens are overpowered”</b> <i>(in regard to balance issues)</i>
I’ve noticed this too, but on pubs there seems to be no CONSISTENT behaviour since there is such a variety of skilled players at any given time. In many cases the aliens will win *IF* the marines don’t play as a unit, or if they fail to meet key objectives.
He did mention that he does not intend to make ‘two damage systems’ (one for clan play and one for pub play) so it might be difficult to balance. Clans will always have the upper hand since they are organized, yet on pubs it’s hard to account for unbalanced teams. I tend to think that they should aim for better clan balance, and hope that as NS ages, more people will know how to play ‘properly’.
<b>“multiple gorges aren’t viable … I’d rather fix that … so the kick isn’t necessary”</b><i> (in regard to making gorges viable instead adding of a gorge eject command)</i>
What’s interesting is that also Flayra mentioned that his comment on gorges not getting the extra tick is not set in stone. No changes have been made for this in 1.1 as of yet. So it will be interesting to see what he comes up with in the end. Right now something is better than nothing.
<b>“I’d love to figure out why.”</b><i> (in regard to why so many new players go gorge on pubs)</i>
I think this one is easy. Straight from the tooltip “Aliens can morph into new lifeforms. <b>Try it</b>” When the game starts there is only ONE alien you can morph into. New players usually have no idea how to play and as such do not understand the role of gorge in the game, and the implication of multiple gorges.
Perhaps if a person chooses the gorge evolution, a pop-up window will instruct the user that about the gorge is not a combat alien and that it is not a good idea for a team to have too many gorges. Even if ‘multiple gorges are made viable’ it is STILL a bad idea to have too many gorges for two reasons. One, those players will NOT be attacking the marines, and so the aliens will be short on attackers, and two, the person who goes gorge (even if they change back) will NOT be able to change to fade when the second hive drops.
<b>“I’d like to see welders used more … (to possibly) make all doors, switches and elevators weldable”</b><i> (in regard to ‘tactics’ that are underused that he would like to see used more)</i>
When playing as marine I would certainly welcome the ability to weld just about anything. However, if that becomes the case then we should have a few things happen. Add more vents are put in so that aliens are not completely constricted, make it so that the gorge can open welds, and also make it so that a welder and UNweld an object.
The reason being is that on many maps, (like the marine start on Eclipse) if you were to weld the doors then the aliens would no longer be able to access that area of the map. Alternately, can you imagine how noobified the game could get if a marine welded the exit doors BEFORE any phase gates are in place?
<b>“I don’t like ‘em … especially for CAL support … I definitely don’t like it and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure that they don’t dominate the game or give people an advantage and if that means I have to bring down the pistol speed, the rate of fire, then I’ll probably do it”</b><i> (in regard to “malicious” scripts like pistol, bunnyhop, and leap attack scripts)</i>
Again, Flayra has made his position clear on a matter of importance. I’m looking forward to seeing how his efforts to curbs these scripts come out. He did acknowledge that there are limitations in that he can’t disable any given script, but he will be evaluating ways to address these issues.
<b>“I’m opposed to donation … my real problem with that system is that it means that aliens instead of fighting … they’re pressing their use key on another player which is boring. … If players have to do that to get the advantage, then that’s a fault with the game design. … What I’d rather do is fix the underlying symptom … to make the resources work better so donation is not needed.” </b> <i> (in regard to alien resource donation)</i>
This will be a big challenge indeed. The alien resource system does not lend itself to easy manipulation, and given that Flayra does not want a system where one team will get more resources than another given the same number of resource nodes, then they’ll need some ingenuity to overcome this issue.
All in all it was a good interview. Perhaps he can make this a regular occurrence. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Regards,
Savant
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Note that the use of “ “ (double quotes) indicates a DIRECT quote from Flayra. The use of … (three periods) indicates that I am using non-contiguous portions of the conversation. (for sake of brevity) Anything inside round brackets ( ) is from me. </span>
I’m going to add my own comments, feel free to respond in kind.
<b>"That argument just sounds completely ludicrous to me”</b><i> (in regard to fades/aliens are too powerful)</i>
Finally some indication of ‘which way the wind is blowing’. This quote, combined with the one below, tells an interesting story.
<b>“I’ve noticed that on clan games the marines are overpowered and in pub games the aliens are overpowered”</b> <i>(in regard to balance issues)</i>
I’ve noticed this too, but on pubs there seems to be no CONSISTENT behaviour since there is such a variety of skilled players at any given time. In many cases the aliens will win *IF* the marines don’t play as a unit, or if they fail to meet key objectives.
He did mention that he does not intend to make ‘two damage systems’ (one for clan play and one for pub play) so it might be difficult to balance. Clans will always have the upper hand since they are organized, yet on pubs it’s hard to account for unbalanced teams. I tend to think that they should aim for better clan balance, and hope that as NS ages, more people will know how to play ‘properly’.
<b>“multiple gorges aren’t viable … I’d rather fix that … so the kick isn’t necessary”</b><i> (in regard to making gorges viable instead adding of a gorge eject command)</i>
What’s interesting is that also Flayra mentioned that his comment on gorges not getting the extra tick is not set in stone. No changes have been made for this in 1.1 as of yet. So it will be interesting to see what he comes up with in the end. Right now something is better than nothing.
<b>“I’d love to figure out why.”</b><i> (in regard to why so many new players go gorge on pubs)</i>
I think this one is easy. Straight from the tooltip “Aliens can morph into new lifeforms. <b>Try it</b>” When the game starts there is only ONE alien you can morph into. New players usually have no idea how to play and as such do not understand the role of gorge in the game, and the implication of multiple gorges.
Perhaps if a person chooses the gorge evolution, a pop-up window will instruct the user that about the gorge is not a combat alien and that it is not a good idea for a team to have too many gorges. Even if ‘multiple gorges are made viable’ it is STILL a bad idea to have too many gorges for two reasons. One, those players will NOT be attacking the marines, and so the aliens will be short on attackers, and two, the person who goes gorge (even if they change back) will NOT be able to change to fade when the second hive drops.
<b>“I’d like to see welders used more … (to possibly) make all doors, switches and elevators weldable”</b><i> (in regard to ‘tactics’ that are underused that he would like to see used more)</i>
When playing as marine I would certainly welcome the ability to weld just about anything. However, if that becomes the case then we should have a few things happen. Add more vents are put in so that aliens are not completely constricted, make it so that the gorge can open welds, and also make it so that a welder and UNweld an object.
The reason being is that on many maps, (like the marine start on Eclipse) if you were to weld the doors then the aliens would no longer be able to access that area of the map. Alternately, can you imagine how noobified the game could get if a marine welded the exit doors BEFORE any phase gates are in place?
<b>“I don’t like ‘em … especially for CAL support … I definitely don’t like it and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure that they don’t dominate the game or give people an advantage and if that means I have to bring down the pistol speed, the rate of fire, then I’ll probably do it”</b><i> (in regard to “malicious” scripts like pistol, bunnyhop, and leap attack scripts)</i>
Again, Flayra has made his position clear on a matter of importance. I’m looking forward to seeing how his efforts to curbs these scripts come out. He did acknowledge that there are limitations in that he can’t disable any given script, but he will be evaluating ways to address these issues.
<b>“I’m opposed to donation … my real problem with that system is that it means that aliens instead of fighting … they’re pressing their use key on another player which is boring. … If players have to do that to get the advantage, then that’s a fault with the game design. … What I’d rather do is fix the underlying symptom … to make the resources work better so donation is not needed.” </b> <i> (in regard to alien resource donation)</i>
This will be a big challenge indeed. The alien resource system does not lend itself to easy manipulation, and given that Flayra does not want a system where one team will get more resources than another given the same number of resource nodes, then they’ll need some ingenuity to overcome this issue.
All in all it was a good interview. Perhaps he can make this a regular occurrence. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Regards,
Savant
Comments
Thanks,
(Hx3) ShadowBitch
i am currently making(trying to make) a map, and i am going to include a few weldable points, but not a lot. mainly because you cant unweld them. but, if you can unweld points then i would be able to add many many things to my weldable list. i think unweleding for both sides should be included. maybe lerks can do it only. and with welders. that sound a little fair to me.
although if unwleding is placed in, then some of the maps, well most, are probably going to be directly related and completely visably directly affected. it may screw up game play on the original maps, but it may also help out in the future.
wut does flayra sound like? how old is he? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> wuts his real name? where does he live? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> hahahhaah
just wanted know if that interview is somewhere downloadable? .. i missed it and really like to hear it <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
thanks in advance...
mystiqq
Try that link - I hope it still works <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> I recorded it exactly how it was broadcast, so please mind the poor quality <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo--> We all had to bear with it that way. Also I think I missed the first question which regarded the clan scene.
BTW If you scroll down a bit in that thread there is an edited version - thanks to whomever did that! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Thats exactly right. It even tells you "Pull up your meny, move up once, and to the right" the little help thing TELLS you to go gorge...its only normal. 90% of the time everyone will get **** and tell that nub to get off....the problem lies in cl_autohelp
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->?I?d like to see welders used more ? (to possibly) make all doors, switches and elevators weldable?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Truth be told when I was waiting with baited breath for NS to come out I thought this would be the norm. I was a little let down when only specific points could be welded, but I got over it <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> It would have to be balanced on the current maps, but if unwelding was implemented it help a lot. Also, if this came in some kind of alien ability to open welded stuff should probbably be in there. It's not an issue now because none of the weld points (even on weld heavy maps like hera) have a crushing impact on the alien team (they are annoying though <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> ). Maybe gorges using something? Healing spray bactirum eating through the welded metal? Something along those lines, or marines could seal off far too much stuff.
I'm not trying to stop Flayra though, I LOVE the idea, just would like to see it implemented well <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
As to this problem, KFS is releasing a new version of Eclipse. There's a vent that leads from the Horseshoe into the Marine Start in the new version I believe. Go rummage around the Mapping forum, there's a thread with some screenies on it.
just wanted know if that interview is somewhere downloadable? .. i missed it and really like to hear it <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
thanks in advance...
mystiqq <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
PlanetNS currently has the latest flayra interview up for download,
<a href='http://planetns.com/files/NSRadio%20-%20Flayra%20Interview.zip' target='_blank'>link</a>
Truth be told when I was waiting with baited breath for NS to come out I thought this would be the norm. I was a little let down when only specific points could be welded, but I got over it <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> It would have to be balanced on the current maps, but if unwelding was implemented it help a lot. Also, if this came in some kind of alien ability to open welded stuff should probbably be in there. It's not an issue now because none of the weld points (even on weld heavy maps like hera) have a crushing impact on the alien team (they are annoying though <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> ). Maybe gorges using something? Healing spray bactirum eating through the welded metal? Something along those lines, or marines could seal off far too much stuff.
I'm not trying to stop Flayra though, I LOVE the idea, just would like to see it implemented well <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
well yes welding everything is good. although it iwll unblanace every map like i said it would. as a test, they should implement unwwleding first. then try to weld more stuff. that way they can stop it from unblanacing the game too fast.