Suggestion for the forum: easy availability of NS2 information.
afratnikov
Join Date: 2003-08-05 Member: 18931Members
Join Date: 2003-08-05 Member: 18931Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Developer podcasts + transcripts, writeups, videos etc.</div>Problem: no easy access to developer's NS2 information on Idea/suggestions forum
Effect: many ideas are suggested that are out of touch with NS2. Also, ideas that would be in touch with NS2 are not suggested.
Solution: Have a sticky in the suggestions forum with resources for developer's NS2 information.
What is the purpose of the Ideas and Suggestions forum? - the answer has not been clearly stated, but here is my take. I believe that one of the main purposes of the I&S forum is to come up with creative AND workable ideas that could be applied to NS2. This implies that the developers will look at the suggestions from time to time and possibly apply them, if they see fit. There are other purposes, such as probe own creativity, vent excitement about NS2, and many others... but I would like to focus on how to improve ideas in the I&S forum to be of benefit to the developing of NS2.
PART 1: Setting up the problem
A good suggestion that is in line with what the vision for the game would be much better than a great suggestion that simply would not fit NS2 gameplay/vision. Additionally, informed suggestions would be much more useful for the developers (assuming they do read the forums from time to time) as they would be in line of what the devs are already working on.
There has been a LOT of information already revealed about NS2 through podcasts. However, many people, especially those who are new to the forums, do not know about it. Many people make assumption about NS2 based on NS - which isn't a bad thing to do per se, but can be often times be misleading. Taking a quick glance at the idea/suggestions topics: most have to do with exotic or very elaborate ideas that have little to do with what was revealed by the devs. Granted, many ideas are great and may even be later be modded into the game, BUT they are not what the developers are focusing on. Many ideas thus have 0% chance of making into the game, because the devs have A LOT more to do than they have time for.
Having easy access to NS2 information will allow direction for suggestions and will better help the developers. For example, there are very few, if any ideas on commander spells, although we KNOW that they will be a bigger part in NS2. If the NS-community's creativity were to be applied to commander spells, i'm sure there would be a lot of inspiration that the developers could get from these ideas.
PART 2: So, what can be done?
First of all, the purpose of the I&S forum should be clear to the writers. "Post ideas for features you'd like to see in Natural Selection 2" is the forum description, but HOW these ideas will be used is unclear.
Secondly, a resource for information that is available about NS2 would be helpful. So, instead of suggesting a cool new alien form with cool abilities without knowing anything about NS2 balance, one could suggest features that would be in line with what NS2 is going to do, such as marines' getting own weapons. For example, if someone wants to suggest an idea on marine's buying their own weapons, there are at least 3 podcasts plus several developer write ups that mention it.
So, i suggest adding a short guide to getting NS2 information - podcasts/writeups and developer comments. The goal would be compiling similarly themed information in one place, so link to all info on alien commander, for example, would be on one page.
Effect: many ideas are suggested that are out of touch with NS2. Also, ideas that would be in touch with NS2 are not suggested.
Solution: Have a sticky in the suggestions forum with resources for developer's NS2 information.
What is the purpose of the Ideas and Suggestions forum? - the answer has not been clearly stated, but here is my take. I believe that one of the main purposes of the I&S forum is to come up with creative AND workable ideas that could be applied to NS2. This implies that the developers will look at the suggestions from time to time and possibly apply them, if they see fit. There are other purposes, such as probe own creativity, vent excitement about NS2, and many others... but I would like to focus on how to improve ideas in the I&S forum to be of benefit to the developing of NS2.
PART 1: Setting up the problem
A good suggestion that is in line with what the vision for the game would be much better than a great suggestion that simply would not fit NS2 gameplay/vision. Additionally, informed suggestions would be much more useful for the developers (assuming they do read the forums from time to time) as they would be in line of what the devs are already working on.
There has been a LOT of information already revealed about NS2 through podcasts. However, many people, especially those who are new to the forums, do not know about it. Many people make assumption about NS2 based on NS - which isn't a bad thing to do per se, but can be often times be misleading. Taking a quick glance at the idea/suggestions topics: most have to do with exotic or very elaborate ideas that have little to do with what was revealed by the devs. Granted, many ideas are great and may even be later be modded into the game, BUT they are not what the developers are focusing on. Many ideas thus have 0% chance of making into the game, because the devs have A LOT more to do than they have time for.
Having easy access to NS2 information will allow direction for suggestions and will better help the developers. For example, there are very few, if any ideas on commander spells, although we KNOW that they will be a bigger part in NS2. If the NS-community's creativity were to be applied to commander spells, i'm sure there would be a lot of inspiration that the developers could get from these ideas.
PART 2: So, what can be done?
First of all, the purpose of the I&S forum should be clear to the writers. "Post ideas for features you'd like to see in Natural Selection 2" is the forum description, but HOW these ideas will be used is unclear.
Secondly, a resource for information that is available about NS2 would be helpful. So, instead of suggesting a cool new alien form with cool abilities without knowing anything about NS2 balance, one could suggest features that would be in line with what NS2 is going to do, such as marines' getting own weapons. For example, if someone wants to suggest an idea on marine's buying their own weapons, there are at least 3 podcasts plus several developer write ups that mention it.
So, i suggest adding a short guide to getting NS2 information - podcasts/writeups and developer comments. The goal would be compiling similarly themed information in one place, so link to all info on alien commander, for example, would be on one page.
Comments
<a href="http://www.ausns2.com/articles/ns2-what-we-know-mmmmegalist" target="_blank">http://www.ausns2.com/articles/ns2-what-we-know-mmmmegalist</a>
Also, the developers revealed that they don't read the Ideas&Suggestions much (podcast 27). It isn't difficult to come up with new ideas and they have all the ideas they need.