New Content? Cool Story Bro.

[CombatEX]

(09-23-2012 05:48 PM)stevewastaken Wrote:  @CombatEX

You touched on two general ideas.

1. Adam makes the teams (new content), Alex writes the code.

Even if this is totally true, is this a creative vs. programming issue? No. I mentioned the solutions are relatively simple.

What's the easiest way to combat FTA? Start the player with first turn with only 3 wits. It doesn't require much/any programming. This was a near flawless fix in Hero Academy, and there's no reason to think it wouldn't work here. Do you have to play-test this before making the change? Sure. Do you also have to play-test a new team? Yes.

What's the solution for checking actions? A pop-up that asks "Are you sure?". This already exists for move confirmation. I mean, I don't know everything about coding, but I know creating a new pop-up when code for pop-ups is already there, is not hard.

The issue here is not the time it takes to implementing solutions. The issue is whether OML acknowledges these things are real problems, and whether they value the solutions. You might think to yourself "obviously they see the problems. It's all the community talks about." Well, on many occasions I have seen game developers ignore the most obvious problem, or they acknowledge the problems, but claim that there is no viable solution, using roundabout logic to discredit the simple solutions presented.

So I'm not going to assume these problems are getting fixed, until they explicitly say they are (and how).

Yes, so? I never said that Alex shouldn't be fixing these because they're too difficult to fix... Rather, I was stating that your idea that they are jumping the gun with the implementation of a new team instead of improvements is just an assumption. Since, as you put it, these are simple fixes, the fact that they are releasing a team shouldn't be taking away so much time such that Alex can't work on these improvements. I was just bringing attention to the fact that this is especially the case since Adam does a lot of the work in releasing the new team.

Quote:2. They need to make a profit.

Sure they do. How much profit will they make when they release a new team? Well, I'm guessing not a crazy amount. I imagine most players either don't pay, or they buy the Uber pack because of its obvious value.

So what's the best way to maximize profit? Probably to ensure the players are as happy as possible and continue to play. In my own opinion, fixing the problems of FTA and Action Confirmations will actually make players more happy than a new team. But this is all speculative.

You mention that the new team probably won't bring in that much money. Maybe, maybe not. As for keeping people playing, here we need to consider only those players who will quit permanently as a result of FTA and action confirmation being delayed due to adding the new team. How many players will really quit permanently because these additions are delayed a few weeks? How much money will OML make from retaining this select number of players who quit because the fix comes out a few weeks to a month later? Not much more (and probably a lot less) than they would from releasing a team.
Note: When I saw 'a few weeks to a month' I'm considering purely the amount of time Alex has to spend implementing the new team instead of adding these fixes. Not the amount of time it takes as a result of Alex deciding these issues aren't high priority which would be a HUGE mistake.

Firstly, how does retaining players make OML money if (according to your assumption) most of these players already purchased the Uber pack or won't spend money on the game in the first place? The way OML makes money off these players is by them convincing their friends to play who will then hopefully make purchases. These players who quit permanently since the improvements are delayed a little are far less likely to be the ones who would rush out and tell all their friends to play Outwitters since apparently the game wasn't even good enough to warrant waiting a while longer for the improvements. In fact, it is even possible that these kinds of players who don't feel Outwitters is worth the wait actually lose OML money since they're just taking up server space and are unlikely to bring in any more money by reaching out to their friends or from future add-ons (according to your assumption that new team packs won't bring in much cash).

Anyway, the underlying point here is that I don't see the issue with releasing a team now as long as it doesn't mean Alex has suddenly decided to cease work on gameplay improvements (which would be a critical mistake).

- A short delay on these additions due to adding a team is fine since only a few players who can't have enjoyed the game much in the first place will quit due to a brief delay. *
- A long delay due to OML deciding these issues aren't high priority is not fine since then even the most ardent Outwitters players will eventually lose interest.

*This ties into the idea that the delay is made shorter as a result of Adam's contribution to adding a new team.