The Future of TT from GG!

[Reagent X]

Joe - your perspective is appreciated, welcomed and frankly long overdue. We have been forging ahead blindly, trying to evolve this game as far as it can possibly go. I think the community has done an impressive job and breathed lots of life, vitality and intensity to this game which lives on despite numerous setbacks. But we have done it blind with no "leadership" on where things are going. I respect you business decisions, but I would like to hear some pro-active news on the vision of the future. Please don't wait until you feel 'flamed' and then get upset. That is completely wrong.

[TankerBel]

I hate to give you even more to read, but...

Joe-
At first, more then five years ago, the
community loved the maps, and the
tanks. But slowly over the years, the
maps have been repeated and repeated.
Through the many competitive games
various tricks off rocks and trees have
been discovered. The games are be-
coming less and less competitve. The
players who are still here (after 5+ years)
are here for the community, not the
origional game that we used to love.
Personally, this is why I and many other
'vets' have migrated to Team Scrum.
The maps there are 100% modded, and
give us new maps to drive, along with
more competitive games. None of us
have ever left the game, but now the
'game' is being reduced to the community,
and thats why people are sticking around.

Thanks for reading...

-TankerBeI (Playing this un-updated game since early '04 )

[Mighty Mouse]

Don't misunderstand, I appreciate new players. I was once and through interactions with jedirieb and woot, have been brought along beyond my demo days. My reference was to putting too much stock into the reflections of 2 demos, who sound like kids and would probably need their parents' permission to purchase even if they decided to buy, which I doubt.

Plus, I've seen many new repeated demos who never bother to purchase the full version. I don't think the price is the main barrier to crossing the line beyond demo-hood. Of course, if we 'upgrade' TT to the level of Master Chief, they'd be willing to pay through the nose to play, but somehow I don't think IA has the resources of Microsoft.

[DJ Wings]

Another suggestion for GG would be to open up the source. Of course, this probably isn't going to happen, but think of what could be done to it if the entire source code was made available to the public.

[get some]

and now I am getting roped in to some stupid internet forum argument instead of sleeping.. which is why I kind of bowed out of participating in the community actively some years back.

dont worry Joe. we have all sacrificed sleep and time due to this game and its forum.

i will say i will keep and open mind about AI. unfortunately i cant play yet so until i can i will have nothing to say about it. in true perspective my life needs more updating than this game i play.

a suggestion (if your still up for it)....

part of what makes this game so enjoyable (for me) is the diverse characters in its community and the high level of play brought to the servers by the players. it would be cool if you could somehow market some of the personalities to help sell the game. WOW and Halo both have players and teams that are well known even to players who havent played against them and draw lots of media and fan attention at tournaments. it could be a draw to see a certain player or go up against a certain team. we have this to some extent on a smaller scale in TT but why not promote it to potential new users? Psycho Scrum League could be a prime example for this...a highly successful organized league with the games best players! or how about bios on such players like Rx or Roo, both of whom have been huge contributors to this game who you can actually play with on a regular basis. Pro sports promote their best players to help support their leagues...why not do the same on a gaming platform?

just a thought.

sry about my earlier comment...an overreaction to a perceived slight. my apologies.

[joemaruschak]

quick response here, got some meetings to attend.

this all comes down to us making a game 'back in the day' where the business model for monetizing games favored the 'sale' of a game, and not the 'support' of a game. The distribution channels make money (and then we make money) when we sell to a new customer. Servicing a customer is considered (and accounted for) as a cost.. the cost is weighed against the income generated from sales to new customers.

what we are trying to do, in a nutshell, is create a distribution platform that favors the servicing of an existing customer base.. in effect, monetize the community aspects of a game. InstantAction, at it's core, is about supporting gaming communities. What we want to build is in response to the fact that supporting communities (something we want to do) was a costly endevour (time) when compared to other activities (marketing to new potential purchasers)..

We are not 'there' yet. We have a ways to go, but all the things that people have been asking for.. the backend system we are building will allow for all of it.. things like on demand creation and admin of dedicated servers, mod ranking.. mod submission and download (so people don't have to be unpacking zip files and hacking if they don't want to).. competition and ladders.. integrated support for teams.. all the 'stuff' we want and you have been clamoring for will be possible with the backend system we are building.. If Linux and fullscreen are the primary 'things' someone wants, then instantaction is not the place for you. We are moving toward accessibility and integration with the web..

as for linux.. guys, we supported linux when we shipped. We beleive in linux.. hell, I started on computers WAY back in the day on UNIX, before there was mac OR windows (or linux).. I am not poo-pooing linux, but honestly, the money is not there, and as a business, we need to make money. We want to support linux, but we want other things as well (like support for clans/armies/teams).. and we have to prioritize where we are spending resources.

If I had more time right now, I could walk you through the last 5 years, but the short version is.. we were working inside the constraints of a distribution model that did not make supporting the game an effective model, and in some ways, made it impossible for us to add things we wanted. We have been slowly working to set in motion the creation of a distribution channel and community interaction API that will allow us to do all these things.. InstantAction is the beginning of this.

I have been listening, and though I have not been responding, the wheels have been in motion for a long time. Creating a game and distribtuion model that supports communities (instead of catering to new users) requires a fundamental shift in the way we sell, consume, and support games.. we are working to create that fundamental shift and the technology to support it.

If we get it right. awesome.. if we fail.. well, someone will get it right (I hope it is us). If you choose to support what we are doing, great.. if you are going to take a wait and see approach.. that works as well.. it works better if you get involved.. but it is not required.

[joemaruschak]

Psycho Scrum League could be a prime example for this...a highly successful organized league with the games best players! or how about bios on such players like Rx or Roo, both of whom have been huge contributors to this game who you can actually play with on a regular basis. Pro sports promote their best players to help support their leagues...why not do the same on a gaming platform?

wanted to point out this quote above.. THAT is what we want to build.. we have dreamy scenarios where teams might actually someday get rev-share from being sponsored.. no idea if that will happen, but the potential is there. if any of you are steam players, take a look at some of the 'group' stuff.. think of that, along with web feed connectivity and an API so the community can leverage the stats to create a more compelling, and more tightly integrated community experience. keep the ideas coming.. the above mentioned stuff is in the planning stages.. not in the 'wouldn't it be cool if' stage, more like.. ok, brass tacks.. what does it take to build it? tech wise, server cost wise, what are the security issues, etc.. what is the cost in time and resources, how soon can we get it done, and how much will it drive revenue.. The quote above best illustrates what we are attempting to build.. that could be posted in one of our design docs..

[get some]

sounds great! let us know what we can do to help!!

[WeEd-ufo]

[Wild Alaskan-AK-]

i was wondering why sandwich condiments wernt mentioned in the first version of that post