Will this ever be available on Steam? If its posted on Steam it might get more exposure and more players. Even if its Free to play. I've seen other games like "Face of Mankind" there and I'd bet they've gotten some more players from it being there.
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Will this ever be available on Steam? If its posted on Steam it might get more exposure and more players. Even if its Free to play. I've seen other games like "Face of Mankind" there and I'd bet they've gotten some more players from it being there.
As a MMO player and Steam user Ive followed the Face of Mankind deployment at the Steam network, from the initial player exponential sign ups to the current players online.
Please, check the image below where you can see 538 peak players to today with a 17 average players.
Attachment 12508
Source: http://steamcharts.com/app/299700
Why ?... this is the "why" in my honest oppinion.
Steam (for us) is a one shot chance that "only" works propperly when appears at the splash screen or promoted. Neocron is not DOTA, GTA 5 or CS, we are on a scifi/cyberpunk niche content that will retatin players if everything works fine.
A steam launch would be done without bugs, with more content, more tutorials and with a server capacity to load all incoming new players. If those new players arrive at the city and see a problem, any little cloud at the sky, they will leave Neocron as happened to Face of Mankind.
On the other side, Greenlight launchs must follow a procedure and sometimes to fit the game system to Steam, nowadays, that time would be dedicated to the game core.
I think that NST would use Steam shot when NC runs smooth and even have a higher player base... let me see... like using Steam as they do not need it, to improve player base, not to survive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tusinuno
yOU COMPARE NC TO fOmk!?!?! madness
NO... of course not.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuck Norris
I compare any Steam based tactic to survive to the failure of FoM deployment.
Wouldnt like to see NC exploding a couple of months to finally be desert after the third month.
As a new player, I can safely say that this game is a hot mess for newbies. Steam would be great but it'd be a short-lived success as your guys are saying. I played back in beta and for a long time through neocron 1 and it is SUCH a great game past the beginning parts. Maybe I'm just spoiled on games holding my hand through the beginner phase but I guarantee I'm not the only one.
Its sad that people want thier hands held TBH.
the atmosphere of NC was ruined the day newbie MC5 and the tutorials went in.
I remember logging into beta 4 all those years ago, taking the elevator down to the street, walking out into P2 and hearing the booming "NCPD has an eye on you!" and the rest, 100% atmosphere straight away.
i think if the tutorials had have been in and i didnt get that hit of cyberpunk, the game would not have made anywhere near the impression that it did.
The other thing which was great back then which has been watered down so, so much is that it was hardcore, strippers used to be naked, when you died you dropped your pack, basically what was an M rated game was actually an M rated game, unlike now where an M rated game is basically a G rated game with guns.
Dont know what exatly the NST is planing to do, but i would just remove newbiemc5 and the tutorial, its annoying and doesnt explain anything to new players. Like you said, just let them step on the streets of neocron. Do a big red line of text in the discription of TG/CM that they wont live in neocron, so the first days can get harder than they used to. Put signs at the oz apparments to show new onces where to get to plaza.
A rework of the mails a new player gets would also be cool.
at least fix the bug with the newbie drone and there we go ;)
It was always the intention - as i understand it - to market the game when it is in a stable state without bugs and relatively balanced.
The problem is acheiving that aim is another thing entirely. The team is honestly too small to make any changes on any timescale and this hampers then hugely. They dont have the resources, manpower or possibly funding to be able to convey any deadline or keep to it.
This game to me is effectively like a hobby that someone has kept around in their digital shed to tinker with every now and then for nostalgic purposes but not to market to be anything more than that. It is behind the drag curve these days hugely and due to the inherited problems of previous developers.
Dont get me wrong theyve done a grand job to get it to this point but the longer time draws on the more people will naturally get bored and leave and with a complete lack of advertising (due to the first point) the game will only survive on word of mouth and fan support.
It is very much a chicken and egg story.
Everyone here who still comes by the forum does so for nostalgia but even the forum has died off now. There arent the people there used to be as nobody posts hardly. People just lurk.
1. The game needs someone to have the balls to be open and honest and state some facts about what is happening behind the scenes. This will give the word of mouth something to say and hopefully inject a bit of life into the lurkers who do read but not post.
2. Then it needs some content, something to give people to play with. Get them in, get them being rewarded for helping to support the game in whatever way they choose to do so. Could be in game items or other stuff who knows.
3. Then it needs the remaining bugs and other stuff ironing out and then it needs to be released on steam.
The problem is, I dont see it ever getting past step 1.
Don't games on steam have to pay some money to Valve?
A lot of the "free" games on steam have cash shops. Loads. Neocron has none and unless Neocron is designed to make a profit or dividend then it's pointless to have it on steam. Get a few extra numbers but then what? They will get bored and leave and it will be of no consequence because no money has been made.
Neocron needs to make money in order to develop. William is right. Its more like a hobby developing this game. Fair play to the neocron support team but these are terrible times for online games. Neocron has potential but it is struggling.
Most players here are nostalgic veterans. Fresh players or players who are used to more polished games will be turned off completely, despite the great cyberpunk aesthetics. Graphics are outdated, tutorial area is very clunky and poorly implemented, game is unbalanced and this game has bugs and annoyances to make modern gamers go "nah".
This is one hell of a fixer upper. Massive respect to the NST but you guys need more help. Kickstart, crowd funding or just a shit load of volunteer coders to whack out a huge content patch. Also develop a business model. A reasonable cash shop and a better marketing presence. Twitter and facebook aint cutting it. Get on Steam or shack up with one of those publishers that has loads of freemium mmo games under their belt.
Otherwise we are stuck in a rut. Our nostalgia goggles can only keep the glint for so long.
It also needs a proper project manager but thats a whole other story.
zoltan is everything in one person william, dare you not knowing that ;)
Eh. Just give Brammers the position.Quote:
Originally Posted by William Antrim
I'm sure I'm not alone in my fears for neocron. It's late April and still no new patch or any information regarding neocron's future. What are we suppose to think? I understand running an MMO as volunteer work is no easy feat. I also understand that no one here wants to tread on any ones toes and come across as ungrateful for the hard work the support team does. It's great.
However, all this hard work and sacrifice will be for nought if people get bored or frustrated with the game and don't play. It's a horrible prospect. Zoltan, Trivaldi, Bifrost, et al will have worked their arses off to maintain this cyberpunk gem but not enough people will enjoy it.
Neocron has potential but even a small team can't sustain this forever. We all need to come together and sort it.
Community and devs.
Community needs to spread the word more and help create content that creates exposure. Devs also need to create in-game content and also provide transparency in regards to neocrons development. Volunteers should also take on more volunteers if they can and we the community need to muck in as well.
Also Kirk needs to say hi. Just once.
My 2 credits right there.
Well my opinion is this:
They need to develop a free-to-play business model to support actual development. Outfits, companions, apartment customization, etc.
They should open up the source code to all the faithful players who've stayed here all these years. If they are seriously only on a volunteer basis only for development then they need way more volunteers to offer their support. I'm sure the community has people who would be willing to lend a hand. There's not a lot you can do for mods with an MMO but people can do updated texture packs and host private servers for more interesting mods.
Just pick the best of the best, re-skin the whole game, and release Neocron 3 on Steam with the new cash shop and viola, you've got yourself a profitable "new" game.
Also, my experience with the tutorial area for the first time was wondering why I was stabbing high tech looking robots with a tiny knife for two damage while they shot me with their scary loud red lasers. The whole thing seemed pretty dumb. Also ALL THE WALKING. Everything was so far apart. And I stabbed some guy who was afraid of those robots and he pulled out his uzi and tore me to shreds. Fun fun. Also the crabby things killed me and I was supposed to find implants as a quest for one guy but nothing ever dropped them and none of the crates had any. Oh well.
http://neocron-game.com/jobs
if someone wants to help. was i heared was that they had some people joining the team but most of them left after a few hours/days cause they didnt think it was that much work and they also have to do some shitty stuff.
My 2 cents about 2 points:
- Tutorial.
Damn !!, Im with you, hate tutorials. I joined NC with the NC1 retail and I think it didnt have any tutorial like now, just one step and get into the city... but... players have changed in these years.
Now there are a huge group of players (and new players) that need tutorials to learn and to understand. Maybe people have become too lazy or just got used to a tutorial to start, but some features of NC are "too complex" for many new players.
- Money.
Every one needs it, that's why we call it money. Of course NST needs an "angel" or a "white knight". The good news is that nowadays there are many options to being crownfunded or getting money for a project, believe me... there are a lot of money out there and NC does not need so much.
Maybe the first question would be... how many money do you need ?. Every project need a quote, I bet that NST does have a number yet and have made their own calculations.
I've been toying with the idea of making a huge ass video tutorial. Covering everything from combat to trade skills and all skills. May need help though.Quote:
Originally Posted by tusinuno
Maybe there would be some kind of "collaborative network" to let and encourage players to take part in light tasks of development like your idea of making a complete video tutorial.
Too many things to be done before step into Steam :(
1. Finish the balancing project. Need to get that test server up again. And really fix some shit.Quote:
Originally Posted by tusinuno
2. Update graphics and textures in some areas. Outdated neocron 1 models with current neocron 2 models look weird. Also weapon models of melee weapons, drones, and psi glove need to be updated.
3. Implementation of a cash shop that offers convenience and cosmetics. Soon as you go pay to win we are fucked.
For starters. Then better new content.
Well dudes,
a few thoughts:
close this 4 slot server and make only a 1-2 slot (i prefer 1 slot) . .u'll ask me why ^^
New runner will do more as grinding Mobs,many will be industrialist and will research stuff or will do build Stuff,for this Runner is no place in NC with a 4 Slot Server where everyone have the right chars to do such things.
There is no interaction with other runner in NC between the few OP fights and PP1 fun,sometimes small group in Caves . . thats all and this is crap .
New Runner need Infos for what is this and that, which makes the skill, etc.
half of this Infos not aviable with the ? Button right top Corner in the Skill or Item menue list,so no infos and Runner quit as fast they can,because they do not get any information on the game itself.
At last,NC need a stable version without this fucking Bugs,Sync,crap Netcode and such things which spoil the fun in NC.
Then we can go to recruit more ppl and make publicity for NC.
wintah
You writing all this down Trivaldi and the gang?Quote:
Originally Posted by wintah
You may not get the look & feel you're gonna expect. What we can do is crank up textures to higher resolutions and also update poly counts on models, but it will show a bit more of NC's outdated engine as for now. Since we have close to no realtime graphics in terms of AO, HBAO, Reflections or Dynamic lights, the environment don't change it's atmosphere alot. As you have to paint and fake a lot of things into the textures, updated props get somewhat of a unlit cartoony feel.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hell-demon
Even we have high-res textures for some levels in place, the BSP compiler show it's age and have a hard time to even deal with 1024 textures. There is also no state of the art radiosity calculation (lightmapping) for it. What also get a serious thing is the workload to replace level textures. After 20minutes of creating a new tile, you have to touch "every single face" of a level (1 brush = 6 faces, with a sewer having around 1k brushes) to set and rescale the new texture.
Updating even parts of the engine core is a serious development challenge, you also need to alter and update all the tools to create the content too.
I don't know what engine you're using now or how the game is set up on the back end but if that's the case then it almost sounds like it'd be easier to just start from scratch with a new game engine like Unity. You already have all the assets and scripts. Yeah, it's a big undertaking but if you consider opening up the code to some volunteers then it can be manageable. Heck, go teach a class on game design and have your students do all the work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xortag
On the topic of money - if there is a minimum monthly budget that needs to be hit in order to keep the servers running properly then you should post that and ask for donations. I wouldn't mind chipping in if it meant I didn't get disconnected every 3 minutes of game time.
Maybe donate already? =D http://www.neocron-game.com/help-neocron-donateQuote:
Originally Posted by CallDrDaley
As for character models you could set up a cash shop and outsource the model design. Saves you guys spending time on the models and frees up time coding things. Some of the neocron models were done by a third party after all: http://intulo.net/GameArt.html
Another "new" server..? Are you insane?Quote:
Originally Posted by wintah
Eventhough I dont currently play, I would NEVER play again, if I had to start over yet again.. And A LOT of people feel the same way.
A lot of us still hope that something will happen... Balancing Im looking at you (implants and armor).
What's with the synch errors if they are running one of the nicest options from the company? I can deal with the other BS but this error makes me rage quit so hard.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hell-demon
until there is a perspective for a real investment to fund serious sustainable development, it's all about humping a dead cow.
so long both parties have fun with it, thats fine I guess.
I wouldnt invest at this point.Quote:
Originally Posted by aKe`cj
in its current state it would not make a big enough impact imo, I am not trying to put the game or its devs down, actually this game just needs modernising, there is so much stuff which is not needed or enjoyable, like why do we need tech combat to fire a freaking gun??? who writes this stuff...
of course the armour and resist system they have now is totally broken, overly complex and leads to even more unimaginatively cookie cutter shitty setups, not having each part of armour add to total resist across the board means that we are serverly limited in what is actually viable for pvp or pve.
Neocron isn't the sandbox i use to know...