Loading...
  OR  Zero-K Name:    Password:   

Steam release will bring zero players to zero k

27 posts, 4206 views
Post comment
Filter:    Player:  
Page of 2 (27 records)
sort
6 years ago
.
+2 / -4
quote:
.

So that's your point?
+3 / -0
6 years ago
thats probably the most useless post i have ever seen
+3 / -1
6 years ago
..
+2 / -0
http://steamcharts.com/app/291150
http://steamspy.com/app/291150

Evolution RTS release brought over 50,000 players, with a peak simultaneous steam playercount of over 290 and an average playercount of over 80. The problem is that lobby issues among other things meant that after a month player count dropped down to a fourth of its former state, and it kept going down from there. I think the takeaway is what most of the forum has already thought, that steam release will ultimately not increase playercounts if it's confusing for new players and they end up quitting before playing; however, if the game's in such a state that the people who join Zero-K when it launches on Steam (and there will be a lot of them) feel like it's worth sticking around, then the steam release will bring many players to Zero-K, over the short and long terms.
+10 / -0

6 years ago
To state the obvious, the key things are initial impressions. trouble free launching ie:

Easy download and running.
No launching errors\crashes.
No map\mod download requirement confusion.
Less obnoxious abuse of newbies.

There will always be a massive hit of people initially that will drop fast, the game is definetely not for eveyone, but the question is how many will be maintained and will that stablise and grow.

+3 / -0

6 years ago
I came here through the Steam release of Evo RTS :) don't underestimate a Steam release.

I know it's anecdotal evidence and doesn't really count etc...
+4 / -0

6 years ago
Anecdotal evidence isn't really anecdotal if it directly evidences your point without generalisation. I ended up playing zero-k after being picked up from the Ovorts steam dream too. I was loyal to Evorts even through the ugly and unintuitive lobby system. Gameplay was fun, and soundtrack was killer. I was really reluctant to start playing zero-k, but there just wasn't any games on evorts at times I could reasonably be expected to be awake.

Zero-k has already benefited from steam without even releasing. OP should probably consider phrasing their views as a question cos they got some learnin' to do.
+0 / -0
MouthOfMadness
6 years ago
quote:

http://steamcharts.com/app/291150


playing an hour ago: 1
24-hour peak :5
7-days peak: 5

i interpret: so fucked
+0 / -0
Player retention is a whole different story and depends on game quality and how much long term engagement it has.
+0 / -0
6 years ago
why did evo fuck up so much then?
+0 / -0


6 years ago
As far as I know, the initial Evo release was an IRC client style lobby without any other content included in the install.
  • The only mode of play was to join autohosts on the server.
  • Most content was only downloaded upon joining a game room.
This lead to spectators swarming lobbies and clogging chat. Games could often not start because people were downloading the map or game (or engine? I don't recall). The download server may have been overloaded at some point. People complained that they had downloaded a downloader or IRC client instead of a game. When you finish downloading a game on steam you often want to start playing that game, not wait for ages for the rest of the game to download.

In short the new player experience seemed to be terrible. We have put a lot of work into this area.
  • The steam package comes with the game, engine and a selection of maps (we may limit the featured map pool temporarily to reduce extra download requirements).
  • We have a lot of singleplayer content which introduces the game to new players and reduces the cost of the server breaking. There are good AI levels, chicken games, tutorials and campaign all playable locally and with a reasonably straightfoward UI.
  • Matchmaker and Planetwars should aid long term multiplayer retention.
+5 / -0
most MMO game do download after steam download [upward to 10GB download (I am serious)]. Though it's a one time thing not everytime you join a room
as long as it is explicitly explained I don't think people would object too much
+0 / -0


6 years ago
Do those games need to do the download before they can be started? I think the problem was that the downloads could start at any time. In effect the launcher was an IRC program and people without content could block the game for people who do.
+2 / -0


6 years ago
The MMOS show you a pretty picture and a download bar, swl at the time of the fateful release only bothered to dl anything when you joined a room, and for a long time the only hotfix we had was showing a message telling people to join a room on first launch. Plus the progress bars were small and easy to miss (a problem still present even in Chobby to some extent IIRC). Plus a lot of the time the dl failed for one reason or another. The concept of a spring-style lobby program is unfamiliar to people and there was no attempt to explain it, I had seen reviews likening the experience to trying to control a spaceship.
+0 / -0
There is a little bit of incorrect info here wrt evo release, but the larger points are ok.

Let me point out that the game itself was fine, as in functional, non-crashing, etc.

The players did not understand swl. Keep in mind, this is Dojo SWL we are talking about, not the current and much better react SWL.

The other issue was the steam featured Evo VERY PROMINENTLY not only on the front page, but also in the little popup that comes up when you first start steam. Enter, shitshow. I was expecting 10 - 100 players. Not 50 gazillion.

Current evo on launch of the lobby or single player will delete the rapid folder (a common issue with pr downloader on windows is package lists not being updated unless the rapid folder is killed) and initiate pr downloader via command line to download stable and test versions.

I decided that I valued first time player experience (function) over form. I believe this was the right call.

Evo's largest issue remains the lobby, but thanks to the changes to getplayerroster, it looks like 104 isn't something that can be used atm.
+0 / -0

6 years ago
quote:
thanks to the changes to getplayerroster, it looks like 104 isn't something that can be used atm

What's wrong? As far as I can see there weren't any logic changes, only a bugfix.
+0 / -0
6 years ago
quote:
Dojo SWL


Googled it. What is that?

quote:
The other issue was the steam featured Evo VERY PROMINENTLY not only on the front page, but also in the little popup that comes up when you first start steam. Enter, shitshow. I was expecting 10 - 100 players. Not 50 gazillion.


lmao
+0 / -0
Sprung, Yes it is fixed in dev versions I am told. As a result in the coming weeks I'm going to put more effort into evo on a stable develop version in an effort to make chobby become a reality.

DErankTopkack, SWL is Spring Web Lobby. Dojo and Reactjs are frameworks.

https://dojotoolkit.org/
https://reactjs.org/
+1 / -0
6 years ago
So how do I reconcile the standalone version of Zero-K with the Steam Evolution version of the game, if I simply want to quietly advertise the game more widely by letting my Steam friends see that I have it? Do I let Steam install the Evolution version, or can I redirect it to use the standalone version? I don't really want to have both installed.

(I am a former TA player and sorta-modder, which is how I came to know of Spring and later Zero-K. I never played it much but tried to keep it installed and current for years, then got out of the habit. Now here I am again.)
+0 / -0
Page of 2 (27 records)