Competitive ladders quickly devolve into a shark tank. SC2 has a healthy # of lousy players to make the ladder fun.
I think Red Alert 3 successfully threaded the needle between single player campaign and co-op modes by creating an entire campaign that can be played in 2 player co op or single player with an co op AI ally.
I wanted to like Stormgate but unless they've got some serious graphics re-work... man, why would I play SC2 but with worse graphics? ZeroSpace still don't know enough to say.
On March 02 2024 09:41 Waxangel wrote: The official Tempest Rising Twitter account hasn't posted since November, but this tweet from the lead designer has me back on the hopium that the game will actually come out and didn't get the axe (parent company has been doing a bunch of layoffs and cancelations)
There was (is?) a guy on TL posting a bunch of in-depth blogs about RTS design. Same guy?
On March 02 2024 09:41 Waxangel wrote: The official Tempest Rising Twitter account hasn't posted since November, but this tweet from the lead designer has me back on the hopium that the game will actually come out and didn't get the axe (parent company has been doing a bunch of layoffs and cancelations)
As someone for whom MOBAs never really bit me, I’ve been forever jealous of some of the things DoTA2 did with their client, some of which the Grubster didn’t even touch on.
Absolutely best in class, both the granular level of stats, which is always something I’ve loved in games that provide it, and just how much you can actually do in the client. Hop in and watch your crew play some games. Hell actually follow a top level pro game without having to follow what the obs/casters on a Twitch are talking about.
They did a really top notch job here, of course you can have the best client in the business, you still need a compelling game around it. But it’s definitely what you should be emulating if you have the talent and the budget.
the C&C franchise has 10,000+ concurrents on Steam. damn. How many people are playing C&C on Origin?
EA just called the remastered collection the "first remastered collection". This seems to hint at a 2nd remastered collection. EA is 100% aware of the popularity of the bootleg multiplayer servers for C&C3 and RA3.
I stickiness of Action/Strategy type games is fascinating. Before technology made the modern RTS possible there were Action/Strat games like Intellivision Utopia, NES/Apple2/Atari800/C64 M.U.L.E. that lasted forever.
The M.U.L.E. competitive community finally died some 30 years after the games release. I'm pretty sure the SC2 MULE was a tribute to the game.
What's interesting is that RTS is probably the genre that, more than any other, players would benefit from seeing their advanced stats, being able to watch pro games in client, and having unit testers and practice modes.
Mobas and FPS games don't require the multitasking and prioritisation skills that RTS does. It's a shame sc2 never added stuff like that despite the communities best efforts with arcade maps and replay stats
I do hope that at least upcoming RTS like StormGate and perhaps ZeroSpace include the ability to drop in on random ladder maps as an observer as well. Would be interesting to be able to select "Observe Diamond / Masters / GM" for example and jump into live games of people in certain league groups. Of course, people should be able to opt out of their games being observed by randoms but stuff like that would be great. And if more people observe a game, there should be text based or voip chat to discuss (again, opt in/out to avoid toxicity).
On March 12 2024 18:26 nforce wrote: I do hope that at least upcoming RTS like StormGate and perhaps ZeroSpace include the ability to drop in on random ladder maps as an observer as well. Would be interesting to be able to select "Observe Diamond / Masters / GM" for example and jump into live games of people in certain league groups. Of course, people should be able to opt out of their games being observed by randoms but stuff like that would be great. And if more people observe a game, there should be text based or voip chat to discuss (again, opt in/out to avoid toxicity).
Yeah 100%, basically whatever DoTA2 has done in this domain would be fantastic to see in a future RTS.
Maybe the boat has sailed for the foreseeable with Blizzard and Microsoft not doing it in latter-day LotV or AoE4 and if big AAA studios haven’t, it’s unrealistic for these smaller studios to replicate DoTA2’s full feature suite, but even a few of them would be great.
On March 12 2024 18:26 nforce wrote: I do hope that at least upcoming RTS like StormGate and perhaps ZeroSpace include the ability to drop in on random ladder maps as an observer as well. Would be interesting to be able to select "Observe Diamond / Masters / GM" for example and jump into live games of people in certain league groups. Of course, people should be able to opt out of their games being observed by randoms but stuff like that would be great. And if more people observe a game, there should be text based or voip chat to discuss (again, opt in/out to avoid toxicity).
Yeah 100%, basically whatever DoTA2 has done in this domain would be fantastic to see in a future RTS.
Maybe the boat has sailed for the foreseeable with Blizzard and Microsoft not doing it in latter-day LotV or AoE4 and if big AAA studios haven’t, it’s unrealistic for these smaller studios to replicate DoTA2’s full feature suite, but even a few of them would be great.
I don't think Blizzard not doing it is a matter of "too much work". They are just apprehensive to these community-supporting features for whatever reason. I mean, they thought Bnet 2 wouldn't need chat rooms or something alike because????
On March 12 2024 18:26 nforce wrote: I do hope that at least upcoming RTS like StormGate and perhaps ZeroSpace include the ability to drop in on random ladder maps as an observer as well. Would be interesting to be able to select "Observe Diamond / Masters / GM" for example and jump into live games of people in certain league groups. Of course, people should be able to opt out of their games being observed by randoms but stuff like that would be great. And if more people observe a game, there should be text based or voip chat to discuss (again, opt in/out to avoid toxicity).
Yeah 100%, basically whatever DoTA2 has done in this domain would be fantastic to see in a future RTS.
Maybe the boat has sailed for the foreseeable with Blizzard and Microsoft not doing it in latter-day LotV or AoE4 and if big AAA studios haven’t, it’s unrealistic for these smaller studios to replicate DoTA2’s full feature suite, but even a few of them would be great.
I don't think Blizzard not doing it is a matter of "too much work". They are just apprehensive to these community-supporting features for whatever reason. I mean, they thought Bnet 2 wouldn't need chat rooms or something alike because????
I’d love to know who actually made those calls, for me the single biggest fuck-up related to SC2 for sure. I’d be pretty confident that a good chunk of people who had to work on that move to Bnet 2.0 initially absolutely 100% knew this and disagreed with the direction it took too.
On March 10 2024 01:42 JimmyJRaynor wrote: the C&C franchise has 10,000+ concurrents on Steam. damn. How many people are playing C&C on Origin?
EA just called the remastered collection the "first remastered collection". This seems to hint at a 2nd remastered collection. EA is 100% aware of the popularity of the bootleg multiplayer servers for C&C3 and RA3.
I stickiness of Action/Strategy type games is fascinating. Before technology made the modern RTS possible there were Action/Strat games like Intellivision Utopia, NES/Apple2/Atari800/C64 M.U.L.E. that lasted forever.
The M.U.L.E. competitive community finally died some 30 years after the games release. I'm pretty sure the SC2 MULE was a tribute to the game.
Where the fuck are the 10000+ on Steam? The ENTIRE franchise has 25 Viewer on Twitch
Why do you keep on blowing this shit out of proportion just because they have some views on Youtube? If those games would be popular, they would have gone the way of Dota/Counter-Strike/DayZ
What's interesting is that RTS is probably the genre that, more than any other, players would benefit from seeing their advanced stats, being able to watch pro games in client, and having unit testers and practice modes.
Mobas and FPS games don't require the multitasking and prioritisation skills that RTS does. It's a shame sc2 never added stuff like that despite the communities best efforts with arcade maps and replay stats
Rather than imagining a perfect world that meets my every need I just pick amongst a series of imperfect choices; I have as much fun as I can with that. The nanosecond I start to get bored.. i follow the Grubby rule of gaming: I stop playing and I do something else.
Over the years, I find this approach to video games much healthier. The industry is not here to serve all your needs. It is here to take whatever spare money you have away from you. That is its only purpose.
On March 10 2024 01:42 JimmyJRaynor wrote: the C&C franchise has 10,000+ concurrents on Steam. damn. How many people are playing C&C on Origin?
EA just called the remastered collection the "first remastered collection". This seems to hint at a 2nd remastered collection. EA is 100% aware of the popularity of the bootleg multiplayer servers for C&C3 and RA3.
I stickiness of Action/Strategy type games is fascinating. Before technology made the modern RTS possible there were Action/Strat games like Intellivision Utopia, NES/Apple2/Atari800/C64 M.U.L.E. that lasted forever.
The M.U.L.E. competitive community finally died some 30 years after the games release. I'm pretty sure the SC2 MULE was a tribute to the game.
Where the fuck are the 10000+ on Steam? The ENTIRE franchise has 25 Viewer on Twitch
Why do you keep on blowing this shit out of proportion just because they have some views on Youtube? If those games would be popular, they would have gone the way of Dota/Counter-Strike/DayZ
LOL, awesome first post. 10,000 people were playing the C&C games on Steam the day of the sale. C&C is the #1 non Blizzard RTS franchise.
Right now, on Steam Red Alert 3 alone has 1,100 players.
Because EA killed the C&C servers and did not create support for Steam multiplayer people play competitive multiplayer on community run servers.
C&C is a great franchise. Dustin Browder was the lead game designer of Red Alert 2. Dude is a game design genius.
On March 12 2024 19:39 Velr wrote: At the time plenty of games tried (or did) get rid of chatrooms. Basically it came down to them not wanting to moderate them.
great point. Tasteless and Artosis vehemently demanded a very private experience. They did not want their ladder adventures published to the outside world. They were upset about FB integration as well.
I guess a lot of people are prisoners of the moment.
What's interesting is that RTS is probably the genre that, more than any other, players would benefit from seeing their advanced stats, being able to watch pro games in client, and having unit testers and practice modes.
Mobas and FPS games don't require the multitasking and prioritisation skills that RTS does. It's a shame sc2 never added stuff like that despite the communities best efforts with arcade maps and replay stats
Rather than imagining a perfect world I just pick amongst a series of imperfect choices and have fun. The nanosecond I start to get bored.. i stop playing and follow the Grubby rule of gaming and I do something else.
Over the years, I find this approach to video games much healthier. The industry is not here to serve all your needs. It is here to take whatever spare money you have away from you. That is its only purpose.
On March 10 2024 01:42 JimmyJRaynor wrote: the C&C franchise has 10,000+ concurrents on Steam. damn. How many people are playing C&C on Origin?
EA just called the remastered collection the "first remastered collection". This seems to hint at a 2nd remastered collection. EA is 100% aware of the popularity of the bootleg multiplayer servers for C&C3 and RA3.
I stickiness of Action/Strategy type games is fascinating. Before technology made the modern RTS possible there were Action/Strat games like Intellivision Utopia, NES/Apple2/Atari800/C64 M.U.L.E. that lasted forever.
The M.U.L.E. competitive community finally died some 30 years after the games release. I'm pretty sure the SC2 MULE was a tribute to the game.
Where the fuck are the 10000+ on Steam? The ENTIRE franchise has 25 Viewer on Twitch
Why do you keep on blowing this shit out of proportion just because they have some views on Youtube? If those games would be popular, they would have gone the way of Dota/Counter-Strike/DayZ
LOL, awesome first post. 10,000 people were playing the C&C games on Steam the day of the sale. C&C is the #1 non Blizzard RTS franchise.
Right now, on Steam Red Alert 3 alone has 1,100 players.
Because EA killed the C&C servers and did not create support for Steam multiplayer people play competitive multiplayer on community run servers.
C&C is a great franchise. Dustin Browder was the lead game designer of Red Alert 2. Dude is a game design genius.
[/url] You’re an infuriating man Jimmy, to me anyway! Ya bounce almost exclusively from points I 0% agree with, to those I 100% agree with. There is rarely something in between those extremes.
I hope you don’t take that as an insult, more a humourous observation.
It is that fucking simple, as per the bolded. RTS isn’t inherently doomed, you need the games.
Is StarCraft 2 perfect? No. It’s damn fucking good though. Can you complain that RTS is dead, or there’s no appetite for it where, personal tastes aside, just looking at SC2 as a ‘complete package’, nothing has really touched that game for quality since?
My kiddo is closing in on 11, he’s not even hit by the testosterone flood yet but he’s already finding me a pain in the arse and no longer unquestionably finds me cool.
We’ve gone through the ‘what is that thing explain why the bugs are fighting the robots?’ phase of interest to him playing a wee bit.
He’s like, 3 years younger than SC2 is.
Have we had good RTS games since? Sure. Have we had great ones, at least in the niche that SC2 covers? Honestly I’d say no.
Take any other field. A musical genre. A style of filmmaking. If the collective producers don’t produce a genuinely great example of that genre for what, 13 years how are you meant to accurately assess the appetite for said thing?
I do not think RTS is "doomed". Hell, EA NHL '94 competitive play is still happening 31 years after the game was released. if EA NHL '94 can live on... so will RTS.
I am not proposing zero new RTS games get made. However, I am not expecting any single RTS game, past or future or present, to meet my every entertainment need.
I am expecting a procession of imperfect options and I will pick the one that best fits me.
On March 13 2024 02:05 WombaT wrote: Have we had good RTS games since? Sure. Have we had great ones, at least in the niche that SC2 covers? Honestly I’d say no.
Take any other field. A musical genre. A style of filmmaking. If the collective producers don’t produce a genuinely great example of that genre for what, 13 years how are you meant to accurately assess the appetite for said thing?
At this point RTS is a niche genre and Starcraft2 is a niche within a niche.
It is hard to assess the appettite for RTS. However, I think there is a demand for RTS games. All kinds of RTS games are being played on Steam right now. Red Alert 3 is a 3 diverse faction game with intense micro battles similar to STarcraft. it has 1,300 people playing single player right now.
Why would anyone want to go head-to-head with SC2? The game is great and the players complain about everything, all the time. THe last game to take a serious run at SC2 was also designed by Tim Morten. C&C Generals 2. That ended ugly.
And the #s for Stormgate ain't lookin' too good. Of course, rather than disagreeing with me on here in a forum post... you have every opportunity to let your $$$ speak louder than your words ever could. Invest in Frost GIant and get onto the ground floor of a great opportunity.
On March 13 2024 02:05 WombaT wrote: I hope you don’t take that as an insult, more a humourous observation.
Its all good. I do not report non-advertising posts. relax and Fire away with disagreements.
On March 13 2024 03:35 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I do not think RTS is "doomed". Hell, EA NHL '94 competitive play is still happening 31 years after the game was released. if EA NHL '94 can live on... so will RTS.
I am not proposing zero new RTS games get made. However, I am not expecting any single RTS game, past or future or present, to meet my every entertainment need.
I am expecting a procession of imperfect options and I will pick the one that best fits me.
On March 13 2024 02:05 WombaT wrote: Have we had good RTS games since? Sure. Have we had great ones, at least in the niche that SC2 covers? Honestly I’d say no.
Take any other field. A musical genre. A style of filmmaking. If the collective producers don’t produce a genuinely great example of that genre for what, 13 years how are you meant to accurately assess the appetite for said thing?
At this point RTS is a niche genre and Starcraft2 is a niche within a niche.
It is hard to assess the appettite for RTS. However, I think there is a demand for RTS games. All kinds of RTS games are being played on Steam right now. Red Alert 3 is a 3 diverse faction game with intense micro battles similar to STarcraft. it has 1,300 people playing single player right now.
Why would anyone want to go head-to-head with SC2? The game is great and the players complain about everything, all the time. THe last game to take a serious run at SC2 was also designed by Tim Morten. C&C Generals 2. That ended ugly.
And the #s for Stormgate ain't lookin' too good. Of course, rather than disagreeing with me on here in a forum post... you have every opportunity to let your $$$ speak louder than your words ever could. Invest in Frost GIant and get onto the ground floor of a great opportunity.
On March 13 2024 02:05 WombaT wrote: I hope you don’t take that as an insult, more a humourous observation.
Its all good. I do not report non-advertising posts. relax and Fire away with disagreements.
This is the NHL94 Scene he is talking about. They dabble around 50-100 Viewer. 500+ on their tournament finals. Something has views on Youtube, its popular! I bet the Red Alert 3 Scene consists of mostly russians who are stuck in the olden times
Don't let the corporate mouth pieces selling today's games tell you that you can't have fun with an old game. You can.
Who cares about youtube and twitch? across teh internet? huh? the only way to play competitive EA NHL '94 at the top level is in person with zero latency.
Southern Ontario and New YOrk state is probably the epicentre of NHL '94. The events are an absolute blast. + Show Spoiler +
NHL '94 Community run events are way more fun than the dumb corporate events EA puts on the NHL '23, or '24 or whatever it is.
Part of the game was made in a barn.
We get the odd guy who uses various online exploits. They never come to the live in-person events. No one takes them seriously. LOL. Over all, I'd say the scene is cleaner and more fun than most modern games filled with angry hackers and griefers.
We're only trying to have fun for that weekend. We're not trying to turn it into a career or angle for some big cash pay day somehow. This makes everything more relaxed and more fun.
EA tried to shut the NHL '94 scene down in 2005. THat went over like a Led Zeppelin.