Since we are trying to guess who is developing the next installment of our favorite type of game, I took the liberty to write a little about it.
This post is not intended to demand or ask for specific features on the new game, this are my personal suggestions about what I think, and have seen is fun, within the general concept of tribal warfare.
Every flamer or supporting poster is welcome as this is, and will always be, a very vocal community willing to say everything and make sure you got it right.
First of all, so you can have an idea from where my ideas come from, I’m a player who started playing T2 (I bought it legally) and after a year decided to try T1 since so many people still hang to it and kept saying it was better....so I got a copy (I legally bought this one too) and started playing....needless to say that I liked BOTH games as much, neither one was better than the other...BOTH have the essence of what we could call "powered-armor" warfare (think of them as flavors or variations of the same subject). I haven’t tried T:AA yet, but I lurk on the http://www.tribesaa.com/ forums reading what people is saying and enjoying from that version...and as far as I can tell the basic elements are there, and people who started playing T:AA is now looking to try T1 and T2. With all this background in my mind I feel confident that what I have to say is not shut_your_mouth_and_go_kill_yourself kind of ideas.
So lets start....
Does it matter who is developing the game?, no as long as key members of the community have an open channel to them (in my mind pops up the people that were present on the tribal council) and they stay true to basic elements of the tribes franchise (don’t ask me what are those, I know they exist but I can pinpoint them here)
Does it matter how long it takes?, yes, we are all eager to see the next sequel, but will not pressure developers to rush an unfinished product on the market. A reasonable time could be 2 years from now.
--Playing by myself
Tribes is a traditional massive on-line multiplayer game, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have a storyline, a good but perhaps small single player element and some form of training to newbs testing the gameplay for the first time is required....or soon plenty of people will feel frustrated for getting killed by veterans.
Examples of what could be done are the intro sequences of HalfLife and its spin-offs (Opposing force, Blue Shift and Counter-Strike) those were guided basic movement and shoot training courses, and to be honest I enjoyed them....it felt like school and I was discovering things on my own.
Take a look at T1 training missions, simple but right to the point....good as BASIC guidance. Then take a look at T2 training missions, small and kind of interesting storyline of a tribal warrior. We can all argue that both lacked several elements, but the good elements of both examples can be combined in Tribes3; a good training course that teaches you everything about armors, weapons and packs (even vehicles)....and then a small 10 mission single player storyline that helps you sharpen what you were taught. I know that T:AA has a 10+ mission training storyline....but from what I’ve heard people were a bit disappointed (if you recall most of the PS2 games are single player...so that is part of the explanation).
Example of community efforts on this area are T1 Hakuryu’s training missions and T2 Codename:lonewolf singleplayer missions.
--Armors, Weapons, Packs, Deployables and all those gadgets
There is little to change here, the different combinations of loadouts and weapon capabilities will always provide players a good sense of diversity.
As far as I can see, the armors should stay the same (perhaps you can change the look if you want).....but the basic 3 types are mainstay now, so no point changing them.
Weapons, well...I don’t know if more can be invented or designed, we can even think of removing certain weapons...but things are pretty solid here.
Packs, yes this is a place where imagination can help a lot, I would love to see the deployable jammer back on the game (perfect for camping sites). This is certainly an area where game designers can feel free to add things (as long as they are useful thou
).
A good part of taking Tribes3 as a continuation of a tradition is to take each of the items named here and analyze them, check how people use them, find balance...does it need more punch?…should it consume less or more energy?...how many of those grenades can one armor carry?...the look of the gadgets can change (as changed the look of the spinfusor from T1 to T2)...but the basic purpose behind the trigger should remain.
--Bases and fixed assets
A little gray area, many people think T2 was a step backwards on base design, no elevators, and small bases compared to the huge monoliths of T1.
This is something that needs to be think through very carefully, these structures are after all, what the tribalmen could call home and we certainly enjoy a nice SAFE house.
Design options here are limitless....do keep in mind that by now turrets, sensors, generators and inventory stations are part of what teams take into account when designing strategies for a given match on that particular scenario.
--Moving through, jetpack, skiing and Vehicles
Jetpacks and skiing are a given...and if the devs guys don’t consider those...ill personally make the journey from Chile (where I live right now) to Marweas house and place a nuke there.
Vehicles, not of much help in T1, but still with plenty of uses. VERY important in T2 but still somewhat unbalanced (don’t know about T:AA here). Designers should consider taking the basic ideas (a transport, a fighter, a bomber, a tank, a cycle, a deployable base) and improve upon them....I can only say that if you are placing a havoc on the next game and that vehicle has a tailgunner position then for god's sake place a swiveling turret manned by a player there. Transports were always considered one way trips...but no one said they could be sitting ducks. Perhaps new vehicles are options....consider paying a visit to TAC/TAC2, they improved a lot on the concept of vehicles and its certainly an enjoyable mod.
--Maps, Scenarios, eye candy
You know your job here, just keep us with our jaws on the floor with the beautiful landscapes.
--Community and main lobby features
The browser, tmail and irc are excellent ideas to add to the game so they should be present on Tribes3, one thing thou...the irc should be open....let people who has the game and those who doesn’t share the same irc room.
The browser for the player is good as is now, but the browser for a tribe should have more options. I cant think of anything right now...but I think it needs more (sorry about that)
Option tabs that I think should be present on the game
On-line (game) – Local (game) – Browser – Mail – Chat – Settings – Scripts – Mods
Yes, scripts and mods, a tab where you know which clientside scripts you have installed and which clientside mods you can play...so you don’t need to exit the game and start it from another shortcut on your desktop (exception to this if the mod is a total conversion much like Tribes1/2-rpg, starcraft, stargate and that type of mods which alter everything)
--Scripting, Modding, Mapping and Editing
Only one tribes version cant be modded, T:AerialAssault and that’s because it’s a PS2 game. Nonetheless the Inevitable guys (the T:AA dev team) have managed to create a dedicated server version of the game that can be run on a Windows PC. That version is not sponsored by sierra nor it has any kind of support...but gave the T:AA community a huge boost since they can have their clan matches and pub servers not depend on PS2 machines connected by cable all day.
Aside from that version of tribes, the modding+scripting+mapping have always been an important part. Players who are unhappy about the features of the game can change them to their liking and release it to the public without any license problems. I couldn’t live if Tribes3 didn’t have the possibility to change the skin of my armor and weapon.
So what’s the deal with this topic?....well...my only proposal in this area should be what Firaxis did with Civ3, release the game AND LATER release an advanced editor, a toolset that helps fans build up scripts, maps and mods. The editor could even be released AFTER the dev guys have tried a few patches on the game itself. An important part of the patching in this case will require a very detailed description of what changed on the last patch, and if any functions or procedure have changed parameters or the return value structure.
--Dedicated servers, admin functions
This is an area from what I know little of, but speaking from what is seen out there, leave this to the community. Include the basic server admin functions and capabilities, but let the scripters and modders change the way the dedicated server behaves to their liking. PizzaMOD, BWadminMOD, Tfadmin (tiny fishie’s), Hvadmin...and soooo many options to choose from, built upon the basic capabilities of the dedicated server structure, that is not worthy to ask the development guys to dig much upon this...just make sure that it behaves right, can use dual processor power and memory efficiently and can be administrated through a remote connection.
--Final word
As you can see this is a long post, and I have tried to be as neutral as possible, giving examples taken from the community of all Tribes games present out there.
We all care for the next tribes games, many of us don’t want to be disappointed, many more of us are just bored right now and looking to try another thing, a variation something that spices up our gaming life. Tribes has always been something spicy....steep learning curve, plenty of possibilities in game, scripting, modding, whatever you can think about is here...T2TV...yes TV!!...watching a match in real-time...god....where on earth would you have such an outstanding utility and enjoy games like InvictusAeternum vs Rapture....i would even pay money (not to take seriously) to see Team5150 play against Imperial Elite for the last time.
We all have hopes high on the sky right now, but the only thing we can ask for, and have the right to, is ask for a game that is fun to play with and maintains the essence of what tribes is.
Hoping this was an enjoyable reading
Regards
BinderAJ
[KY] Kentucky Rogues
This post is not intended to demand or ask for specific features on the new game, this are my personal suggestions about what I think, and have seen is fun, within the general concept of tribal warfare.
Every flamer or supporting poster is welcome as this is, and will always be, a very vocal community willing to say everything and make sure you got it right.
First of all, so you can have an idea from where my ideas come from, I’m a player who started playing T2 (I bought it legally) and after a year decided to try T1 since so many people still hang to it and kept saying it was better....so I got a copy (I legally bought this one too) and started playing....needless to say that I liked BOTH games as much, neither one was better than the other...BOTH have the essence of what we could call "powered-armor" warfare (think of them as flavors or variations of the same subject). I haven’t tried T:AA yet, but I lurk on the http://www.tribesaa.com/ forums reading what people is saying and enjoying from that version...and as far as I can tell the basic elements are there, and people who started playing T:AA is now looking to try T1 and T2. With all this background in my mind I feel confident that what I have to say is not shut_your_mouth_and_go_kill_yourself kind of ideas.
So lets start....
Does it matter who is developing the game?, no as long as key members of the community have an open channel to them (in my mind pops up the people that were present on the tribal council) and they stay true to basic elements of the tribes franchise (don’t ask me what are those, I know they exist but I can pinpoint them here)
Does it matter how long it takes?, yes, we are all eager to see the next sequel, but will not pressure developers to rush an unfinished product on the market. A reasonable time could be 2 years from now.
--Playing by myself
Tribes is a traditional massive on-line multiplayer game, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have a storyline, a good but perhaps small single player element and some form of training to newbs testing the gameplay for the first time is required....or soon plenty of people will feel frustrated for getting killed by veterans.
Examples of what could be done are the intro sequences of HalfLife and its spin-offs (Opposing force, Blue Shift and Counter-Strike) those were guided basic movement and shoot training courses, and to be honest I enjoyed them....it felt like school and I was discovering things on my own.
Take a look at T1 training missions, simple but right to the point....good as BASIC guidance. Then take a look at T2 training missions, small and kind of interesting storyline of a tribal warrior. We can all argue that both lacked several elements, but the good elements of both examples can be combined in Tribes3; a good training course that teaches you everything about armors, weapons and packs (even vehicles)....and then a small 10 mission single player storyline that helps you sharpen what you were taught. I know that T:AA has a 10+ mission training storyline....but from what I’ve heard people were a bit disappointed (if you recall most of the PS2 games are single player...so that is part of the explanation).
Example of community efforts on this area are T1 Hakuryu’s training missions and T2 Codename:lonewolf singleplayer missions.
--Armors, Weapons, Packs, Deployables and all those gadgets
There is little to change here, the different combinations of loadouts and weapon capabilities will always provide players a good sense of diversity.
As far as I can see, the armors should stay the same (perhaps you can change the look if you want).....but the basic 3 types are mainstay now, so no point changing them.
Weapons, well...I don’t know if more can be invented or designed, we can even think of removing certain weapons...but things are pretty solid here.
Packs, yes this is a place where imagination can help a lot, I would love to see the deployable jammer back on the game (perfect for camping sites). This is certainly an area where game designers can feel free to add things (as long as they are useful thou
). A good part of taking Tribes3 as a continuation of a tradition is to take each of the items named here and analyze them, check how people use them, find balance...does it need more punch?…should it consume less or more energy?...how many of those grenades can one armor carry?...the look of the gadgets can change (as changed the look of the spinfusor from T1 to T2)...but the basic purpose behind the trigger should remain.
--Bases and fixed assets
A little gray area, many people think T2 was a step backwards on base design, no elevators, and small bases compared to the huge monoliths of T1.
This is something that needs to be think through very carefully, these structures are after all, what the tribalmen could call home and we certainly enjoy a nice SAFE house.
Design options here are limitless....do keep in mind that by now turrets, sensors, generators and inventory stations are part of what teams take into account when designing strategies for a given match on that particular scenario.
--Moving through, jetpack, skiing and Vehicles
Jetpacks and skiing are a given...and if the devs guys don’t consider those...ill personally make the journey from Chile (where I live right now) to Marweas house and place a nuke there.
Vehicles, not of much help in T1, but still with plenty of uses. VERY important in T2 but still somewhat unbalanced (don’t know about T:AA here). Designers should consider taking the basic ideas (a transport, a fighter, a bomber, a tank, a cycle, a deployable base) and improve upon them....I can only say that if you are placing a havoc on the next game and that vehicle has a tailgunner position then for god's sake place a swiveling turret manned by a player there. Transports were always considered one way trips...but no one said they could be sitting ducks. Perhaps new vehicles are options....consider paying a visit to TAC/TAC2, they improved a lot on the concept of vehicles and its certainly an enjoyable mod.
--Maps, Scenarios, eye candy
You know your job here, just keep us with our jaws on the floor with the beautiful landscapes.
--Community and main lobby features
The browser, tmail and irc are excellent ideas to add to the game so they should be present on Tribes3, one thing thou...the irc should be open....let people who has the game and those who doesn’t share the same irc room.
The browser for the player is good as is now, but the browser for a tribe should have more options. I cant think of anything right now...but I think it needs more (sorry about that)
Option tabs that I think should be present on the game
On-line (game) – Local (game) – Browser – Mail – Chat – Settings – Scripts – Mods
Yes, scripts and mods, a tab where you know which clientside scripts you have installed and which clientside mods you can play...so you don’t need to exit the game and start it from another shortcut on your desktop (exception to this if the mod is a total conversion much like Tribes1/2-rpg, starcraft, stargate and that type of mods which alter everything)
--Scripting, Modding, Mapping and Editing
Only one tribes version cant be modded, T:AerialAssault and that’s because it’s a PS2 game. Nonetheless the Inevitable guys (the T:AA dev team) have managed to create a dedicated server version of the game that can be run on a Windows PC. That version is not sponsored by sierra nor it has any kind of support...but gave the T:AA community a huge boost since they can have their clan matches and pub servers not depend on PS2 machines connected by cable all day.
Aside from that version of tribes, the modding+scripting+mapping have always been an important part. Players who are unhappy about the features of the game can change them to their liking and release it to the public without any license problems. I couldn’t live if Tribes3 didn’t have the possibility to change the skin of my armor and weapon.
So what’s the deal with this topic?....well...my only proposal in this area should be what Firaxis did with Civ3, release the game AND LATER release an advanced editor, a toolset that helps fans build up scripts, maps and mods. The editor could even be released AFTER the dev guys have tried a few patches on the game itself. An important part of the patching in this case will require a very detailed description of what changed on the last patch, and if any functions or procedure have changed parameters or the return value structure.
--Dedicated servers, admin functions
This is an area from what I know little of, but speaking from what is seen out there, leave this to the community. Include the basic server admin functions and capabilities, but let the scripters and modders change the way the dedicated server behaves to their liking. PizzaMOD, BWadminMOD, Tfadmin (tiny fishie’s), Hvadmin...and soooo many options to choose from, built upon the basic capabilities of the dedicated server structure, that is not worthy to ask the development guys to dig much upon this...just make sure that it behaves right, can use dual processor power and memory efficiently and can be administrated through a remote connection.
--Final word
As you can see this is a long post, and I have tried to be as neutral as possible, giving examples taken from the community of all Tribes games present out there.
We all care for the next tribes games, many of us don’t want to be disappointed, many more of us are just bored right now and looking to try another thing, a variation something that spices up our gaming life. Tribes has always been something spicy....steep learning curve, plenty of possibilities in game, scripting, modding, whatever you can think about is here...T2TV...yes TV!!...watching a match in real-time...god....where on earth would you have such an outstanding utility and enjoy games like InvictusAeternum vs Rapture....i would even pay money (not to take seriously) to see Team5150 play against Imperial Elite for the last time.
We all have hopes high on the sky right now, but the only thing we can ask for, and have the right to, is ask for a game that is fun to play with and maintains the essence of what tribes is.
Hoping this was an enjoyable reading
Regards
BinderAJ
[KY] Kentucky Rogues
