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Darkwind changes coming up!, Steam release in a few months

*sam* The Salthill Sluggerz Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Lead Developer Posts: 16,780 Joined: Jan 19, 2006 Preamble As you probably all know, Darkwind has been greenlit for release on Steam. This has brought me back in order to do some work on the game: mostly monetization changes, rules changes, and usability/cosmetic improvements. After all, releasing on Steam is a big opportunity that I should make the best effort with. I'm sure you will all be pleased if we get an increased user-base from this. Prior to the Steam opportunity, I had pretty much shelved work on DW. Although I had always wanted to work on a new "DW2" project in the not-too-distant future, I see DW1 arriving on Steam as a great step in that direction: it will show what size of player-base we might be able to attract with this style of game, and all going well will give me huge motivation to stop arsing around with mobile games and focus properly on the real deal ;-). I am of the opinion that gamer expectations have changed a lot in the years since 2007 when DW was first released. People are much more open-minded and willing to embrace original games even when they don't have AAA graphics, so I'm pretty excited. The goal is to have all of the items below completed and the game released on Steam by late summer. Rules Changes I am working on a small number of significant changes to the rules, including: 1. Some rebalancing of specs 2. Perma-damage becoming the norm (as it is in Scav) so that we will expect to see many people fielding perma-damaged equipment. This will make the equipment-collection metagame and gameplay generally more rich and varied. The change will mean that perma-damage happens at the same time as normal damage, rather than happening at the time of fixing. 3. Mods and Buffs applying to weapons, chassis and engines. E.g. an engine could give 105% normal power output. The aim is for these types of buffed items to be reasonably rare, yet definitely acquirable through normal looting. Pricing Model The subscription model that DW currently has is considered 'old fashioned' these days. Most games have gone free-to-play and this is what most players expect. It also means a game gets the maximum possible chance of having people try it. The modern way of thinking is to let people play for free for ever, but to offer them things for sale that they value and that they will be happy to pay for. Of course, some games have a sort-of 'halfway' pricing model where you can play for free and buy individual items as you choose, yet you can also choose to subscribe as a 'premium' player and gain exclusive benefits from that. This is the approach that I will initially take with DW. As I gather data and see how things are panning out, I may choose to remove 'premium' membership altogether in favour of 'full' free to play. Free Play and Premium Play Free players will be offered much more than they currently are. The changes include: full access to marketplace and mechanic, proper ownership of cars and ownership/membership of squads; full travel privileges in the Northern Triangle. They will however have a capped gangsize (10?) and garagesize (5?), and will not have access to the training camp or hospital, or to player-camps. Premium players (i.e, subscribers), in addition to the things listed above that are not available to free players, will enjoy an increased field-training speed (especially of the Leadership skill). Each subscription will also get a package of hard currency. (e.g. a €15 subscription will get a 'bonus' €5 worth of hard currency). When I make these changes, I will immediately credit current subscribers with the correct package of 'hard currency' for their current subscription price. Hard Currency The normal model in free-to-play games is to sell so-called 'hard' currency to players. This is currency that is totally separate to the normal in-game currency, and which can buy various useful things. This is the plan for DW. There is always a tension between monetizing a game effectively (yes, I do want to make money for my thousands of hours of work!) and allowing 'pay to win'. I have spent a lot of time thinking about and discussing the things that I want to make available for purchase thru hard currency, and minimizing a pay-to-win mentality has always been foremost in my mind. I am planning to offer a range of different things for purchase through hard currency, although these may change as we see how things work out in practice. examples: - specialist training camps, giving increased 'offline' training as well as training in skills previously only trainable in the field (e.g. leadership) - equipment mods/buffs - fixing of perma-damage - cosmetic items (which are already purchasable in DW): skinslots, gravestones - slightly improved new recruits - camp sponsorships (but not stackable with the existing league sponsorships which are bought at auction with soft currency) In addition, players will be able to sell vehicles, weapons etc. to each other for hard currency as well as soft currency. Website and in-game interface I am currently overhauling the website, making it look better and operate better as a functional application. It will also work properly on modestly sized devices (I'm targeting 800 pixel-wide displays as a minimum). I'm also working to duplicate some of the core website functions into the game lobby. This includes squads and scouting, vehicle modifications and ammo, armour etc. - i.e. I'm focusing on the things that players do a lot, and that they will most benefit from having in a properly integrated way in the lobby. ......................... marshal vet deathrce1 paintladder combat1 wv ped1 cont slay2013 Posted May 13, 2014, 6:02 pm Last edited May 13, 2014, 6:08 pm by *sam*

musashi_san sunset samurai Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 1,118 Joined: May 7, 2012 does Quote: Some rebalancing of specs mean nerfing sniper? and if so can we respec? ......................... vet wv pvp4 pvp2 pvp1 Posted May 13, 2014, 6:29 pm

Juris Hessians Darkwind Guru Deathrace Mafia Faction Group: Members Posts: 1,706 Joined: Sep 16, 2010 When? ......................... vet wv pvp1 pvp5 pvp4 race1 zom pvp2 deathrce1 pvp3 combat1 Posted May 13, 2014, 6:31 pm

*sam* The Salthill Sluggerz Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Lead Developer Posts: 16,780 Joined: Jan 19, 2006 musashi_san said: does Quote: Some rebalancing of specs mean nerfing sniper? and if so can we respec? What I generally want to do is reduce the massive gulf between highspecc'd gangers and lowespecc'd ones. It's not good for gameplay when one player can snooze on a hilltop and pick off the enemy from 250m while that enemy has no hope of hitting at more than 100m. I'm not saying there shouldn't be a substantial difference between skilled and unskilled gangers, merely that it shouldn't be quite as huge as it currently is. So yes, sniper is one of the specs. I suppose a period of re-speccing is reasonable, yes. Best wait until it's all in the game and we have tested it, though. ......................... marshal vet deathrce1 paintladder combat1 wv ped1 cont slay2013 Posted May 13, 2014, 6:34 pm

Bolt Thrower Quantum Symphony Darkwind Guru Deathrace Mafia Faction Group: Members Posts: 727 Joined: Sep 12, 2013 For the cosmetics: I know we can buy slots, but I am a lousy artist. So a cosmetics marketplace would be nice. Especially character models. Because: I don't always get out of my car, but when I do, I want to hop around on a peg leg. ......................... vet wv northernsummer1,92,1 Posted May 13, 2014, 7:01 pm

JS Hitmen Trucking Inc -CI- Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 3,238 Joined: Jan 9, 2010 Bolt Thrower said: For the cosmetics: I know we can buy slots, but I am a lousy artist.  So a cosmetics marketplace would be nice.  Especially character models. Because:  I don't always get out of my car, but when I do, I want to hop around on a peg leg.  Booya, lol ......................... vet wv pvp5 pvp3 pvp4 Posted May 13, 2014, 7:43 pm

*StCrispin* Beasts of the Lair Darkwind Guru Anarchists Faction Group: Marshals Posts: 2,657 Joined: Feb 13, 2012 Bolt Thrower said: For the cosmetics: I know we can buy slots, but I am a lousy artist.  So a cosmetics marketplace would be nice.  Especially character models. Because:  I don't always get out of my car, but when I do, I want to hop around on a peg leg.  A better player market would ne nice.  And one able to sell these Mods/Buffs items, Skin Files (I'd pay a fed bucks for skins if they weren't too much.  like maybe 99 cents for a 1 off or 1.99 or 2.99 for "I own the file") How about making repairs more based on ganger skill?  assigning them to a job and it taking time.  Hard money to speed it up (or hard money for a case of booze and a bottle of booze speeds them up for a period of time) and while fixing stuff that ganger cant do anything else unless you pull him from that task.  Add a few extra gang slots for this drain but not more than maybe 1 for each 100 LDR capped at 5.  And players can rent out mechs on the market for DW or hard cash? ......................... vet wv gwped paintladder paintball marshal raceL10,1,0 Posted May 13, 2014, 8:09 pm

musashi_san sunset samurai Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 1,118 Joined: May 7, 2012 here's something that has occurred to me. the npc gang fame issue... essentially, with the player base as it is now, all pirate npc gangs are beaten down to 0 fame before server reset on thursday. even in shanty, for example. i soloed from there for about a week going after high fame gangs and now none are left, other than my beloved muties. with many more players, will there be any famous gangs to hunt at all? dont know how they get fame back, obviously, but maybe some thought about how that might work in a much more populous world might be in order... ......................... vet wv pvp4 pvp2 pvp1 Posted May 13, 2014, 11:09 pm

*sam* The Salthill Sluggerz Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Lead Developer Posts: 16,780 Joined: Jan 19, 2006 musashi_san said: here's something that has occurred to me. the npc gang fame issue... essentially, with the player base as it is now, all pirate npc gangs are beaten down to 0 fame before server reset on thursday. even in shanty, for example. i soloed from there for about a week going after high fame gangs and now none are left, other than my beloved muties. with many more players, will there be any famous gangs to hunt at all? dont know how they get fame back, obviously, but maybe some thought about how that might work in a much more populous world might be in order... That shouldn't be a problem. Their fortunes are based on the ratio of cars defeated to cars lost, so it's not dependent on how busy the game is. ......................... marshal vet deathrce1 paintladder combat1 wv ped1 cont slay2013 Posted May 14, 2014, 1:29 am

*Longo* Longos Merry Men Darkwind Guru Mutants Faction Group: Marshals Posts: 6,659 Joined: Dec 15, 2007 Sam- A few things - Will there be perma damage to stuff that sits in a garage and isnt used for a while? Any chance to offer players a window where they can sell back cars/weapons/gangers for hard cash? Only good stuff of course.... but we have seen many players "restart" their gang several times and this would allow incentive for loyal, long term players a chance to do this and get something for the stuff they earned over several real years time. ......................... vet combatL1 ped1 paintladder semiprocombat ped2 wv pvp4 pvp1 gwped paintball pvp3 pvp5 slay2013 marshal circuit2 combat1 e2g raceL1 gwextrav gateautumn pvp2 triangle1 Posted May 14, 2014, 1:33 am

musashi_san sunset samurai Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 1,118 Joined: May 7, 2012 *sam* said: musashi_san said: here's something that has occurred to me. the npc gang fame issue... essentially, with the player base as it is now, all pirate npc gangs are beaten down to 0 fame before server reset on thursday. even in shanty, for example. i soloed from there for about a week going after high fame gangs and now none are left, other than my beloved muties. with many more players, will there be any famous gangs to hunt at all? dont know how they get fame back, obviously, but maybe some thought about how that might work in a much more populous world might be in order... That shouldn't be a problem. Their fortunes are based on the ratio of cars defeated to cars lost, so it's not dependent on how busy the game is. sorry to belabor the point, but given that players are better than npcs (much better, mostly, with some notable exceptions , wont their ratio of cars defeated to cars lost be abysmal with more players? ......................... vet wv pvp4 pvp2 pvp1 Posted May 14, 2014, 2:15 am

musashi_san sunset samurai Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 1,118 Joined: May 7, 2012 *sam* said: 2. Perma-damage becoming the norm (as it is in Scav) so that we will expect to see many people fielding perma-damaged equipment. This will make the equipment-collection metagame and gameplay generally more rich and varied. The change will mean that perma-damage happens at the same time as normal damage, rather than happening at the time of fixing. i'm a little slow, but it has dawned on me that this makes making more mundane objects like pho's and moray's in a camp much much more attractive (and lucrative), as these will come out all shiny and new and perma-free, right? very interesting dynamic change. ......................... vet wv pvp4 pvp2 pvp1 Posted May 14, 2014, 2:22 am

*sam* The Salthill Sluggerz Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Lead Developer Posts: 16,780 Joined: Jan 19, 2006 Longo said: Sam- A few things - Will there be perma damage to stuff that sits in a garage and isnt used for a while? No Longo said: Any chance to offer players a window where they can sell back cars/weapons/gangers for hard cash? Only good stuff of course.... but we have seen many players "restart" their gang several times and this would allow incentive for loyal, long term players a chance to do this and get something for the stuff they earned over several real years time.  I'll consider it. Can anyone else see pros/cons in this idea? ......................... marshal vet deathrce1 paintladder combat1 wv ped1 cont slay2013 Posted May 14, 2014, 9:11 am

*sam* The Salthill Sluggerz Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Lead Developer Posts: 16,780 Joined: Jan 19, 2006 musashi_san said: *sam* said: musashi_san said: here's something that has occurred to me. the npc gang fame issue... essentially, with the player base as it is now, all pirate npc gangs are beaten down to 0 fame before server reset on thursday. even in shanty, for example. i soloed from there for about a week going after high fame gangs and now none are left, other than my beloved muties. with many more players, will there be any famous gangs to hunt at all? dont know how they get fame back, obviously, but maybe some thought about how that might work in a much more populous world might be in order... That shouldn't be a problem. Their fortunes are based on the ratio of cars defeated to cars lost, so it's not dependent on how busy the game is. sorry to belabor the point, but given that players are better than npcs (much better, mostly, with some notable exceptions , wont their ratio of cars defeated to cars lost be abysmal with more players? No, the whole reason I use a ratio as the measure of NPC success is that it has no scaling effect. If an NPC gang wins 1 car for every 10 it loses, that will be broadly what we see if it plays 5 combats a day versus if it plays 500 combats a day. ......................... marshal vet deathrce1 paintladder combat1 wv ped1 cont slay2013 Posted May 14, 2014, 9:14 am

*sam* The Salthill Sluggerz Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Lead Developer Posts: 16,780 Joined: Jan 19, 2006 musashi_san said: *sam* said: 2. Perma-damage becoming the norm (as it is in Scav) so that we will expect to see many people fielding perma-damaged equipment. This will make the equipment-collection metagame and gameplay generally more rich and varied. The change will mean that perma-damage happens at the same time as normal damage, rather than happening at the time of fixing. i'm a little slow, but it has dawned on me that this makes making more mundane objects like pho's and moray's in a camp much much more attractive (and lucrative), as these will come out all shiny and new and perma-free, right? very interesting dynamic change. I hadn't considered that, but you're quite right. I may need to look at Mech Ratings if this proves to be too much of a change. ......................... marshal vet deathrce1 paintladder combat1 wv ped1 cont slay2013 Posted May 14, 2014, 9:15 am

*K1500* Big Dumb Object Autodueller Deathrace Mafia Faction Group: Marshals Posts: 394 Joined: Dec 29, 2011 *sam* said: I'll consider it. Can anyone else see pros/cons in this idea? I'm assuming that this indicates that there will be a server restart - based on that supposition the biggest pro that I can see with this is that if the longer term players stick around they'll be able to provide active "mentoring" to new players in the lobby. Giving new players a good first experience is incredibly important with FTP games and if the already existent players can do that then the retention rates of new players should be better. While the following is written about mobile games there are similar statistics in the desktop realm (which I can't be bothered digging up at the moment). Quote: Recent data shows 20 percent of mobile games get opened once and never again. 66 percent have never played beyond the first 24 hours and indeed most purchases happen in the first week of play. Amazingly only around two to three percent of gamers pay anything at all for games, and even more hair-raising is the fact that 50 percent of all revenue comes from just 0.2 percent of players. [source: http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/9/5699058/free-to-play-mobile-candy-crush-the-room] I'd argue that the existent player base is your biggest tool in retaining new players in their first week of play. I had people help me out and show me how everything worked when I first started and I've tried to do the same for others. I'm sure this is a common story for most people here. A reward (based on gear/gangers) will encourage the long term players to stick around. The only thing I'd suggest is perhaps a maximum cap of how much people can get back. I'll be sticking around either way (of course always dependent on my currently very variable income). K  ......................... vet wv zom circuit1 storm2013 circuit3 marshal pvp2 ped2 pvp4 circuit2 ped1 gwped0,1,0 Posted May 14, 2014, 9:53 am

Racing Robbie The White Ashes Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 761 Joined: Jul 3, 2012 Woot!! A lot to take in there, first thoughts Spec rebalancing – good thing to re-balance the game, should also make things more tense against the AI as well if your super sniper suddenly wasn’t so super. Perma-damage and mods – yeah see that, fits with the game to my mind, good idea. Hard/soft currency – ok get where you want to go with that, works for me. Always going to get people paying money to try and win – human nature but I think this that should allow players of all types good chances in the game. Always nice to have the chance to get the hard currency features with-out paying as well, either through winning hard-currency, earning it or winning use of the features in competitions, or through  completing mission. Though I would stay away from any idea about turning the Hard Currency back to real money. musashi_san said: *sam* said: 2. Perma-damage becoming the norm (as it is in Scav) so that we will expect to see many people fielding perma-damaged equipment. This will make the equipment-collection metagame and gameplay generally more rich and varied. The change will mean that perma-damage happens at the same time as normal damage, rather than happening at the time of fixing. I’m a little slow, but it has dawned on me that this makes making more mundane objects like pho's and moray's in a camp much more attractive (and lucrative), as these will come out all shiny and new and perma-free, right? Very interesting dynamic change. I hadn't considered that, but you're quite right. I may need to look at Mech Ratings if this proves to be too much of a change. I think that this might be a good idea; it would allow smaller camps to be more effective turning out new stuff to sell on the player markets. Would make a difference to the economy, Price wars and all that – perhaps it would open an whole black market of trading between players ;-) ......................... vet wv northernsummer e2g raceL1 deathrceL1 slay2013 pvp3 ww pvp1 semiprocombat0,1,0 Posted May 14, 2014, 9:58 am Last edited May 14, 2014, 9:59 am by Racing Robbie

*sam* The Salthill Sluggerz Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Lead Developer Posts: 16,780 Joined: Jan 19, 2006 K1500 said: I'm assuming that this indicates that there will be a server restart No, I'm not planning a server restart. K1500 said: I'd argue that the existent player base is your biggest tool in retaining new players in their first week of play. I had people help me out and show me how everything worked when I first started and I've tried to do the same for others. I'm sure this is a common story for most people here. A reward (based on gear/gangers) will encourage the long term players to stick around. The only thing I'd suggest is perhaps a maximum cap of how much people can get back. I couldn't agree more. Although there's no server reset planned (and hence the rewards you suggest aren't necessary), I am working on a system for 'open access' scouts, where your squad has no password and where you get a leadership boost for bringing new players scouting. ......................... marshal vet deathrce1 paintladder combat1 wv ped1 cont slay2013 Posted May 14, 2014, 10:14 am

*K1500* Big Dumb Object Autodueller Deathrace Mafia Faction Group: Marshals Posts: 394 Joined: Dec 29, 2011 Right - that changes things a bit then. In which case, as you said, the rewards are not really needed. The only con I can see is people trading in large amounts of _unused gear_ (or manufacturing stuff to trade back) - in which case a cap on how much people can get back for a trade in may be worthwhile. Open access scouts sounds cool - and anything that builds connections between new and experienced players is a good thing. I may even be able to encourage some of my mates (who tried DW but never subbed) to come back for good :-) K ......................... vet wv zom circuit1 storm2013 circuit3 marshal pvp2 ped2 pvp4 circuit2 ped1 gwped0,1,0 Posted May 14, 2014, 10:24 am

musashi_san sunset samurai Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 1,118 Joined: May 7, 2012 *sam* said: No, the whole reason I use a ratio as the measure of NPC success is that it has no scaling effect. If an NPC gang wins 1 car for every 10 it loses, that will be broadly what we see if it plays 5 combats a day versus if it plays 500 combats a day. i get the ratio thing... my assumption was that the npc gangs fight each other in the background, and that more players would mean that more of their combats would be against superior rather than even opposition, which would tilt the ratio, from winning 3 for 10 when half the combats are against humans to winning 3 for 20 when 80% of combats are against humans... from what you're saying i think my underlying assumption is false, though, so i'll shut up now. ......................... vet wv pvp4 pvp2 pvp1 Posted May 14, 2014, 1:39 pm

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