The Future of PA: mid-long term features and goals

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by Zaphys, January 27, 2015.

  1. Zaphys

    Zaphys Well-Known Member

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    We have seen some impressive developments by Uber recently (just look at the last PTE! ...huge balance changes, several new units, many bugfixes and poshing, announced save feature...) and these surely need testing time for tweaking and balancing. First of all, my congratulations to the team for this amazing work. With this double forum post "The Future of PA" I want to gather the most outstanding issues that the community has identified over the last few weeks (and in some cases, unfortunately, months) which are agreed to significantly improve the game if properly addressed.

    Here is a list of suggestions and comments for the features that are missing or that need a significannt rework. These are the kind of features that we would like to see in at the "within months" timescale and that will ultimately make PA into the game we all know it has the potential to be. I will leave out any topic connected to in-game units as the game is changing quite rapidly in that respect at the moment.

    • Map Pool and Competitive Seasons. Once the unit balance finds a sufficiently stable point, that balance, together with a rich map pool (including bigger planets), must be announced as the season's build. Any changes to unit balance and map pool will be postponed until the start of the next copetitive season.
    • 1v1 Ranked Ladder. There is a fruitful discussion of the technical aspects of ranking and leagues here but it is quite obvious that the current ladder system can be improved.
    • 2v2 Ranked Ladder. The recent 2v2 Clopsey Tournament has shown how well-suited PA is for 2v2-shared-armies competitive play provided appropiate maps are used and players comunicate and coordinate in advance of the game. This may work specially well when a Competitive Seasons scheme is in place: teams of two players are formed during each season and they last until the end of that season. There are currently no visible games that allow for the level of cooperation and coordination that PA shared armies offers, together with the fact that there is a lack of competitive 2v2 games, PA may become a pioneer for the genre.
    • Player Profile and Leaderboards. The awkwardness of not being able to see other player's rank and the uncomfortable fact that the in-game player entity is fragmented across the Leaderboards (name, rank, games played), Main Menu (name, rank, displays selected preferred commander model) and Armory (owned commander models and commanders on sale in the same page) can be completely fixed by implementing a good player profile feature showing stats, progress, purchased commanders, achievements, badges... and with privacy options. Here is a detailed description of the issue together with a poll that suggests that 84% of the community thinks that a Player Profile feature is either very important or important (moreover, that was nearly two months ago, when many features now announced or implemented hadn't been even mentioned) .
    • Global Chat. It has been asked many times and it is likely to only impact the game positively by helping expand the community.
    • Armory, Commander Skins and Cosmetics. Being able to customise your commander model, and feeling personally identified with that in-game unit, is something very unsual for an RTS. The Armory should be reworked to let the players easily do this. Additionally cosmetic items that the commander models may display in-game can be sold at the shop or granted to players who achive certain goals (commander skins, badges for ranks, medals for achievements...). Ideally, PA could implement an XP system to reward asiduous players with more cosmetic items.
    • Tutorial. The save feature will allow for the possibility of rich, AI-driven tutorials, this feature will ensure the constant growth of playerbase.
    • Menus Visual Enhancements. The current menus have a rather bland desing and they feel a bit laggy. Although it may seem like mere icing on the cake, having a beautiful, slick and responsivee menu and UI can make a huge difference in terms of player experience.
    • In-Game Visual Enhancements. It has been discussed several times how some of the visual environments and effects in PA feel a little lifeless. A graphics pass, includign, for instance, adding animations to some features of the terrain or reworking water and lava, will be very beneficial for the player immersion and overall experience.
    • Galactic War. A richer, deeper strategic mini-game will provide many hours of single player content that can also be useful for new players to gradually become exposed to all the units in the game.
    • Engine Optimisation. Simply, keep improving an already impressive feature for having those wonderful massive games (4v4, FFAs...) run smoother and faster.
    • Mod Visibility. Although the weekly video contest contributes towards mod visibility, a bit more offcial support will be beneficial for everyone.
    Please feel free to comment and add any other suggestions.
  2. emraldis

    emraldis Post Master General

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    Even just uber recognizing some of the mods publicly would be a good start.
    ace63 and slocke like this.
  3. Deletive

    Deletive Member

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    Hopefully some of these features come to the game. It has me super excited to see stuff like this come.
    Zaphys likes this.
  4. Zaphys

    Zaphys Well-Known Member

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    What do you mean exactly?
  5. emraldis

    emraldis Post Master General

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    Well they have a bulletin board in-game right? It would be nice to see a "mod of the week" or "mod of the moth" or something as chosen by the uber devs.
    iron71 and christer1966 like this.
  6. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

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    Well the video contest is showing off Guma Guma Slide at least ^^
    xankar, slocke and Zaphys like this.
  7. emraldis

    emraldis Post Master General

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    Yeah that's true, though that was just from player votes rather than Uber's choice, IIRC...
  8. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

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    True, though I kind of like that.

    I really need to make a Statera video. ;)
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  9. emraldis

    emraldis Post Master General

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    and I need to make (or have one made) an orbital warfare overhaul video...
  10. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

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    Fight of the most popular mods! >=D

    >INB4 treaty video that showcases both mods.
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  11. emraldis

    emraldis Post Master General

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    lol, that would be cool. We could release a mod that combines the two as well, for those who want it...
  12. theseeker2

    theseeker2 Well-Known Member

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    I stand by neutrino, global chat is not necessary, however, private channels may be useful
  13. Zaphys

    Zaphys Well-Known Member

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    Anyhing that ensures the longevity of PA will be welcome :)
  14. slocke

    slocke Active Member

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    @emraldis
    @squishypon3

    I was thinking about offering to make promo videos for various mods. If you guys like I could make some videos for you.
    stuart98 and emraldis like this.
  15. perfectdark

    perfectdark Active Member

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    I got bored after the first point and just wanted you to know that so your self esteem would take a hit.
  16. stuart98

    stuart98 Post Master General

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    Statera as a mod is no longer under active development and will in fact be removed from PAMM after the next PA patch as I'm too busy to update it and stuff is going to start breaking in it soon.

    I am working on a successor mod with a few other forumers and I will contact you when this mod is sufficiently developed to justify production of promotional materials.
  17. lafncow

    lafncow Active Member

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    This is a nice list, but as a primarily human-vs-AI skirmish player, Visual Enhancements and Optimizations are the only ones I care about. I would put unit diversity and biome diversity above both. I might be in the minority, but just pointing out that this is a very multiplayer-skewed list and there is a ton of room for more general enhancements.
  18. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

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    I consent to your use of my models previously a part of Statera at any point in time if you'd ever need.

    Though I was kind of thinking of merging with the Orbital Warfar Overhaul mod.
  19. lapsedpacifist

    lapsedpacifist Post Master General

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    You forgot asteroids.
  20. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

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    radius 100 moons [​IMG]

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