An open letter to Nadeo regarding the state of TM.

[Apostate]

Imho - the most efficient way to grow the player base:

- Include TM in a humble bundle (main, weekly or even the humble bundle - store)
- Include TM in a steam weekly sale
- Pay a YT-Personality (for example TotalBiscuit) to cover a big event

I have no idea if anthing i mentioned above is feasible and/or affordable.
Would be nice if anyone replies to these points who has some sort of knowledge/insight.

[Alter-Fox]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but what do people actually use Planets for other than betting online and paying to restart the map? I am suggesting a way to utilise what to many seems like a pointless currency for the good of the game.

I pay with planets for skins and car models and mods I download. And I like the idea of a "fun" betting system where you don't use real money at any point.

[edk]

If you like the game, think it's great, and want it to grow, then there are things you can do. But really, some weird overhaul into a F2P model does not fit, at all. Especially considering the game was as low as $2.49 on Christmas.

Take the energies you have that motivated you to make this thread and do the following:
Buy the game for a couple of friends. Particpate in the things that are there to participate, tournaments, contests, single player, etc. Award and submit replays on TMX (hint: noone cares if they're good or bad, it's about participation). Subscribe to the various Youtube channels and thumbs up thier videos. Twitter about the game, Facebook about it. Play on servers you wouldn't normally play on. Go to Steam forums or Reddit and post positive or helpful things. Donate to TMX, Maniapark, or Dedimania. ETC.

One of the biggest things anyone could do is stream the game on TwitchTV. I try myself once in awhile, but I have to use all low settings to get a decent framerate so for me it's not that enjoyable. Watch and follow any TM2 streams. I think this alone could help the game tremendously, but there are maybe 2 semi-consistent TM2 streams.

It would be nice to see a humble bundle. Get those old TM games on Steam, then put the $1 tier for TMO, TMS, and TM2S, and have the $6 tier for SMS and TM2C. Or something similar. As a weekly that puppy would rake in a solid million+ and have a staggering influx of players. Maybe Nadeo doesn't want that and they're perfectly content with how things currenly are, I'm no mind reader. I do know in life, even for bigger companies, opportunities like that aren't always going to be available, i.e. I'd be all over that if I were in charge.

[leo99756]

Take the energies you have that motivated you to make this thread and do the following:
Buy the game for a couple of friends. Particpate in the things that are there to participate, tournaments, contests, single player, etc. Award and submit replays on TMX (hint: noone cares if they're good or bad, it's about participation). Subscribe to the various Youtube channels and thumbs up thier videos. Twitter about the game, Facebook about it. Play on servers you wouldn't normally play on. Go to Steam forums or Reddit and post positive or helpful things. Donate to TMX, Maniapark, or Dedimania. ETC.

You want me to buy the game for my friends? I'm not even sure what to say about that, but I'm sure if the title was free and I recommended it to a friend then they would be just as likely to download it and give it a go.

Regarding the other points you made: I have done more than most to support the community over the years, including pretty much everything you mention. While this is good to keep the player base at a decent level, these things do not really affect the amount of players coming in greatly, as a lot of the community things are quite 'closed-off'. For example, you wouldn't know about TMX or any of the tournaments if you didn't already play the game.

One of the biggest things anyone could do is stream the game on TwitchTV. I try myself once in awhile, but I have to use all low settings to get a decent framerate so for me it's not that enjoyable. Watch and follow any TM2 streams. I think this alone could help the game tremendously, but there are maybe 2 semi-consistent TM2 streams.

Yes, streaming is very important. It would be good if we saw more streamers. If I remember rightly, the final of a tournament last year made the front page of TwitchTV, which brought it a lot of viewers. Hopefully we'll see more streaming so that the game gets a good representation on there.

It would be nice to see a humble bundle. Get those old TM games on Steam, then put the $1 tier for TMO, TMS, and TM2S, and have the $6 tier for SMS and TM2C. Or something similar. As a weekly that puppy would rake in a solid million+ and have a staggering influx of players. Maybe Nadeo doesn't want that and they're perfectly content with how things currenly are, I'm no mind reader. I do know in life, even for bigger companies, opportunities like that aren't always going to be available, i.e. I'd be all over that if I were in charge.

A brilliant idea that would for sure bring in loads of new players. Hopefully Nadeo sees this and, if they haven't already, consider it at least.

[FrostBeule]

but there are maybe 2 semi-consistent TM2 streams.

Side-note but if you didn't know: http://www.twitch.tv/team/trackmaniacs for people that stream TrackMania on Twitch.

And streaming TrackMania could be even greater if we had a better spectating-mode. It's not very good (no drift-marks, the drifting sound is very loud/obnoxious, name tags are seen through the map making it hard to see anything in endurance races etc), and until yesterday I didn't even know how to change camera views in TM2 (turns out it was changed to the right CTRL button, I had always used the left one in TMNF).

Anyway on topic, for me making Stadium free isn't really the solution (although I agree it should have some sort of f2p-model). But a free game isn't popular just because it's free. The game also needs to have a certain quality to it, which in my opinion was the case with TMNF and is not with TM2 Stadium. I simply don't think it's as good of a game at its core which is how fun it is to drive which is the most important thing to me. The feeling of the car just feels off to me (car has been made heavier for each edition which I don't understand the reason behind and just makes the car feel very sluggish and slow). Besides that there's also other things I don't really like about it (can't turn off shadows, camera 2 is different, etc) that makes me just wanna play TMNF instead which still feels fun.

I would like to see Nadeo polishing the products they already have and make them as fun as possible to play, instead of moving on to the next thing. That I think would help improving the state of the game the most.

[Chris92]

I've recently contacted Hylis regarding a similar matter and I'm still awaiting a response.
The thread I linked him was this one: http://forum.maniaplanet.com/viewtopic. ... 54&start=0

While I do agree that the physics compared to TMNF are worse in TM2:Stadium, I can't agree with making it F2P.
Demos will be coming with ManiaPlanet3, the free playtime will still have to be determined though (and will still be adjustable in the future).
You also have to keep in mind that the main playerbase is non-competitive, so fixing things that only affect high-level play might not be the highest of their priority - although I agree some of those unwanted behaviours should be removed.

Furthermore, don't forget NADEO doesn't have any play testers that can actually drive on a highly competitive level, but if asked I'm almost certain that something like that could be arranged. I'd suggest maybe inviting a certain number of community members from each skill level to test a beta title pack (similar to Elite Exp in Shootmania?) where certain mechanics in the engine get tweaked to produce an overall better driving experience in TM2.

For the spectator mode: I agree, slide tracks/drift marks is something several people requesting since before TMNF came out. Sounds can be modded or the sound effects can be turned down in terms of volume, the name tags might need a little tweaking.

[coolsnake]

I wouldn't like F2P.

Some more interaction with Steam would be nice. Free weekends every once in a while for one environment, combined with a sale for that environment.

I always liked the way the game "Killing Floor" does it. The game goes on sale often for -75% and that's usually combined with a free weekend or some seasonal event (which changes the way the monsters look in the game). I'm not sure how Tripwire keeps making money since they just keep adding free content (like new modes) to the base game. I guess there are always new people that want to pick it up.

Not sure how you'd apply the same thing to TrackMania. Maybe for Christmas you get a christmas skinned default car, christmas music and an annoying snow effect on your screen?

[Hubby]

Anyway on topic, for me making Stadium free isn't really the solution (although I agree it should have some sort of f2p-model). But a free game isn't popular just because it's free. The game also needs to have a certain quality to it, which in my opinion was the case with TMNF and is not with TM2 Stadium. I simply don't think it's as good of a game at its core which is how fun it is to drive which is the most important thing to me. The feeling of the car just feels off to me (car has been made heavier for each edition which I don't understand the reason behind and just makes the car feel very sluggish and slow). Besides that there's also other things I don't really like about it (can't turn off shadows, camera 2 is different, etc) that makes me just wanna play TMNF instead which still feels fun.

VERY well said Fb, and it is exactly how I also feel about TM2 stadium (and I guess other players as well), it's just not fun to play it , whereas TMNF still has got that fun factor and THAT is the most important thing !

[jojoba007]

Anyway on topic, for me making Stadium free isn't really the solution (although I agree it should have some sort of f2p-model). But a free game isn't popular just because it's free. The game also needs to have a certain quality to it, which in my opinion was the case with TMNF and is not with TM2 Stadium. I simply don't think it's as good of a game at its core which is how fun it is to drive which is the most important thing to me. The feeling of the car just feels off to me (car has been made heavier for each edition which I don't understand the reason behind and just makes the car feel very sluggish and slow). Besides that there's also other things I don't really like about it (can't turn off shadows, camera 2 is different, etc) that makes me just wanna play TMNF instead which still feels fun.

VERY well said Fb, and it is exactly how I also feel about TM2 stadium (and I guess other players as well), it's just not fun to play it , whereas TMNF still has got that fun factor and THAT is the most important thing !

Yes, very well said. The TM2 games doensn't feel finished. Why not concentrate on one good environment and keep building and updating on this with map packs, block packs etc.
And why the more serious aproach? TM should be far from serious. With this I mean it should go the other way then more and more towards normal racing games. Otherwise I can also install games like Dirt or something.

[Apostate]

I wouldn't like F2P.

Some more interaction with Steam would be nice. Free weekends every once in a while for one environment, combined with a sale for that environment.

I always liked the way the game "Killing Floor" does it. The game goes on sale often for -75% and that's usually combined with a free weekend or some seasonal event (which changes the way the monsters look in the game). I'm not sure how Tripwire keeps making money since they just keep adding free content (like new modes) to the base game. I guess there are always new people that want to pick it up.

Not sure how you'd apply the same thing to TrackMania. Maybe for Christmas you get a christmas skinned default car, christmas music and an annoying snow effect on your screen?

I agree.
With around 6.500.000 concurrent steam users every evening, these free weekends and deep discounts on steam are the best way to advertise your game nowadays - especially for something like trackmania that not many ppl outside europe are even aware of existing.