The Situation in ShootMania

[Hylis]

Maybe yes, maybe no. Report list can become quite long and not accurate after some updates, requiring to start all over again or "updating", which is not really in the mood of the players, and I can understand. I use different tools for different phase, and here, I need to have the top 5 "gut feeling" of what need to be urgent / priority to be fixed. But it's really up to everybody to find his best way to handle things. Even at the studio, if some prefer one tool, I will encourage using it.

[Miss]

Completely understand that. But I also imagine that being more the case without a bugtracker, and only managing it by forum threads, which is less much less categorized.

[TMarc]

Nadeo has internal lists.
Forum threads are additional sources, which need to be linked to the internal "whatever tool", may it even be Excel

Now, let's assume Nadeo would create a more or less public bug tracker domain like in Bugzilla.
This would separate the forum here from the further discussions: currently, a user has a problem, it gets discussed here, and if a dev comes across, eventually a internal bug report is created, and the workaround, possible other feedback, requests to test, post screenshots and videos, and finally the announcement of the fix, is all here.

With Bugzilla, players would create bugreports and also improvement requests there. Much less players would have access to that because it is simply out of focus.

I'm not telling that Bugzilla is not good, in contrary, we are also using it at work, for work on international standards with many other companies.
But it is not used for software!
Bugtracking of our own software is done with an internal tool which supports a part of the development cycle.

It is Nadeo/Ubisoft internal decision, regardless how many players (and journalists and competitors as well) would like to see it, to get more insight in Maniaplanet.

[Miss]

I’m not saying make their internal issues list public, I’m saying make a separate part of that where users can triage up issues. It’d allow for a bit more efficient of a workflow instead of hoping a dev actually sees your bug report thread.

(Also not sure what you mean with Bugzilla not being used for software, but that’s a bit off topic )

[keeth]

Unfortunately more than several months. My intention was to release RoyalSquad and use it as a way to work on it and make one thing really clean, to both train new people that will have more time of these subjects and keep things on going for SM as a good addition.

I feel like it is too long to wait for more than several months (sounds like years) before we'll hear anything new.
I understand over promising isn't a good marketing strategy. Just look at Atlas or No Mans Sky. However, i do believe any software developer benefits from transparency.

The community should have a greater say in what direction the game is taking for future updates in my opinion. Sure there might be something people will disagree on. But i genuinely believe it is the best for the game in it's current situation.

Even a small forum post with ideas or features planned for future updates would be enough. A formal and constructive discussion about them would without a doubt yield valuable information.

[MTKD]

Last year: Cerovan created a little action where Nations was disabled for 4 days to discover ManiaPlanet and the Titles made by the Community:

PICTURE FROM ARCHIVE


There was a lot of Players online back then, But this was MP4.0 i would be happy when this anmount of players come again,
I think it's maybe possible to make this again, But this time during the STEAM SALES, So MP Games should actually get sold a few times.
When the Factors are optimal, The Players of TMNF will maybe buy the ManiaPlanet games, More or less.

[Hylis]

Having Trackmania with Shootmania was indeed a plus for Shootmania. Now, it has been said that it would be better to be separated. So, as Keeth would like, having a "the community" single direction could be more complicated than a simple wish list. I have seen debates on micro jumps, for example.

What matters most is to make players happy enough when they are in, even before having them. And these players are not really the community one, since they are not here. So, it requires the thinking to be wider.

The Shootmania channel is free and we tried to make some interesting modes to welcome new players over the last 2 years. It's not enough, by far. I think there are bigger challenges to go through.

Btw, on Trackmania, the game was quite calm in France and somebody made a competition and it brought a lot of people to watch & play it. The guy chose a path that was really different from the community habits, and receive some critics for this. It could be difficult to change things in the community because there are a lot of people with a lot of conviction, and I can understand it.

[Miss]

I think it's maybe possible to make this again, But this time during the STEAM SALES, So it should actually get sold a few times.

What!? That'd be insane. People would buy United only to see a message saying they can't play the game they just bought..

Having Trackmania with Shootmania was indeed a plus for Shootmania. Now, it has been said that it would be better to be separated. So, as Keeth would like, having a "the community" single direction could be more complicated than a simple wish list. I have seen debates on micro jumps, for example.

As mentioned earlier, this could work in a way where there's a "launcher" with a built-in friendslist etc. Much like indeed mentioned before, Battle Net, for example. Though, since Nadeo is under Ubisoft (Uplay), I can imagine that being kinda weird and even more confusing.

Hylis, how would you see a separation like this work in terms of socials/buddies/chats etc?

[keeth]

Having Trackmania with Shootmania was indeed a plus for Shootmania. Now, it has been said that it would be better to be separated. So, as Keeth would like, having a "the community" single direction could be more complicated than a simple wish list. I have seen debates on micro jumps, for example.

What matters most is to make players happy enough when they are in, even before having them. And these players are not really the community one, since they are not here. So, it requires the thinking to be wider.

Please don't missunderstand me. I am merely suggesting a more transparent approach towards the current players.
I'm not saying the current community is "all knowing" and have the best solutions. To be brutally honest, most of the current player base are overly skilled players with an un matched love for the game. This makes us scared of "change".

With that in mind, I think we are capable to see the bigger picture while discussing new features and services. However, bias is inevitable. Continental change to anything is as said; scary and will therefore not necessarily yield the best feedback from the more experienced players while discussing game changing features or services.

[Hylis]

You are talking about "the community" Then I suggest that you provide the top 5 wish list of "the community" And even if we don't really have time to work on this at the moment, maybe there would be something easy to do or maybe it would help secure the future.

The separation could be two different .exe, same account.