More simple game modes / tutorial

[EXtraDonut]

I love this game a whole lot, and I hope in the future people realize the potential of this game and work alongside nadeo to create premium content for the players. A big thing that's missing however is gamemodes that people can easily pick up and screw around with.

I mean we do have things like Royal and Battle as official game modes, but even those have certain mechanics that turn people off. What if Nadeo just wised up and added a simple deathmatch/team deathmatch game mode? Add a point limit to win, some combo multipliers and weapon switching as well as weapon drops.

All you have to do is look towards two custom titles that people have made:
-instagib DM
-rocket arena

The stupid kind of fun that we all know and love from older twitch shooters.

Don't get me wrong I love the more complex game modes of shootmania and I think that's what makes this game so great. But if we could just have more basic & easy to understand gamemodes I'm sure Nadeo could attract a larger audience. That and a tutorial system for those unsure of how to use the sprint functionality to its full potential, as well as other things.

The players are already making simplistic game modes but they lack popularity. Nadeo lacks popularity, at least in NA. They need to step up their game if they want to compete in this gaming market. This isn't a racing game guys, new rules. New market. And most of all, new player base.

All this, plus continuing to add different block types and the ability to re-texture existing blocks would be nice. I don't like how everything is so bland looking in this game, it really hurts the appeal.

[dreammyw0w]

too tired to comment properly!

*ignore me *

[roguesergeant]

I dont think that's what he meant.

[UrinStein]

Extradonut,

the simple death match mode you are looking for exists since the first day of the beta and is called meelee. Those game modes you are mentioning are clones of it.
In Maniaplanet things go like this: Nadeo gives you a basis on wich you can build whatever you want.
If you want Meelee with some features to it (like its already done in mentioned modes) they will tell you to do it yourself, because that's what MP is about: User Generated Content.

Every now and then Nadeo will add a new game mode like they did with Realm, Combo and soon MOBA Mode. But those are mostly ment to introduce new big features to the players.
Combo Mode introduced Pick-Ups into Shootmania and MOBA Mode will be the first mode to make use of the coming Action Maker.

If there is any other mode or variation you can think of, it is your turn to make it happen. Nadeo will be busy with other stuff, wich the community cannot do. For example adding new blocks with new functions, wich you apparently would appreciate.
They do make new blocks for Storm from time to time and they also have remade the textures two times in this one year. With the last update some days ago all the ground floors have been darkened so there is a bit more contrast on the maps.

I don't think you have quite gotten behind the whole concept of Shootmania.*
I don't see any of the problems you mentioned (anymore), despite the lack of popularity in NA. But what can you do, Nadeo games always have been more successful through word-of-mouth recommendations (I guess) and you have to be very loud if you want North Americans to hear what you are shouting in France.


* it is User Content btw, it has to be said twice

[EXtraDonut]

Extradonut,

the simple death match mode you are looking for exists since the first day of the beta and is called meelee. Those game modes you are mentioning are clones of it.
In Maniaplanet things go like this: Nadeo gives you a basis on wich you can build whatever you want.
If you want Meelee with some features to it (like its already done in mentioned modes) they will tell you to do it yourself, because that's what MP is about: User Generated Content.

Every now and then Nadeo will add a new game mode like they did with Realm, Combo and soon MOBA Mode. But those are mostly ment to introduce new big features to the players.
Combo Mode introduced Pick-Ups into Shootmania and MOBA Mode will be the first mode to make use of the coming Action Maker.

If there is any other mode or variation you can think of, it is your turn to make it happen. Nadeo will be busy with other stuff, wich the community cannot do. For example adding new blocks with new functions, wich you apparently would appreciate.
They do make new blocks for Storm from time to time and they also have remade the textures two times in this one year. With the last update some days ago all the ground floors have been darkened so there is a bit more contrast on the maps.

I don't think you have quite gotten behind the whole concept of Shootmania.*
I don't see any of the problems you mentioned (anymore), despite the lack of popularity in NA. But what can you do, Nadeo games always have been more successful through word-of-mouth recommendations (I guess) and you have to be very loud if you want North Americans to hear what you are shouting in France.


* it is User Content btw, it has to be said twice

yes but with a game mostly supported by user content there needs to be a user base big enough to accommodate the growing changes. Most game modes that get created see very little play and are constricted to only a few servers. If nadeo could just bring a simplistic game mode where you can switch weapons, pick up weapons & just go around killing people and make it an official title they can possibly bring back people who were turned off by the complexity of some of the mechanics.

Also the lack of a tutorial for the mechanics is another thing turning people off from this game. It is never explained and you need to rely on outside information in order to get an understanding. Sure you can learn the mechanics just by playing, but many have quit because it is not immediately obvious. I don't agree with the attitude of these people but they are potential customers and as a company nadeo should strive to make these people happy. A tutorial would offer the ease of entry for these people and possibly help them gain further interest in the game.

In fact, there is very little information available for many things SM:S. Information is scattered across different forum posts and is often spotty. This applies for map making, coding, making horns and many other things not directly tied to the core gameplay. If nadeo could just step it up and provide the proper information to its user base they can easily boost their survival in this game market.

Do you ever see melee being played? I don't, especially not in NA. Another thing about that is weapon drops are not a thing in this game mode nor is weapon switching. You get on rail pads and in bunkers in order to switch weapon like in the other game modes.

The formula of having weapon drops scattered around the map, weapon switching & weapon variety is a staple of multiplayer shooters for a reason. It is a tried and true formula and people love it, and I think if Nadeo could introduce something identical to this in shootmania it could be big. I'd play this over any other twitch shooter with the same mechanics any day, those other shooters do not have the same sprint & environmental mechanics that shootmania offers and I believe this will give the game an advantage in the market. This, and the ability to create your own maps can easily make it a top competitor in the twitch shooter market. Nadeo has the right mechanics in place for the more complex game modes but like I said before, they're lacking in the EZ PZ department. I know many people who are turned off from this game because of how simple it looks on the surface. Elite, royal and all the current game modes would not have to change at all. All I'm asking is that Nadeo appeal to the larger audience while retaining what is good about the game at the moment.

Does that make sense?

[roguesergeant]

I disagree greatly. There are issues with SmS. Snapshot matters when ping sort of does. I recall quake didn't have a snapshot issue. I know a ton of people who experience packet loss and refuse to play. Ign Ipl was the na life for this game. The death of ipl made a lot of teams and players leave. Word of mouth? No chance I specifically recall a commercial in europe about how everyone can compete etc. Also, elite is free to play. Why can't they advertise this? You have to download maniaplanet and get it that way. And no where is it mentioned on the site that its free to play. Just saying.

[Omnixor]

Also, elite is free to play. Why can't they advertise this? You have to download maniaplanet and get it that way. And no where is it mentioned on the site that its free to play. Just saying.

it's not officially free (even if you can download and play it), but it's coming.

[EXtraDonut]

Also, elite is free to play. Why can't they advertise this? You have to download maniaplanet and get it that way. And no where is it mentioned on the site that its free to play. Just saying.

it's not officially free (even if you can download and play it), but it's coming.

Hopefully they do advertise the heck out of it, because this is one of the many gateways that could potentially kick start the life of this game once again.

[UrinStein]

Also the lack of a tutorial for the mechanics is another thing turning people off from this game.

That's true, I have never seen a single good tutorial from Nadeo for anything.
Only the gods know why.

Do you ever see melee being played? I don't, especially not in NA. Another thing about that is weapon drops are not a thing in this game mode nor is weapon switching. You get on rail pads and in bunkers in order to switch weapon like in the other game modes.?

Meelee was played at the beginning of the Beta but it was obvious that people liked Royal much more than Meelee and so it got mostly whiped out of the servers lists. Because nobody really gives a shit. Nobody stops anyone from starting a Meelee-Server. Actually two days ago I played Rocket Arena on a US-Server, wich actually IS Meelee only with Steeffeen's InstaDM scoreboard.

If you are waiting for Meelee with Weapon Pickups and Weapon Switching, again, nobody stops you from taking those script lines from Combo Script and put them into Meelee Script. Game Modes like SnD and Invasion already have done that.
I really wouldn't like to see Nadeo making all those Modes, especially "make it an official title". If you flooded Storm with "official game modes" and promoted them to make people play it, then all the custom game modes would die out. That already happened when Open Beta was started and the whole serverlist was full of Ubisoft Beginner Servers with game modes recommended for beginners. Actually Royal and Battle was a good choice, but there was a quadrillion of those servers and you had a hard time finding sth else.
For example at the same time Nadeo's game mode Realm was released. It was instantly flooded away by all the Ubisoft servers and now most people don't even know about it anymore.

Maybe I lack the view of someone new to the game, and maybe new to Nadeo games, but for those who have been here all the time and want to stay even longer it is best when Nadeo does not intervene too much and let them do. The community knows best what it wants. Nadeo's role is giving them the tools to make it happen.
I have played TM Forever for years and I only knew Nadeo from the ingame advertising for themselves. A game where people don't even know who Nadeo is, that's about the direction this project is meant to go, I think.

New and casual players may be important for commercial interests and also for an expanding community, but those are not the people hosting servers, neither are they making any new content without wich there would nothing to be played at the first place.

I don't think I will ever get the hang of what the new players coming from other FPSs want. I came here from TM forever and so I obviously have other expectations than you have. But my expectations are a lot more based on what it always has been like with Nadeo, I think.

[EXtraDonut]

Also the lack of a tutorial for the mechanics is another thing turning people off from this game.

That's true, I have never seen a single good tutorial from Nadeo for anything.
Only the gods know why.

Do you ever see melee being played? I don't, especially not in NA. Another thing about that is weapon drops are not a thing in this game mode nor is weapon switching. You get on rail pads and in bunkers in order to switch weapon like in the other game modes.?

Meelee was played at the beginning of the Beta but it was obvious that people liked Royal much more than Meelee and so it got mostly whiped out of the servers lists. Because nobody really gives a shit. Nobody stops anyone from starting a Meelee-Server. Actually two days ago I played Rocket Arena on a US-Server, wich actually IS Meelee only with Steeffeen's InstaDM scoreboard.

If you are waiting for Meelee with Weapon Pickups and Weapon Switching, again, nobody stops you from taking those script lines from Combo Script and put them into Meelee Script. Game Modes like SnD and Invasion already have done that.
I really wouldn't like to see Nadeo making all those Modes, especially "make it an official title". If you flooded Storm with "official game modes" and promoted them to make people play it, then all the custom game modes would die out. That already happened when Open Beta was started and the whole serverlist was full of Ubisoft Beginner Servers with game modes recommended for beginners. Actually Royal and Battle was a good choice, but there was a quadrillion of those servers and you had a hard time finding sth else.
For example at the same time Nadeo's game mode Realm was released. It was instantly flooded away by all the Ubisoft servers and now most people don't even know about it anymore.

Maybe I lack the view of someone new to the game, and maybe new to Nadeo games, but for those who have been here all the time and want to stay even longer it is best when Nadeo does not intervene too much and let them do. The community knows best what it wants. Nadeo's role is giving them the tools to make it happen.
I have played TM Forever for years and I only knew Nadeo from the ingame advertising for themselves. A game where people don't even know who Nadeo is, that's about the direction this project is meant to go, I think.

New and casual players may be important for commercial interests and also for an expanding community, but those are not the people hosting servers, neither are they making any new content without wich there would nothing to be played at the first place.

I don't think I will ever get the hang of what the new players coming from other FPSs want. I came here from TM forever and so I obviously have other expectations than you have. But my expectations are a lot more based on what it always has been like with Nadeo, I think.

I think you're assuming that I'm new to the game or to Nadeo in general, which isn't true. I like you come from TM forever and have know of Nadeo for years. I have always loved the games they make but absolutely loathe how they handle them. The friend system then & now has always been buggy as fuck, the menus are scattered and incredibly unorganized, maniaplanet as a platform is horrid & they chose to let user content be the ONLY driving factor behind the game. Trackmania was successful with this approach but trackmania is not shootmania. The two games form two completely different markets and each need their own special kind of care.

Also about that issue of ubisoft servers crowding the game & suppressing the user created servers, if the game was advertised more & featured a way for new players to understand the game without a hassle it would create further interest to fill up more servers.

Another key note to add here: with more interest in the game comes more exposure to the workshop content as well. If more people contribute their creations to the workshop (titles, maps, skins, etc...) more people will be willing to use this content on their own servers and the balance of official servers vs custom servers will likely be even or outnumbered by custom servers as with any popular game. Gather interest for the game and make sure you have the structure in place to support it, and then watch it bloom.

Also yeah I could script it myself (but no because I have 0 scripting knowledge) but really I would prefer that Nadeo get on it. Them adding it as a core title would be the key to creating interest for the game as immediately it would be recognized. This does NOT require them to ignore the other game modes they've made, as things like Elite is really what gives this game its life. But it is definitely not a good starting point at all. Royal is a good way to start but again it is limited with its mechanics. Only rockets (unless on railpad/tunnel) & no respawn post flag cap. It's fun but others may just want to shoot at everyone, everywhere with any weapon they want. And when they die, well they just respawn in a few seconds and repeat the fun.

Any problem with this idea as I see it is with the community being as tiny as it is. This game needs exposure and honestly it lost quite a few potential players by not being so beginner friendly in the long run. Now that there are very little servers up & most of them being elite servers, new players tend to hop into elite and get their asses handed over to them. Not fun.

Everything I've been saying can simply be put into a few words:

STEP UP YOUR GAME NADEO.