Thread: Update Schedule
View Single Post
  #2  
Old June 19th, 2018, 05:00 AM
RightDeve's Avatar

RightDeve RightDeve is offline
Second Lieutenant
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Yogyakarta, Nusantara
Posts: 468
Thanks: 99
Thanked 104 Times in 65 Posts
RightDeve is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Update Schedule

Other thoughts that come into mind:

1). It is undeniable for a game to be popular nowadays, it needs to be based mainly on multiplayer. And not just multiplayer, but convenient, easy, and quick multiplayer mode (PBEM is honestly too slow and the mechanics too cumbersome for the average folks, let alone those new to the game). The current gigantic explosion of multiplayer-based games can attest to this fact, with subsequent hundreds of billion dollars in profit EACH month. IF Steel Panthers can have such easy & quick multiplayer mode, then more and more people will play this game. Some people may say such a thing only happens in fast shooter 3D games. But I'd say, while it's true that gigantic explosions happen on such games ("battle royale" games such as Fortnite amassed nearly 100 MILLION players in a span of 1 year only), we need to take a look at the turn-based, ancient game of Chess. At Chess.com there are on average 2.5 MILLION games per day, with online players amounted to 50 THOUSAND per day. Now I'm not saying that Steel Panthers can reach those figures (it's not as ancient and popular as Chess), but compared to the offline player base, I believe it will be a huge huge leap forward.

2. So maybe the developers can set up a way so people can have easy and convenient multiplayer matches. Obviously they must set up a server, and then maybe the game is played in a time-limited mode, turn by turn. Just like in Chess.com, players can have a 30 minute match, 10 minute match, etc. In SP terms, MAYBE a player can be restricted to 5 minutes per turn, etc. Obviously there's a clock to show & warn the player about their remaining time. But the most important thing is that we can see what's going on the battlefield, real time as the opponent moves, so we're not bored in waiting for our turn. So it's kind of a "TELE" hot-seat mode. Such time restrictions obviously allow for a limited amount of unit pieces so MAYBE the game can automatically adjust that based on the amount of time.

3. I know this is far fetched for the current state of the game. But at least it's food for thought for a huge expansion of this tactical game. I believe there are many MANY folks out there, old and new, who'd like to test their Combined Arms tactical skills against a live opponent, quickly and easily. If talent and money are the obstacles, nowadays we can set up a "crowd-funding" campaign, for example through Kickstarter.com, in which enthusiastic fans donated certain amount of money for the completion of this huge project. Such money can then be used to hire some talents. I believe Steel Panthers has quite a big fan base, most of them are retired thus can easily dig out 50 or 100 dollars (one time only!), so let's say there are 1000 donators, you'd have 50,000 to 100,000 dollars to complete the project. So maybe the focus for the next titanic update (2020?) would be quick multiplayer modes?


Again, just a food for thought. And I'm sorry if it causes any inconveniences.

Cheers!

Last edited by RightDeve; June 19th, 2018 at 05:37 AM..
Reply With Quote