Long game - Short game

The story line in DotD is slowly moving towards an end and I'm at a point where I have to make decisions again.

A good game should not be exhaustingly long. DotD is already at about 1:15h if you finish it.

Completing the story line as I initially intended to will probably bring this number up to 1:50-2:00.

Alternatively I could take away a part of it and try to add it as an alternative mission arc (such as the two different plant missions). In this case DotD will probably finish in about 1:30h.

Since I don't really mind how it's going to be I'll just pass this question on:
Do you think DotD is already long enough and additional content should mainly be added as alternative missions - or should I put every mission into the main story as initially intended?

I will evaluate the results in one week.

My opinion:

The game as it is:

For new people (Specially bad ones), its kinnda hard to get addicted sometimes. It all depends on their first game. When they play normal, they get bored and leave (thinking its to easy). On the other hand, when they play nightmare, Half of new ppl get killed and usually leave, the other half survive more and like the game a lil more (at least to try it out a few more times). Usually for new ppl (90% of times), the game only lasts 30 minutes, unless they have some good players with em babysitting.

I say this because a full game its usually made by people who play this a lot (specially a full nightmare game, which takes more time than a normal game, moreover if u get blackout mission, which i see is longer [aprox 1.45 hours when coons]).

Finnally, if the "end game" content its thought for players who already play this a lot, i guess that adding 30 mins more wouldnt be annoying...all the other way.... we would really like it.

So...my vote...its Longer Game.

_________

BUT....i think that besides FIRST MISSION, ALL THE OTHER MISSIONS COULD BE ALTERNATIVE (I posted somewhere else. Adding 2 missions per part of game like plant one, makes the game take LOTS of different paths, making 20 games for example, have 20 different paths).

So my real vote would be....LONGER AAAAAAAAAND ALTERNATIVE XD


Good luck

I totally agree with Piscis (longer game) but besides we should start to res northrend and us east server cause there are really like no games at all, europe server is dead for months and us east is pretty much dead cause misho left, there are still 4 ppl in there when it was 20 pm us east time...i really like the game played over 450 games in last 3 months and i really appreciate your work s3rius but i think as long as no one plays u waste your time by concentrate on new beta...the main work shouldnt be the work on new beta instead it should be better to gather ppl and look if its still worthy to work on dotd since northrend is dead and us east pretty much empty....

Megakilll wrote:i think as long as no one plays u waste your time by concentrate on new beta...the main work shouldnt be the work on new beta instead it should be better to gather ppl and look if its still worthy to work on dotd since northrend is dead and us east pretty much empty....

how about you work on that instead of relying on others to do it?
like so many relied on my bot and didn't bother to make their own games, why can't you try to make sure that you can host and take the time to host yourself?

he's the map maker, not a community maker... the community gathered around a great map and mapmaker, he didn't especially work to make a community...

i think 2 hours is a fine game time.... as long as there is a clear goal and you're not bored half of the time....

I believe the game should be shorter; an hour and a half game is long as it is, and statistically as time increases, probability of stay decreases. Nowadays, getting together to play even one serious game of DOTD is considered a commitment. There are times when many people aren't allotted more than an hour, and this causes them to leave midgame making the others unhappy. From a newbie standpoint, this can impact the experience of the game. As an experienced player, this usually ends up pissing off the others, where one player down (especially someone vital like a medic) can GREATLY kill the probability of victory.

And too many quests can just get annoying after a while variability is always good!

What Pilgrim says its true.

BUT.... dont forget that ur whole argument its based on the current situation we are living in the community (Lil games being hosted, etc...what mega said).

The game should not be based fully on that, because if then the community grows up again like when misho-host was online....then the map would seem incompatible with the growing community.

I still think that, if its not a HUGE work for serius, he should make it A LITTLE LONGER, AND MORE ALTERNATIVE. Meaning that every part of the game (nowadays, plant part, dog part, tower part, lima zulu part) should all be alternative with 2 different types, therefore making as i said before, more than 20 different paths of the game (therefore, more fun).

A longer game would be better, in my opinion. I give three reasons (like I usually do).

1. It makes the game more challengning because you have to stay alive longer
   
2. It will make the map easier to make because there will be a lot less things to worry about without alternating missions. If you are not sure what I am talking about its only because you've never programmed something before, or made a map. (i am very confident in your map making skills s3rius, don't take this wrong)
   
3. For all you guys who love whoring exp having more missions is yet another way to get more exp out of a single game

I would prefer a longer game before alternating missions. If you do both, more power to you =P

P.S.
And for those of you who think the game is dead, you clearly aren't even logging in because games were going back to back all night tonight

Hmm.. Longer always draws people in for generous periods of time However without content People may feel that the game could start to be repetitive without a variance in missions. I must make my point clear the game is not repetitive however some people may feel that doing the same mission every game could be.

@ misho

as u remember i asked u to give me shaman of zdc to gather some new ppl cause i used to play dotd over 10 hours a day but i couldnt add the player which wanted to join cause i dont have the rights, and since the shamans are pretty much afk or not even here what do u want from me I OFFERED YOU TO HELP U GATHER SOME NEW PPL BUT U REJECTED IT so pls dont right such wired comments about helping....

i talk about a community, not a clan...
you don't need to tie-up people in a clan to have them play the game... if they like the game enough, they'll hang around other people who plays too, it's a fact...

bitching about the fact that i don't take people that i don't/barely know as shamans and take it personally... people often suggested that i should only put people that i trust as admins on my bot, you'd be bitching about that too if i accepted that suggestion too i bet...

Ya... You don't have to be a shaman to get people interested in the game. You say people are gonna decide whether the like the game based on how long or short the game is?

I have a wild idea here, I say people are gonna decide if the like the game based on how they are treated during the game. Don't know what I mean? It seems every officer I know (sadly myself to) yells at PVT's for messing up, dieing, and doing something stupid (like you would expect PVT's to do). Here's another wild idea, they don't like that! And the PVT's never play the game. You want to gather more people to the game? Start by getting them interested in the game actually during games.

Oh and im sure Mish puts more thought into who is a shaman than how many people u can get to join the clan.

@ misho


i have to admit that i was pissed about bot admin cause i played so long and someone i dont want to the name forgot to submit my exp but this shaman thing is different u say somethign about trust but when u do know if u can trust someone ? I just say that in last months i got so many requests of europe player which wanted to join clan but at our time no shaman is online in us east, so i suggested to make me a shaman... but anyway ofc u have to tie them up to clan cause they only will sigh up on forum when they like the game and clan members...

@gimli


just look at other survival clans in channel there are always 10 ppl at anytime, i checked yesterday since 13 pm - 3 am and till 23 pm i was alone in channel and after 24 ok i have to admit there were 5 ppl in channel wow!

@MegaKill I think I checked your Exp MegaKill (it was quite a while ago) and if it was in fact me that checked your exp I didn't forget to submit it.'

And yes that's true gimli it is about the community and I know it's hard for some of you higher ranked individuals to yell at pvt's but you gotta remember 1. You were a pvt at some point as well. 2. Common sense isn't so common anymore. 3. It's just a game there is no reason to get all upset over it whether a pvt dies it takes time to learn.

Proxy wrote:And yes that's true gimli it is about the community and I know it's hard for some of you higher ranked individuals to yell at pvt's but you gotta remember 1.

Actually PR0XY its really easy to yell at PVT's. I'm saying, including myself, we need more self-control in our games

two things.

1- Mega-Misho discution its offtopic. U should resolve ur issues via PM.

2- Gimli topic:

In my opinion and personal experience:

U have to make a difference between Newbies and n00bs players.

Newbies are new ppl who want to learn and play a game they dont know. They are willing to learn, and have a good time. They usually are kind to ppl and ask a lot of questions.

N00bs are arrogant ppl, who usually dont give a fuck about anyone. They think they are too good to learn how to do something, and that they alone can do it by themselves. n00bs can also be high ranked or played a lot some game (specially xp based games), because they just got that for being repetitve, but they still suck worst than a newbie.

When i see a newbie, i always do everything i can to make them have a good time in the game, even if they die 3 times before civs in normal. I answer all their questions (even the stupid ones, or the ones who could ve answered only by reading an item description)... and after the game ends, i always tell them to join channel "clan zdc" to hang out with us.

On the other hand, n00bs are the ones who i yell at them as gimli said. Are the ones who i dont mind trying to teach them, lead them ingame, and sometimes even kick them because of how annoying and destructive they can be. n00bs are a waste of space in a community, because they arent willing to make the game better, they only want to have fun for themselves (and this is a teamwork game).

So, Save newbies, Kills n00bs.

gl

Preferably make alternative modes.


One could be a short 20-45 minute defense, where you land with madigan on that helipad and you have barricades, 2 sentry guns, tons of ammo, and simple items like vests/jhps/food. It starts out with simple normal monsters and leads to hell monsters. In the end(if yer still alive) you have to make it to the docks to get out to win. - no quest exp

Another idea could be a fast mode. Where you could be doing civs at the same time as plant/darkness. Then you could defend the radar tower against the dog quest(lzs land on the closed gate and have to be escorted inside) - 10% quest exp

dacckon wrote:Preferably make alternative modes.

One could be a short 20-45 minute defense, where you land with madigan on that helipad and you have barricades, 2 sentry guns, tons of ammo, and simple items like vests/jhps/food. It starts out with simple normal monsters and leads to hell monsters. In the end(if yer still alive) you have to make it to the docks to get out to win. - no quest exp

Another idea could be a fast mode. Where you could be doing civs at the same time as plant/darkness. Then you could defend the radar tower against the dog quest(lzs land on the closed gate and have to be escorted inside) - 10% quest exp

I do not agree with where I think you are coming from. While the ability to choose in the beginning of the game if you want Fast Mode or Normal Mode could be an option to consider, the idea of combining quests??? I don't even think that is practical to achieve. Doing the civ mission while in darkness? Or having plants spawn upon you? What would happen to Madigan's group that just sits in the middle of the map if plants start spawning on them? rape

When they say alternative, they mean instead of doing two quests in a row you do one quest instead of the other, no combining involved.

I still vote for longer game, because I like to get lots of exp =P

dacckon wrote:Preferably make alternative modes.


One could be a short 20-45 minute defense, where you land with madigan on that helipad and you have barricades, 2 sentry guns, tons of ammo, and simple items like vests/jhps/food. It starts out with simple normal monsters and leads to hell monsters. In the end(if yer still alive) you have to make it to the docks to get out to win. - no quest exp

Another idea could be a fast mode. Where you could be doing civs at the same time as plant/darkness. Then you could defend the radar tower against the dog quest(lzs land on the closed gate and have to be escorted inside) - 10% quest exp

Dont want to sound rude, but this "ideas" are completely contrary to what S3rius want to see in DOTD6.

idea nº1: S3rius always said that he wanted DOTD6 to be "army based", that means, constant move... and not like DOTD4 or 5, which was defensive as u say. Sticking in one place and just let ur marine fire alone, its kinnda boring also.

idea nº2: Completely impossible. The only way to do a fast mode would be that missions would be "shorter" (3 groups of civs, no hidra, 2 dogs, white goes straight to tower and no reaper, one wave in tower, 1 LZ chopper) and therefore faster. Also, the time between missions and missions would be decreased (like those 3-5 mins u wait after uploading datapad, etc).

having more side quests /alternate missions could make the game longer so im in 4 both XD

having a few mini boss type side missions would be great. something that u have to get 3-4 squad members to do.

alternate modes like all -class- / no -class- would be interesting or ffa

yea we definitely need more sidequests <____<

Has a decision been official made for long or short game? (looks at s3rius)

Short game wins by a small margin. I'm fine with that.

I've already rearranged my plans to fit a shorter mission time.

Oh, and directed to your reasoning in your first post, Gimli, a shorter game does not mean it will be easier. It just means that the difficulty will have to pick up faster

LOL The difficulty picks up faster


-Lord Proxy