DSB Pub

[Fly Swatter]

The belief is shields are a good balance to superships. When the correct approach is to cut down on superships, not add provisions to combat them. Its just a settings change no coding involved.

[Delic]

People left because life caught up with them, kids, family, school.

The game is just a fun as it was back in 2000, you just don't have 200 people
on average logged on to DSB.

Game is most fun when you have people to play it with. PERIOD

Come on. I know a whole bunch of people who would have enough time to play
if they actually enjoyed playing and wanted to be here, and you do too. Not all
of them left because of RL.

And I'm not saying to change the gameplay, but there's no doubt that some change
is needed in order to maintain a successful zone. It's obvious that if everything remains
exactly the same for 10 years it will wither away sooner or later. You have to adapt
to current times, specially in a game like this where we're already losing players regardless.

I agree that the game itself is just as fun as it ever was, otherwise I would've given up
hope a long time ago. That's not the point. The point is how we can present the game,
how we can host it and freshen it up in a better way without all these additions and
other things that ended up ruining it for so many. That's where we failed I believe. The
game itself is perfect, I'll always love it. The pub map that DSB has is the best combination
of aesthetics and an ideal field to base a gameplay on that SS has ever seen. Somehow
we still failed to maintain it, when we actually already have the essentials of what a popular
zone needs.

One of the things that I think marked the beginning of the end was when changes were
made to focus players on individualistic goals instead of common goals encouraging
teamwork. We need to encourage competition, but this game is based on teamplay and
interaction. Otherwise we could just base the game on Bjorn's AI and have players compete
with it. That's not what we needed in pub. I think we should've looked for other ways to
reward individual players for their efforts, ones that didn't mess with the gameplay the way
they did. And there's a lot of different ways of doing that, but oh well...

[Detector]

The belief is shields are a good balance to superships. When the correct approach is to cut down on superships, not add provisions to combat them. Its just a settings change no coding involved.

I hope you finally realize and admit it soon that shields are overpowering the superships - always have done. One player with shields can take on 3 superships by himself, if those superships players doesn't have shields. This is how it has always been. Make a change - and remove the shields for DSB's sake.

To make things clearer: DSB without shields = back to normal

[Fly Swatter]

cloak, topspeed, thrust, and rotation are just as bad in my opinion.

If topspeed, thrust, and rotation where only in the !buy menu and never forced on anyone then i wouldnt care so much, but im tired of having to suicide or shipreset to get rid of them.

[Detector]

cloak, topspeed, thrust, and rotation are just as bad in my opinion.

Some players once upon a time liked playing with the original DSB settings, excluding shields. Because shields are simply the lamest thing there can be and doesn't fit into DSB pub, why not move it to dsb practice arenas instead? Has someone told you to destroy DSB pub once and for all? Have you ever even tried to build up a supership yourself? Cloak, topspeed, thrust and rotation are nescessary to have there, you should try them someday. Also I would never have played DSB pub years ago if shields were part of it. This could have had a big impact on DSB's public, why players left in the first place. Just too many changes in a small amount of time, simple.

[jim the chin]

Shields make it seem like the person is lagging, which is always frustrating. Also, it's a matter of luck, not skill.

Detector, you need to read what was said. Topspeed, thrust and rotation shouldn't be forced on anyone through picking up greens. They are not always advantages because they change what you're used to when it comes to piloting your ship.

[Detector]

Detector, you need to read what was said. Topspeed, thrust and rotation shouldn't be forced on anyone through picking up greens. They are not always advantages because they change what you're used to when it comes to piloting your ship.

I agree 100 % on this, I just didn't get through it the first time I read it I guess then.

Shields make it seem like the person is lagging, which is always frustrating. Also, it's a matter of luck, not skill.

Agreed on this.

[Seriel Killer]

Remember back in the day when you killed someone at point blank, if you was just in the right position you get the green even thought we didnt have greens back then?

This is what its going to seem like when we run the asss server. The difference is death greens last 2.5 sec's and will replenish ships default items only, and you cant see them even tho they are there.

Just switch all the values for prizes to 0 chances...

[Seriel Killer]

People left because life caught up with them, kids, family, school.

The game is just a fun as it was back in 2000, you just don't have 200 people
on average logged on to DSB.

Game is most fun when you have people to play it with. PERIOD

Come on. I know a whole bunch of people who would have enough time to play
if they actually enjoyed playing and wanted to be here, and you do too. Not all
of them left because of RL.

And I'm not saying to change the gameplay, but there's no doubt that some change
is needed in order to maintain a successful zone. It's obvious that if everything remains
exactly the same for 10 years it will wither away sooner or later. You have to adapt
to current times, specially in a game like this where we're already losing players regardless.

I agree that the game itself is just as fun as it ever was, otherwise I would've given up
hope a long time ago. That's not the point. The point is how we can present the game,
how we can host it and freshen it up in a better way without all these additions and
other things that ended up ruining it for so many. That's where we failed I believe. The
game itself is perfect, I'll always love it. The pub map that DSB has is the best combination
of aesthetics and an ideal field to base a gameplay on that SS has ever seen. Somehow
we still failed to maintain it, when we actually already have the essentials of what a popular
zone needs.

One of the things that I think marked the beginning of the end was when changes were
made to focus players on individualistic goals instead of common goals encouraging
teamwork. We need to encourage competition, but this game is based on teamplay and
interaction. Otherwise we could just base the game on Bjorn's AI and have players compete
with it. That's not what we needed in pub. I think we should've looked for other ways to
reward individual players for their efforts, ones that didn't mess with the gameplay the way
they did. And there's a lot of different ways of doing that, but oh well...

On one hand you say that this game is all about teamwork but on the other, you say
we should find new ways to reward individuals for their efforts. Great point made there.

Regarding this:

I know a whole bunch of people who would have enough time to play
if they actually enjoyed playing and wanted to be here, and you do too.

Don't presume to know what I like or don't like, what I want/know and what I don't.

A simple proof that shows that I like this game just as much as I used to when I played it
is this BABL, when there are players i'll come play, when there are not it's boring.


Regarding how the zone failed to keep up with time I can go on blaming Hoch and Beer Hunter
for everything but that wouldn't solve your problem. The thing is, this game's graphics is
extremely old and people these days don't relate to old days graphics.

So if you want to attract new players to stay is some fancy graphics, on screen markers, popups
if goal is achieved etc. I would get into it if we had some players so I know my time is not
completely wasted, that's pretty much gone out the window cause of the idiots I mentioned before.

Anyhow, if you are desperate about reviving the zone I suggest you start there.
Put on minids map because current pub map is too big, download some cool LVZ for bombs, emps, bullets
etc and some cool sounds. Adding some cool shit to minids map is really easy using map editor.
The entire lot shouldn't be more than an hour's work.

And NO, don't ask me to do it, I can't believe I let Eridu convince me he's legit and that my ideas
would mean something because management has changed. Guess what? I tried to help, gave a lot
of ideas and... OH! what a surprise, nobody gave a shit. Especially Eridu after making all those promises.
So... NO, don't ask me to do this.
I am merely offering you an idea.

Good luck

[Delic]

On one hand you say that this game is all about teamwork but on the other, you say
we should find new ways to reward individuals for their efforts. Great point made there.

Yes... The difference that I pointed out is that the rewards shouldn't affect the gameplay.
There's nothing wrong with rewarding players for their individual efforts as long as they
don't affect the gameplay and they don't encourage individual goals. The goal of an individual
and individual goals are different things. For example, if your goal is to help the team, then
that's hardly a bad thing since it still encourages teamwork. Individuals that do this the best
should definitely be rewarded, don't you think? The point that I'm making is that we should
try to keep the flow of the gameplay intact, so we don't end up with a distorted game in pub
as it's been for quite a while (basically how Fly described it earlier.)

Don't presume to know what I like or don't like, what I want/know and what I don't.

A simple proof that shows that I like this game just as much as I used to when I played it
is this BABL, when there are players i'll come play, when there are not it's boring.

I never questioned that you love the game so I don't know why you're trying to defend yourself there.
And I don't presume anything, I just know that we both know a lot of the same players who used to
play DSB, and most of the people that I know who quit did not do so to change diapers. That's why
I said that you also know people who didn't quit due to RL, but actually quit because of how the game
experience changed for them.

As for the rest of your points... Well it's clear you feel strongly about this. I'm not here to defend
Eridu or DSB Staff because to be honest, I don't know how they work. I just know that a thorough,
effective, and most of all, realistic plan is needed before anything is even tried. And unfortunately
their display is not convincing me right now. I get the impression that they're focusing on the
switch to AS3 and are relying on that to solve our problems. It might make life easier but it's not
going to solve anything. The fundamental things that need to be done can be done right here on
Subgame.

On the other thread I expressed my stance a few weeks ago and it was similar to yours. I said
that I'm not going to invest time working on development until a thorough and clear plan has been
conceived and is adhered to. Not to be a diva or anything, but because time is scarce for me these
days, so if I invest my time on something, I have to know that it's going to be productive.

I disagree with you that we should start with graphics. No matter how good our graphics
are, we'll never be able to compete with modern games at that. As I said before, what we
have to offer is simple but still unique, and we should base our development on that; our
unique gameplay. If graphics can be improved to go with that then that would be great because
it obviously improves the impression we give new players, but it should definitely be secondary, or
at least the last phase of a potential revival plan. Eye candy alone won't improve players' game
experience. It's not a lasting solution.