Incorporate the best of the community into PA

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by lorodion, May 17, 2015.

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Would you like Uber to consider adding community content to vanilla PA?

  1. Yes

    97.0%
  2. No

    3.0%
  1. lorodion

    lorodion Member

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    I'm guessing this has already been discussed but here we go!
    Considering that lots of new players jump into the game from time to time (due to sales), don't we want to show them the best of what PA has to offer? Not all people know about PAMM or even bother to look it up.
    Perhaps Uber should add the best of the community content into vanilla PA?
    Things such as:
    • Map packs
    • Mods
    • Tutorials
    Only high quality content should be considered and Uber will be the judge of what to include. The goal should be to add unobtrusive content that enhance the game without altering it too much.

    My suggestion for content to include:

    Map packs:
    • Alpha2546
    Mods:
    • Advanced planet details 2
    • Auto Start Game
    • Awesome Projectiles
    • Chrono Click
    • Infinite Build (added as a toggle to game settings)
    • Naval Trails
    • Team Colored Chat
    Tutorials:
    • Quitch's Guides
    • Youtube tutorials (listing the latest tutorials from Youtube)
    (Added as "Additional resources" to "Player Guide" in main menu)

    Adding community content to the game could be done every 3 months to ensure new notable content is included.
    It's all up to Uber, but considering that lots of negative feedback is due to lack of information and flat/boring maps etc this should definitely be considered.
    Last edited: May 21, 2015
  2. ace63

    ace63 Post Master General

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    This idea has been discussed before. Some mod makers even offered to Uber that they should simply take their code, no questions asked. Uber didn't react at all to this, which is a shame considering a few mods (like naval trails, awesome projectiles, advanced planet details...) improve vanilla by such a huge amount.
    Nicb1, cdrkf, Remy561 and 2 others like this.
  3. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

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    Actually Uber _has_ reacted to this, stuff about legality. I can't remember who said what otherwise I'd give a little search, I'm sure someone else knows. @cola_colin @raevn perhaps? =o
    cwarner7264 likes this.
  4. Remy561

    Remy561 Post Master General

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    I think it was Garat or Meta back in the old days, where their lawyer or something advised them against it.

    But Uber really should take one polish update to implement these mods by remaking them or by using the already existing mods. Especially the small polish mods like team colored chat, auto start and chrono click since these small changes make the game feel a lot more polished :)
    Visual mods I understand that they don't like since everybody wants something else, colored / non colored explosions for example, but they surely can improve the current look by looking at some of these mods :) (Grenadiers and dox effect mods!!)
    Last edited: May 17, 2015
  5. wpmarshall

    wpmarshall Planetary Moderator

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    I must be the only person who thinks awesome projects detects from the game.

    Don't have them built into vanilla, just build in the mod marketplace.
    Gorbles likes this.
  6. stuart98

    stuart98 Post Master General

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    Say what?
  7. jomiz

    jomiz Active Member

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    If you mean mod market like steam did then it would be just shot into Uber's own knee, you saw community's reaction when valve did it..
  8. MrTBSC

    MrTBSC Post Master General

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    absolutely against awesome projectiles ...
    making any projectile looking the same color is soo monotone and boring ... make it an option for those who want it .. otherwise no, thx
  9. wpmarshall

    wpmarshall Planetary Moderator

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    If you take me literally by 'market' then yes.

    In fact I was merely referring to potentially providing the ability for modders to submit their mods through a channel at Uber which then goes on a 'built-in-version-of-PAMM'

    I see PAMM as a marketplace for mods, because there are many items to chose from, not because of monetisation.

    And yes stuart, I'm not a fan of awesome projectiles, why should a Dox and metal extrator have the same explostion size? Why should there be random colours everywhere? (I'm also addressing the explosions mods here too) But my biggest problem with the projectiles mod is readability - some of the projectiles are just invisible to me because of contrast - in a strategy game, readability should IMO be central to the user.
  10. stuart98

    stuart98 Post Master General

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    Marshall, reread what you originally wrote and tell me if you can understand it.
  11. wpmarshall

    wpmarshall Planetary Moderator

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    I've been revising loads for my exams and wrote in in a hurry on a kindle. Deal wivv et m8 ;) :cool:
  12. stuart98

    stuart98 Post Master General

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    No.
  13. ace63

    ace63 Post Master General

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    Oh I agree about awesome projectiles colouring - it shouldn't be in team colours at all.
  14. wpmarshall

    wpmarshall Planetary Moderator

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    *puts on a cap and swivels it 90 degrees
    "You startin'?" - he says in an antagonistic gangsta voice
    cdrkf and stuart98 like this.
  15. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Lol your waaay to nice to pull that off marshi <3

    Edit: as to the OP, I think making this stuff available directly in a fresh install of the game is a great idea- although Uber in the defence have been trying to in subtle ways (there are legal issue unfortunately).

    Things they have done as a result of suggestions like these:
    1: Modded games now show up by default to all players (so new players can experience mods directly without needing the mods themselves).

    2: The video contest allows *any* PA related video to be shown in game on the main channel, videos submitted have including mods, tutorials and replays of non standard games.

    3: Twitch integration- showing twitch channels is another superb way to get new players to know about mods and user content. Most streamers use custom maps, as well as their own personal preference for FX mods and so on.

    Essentially with the exception of a 'built in PAMM' type tool, I think Uber have added in much more of this than you'd realise at first.
    wpmarshall and websterx01 like this.
  16. perfectdark

    perfectdark Active Member

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    It's annoying that some people have put so much time into the game and yet there is no simple way to access these mods. I finally bit the bullet to try and get into playing games with mods but I found it difficult with instructions to download this and that but no overall guide on what to do.

    Adding mods to a game should be as simple as ticking boxes next to a big list of commonly used mods just like restricting units was in SupCom2.
    stuart98 likes this.
  17. cwarner7264

    cwarner7264 Moderator Alumni

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    Uber said a while back that mods would be first class citizens in PA. I firmly believe that it is still their intention to make this the case in every interpretation of the expression because this is key to the long-term success of PA.

    You may recall that throughout development, Uber have been very mindful to expose as much of the game as possible to the moddable layer. In particular @bgolus has put a lot of work into documenting the particle system already, and @sorian has been working with community members to enable modding of the AI.

    In an impromptu interview in 2013, @neutrino and @o gave a fairly comprehensive overview of their vision for mods in PA. I'm still confident that they maintain this vision and that an in-game mod manager is something Uber will be looking at in the future.

    The main thing hampering the game currently is the new player experience, which I hope is quite high on their priority list. Once that gets sorted, player retention from Steam sales should increase significantly and they'll be well-poised to take full advantage of a fully-supported in-game mod marketplace.
    cdrkf likes this.
  18. lorodion

    lorodion Member

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    Are you thinking about CPlosion mod? Awesome projectiles actually adds diversity in my opinion (and it's not team coloured)..
    Anyway it's not that important really, map packs and tutorials are probably what matters the most.
  19. ace63

    ace63 Post Master General

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    Hm I remember some mod making for example artillery trails team coloured - maybe I am confusing something here.
  20. exterminans

    exterminans Post Master General

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    If there just wasn't the problem that Sorian has been hired almost solely for the AI, and the other two have abandoned PA. Which leaves as with little chances that mod support will be finished before the game eventually goes down.

    I don't doubt that they ultimately *want* to finish all the promised features. But I fear that they just won't have the manpower to reach that goal. PA is down to 3 devs, and there's yet at least another 3-7 man-years of work ahead.

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