Destiny is promoting PA!

This was fairly boring to be honest, it had potential at the start when he was discussing the game with that other person, but he bailed and afterwards it was some games versus the AI that lacked identity, by a player that doesn't know what he's doing.

The other dude seemed to understand more of the game, to sad we did not see him doing stuff.

he says right at the beginning "they're giving me 250,000 to promote this game" doesn't saying that defeat the promotion?

looool *sees Zaphod* "who are these assholes?"

later on... *mesmerized by the N* xD

later on... *his teammate Desrow* "I feel like I'm fukin playing legos" one word : megathread :>

http://www.twitch.tv/destiny/b/480351555

De ja vu. Link

Well I'm hoping that's not true, because I can't see how they'd get that kind of value out of this guy, and I'd certainly expect something a bit more polished than what he put together.

On the upside, people like the music and the dynamic music system.

5 seconds after that he said 'I'm joking'.

SC2 player/fan & Kickstarter backer here. I'll chime in with my opinions/thoughts about the subject.

Let me disclaim it right now by informing you that I don't want to bash anything or anyone and that I do this solely for those interested in this subject. Please don't take this as something offensive.

I think it's fair to say Destiny is a quite controversial guy. A quick look at Team Liquid and a read up on his history will tell you this. I myself don't always like the things he does. Having said that I got to admit that he's also a very entertaining guy to watch. It's the reason he has often the most watched SC2 stream even though other streamers are often better at SC2 then he is.

As far as this PA promotion is concerned I have a few thoughts:
- @Uber: Save this stream very well and see how someone totally oblivious to games like TA stumbles into PA. Use the information to improve the HUD/tooltips/etc. You can argue that he should have done the tutorial or that he should have read up about PA. But the fact is; a big chunk of your players will enter the same way he does; not bothering to play the tutorial and not bothering to read up on the game. This IS how they will start out with your game. Please try to make it less painful.
- @Destiny: In a nutshell PA micro is SC2 macro. Think a lot bigger. There are no upgrades; just units that are flatout better. Never skip T1 phase. I know your inclined to do so because macro builds in SC2 often skip that phase.
- @general: In my honest opinion I don't think PA will be big as an e-sport. Not because it won't be competitive or fun to play. It's because it isn't much fun to watch. The concept of the game just isn't very good for it. Games like SC2 have an imminent thread of elimination by all-ins from the get-go. It makes sure the "build up phase" remain somewhat exciting to watch. PA's build up phase doesn't have this thread due to the fact that you can't know where your enemy's are. Furthermore; SC2's micro is interesting to watch for observers while PA eliminates micro on purpose. Things like Positioning in PA also matter less since there aren't mechanics like high ground vision or cliffs that obstruct movement. Builds/upgrade paths also follow the same line (no upgrades/no different races/etc.). Lastly; the sphere's in PA don't lend very well for observing because they make it hard to see what everyone's up to at the same time. I don't think this is something bad btw. Not every game has to be an e-sport in order to be a great success. I'd rather have a game that's nice to play then a game that's nice to watch. The amount of people not playing and just watching SC2 always baffles me.

I agree that this needs work, but I don't think this is a good example. Destiny didn't seem to want to learn the game and didn't want to treat it as anything other then SC2. And he played on the same bad planet every game where the AI got stuck and didn't put up any fight.

I think this is about as much effort as is to be expected from someone who hasn't prepared. Remember; he's a guy who played SC2 for years day-in day-out and has achieved master/grand-master status on the North Armerican server on several occasions. Can't really blame him to have SC2 tendencies.

I do agree that more effort in preparation would have been nice. On the flip-side; I do think this is very representable for the average joe buying this game. New buyers probably see the cool images of planets exploding and have vague knowledge of RTS games that aren't like PA at all. Hell; I bet Destiny himself never played games like TA/Spring/Supcom and thought he would be good fast because of his experience with SC2. Then they enter the game not knowing what to expect and you get the kind of issues you see in his stream.

Btw; if people wonder what we are talking about you can see it here: http://www.twitch.tv/destiny/b/480351555

I am not sure we can quantify his own personal fun, and considering the setting with the AI, he might of just wanted a casual steady game to piss about.

You shouldn't have too high standards for someone that has played the game for about an hour. It's more fun to jump straight into the game without having to go through the manual/tutorial and at the end of the session he was close to understanding what he was supposed to be doing. He said he would play again the next day and it can be expected to be more interesting. I don't know what he agreed with the developers, but it wouldn't surprise me if he is going to stream the game for at least a week. It's enough time to form a reasonable opinion on whether the game has potential for both him and his audience. I think it can be a good way to advertise the game still.

That's exactly how I feel about the situation.

Nothing, it was a joke.

Not like the devs could or would want to spend money on that kind of advertising, especially when the games fanatics do it automagically.

When asked to summarise his experience in the live stream after 5hrs ish of play, he said words to the effect of that he likes it, it has potential, but it's not polished, and recognised that it is a beta. He also said he'd been playing some more games 'tomorrow' but I've no idea when that is, or if it's already been played, where the VOD is.

The first one was 17 hours ago. You can make assumptions based on that.

It's a shame he's not doing this after orbital got sorted. I think seeing some inter-planetary invasions would have got people to sit up and take notice.

It does highlight once again though that I think the beginning of the game is too slow, even compared to the SUPCOM games.

I much prefer a slow start as it allows people to get their bearings on the randomly generated maps.

That's what the spawn period is for, surely?

No, and frankly going fast is not always a good trait in RTS games.

And it has been the trend of RTS games ever since they came about, now RTS games are fast enough that how many actions per minute are what win you the game.

And that is just what starcraft has become, a game where players race to take more actions then the other to win a game of speed chess, where speed is rewarded more then an actual strategy.

And this, in my mind, is why RTS games have degraded from what they were, you don't have time to think.

Don't forget, the Uber gave him 15 PA keys - they will have asked for something in return. It's quid pro quo marketing. They get more people buying the game, he gets more people to subscribe (the keys were only being distributed to people who are paid subscribers to his channel). They'll have made requests to make sure they got maximum exposure for PA from his channel, I'm sure.