Ladders in 1.0

Some of the players here have been very vocal about having matchmaking ladders in the 1.0. Our opinion is that it would make a good post launch update and that it's not a critical feature for 1.0 launch. As you guys know we intend to continue developing the game post-launch and see competitive features as important for the long term health of the game.

Our opinion has been that we need to buckle down and put a layer of polish on the game. That a layer of polish is more important that continuing to add features. Sometimes hard lines have to be drawn around sets of features to actually get something shipped in a timely manner. In our case the plan has been to do a post-launch competitive update that includes ladders and other competitive features.

At this point we are re-evaluating this stance and are likely going to delay the game for a couple of weeks to get in an initial implementation of ladders. This isn't a definitive decision at this point as there are a number of things we need to juggle around to make this happen. This evaluation process will probably result in some kind of answer early next week. Until then please chill out on the ladder stuff, you have been heard!

Thanks for the update!

Also I'd like to say the polish you guys have been doing is superb- the current PTE is by far and away the best build yet. All of the smaller polish tweaks are really adding up

For what it's worth, Uber has been pretty well meeting the forums calls for more substantive and more "open" communication after the spats of the last week or so. Thanks for keeping us in the loop, Uber!

I'm personally in the camp that for almost all of the community things like competitive ladders for multiplayer are inessential for launch and that polish on the game should be first priority. That said, if it isn't a question of X or Y (polish or comp ladders) with current time frame but X and Y (polish and comp ladders) with a couple week wait I'm more than willing to wait another couple of weeks for the "1.0" number that the ladder people can be happy with too.

I'm not sure if a ladder is essential, but some sort of skill-based matchmaking is. But then again, it probably takes only 5 or 10 minutes to build a ladder off of that, so it should be no issue.

Never underestimate development time.

It's not hugely important to me but it is to competitive types, so I'm glad Uber are thinking about getting a basic ladder in 1.0.

Thank you for listening to the community.

Just personal opinion but I feel I'd be less interested in a ladder for a longer-form game like PA. Something like Starcraft II, matches are like 10-30 minutes average, it's easy to just spend an evening playing lots of different people. PA games are a commitment and after one match taking an hour or more I'd just get drained XD

Yeah I think the matchmaking mechanism does make allot of sense to group newer players with newer players. I personally was / am of the opinion not having it wouldn't be detrimental however I can't see this as anything but a good thing *provided* the delay doesn't harm Uber.

Also I think a few additional great features like this provide even more for Uber to shout about when they start marketing the official *release* version!

That's about the length of a good PA game as well.

Good to hear about this. Although I personally am not too fussed about ladders/matchmaking one way or the other, I think it's very clear that they are very important to a substantial segment of the community. Furthermore, they are an important tool and springboard for the e-sports scene, which potentially brings in more players.

Although they mean nothing to me, the success of PA at release really does mean a lot. As with any game, a lot of people are going to pick the game up and then put it back down again after a few hours because it wasn't what they were looking for (it appears this has already happened to some degree with the recent steam sale). Every fully implemented feature that you add decreases the chance of this happening, and improves the odds of PA hitting the player-base critical mass required to guarantee it's longevity.

I may never play on them myself, but I would very much support any delay that sees their inclusion at release.

A good PA 1v1, you mean.

Some bigger FFA's I've seen have gone beyond an hour.

tbh also I only got about a week playtime in PA before I had to go work in London, so not that experienced XD All my games against AI were hour long

Though PA games can also go badly, and very long, especially with people not at a highly competitive level. Heck some of my vs. AI games when I'm trying out strategies can last 1-2 hours when I'm not just rushing for a commander snipe (which at least to me are boring).
Edit: Actually a question I just remembered I had that I don't remember seeing addressed somewhere. Somewhere down the line will the game have alternate victory conditions? I.e. destroy all enemy workers, factories and commander to win rather than just commander victories?

A ladder tends to be mostly about 1v1s.

I've seen plenty of SC FFAs that go on for 45 or more minutes.

I think this would be a good step(remember, not quite confirmed yet) because some form of match-making has a couple of key effects in my eyes, for one it helps make the experience for the players that use it have a "good" as possible by matching skill levels and it acts as an immediate "long term hook". Admittedly it's usefulness is dependent on people using it but I think you'll gain more by having it available in 1.0 than waiting until people who would have been interested have already left PA for something else.

Mike

Yeah, I don't see a ladder working very well in the context of an FFA.

Game length really depends a lot of system type. As soon as you add multiple planets, you GREATLY increase the time it takes.

If I start close to an AI, I can beat it in under 10 minutes. If I start on a different planet, hour+

I like it when Jon Mavor says things to people.
I've noticed they tend to happen

I do. But I'll explain later. I've got so many threads I want to make about this stuff.....and so little time.