Hi Uber: Yesterday I helped take part in the 2014 1st Patch Tournament. It was pretty awesome. I contributed a bit to the prize fund and helped out with streaming some of the earlier matches. Unfortunately, one of the more difficult logistical challenges we ran into came when we got to the final and of course, EVERYBODY wanted to stream that game. Since anyone who is streaming the game has to register as a player at first, then drop in the same spot, and kill themselves, this creates quite the logistical challenge. As PA has been out for a bit now, and the 1st patch of 2014 has really added some robust gameplay options, the PA E-Sports scene is heating up. So my request is that you PLEASE prioritize the inclusion of the ability to simply view a game without all the chaos. Some have suggested this may be a feature to be added much later, "after the game is finished" but I believe UI enhancements have been ongoing, and as such, I'd like to ask that you please prioritize this UI development as soon as possible. Just being able to get in and roam around and select your point of view and of course, stream that wherever, with whatever pointless drivel you want to add to it, without all the "logistical challenges" of having one person decide who is coming in to view and who isn't, would really slick things up. That's officially my .02 about yesterday. For now.
One of the most wanted features for sure to play competitive games. The other ones being a pause function and a ladder.
Kinda off topic, but okaaay... edit: noticed Cola had mentioned pause, sorry. Yes, that is one of the other things the game really needs. Saving... they have such ambitious plans there that I hope it doesn't end up being one of the last things they implement.
Yeh, I had to let down a friend yesterday because I had to quit out before the match was over. He wasn't pleased, given his progress in building Halleys on a smashable planet... But hey ho, other things are probably more important right now!
Pause is desperately needed. Having two kids under 3, it's more or less impossible to play a game uninterrupted - even after they go to sleep. A function to save online games would be awesome as well. From the sounds of the engine, though should be possible.
Yeah they definitely have plans for a very wild and crazy robust save system. (You can not only save a game where you left off, but you cuold pick it up at any point within the saved game and restart from there, for instance.) Very cool stuff they have planned. But it may be so new and complex that they don't want to invest dev time on it until other things have been worked out. That's kinda the sense I got when I read about it. I apologize I can't remember where I read about it though. Boo.
As they said in their latest live stream, spectating is being worked on. It'll come with a bunch of features like being able to see the player's economy, and probably other fun stuff.
I'm not much of a player, but I am very big on spectating - and I don't think it's possible to overestimate how much replays and spectating will add to the game's ability to build a fanbase and playerbase together. The game as it stands is highly watchable and deserves to be popular, so giving casters the tools they need to make a really good job of casting inventive, creative, and highly-skilled play can only help that. At present the casting for PA tends to be fun but frankly a little rough around the edges. The whole game is too, of course, but I've bought too many games off the back of watching a really good LP (or looked through a good, insightful set of casts) to be able to ignore the current discrepancies between the average PA cast and your average, say, Starcraft 2 cast. I'd love for folks like Zaphodx to be able to crack open a replay vault and cast the week's highlights from the gentlemen's ladder.
