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Revisited the game after 6 months, progressing really well, but i've found a few major flaws with the current game.
I'll go through each item and provide the feedback/opinions from my gameplay experience:
Missles:
Major issues with balance here, especially the long range items. Missles have too much control over current gameplay dynamics. It basically forces a "cover/shoot" mechanic at all times.
- Even with AMS equipped its always a case of "run and find cover".
- Ideally, the AMS should destroy 50%+ of any missile swarm.
- Maybe prevent other missile locks when a another mech has launched a volley?
- I would also like to see the ability to shoot down missiles with any weapon (eg: all missiles in a swarm have Health points, make them a destroyable object).
Small Mechs:
I've seen no end of "small" mechs using 6 medium lasers. Yes they can only fire 2 runs before overheating, but none-the-less.
- Small lasers should be forced onto small mech class
or
- tweak the small mech class to disallow high usage of medium class weaponary.
Heat Vision:
I actually play the game with this on at ALL TIMES. This shouldnt be the case.
- Its basically a button which has the same effect of "bright skins" in Quake 3.
- Far too easy to use this and gain a massive edge at range
- Ideally, should have a min range to prevent long range sniping/tracking/constant usage.
- I shouldnt be able to use this in everygame, period.
Night Vision:
At its current state, and due to heath vision, its pointless. The HLSL code needs some serious tweaks to make it worth using.
- Too much glow on night maps (everything seems to glow, even though its all pitch black)
Machine Gun:
Waste of time, honestly, was a funny find
- Convert this to a Flak (AA) weapon to deal with missles, or
- Increase DPS, tweak the numbers to make it a "worth-wile" object.
PPC:
ER large laser provides a better setup and more DPS (cata-k2), less heat, less ton requirements.
- ER PPC should be the standard PPC,
- decrease travel time, or, increase DPS per hit. Maybe give the ppc a splash effect to prevent "1 shot headshots" and spread the damage.
- I do more DPS per round (at 1000~ range) with 2x ER Large lasers than 2x ER PPC's on the cata-k2.
Gameplay Performance:
Lack of optimizations, i'am forced to run this at low settings to get 60fps. HD7770 FX-6300.
- Seems the terrains are culprit, fps can be reduced to 40 when looking down the map
- Ideally, cut the terrain up into sections and only display/process them when in camera POV
- Lower the poly count for Skinmesh terrain
- optimize the psyxmesh/rigidbody, lower the poly count where possible
- Tourmaline Desert has UV mapping issues on the long crystal squares (at the end face)
- DX11 implementation, not looking forward to this as current DX9 performance is weak. Time needs to be spent on optimizations now, before even thinking about DX11.
on a side note, i'd love to get my hands on the original mech/terrain models, i'd love to reduce those poly counts (i find it relaxing)
Sound:
Brilliant, nothing negative to say here.
Whoever is in charge of sound production and implementation deserves a medal. Honestly, the sound is spot on, such a satisfaction when playing. Some music would be a bonus
Lack of PAK Encryption:
All the PAK files are open, i was able to retrieve all textures/models/sound.
You guys really need to protect those files. Dont leave them open for others to steal your work.
Bugs:
On various occasions, i've encountered the following bugs:
- No hud at all
- Some hud, no targeting
- some hud, no mini map
- etc etc
- Spectating myself in a new game (that was a strange one)
I have no current way to "recreate the bugs", but, i feel its down to some int's/floats (or classes) not being destroyed or checked on a new load.
End of Match:
When the player is dead, allow them to quit the match. Dont force a "ingame" state to their mech.
Gametypes:
No matter what way you put it, all the game types results in the same gameplay "TDM/Last man standing"
- Create a gametype "Team Deathmatch"
- Create a gametype "Team Deathmatch version 2": add respawns, 10 points per mech destroyed, lasts for 15 minutes. Team wins when points are 200, or, highest score at timer end.
- Remove the "kill all mechs to win" mechanic from conquest/assault (or something else, this mode shouldn't be a TDM mode)
MC (game currency):
Bit of a joke, honestly, it would cost me around $25 to buy one mech?
- Reduce the cost of micro-transactions
- You should prioritize customer volume over the occasional purchase. More players = more chance of "word of mouth" influx.
- Add a starter/VIP package (similar to tribes ascend, £30 gets you about 50% of game content available)
- Ideally, scrap the current model, start from scratch. At its current state, i wont ever purchase MC with real-world currency.
Preload intro:
Looks great, but,
- a option to "skip" the intro videos before logging in would be ideal, or
- reduce the intro video lengths, there far too long.
Edited by l4Dl, 23 March 2013 - 05:18 PM.
