How to make that game more popular?

[Clutch]

30-40? Just go hand out flyers at the place where everyone buys their caskets, that's where they all are.

(Don't kill me, I know you know where I live)

[compguygene]

High Rubber: ASSHOLE!

It's funny you should say this. It really makes me wonder if you have played High Rubber in the last six months. I have been playing HR a significant amount, lately. One big reason is that the people I encounter still say things like wd and other niceties that were much more common back in 2008 and earlier. Keep in mind, I don't play open much, I close, box, seal, stab, micro, and corner people in. Occasionally, somebody will say that my style is frowned upon, but that's pretty rare.

[Phytotron]

30-40? Just go hand out flyers at the place where everyone buys their caskets, that's where they all are.

Some of you really do have an odd concept of "old."

...2008 and earlier.

By my reckoning 2006 is about when the "community" really went in the tank.

You know what else changed around that time, besides the things I mentioned earlier?* Clans began proliferating and lasting longer, where previously they had mostly been fly-by-night—few, small, and short-lived. Oh look, another clan of the week. What facilitated their becoming more enduring? Ladle and the influx of teens, I reckon. In the first case, a clan serves as a ready-made team. As for the teens, well, it's Lord of the Flies, right. That psychology also contributes to the "open/loose/DF" and Fortress gang-like behaviour. Yadda yadda, round and round we go.

Incidentally, gotta say, I believe that repeatedly, reflexively spamming "wd/gj" at every event, no matter how mundane or unremarkable, only devalues it, like putting an exclamation point at the end of every sentence. And was it really a particularly Good Match, worth remarking on, or just an average one? Sure, I understand sportsmanship conventions, but when it's excessive and/or obligatory, it becomes meaningless, maybe even a little offensive. Say it when you mean it, when it's really deserved, or save it for when you're leaving (e.g., basketball players don't congratulate each other on each basket; they line up after the game for the "good game" chorus line). Back when MBC was still around, the joke was that saying "wd" and "gm" was a legal requirement there, which is another thing: That sort of obligatory, veneer politeness/courtesy can become a sort of strict, conformist social more that can result in the rejection or even bashing of those who don't follow it. I swear, playing in that server could be like a flashback to the 1950's. Gay slurs were OK, but saying "shit" and not "wd" was unacceptable. Go figure. But I digress.


* By the way, regarding my previous post, it isn't to say that all teenagers are nasty and misbehaved or all adults are pleasant, of course. Still....

[szopin]

To answer OP: Bring it to phones. GLES port will make every droid/ios/maemo/... user able to join. Of course pings will go high and might not be playable on tourneys, still would bring a lot new players (phone friendly servers could be a solution). Bounty posted for 50 euros at this time (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=1309776). Possible earnings from wrapping it up for app stores - enormous. The more the game gets popularised the more you can earn.

[Fippmam]

To answer OP: Bring it to phones. GLES port will make every droid/ios/maemo/... user able to join. Of course pings will go high and might not be playable on tourneys, still would bring a lot new players (phone friendly servers could be a solution). Bounty posted for 50 euros at this time (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=1309776). Possible earnings from wrapping it up for app stores - enormous. The more the game gets popularised the more you can earn.

Geez, phones are awfully small - maybe tablet sized, like an ipad.

Anyway, looking back, I'm not really sure why I still play this game, or what made me click the tron icon for the second time again, after someone told me shift + escape was how to brake (lol).

I want to also jump on the bandwagon about Tron being a small community, and while it is true that I know pretty much every active sumoer/Forter; I can't say the same about most df, hr, or ctf players. We could remedy this by making a super weird medley server with all the game modes being randomly cycled every match, and maybe making this server the very first server on the server list.

The game has a huge learning curve, and that alone makes it unattractive to new players. Maybe that's why they all flock to HR, if and when they finally figure out that there's a multiplayer component to the game.

[AI-team]

gotta agree with fippmam. tron on tablets would be awesome. but smartphones? bleh

[Magi]

I couldn't even imagine playing tron with a touch screen, all of my what would be compromised. I'll stick to playing it on my keyboard.

[AI-team]

what about bluetooth keyboards?

[Word]

I don't care, as long as arma doesn't get telecinetic.

[Fippmam]

I couldn't even imagine playing tron with a touch screen, all of my what would be compromised. I'll stick to playing it on my keyboard.

It'd be so cool though. Like fps games on tablets, it'd be a new experience.

[Z-Man]

I couldn't even imagine playing tron with a touch screen, all of my what would be compromised. I'll stick to playing it on my keyboard.

I'll disagree there. Tap left to turn left, tap right to turn right. Get rid of the brake, and make the camera so that manual control is not needed. Couldn't be more intuitive, and the lack of tactile feedback is not an issue when you are absolutely sure you hit the right side of the screen Screen size also doesn't matter much. Keep in mind you're competing with other games on the same platform that have to deal with the same restrictions.
What does matter is the mobile gaming attention span: a mobile game needs to be fun if it is played for a minute only, because the typical use scenario is that you don't know when you need to stop playing. And the minimum meaningful session of Arma would be one match, about ten minutes or more on typical FFA servers, and that means the average time it takes to play your first complete match is about 15 minutes, with the first five "wasted". That won't do. If I can pick between that and some physics puzzler game where one level can be completed in 30 seconds, I'll pick the physics puzzler. Even though I hate those fiddly things.
And yeah, the learning curve. Patience with mobile games there is really low. Not fun after two minutes? Delete.
And then there are the mobile data plans. Most people don't have real unlimited data plans, and online gaming burns through the free/high speed base quickly. And connection quality varies while you're moving around, so prepare for lots of deaths while your bus is in that tunnel.

All those issues are fixable with a good offline single player mode, but that is not easily done.

[compguygene]

I use my wife's old IPhone 3 as an IPod, it has no cell phone plan associated with it. I have found one tron lightcycle game out there that is actually worth playing, and has a nice userbase. After I restore the phone, I will report back the name of the game as I don't remember it right now. But, this game really validates Z-man's above post. In single player mode you fight against 4 bots in a basic LMS situation. The is a turbo you can tap in the center of the screen, and the camera view works very well. There is also a minimap. The free version lets you play unlimited single player and online for just a limited amount of time per day. I have found that with the simpler controls, no brake and just turbo, the game is very fun and has a growing online community. It plays well on a small smartphone screen. It is very clear that the only way such a game would work with regular online players in Armagetron would be for servers to be limited to single binding, simple gameplay that would be compatible with the constraints of Mobile play that Z-man has identified above. I do not think that what is perceived as regular Armagetron gameplay at this point would translate well on the mobile platform. The ironic thing is that the gameplay that would seem to work best on mobile is the gameplay that people like Phytotron, Concord, and Sine.wav have been calling for. Perhaps a mobile platform could help to bring some of this game back to its basic roots.

[Word]

I don't consider myself a purist and I haven't used these touchscreens very often, but what I don't like about all this is that you don't need to learn anything to use a touchscreen. I mean, if you play an instrument or play game on your computer you need to type everything at the right moment (like a musician does while he is reading his notes), and you all have seen countless players saying "oh crap, hit the wrong button" - making these decisions in your head and being able to use them in the game is what makes the game attractive after all. If you just touch a screen for all that and your moves are somehow anticipated, where's the point of playing? now one could argue that touchscreens are essentially the same as "keyboards on the screen" but the difference to me is that they tend to be less precise than keys.

[Jonathan]

The ironic thing is that the gameplay that would seem to work best on mobile is the gameplay that people like Phytotron, Concord, and Sine.wav have been calling for. Perhaps a mobile platform could help to bring some of this game back to its basic roots.

How is it ironic? Much of the now-popular gameplay stems from the glorification of button masturbation. Is it that surprising that eliminating that factor yields the original game? Basic FFA sans zones also happens to be more conductive to hopping in for a round or two.

[voodoo]

I couldn't even imagine playing tron with a touch screen, all of my what would be compromised. I'll stick to playing it on my keyboard.

I'll disagree there. Tap left to turn left, tap right to turn right. Get rid of the brake, and make the camera so that manual control is not needed. Couldn't be more intuitive (...)

That's almost what I've done some years ago when I've tried to port it on my phone (iphone 3G). I've split the screen in 3 for left/brake/right + double tap for menu access ... with multitouch, even double binders can be happy. That was working pretty well (apart from too low fps, typically less than 12, and too high ping on network games, usually more than 400 ...)
I wonder how practical would it be to kind of draw your path on the screen though ... I mean not to draw the path perfectly but to draw your turns with the right timing ...