Need suggestions for a project
Spektrum
Join Date: 2015-10-14 Member: 208475Members
Join Date: 2015-10-14 Member: 208475Members
Hello, members of Natural Selection community.
For quite a lot of time I had an idea of implementing a service for finding playmates in team-oriented games such as NS2, CS:GO and TF2. Let me describe what is it all about.
In games such as CS:GO, LoL and QuakeLive you put yourself into a matchmaking queue and then the algorithm tries to match you with random people based on ranking scheme (usually ELO). Sometimes it works well, but more often than not the experience is not as pleasant as one might expect.
What I have in mind is to let each player to create a playing preference - maps, player count (e.g. no 32 player chaos), a time range in which a person would like to play (e.g. from 20:00 to 22:00 on weekdays, all day on weekends), player role (e.g. class in TF2) and other. Then, the algorithm will try to find people with compatible preferences and will suggest to schedule a game with these people on a closest date and time possible. The algorithm would be able to match you with your friends, friends of friends or random people.
When the game is scheduled a password protected server will be created with all the necessarry settings automatically applied.
This service would need to be paid to support the server infrastructure, however according to my cost estimations the price for 3-month subscription should not exceed 5 USD. which I believe is not a lot of money.
Do you think this is a viable idea for a game like NS2?
For quite a lot of time I had an idea of implementing a service for finding playmates in team-oriented games such as NS2, CS:GO and TF2. Let me describe what is it all about.
In games such as CS:GO, LoL and QuakeLive you put yourself into a matchmaking queue and then the algorithm tries to match you with random people based on ranking scheme (usually ELO). Sometimes it works well, but more often than not the experience is not as pleasant as one might expect.
What I have in mind is to let each player to create a playing preference - maps, player count (e.g. no 32 player chaos), a time range in which a person would like to play (e.g. from 20:00 to 22:00 on weekdays, all day on weekends), player role (e.g. class in TF2) and other. Then, the algorithm will try to find people with compatible preferences and will suggest to schedule a game with these people on a closest date and time possible. The algorithm would be able to match you with your friends, friends of friends or random people.
When the game is scheduled a password protected server will be created with all the necessarry settings automatically applied.
This service would need to be paid to support the server infrastructure, however according to my cost estimations the price for 3-month subscription should not exceed 5 USD. which I believe is not a lot of money.
Do you think this is a viable idea for a game like NS2?
Comments
Is idea broken by itself or was there a flaw in implementation?
As it stands, i feel this idea would be best suited for a game that has a larger player base than what is with Ns2, What it could do with is perhaps a matchmaking system for in-game gathers, that lets players join a lobby - join a gather - still able to play the game then just alert them to let them know the gather is ready (i know this already excists on ensl.org but having it in game would mean more people would use it) Apart from that, i really cant see this being Practical for Ns2, i could be wrong, but i just dont see it working. Sorry
Although it does not do it quite yet, as far as I understand at least, it is the intention that it is supposed to alert you when a gather is starting and you will be able to join gathers through the chat interface with it.
It's technically not IN-game, but it's in the steam OVERlay, and I think that's close enough - in fact I think it's better in many ways.
It would be interesting to see if cdt/uwe would be willing to make a button in the game menu to add this bot with instructions and so on.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/nslgathers
The game needs it regardless the argument.
Sabot = B.U.S.
Both nosgoth and ns2 are asymmetrical games with melee vs ranged factions. Nosgoth has a similar skill curve, similar skill gaps, and a better learning curve. When I lasted played it was in july, where there was an average of 773 people playing. Ns2 currently has about 190 playing. Nosgoth had/has about 4x as many players as ns2.
Matchmaking made me quit that game. In that game I think I was a bit below average skill, which means I should have the more potential players to be match made with because of similar skill. At peak play times I would sit in a queue for 15-30 minutes waiting to be put into a lobby. Then I would wait another 15-30 minutes in that lobby until it filled up with all 8 people for 15 minutes of gameplay.
You would think if the game spent that much time trying to find a better match, it might have really balanced teams. After waiting so long for a game I still would end up with horribly balanced teams most games. Nosgoth is more of a deathmatch where the first team to 30 kills wins. Most games would end up 30/10 which is a huge stomp.
Ns2 has a smaller playerbase and a much harder learning curve. I honestly do not think matchmaking would work for ns2, unless it was designed around it from the beginning. Even then, nosgoth shows that is not a sure thing.
I am extremely happy with the server browser system we have now.
Yea i know about it, and it works well, but i mean something thats more ease for access, in game for everyone, as it stands its always the same players playing gathers, there is hardly ever any new players for it.
The idea i was speaking off is all about Ease of access, the less a person has to do to play a game the better, so having something like this thats in game ready, people just hit join and there in the queue to play, where as it stands now, they have to sign up to ensl.ord - join the steam group - talk to the gather bot - join teamspeak - join the server - play.
This is not ideal for new players that know nothing off gathers, But anyhow, this has been talked about to the death lol, and am just rambling on...
To be fair, if that's the number, I'm pretty sure NS had a higher playerbase after the game had been out as long as nosgoth had
Hang on a second.
you sign up on; ensl.org - add the bot - join teamspeak. Those are the 3 steps. You do not need to join the steam group, yes you need to join the server and play, but that sort of goes with any system, no? The first two are obviously one-time commitments and the second one is only optional.
Now, on the other hand - if you rely on an in-game system. People can not que up while their client is off. That raises an enormous problem, where we really do need a massive playerbase for it to work. Otherwise you end up with a situation like @Nordic speaks of in nosgoth, where you have to wait for hours.
Yes I understand that you can play on a pub while you're in a que, but the problem remains, that people often idle for hours before gathers get started - and not everyone will play pubs for that many hours at a time.
You are asking people to idle in their game client, until a game is ready to start. What ensl is asking of you, is to idle STEAM, until a game is ready.
And I'm willing to bet, that the vast majority of players are idling steam at all times regardless - I sure as fuck am. But are people willing to idle in their game client for hours and hours? Sure some are.. But no where near the same camp of numbers...
So I agree with you that we have to maximize the ease of access - that is exactly why the ensl approach is the best imo. Because an in-game client, will not offer an ease of access - or so I predict.
But yes you raise a good point in the end. If new players are not exposed to the ensl gather system somehow, they will never join the site, never add the bot etc. and it's all moot. So that's why I'm advocating for a discrete link with simple instructions in the main menu in the game client.
Nosgoth is also in open beta still, so it does get a slight pass on that front. I cant check the ns2 playercounts when it was in beta, but I would have to agree that ns2 had more players then. Nosgoth is still gaining players, and is not losing them as quick as ns2.
Did you know that the developers give out at least $6000 a month in prize money for competitive play? I am surprised that alone has not brought in more players.
Personally I'm in the group that would stop, all I have left is gathers and no rookie pub