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Dhara

Alpha Team Vanguard
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  1. Like
    Dhara reacted to blundertwink in Elephant In The Room: Subscription $$$ Model of DU needs to change.   
    Honestly, NQ would need to work really hard to go FTP because micro-transactions require a carefully considered game design to balance properly.
     
    It's important to have a great hook that invests the player and pulls them toward a MT -- right now, FTP players would follow the same pattern as paid beta subs. They'd stay long enough to litter their speeder somewhere. 
     
    "Getting more players" isn't the only concern, it's keeping them. They got a lot of new players during beta's initial launch, but they couldn't retain them. Some paid for months or even a year and didn't play for more than a day or two. They'd rather throw away their money than keep trying; that says something about new player UX. 
     
    If they went free-to-play tomorrow, they'd get many new players...but only to lose money and clutter the servers. There's nothing compelling new players to stick around -- this game's new player UX gets worse over time, not better. Their MT conversion rate would be abysmal -- they'd have players, but not revenue. 
     
    DU doesn't actually need new players right now. It needs a solid new player UX and a way to retain those players. You can't monetize players (FTP or subs) if they can't get past the early stages of the game.
  2. Like
    Dhara reacted to Mordgier in Elephant In The Room: Subscription $$$ Model of DU needs to change.   
    The subscription cost is nowhere near the elephant in the room.
     
    It's not even in the same room.
     
    I wouldn't play DU for free. 
  3. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from ELX987 in If you have less than 2 months in this game don't suggest anything   
    Everyone here has paid to be in this game one way or another and they have the right to offer feedback, post suggestions and join in on ANY conversation they like.  It is simply not your place to tell them otherwise.
  4. Like
    Dhara reacted to Atmosph3rik in Futuristic manufacturing + stone age trade   
    Instantly moving goods across the galaxy is about as "passive" as you can get.  So it seems like that would just be breaking another part of the game, for no reason.
     
    And they just nurfed manufacturing so hard people are still in the fetal position crying about it.
     
    But also, manufacturing isn't really "passive" at all.  You need ore.  You either have to mine it or buy it.
     
    We need to let them finish the rest of the game.  That's what's missing from the equation.
     
    We don't need more short sighted rebalancing.
     
     
  5. Like
    Dhara reacted to Aaron Cain in DEVBLOG: THE FUTURE OF DU PART ONE: REFINING OUR PROCESSES - Feedback Thread   
    Are the beta forum questions and remarks implemented? will you ban players who take schematics at 1%? Will you ban anyone that breaks the rules? Will all players be handled equal?
     
    Are you going to turn back the stuff implemented that drove over 70% of the active players away? Will large grids be implemented?  Will mining stop being a draging grind? What are the plans on the lag issues? Will you reinstate the community page and make it possible to post there again?  Need more questions?
     
  6. Like
    Dhara reacted to CptLoRes in DEVBLOG: THE FUTURE OF DU PART ONE: REFINING OUR PROCESSES - Feedback Thread   
    The announcement is pretty much just a summary of all the things we have been saying and asking for the last couple of years.
    Here is to hoping, this time it's for real.
  7. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from le_souriceau in Mission system is badly needed (hauler for ressources / delivery jobs)   
    The whole idea of the mission system is messed up.  I have (had?) a space trucking business.  I wanted mission kiosks that could be put on our claims so I could put them out so that people could chose MY MISSIONS.  That's really what I thought it would be.  I didn't think it would be an auction house style thing where EVERYONE was on the same system. So doing it this way kind of kills all of my ideas 
     
    Instead of letting us control our own mission kiosks, its now just another auction house.  No relationships have to be built.  No infrastructure must be built.  No one even has to talk to each other.  It's not emergent game-play at all.  It doesn't matter what contacts I have made.  What kind of reputation I wanted to build.  No one will ever say, "well if you want good reliable service you must hire The Outfit.".  It means that people like the OP will never search out a transportation organization like mine to join up with us.  They don't need us.  No one needs us.
     
    Its like every opportunity NQ might offer players for emergent game play and cooperation is destroyed before anyone can even get started because their intention is not to let emergent game play actually emerge. They want to force us into all of it artificially instead.
  8. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from CptLoRes in Mission system is badly needed (hauler for ressources / delivery jobs)   
    The whole idea of the mission system is messed up.  I have (had?) a space trucking business.  I wanted mission kiosks that could be put on our claims so I could put them out so that people could chose MY MISSIONS.  That's really what I thought it would be.  I didn't think it would be an auction house style thing where EVERYONE was on the same system. So doing it this way kind of kills all of my ideas 
     
    Instead of letting us control our own mission kiosks, its now just another auction house.  No relationships have to be built.  No infrastructure must be built.  No one even has to talk to each other.  It's not emergent game-play at all.  It doesn't matter what contacts I have made.  What kind of reputation I wanted to build.  No one will ever say, "well if you want good reliable service you must hire The Outfit.".  It means that people like the OP will never search out a transportation organization like mine to join up with us.  They don't need us.  No one needs us.
     
    Its like every opportunity NQ might offer players for emergent game play and cooperation is destroyed before anyone can even get started because their intention is not to let emergent game play actually emerge. They want to force us into all of it artificially instead.
  9. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from Lethys in Mission system is badly needed (hauler for ressources / delivery jobs)   
    The whole idea of the mission system is messed up.  I have (had?) a space trucking business.  I wanted mission kiosks that could be put on our claims so I could put them out so that people could chose MY MISSIONS.  That's really what I thought it would be.  I didn't think it would be an auction house style thing where EVERYONE was on the same system. So doing it this way kind of kills all of my ideas 
     
    Instead of letting us control our own mission kiosks, its now just another auction house.  No relationships have to be built.  No infrastructure must be built.  No one even has to talk to each other.  It's not emergent game-play at all.  It doesn't matter what contacts I have made.  What kind of reputation I wanted to build.  No one will ever say, "well if you want good reliable service you must hire The Outfit.".  It means that people like the OP will never search out a transportation organization like mine to join up with us.  They don't need us.  No one needs us.
     
    Its like every opportunity NQ might offer players for emergent game play and cooperation is destroyed before anyone can even get started because their intention is not to let emergent game play actually emerge. They want to force us into all of it artificially instead.
  10. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from realMod in Mission system is badly needed (hauler for ressources / delivery jobs)   
    The whole idea of the mission system is messed up.  I have (had?) a space trucking business.  I wanted mission kiosks that could be put on our claims so I could put them out so that people could chose MY MISSIONS.  That's really what I thought it would be.  I didn't think it would be an auction house style thing where EVERYONE was on the same system. So doing it this way kind of kills all of my ideas 
     
    Instead of letting us control our own mission kiosks, its now just another auction house.  No relationships have to be built.  No infrastructure must be built.  No one even has to talk to each other.  It's not emergent game-play at all.  It doesn't matter what contacts I have made.  What kind of reputation I wanted to build.  No one will ever say, "well if you want good reliable service you must hire The Outfit.".  It means that people like the OP will never search out a transportation organization like mine to join up with us.  They don't need us.  No one needs us.
     
    Its like every opportunity NQ might offer players for emergent game play and cooperation is destroyed before anyone can even get started because their intention is not to let emergent game play actually emerge. They want to force us into all of it artificially instead.
  11. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from JohnnyTazer in Mission system is badly needed (hauler for ressources / delivery jobs)   
    The whole idea of the mission system is messed up.  I have (had?) a space trucking business.  I wanted mission kiosks that could be put on our claims so I could put them out so that people could chose MY MISSIONS.  That's really what I thought it would be.  I didn't think it would be an auction house style thing where EVERYONE was on the same system. So doing it this way kind of kills all of my ideas 
     
    Instead of letting us control our own mission kiosks, its now just another auction house.  No relationships have to be built.  No infrastructure must be built.  No one even has to talk to each other.  It's not emergent game-play at all.  It doesn't matter what contacts I have made.  What kind of reputation I wanted to build.  No one will ever say, "well if you want good reliable service you must hire The Outfit.".  It means that people like the OP will never search out a transportation organization like mine to join up with us.  They don't need us.  No one needs us.
     
    Its like every opportunity NQ might offer players for emergent game play and cooperation is destroyed before anyone can even get started because their intention is not to let emergent game play actually emerge. They want to force us into all of it artificially instead.
  12. Like
    Dhara reacted to Lethys in Mission system is badly needed (hauler for ressources / delivery jobs)   
    That's exactly why "missions" wont be such a big deal as ppl think. Because they're only contracts and not a whole NEW gameplay loop 
  13. Like
    Dhara reacted to Zeddrick in Mission system is badly needed (hauler for ressources / delivery jobs)   
    Do you think it would be economically sensible for people to run those jobs you would post?  Or would people be able to make a lot more money in the same amount of time mining and selling to bot orders?  Say you can mine 200kl per hour and sell at 25 quanta per kl, that means you're making about 5 million per hour.  If your hauling job is going to take someone a total of 30 minutes to complete, would you be paying them anywhere near 2.5 million?  If not why would they do it instead of the mining?
  14. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from CptLoRes in Changes to Lua screen units   
    Wow, another "fix" for the markets that is just another bandaid.  Why is it so hard to delete ships after a certain amount of time!?!?!?!?!  I just don't get it.  How about you remove the markets all together and get us our player markets and we can spread ALL that processing out across the entire game?  It would at least give ME a small reason to play again.  I could set up a nice little market center and rent out shops. I would have something useful to build again.  Heaven forbid NQ try to turn lemons into lemonade. 
     
    Yep, in case you can't tell, I'm one of those artists.  I made videos for this game until they removed those.  Then they only allow 5 images which is insane, but I made do.  And now they yank HTML/CSS.   If HTML (of all things) is slowing the server down so much then there are way more significant problems that need to be fixed.  But once again, NQ is taking the easy way out and doesn't care how it affects the players. 
     
    I'm losing any remaining hope that I will be able to begin playing this game again.  In the two months I've been gone the game continues to move backwards.  Sigh... what a total bummer. 
     
  15. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from Wolfram in Changes to Lua screen units   
    Wow, another "fix" for the markets that is just another bandaid.  Why is it so hard to delete ships after a certain amount of time!?!?!?!?!  I just don't get it.  How about you remove the markets all together and get us our player markets and we can spread ALL that processing out across the entire game?  It would at least give ME a small reason to play again.  I could set up a nice little market center and rent out shops. I would have something useful to build again.  Heaven forbid NQ try to turn lemons into lemonade. 
     
    Yep, in case you can't tell, I'm one of those artists.  I made videos for this game until they removed those.  Then they only allow 5 images which is insane, but I made do.  And now they yank HTML/CSS.   If HTML (of all things) is slowing the server down so much then there are way more significant problems that need to be fixed.  But once again, NQ is taking the easy way out and doesn't care how it affects the players. 
     
    I'm losing any remaining hope that I will be able to begin playing this game again.  In the two months I've been gone the game continues to move backwards.  Sigh... what a total bummer. 
     
  16. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from nekranox in Changes to Lua screen units   
    Wow, another "fix" for the markets that is just another bandaid.  Why is it so hard to delete ships after a certain amount of time!?!?!?!?!  I just don't get it.  How about you remove the markets all together and get us our player markets and we can spread ALL that processing out across the entire game?  It would at least give ME a small reason to play again.  I could set up a nice little market center and rent out shops. I would have something useful to build again.  Heaven forbid NQ try to turn lemons into lemonade. 
     
    Yep, in case you can't tell, I'm one of those artists.  I made videos for this game until they removed those.  Then they only allow 5 images which is insane, but I made do.  And now they yank HTML/CSS.   If HTML (of all things) is slowing the server down so much then there are way more significant problems that need to be fixed.  But once again, NQ is taking the easy way out and doesn't care how it affects the players. 
     
    I'm losing any remaining hope that I will be able to begin playing this game again.  In the two months I've been gone the game continues to move backwards.  Sigh... what a total bummer. 
     
  17. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from Lethys in Changes to Lua screen units   
    Wow, another "fix" for the markets that is just another bandaid.  Why is it so hard to delete ships after a certain amount of time!?!?!?!?!  I just don't get it.  How about you remove the markets all together and get us our player markets and we can spread ALL that processing out across the entire game?  It would at least give ME a small reason to play again.  I could set up a nice little market center and rent out shops. I would have something useful to build again.  Heaven forbid NQ try to turn lemons into lemonade. 
     
    Yep, in case you can't tell, I'm one of those artists.  I made videos for this game until they removed those.  Then they only allow 5 images which is insane, but I made do.  And now they yank HTML/CSS.   If HTML (of all things) is slowing the server down so much then there are way more significant problems that need to be fixed.  But once again, NQ is taking the easy way out and doesn't care how it affects the players. 
     
    I'm losing any remaining hope that I will be able to begin playing this game again.  In the two months I've been gone the game continues to move backwards.  Sigh... what a total bummer. 
     
  18. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from Noddles in Changes to Lua screen units   
    Wow, another "fix" for the markets that is just another bandaid.  Why is it so hard to delete ships after a certain amount of time!?!?!?!?!  I just don't get it.  How about you remove the markets all together and get us our player markets and we can spread ALL that processing out across the entire game?  It would at least give ME a small reason to play again.  I could set up a nice little market center and rent out shops. I would have something useful to build again.  Heaven forbid NQ try to turn lemons into lemonade. 
     
    Yep, in case you can't tell, I'm one of those artists.  I made videos for this game until they removed those.  Then they only allow 5 images which is insane, but I made do.  And now they yank HTML/CSS.   If HTML (of all things) is slowing the server down so much then there are way more significant problems that need to be fixed.  But once again, NQ is taking the easy way out and doesn't care how it affects the players. 
     
    I'm losing any remaining hope that I will be able to begin playing this game again.  In the two months I've been gone the game continues to move backwards.  Sigh... what a total bummer. 
     
  19. Like
    Dhara reacted to CedriVastal in Changes to Lua screen units   
    This is the first change I find I need to throw my voice out there with. 

    This game already has a very limited community of artists and animators.  This game's look and feel DEPENDS on those artists.  The new system will only allow for basic shapes?  Get real.  We already have a 50kb limit which is outrageous for more complex SVG, but we deal with it.  Effectively banning HTML isn't about performance.  It's about censorship. 
     
    This is one excuse I can't believe based on how long lights perform.  You want to increase performance?  Fix the lights.  You want to lose your game's aesthetic and appeal to artists?  Implement this change.

    Artwork is a visual form.  Most artists aren't programmers so sending instructions with code to create works of art is absolutely unconscionable.  Killing off artists isn't going to affect your bottom line, I understand that, but the removal of freedoms in expression or being limited should outrage any reasonable person.
  20. Like
    Dhara reacted to nekranox in Changes to Lua screen units   
    For those that havent read:
    https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/22565-changes-to-lua-screen-units/
     
    My entire range of products in-game is based on HTML screens and CSS animations. It would not be feasible to rewrite them in any amount of time that would make it worthwhile. The new LUA based drawing features are extremely limited. For example, a large part of what makes my Bacterium product look realistic is the use of CSS animation on SVGs. Most crucially, the ability to use existing skillset (HTML/CSS) and familiar tools (SVG creation outside of the game e.g. Adobe Illustrator) are what make my products possible within the already tight limitations of DU.
     
    I don't want to be dramatic, because I know its important to be constructive when giving feedback but if you remove support for HTML on screens, I'm out. Hundreds of hours of work will have been wasted and the key element that attracted me to this game will have been lost.
     
    HTML/CSS is an existing technology that attracts creators becuase they can use existing skillsets. Removing it is too greater loss. If anyone else feels this way, please comment below.
     
    EDIT
    Can I just give an example of the sort of thing I am regularly doing on screens so you can understand how unachievable it will be using the new LUA commands:
     
    My Bacterium product (https://du-creators.org/makers/NoxCorp/ship/NoxCorp Bacterium) uses animated SVGs inside <DIV> containers that are then animated to move around and transformed in 3 dimensions using CSS. This can all be achieved in around 30,000 characters of HTML/SVG markup and CSS. There are no amount of "useful drawing commands" that can offer this kind of flexibility.
  21. Like
    Dhara reacted to blazemonger in Changes to Lua screen units   
    The problem is that the person(s) telling NQ this is a good idea are actually programmers who do not understand the reach and impact these changes will have.
     
    And the person/people in NQ listening to this advice in turn als are programmers so to them it makes sense. And so this translates into the video we now see of some "animated" basic shapes and a rather vague post on the forum. It is also why you see some respond with surprise, not understanding how people are not seeing this as a good change.
     
    This is a general issue with NQ, everything they do is designed and justified from a programmer's perspective and ignores the actual impact it has on the player base. And if you make that point  the answer is "well, you can always commission someone to do it for you, that is what emergent gameplay is all about".. Except it's not.. at all
  22. Like
    Dhara reacted to SpaceBird in Changes to Lua screen units   
    One man's fluff is another man's content.
     
    There are some very much functional constructs which depend on their screen, such as the ship cost estimator or JayleBreak's Reactor/2D+ Voxel Planner.  If the latter were to break, and if the creator either could not make it work in the new API or did not have time to do so, it would be devastating to my main gameplay loop of voxel building.
     
    I also rely heavily on creating SVGs using Inkscape (or any external editor with a pen tool) to use for sales display and events.  Often, I am making these after arriving at the event!  Having to wait on the image approval process would kill my ability to do that.
     
    Could I still do these things without these tools?  Yes, but the work will be slower, more difficult and result in a lower quality.
     
    If the issue is, as stated, "screen unit HTML content can be pretty big and uses a lot of bandwidth and frame time to render when updated every frame by a programming board or control unit." (emphasis mine) then this change is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
  23. Like
    Dhara reacted to Kirth Gersen in Now that we know a bit more.. What's next? (long read)   
    At this stage I wouldn't give much importance to this "letter". It really looks like an  investor standard boilerplate letter to avoid wild speculations and to buy time before announcing the real decision(s).
    The next official communication will tell the fate of the game.
  24. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from Mordgier in NQ has a new CEO .. Discussion   
    What tech are you talking about?  The server tech that was supposed to  allow 100s of players and/or ships to play in one area at the same time without horrible lag? 
     
    Yeah, that tech doesn't work. 
     
     
     
     
     
  25. Like
    Dhara got a reaction from Lethys in NQ has a new CEO .. Discussion   
    What tech are you talking about?  The server tech that was supposed to  allow 100s of players and/or ships to play in one area at the same time without horrible lag? 
     
    Yeah, that tech doesn't work. 
     
     
     
     
     
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