Here is what I think High Octane

[snoopy]

I think you guys are doing something awesome. I have recently thought that more and more games are becoming tech demos, no new content at all, just more of the same crap with a better looking graphics engine. First person ground pounders have been done millions of times. And, really, they all play the same - point click they die. Hop in and out or corners to avoid getting hit, backtrack for the ones that follow you.

Well, your gameplay isn't new- but it hasn't been rehashed millions of times. The truth is, a modern win32 system can't run anything with D1 gameplay. So, for 90% of your market out there, it might as well be new gameplay. Awesome, I think most of them are looking for a fresh breath of air. That's point #1

Point #2: You're getting away from the "feature fixation" and concentrating on gameplay. Again, I think that's awesome- exactly what I see coming in the gaming market.

Both points carry this with them: Your breaking away from the norm, and that entails risk. I think both are something that the gaming world needs, but I don't know if it's something that is wants yet. So, I would love to watch Core Decision herald in a new era of gaming- I would love to see it take the industry by storm and change the way everyone thinks about gaming. Either way, I predict it's gonna go to one of the two extremes: either it's gonna flop big time, or it's gonna earn unheard-of amounts of revenue. Best of luck to yah!

On a very different note (and kinda on the side) I have these couple of ideas:

1) For the "n00b" vs. "pwned" skill settings for a server, I would suggest implementing some sort of a ranking system (probably not viewable by the user, and per-account, not per pilot name) such that after you start pwning in the n00b servers, you "graduate" and can't join the baby servers anymore. Once you go into the grownup servers and get spanked, you get demoted back down to n00b level and are free to join all servers again. Why? I see a great gap forming between the people who join the different level of servers. I can just see a small community playing the difficult servers, and completely smacking down anyone who tries to join in fresh, while all the ground pounders stick to the n00b level servers because the control is more natural, and never learning really how to fly. Making people "graduate" might piss them off a little, but make it take long enough so they are hooked by that time, and in the long run it will keep the n00bs from getting harassed so much, while teaching the good players to enjoy the full 3d experience of the game.

2)Try to (somehow) not make this a "geek" game- alot of people want to avoid that title, so try to avoid the MMORPG style uber-geek image. (I don't know how to implement this, but yeah)

[snoopy]

On the ranking- always let people join above their level, but never below. That way crappy players like me can still fly, even if we smacked around all the time.

[DarkHorse]

So long as it can be turned off by the server admin. Otherwise it could ruin the game.

[Sirius]

If you check the chat logs, they've already said how the whole novice/expert thing will be handled. Newer players can join servers where the complexity is reduced and some features disabled. In these servers, it shouldn't take them long to match the pros.

More features are enabled at higher-skill servers, where the better players will probably want to play anyway.

It does depend what you call a pro though. Facing someone like, I dunno, Birdseye even with half the features cut down would still be pretty scary because he does things with the game most new players wouldn't even think about - unless High Octane have found some way to stop people predicting their opponent.

But people of that calibre are unlikely to go picking on newbies anyway. Especially when there are no stats to pad out.

[Sirian]

I would suggest implementing some sort of a ranking system (probably not viewable by the user, and per-account, not per pilot name) such that after you start pwning in the n00b servers, you "graduate" and can't join the baby servers anymore.

Players will make a new account.

What? Two teen brothers playing off the same disk can't have their own accounts? That would suck. What about Dad and Son? Mom and Daughter? If you allow one account per disk, you lose a LOT of customers. The customers will see you as greedy and take it in bad faith. If you allow more than one, folks with no family can make several accounts for one player.

What if a player stops playing the game and gives the disk to a friend, or sells the used disk on Ebay or through Amazon? Not going to allow the old account to be erased and a new one started? That's not going to work, either.

Oh, and we're not going to let Dad the Ace play on the same server with Son the Newbie? (Or Son the Ace play with Dad the Newbie?) More sales down the drain for HighOctane, if they make that kind of move.


How many D3 players remember what the game was like before Outrage "fixed" the afterburner bug? For me, the game was more fun to play. The drop in quality after the patches is one reason I lost interest. The game was decently playable on dialup before then, not so much after. I understood the need for the fix, but an option to play the original way, among friends who would NOT cheat one another, would have worth their time to include. Too bad nobody seems to have thought of it. Here's hoping mistakes like that are avoided for HighOctane's game.


Security against cheaters and abuse is important, but too often the bad people find ways around it anyway, leaving only the good people suffering under the penalties.

Gun control laws and actual gun control... The two are not the same. Intent to curtail unintended gameplay is not the same as actually curtailing it.

"God grant me the courage to stop the abuse that I can, the patience to accept the abuse that I cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference."


- Sirian