Devlog update (2017-10-01) minor usability tweaks, removal of shareware limits

[Shoozza]

Hey everyone,

I'm back from my ~15 months Soldat dev retirement and it's time to continue with our weekly devlogs!

This week was quite chatty, but there are some albeit small changes in Soldat already.

But first something to clarify the current state of development:
The changes the old dev team did for Soldat 1.8 is sadly too far away to be ready by December, that's why we have to work from 1.7.1 for now.
Which means you have to wait longer for the shiny things in 1.8.
(That said if you want to help us to get 1.8 ready faster, feel free to join the dev team. You can PM me on the forums or discord.)
I know this is disappointing but after 15 month without a release a new version is overdue.

Like you can read in MM's thread the next release will be freeware and available on Steam.

Back to what was implemented this week:
* All shareware restrictions were removed, no more yellow jet limitation, no music player restrictions, no F2-Weapon-Stat restrictions and no more registration star.
Yep, the loved star will be removed, the other option was to show it for all players - not really useful.
Do you have an idea how the star could be used in the future? - let me know

* The other change is that we will have KAG and Butcher image ads linking to the sites of both games on the exit tab, for people to discover other thd games.
They will only be visible a couple of times after installation and you can disable them in soldat.ini if you wish.

* Clicking on the OK button will show the "join game"-tab instead of the "start game"-tab. Most people probably want to play online anyways.
Since an empty "join game"-tab serverlist doesn't really help, the first time you visit the "join game"-tab it will request the server list automatically.
In addition to that it will now sort by player count by default, making it easier for you to find a server to play on.

And that is it for now.

Do you think something should be implemented in 1.7.2? Check out our 1.7.2 feedback thread.

See you next week and don't forget to have fun!

[DutchFlame]

1 - and no more registration star.
Yep, the loved star will be removed, the other option was to show it for all players - not really useful.
Do you have an idea how the star could be used in the future? - let me know

2 -  The other change is that we will have KAG and Butcher image ads linking to the sites of both games on the exit tab, for people to discover other thd games.
They will only be visible a couple of times after installation and you can disable them in soldat.ini if you wish.

1- Maybe implement the star to have a meaning. like veteran status, or year status. (like in csgo)

2 - will the games kag and butcher also advertise for soldat?

thx for your devlog.. we needed this and please don't stop updating us this time.

[Mokkun]

1 - and no more registration star.
Yep, the loved star will be removed, the other option was to show it for all players - not really useful.
Do you have an idea how the star could be used in the future? - let me know

2 -  The other change is that we will have KAG and Butcher image ads linking to the sites of both games on the exit tab, for people to discover other thd games.
They will only be visible a couple of times after installation and you can disable them in soldat.ini if you wish.

1- Maybe implement the star to have a meaning. like veteran status, or year status. (like in csgo)

2 - will the games kag and butcher also advertise for soldat?

thx for your devlog.. we needed this and please don't stop updating us this time.

As I understand, the problem with the star is, it only works on Windows right now.
I agree it's a nice thing to have for people to bought and supported the game.

Once the game is on steam it would be pretty easy to link an account with a key to display the star, the problem would be for people that use the standalone version of the game.

[machina]

will the games kag and butcher also advertise for soldat?

Seems obvious as it's Soldat that requires advertising - not KAG for example.

If it wasn't to happen yet then this whole release to Steam would be releasing a thing to just advertise other games within a new game on Steam. Sounds way too evil to me.

In addition to that it will now sort by player count by default, making it easier for you to find a server to play on.

Ah, finally.

Thx for the devlog, Shoozza.

[darDar]

* Clicking on the OK button will show the "join game"-tab instead of the "start game"-tab. Most people probably want to play online anyways.
Since an empty "join game"-tab serverlist doesn't really help, the first time you visit the "join game"-tab it will request the server list automatically.
In addition to that it will now sort by player count by default, making it easier for you to find a server to play on.

That's a really good change imo.

About the star icon: Maybe there's a way to hand it out for people who e.g: register to the forums? .. mb. you can make it an achievement via steam somehow..

The other change is that we will have KAG and Butcher image ads linking to the sites of both games on the exit tab, for people to discover other thd games.
They will only be visible a couple of times after installation and you can disable them in soldat.ini if you wish.

lol

[Slasher]

1 - and no more registration star.
Yep, the loved star will be removed, the other option was to show it for all players - not really useful.
Do you have an idea how the star could be used in the future? - let me know

2 -  The other change is that we will have KAG and Butcher image ads linking to the sites of both games on the exit tab, for people to discover other thd games.
They will only be visible a couple of times after installation and you can disable them in soldat.ini if you wish.

1- Maybe implement the star to have a meaning. like veteran status, or year status. (like in csgo)

A good idea can be made by increasing the status by points (assassinations, deaths, caps, returns) or K / D

[Petterkowski]

1- Maybe implement the star to have a meaning. like veteran status, or year status. (like in csgo)

That's a bad idea. I don't believe that any freebies exclusive for old players for being old is healthy for the game. A player does not deserve a reward simply for existing and playing the game. I believe that any type of reward should be attainable by a large portion of the player base, especially new players. Having rewards that new players cannot get will alienate potential long term players. For the game to remain healthy we need new players to discover Soldat and its possibilities, and be encouraged to stay. In other words; Rewards for those that deserve it and earn it IMO, just playing a certain amount of games or finding the game earlier than others is not earning it IMO. And so i would rather think about rewarding a player who either is actually playing well in a match, or contributes to the community in some way.

Also the star status is meaningless. It could be used as an addition. Players could be rewarded with with a wider selection of gostek's clothing. Using such equipment would be true privilege. Totally optional, but would bring joy and the right kind of recognition.

A good idea can be made by increasing the status by points (assassinations, deaths, caps, returns) or K / D

What is the measure of a "good player"? Kills? You realize that if it worked like that, people would say "fuck it" to the objective and farm kills 24/7, right? Becoming a winning player is much more than that. A truly great player has the knowledge, intelligence, and decisiveness to pick the right decisions for the appearing situations.

[Mokkun]

That's a bad idea. I don't believe that any freebies exclusive for old players for being old is healthy for the game. A player does not deserve a reward simply for existing and playing the game.

We're talking about people that bought the game and supported it until now, not just old players.

[Slasher]

A good idea can be made by increasing the status by points (assassinations, deaths, caps, returns) or K / D

What is the measure of a "good player"? Kills? You realize that if it worked like that, people would say "fuck it" to the objective and farm kills 24/7, right? Becoming a winning player is much more than that. A truly great player has the knowledge, intelligence, and decisiveness to pick the right decisions for the appearing situations.

I know very well how good a player is, what is the problem of new players with superior status than the old ones? This is not to say that they are better, what counts is the game of each and not numbers. Anyway I gave two examples, points is a good way to increase status, because it tells what the player does in general.

[Slasher]

Do you have an idea how the star could be used in the future? - let me know

It would be nice if it had two stars, one for status and another "patent" each patent is a year that the player plays, for example 0 ~ 1 year (Major) 1 ~ 2 (Soldier), etc.

[Mokkun]

Do you have an idea how the star could be used in the future? - let me know

It would be nice if it had two stars, one for status and another "patent" each patent is a year that the player plays, for example 0 ~ 1 year (Major) 1 ~ 2 (Soldier), etc.

Well I think this idea goes more into the account system, with stats and maybe some sort of account progression (for each game you get some XP and you level up, then you unlock some cosmetics every 10 levels or something)

[duz]

Star = Match MVP, like CSGO (round MVP).

[machina]

Alternatively, we could allow server admins to award with a star a player of their choice and that star would be visible on the particular server. only of course This is a solution with the least effort for the devs. I think server admins could judge it better.

If we wanted this being done automatically we have to realize that it is rather impossible to measure a player's actual skill due to the lack of matchmaking system that would calculate a player's MMR upon which one could be awarded with a star or not. K/D ratios, kills, time spent on game are not a real solutions because you can trick them easiely.

[soldat-game]

It can be done. You have to think.I know how it could be designed.

[Michal Marcinkowski]

Good luck guys.

[paintZoom]

make only one star appear when ingame
drop it to the first player based on the numbers down in the right corner (i think thats what it does?)

so u have the start for the n? 1 player of the current match
it will be fun cuz start will be jumping from player to player as match develops makin it a win token at the end  (braggers dream)

sort of like a secondary objective xD

[Mokkun]

make only one star appear when ingame
drop it to the first player based on the numbers down in the right corner (i think thats what it does?)

so u have the start for the n? 1 player of the current match
it will be fun cuz start will be jumping from player to player as match develops makin it a win token at the end  (braggers dream)

sort of like a secondary objective xD

I'm not so sure about that and the mvp system, it really depends on the game mode, and I think the most popular mode in Soldat in CTF.

In CTF it is best to focus on the objective instead of focusing on kills.

[Ratman]

I really like the "Join Game" tab idea instead of the usual tab. I remember when I first started playing as a kid I had no idea how to play online. That being said, I hope you guys redo the "Join Game" page to make it more user friendly. You are on the right track by auto requesting the servers. I have a few ideas:

1. Make sure you still encourage offline play - because that is a rarity in games nowadays and people will appreciate that. Perhaps a "Play offline" button that redirects them to the original tab?

2. Change the default font/size of the servers... everything is kind of small and although most of us have gotten used to it, new players want to see something a bit more easy to access.. if they have trouble reading the server names it certainly doesnt help their impression on the game.

Future ideas:

Anticheat
Servers - lots of instability on many of the servers now causing huge lag issues. Doubt you can do much about it but just something to note.. To a new player it'll just feel like a broken game.

[Mokkun]

I really like the "Join Game" tab idea instead of the usual tab. I remember when I first started playing as a kid I had no idea how to play online. That being said, I hope you guys redo the "Join Game" page to make it more user friendly. You are on the right track by auto requesting the servers. I have a few ideas:

1. Make sure you still encourage offline play - because that is a rarity in games nowadays and people will appreciate that. Perhaps a "Play offline" button that redirects them to the original tab?

2. Change the default font/size of the servers... everything is kind of small and although most of us have gotten used to it, new players want to see something a bit more easy to access.. if they have trouble reading the server names it certainly doesnt help their impression on the game.

Future ideas:

Anticheat
Servers - lots of instability on many of the servers now causing huge lag issues. Doubt you can do much about it but just something to note.. To a new player it'll just feel like a broken game.

Yeah the "Start Game" Tab can be changed to "Solo Play" or "Offline play" very easily.

As for broken games, people are used to them anyway with all those early access game never getting finished 

[L[0ne]R]

Do you have an idea how the star could be used in the future? - let me know

It could be given to special contributors to the game.

But seriously - perhaps just leave it as the only "premium" component of the game, so those who have purchased the game before Steam release have something to brag about. (Though you might have to set up a way to convert old Soldat reg keys into Steam keys so the registration is tied to user's Steam account).



Also good idea on the Join Game tab changes.