Galactic Starfighter....suggestions to give it wider appeal, short and long term

[MatuVonnegut]

There's no joystick support in this game.

 

Here's joystick support, as an example:

 

The joystick DIRECTLY and INSTANTLY controls the ship, NOT THE RETICULE.

 

The hat on top of the joystick controls the reticule.

 

 

We have nothing like that.

 

 

This feature cost even TRYING the game to two of my friends, who I had asking me all kinds of questions at "vaguely like X-Wing / TIE Fighter" and who were just done when I said mouse, no matter what I talked about with the reticule.

 

The color blind thing cost another, but he at least tried the game, found he couldn't read his shields, and said so.

perhaps i should have just highlighted this portion:

 

[quote=LordArtemis;6843118

1) Cockpit view and Joystick control. Also, if joystick option can't be implemented, perhaps some kind of interface to assign keys to a joystick would work, or at least joystick capability would be appreciated IMO.

 

 

which you can do, exactly as i stated. it just doesn't work properly, also as i stated.

[LordArtemis]

I think the trick to making it much easier to offer joystick support is to reduce the dead zone dramatically....reduce the size of the target circle to about 1cm....the cursor would then be more "twitchy" naturally, and folks could probably turn down the cursor movement speed if they wanted more precise control.

 

That would, naturally, make the ship turn much slower than someone with a tight cursor.

 

Perhaps it could be a setting that would reduce the size of the dead zone.

[Jason_Baker]

I want to change ships without having to die. We should have the ability to reload, change available load outs or change ships at respawns points that are capital ships. Hell, sells a cartel item or ship req component that allows this.

[LordArtemis]

I want to change ships without having to die. We should have the ability to reload, change available load outs or change ships at respawns points that are capital ships. Hell, sells a cartel item or ship req component that allows this.

 

The original BF2 game (I reference this game because it was the number one pick in the poll before launch of GSF, and GSF has some similarities to it, allowing me to assume they used that game as a model) allowed you to land in a bay on a capital ship and change your fighter by simply getting out of the one you were in and getting into another.

 

That was a great feature IMO.

[SammyGStatus]

The original BF2 game (I reference this game because it was the number one pick in the poll before launch of GSF, and GSF has some similarities to it, allowing me to assume they used that game as a model) allowed you to land in a bay on a capital ship and change your fighter by simply getting out of the one you were in and getting into another.

 

That was a great feature IMO.

 

THAT would be cool - 10 seconds to switch ships or something, but that way when u spawn as a GS on strike night, u don't have to hurt your k/d

[KonaiNobi]

that's got to be a really really niche market.

 

Not in the flight sim community. Some people even have full blow flight sticks with 12 buttons and separate throttle control.

[LordArtemis]

More folks have joysticks that can be used with computer games than you might think. Most modern console controllers now work with PCs.

[Zoom_VI]

Not in the flight sim community. Some people even have full blow flight sticks with 12 buttons and separate throttle control.

 

Yeah but the Flight Sim community is a really niche market to begin with.

[Verain]

Yeah but the Flight Sim community is a really niche market to begin with.

 

We're in the people-who-have-swtor-installed community, so a bit more niche appeal wouldn't hurt.

[Zoom_VI]

We're in the people-who-have-swtor-installed community, so a bit more niche appeal wouldn't hurt.

 

Yeah but SWTOR is not a niche appeal game.

[LordArtemis]

Yeah but SWTOR is not a niche appeal game.

 

I don't know about that. Some might argue that Star Wars, though it is a beloved genre, is still a minority in the gaming world. Most folks seem to prefer fantasy RPG.

[Verain]

Star Wars is niche.

MMOs are niche.

 

This is both of those things already. It's niche no matter what.

[arkanone]

Throw anybody into a match full of gunships and it's a niche game that they won't go back to.

[Asbetos]

Throw anybody into a match full of gunships and it's a niche game that they won't go back to.

 

Jeesh General_Brass of the Gunships

[arkanone]

Jeesh General_Brass of the Gunships

 

I think at the very least, missiles should have a shorter lock-on duration as well as speed and damage bonuses against stationary ships. That only makes sense.

[LordArtemis]

I think the current design punishes most while entertaining few.

 

This is a design blunder IMO. Not a fatal one...the feature has it's merits IMO and has some appeal, but overall I believe it is obvious the feature was not as popular with the playerbase as it should have been...and that was money spent expecting a bigger return I would expect.

 

That is where the failure would be IMO...if they really expected that the current feature, as it stands, would have had universal appeal than IMO they have no idea what this playerbase would find appealing.

 

If they had limitations they could not work around and simply did the best they could...and limited appeal is no surprise, then I digress.

Edited July 19, 2014 by LordArtemis

[Verain]

I think at the very least, missiles should have a shorter lock-on duration as well as speed and damage bonuses against stationary ships. That only makes sense.

 

Not speed, or damage. But a shorter lock on I could absolutely get behind.

[Verain]

I think the current design punishes most while entertaining few.

 

I don't feel that way at all.

 

This is a design blunder IMO. Not a fatal one...the feature has it's merits IMO and has some appeal, but overall I believe it is obvious the feature was not as popular with the playerbase as it should have been...and that was money spent expecting a bigger return I would expect.

 

GSF wasn't a huge cost to make, and I'm sure it has enough fans. I can't imagine that a three space flight sim minigame would be reasonable to expect to have strong userbase support- I bet they got about what they expected.

 

 

Three space games are hard for people to learn, and some honestly never succeed at them. The level of terrible that a GSF noob can display is far outside of what you might see in a WoW BG, SWTOR Warzone, or really just about anything that I can think of. A new pilot not only faces the challenges of three space, but he often doesn't know about the power settings, etc. Many players expect to walk in and get stroked off, and GSF makes your work for your skill.

[LordArtemis]

I don't feel that way at all.

 

 

 

GSF wasn't a huge cost to make, and I'm sure it has enough fans. I can't imagine that a three space flight sim minigame would be reasonable to expect to have strong userbase support- I bet they got about what they expected.

 

 

Three space games are hard for people to learn, and some honestly never succeed at them. The level of terrible that a GSF noob can display is far outside of what you might see in a WoW BG, SWTOR Warzone, or really just about anything that I can think of. A new pilot not only faces the challenges of three space, but he often doesn't know about the power settings, etc. Many players expect to walk in and get stroked off, and GSF makes your work for your skill.

 

Fair enough to both points.

[arkanone]

Not speed, or damage. But a shorter lock on I could absolutely get behind.

 

I'd take anything at this point lol. From playing MMOs for over 15 years now(!) I definitely believe a buff to one thing is much better than a giant nerf somewhere else.

[SammyGStatus]

The cooldown for all missiles should be the same, but a shorter lock on would be okay if the cool downs were all equal. A good FF on a T1 GS has the GS down, plain and simple. Unless you have support, you're going to lose that battle.

 

Remember though, team game, so in the interest of giving it a wider appeal, I'd say encourage more communication among your teammates. Instead of crying for nerfs or pleading for buffs, I think that if people took what was currently in the meta and utilized some decent strategy and communication coupled with sound theory to back up decisions.

[LordArtemis]

The cooldown for all missiles should be the same, but a shorter lock on would be okay if the cool downs were all equal. A good FF on a T1 GS has the GS down, plain and simple. Unless you have support, you're going to lose that battle.

 

Remember though, team game, so in the interest of giving it a wider appeal, I'd say encourage more communication among your teammates. Instead of crying for nerfs or pleading for buffs, I think that if people took what was currently in the meta and utilized some decent strategy and communication coupled with sound theory to back up decisions.

 

Do you believe a built in voice client would be helpful?

[BlackEyeArtistry]

I have played this only a few times and to be honest I never get to see the targets I fighting against. I dont know, I just dont find it very engaging, I fly around and get killed by stuff I dont even see.

[LordArtemis]

I have played this only a few times and to be honest I never get to see the targets I fighting against. I dont know, I just dont find it very engaging, I fly around and get killed by stuff I dont even see.

 

One thing about this kind of feature is that you will find it difficult sometimes to zero in on engaged hostiles. It is difficult for a game to represent 3d space properly in a game, therefore to properly display this target in a radar can be challenging.

[DentMasterson]

The starfighter part of the game was like SWG's Jump to Lightspeed expansion, it would be 100% better. I just do not find this engaging. It needs story and missions, which means developers need to stop being lazy and program some NPC AIs. Give us a story to go along with it.