Don't worry over it too much, if it bombs terribly we'll try again. It's not like the game will cease to exist. 

People don't have to pay to play it, unless they are dedicated like you, so we can always get fresh meat to try it out, and some people will stick.  Specifically if it's awesome and full-featured, which it's on the way to being (full-featured that is, it's already awesome.)

And yes, I think FreePlays will be sufficient, in terms of monetization, but I think it really will succeed more so from the continued development and support of the 'game' with things like Observer Mode, Dedicated Servers, etc.   

...

Plus, we'll have you to organize and observe matches while running FRAPS so we can have cool YouTube videos to show off to the world... right?

are action passes for every game?

i think a time limit rather then a game limit would be more flexible and also it would allows you to play so many more games and it would make it so much easier for us.

In the context of this forum thread, they are just for Rokkitball.   Galcon uses a similar system, I believe, but you'd have to ask on their forum for details.   We're not associated with the development of all games on IA here, just specifically RB.

i would be happier if they replaced free plays with time limits. they should also do that with galcon

I agree with Stguy here, the amount of times that games are remade to get rid of bots, people that went afk, and the team interface not operating correctly is way too high to limit by game.  Other issues would include things like lag(face it no one likes to play in lag), and im sure there are several more as well.

I also agree that  limiting to three games will severely limit the amount of people playing at one time, it will be harder to find games, and people will be less inclined to pay for it. 

As we've said before in this thread, there is a 30-second window once you actually start the game (not counted during loading or warmup) that allows you to drop without using a FreePlay.   30 seconds in plenty of time to assess whether the server has bots or lag and go on to another game.

The teams being messed up by the web-interface is another issue entirely.  In the next build you can switch teams on-the-fly while in game by accessing the team-picker (hit "Esc" on the keyboard) and clicking on the team you want to be on.  You can even do this during the game warmup time to correct them before your 30 second timer begins.

I personally have come to terms with the subscription model for galcon, as there is only one real game mode/map as of now. However, due to the potential for much more varied content in the form of new maps that will no doubt come in addition to the current 4, I believe that freeplays could be extended in a way that would very much satisfy the rokkitball community.

I would suggest something along the lines of a daily map or a free map for each push. This map could have some to be determined increased amount of plays (I'm still unclear whether the three plays per day is per map or in total). I feel this would probably help foster the RB community, would not detract from revenue, and possibly satisfy even the 'pro' players.

As a disclaimer, I'm not asking this to come with the first push or anything, but I would very much appreciate if it was considered.

I think free TIME would be beter than free plays because i sometimes don't finish the game cause i have to do some stuff and if i would do that in the new build if i do that i lose a game, right? It would be more user-friendly IMO. If there are free GAMES and not free TIME it would be like this neighbors saying " MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE AND I CANT GET OUT, SAVE ME!!!1" and I'm like "Sorry, I'm playing rokkitball, if i leave i will lose one game" If u get what im saying

I think what conquis is saying is that the 30 second window is just not enough. What happens if the host quits the game 2 minutes in? What happens if the other team goes afk after the 30 seconds? etc...

That is the problem with free plays. This is why free time is such a better option.


I know we are stuck with the free games for now. Hey, they could work out. But if I don't have people to play against in the next release, I will be pissed and demand change. That's fair.  

Justin, you say that the 30-second time space should be enough to decide whether or not it is laggy. I shall give you and example that should make part of your arguement shatter like a glass vase hitting the floor from a 500-foot cliff. Or at least, that's what I hope.

Say you're already in a game. The 30 seconds proved well and you were able to start your game without any lag. Now, suddenly, the host leaves and the games stops completely. The game has ended. See now, this will not only have stopped the game, but have wasted one of the precious few free games.

Now, lets start another scenario starting with the same situation. You start a game with no lag. Suddenly, someone else joins in with a huge amount of lag. It causes you to lag out, making you leave the website and also wasting a free game.

Besides, what if a friend comes on, starts playing Rokkitball, and you want to leave the current game and join theirs? HMM? You will have not only have wasted a game, but you will be wasting ANOTHER to get INTO your friend's game!

Don't you see yet? Switching games will waste 2 games, lag attack will waste 1, and the host-thing will also waste one! Consider all these happen in one day. Right there, your 3-4 free plays are GONE.

People like me and Stguy think that we should have free TIME, not free plays. That way, if any of these scenarios occur, no games will have been wasted. You can continue playing Rokkitball without dealing with using all your plays rapidly.

My only question is if playing the map gauntlet will count as one of the 3 free passes.

I think it makes more sense to use a set time, because people may complain that they have lost their potential free plays if the host ends the game, or they join it when it is about to finish.

It should be that you have x minutes to play after you have started your  first game of the day. I think that this is the simplest way to do things and it gives people enough opportunity to test the game propperly. e.g. differnt hosts,players, etc.

Personally, I don't see why timed play is such a challenge to program. The GGConnect RPCs for reporting timers are already in place for the MBO scoreboards, a countdown clock is in place for resetting the variable that stores free plays 24 hours after play start in galcon. The timer variable for remaining play time doesn't even have to be truly time oriented, though I know from the legions countdown clock that there is a pretty extensive as3.0 time library that could be used there with little to no difficulty, and the code from galcon to require purchases after freeplay is up could also be borrowed.

The only problem I can see with a single time RPC (in game timer reports elapsed time to GGConnect whenever player leaves/game ends) is that some one might cheat by exiting their browsers so the return RPC doesn't get placed. I'm sure you guys could think of a workaroud for that pretty quickly, even just having an rpc fire every minute or thirty seconds and subtract from remaining playtime would prevent this, and you already have some sort of system in place dealing with the 30 seconds of uptime a user has to decide if they want to stay in game.

Sure, borrowing code doesn't result in prettiness or peak efficiency, but I doubt the millisecond of ping it would add would phase anyone.

You should really be more specific about who is who around here, the admins obviously work for IA, do you work for IA as some sort of intern or are you the dev? Do you have any control outside of Rokkitball, these are all things the IA team in general needs to tell us.