Brink 2

(Terminator514) #21

Agreed, I hope Brink 2 will arrive at one point in the future, but before that happens they need to regain the confidence of the players. I say knock the game down to $20 new after releasing some new maps + modes.

(BioSnark) #22

already there on pc.

(SockDog) #23

And it doesn’t seem to have done much more than put it at the bottom of the peak players list with 393player peak. I think even $20 is a hard sell over the negativity the game has generated around itself, it’s not even charting in the top 20 sellers.

To be honest, my priority for SDs game is not a continuation of a narrative, as a multiplayer game such a narrative is pointless. Consistent world yes but you don’t need much more than a Mario level narrative to play MP. Now if the game has a true single player campaign then by all means tell a fantastic tale, in fact I’d actually love to see SD try this.

Regardless, what I’d like to see is SD to revisit their approach.

  • Don’t dumb down the game to make it more accessible. Make the game more complicated but spend more time on ways to aid people learning and playing (challenges, entertaining videos, in game guidance, MOAR communication tools).
  • Don’t deal with the symptoms but look to ways of finding the cause and resolving that. Remember also not all issues are permanent, you’re only a clueless noob until you learn so don’t build a noob friendly mission system that’ll insult anyone playing longer than 10 hrs.
  • Either make a PC version or don’t, it actually impacts both platforms by trying to compromise all the way through development. Fork off early.
  • Support the product early. Clan/competition support (demo/tv), map/mod tools.
  • Don’t Bull****. You make great games stick to being excited about them rather that overstating features that will obviously disappoint later.
  • Polish. My biggest initial disappointment with Brink was it was the total lack of polish. Bugs, Subpar UI, unfinished/disabled features that isn’t a AAA game.
(tokamak) #24

It’s just the age old ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ thing isn’t it? A player that picked up the game should be able to be a valuable asset to his team by performing simple tasks. Where Brink then errs (and where ETQW excels) is that it also actively pulls down players wanting to ascend the average player and obtaining a more advanced skillset to make the mediocre players feel better about themselves. That’s called selling out and you alienate your more passionate players, the casual players then no longer have an elite to emulate (it sounds snobbish, but honestly, look at the hero worship in other games, even ETQW had it’s legendary Dommafia and other folks showing off the most ridiculous stunts on video) and cease as well.

Players don’t want to be pampered. Look at the success COD and BC2 are. Beginners start out with nothing and get repeatedly owned by players who’ve unlocked everything (and are way more powerful than the highest levels in Brink). All a player then thinks is ‘damn I want that as well, let’s grind/train my way to glory’.

(SockDog) #25

Yes, ETQW the learning curve was steep, later patches helped but generally many people hit a brick wall when first playing the game on top of the task of learning what this different game was all about. Yet when you got past that initial steep assent (I think it took me a few hours of offline play) you saw a longer and shallower learning curve appear and last a fair while depending on where your skill level/interest sat.

With Brink the learning curve has been bashed so shallow and short that once passed that initial hump it’s pretty much gone. As you say, the assumption there is that gamers want to learn fast and short when I think they actually want a shallow fast introduction and perhaps then a slightly steeper and longer curve to keep interest in the game.

(tokamak) #26

I loved the first hours, I felt like a tourist or a war reporter trying to make sense of the situation. Though I appreciate that a newer generation of gamers has less patience.

(Humate) #27

[QUOTE=SockDog;379421]And it doesn’t seem to have done much more than put it at the bottom of the peak players list with 393player peak. I think even $20 is a hard sell over the negativity the game has generated around itself, it’s not even charting in the top 20 sellers.

To be honest, my priority for SDs game is not a continuation of a narrative, as a multiplayer game such a narrative is pointless. Consistent world yes but you don’t need much more than a Mario level narrative to play MP. Now if the game has a true single player campaign then by all means tell a fantastic tale, in fact I’d actually love to see SD try this.

Regardless, what I’d like to see is SD to revisit their approach.

  • Don’t dumb down the game to make it more accessible. Make the game more complicated but spend more time on ways to aid people learning and playing (challenges, entertaining videos, in game guidance, MOAR communication tools).
  • Don’t deal with the symptoms but look to ways of finding the cause and resolving that. Remember also not all issues are permanent, you’re only a clueless noob until you learn so don’t build a noob friendly mission system that’ll insult anyone playing longer than 10 hrs.
  • Either make a PC version or don’t, it actually impacts both platforms by trying to compromise all the way through development. Fork off early.
  • Support the product early. Clan/competition support (demo/tv), map/mod tools.
  • Don’t Bull****. You make great games stick to being excited about them rather that overstating features that will obviously disappoint later.
  • Polish. My biggest initial disappointment with Brink was it was the total lack of polish. Bugs, Subpar UI, unfinished/disabled features that isn’t a AAA game.[/QUOTE]

I would also add this:

  • Don’t hire people who only understand your previous games, on a theoretical level.
(Stormchild) #28

but to think that something as simple as more unlocked config options, and possibly a sdk, even if somewhat reduced, would have made the community take care of a lot of these thing…

But like the song says… “there’s no sense crying over every mistake, we just keep on trying 'till we run out of cake”.

(SockDog) #29

@Tok Yes I enjoyed the learning curve too, granted I enjoyed it offline and at my own pace but it certainly felt like getting a gadget you’ve pined after. That being it’s great when you get it but even better as it rests in your hands and you work out what every knob, button and option does.

@Humate I think the criteria of hiring was to buy in console development experience.

@Stormchild Indeed, the game had a massive community behind it at launch not only did the game lack in areas but it also tied their hands.

(XxMASKxX96) #30

all amazing ideas, and again all reasons for Brink 2 to be game of the year whenever it comes out
and thank you all for responding to my thread :tongue:

-XxMASKxX96

(Oz70NYC) #31

Here’s a few ideas I have with regards to character customization, class emblems and the Brink 2 stats site.

Being able to change the color scheme of attires in detail would be the best thing to happen in the customization aspect. Changing the colors of various assets on each attire choice such as base color, accents, and details like the coloring system of the old Armored Core games. That alone would boost the customization end of the game over the edge. You’d truly have a unique character then, because it’s be rare that anyone else would have your color scheme unless you go with a uniform scheme, like all areas being one color. I’d also love to see emblems implemented so show your characters “level” at each class. Just a badge of honor to show how adept you are at the class you’re playing, and to show your team mates and opponents how good you are at it as well. Depending on what the level cap would be, each rank would have 5 levels to it for badges. So let’s say the level cap is 60, numerically that would put you at rank 8 based on the rank system of Brink. So for each class for that character, there’d be 8 ranks to reach. So if you make a dual spec character like most people do, you’d have a potential of being a 5 star Rank 8 player for that class. Doesn’t mean much as far as gameplay, but it gives you a sense of accomplishment in sticking with certain classes for your characters.

Another thing I hope is done, is I hope they make the potential Brink 2 Stats site mean something. I’d like to see a dedicated leader board to see who the top Brink players are. KDR would obviously have no place in it, since KDR means squat in Brink, but levels and XP with classes do matter. So the best players would be determined by how much total XP they have and what their average per match is. Then it of course breaks down further by different classes. And since they track weapon and ability stats as well, why not a leaderboard for them as well? So that we can TRULY know who the best player in the world with the Barnett is. Or who the best Engi is using mines. Simple statistical breakdowns that they could have actually implemented into the current stats site actually. It would add a much needed competitive boost to the game, and give us all something to work for aside from just playing casually.

(DrpPlates) #32

maybe, but then again…if even the casual online FPS gamer couldnt figure out ETQW in just a few hours they should abandon gaming all together and go play ‘pick-up stix’
wasnt, nor is it a hard game to figure out… especially with the tutorial mode along with offline play vs bots…

imo what caused ‘many people hit a brick wall’(your words) was performance… lag killed ETQW not the actual game play…
many friends played it- and really really enjoyed the game- but hated the frame rate loss and lag and all horrible performance issues people experienced… to bad really, maybe with a few more patches SD could have fixed them.

as for Brink 2- am still waiting for Brink, the PC version- :wink:

(Loffy) #33

Yeah, and where’s the gym? Make it happen in B2, SD.

(king_troll) #34

CEO has already posted brink 2 will be out in Q2 2013
http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/showthread.php/28695-Work-at-Splash-Damage-Artists-Programmers-Producer-Wanted?p=340070&viewfull=1#post340070

(SockDog) #35

[QUOTE=king_troll;379973]CEO has already posted brink 2 will be out in Q2 2013
http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/showthread.php/28695-Work-at-Splash-Damage-Artists-Programmers-Producer-Wanted?p=340070&viewfull=1#post340070[/QUOTE]

That is a user called Paul.

(king_troll) #36

also from the netherlands

(BioSnark) #37

No doubt he’d be delighted with his new employer. :slight_smile:

(Darksider) #38

[QUOTE=king_troll;379973]CEO has already posted brink 2 will be out in Q2 2013
http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/showthread.php/28695-Work-at-Splash-Damage-Artists-Programmers-Producer-Wanted?p=340070&viewfull=1#post340070[/QUOTE]

LOL, the CEO goes by Locki on here…
http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/member.php/3-Locki

Paul is some wannabe trying to make himself look official.

(Donnovan) #39

Games i plan to buy in future: Rage.
Dont plan to buy any other Splash Damage tittle.

But since i buy random tittles sometimes (example: HAWX II), it may be possible to me put my hands on another game from then.

Rage is a secure way to go.

When you get old you need to get more from games, or there is no reason to waste your life with that.

Rage NVIDIA recommended card is a GTX 9800. This just make me fell like playing Quake 1 for the first time. Also, seeing people with SLI GTX 480 cards looking this with disgust, really proove once more my old old valors.

If they want to go mainstream, let then go. They don’t have Jesus on their hearts! Jesus is HARDCORE! HAHA!

(GR0MIT) #40

After being seriously disappointed on the PC with Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 i really hope that if a BRINK 2 is published they try to muscle in on CoD’s fanbase for PC, the franchise has been milked to much and now we have a substandard developer making it and it really shows, Mw3 looks like a baby ate mw2 and puked it all over my monitor, but in BRINK it had it’s own style, color quality and richness and great character models, Mw3 gun sounds are absolutly disgusting and i think we can all agree that BRINK really nailed the audio so we don’t have to worry about that.

Battlefield 3 looks and sounds amazing but it’s community are a bunch of knobs, much like CoD’s but they don’t have mom asking them if they want a sandwhich over an open mic. The gameplay is slow and lacks intensity and the map design on urban maps by DICE is laughable, the netcode behind the PC Bf3 is pretty poor but the bullet physics are a large part of that bad performance, don’t get me wrong they are absolutly amazing and achieve exactly what they should.

If BRINK 2 came out i would buy it in a second aslong as it met the following criteria.

1- A more mainstream style of Singleplayer standalone from the multiplayer.
2- Larger selection of guns.
3- A more significant difference in gun performance when using attachements.
4- Several game modes like Domination, Team Deathmath, Capture the Flag, Search and Destroy, Escort and ofcourse the usual gametype in BRINK similar to Bc2 and Bf3’s rush, Capture the Flag is designed for this game with the light body type opening up so many routes and possibilities.
5- Higher player count on dedicated servers upto 32 players.
6- Map creator for custom maps with full tutorials from the devs. This is something that kept a game like Call of Duty alive because of the user generated custom content.
7- Reward good players and punish bad, too many games have been rewarding people with silly perks, guns and abilities recently, if your bad at the game then why should you be rewarded?. stop promoting mediocrity and lazyness.

I can’t tell you how unwhelmed i have been by recent games making almost no effort to ge me excited, BRINK even though it did fail had me on the edge of my seat for almost an entire year prior to release, no other game has done that except CoD4.

Splash and Beth have a great oppotunity to bury CoD for good, i love my CoD but the poor girl needs to be laid to rest, it’s starting to stink the place up and hold the market back by setting bad examples as to what they and other companies can get away with regarding the treatment of thier customers.

Add to the list if you like, hopefully the devs will see this and realise they have a huge cash cow on thier hands if handled correctly, about time we had a new FPS king.

CoD is dead, long live CoD.