SUGGESTION FORUM GUIDELINES
PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:02 pm
First off, welcome to the Suggestion forum.
Section 1- How does the forum work?
If you've been here a while, you already get this part, skip to section 2.
Players post their ideas on how to change the game, other people vote on them. Votes of "excellent" give +2 votes, "could be cool" give +1, and "do not like it" counts as -1. Suggestions that reach -10 votes are locked automatically by the forum.
The Team periodically reads through the forum and will sometimes mark suggestions one of three ways:
1.
This is confirmed and will be in the next version of Dystopia.
2.
We're thinking about the general idea, and it might or might not make an appearance in the next version or a version after that.
3.
For one reason or another, the Team has rejected the suggestion, check the replies for details as to why.
When you post a suggestion, do not edit any of the options under the "Poll Creation" tab! Doing so will break the voting system, and the moderators will have to lock your post.
Section 2- How to make a good suggestion
First step: search. Use the search feature to see if what you're trying to suggest has been mentioned already. This is important. If it has, rather than just make a new thread for the same issue, bump the old one. It helps us keep the suggestion forums clutter-free. If your issue hasn't been mentioned:
Present a clearly thought out suggestion on one issue, that demonstrates an understanding of the pros and cons of your suggestion and argues for why it should be implemented. The best suggestions demonstrate a clear and logical argument and should not leave the reader wondering what you are suggesting.
The best suggestion posts generally also only contain one suggestion per post. If you're suggesting two things, don't put them all in a single post; make one post per suggestion, or the moderators will have to lock your post. Conversely, if you're replying to someone else's suggestion, make sure you're only commenting on their suggestion. If you have another suggestion to make, make a separate thread.
Section 3- What not to suggest
Armor Regeneration We tried it. It didn't work. Please don't suggest it.
New Weapons/Replacing Weapons Right now, we don't have an animator. That means we can't do any new weapon designs, even if they were to replace an old weapon. Changing the functionality of a current weapon is OK to suggest, redesigning the weapon into something else just isn't something we can do right now. We'll let you know when they changes.
New Implants of more than 2 slots Right now we're looking for implants of 1-slot size only, no higher please. Passive implants only please.
Implants that have the same functionality as other implants We'd like all new implant suggestions to have an original and distinct functionality from the other implants, to keep them fresh and exciting.
Suggestions that need new voice acting Unfortunately we can't accept any suggestions relating to voice-acting right now. The reason why is that we no longer have access to the voice actors who did the original voices, and so we can't make new voices using those actors. We don't want to make some new voices using new actors and some using old actors, and right now we're just plain not ready to re-do all the voices with new actors so we can add more. We'll let you know if this changes.
Bots We're not going to make bots for Dystopia in the foreseeable future. I know some people want them, but that in itself is an absolutely huge project considering the complexity of Dystopia.
Single Player Dystopia Tutorials aside, a single player Dystopia would be another absolutely huge time expenditure that we're not interested in taking on at the moment.
Mines/Traps These have a tendency to slow down gameplay, so we don't particularly have any desire to have more of them. This goes for cyberspace too.
Major changes to established maps Minor changes are OK to suggest, but anything that requires a large amount of work to be done on a map is no-go. We'd like to focus on putting new maps out and keeping changes to old ones to the necessities, small tweaks, and bug fixes.
Major changes to implants We're happy with the basic idea behind all of the implants, and finding a way for them to fill that role better is fine, but we're not interested in redesigning any of them right now.
Major gameplay changes Again, we're not looking for anything huge that would, for example, cause us to revisit every map to integrate the suggestion. Tweaks are great, but we're not looking to redesign the game.
Bug Fixes/Reports If you'd like to report a bug, please put it here. We're more hoping to use this forum for the community to tell us what new things they'd like to put in the game. We'll get as much fixed as we can =)
Heavy Decking We tried it during testing. It sucked.
Weapons that don't focus on doing damage Yes, we know the EMP falls in this category, but we're not looking for any more of these. Poison/pushing weapons are just not something we want more of in the game right now.
Stealth + Cold Suit at the same time Balance issues there. Pass on that one.
Return the old shotgun model From a design perspective our current shotgun model is a lot more polished looking than the old one, so returning this model, even as an option, isn't particularly desirable.
The Beeper/Proximity Alarm One slot implant that beeps when enemies are near. We tried this in testing and it was fairly useless/no one liked it.
Dermal Plating/Armor Plating One slot implant that gives you a small amount of extra armor. We don't like the idea because it makes suicide more important/influential as a game mechanic, and is otherwise fairly uninteresting.
Make TAC Scan Unreliable TAC Scan is only useful because it is reliable. Suggestions that make TAC Scan unreliable, either by jamming it entirely, jamming it for certain players, or delaying the results of a TAC are not wanted. We have tried a TAC Jammer in past testing and it made TAC almost entirely useless.
Implants that do not affect gameplay Affecting gameplay is what we want implants to do. Please don't suggest implants that do things that don't affect gameplay, like add tutorial tooltips.
Nerf Implants Implants that nerf one weapon's effects on a player have come up several times. We're not interested in implementing these because its a bit of a balance cop-out. If the weapon is unbalanced, the right thing to go is alter the weapon so that it is balanced, rather than making a weapon powerful against people that lack a certain implant and weak against those who don't.
Proxy Any implant idea that would allow the player to press buttons which are not nearby. Rejected because it breaks a lot of things, like backhacking, silo vents, silo platform and fortress meatlock.
Energy transfer Implants that transfer energy to other plays and thus allow them to camp in cyberspace indefinitely.
Section 1- How does the forum work?
If you've been here a while, you already get this part, skip to section 2.
Players post their ideas on how to change the game, other people vote on them. Votes of "excellent" give +2 votes, "could be cool" give +1, and "do not like it" counts as -1. Suggestions that reach -10 votes are locked automatically by the forum.
The Team periodically reads through the forum and will sometimes mark suggestions one of three ways:
1.
This is confirmed and will be in the next version of Dystopia.2.
We're thinking about the general idea, and it might or might not make an appearance in the next version or a version after that.3.
For one reason or another, the Team has rejected the suggestion, check the replies for details as to why.When you post a suggestion, do not edit any of the options under the "Poll Creation" tab! Doing so will break the voting system, and the moderators will have to lock your post.
Section 2- How to make a good suggestion
First step: search. Use the search feature to see if what you're trying to suggest has been mentioned already. This is important. If it has, rather than just make a new thread for the same issue, bump the old one. It helps us keep the suggestion forums clutter-free. If your issue hasn't been mentioned:
Present a clearly thought out suggestion on one issue, that demonstrates an understanding of the pros and cons of your suggestion and argues for why it should be implemented. The best suggestions demonstrate a clear and logical argument and should not leave the reader wondering what you are suggesting.
The best suggestion posts generally also only contain one suggestion per post. If you're suggesting two things, don't put them all in a single post; make one post per suggestion, or the moderators will have to lock your post. Conversely, if you're replying to someone else's suggestion, make sure you're only commenting on their suggestion. If you have another suggestion to make, make a separate thread.
Section 3- What not to suggest
Armor Regeneration We tried it. It didn't work. Please don't suggest it.
New Weapons/Replacing Weapons Right now, we don't have an animator. That means we can't do any new weapon designs, even if they were to replace an old weapon. Changing the functionality of a current weapon is OK to suggest, redesigning the weapon into something else just isn't something we can do right now. We'll let you know when they changes.
New Implants of more than 2 slots Right now we're looking for implants of 1-slot size only, no higher please. Passive implants only please.
Implants that have the same functionality as other implants We'd like all new implant suggestions to have an original and distinct functionality from the other implants, to keep them fresh and exciting.
Suggestions that need new voice acting Unfortunately we can't accept any suggestions relating to voice-acting right now. The reason why is that we no longer have access to the voice actors who did the original voices, and so we can't make new voices using those actors. We don't want to make some new voices using new actors and some using old actors, and right now we're just plain not ready to re-do all the voices with new actors so we can add more. We'll let you know if this changes.
Bots We're not going to make bots for Dystopia in the foreseeable future. I know some people want them, but that in itself is an absolutely huge project considering the complexity of Dystopia.
Single Player Dystopia Tutorials aside, a single player Dystopia would be another absolutely huge time expenditure that we're not interested in taking on at the moment.
Mines/Traps These have a tendency to slow down gameplay, so we don't particularly have any desire to have more of them. This goes for cyberspace too.
Major changes to established maps Minor changes are OK to suggest, but anything that requires a large amount of work to be done on a map is no-go. We'd like to focus on putting new maps out and keeping changes to old ones to the necessities, small tweaks, and bug fixes.
Major changes to implants We're happy with the basic idea behind all of the implants, and finding a way for them to fill that role better is fine, but we're not interested in redesigning any of them right now.
Major gameplay changes Again, we're not looking for anything huge that would, for example, cause us to revisit every map to integrate the suggestion. Tweaks are great, but we're not looking to redesign the game.
Bug Fixes/Reports If you'd like to report a bug, please put it here. We're more hoping to use this forum for the community to tell us what new things they'd like to put in the game. We'll get as much fixed as we can =)
Heavy Decking We tried it during testing. It sucked.
Weapons that don't focus on doing damage Yes, we know the EMP falls in this category, but we're not looking for any more of these. Poison/pushing weapons are just not something we want more of in the game right now.
Stealth + Cold Suit at the same time Balance issues there. Pass on that one.
Return the old shotgun model From a design perspective our current shotgun model is a lot more polished looking than the old one, so returning this model, even as an option, isn't particularly desirable.
The Beeper/Proximity Alarm One slot implant that beeps when enemies are near. We tried this in testing and it was fairly useless/no one liked it.
Dermal Plating/Armor Plating One slot implant that gives you a small amount of extra armor. We don't like the idea because it makes suicide more important/influential as a game mechanic, and is otherwise fairly uninteresting.
Make TAC Scan Unreliable TAC Scan is only useful because it is reliable. Suggestions that make TAC Scan unreliable, either by jamming it entirely, jamming it for certain players, or delaying the results of a TAC are not wanted. We have tried a TAC Jammer in past testing and it made TAC almost entirely useless.
Implants that do not affect gameplay Affecting gameplay is what we want implants to do. Please don't suggest implants that do things that don't affect gameplay, like add tutorial tooltips.
Nerf Implants Implants that nerf one weapon's effects on a player have come up several times. We're not interested in implementing these because its a bit of a balance cop-out. If the weapon is unbalanced, the right thing to go is alter the weapon so that it is balanced, rather than making a weapon powerful against people that lack a certain implant and weak against those who don't.
Proxy Any implant idea that would allow the player to press buttons which are not nearby. Rejected because it breaks a lot of things, like backhacking, silo vents, silo platform and fortress meatlock.
Energy transfer Implants that transfer energy to other plays and thus allow them to camp in cyberspace indefinitely.