Addressing a problem before it becomes the biggest problem in the game, again.

[CrazyVanilla]

There is a very big issue currently in the game, only it's hidden behind the low player count, but the issue is there regardless, and can really have a big impact on the game if the player count increases like last time. That problem, is the enemies and areas.

If you were around when mobile version first came out, and I'm sure Robby remembers this, the player count dramatically spiked up, literally going from like 40 players to upwards of 150 players, even closing in on 200 at some points. The game was not at all prepared for this, when this happened it was literally impossible to grind because there was just simply too many players, and therefor the new players didn't last. In my opinion, many players ended up just quitting because of this, at the time stalagmites were the best enemy to grind so it was littered with high level players competing, making it extremely difficult for the high level players to even grind, never mind the lower level players, who basically were not able to grind at all. Seeing as grinding enemies is still currently the only thing to do in the game, aside from some pvp on the side, this problem remains if the player count goes back up, and even now it still somewhat persists as it is.

For some reason, when a new area or enemies are added, they are only added to 1, maybe 2 areas, with most of the time the area actually only supporting 1 or 2 players grinding there. This is not even mentioning the useless areas that get added, like #72 with dome shrooms. That area has such potential being a large open area, yet the dome shrooms are set to a 3 minute spawn time in most of the spawn spots, like really? 3 minutes?

A perfect example of this is Scrap Bots. Scrap Bots are the first enemy thats actually leaning towards the higher lvl players, and was a great addition to the game. The problem? Well they only spawn in 1 area, that area is very small, and AT MAX, only supports 2 people grinding in that area. Assuming Scrap Bots are meant for level 65-70's, why on earth do they only exist in an area only supportive of 2 players grinding when there is easily 150+ players level 65+ trying to grind these? This becomes somewhat of an issue even right now WITH the low player count, so what happens if the player count were to double or triple again? It would literally be impossible to grind, the core and basically only function of the game, and even worse than last time because at least the caves were very large areas supportive of 5+ people grinding in each. To clarify, I'm all for grinding with other players and sharing areas, I'm not however in support of sharing an area meant for 2 players with 5+ players, when this can easily be prevented.

The Solution:

Well, since it has been clearly stated servers will not be introduced until the game averages a very large amount of players, that is not the solution.

The solution is quite simple, for future enemies and even to some current enemies / areas, add larger areas supportive of more players grinding, and add multiple areas for the new good enemies. Like scrap bots, even sticking with the area theme of a garbage dump, that area could easily be 2-3x larger and add an additional 6-10 spawn spots throughout it, allowing it to support 5-8 players grinding there at a time instead of only 1-2 like it is now. With the new highest level enemy, the Blizzer, coming out shortly, this is the perfect time to act on this problem and prevent it from becoming a bigger problem than it is.

TL;DR
If you want the game to actually expand, the game needs to be prepared for expansion. The new areas and enemies that are added seem to be added to fit the 30-40 player count, the current areas will not support another decent increase in the player count, and may even be part of the reason why the player count doesn't increase much anymore.

[Flashlight237]

I'm personally neutral of this one. On one hand, having decent-sized areas with plenty of mob spawns to farm would be great, but on the other hand, if an area is too large and mazelike, you might get lost and it'd be a bit tough to carry on with the story. Pretty much you have to decide between area size and story progression here.

Though if you ask me, stats shouldn't be the only thing that makes a mob challenging. Scrap Bots, for instance, have a rapid-fire attack that basically made them the most challenging mob in the game thus far. I've made mobs that have varying mechanics, like a bacteriophage necromancer that summons zombies through farts. Heck, recently, I've went out of my way to try and make the Mandrake more difficult to fight because it is about as tanky as a Rafflesia.

[CrazyVanilla]

bump

[Robby]

Ok thanks for the feedback. I'll go ahead and increase the spawn rate of enemies in area #72. I didn't realize I'd set that THAT low.

Yea, I was actually thinking about enemy creation last week. I think I may be going a little overboard on new enemy types, and as a result they are limited to 1 or 2 areas for some enemy types. I think my development time may be spent better not creating so many new types of enemies with similar difficulty. I think I'd be better off creating less new enemy types, and instead increase the difficulty between the types I do create. For example, the two mushroom enemies are fairly close in difficulty, perhaps I should have only created 1 of them and spent the development time elsewhere.

I'll try to keep what you mentioned in mind for the future. I do plan on maybe trying to see some options for promoting the game some this week so we can get the player base increased some, since it's been fairly stagnant for a while now.

[CrazyVanilla]

Ok thanks for the feedback. I'll go ahead and increase the spawn rate of enemies in area #72. I didn't realize I'd set that THAT low.

Yea, I was actually thinking about enemy creation last week. I think I may be going a little overboard on new enemy types, and as a result they are limited to 1 or 2 areas for some enemy types. I think my development time may be spent better not creating so many new types of enemies with similar difficulty. I think I'd be better off creating less new enemy types, and instead increase the difficulty between the types I do create. For example, the two mushroom enemies are fairly close in difficulty, perhaps I should have only created 1 of them and spent the development time elsewhere.

I'll try to keep what you mentioned in mind for the future. I do plan on maybe trying to see some options for promoting the game some this week so we can get the player base increased some, since it's been fairly stagnant for a while now.

Awesome. I don't know exactly how much work it is for you to create and implement a new enemy, though I assume it is a fair amount, so I agree 100% that it may be better to create less individual enemies and have them more spread out in difficulty.

[Robby]

Yea exactly! It's not a ton of work, but it's still the better half of part of a day depending on how many new features it implements.

[Flashlight237]

For example, the two mushroom enemies are fairly close in difficulty, perhaps I should have only created 1 of them and spent the development time elsewhere.

Dunno about that one. From personal experience, the Dome Shroom is significantly more difficult to fight than the Shroom Warrior. In fact, I'd say the top 3 most difficult things to fight are as follows:

1. Scrap Bots
2. Cionic Organism
3. Dome Shrooms

[Soldeir5]

For example, the two mushroom enemies are fairly close in difficulty, perhaps I should have only created 1 of them and spent the development time elsewhere.

Dunno about that one. From personal experience, the Dome Shroom is significantly more difficult to fight than the Shroom Warrior. In fact, I'd say the top 3 most difficult things to fight are as follows:

1. Scrap Bots
2. Cionic Organism
3. Dome Shrooms

Correct Flashlight, Because, Shroom Warrior is easy to Kill it since it has a little stop for the voice line, giving time to the player Fight or Run.
1 More Question about Mushroom Warrior.
It has Less DEFense than Dome Shroom?

[Someone]

I think the player count was at most 50-60 people before mobile was added