Jump to content

Dominic White

Members
  • Posts

    1
  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

About Dominic White

  • Birthday 07/29/1983

Contact Methods

  • AIM
    maxdamagel33t
  • Website URL
    http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2571966

Dominic White's Achievements

Junior Member

Junior Member (1/3)

0

Reputation

  1. Hail, fellow space-viking-dudes! I come to you (and this forum) as representative of a terrible, nomadic invading force. The Something Awful Forums. (Dun dun dunnnnnn!) Hailing from this forum thread here (with enclosed IRC channel) , we are drawing our ranks from a somewhat less serious bunch than the average Battlefront customer - generally people who are interested in sci-fi action gaming and multiplayer hijinks, and also the Mechwarrior/Battletech crowd. We're currently learning the ropes. A good few of us have bought the game just recently, and we're currently monkeying around with server hosting. Join our IRC channel and server and shoot at us. It'll be fun. We plan on eventually providing a somewhat more united front under the clan/guild/squad banner of 'My Tank Is Fight'. A cookie if you get the reference. It has also been suggested that once we know what we're doing, we should challenge 'The Upstarts' to a game of chess. Or tanks in space - whichever works. So, heya. We're new. Don't spank us too hard, or we'll call you names and you won't like that. So there. (WARNING: A HUGE DIATRIBE IS APPROACHING FAST) I now would like to address the Powers That Be - the people responsible for the running of this game, and these forums. I know it's frightfully presumptuous to just come in here and shooting my mouth off, but if I don't, nothing will change. I will not mask my intentions here. I think Dropteam could be doing a helluva lot better than it is, sales-wise. And it's currently held back by two key things - price and marketing. The $35 price tag is on par for a military sim aimed at the grognard market, but for an indie sci-fi action game, it's a figure that puts people off. If I might suggest it - a price-tag of $15 or $20 would be ideal. At the SA forums, a whole range of people immediately bought the game when it was available at a discount via Game Du Jour (see previous SA thread, linked on the first), simply because it was cheap enough to be considered a 'safe' impulse buy. The kind of price low enough to not induce regret if you find out that you lose interest after a day or two. Secondly, marketing. From what I've seen, this game has been promoted mainly at Battlefront customers - hardcore wargamers, grognards etc al. People who (generally speaking - I'm well aware there are exceptions) tend to turn their nose up at things like hovertanks and ion beams. However, I believe there is a large market out there for semi-realistic sci-fi combat. The people who still maintain online communities for games such as Mechwarrior and Battletech, as well as people who are looking for something more realistic than, say, Battlefield 2142. I do believe that there's a large, untapped market of people who would jump all over Dropteam if they even knew it existed, and found it to be accessible. So, this ties into a third point. Battlefronts store system isn't the most ideal distribution point for the game. It has been brought up on the SA forums that there are an increasing number of niche developer/publishers putting their games up for purchase via Steam, Valves internet publishing network. Sonalysts, notably, has a variety of naval simulators on the network. So. That's my introduction, and my thoguhts on how this game could reach more people. Why have I written all of that, you might ask? Well, it's simple. I like Dropteam. I just wish there were more people playing it - it doesn't deserve to be left on the wayside like this. On average, the single official server running for the game, Delta Pavonis, has ZERO people playing on it. Even a game like The Ship, considered a 'faliure' when it was published via Steam has in excess of 20 active public servers at this very moment. If an esoteric multiplayer game about murder mystery on an art-deco cruise liner can support a steady and active community presence, then there's no reason why Dropteam shouldn't. And now I've had my say. About as subtle as an orbital nuclear bombardment, I know. But that's how I roll.
×
×
  • Create New...