1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.
  2. Hey Guest, is it this your first time on the forums?

    Visit the Beginner's Box

    Introduce yourself, read some of the ins and outs of the community, access to useful links and information.

    Dismiss Notice

Devlog TR Log - Lobby Redesign and Finished Soundtrack!

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Geti, Aug 7, 2015.

  1. Geti

    Geti Please avoid PMing me (poke a mod instead) THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

    Messages:
    3,730
    This week in Trench Run news - some clarification on our current direction with the lobby!

    Over the week we’ve had a big discussion about what we really want to get out of the lobbies - and decided that it should be a social as well as functional place for players of a similar level to gather. To that end, we’ve reduced the number and variation in lobbies immensely from what was planned. This has meant scrapping some previous work, but we feel like the new direction is much more focussed and will make more sense for players in the long run.

    Before we get into the new one, the previous plan was to have a lobby per-gamemode, as well as some minigame lobbies, and to swap between them with a menu. While this is an achievable and practical goal, it led to quite a large number of lobbies per region, with concerns about being able to reliably fill the lobbies each day, even at peak time. As we all know, a surefire way to ensure a game dies early is to split up the players.

    [​IMG]
    Current concept sketch of the lobby plans, complete with VIP Bar!


    The current aim is to have Novice, Regular, and Master lobbies in each region, and to do gamemode selection (currently just skirmish/campaign) within that lobby. This makes it so you can see everyone who’s playing at your skill level in your region, and where they are playing their games. To accomplish this, we’ve had to create some new assets and still need to create new code to run and maintain the multi-gamemode lobbies, but we think it will be well worth it in the end.

    The physical structure of the lobby is still in flux but the plan is to have a recreational area in the middle, initially featuring a bar, band and basketball hoop, and trucks at the sides that players can get into to join games. This gives quick, physical feedback on which gamemodes have faster queues, and allows easy switching between waiting for each mode - you just go and get in the other truck.

    [​IMG]
    An early mock-up of the truck with players inside waiting for skirmish.


    Whatever ends up happening, the Novice lobby should feature an expanded help HUD to help new players understand the lobby system quickly. This would be absent in the Regular and Master lobbies as players there will already have an understanding of how the lobby works, meaning new players can learn quickly but old players dont get nagged by tooltips!

    Let us know what you think of this lobby direction! It’s still in flux and your ideas could help shape the game for the better!

    In other news, Paul has finished the bulk of the soundtrack, including the main theme and themes for each biome! We’re working on getting the new tracks in game asap and have been looping them in the background while we work. The soundtrack is the kind of music that gets into your head easily, you’ll be humming the tracks on the way to work or school we promise! We’re so happy with how easy the process has been and how nice Paul is to work with. Definitely a highlight of the week!

    KAG news will be coming shortly as we’ll try to get a build out next week if all goes well; Norill’s work on menus may be released if everything tests well, but otherwise the impending changes are mainly bugfixes, balance changes and reversions.

    Have Fun!

    Max


    Original: http://www.thd.vg/post/126072577275/tr-log-lobby-redesign-and-finished-soundtrack
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2015
  2. Klokinator

    Klokinator Such Beta
    1. Aphelion's Roleplay

    Messages:
    1,443
    I haven't played much TR yet, but it looks sick. Once I have free time I'll be all over it. An interactive lobby also sounds way coolio :O
     
    Geti likes this.
  3. Fellere825

    Fellere825 KAG Guard Tester

    Messages:
    890
    To anyone who lives in a state with many unemployed Hispanic people. That truck looks like one of those pick-ups stopping by a Home Depot and picking up some migrant workers to trim lawns and stuff. Geti are those illegal immigrants looking for work? Does this work include healthcare? According to Cameron the healthcare of America sucks but if that truck is to Australia then it probably has better healthcare.

    Also the lobby made me more excited for the game then the gameplay to be honest. Will lobby have day night cycle? I don't know the feasibility of it but having a day night cycle coincide with the times of each region would be cool.

    Also since you are going for a war looking type of game I would suggest helicopters instead of trucks. And having a spinning blade animation that speeds up as more players hop onto the chopper. It would allow more movement then having an idle truck. Unless the truck will have it's own weird idle animation. But it being a truck it will look like it's humping it's own suspension.
     
    FuzzyBlueBaron, Noburu and Geti like this.
  4. Geti

    Geti Please avoid PMing me (poke a mod instead) THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

    Messages:
    3,730
    Everyone has pretty amazing healthcare, there's constant medical drops with instructions for how to do all the fancy surgery etc. It's the Australian model ;)

    TR is (in our headcanon) actually just a big campsite with "battles" fought over drunken wagers for laughs. Everyone comes back at the end for beer and wine, then argues and goes out again. The "War" theme is hopefully transparent enough to be like 75:25 nonsense:serious. ww1 references alongside portable guided rocket launchers. Worms style constant supply drops. Beer team and Wine team. And eventually, funny party banter.

    I'm actually very glad you say the lobby has you more keen than the gameplay tbh; we feel that the gameplay is super strong, but that it'll only be half of what people come back for over and over. Persistent moneys and a place to idle and drink booze with friends between rounds? Master league to show how much better than johny you are? Swapping skins for dollars? Unfortunately that's the kind of thing people want to see these days. So we've built a fun couch game, now we have to build the bait to make people play, haha.


    I kinda like the idea of helicopters but they sound both expensive for a campsite and expensive to animate nicely, haha. We're planning on having the trucks come and go along the map dropping people off at games and making particles, rumbling around etc.
     
  5. 8x

    8x Elimination Et Choix Traduisant la Realité Forum Moderator Staff Alumni Tester
    1. The Young Blood Collective - [YB]

    Messages:
    1,325
    Is that a basketpall pitch? Sports with simple 2d physics would be great for the lobby.
     
    Asu likes this.
  6. Asu

    Asu THD Team THD Team Forum Moderator

    Messages:
    1,580
    Too bad, I'd stick to crushing people in trucks rather than crashing on someone with an helicopter.
     
  7. Fellere825

    Fellere825 KAG Guard Tester

    Messages:
    890
    How about China Beach like the R&R area they used for US soldiers in the Vietnam war? Old school beach Vietnam pixel war? If you go the truck route can you have airdrops of tequila and other spirits? Then we can have cocktail making competitions? Where we forage for oranges from trees and stuff and make drinks?

    You can tell I'm more excited for the lobby lol!
     
    FuzzyBlueBaron, Noburu and Yagger like this.
  8. Horse_That_Goes_Ni

    Horse_That_Goes_Ni Your favorite Persian Staff Alumni Donator

    Messages:
    233
    i love you no homo

    EDIT: Will it be possible to make a group where you can invite your friends into? Not necessarily a lobby but a group that shows the players, their ranks, when they were last online, etc. I think it would be a nice addition for groups of friends who play trench run. It could be like a friends list in a way.

    ANOTHER EDIT: added in no homo :wink:
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2015
  9. TheDirtySwine

    TheDirtySwine Haxor Staff Alumni Donator

    Messages:
    818
    Luckily Trench Run is way more simplistic when it comes to combat compared to KAG. Between that and the insane amounts of fun it is, player retention shouldn't be as big of an issue. I still think adding some kind of achievements would be nice. I want to be able to "master" a class.

    I hope you guys are able to get some more advertising done for this game because I think this has the largest potential to be a big indie hit.

    Can't wait to play with friends!
     
  10. Klokinator

    Klokinator Such Beta
    1. Aphelion's Roleplay

    Messages:
    1,443
    B-but I like complex combat :(
     
    PUNK123 likes this.
  11. Yagger

    Yagger Kouji's bitch 5eva Staff Alumni Tester
    1. SharSharShar - [SHARK]

    Messages:
    646
    came for the war game

    stayed for the spirit drinking minigames and drunken bets
     
    FuzzyBlueBaron, Mazey, Sturm and 2 others like this.
  12. Geti

    Geti Please avoid PMing me (poke a mod instead) THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

    Messages:
    3,730
    There's a preview of the main theme here for those keen to have a listen

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvb62uFR2VA

    Re: combat complexity - honestly I feel like there's more to the class interactions here than in KAG, and there'll be even more once there's teams involved. There aren't all the items to make things "complicated", but in terms of depth and mastery there's a lot of room for high level play - just thankfully, most new players get past the level of "waste of skin" much faster without so many different things to focus on.

    Re: drinking, betting, air drops of spirits - the first two are already on the list, the latter could be fun for sure (for those without much coin to spare to still join in the party).

    Re: groups - we don't have this planned currently as that'd require a lot of client-accessible backend work. All of the backend work so far has just been for the servers, so they can access the coins and stats and so on and pass them to the player. It should be quite easy to meet up with friends though as there isn't going to be nearly as much server separation as there is in KAG (in fact, no custom server support is planned initially, we'll only be opening that up after the full release of the game).

    Re: basketball/2d physics games in the lobby - already done! it's terrible with 400 ping though, haha.
     
    Bint, 8x, _Cuffs_ and 4 others like this.
  13. Fellere825

    Fellere825 KAG Guard Tester

    Messages:
    890
    About how difficult would it be to be able to add your own music to a soundtrack so everyone can listen like a jukebox?
     
  14. Geti

    Geti Please avoid PMing me (poke a mod instead) THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

    Messages:
    3,730
    online? quite.
    locally? pretty simple.
     
  15. Klokinator

    Klokinator Such Beta
    1. Aphelion's Roleplay

    Messages:
    1,443
    I haven't actually played it yet. Maybe I should.
     
  16. franek123

    franek123 The architect of the royal castle. Donator Tester

    Messages:
    514
    What about duels? You could bet how many coins you want then win fortune or lose everything. It would make duels really intense and more fun.
    I though about tadem as a vehicle and even made shitty sprite for it:
    bike.png
     
    FuzzyBlueBaron, Chukka, Geti and 4 others like this.
  17. Geti

    Geti Please avoid PMing me (poke a mod instead) THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

    Messages:
    3,730
    Re: Duels - we've got something like that planned for the master lobby :) We're not likely to put these sort of "hardcore" "high risk" options in other lobbies to avoid rustling johny's jimmies but I'd like to give more serious players something to get the blood pumping too (nothing like a wager where one of you is gonna be too poor to play with the big kids afterwards)

    @Klokinator - the demo is a bit "out of date" now but gives a reasonable indication of at least the assault <-> sniper <-> commando interactions, at least if you play with other humans. A few people were playing it "online" with windows remote desktop if you dont have friends to play with irl ;)
     
    link6155 and franek123 like this.