Feedback Request: MTA

[VengefulPastry]

Greetings again,

Last year, I created this game but had no success in garnering any interest in it outside of 3 complete strangers and (of course) my friends. I would like to start on new gaming projects in the future, but would like more feedback on what went wrong, and what specifically I need to improve on these future projects.

Please try out my game (if it works- it works flawlessly on the less than 20 computers I have available, but I understand that this is a small subset of all the computer configurations available out there), and either in this thread or by my email address of VengefulPastry@aol.com, let me know where I went wrong (other than the obvious- graphics and sound).

Thanks!

Game Description:

In MonsterTech Arena, your goal is to create one or more highly customizable robotic Gladiators for competition in the Arena. Take direct control of your vehicle to engage the computer or another person (via LAN) in one-on-one bouts, or choose from a variety of sub-games (such as Capture the Flag or Invader) to compete in. You are rewarded after each competition with extra credits for upgrading your vehicle. More credits are awarded for winning, and less for losing...

Game controls are simple. Your vehicle will drive to wherever you left-click on the Arena floor, or you can hold down the left mouse button, moving the mouse about, and your vehicle will always follow the mouse icon on screen. The Shift key applies the brakes, and the Space key applies the turbo speed. Holding down the Control key is a bit more complicated- while pressed, your vehicle will attempt to keep its current bearings with regards to its target (if pressed while your target is 20 degrees Starboard, then your vehicle will always try to keep the target at 20 degrees Starboard).

System Requirements:

Microsoft Windows 95+, NT, ME, XP
DirectX 8+
96 MB Memory
1024x768x16 Graphics

The viewpoint is top-down 2D.
Screenshots:

http://vengefulpastry.com/files/Screen01.jpg
http://vengefulpastry.com/files/Screen02.jpg
http://vengefulpastry.com/files/Screen03.jpg
http://vengefulpastry.com/files/Screen04.jpg

To play the game, you will need to download this file:

http://vengefulpastry.com/files/MonsterTechArenaDemo.exe

After you have saved this file to your hard drive, double click on it to install it to your computer.

[terin]

Hey VP,

I know we had a fairly long conversation on this topic when I was writing your press release. I am re-downloading the game to make sure my thoughts still apply, but here is what went wrong. My opinion is you should do an honest post-mortem. It may give you more clarity than you think.

The idea of build-a-robot and have it kill other robots has been done before. It is a BRILLIANT idea that has been done indie and done with liscense and both have one thing in common: IT NEVER WORKS. It doesn't work, but not because it is a bad idea, but because it is always executed improperly! I'll take three historic games to give background on my "Build-a-bot failure mortem." Each game will have its own period in history, ending with yours.

The Early Days: Back in the 90s, at the time the MMO revolution was just starting a brilliant man had a brilliant idea about designing Dinosaurs and having them battle it out online. The system was a good idea, you have a set number of points to give your dinos and a few different varieties of them. You submit the design online via your crappy 14.4 or 36.6 modem (I think this may have been prior to 56k). Your dino or dino group is then placed into a tournament system and it gets a battle once a week or so. Battles are 100% automated, based on what attributes you gave your dino would affect its performance. Low intelligent and low sense dinos, for instance, would have a very hard time finding prey on the field of battle, let alone knowing which one it is best off attacking. Unfortunately the idea required people to do a lot of manual labor (submitting dinos manually, downloading their battle reports, ect.) The design and graphics were limited by the time period in which it existed. The number of attributes was fairly small, and the number of players never made this game a success. It was a network good that never got off the ground due to a flawed multiplayer design. Great idea... but as far as I am aware, never made any serious money.

The Middle Days: Battle Bots or Arena Wars or whatever it was got its own REAL game. It was a 3D game based on the TV show. It was the best chance for this genre to go the distance... you can now find it in bargain bins for a dollar. Don't pay it, it isn't worth it. The AI was horrid, the number of options was limited. The 3D was weak and really didn't add anything to the game. If I recall, online play either didn't exist or was poorly implimented. This game had only the name recognition and that is what drove sales. A crap product with a good name... im quite sure it made more than the well thought out Dino game.

Today:

I would venture to say the leader is Droid Arena 2. DA2 is a MMO web based game. It makes money from subscriptions and has a good audience. This is because it has a LOT of options and a good social environment, not to mention a much easier system (thanks to technology) than the dinosaur game did. The drawback is it requires programming your droids. Sure, that is half the fun for some of us, but it will never truely take off because not everyone wants to learn a programming language (even an easy one) to play a video game. For the posters on this board, im sure you all would love it. www.skotos.com has information if you are interested.

Monster Tech Arena:
Ok, so MTA is awesome. It made some major mistakes that are going to hold it back. The first are the graphics. Even DA 2 has better graphics than this and it is web based. The second is a common problem, the game is too complicated. It has to be easier to learn and easier to play. Equipment is very cool but so confusing at first. There must be a better way to design a game like this that makes it possible to play in seconds. There is also no plot, no story, and really, no reason to do anything. You have to create a sense of motivation. DA2 and the dinosaur game had a ladder... but they were online games. You need something more since it is primarily an offline game.

MTA "2" needs to look like this: An easy to play game with nice (not neccessarily A+ qulaity) graphics. A plot/story. A feeling of advancement and connection to your bot/mech.

Optionally you could add online support.

Right now MTA is ugly, complex, and the controls are... well, difficult. AI on a game like this can never outsmart a human... find a way around that.

I say stick to this genre and learn from the mistakes and triumphs all previous games have made. This genre is just WAITING for someone to create a breakout hit.

-Joe

[VengefulPastry]

I've spoken with Joe with IM online, and we exchanged a few ideas and expanded on the ones he presented here.

Does anybody else have any ideas?