SOLUTION TO W2/SERVER FOUND HERE

[Warchief Lightbringer-]

Kickstarter
$20 own avatar
$50 own avatar and shirt
$1,000 get on war2 council
$10 get invited and kept up to date on grand opening event
$10,000 get out of jail when hacking unlimited pass


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FIXED

[dellam]

Kickstarter
$20 own avatar
$50 own avatar and shirt
$1,000 get on war2 council
$10 get invited and kept up to date on grand opening event
$10,000 get out of jail when hacking unlimited pass


Sent from my nokia 5110 using Tapatalk

FIXED

Hacking won't be a thing ....
You won't be able to anymore
Bans will be for things like bad language or insulting people / breaking other server rules


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[EviL~Ryu]

Kickstarter
$20 own avatar
$50 own avatar and shirt
$1,000 get on war2 council
$10 get invited and kept up to date on grand opening event
$10,000 get out of jail when hacking unlimited pass


Sent from my nokia 5110 using Tapatalk

FIXED

Lmfao


Sent from my Motorola DynaTAC 8000X using Tapatalk

[~oE~]

You guys are all operating under the false premise that a large investment/commitment will lead to a large increase in users. I dont believe this to be true. The fact is this is an OLD game with OLD graphics and OLD mechanics. In a super advanced console and PC world, no one new is going to join. This game still exists because of the few loyals that love this game for nostalgic reasons.

That said if you want to fix things make a minimal investment that requires marginal changes that can be handled more readily such as hosting and anti hacking. that will create an environment where there are more games for the frequent loyals that play which is what the community needs.

my two cents...

[mousEtopher]

lol lb

This is a good idea! I had the same thought that the only plausible way to "save" the game at this point is to invest some serious cash -- add all the features that have been pending for ages, fix all the glitches, streamline everything so the game is much smoother for existing players and much more newb-friendly. Of course it's a lot of work to go to for a very old game, but if someone has the time and money to sink into it then why not? Kickstarter ftw!

And there's definitely a ton of things that can be done:

- fix display glitches in new OSes
- 24/7 autohosting bots for a variety of maps
- system to let clan leaders assign icons to their own clan members
- automatically recording all games, like on Fightcade! (Don't know if it's possible, but how sweet would that be?)
- better ladder? integrate with ladder tab in server?
- improving lag/conflict/hosting issues?
- single email-verified account shared between website, forum & server, with a single profile on the site for stats, replays, game history (I personally think this is very important, especially for getting new players involved)
- lots and lots of advertising & cash prize tournies

I hope you guys get somewhere with this. Whether it should build on .ru or be a complete from-the-ground-up rewrite is probably for the developers to decide. Depending on how well-coded .ru is (or isn't) it might be easier to start from scratch. That'd be something to discuss with iL after the project is funded.

I'd also suggest looking beyond Lance for developer(s), not only because he has a lot of bad (or at least ambiguous) history with war2, but also simply because there are a lot of brilliant programmers out there and no logical reason to not at least explore your options. He does have the familiarity though, so a consulting position might be the ticket.

[EviL~Ryu]

my two cents...

More like your 2 million...mind blown.




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[dellam]

lol lb

This is a good idea! I had the same thought that the only plausible way to "save" the game at this point is to invest some serious cash -- add all the features that have been pending for ages, fix all the glitches, streamline everything so the game is much smoother for existing players and much more newb-friendly. Of course it's a lot of work to go to for a very old game, but if someone has the time and money to sink into it then why not? Kickstarter ftw!

And there's definitely a ton of things that can be done:

- fix display glitches in new OSes
- 24/7 autohosting bots for a variety of maps
- system to let clan leaders assign icons to their own clan members
- automatically recording all games, like on Fightcade! (Don't know if it's possible, but how sweet would that be?)
- better ladder? integrate with ladder tab in server?
- improving lag/conflict/hosting issues?
- single email-verified account shared between website, forum & server, with a single profile on the site for stats, replays, game history (I personally think this is very important, especially for getting new players involved)
- lots and lots of advertising & cash prize tournies

I hope you guys get somewhere with this. Whether it should build on .ru or be a complete from-the-ground-up rewrite is probably for the developers to decide. Depending on how well-coded .ru is (or isn't) it might be easier to start from scratch. That'd be something to discuss with iL after the project is funded.

I'd also suggest looking beyond Lance for developer(s), not only because he has a lot of bad (or at least ambiguous) history with war2, but also simply because there are a lot of brilliant programmers out there and no logical reason to not at least explore your options. He does have the familiarity though, so a consulting position might be the ticket.

Some great ideas

You guys need to think out side the box, read my previous posts about hitting 10,000'new users, I outlined marketing strategies and timelines .
Stop thinking about what you want, think about what the new player wants. They can download an app and play a multiplayer game in 30 secs.



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[MaStA{hR}]

Edit: Dellam, please stop posting. Your posts are an attempt to derail the great momentum we've got going. Your ideas parallel that of a toddler. So just please, stop. lol.

Would there be a way to increase the DPI/graphics clarity if we hired a developer team? The mechanics are flawless for the most part and still ahead of its time. This game is a rare gem and beats out a lot of old AND new games. Hell CS and games shittier than that have blurry graphics and there are still thousands of active users. IF we fix the hosting issues, we can retain players a lot easier. There are a number of new people that haven't played w2 in years but found .RU download after googling this game. They get on, play 3 games in the course of 2 hours (because they can't host), get frustrated, then uninstall the game. Sound familiar? Sure does. If we get our act together, and people can host the games they want to play, there would be a much easier time at finding a larger user base. Some of us are looking at it the wrong way.

The simple fact is we've got to approach it like this in this order:
(This is our target audience with the solutions that Miranda and I have provided)

1. Attempt to retain the community we currently have. (Which is evidently dwindling by ~1 every month)
2. Attempt to reach out to members who have recently quit. (Which evidently numbers anywhere between 200-2000)
3. Attempt to reach out to old east/west and beyond players who have moved on with their lives/other games. (Warcraft 2 has sold over 2 million copies according to Wikipedia. Finding a way to reach out to any destitute nerd that has any chemical level of nostalgia seems plausible - We could reach out to the thousands with minimal advertising costs and even if we grab a conservative number of 1 out of every 10,000 user we reach, still raise our community up)
4. Attempt to find a new user base from people who have never played the game. (There are a lot of RTS players... look at the hundreds of games like www.tribalwars.net players that are into browser based RTS. These games are way worse than W2 but they find a way to capture them. We advertise our game on sites like this we could reach out to millions of users and even if we capture just 1 in 10,000...)

You guys are very pessimistic. Even if it is realism, it's not the right way to think about it. Move out of the way so hot blood like myself and tk[as] can fucking raise money *DONATIONS* NOT *INVESTMENTS* - because there is zero return on investment and increase this user base.

DO THE STATISTICAL MATH. IF YOU REACH OUT TO THE RIGHT AUDIENCE IT IS SUPER REAL.

[xXxSmeagolxXx]

Edit: Dellam, please stop posting. Your posts are an attempt to derail the great momentum we've got going. Your ideas parallel that of a toddler. So just please, stop. lol.

Would there be a way to increase the DPI/graphics clarity if we hired a developer team? The mechanics are flawless for the most part and still ahead of its time. This game is a rare gem and beats out a lot of old AND new games. Hell CS and games shittier than that have blurry graphics and there are still thousands of active users. IF we fix the hosting issues, we can retain players a lot easier. There are a number of new people that haven't played w2 in years but found .RU download after googling this game. They get on, play 3 games in the course of 2 hours (because they can't host), get frustrated, then uninstall the game. Sound familiar? Sure does. If we get our act together, and people can host the games they want to play, there would be a much easier time at finding a larger user base. Some of us are looking at it the wrong way.

The simple fact is we've got to approach it like this in this order:
(This is our target audience with the solutions that Miranda and I have provided)

1. Attempt to retain the community we currently have. (Which is evidently dwindling by ~1 every month)
2. Attempt to reach out to members who have recently quit. (Which evidently numbers anywhere between 200-2000)
3. Attempt to reach out to old east/west and beyond players who have moved on with their lives/other games. (Warcraft 2 has sold over 2 million copies according to Wikipedia. Finding a way to reach out to any destitute nerd that has any chemical level of nostalgia seems plausible - We could reach out to the thousands with minimal advertising costs and even if we grab a conservative number of 1 out of every 10,000 user we reach, still raise our community up)
4. Attempt to find a new user base from people who have never played the game. (There are a lot of RTS players... look at the hundreds of games like www.tribalwars.net players that are into browser based RTS. These games are way worse than W2 but they find a way to capture them. We advertise our game on sites like this we could reach out to millions of users and even if we capture just 1 in 10,000...)

You guys are very pessimistic. Even if it is realism, it's not the right way to think about it. Move out of the way so hot blood like myself and tk[as] can fucking raise money *DONATIONS* NOT *INVESTMENTS* - because there is zero return on investment and increase this user base.

DO THE STATISTICAL MATH. IF YOU REACH OUT TO THE RIGHT AUDIENCE IT IS SUPER REAL.

So far this seems like a great approach almost all the ideas by TK and Masta on this thread. Tk should be given a large head in this project. Masta should also be given a bit of pull, I say they are the first in the new council. I and Tora will do whatever we can for this project. Whether it's raising some of the money to advertising. Keep me up to date. Mouse, Blid, and of course IL should be given some say in this having run servers and knowing what is required.

[dellam]

Edit: Dellam, please stop posting. Your posts are an attempt to derail the great momentum we've got going. Your ideas parallel that of a toddler. So just please, stop. lol.

Would there be a way to increase the DPI/graphics clarity if we hired a developer team? The mechanics are flawless for the most part and still ahead of its time. This game is a rare gem and beats out a lot of old AND new games. Hell CS and games shittier than that have blurry graphics and there are still thousands of active users. IF we fix the hosting issues, we can retain players a lot easier. There are a number of new people that haven't played w2 in years but found .RU download after googling this game. They get on, play 3 games in the course of 2 hours (because they can't host), get frustrated, then uninstall the game. Sound familiar? Sure does. If we get our act together, and people can host the games they want to play, there would be a much easier time at finding a larger user base. Some of us are looking at it the wrong way.

The simple fact is we've got to approach it like this in this order:
(This is our target audience with the solutions that Miranda and I have provided)

1. Attempt to retain the community we currently have. (Which is evidently dwindling by ~1 every month)
2. Attempt to reach out to members who have recently quit. (Which evidently numbers anywhere between 200-2000)
3. Attempt to reach out to old east/west and beyond players who have moved on with their lives/other games. (Warcraft 2 has sold over 2 million copies according to Wikipedia. Finding a way to reach out to any destitute nerd that has any chemical level of nostalgia seems plausible - We could reach out to the thousands with minimal advertising costs and even if we grab a conservative number of 1 out of every 10,000 user we reach, still raise our community up)
4. Attempt to find a new user base from people who have never played the game. (There are a lot of RTS players... look at the hundreds of games like www.tribalwars.net players that are into browser based RTS. These games are way worse than W2 but they find a way to capture them. We advertise our game on sites like this we could reach out to millions of users and even if we capture just 1 in 10,000...)

You guys are very pessimistic. Even if it is realism, it's not the right way to think about it. Move out of the way so hot blood like myself and tk[as] can fucking raise money *DONATIONS* NOT *INVESTMENTS* - because there is zero return on investment and increase this user base.

DO THE STATISTICAL MATH. IF YOU REACH OUT TO THE RIGHT AUDIENCE IT IS SUPER REAL.

Your just quoting what I alreAdy planned except yours if is gibberish and unthought out . No timelines or real ambision.
MAsta I put a lot of effort into this twice before but unfortunately the majority of people here don't want the server to grow. A lot of people are happy just having 2 people in chat to verse in a game . If there were 2,000 games going, those people wouldn't be happy.
That's the reason it didn't grow when I offered to get 10,000 members before . That's the reason it won't grow now . Also some1 will forget this thread and restart the same conversation in 18 months time


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[chayliss]

this game is so old the only thing that really would give a boost is a warcraft 2 HD

[MaStA{hR}]

That would actually be great. Is this possible? To redo the artwork or something?

[iL]

Hi, MaStA{hR}!

Well, your idea about crowd funding campaign is generally fine, i accept that.

I agree with you that there is no investment here. Just to pay and to have happy gaming on the return.

I also have to say that i have no such team and have no experience in such hiring. So, would be great if you will find that team (or maybe you with anyone like Lance together).

Then we should make a list of tasks that could be resolved by forces of such team.
Mousey's list is a good start, let me append and comment it how i see that:
- fix display glitches in new OSes - yes, great task for outsourcing team! I'd say, fix ALL glitches in new OS'es + add 100% working windowed mode.

- 24/7 autohosting bots for a variety of maps - i'd say, the only problem is $10-$15 per months payments. 1 windows VPS hosting + Lance's hostbot with simple extention for lots of maps will 100% cover that.

- system to let clan leaders assign icons to their own clan members - simple php-script, could be easily released by me or by any foreign freelancer.

- automatically recording all games, like on Fightcade! (Don't know if it's possible, but how sweet would that be?) - good idea, good possible option is auto attaching to OBS or another streaming video system. Also a task for outsourcing team. To release as a couple of functions to be included to loader or anywhere else.

- better ladder? integrate with ladder tab in server? - yes, another thing to outsourcing team. Even could be released separately from the existing project.

- improving lag/conflict/hosting issues? - not sure if it's resolvable. The only solution i see is to find VPS hosting based in USA or w/e else. It's the easiest thing: give me such hosting, monthly payments for that and i'll move the whole project server.war2.ru there. I'll give you the technical requirements if you accept.

- single email-verified account shared between website, forum & server, with a single profile on the site for stats, replays, game history (I personally think this is very important, especially for getting new players involved) - interesting idea, i thought about that, still didn't find any beautiful solutions, i think that deserves a separate thread to discuss the details.

- lots and lots of advertising & cash prize tournies - also good thing, just pay and enjoy.

Also some additions from me:
- to update combat, to add music, add several languages, add map editor and sereval utilities (war2observe, war2insight, gateway editor, etc.). My plan to do that myself one day. And i really release new versions from time to time, so i think i'll do that one day...

- to finish antihack. Also my plan. I don't see how to outsource this task to a foreign team, maybe just partially. We have conersations with Lance about that months ago.

After that it could be a good time to start advertisement campaign in social networks and elsewhere.

Also we should resolve some social problems, like old players ban and kick newcomers, "good" players don't want to play with newcomers, that barrier between different levels of experience is really a big problem. Also shit talking alienates some possible players i think.

Would there be a way to increase the DPI/graphics clarity if we hired a developer team?

I don't think that is a high priority task, i think it's quite difficult. What we can reach, is the same 2D graphics with maybe higher resolution (1280x1024 instead of 640x480 with texture sizes like 64x64 instead of 32x32 or w/e - just to make each texture x4 higher than existing). And will cost about $x0000. And i'm not sure that will not cause any new glitches in the interface...

So I have not forgotten about this project, but I've put it on pause until I have more free time.

Nice to see you still here, Lance! I hope you'll be back in a few months, me too i hope. Well, my work busiest time is not Oct/Nov/Dec, i just have some important things in my personal life. I hope that problems will be resolved in a month or 2-3 months also.
So, let me know when you will have free time, we began some projects with antihack notifications and pvpgn server, i hope we will continue that one day...