Hey guys,

Here's the fifth installment in our dev diary series written by our Lead Game Designer Alexandr Soloveyko:

Hi,

This is our last developer diary before the Live Beta starts and all you guys are welcome to try the Gang Wars expansion on the Beta server starting Nov. 1. In this diary, we want to share some more details about what you will see when entering the Live Beta server. All you guys will start on the Beta server with new characters and the first thing you’ll see is that there are no lobbies anymore! It’s already scary enough so here is the full story.

Those guys who tried CrimeCraft when it was released in 2009 can remember that initially we didn’t have the Refugee Orientation Area in the game. All new players found their characters in the lobby and they were on their own. The majority of them stopped playing without even entering their first match – many of them weren’t able to figure out how to enter a battle zone – mastering our lobby appeared to be a tricky puzzle. Adding the Refugee Area helped us a lot, but we still experience the same problem just to a smaller degree.

So in Gang Wars a player will get into a simple, easy to understand Quickplay interface with limited functionality, an obvious way to join a match and no way to get lost. The minimum set of interface windows are: the Join Battle menu to fight, the Character menu to customize your character, the Black Market to see all of the cool options, and the chat to see you’re not alone. Period. No crafting, no missions, not even a backpack.

Sounds scary? We believe that we have to do this in order to minimize confusion in newcomers. On the other hand, it’s not that hard to imagine how many of you guys will go nuts because of such huge a game changer. So our plan was as simple as that: at some moment after tasting the combat a player should get access to the lobbies and it will be his choice to experience the full game content or to keep playing through the Quickplay interface.

We found that we still have one significant problem with our existing interface. Imagine that you want some cool sniper rifle. So you press Tab, open the Black Market (or go and visit a Pawnbroker), search for the right section among a dozen of categories, open it, select the rifle, buy it, open the Character menu, search for the weapon in your backpack among a number of other items and… equip it? No, you don’t! As a new player you have to learn that you can’t use a sniper rifle and a grenade launcher at the same time. Most experienced players feel that this is easy and we also thought that this is something painfully obvious. But the fact is that it isn’t.

So we implemented different logic for getting and equipping items. You can click on any slot in your character menu and it will open what we call the Item Shop – a list of all possible items that you can purchase or that you have already purchased for the selected slot. This shop contains all items from Black Market, NPC vendors, Tournament Rewards vendor (oops!) and other sources. Here you’ll be able to buy items, equip and sell them. Just click on the smg slot and see a list of different available smgs and pistols. We added some filters in this interface: the possibility to see only pistols or only smgs, only items of your level, only purchased items and finally we were satisfied. We liked this feature so much we made it available when you’re in a lobby too. 

However there was one small problem. We don’t want to show the backpack to players in Quickplay mode. They don’t need that info and we don’t want to distract them. But the fact is that all purchased items should be stored somewhere. The problem is that the backpack has limited space, but a player in Quickplay mode wouldn’t even know about it. We tried to put all those items in the ATM, but it wasn’t big enough either. The idea of asking a player to purchase additional tabs also doesn’t work – he isn’t aware that there is limited storage. So we decided that we have to provide all players with an unlimited container where all bound items will be automatically stored. This will solve the issue for players in Quickplay mode. And a player in lobby will be able to extend his backpack to access that new container.

The next step was abilities. We like how the Item Shop interface works so we implemented the same logic for getting abilities: you have to click on the ability slot on your character UI to open the interface where you can purchase and equip abilities. Also we made another big change here. On the screenshots we had shared with you guys you noticed some interface changes and made some correct guesses about them. But none of you noticed that there are no ability points anymore. We already have two currencies in the game – the in-game cash and the gold bars – so we decided to let players buy abilities for cash or gold bars. It has several consequences though: you won’t be able to rollback the abilities on the one hand but you’ll be able to get all of them without spending any gold bars on the other hand. Our pricing philosophy is simple. Trying rank 1 of most abilities shouldn’t be expensive. Also a player should be able to purchase about three or four abilities of the top rank when they hit top levels. Those players who know how to make money will be able to get more. And some other players would chose spending gold bars to get some of them… or all of them. The players who already spent gold bars to purchase ability points shouldn’t worry – they won’t lose what they paid for.

After some playtests we also added the possibility to create groups and to join tournaments, join a gang or send gang invitations and see different statistic screens and leaderboards when in Quickplay. But you have to enter a lobby if you want missions, crafting, mail or trading with other players. The fact is that Quickplay loads much faster compared to the lobbies and we believe that many players will frequently switch between Quickplay and the lobbies, so we made it an easy one click action without any restriction or limitations.

The last thing we believed confuses players is our loot system. We think it’s a hardcore feature and casual players shouldn’t get loot from battles. So at the start of the game a player won’t get any loot – the only rewards will be cash and experience. But at some moment, and only after entering the lobby, a player will have a choice: does he want to get loot or not? “Man, I want loot just because it’s worth something!” you might say. It’s true so we have to suggest a valuable alternative instead – we added a special scavenger tool that will boost cash and experience rewards, so players can choose between increased experience and cash rewards or getting a lot of items. To get loot, a player has to have a scavenger tool equipped. That’s fine for players who love gathering reagents, but we also added a set of scavenger tools for players who want to collect weapons, AUGs, etc. Just equip the right tool and you’ll always get what you want.

At this moment we decided that this is the way to go: why don’t we create some additional scavenger tools for players who have some extra gold bars. The old well known chemist scavenger tool with 2 additional loot slots, the scavenger tool that will convert all containers into Engineering ones when you are playing Stockpile – now we have a lot of them and we hope that you’ll find them useful.

The last change with loot is the containers you get in PvE game modes. We don’t want newcomers to bother themselves with the questions “what are they for,” so a player won’t see the containers in matches by default. But if a player has equipped a scavenger tool that enables loot for him – then this will enable the containers as well.

This is the end of the story about how we tried to make CrimeCraft simpler for casual shooter players. Now any player will be able to select between classes and customizable profiles. Classes will be the default option for a new player. He will be able to select between getting loot and getting more experience and cash and no loot is the default for newcomers. And he will be able to select between playing from a simple Quickplay interface or from the lobbies and all level 1 characters will appear in Quickplay by default. We believe that these features will help casual shooter players to get into CrimeCraft smoothly. We believe that all our experienced players will make their own choices and will focus on what they think is fun in the game. And we welcome you guys to try it on our Live Beta server together with other cool features, like Territory Wars and our revamped Tournament rewards system.

Quote

Trying rank 1 of most abilities shouldn’t be expensive. Also a player should be able to purchase about three or four abilities of the top rank when they hit top levels. Those players who know how to make money will be able to get more. And some other players would chose spending gold bars to get some of them… or all of them. The players who already spent gold bars to purchase ability points shouldn’t worry – they won’t lose what they paid for.

If I know this crap happen at 1st place, I would just use my gb for custom clothing. :/

Some sounds good, some sounds not so good, some just sounds interesting.  Will be interesting to see how it all pans out.

So when is the download link going to be up?  2:00am here in Oz. was hoping it would be up before I went to bed so I could get it overnight.  Ah well, tomorrow's another day  :P

As  I said in other post, this game will not be a rpg anymore, this gonna be a simple online shooter, the rpg element is what i love most and the craftign but MAYBE the gameplay will compensate that, but is gonna be as the usual shooter game.

All of the RPG elements will still be in place, but now players will have an option to play via the Quickplay interface if they prefer to avoid the RPG mechanics of the game. We realized that the RPG gameplay is important to a lot of players, which is why we give players the option to choose how they want to play the game. If you prefer simple lobby mechanics that allow you to get into the shooter aspect of the game quicker, then you may do so. If you prefer the deep customization that comes with the various RPG mechanics, then that is also available to you.

cool

 ok so im done installing it cant wait for tommorow 1 small error i saw on main menu was typing my email as im from the UK i press shift+' which = @ doing that brought up the console instead of the symbol 

( i know i cant log into the game til it opens thought i'd try to anyway)

Quote | Wiggy87 posted on Oct 31 2011 12:28 PM UTC

 ok so im done installing it cant wait for tommorow 1 small error i saw on main menu was typing my email as im from the UK i press shift+' which = @ doing that brought up the console instead of the symbol 

 

( i know i cant log into the game til it opens thought i'd try to anyway)

Just in case press the keys "Alt + 64" to insert the @ symbol :D

Last Edited on: Oct 31 2011 08:05 PM UTC (203 Days ago)

 ok first things first. this new idea for the abilities just sucks... money isnt exactly easy to come by in this game unless you are experienced an know how to get some quick. i dont like the idea of having to pay for my perks and them be permanent. i like the idea of getting a skill point for every level i gain and always having the skill point forever. if i want to change my skills i can just roll them back and i will still have my skill points. with this new thing that means im just going to have another cash related thing to worry about and spend more time busting my butt scrounging for cash any way i can.

point being, of all the things wrong with this game and all the things that are great about this game, i thought the abilities was the best as far as being practical. it felt balanced (wish i could say the same for the pvp -_- ) and seemed to progress smoothly as far as what you unlock as you level up, unlike the armour and equipment situation...

as for the other stuff in this entry.. im not sure what i think about it.

also: seriously. please read my comment on the "finding a balance" about the game balance and the match making and take it into consideration.

im level twenty one. now that you are doing away with all the skill points i have what are yall going to compensate my loss with? will i get like $1000 or $2000 for each skill point i have? or how about gold bars? im sure people would love that? a few gold bars for every skill point you have would be great :) yeah.. i know... wishful thinking... ( -_-)

the quick play idea is ok, it seems good for the purpose yall intended it to be for but im prolly not gonna use it much.

im not sure how i feel about the access the shop from anywhere. i would rather not have all of the black market stuff up in my face while trying to buy something. i like it where it is now: out of sight, out of the way, and not bothering me with advertisments. thats one of the things i like about this game. you dont constantly throw advertisments of "buy game money with your credit card!" in my face every where i turn. it makes this game feel more friendly and not like it was made by money hungry, bill gates worshiping, big buisness men. its nice to have a free game that actually feels free most of the time. i love how you can buy 90% of the things available in the game with in game cash, and everything you buy (with the exception of boosts) is permanent and doesnt have a "usable for 24 hours" or a "dissapears after 90 days" note next to the price tag. and because of the respect yall show to my wallets personal bubble (and ultimately my mental personal bubble), this game is actually one of the first free games i have ever even considered spending money on. i also like how yall have cards available for the game at best buy since i dont have a credit card.

but now that the black market isnt going to be separate from the rest of the game im afraid that feeling of being left alone and not being bothered by adverts might slowly dissapear after time.

one thing i really want is for yall to make changing the color of your clothing available to those who dont have gold bars and only have in game cash. im not asking for the exclusive custom clothing on the blackmarket to become available with in game cash, no, just the recoloring. as far as customizing your character, there isnt much you can do.. what ever you get with the clothes you have is what you get. aint nothing you can do to make you character slightly more "you." i can understand custom clothing being exclusive but i dont agree with not having any choice in color unless you have real money.

My compliments on the new grapics. They looks, fresh, nice and slik. Hope that you folks did'nt take the crime out of CrimeCraft. Like to see the new improvements in the game play comming out soon.

From me you people get 2 thumbs up great job so fare.,