Reworking the multiplayer and boosting the game's popularity

[Akuman]

Multiplayer Rework. Please do not comment on this topic anymore, it is closed.
In this post I want to focus on multiplayer and make it more accessible, which will help bring players together and create a more tightly knit gaming community. As I described in the post “Changed balance of experience gain (traps, zombies) and rating system”, it would be cool in every sense to add a rating system to the game. There I described the need to create “game presets” that are the same for all players, which will allow for a common rating system to raise the competitive spirit of the community. Now, regarding multiplayer:

1) Let the number of zombies on a blood moon be determined not by the day number on the server, but by the number of days the player has lived in the game (probably this already exists, I don’t know).

2) Let the game, when the player selects a multiplayer mode within the preset, offer the player to first connect to existing servers with the largest number of people from the list of available ones and will have the opportunity to create a new server (in case there are no suitable ones for any reason), suitable for a specific game character, which is described below.

3) The player will be able to use the same character on different servers within the same game preset. The player will be able to connect only to a server whose number of days is identical to or greater than the number of days lived by the character!

4) The player will be able to transfer blocks inside the “claim block” field from one server to another, as well as the experience of his relationships with traders, because this data will be saved in the character menu, and not on the game server. Once a player has moved his “base” with items to a new server, he will no longer be able to move it around the server map.

5) The record of lived blood moons will be tied to the character. To set a new record, you will need to create a new one. The character's nickname will display the number of days lived by the character, as well as the record of lived blood moons, if any.

The main goal of the rating is to unite players, create a system of achievements in the game with distinctive signs that will be hunted for and cause a large influx of new users to the game.

Thank you for your attention

 

[Vaeliorin]

...you realize the game only officially supports 8 player multiplayer, right?

 

[Akuman]

...you realize the game only officially supports 8 player multiplayer, right?

If you mean the maximum number of players on the server, then it doesn't matter. Such problems are solved by the ability to transfer the player's progress to other servers.

 

[Vaeliorin]

I was more thinking, that while none of them appeal to me, they sound like things that would be interesting on large servers, not small servers that are only meant to be played with friends/family primarily.

Also, transferring bases from server to server would be an absolute nightmare.

 

[Riamus]

Remember that servers are not run by TFP.  They are run by a lot of individuals.  You can't just transfer stuff like you might in a game like WoW, that is run by the developer.  Although it is possible to transfer stuff, it would require the individual server admins to want to deal with that, and most probably will not.

Also, if you can reach max level, you can survive any number of horde nights beyond that.  It's hardly a number worth tracking.  It ends up basically just being how long someone chooses to play before restarting.  And most players aren't interested in even reaching max level because once they have everything, there isn't any real challenge anymore and so a new game (new character) is the better option to them.  So you're suggesting tracking something almost all players wouldn't get all that high because such a rating isn't worth being bored from being able to easily defeat everything in the game.

As far as number of zombies on horde night, those are determined by the game stages of all players within a certain radius, averaged out.  If you are on your own, it's based on your own game stage.  If you join a group who are at max level, you're going to deal with a game stage much higher than yours.

 

[ALEXZANDER]

I more wish that there would be normall PVP servers like what Rust has awith special ballance for pvp server

 

[Akuman]

I was more thinking, that while none of them appeal to me, they sound like things that would be interesting on large servers, not small servers that are only meant to be played with friends/family primarily.

Also, transferring bases from server to server would be an absolute nightmare.

I think that most players don't have a family to play with and that's why the game might not be as attractive to them. The new system will help people meet in the game. It would also be good to find out where people want to create a server from and offer such servers to other players from the same region.

Remember that servers are not run by TFP.  They are run by a lot of individuals.  You can't just transfer stuff like you might in a game like WoW, that is run by the developer.  Although it is possible to transfer stuff, it would require the individual server admins to want to deal with that, and most probably will not.

It will be necessary to host the rating game servers at the developer's...

Also, if you can reach max level, you can survive any number of horde nights beyond that.  It's hardly a number worth tracking.  It ends up basically just being how long someone chooses to play before restarting.  And most players aren't interested in even reaching max level because once they have everything, there isn't any real challenge anymore and so a new game (new character) is the better option to them.  So you're suggesting tracking something almost all players wouldn't get all that high because such a rating isn't worth being bored from being able to easily defeat everything in the game.

Well, it's not a rating system problem. It's a game problem. So you first need to make a day beyond which players are guaranteed not to be able to get past and start coming up with difficulties that will be very difficult, but possible to get past. 

For example, zombies will start appearing, the weapon for killing which can be obtained only in a more difficult biome and so on in ascending order.

Also, transferring bases from server to server would be an absolute nightmare.

I don't see any problem with this, unless you are building very large bases. In that case, developers might want to consider increasing the size of the claim block field.

 

[Akuman]

As far as number of zombies on horde night, those are determined by the game stages of all players within a certain radius, averaged out.  If you are on your own, it's based on your own game stage.  If you join a group who are at max level, you're going to deal with a game stage much higher than yours.

I would like for people who are not in a group to have the amount of zombies attacking them be corresponded to the number of days they had passed.
I think it would be interesting to add two claim blocks: one for the item base, and one for the zombie shelter bunker. After the blood moon begins, the player will accumulate infection levels. If he does not make it to his own or an allied bunker claim block field, he will die.

 

[Akuman]

So you're suggesting tracking something almost all players wouldn't get all that high because such a rating isn't worth being bored from being able to easily defeat everything in the game.

That's why there needs to be a system of achievements in the game that you can brag about. In addition to achievements, you can add rewards, like skins for a character or weapon, for those who have reached a certain level. Well, and passing the levels itself should be interesting. That is why the developers are currently improving the biome system.

 

[Riamus]

It will be necessary to host the rating game servers at the developer's...

I was talking about transferring characters and bases.  In any case, TFP doesn't run any servers for the game (beyond their local testing stuff).

I would like for people who are not in a group to have the amount of zombies attacking them be corresponded to the number of days they had passed.

So if a player joins a server at level 1 and the server is on day 500, they will die if solo?  Meaning they either aren't able to join a server that they want because it is high days or they must play with others or skip horde night?

 

[Akuman]

I was talking about transferring characters and bases.

Let me explain in more detail: the player chooses to create a new server of a certain difficulty in the rating game mode. The game preset settings are limited by the developer. The game server is created on the developer's server. The data on the relationship of the game character with the merchant, as well as the data on the buildings inside the claim block field are saved on a separate developer's server. The player will be able to make access to the server by password. Also, the servers will have a refresh time for all resources and buildings, so when switching between servers, there will be no difference for the player.

The player comes to meet, finds friends, agrees to go to a private server with a password, transfers the progress and continues to play as they did. If someone doesn't like something, he can transfer his progress to another server absolutely without losses and go look for new friends.

So if a player joins a server at level 1 and the server is on day 500, they will die if solo?  Meaning they either aren't able to join a server that they want because it is high days or they must play with others or skip horde night?

regarding this i have an answer in the comment above



That is, the difficulty will be regulated solely by the number of days the character has lived. At the same time, a highly developed non-allied player will not be able to come to the base of a low-ranking one and arrange a horde of zombies for him for 500 nights, because he will die outside the field of his claim block at the blood moon. 

By the way, especially difficult zombies will come to any location only during the blood moon. At other times, they will live only in their biomes.

 

[Akuman]

So if a player joins a server at level 1 and the server is on day 500, they will die if solo?  Meaning they either aren't able to join a server that they want because it is high days or they must play with others or skip horde night?

just if a level 1 player joins a server on night 500, he won't die, but he will most likely play alone because his neighbors will be at a different stage of development and if he plays with them in a group, then yes, he will die. Another question, why would a level 1 player join a world on day 500?

Well, if there are more than 8 players on the server, then it is quite possible that there may be newbies on it as well, and it doesn’t matter how old the server is.

 

[Riamus]

The game server is created on the developer's server.

Add I said, the TFP does not run servers.

Regarding "ratings".... I am an achievement hunter, so I support achievements.  However, I have never liked meaningless achievements.  Things like completing the tutorial or act 1 or act 2 or whatever.  For this game, Tacoma some large number of game hours or days is good (play for 500 hours, or teach day 300 with a gold version of the achievement for reading that day on 2 hour days).  But a horde night one isn't a big deal, and hardly with "bragging" about.  I could set it to horde night every night and get a couple dozen easily and quickly.  I could sit in a horde base afk on a dedicated server where the base is designed to survive house night without fighting.  It really means nothing and you already have challenges you can complete for it.

just if a level 1 player joins a server on night 500, he won't die, but he will most likely play alone because his neighbors will be at a different stage of development and if he plays with them in a group, then yes, he will die. Another question, why would a level 1 player join a world on day 500?

Well, if there are more than 8 players on the server, then it is quite possible that there may be newbies on it as well, and it doesn’t matter how old the server is.

You said that a player playing alone would be at a game stage (horde night difficulty) based on the number of days of the game.  So the difficulty would be extreme for a new player.  If you mean based on each player's number of days, it is already based on each person's game stage if not close to any other players, and a combined game stage if close to other players.

People join established games all the time.  There are servers that play to very high numbers of days.  Without new players joining, the servers would never get that high because most people won't stick around that long.  This is true even if the server only allows 8 at a time.

 

[Akuman]

I could sit in a horde base afk on a dedicated server where the base is designed to survive house night without fighting.  It really means nothing and you already have challenges you can complete for it.

I don't know what TFP servers are, but I think it's possible to make my idea come true.

But a horde night one isn't a big deal, and hardly with "bragging" about.

In this version of the game - yes : )

I could sit in a horde base afk on a dedicated server where the base is designed to survive house night without fighting. 

That is why the rating system will use "presets" and an anti-cheat system.

 

[SylenThunder]

Let the number of zombies on a blood moon be determined not by the day number on the server, but by the number of days the player has lived in the game (probably this already exists, I don’t know).

Yes, this is already how it is. The blood moon for the player is based on the player gamestage. What day the server is on does not matter. It has been this way for several years now.

3) The player will be able to use the same character on different servers within the same game preset. The player will be able to connect only to a server whose number of days is identical to or greater than the number of days lived by the character!

This is not a feature in nearly every co-op game that supports PvP gameplay. And for a good reason. Player data is stored on the server, and not in the client. This is done for multiple reasons, most of which is to prevent cheating.

4) The player will be able to transfer blocks inside the “claim block” field from one server to another, as well as the experience of his relationships with traders, because this data will be saved in the character menu, and not on the game server. Once a player has moved his “base” with items to a new server, he will no longer be able to move it around the server map.

Refer to the above response. Twinking is quite often frowned upon.

5) The record of lived blood moons will be tied to the character. To set a new record, you will need to create a new one. The character's nickname will display the number of days lived by the character, as well as the record of lived blood moons, if any.

Again, no. Character data is on the server for a reason.

 

[Akuman]

If you mean based on each player's number of days, it is already based on each person's game stage if not close to any other players, and a combined game stage if close to other players.

That's what I meant, except that the difficulty will only be combined on bloody night and only for people in a group. Otherwise, the difficulty will depend on the biome.

This is not a feature in nearly every co-op game that supports PvP gameplay. And for a good reason. Player data is stored on the server, and not in the client. This is done for multiple reasons, most of which is to prevent cheating.

read the whole thread. It talks about storing data on developer's servers. Progress movement will also be limited by the age of the server, and since the servers will be made in the same way, it's age and the specific server will not matter.

 

[SylenThunder]

read the whole thread. It talks about storing data on developer's servers. Progress movement will also be limited by the age of the server, and since the servers will be made in the same way, it's age and the specific server will not matter.

This is a low-pop co-op game. You don't have dev servers for something like this. You don't even have "official" servers.

 

[Akuman]

This is a low-pop co-op game. You don't have dev servers for something like this. You don't even have "official" servers.

There was some talk about TFP servers. I think if the developers' servers can accommodate more players, the game will only benefit from it. Well, of course, I won't be able to do something like that myself, because i'm not on the 7Days development team, so I suggest that the developers implement this idea, like all my other ideas. This forum was created for this, am I right?

 

[Riamus]

There was some talk about TFP servers. I think if the developers' servers can accommodate more players, the game will only benefit from it. Well, of course, I won't be able to do something like that myself, because i'm not on the 7Days development team, so I suggest that the developers implement this idea, like all my other ideas. This forum was created for this, am I right?

Where?  I have never seen the devs stare they would add their own servers.  Servers have always been either dedicated servers that players pay for (one person rents the server for others to use) or P2P.  They aren't making official servers or dev servers.  It is unlikely they would ever change that for this game because there really isn't any reason to.  Individual servers are far better overall and last even after a developer is gone. 

Half what you are asking for (have stage tied to players) is already in the game, and half isn't something that will happen in this game because there aren't dev servers. 

You can already transfer player characters or even bases between games if you want, though it is a bit of work to do so.  That is about as much as you will get for that.

Achievements are already in the game and more are likely to be added by gold.  That part is possible. 

Remember that the game is in the final stages of development.  Any major changes not on the roadmap are unlikely to be added at this point.  Suggestions for make changes would have needed to be suggested at least a couple of years ago to have any real chance to be considered.  It may be possible, but it isn't too likely.

 

[Akuman]

I have never seen the devs stare they would add their own servers. 

I think if they implement this idea, it will compensate for the costs and give a big profit. Of course, it is possible if the developers are interested in developing the game.

Individual servers are far better overall and last even after a developer is gone. 

If you know anything about the developers' plans for the game in the long term, let me know. My presence on the forum will depend on it.