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Post by deathdepiction on Jun 12, 2011 22:05:48 GMT -5
I've been around for a while and have seen it gone from a huge following of many people on at one time destroying one another to a ghost town. It is slowly getting a following back not to where near what it was. I've talked to some of the Ancients still around and most feel the original set up was better.
Personally I liked the scrolls. i liked the original set up of the site not this condensed version that you have to navigate 6 buttons to get to where u want.
I do like the implementation of new weapons and npc's, but not the effects and the seemingly copy and pasted clip art. thats just me though. I feel the following of the game died because of the way things didn't change then the way that they did scared the last of us off.
What are your thoughts? I know there are still a few forum junkies around like me please share
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Post by Tchalvak on Jun 22, 2011 11:45:19 GMT -5
I wouldn't worry too much about the layout, it's going to be changing before long as I move the site to html5. Part that isn't going to change is the nesting of locations, since we're moving to a system where locations (shop, doshin, dojo, etc) are nestled on the map, so that we can have more of them (more shops, more shrines, clanhalls, things like that that live on the map). The main page simply isn't going to have enough space to have all the locations living on it, which is another reason for the separate map.
One part that will change is the npcs (and eventually pcs) which will be only available to attack in certain locations, e.g. geisha might only be in the bathhouse. Eventually, (further in the future, once the mapping system has been ironed out) you'll have to actually track down other players in order to attack them instead of them always being available at the click of a list.
The game started out really really simple. That's fine, some people liked that, but the sheer simplicity of it has made it hard to balance it or make it challenging, so eventually it just has to evolve beyond that.
The weapons and the items are both a matter of me putting in content to get a base of stuff to work with going. As opposed to masterfully crafting each item and each npc, I'm trying to put in a lot that are essentially duplicates for now so that we have a system that supports lots of items and lots of npcs, and I will make them more meaningful as time goes on (working on wielded weapons and armor currently).
Overall, the game is changing, but it's not like the stuff that was there in the beginning isn't still around somewhere (turn stealing limits aside). The visual changes will morph over time as I get a better sense of where they need improvement, so expect the site to look different from time to time, 'cause that just means work on it is going forward.
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Post by Beagle on Jul 5, 2011 15:07:52 GMT -5
To put it more succinctly, we're basically going through a massive overhaul, very very slowly. First, the system needs to be reorganized to support new complexity, then complexity will be added, then the fine tuning will happen. The number of clicks you need to do things now is part of the support for new complexity. As the content grows, the system will fill out and the additional clicks will make more sense. Once we've filled the system out with new content, we'll go back and look at the user experience: number of clicks, amount of time spent doing fun things, etc.
Until recently, the game was unable to expand easily. NPCs, items, and skills couldn't be added or changed without a major headache. Characters are still terribly difficult to modify regarding stats and classes. And each location was a major undertaking for even the most basic content. Over the last 2 years, the new content you have seen have been the result of experiments in reinventing the systems that support the game. While we've made a lot of progress in the codebase, there's still a lot more to go, and Tchalvak and I do not have the time we used to have to keep things flowing well.
That said, we both use the ugly ugly code as a training ground to learn from past mistakes, try out new ideas, and understand the process of migrating a small project through various stages. So we still work on it, and we hope that over time our progress will add up and make the game easier to change so we can make progress faster.
In the meantime, thanks for sticking with the game and keeping it alive and active, even if it does sometimes feel like a ghost town.
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ShadowWeaver Ghosting
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Post by ShadowWeaver Ghosting on Aug 13, 2011 18:55:35 GMT -5
I understand that time is an issue. I do forget at times with it seems like an over abundance of time myself right now. I get fustrated because I've seen what it use to be like on this website and what it is now. All the fun has been lost. Partly with revamping the game and partly because the lack of direction for players. check this out. www.onrpg.com/MMO/Ninja-Wars/review/Ninja-Wars-Review-I-Am-Ninja---Are-YouIts a review of the site and i agree with it fully. I found it after looking for ninjawars on a text based mmorpg rating site to see what mnost people thought of NW. I wanted to check cus I found this site through rpgoger.com or something like that and can't find it there now. Seems even the text mmorpg sites feel the same about the game. it needs a lot done to it. I did a little work a few years back and got at least one new npc put in but the idea behind it was lost since the revamp. Players use to use npc's to load up on stuff like theives for shurikens and the idea of mine was to stop that make a stronger npc come out and defend the weaker npc and kill the player after a time. gave things more impact and danger to it. Thats what i'm looking for. clan halls are good along with weapons items and new npcs but a set up that actually works for the game. quests secret items and such. Personally I hate the auto lvling now because as a player who could stock kills unless you knew who i was you would pay me no mind. thats what was fun it gave hit and runs power over the high lvls and made low lvls dangerus unless you knew how to play. thats the sort of thing that needs to be put in. I have my own idea on how things should be of course but its not my game and i don't know enough php mysql or java to actully say to much. i guess i need to sit down and teach myself
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Post by Tchalvak on Aug 23, 2011 13:00:44 GMT -5
The new items having effects, the new npcs being more fleshed out, and quests will probably address a lot of the issues with simplicity. They'll be happening (and in roughly that order), just a matter of me gettin' the time.
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