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DLC Avorion Into the Rift Out Now!

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Player Retention


Guest ClockworkHex
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Suggestion

Guest ClockworkHex

As of a recent check, this game is experiencing drastic player drops every month, according to Steamcharts: http://steamcharts.com/app/445220

 

Because of this, I wanted to make this thread to discuss ways to help Avorion attract more players, and be able to hold onto those players for longer. These are just some suggestions that I have come up with:

 

1) Get attention of Youtubers;

While Avorion is still in early access, it is still definitely in a presentable state, though with some features lacking. With this said, I think if Avorion either got the attention of some YouTubers, in particular Scott Manley (who often does reviews of space games and is quite popular), this would bring more popularity to the game.

 

2) Advertising;

The obvious option is to just run ads to attract people to the game. Obviously, the problem with this is the cost to run effective ads, but if that is figured out, then ads would hugely help the game's popularity.

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Here's the thing - I played for a week and (while I'm still intending to get back to it) I pretty much figured out the game.  There just isn't enough to keep me engaged once the optimal play pattern is obvious.

 

The 'random' encounters amount to either annoying or crushing waves of Xsostan/Pirates and visits from mobile merchants.  You can't build a trading empire because the station and trading system is incomplete at this time - it appears the trader types are generated with the sector, so nothing new ever develops.  You can't really build your own turrets because you can't find all the parts without exploring the entire galactic map, you can't build your own supply infrastructure because some of the required station types don't exist yet.

 

So what am I supposed to do once I have a decent Avorion-based ship?  Fly around and kill waves of Xsostan while hoping that my ship doesn't get torn apart when I log out.  That really doesn't engage the player for long.

 

The game's in early days still, and it has awesome potential.  You have to keep that in mind.

 

My best suggestion for short term improvement would be for the devs to open up a scripting contest for random events.  Crowd source some variety and complexity.

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All valid points from my limited (71hrs) experience.  I was really looking forward to the Trading aspect but have hardly done any; it's just too ... painful? confusing? un-rewarding?

 

I loved Privateer and was hoping, that finally, finally, there would be a single player space sim with awesome trading!  I think there's real hope for that in Avorion, no question, but it's just not there now.

 

I don't mean to sound negative, koonschi has done a really, truly amazing job with Avorion. Thumbs up!

 

And though I'm not a SW coder, I am an engineer & builder, so compared to Space Engineers, well, hell, I'll bet on Avorian & koonschi -any- day!  Saying that because from what I can tell koonschi is a, "Build a solid foundation first!" kind of guy, and that makes for a solid, -expandable- game long term; something the SE Keen folks don't seem to understand at all.

 

Sry, back to the point.  I don't know how costly in time etc these are but these are a few I think would help;

 

1) Implement 'Save Zones' asap.  Places not too hard to find, fairly common, server option for On/Off so no PVP exploit.

  Rationale: If players are logging out, just to log into a Creative world to work on their ship, guess what, they have -logged-off-!!  bad! now they can go to dinner, watch TV, talk (ack!) to their kids ???

  All of those are un-nessesary! Stay logged into Avorion(&T@#!!

  --Seriously though, bio break anyone? Escape doesn't halt game running, so not safe to leave. forcing a log out.

 

2) Get some volunteers to do some -serious- work on the documentation.  I've read the Wiki, it's not horrible, but it ain't great either.  This is a new game, so lots of new players, that means really clear, and really well written articles answer -many- questions & -improve- new player experience; leading to positive reviews, recommendations to friends, etc.

--- I'm not trying to sound nasty here; no question koonschi really doesn't have the time to write it all, he's got a 30hr a day job :o  _-BUT-_ somebody/ies need a direct line to him, so they get it 99.8% right the first time.

2.a) In-game "Game Guide".  A 'Just the facts Ma'am', pop it open anywhere window of text.

      -- What's a "Module"?  -- What does the "Omnicrom" mean?

      -- What the -hell- does a Scanner Upgrade friggin =do=??

 

3) Add in early, working, decent ship blueprints, so a newbie can actually start to play.  Yeah the tutorial is there, and it is pretty decent, but there's no reason not to add a way for someone to literally jump right in.

 

4) for those who've already 'won'... Well, it sounds like all the Big stuff is already in the works, just not out yet.  Didn't hear it mentioned but I'd like to see an Eve like setup of main "Hubs" where basically everything is available, but pricey. And some of them could be Safe Zones where no PVP or Pirates etc.

--- I know what I'd like for Mid-Late game is to actually be able to claim a Sector and build up factories and bases... but I'd want to be able to auto protect it myself with large stationary Forts so would need some of the really advanced things that Eve has... sigh :'(

 

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Here's the thing - I played for a week and (while I'm still intending to get back to it) I pretty much figured out the game.  There just isn't enough to keep me engaged once the optimal play pattern is obvious.

this is what i felt. figured i would leave it until the next big update to play more, or wait for the live version.

weapon balance and shield function are my main issue though.

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Scott Manly actually covered the game already.  That's how I heard about Avorion.

 

I'm not really playing the game right now because I've made the mistake of playing early access games to much and getting used to a particular build only to be frustrated when things got changed later.  This has already happened with the changes to IF generators earlier in the year.  I'll pop in if there's and update to see what's different.  But, I'm not planning on playing the game seriously until it's full release.  I think that's one thing.  We're waiting for the next big update so there's no new content right now to keep things interesting.

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Implement 'Save Zones' asap.

 

I have previously suggested that you ought to be able to stay in hyperspace - that you'd have to jump in AND out - so while at the waiting screen with the 'Press Spacebar to continue' prompt, your ship wouldn't spawn in the destination sector.

 

This is a common and much needed lament.

 

Having to quit and reload every time my bladder needs emptying is getting as old as me...

 

Cheers..!

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I think the game just needs more content in the simulation department all round. It's missing some of the core elements of basically every other space game, that being a living, dynamic universe. I keep bringing up these examples, because they're probably the best in the genre. Elite, Freelancer, X. These games offer tons of replayability just because of what you can do in the universe, such as trading, fucking with factions, having impacts and being impacted by the universe, etc.

 

Elite: Dangerous is probably a pretty good example, although not relevant to Avorion. The devs are involved with the story of the universe and how it develops, and that adds a lot to the game.

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Elite: Dangerous is probably a pretty good example, although not relevant to Avorion. The devs are involved with the story of the universe and how it develops, and that adds a lot to the game.

 

I haven't played Elite since the original on what was probably a PC/AT.  I think I get the idea, though.

 

A content team turning out a script update every week (or month) that causes an event on servers applying the update might be interesting.  It would probably be difficult to repeatedly come up with something that affects between 1 and 1 million sectors, meshes with the current game state, and is interesting to the players.  And the game engine might not have the required underlying support for such scripting yet.

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As others have pointed out, this is early access and the limited features are going to mean that the game is "done" for a lot of people in a short amount of time until the next big update. Also worth mentioning is that a large number of players suddenly flocked to the game since youtubers made a big deal of it around February.

 

One thing some of us might be forgetting is that March/April/May is crunch time for college and university students. As more updates are released and as some group of players get more time to play, player population will stabilize.

 

EDIT: In fact, compared to January, Avorion has gained almost 200 average players, which is almost 50% more.

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Interesting thread, and a worthy topic ...

 

i have been away from the forums and away from the game for weeks now.

BUT - i still hold a high interest in the game.

 

Soneone else already mentioned that as the game develops, things change - and i am happy the game is being expanded and improved.  However, i am not too keen on experiencing each nuance, as the devs evolve the game.

 

In the end, i will definitely return, and look forward to playing in a mighty alliance.

So, numbers are dropping off? 

Myah ... So what.  Its all part of the process in building a game

 

And Avorion stands out as a sound game with great potential.

 

To the devs ... Thank you!!

I am an avid fan !!

 

Warr :)

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You can't build a trading empire because the station and trading system is incomplete at this time

 

I think this is the main issue. You can't build empires because stations don't work when you jump out of a sector.

Also I'd love to have big pvp battles with many ships, but servers lag with 5+ players.

 

1) Implement 'Save Zones' asap.  Places not too hard to find, fairly common, server option for On/Off so no PVP exploit.

  Rationale: If players are logging out, just to log into a Creative world to work on their ship, guess what, they have -logged-off-!!  bad! now they can go to dinner, watch TV, talk (ack!) to their kids ???

  All of those are un-nessesary! Stay logged into Avorion(&T@#!!

  --Seriously though, bio break anyone? Escape doesn't halt game running, so not safe to leave. forcing a log out.

 

This is a big problem. Actually there's 'neutral' zones, but any player can easily use force turrets to crash NPC ships against players' ships to provoke faction's anger, or simply move a player's ship through a gate to kill him in a vulnerable zone. Logged off players in neutral zones should be completely immobile and immune to faction rep decreases.

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