Constructive criticism

[Relys]

Hello all! That forum on facepunch just reminded me that this was still on my computer (It was suggested at www.fun-motion.com).

After throughly playing the demo, I would like to point out some major problems, in my opinion.

1. The price... $20 is what goes for retail games. This is a modification that uses an OLDER version of the Torque engine. People should be charge only $5-10. If you "need more money to host the servers" try google adsense. The demo wouldn't even let me play a LAN game, and the blocks were limited. If the guy's doing this for his "only job", that's not the wisest choice.

2. Building. This was frustrating for me, I didn't like to have press the numpad enter key, ever time I wanted to place a block. I also didn't like how the mouse wheel, would scroll on any section (Item, block, or paint), you were on. It would be better if it was just for the items.

3. Physics. The collision engine was frustrating for me, I didn't like to see my blocks fall through each other, and they just fell through the map, or faded away. I want all the peaces to stay, so I can push them around, and move them into new places. The player ragdoll physics was extremely disappointing, this isn't  Halo 1! You could at least have the player flip and rotate, even if you're too lazy to rig up some bones.

Also "admin approval" doesn't really happen anymore. It discourages people from joining the forum.

That's mainly my major gripes. I hope you can use my experience to create, a more rich and enjoyable game! :D

[Ad Bot]

[fishpen0]

1.Using his own servers is just smarter (and in the end will eventually be cheaper).  You can only play a lan game if you have a paid account on at least one of the computers and that one is the host.  And this is not badspots only job, this is a side thing (I think).  Besides, it would be unfair to all who have already paid $20 for the game if he dropped the price.  You need to understand that he hasn't even broken even for the price of designing and up keeping the game.  Besides, its only a one time fee its not like other online games that are $5- $10 a month, in which case you end up paying significantly more.
2. Building is designed this way, you an always remap your keys in the options menu
3. that means you destroyed the bricks so they are supposed to be fading away, you cannot move bricks as it would be very complicated and laggy to move even a small number of bricks.  You should just build stuff where you want it to be in the end... Same with the player physics, besides its a frigging minifig what do you think it would do if it were walking or flying or falling? It doesn't exactly have a hundred joints or a skeleton...

Admin approval is to keep people from bot spamming hundreds of accounts, and to keep the forums "safer"

I hope you use my response to slightly better understand why things are the way they are!   :D   (yeesh)

[Packer]

By the looks of it Relys you play to much Steam, Trust me the way things are in Blockland are perfect outside of the game... well thats a different story.

Please if you are going to put down the engine please tell it to the 1000's that use it at garagegames.com.

[Relys]

By the looks of it Relys you play to much Steam, Trust me the way things are in Blockland are perfect outside of the game... well thats a different story.

Please if you are going to put down the engine please tell it to the 1000's that use it at garagegames.com.

Actually I don't play Steam games that much. Also I didn't quite get the last part of that sentence, due to your strange lack of commas.

I'm not putting the engine down, I know what I'm talking about. I loved the Tribes games (Garage games was formed from the people that made Tribes). I played games like Marble Blast, when the Torque engine was still quite new.

1. Doesn't he just host the master servers list, and the players host their own servers? Dropping the price for new users would be kind of a let down, but it shouldn't have been that expensive in the first place.

2. I don't think you can change the settings I'm talking about, they're about the gameplay, not the position of the keys.

3. What's so fun about the game if all you do is build? There are TONS of other games which are free. What more does this game have to offer, if it doesn't really use physics in the gameplay? I could just model something in Blender or 3DMax. Yes it's nice to build with other people, but there's already a ton of games like that. Also, because the Torque engine was made by the people behind Tribes 1 and 2, there's already a free building mod for Tribes 2 called Construction Mod, similar to the engine blockland uses.

Yes admin approval blocks some spam, but it does turn off some potential customers.

[Spartan300]

You don't seem to understand the concept and the whole point of Blockland.
Blockland gives you many new features which you will not find in another game, especially when modeling in 3Ds max.
You can't build with others in 3Ds max, you can't have fun minigames, you can't roleplay and you can't get the same feel that Blockland gives you, the interaction that blockland gives you.

[Relys]

You don't seem to understand the concept and the whole point of Blockland.
Blockland gives you many new features which you will not find in another game, especially when modeling in 3Ds max.
You can't build with others in 3Ds max, you can't have fun minigames, you can't roleplay and you can't get the same feel that Blockland gives you, the interaction that blockland gives you.

*Cringe* I think you're sort of missing my point. I wasn't serious about the 3Ds Max comment. I was just saying, if there's little, to none, physics interactions, you might as well be playing 3Ds Max. I'm trying to say, that I felt little interaction in the world of blockland.

As for custom scripts and originality, I am still trying my best not to bring up Garry's Mod (Lua).

[Spartan300]

Are you saying that the only thing that makes a game great is Physics?
You wouldn't like to play a simple game of pong because of the lack of physics?

[Relys]

Are you saying that the only thing that makes a game great is Physics?
You wouldn't like to play a simple game of pong because of the lack of physics?

I don't know how to break this to you...






But pong had simple physics..

[Spartan300]

Are you saying that the only thing that makes a game great is Physics?
You wouldn't like to play a simple game of pong because of the lack of physics?

I don't know how to break this to you...






But pong had simple physics..

So does Blockland.

[Packer]

I really don't like this person short minded doesn't realize simple things and a highly banned-able grammar national socialist. The torque engine uses very basic psychics for the player, but the Vehicle psychics are much more complicated.

The Average price of an Indie Torque game is $20, no matter what you say this is a fact of life.

By the way, this isn't Constructive criticism this is just complaining about the Lack of things that where in other games.

[Nate]

...

[Pimpin]

1. Badspot chose to use the older version rather than the newer one. I don't exactly remember why, but maybe the newer engine was either glitchy or couldn't support some of the stuff he wanted in the game or something, so he modded the older version himself to his liking to use for Blockland. $20 is fine. Hell, I'd pay way more. Also, bricks are limited in the demo because it's a demo, lol. And this isn't Badspot's only job, IIRC he works at Garagegames in Oregon.

2. What the hell? How else would you place blocks? What do you have in mind? I honestly see no other way of placing the bricks. The reason it's Enter on the numpad is because it's close to the brick movement and rotation controls. (Incase you didn't know, the rest of the buttons on the numpad control the brick aswell. You don't just shoot the ghostbrick and hit Enter all the time, which may be what you're doing.)

3. Can't really happen with the way bricks are rendered, IIRC. The bricks in this game aren't .dts shapes anymore, which saves tons of lag, but also means they can't be stretched, moved, or rotated more than 90 degrees after being placed. I suppose you could have them turn into .dts shapes after you blow them up or destroy them, but that's really freaking gay and nobody wants that. It would also bring the lag back. Player ragdoll would be nice, though. Limbs flailing when flying through the air (dead of course), or when you die by slamming into a wall you bounce off or just plain break apart. This is a good idea, may be hard to script.

In closing, no, and, yay Facepunch!

[UnDiViDeD]

3. What's so fun about the game if all you do is build?

wtf? It's a damn game about building you stuff eater.  Don't like it, Don't buy it.

[Wedge]

The version of Torque Blockland uses was heavily modified, and changing to the next version would have required quite a bit of modification for only marginal performance changes.

Also, we can't really ragdoll models, we can only create animations for them. The current dead body isn't a ragdoll, its just a static model. A good death animation might be nice though.

The controls allow for fast building. Trust me, once you get the key controls down, you can build really fast. Much faster then a point and click interface.

In any case, the sales price is based on how well it sells. $19.95 was the initial sales price, and it sold well, so don't expect it to drop soon.

The purpose of the game is to construct, share your creations, and play in them. Right now "playing" in your creations is pretty much limited to blowing them up and driving around in them. It can be extended somewhat through mods.

The main differences between Blockland and modeling software are that Blockland allows you to build on-line, in a multiplayer setting, easily, simultaneously with other people, as well as play a few different kinds of games in your constructs (even while you are still constructing). Even the most vigorous modeling software requires you to actually compile and export stuff before playing in it.

Some of the responses here have been rude, but don't let that deter you from suggesting or commenting on anything, they're just defending their from a perceived attack. In my opinion, you came and presented your opinion well and politely, even if I don't agree with it. Welcome to the community!

[Badspot]

1.  Would charging $10 double sales?  Would charging $5 quadruple sales?  Probably not.  The demo is designed to leave you wanting more so you are encouraged to buy.  My current conversion rate is over 3x the average so it appears to be working. 

Ads do not produce significant revenue.  I know - I had over a million page views and made like a hundred bucks of adsense.

The modified version of TGE 1.3 that Blockland uses is superior to all other versions of Torque currently available. 

2.  I tried a couple of control schemes while developing and they mostly sucked.  It takes a bit of getting used to, but the num-pad scheme is really the most powerful.  It kinda sucks on a laptop but then everything sucks on a laptop.

If the mousewheel was not context sensitive, then you would need even more buttons bound in order to select different weapons and paints.  However, it is possible to bind the keys however you like if you edit the script files.

3.  It is possible to have the bricks bounce but having them be pushable rigid objects would require integrating a physics library and making it network compatible.  It is not simply a matter of "rigging up some bones", it is a significant software engineering challenge.  I do not think the time it would take to integrate these features would be worth it.