Blockland - What's Changed, and My Thoughts

[Master Matthew²]

is this a creepypasta

OT : i don't understand why people constantly declare blockland is spiraling into some decline crCIA. I don't really care for the shadows and shaders because I never play with them on, (I compare it to the 3D on 3D-enabled technology, it's there, but I never use it.), but the main reason it was added was to appeal to new players who may be turned off by the ugly, outdated maps.
it's been almost five years, can you move on yet?

There is no decline crCIA, it's just that because of a lack of motivation and most people moving on, the game had lost it's edge, and although it's making a comeback, more had to be done. Yeah, but as recent history shows, a game doesn't need outstanding graphics to gain massive popularity. And like I said in my topic, the fact that the maps are ugly is nothing in comparison to the fact that the shadows and shaders are not only ugly, but for most people, out of reach because of hardware limitations.

[Ad Bot]

[Pastrey Crust]

inb4ban

[Freek]

Yeah, but as recent history shows, a game doesn't need outstanding graphics to gain massive popularity. And like I said in my topic, the fact that the maps are ugly is nothing in comparison to the fact that the shadows and shaders are not only ugly, but for most people, out of reach because of hardware limitations.

it's not about outstanding graphics, it's about how outdated they were. If maps had stayed, a majority of new players would constantly complain about how ugly and awful maps are and how they should be removed/upgraded to a new engine. I would assume most people running Blockland nowadays can run shaders. it's not 2010, the standard graphics card today should be able to run Blockland's shadows. Maps were also a loving nightmare to build on. I'm not sure a lot of people remember, but more than half of maps were not flat for the most part and were impossible to build on. Maps were cool to explore and all, but the main point of Blockland is building. People who wanted to build would usually use Slate / Adjustable Slate, so it's not like maps were the backbone of the entire game.

[Shift Kitty]

Like, 95% of the servers used some form of slate. And out of the ones that didn't, only like a max of 2 at a time would actually be getting any attention. Maps were dead before they were removed. And not only were they a bitch to build on as Freek described (because no one knew how to align stuff properly. Even the default maps had issues) but they were also an annoyance on the script end too.

Also, minimum shaders are a vast improvement on the visuals of the game alone, even though they don't include shadows. On most cards, minimum performs better than off.

[Willco2]

what was the point of this thread

no seriously why

[IkeTheGeneric]

If more people started hosting servers, more people would show up to play said servers. I've said it before, but there is a lot of people who go through the masterlist for something to play, and if something doesn't catch their eye, they don't join any servers.

The minute something interesting pops up that can support a large number of people, the more people are going to flock back to the game to play. I'm working on procuring a VPS solely so I can host something.

[rambo1220]

If more people started hosting servers, more people would show up to play said servers. I've said it before, but there is a lot of people who go through the masterlist for something to play, and if something doesn't catch their eye, they don't join any servers.

The minute something interesting pops up that can support a large number of people, the more people are going to flock back to the game to play. I'm working on procuring a VPS solely so I can host something.

this

I still have a huge build project for a server I wanted to host that I dropped in July because there's just not that many people who are interested. Been thinking of picking it back up but even then the question is if people will still even play it.

[Copy Kirby]

what was the point of this thread

[rambo1220]

there's a title you know

[MYST]

News flash: games lose popularity over time.

news flash people leave the game if it gets worse

[Bisjac]

Statistically blockland is doing very ridiculously good.
Most all games lose players very quickly.

[Master Matthew²]

Statistically blockland is doing very ridiculously good.
Most all games lose players very quickly.

I agree, but just because it's doing good statistically, doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to improve. Like I said in the OP Blockland Glass is a HUGE step in th right direction. But as people have been pointing out, for the most part we have a select few servers people go on, and most blocklanders scroll through the the list, and if they don't see something they like, the close blockland. We need more creative servers, and no, that doesn't mean another locked down mini game. Yes, I like Falling Tiles and the other creative mini games over the years. But the reason why Minigames like City RPGs get so much traffic when they pop up is because they incorporate the main feature of Blockland into the minigame, building. When you can put your own creative twinge into a game, you feel more attached. On top of that RPGs are an addicting genre so those two mixed together made something popular, unfortunately these types of game modes are so old that they are scarce, and broken if they even work. Unfortunately, Blockland lacks the type of programmer that could spend a month or two making a game mode like that, instead we have game modes based in events and that lock everyone inside a metaphorical box.

TL;DR for a game based in creativity, we have a lot of locked down gamemode servers.

[Conan]

remember development isnt free. people who can develop things generally are busy irl and have other things that they are interested in or could be doing. time is a massive factor in why so many projects are left unfinished.

this is a fundamental unfixable problem - project designers just have to make sure to limit the scope of the project in the interests of actually finishing it, versus doing everything that /would/ be cool to include. this kind of cutting back happens in the game industry all the time

[ahoy]

ask yourself: what makes Jail RP, deathrun, and Boss Battles stick to the top of the server list?

[General]

I have to fully agree with this thread. From my perspective, the game's development is heavily based around what the creators want to see in the game rather than what the clientele whats.

The most important part of a business is its customers, and I feel that the developers have neglected the opinions of their customers, even going as far as mocking them thus making resistance to change seem like the worst thing on the planet, which isn't necessarily true (I know the images are fan made but were included in the official development topic by kompressor).

Change can be a good thing, but I feel that the developers went about it in the wrong way. Like OP said, shaders tax a player's PC to a level which is unplayable on a lot of mainstream systems, as well as look ugly as forget and are a pain to build with. I have shaders disabled a majority of the time for these reasons and after the initial "awe" of having them, they have become irrelevant to my gameplay, making me miss the aspect that actually made a difference to my experience, interiors and terrain.

I feel that if the developers were to listen to the suggestions made by the community, and implemented what people would like to see then the user experience for this game would improve.