New Tricks for the Pack: Improving MP functionality

[Polynesia]

The devs did say they would try and raise the cap, at least for PvP games.

Oh, really? I missed that, it would be fantastic if that is indeed possible!

Yeah. The 8 wolf cap would be a bit limiting in pack vs pack because it would mean just 4 wolves in each pack. I hope they can increase it to at least 5 or 6 wolves in a pack.

[lightsx]

Here are a few suggestions, not necessarily pertaining to the 'game' itself, but instead the functionality/accessibility of multiplayer.

1. Be able to see ALL games being hosted whether they are full or not. They can simply say 8/8 if they are full, and the Join button could be grayed out until an empty spot is available. This allows people to know what servers are currently open so they can choose to wait on a server to have an available space, or see if their friend is hosting a full server.
2. Be able to SORT the servers by Game Pack Name (Name of Server), Players (Number of Players), Host, Location, Game Type (Raise Pups/Pack Life), Chat Type (Phrase/Text). This way, players can choose what kind of chats they want to display instead of having to manually sort through a list of everything.
3. Be able to send chat invites. This would be a really cool feature so you don't have to message your friends back and forth which server you're on.
4. Be able to see which servers your friends are in. This could be a feature where you can click to see more info (or hover over something) where it will tell you a list of players currently in that game. You could also add an option where players can choose not to disclose their current location in the game if they do not want to be found.
5. Have it so that the chat does not scroll up and down when new servers are added, or old servers are removed. Sometimes players get accidentally put into a server not of their choosing due to the shifting servers.

Just some ideas =).

[Myia]

I was thinking maybe instead of limiting the ability to kick, the host would have to provide a reason for kicking, e.g. troll, unfair/powerplay, purposly pup killing, etc., etc. that way, the Admin would be able to see why the host was kicking the player and be able to issue a punishment to the host for a revenge kick (i.e. you said to kick my friend so now I'm kicking you) or kicking because they're 'saving'. similarly, the player getting kicked could also receive a punishment for getting kicked for the same thing too many times.

thanks!

[Skulleh]

I already posted this on FB, but lemme just c/p my ideas:

1. Allow a sort of info panel, i.e. when the person creates the server, they can put information on what the server's general purpose is etc, and it can be viewed in a window like pack stats etc. This could be used to describe rp plots, server rules, whatever info the owner feels needs to be given. It'd make organizing things much easier- such as if I wanted to make a 'realism' server, I wouldn't have to explain to each and every individual person that joins how it works, that its not type-roleplaying, etc.

2. Seriously, why aren't we allowed spaces or dashes in game names?? You can use "|", but not "-"? Suggestion: Allow spaces and dashes, or AT LEAST dashes. Not all game names should have to be smushed together in one word.

3. Increase the letter count for server names. It's way too short... I can barely fit anything in a server name.

4. Allow private games to have more than 8 characters- it's a private game, the host is probably prepared to handle the larger amount of people. Maybe make the max 30.

5. Allow permanent private and public servers- i.e. ones that stay up even after the host logs off. The host would have to select that as an option when making it and could take it down at any time.

6. Allow 'Raise Pups' servers to continue after the goal is completed. No new content, but they can simply stay ingame and continue to care for the pups(or even let them die) as if they hadn't left the den/reached the rendezvous site yet.

7. Moderators that the game host can choose. These people would have the power to kick players from the game if the host is not around.

Another, alternate idea:
Completely rework how the multiplayer system works, or add a new 'mode' that changes it.

i.e. you'd have the basic, non-dedicated game servers with the 8 players, only up for as long as the host is online, etc...

And then you have the potential for server hosting similar to Ark, The Isle, etc. in which players can pay to have a permanent dedicated server up 24/7 whether the host is online or offline, with a custom-set player cap not limited to 8 players.

It can be done. Ark and The Isle and many other games manage that type of multiplayer system- I'm sure WQ could make it work, too.

Annnd another suggestion for ingame chat:
Basic multiplayer game chat functions that pretty much every multiplayer game has now.

As in- local chat, in which only players in a certain radius can see your message, general chat, which all players can see, and whisper chat, which allows you to 'whisper' to a specific player.

Would make roleplays with multiple people spread across the map(i.e. multipack rps) a lot easier and more organized. I shouldn't be able to see what the alpha of the other pack across the map is saying to their packmate.

[Echodextrous]

Better notifications for PM's especially while you are in game and/or a way to track what games online friends are in if you wanna stalk them or so that there are less struggles to find which game they are in, of course there should also be an option to be invisible to your friends if you want some time to yourself or to meet new players.

[CapriciousCeilican]

Could we be able to tag people in the chat via their user or wolf name? Sometimes the chats can go by pretty fast if you're in a room full of fast typers and might need to get someone's attention. Being able to whisper users through the chat would be nice too.

[tatd_2217]

I was thinking maybe instead of limiting the ability to kick, the host would have to provide a reason for kicking, e.g. troll, unfair/powerplay, purposly pup killing, etc., etc.

YES! I've seen 2 people that somehow got away with very inappropriate names (I'm 18 so it wasn't a big deal but for younger kids it would have been) and they were making jokes about elk or another player being homophobic, and we all ignored them until they left.. the host was trying to be nice to them. I've also seen in a pup quest a player coming into the game in the middle of it and for some reason assuming we were ready for the journey and took one of the pups down to the river and let it drown; then when we said something they left and came back as a different wolf. People have completely ignored predators and act innocent when they die. Ugh!

[resanfray]

I don't know about anyone else, but I would like to be able to distinguish the wolf names
from what they said better in chat. Like... Maybe the wolf names are bolded
when they say something, or Each wolf depending on which number of player they are have their name colored.


Honestly I would love to view a player's card by maybe clicking their wolf and being able to see a describe of their characters, Which packs they are in...
Player info cards would be incredible. Maybe I was curious if we could have icons on the player card, so maybe you could feature art of the character.
Although I do see potential for problem, perhaps the individual icons could be approved by mods before being able to be uploaded but that's an idea.

I know you can make packs/groups for players but what about just a character pack. Where Wolf A of a player might be in "Deer Valley Pack"
and the group has a short description of the pack, and the same player has Wolf B which is in "Sunshine river Pack"

I think adding that future would help to expand friends and keep them together, as well as help keep games rolling.

[Polynesia]

2. Seriously, why aren't we allowed spaces or dashes in game names?? You can use "|", but not "-"? Suggestion: Allow spaces and dashes, or AT LEAST dashes. Not all game names should have to be smushed together in one word.

I wish spaces were allowed too! Two part names can be really pretty.

[Whirl-Oakpaw]

Ability to choose a deputy host to pass the game on to in case the host player disconnects. I haven't played MP in a while but the game ends when the host leaves, right? So being able to pick someone to keep running the game in case of disconnect would be nice.

[xc92u3]

2. Seriously, why aren't we allowed spaces or dashes in game names?? You can use "|", but not "-"? Suggestion: Allow spaces and dashes, or AT LEAST dashes. Not all game names should have to be smushed together in one word.

I wish spaces were allowed too! Two part names can be really pretty.

Yes, me three! Doesn't anyone want to name their wolf "Mr/Ms Wolfie?" Or name their multiplayer games "Wolf Pack" or "Raise pups"? Well, I do!

[ForeverEverest]

Doesn't anyone want to name their wolf "Mr/Ms Wolfie?"

I actually named a wolf MrFloppy recently. He's a wolf with a floppy ear. It would be cool if we could put spaces in names, but I'm also interested in being able to put more characters in wolf names. My brother came up with a cool wolf name for me to use (JabbaTheMutt), but it's 12 characters long, and WolfQuest only allows 11 in wolf names.

[loboLoco]

Thanks for all the suggestions! A number of these are already in plans, as mentioned in the OP. And we'll talk about MP game modes some other time.

What will the tick rate of the server be? Are they dedicated instances like Overwatch or are they P2P?

Our sync rate (which I guess is the same as tick rate) is 12 per second, which is slow compared to shooter games but sufficient for our gameplay. We're using Photon master/client multiplayer service, so the host's computer/device is running the game and other players are the clients.

The MP could have more than 8 players, for example, 12 | 15 | or 20 wolves on a single server

The current cap of eight is for two reasons:

1) Performance --to prevent excessive lag). We are doing a lot more optimization in WQ3....but we're also going to have more animals and bigger herds, so we don't know yet how that will shake out for various computers and devices.

2) Usability. We did some tests in 2016 with larger caps, but above 10 and the chat panel got pretty crazy and hard to keep track of. For pack vs. pack, we can solve that by having a "Your Pack" tab on the chat panel, but that doesn't help with other MP game modes. It's something we'll look into more at some point.

Adding an optional mini-description that pops up when you select a server. Could be helpful for RPs that have a plot, or give in-game server rules specified by the host.

This would open up a lot of risk in terms of inappropriate descriptions, but we definitely see the need for more information about the game style, so we're thinking of using tags instead, so the host could pick 4-10 tags (like "RP" and "realistic" and a few others), which would appear on the game-details popup. That doesn't give as much freedom to the host to describe their game, but with a good set of tags, it should help a lot.

why aren't we allowed spaces or dashes in game names?? You can use "|", but not "-"? Suggestion: Allow spaces and dashes, or AT LEAST dashes. Not all game names should have to be smushed together in one word.

That's to prevent people from easily bypassing the naughty word filter. (We used to have a much more complicated filtering system, but it was a never-ending battle and so this is a simple but generally effective method.)

5. Allow permanent private and public servers- i.e. ones that stay up even after the host logs off. The host would have to select that as an option when making it and could take it down at any time.

Online dedicated servers are quite expensive. From what I can tell, ARK and The Isle let players host a dedicated server on their own computer, which comes with its own technical procedures and challenges for those players, and for players trying to join them. Not ruling that out, but not a high priority.

In the meantime, we do want to figure out how to let the host transfer the game to another player. It's not easy, given the complexity of the eco-simulation, but we understand it would be extremely helpful.

I'm also interested in being able to put more characters in wolf names.

Yes, we will increase the character count, as the new badge design won't be so constrained for name length.

[ForeverEverest]

I'm also interested in being able to put more characters in wolf names.

Yes, we will increase the character count, as the new badge design won't be so constrained for name length.

That's great! Even if you only increase it to 12, I'll be happy. WolfQuest 3 already sounds amazing, but I'm guessing there are still a few surprises that I don't yet know about, and plenty more awesome ideas to come. I look forward to seeing what other awesome new features come to WolfQuest in the future. I guess I'll have to play a game until then... The waiting game.

[Weylenn]

What will the tick rate of the server be? Are they dedicated instances like Overwatch or are they P2P?

Our sync rate (which I guess is the same as tick rate) is 12 per second, which is slow compared to shooter games but sufficient for our gameplay. We're using Photon master/client multiplayer service, so the host's computer/device is running the game and other players are the clients.

Thanks for the answer Dave! Would you be willing to put it higher to something like 30 maybe? In a "High Performance" mode almost, maybe put a tag of #30 or #15 to let players know they'd need a better connection for 30 tick servers? I don't know. If there's going to be PVP, I'd value higher refreshes for the sake of stopping arguments and people saying "No, I bit first!". /Shrug

Edit; Optimally I'd love to have 60, but that sounds expensive performance-wise and money-wise. Thanks for your time though and putting up with my weird niche questions lol.