RAID! IW NEGLECTS ANSWERS.
* EDIT: The previous post at CharlieOscarDelta.com got removed since IW thought it had content that was "personal attacks" against fourzerotwo and the company Infinity Ward. The new link to the repost is:
http://www.charlieoscardelta.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=14505
I now choose to post my private message to the community manager 'fourzerotwo' since he has neglected to give answers to questions that he asked that i privately should write. He also stated that it would not be a useless waste of time, however he haven't even reported reading my document even though i have asked him several times through private messages (at the infinityward.com forums). There have now been two months since i wrote this letter and i'm fed up with waiting for nothing.
fourzerotwo's ignorance seems to be proof that IW will not care about any of the issues or request i'm mentioning in this letter.[/i]
* If you find this post hard to read due to massive amount of text you can download the original document here: http://www.callofduty.se/0-gzgrejjer/tempgrejjs/COD4.doc
If you agree you should go to the charlieoscardelta.com -forums and show your lack of faith. The competitive community should NOT be neglected any more.
Link to the thread at COD.com:
http://www.charlieoscardelta.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=14505
COD4: Competitive multiplayer aspects
Disclaimer: These opinions are my own and don't represent the community as a whole even though most of these opinions are shared and have been discussed forever within the competitive community.
Who am I?
My name is Tommie Hansen (aka general z). I was born in Sweden (Stockholm) in 1982 and am today 25 years old. In my time away from the computer I work as a graphic and website designer and am also the chief editor at Callofduty.se - the Swedish community since 2003.
I've been following the Call of Duty series for the PC since around August-October 2003 (before the first Call of Duty game was released).
This document
In this document I will try to look at some different aspects regarding competitive gaming (and a little general things as well) in Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2 and what I think should be in the coming title Call of Duty 4. The good that has been in favour for the community and the bad that has not. I will try to explain each point as good as I can but if you fail to understand what I'm saying to a full extent - I'm open for a discussion.
The good in previous games
• The COD series has always been fast paced and different modes and classes has always served different gamers preferences
• The ability to lean, crouch etc. always have made the game more "skilled"
• Responsive AIM
• Easy to get going, not too advanced but the depth has always been there due to the different classes and their unique qualities and downsides. The Call of Duty series has always been quite simple in multiplayer and that has, in my point of view, made the game more accessible for new people
• An array of console settings
• Quite small maps that has worked well for tactics and intense matches online as well as offline on LANs.
• "Aim down the sight" has been sort of a trademark for the Call of Duty series in multiplayer and that too adds to the skill that a team need in order to come out on top - another "skill factor"
• Colored names - not a big deal but it does add to the feeling that one can customize a bit
• Quite easy to set up servers - one doesn't really have to be a pro in order to set up a Linux server
The bad in previous games
• The ability to lean, crouch etc. unfortunately had its part of bad bugs. Glitches in both COD and COD2 have been a real problem in matches both online and offline
• The smoke in COD2 made the game very laggy for many people. People that generally had a solid 125 FPS could and can still drop to 30 FPS if there are smoke present, this is a mayor issue since people just doesn't like to lag because of a "simple" thing as smoke (both thrown and the dust flying around on maps). FPS is extremely important for a good multiplayer experience. Smoke shouldn't in any way kill 70-80 FPS for someone
• The pixel registration introduced in COD2 didn't really work that well, it's to common that one get killed by a shot that should have missed and this is not really that great for online competition
• Lack of general community support (however you seem to be more responsive nowadays which is great)
• Lack of community support#2 - You don't seem to in any way support LANs / offline competitions that people and communities invest a lot of time, money and blood in. It's a shame since these people actually are doing you a favour and are putting a lot of hard work into organizing these events
COD4: Multiplayer wish list
• Make perks and unlockable items configurable. Custom skins and such will be equal to people hacking and trying to get an unfair advantage. It may be fun for public play but it isn't really suited for competitive play. It would be great if we could configure COD4 in all ways possible in order to set a competitive standard that work long-term and that minimizes abuse.
• FPS, FPS and FPS. COD4 will look amazing and that's great! But in order to make COD4 really successful people will need to play it in a descent way even if they can't afford the latest top-of-the-line computer. Descent = a minimum of 80FPS on a mid-range computer. As you have said yourselves, it's very important that the game runs smoothly and this is even more important for competitive play. Why do you think Counter-Strike 1.6 is so successful? Is it only because of the style of the game? Not really. It's because anyone can play the game with a descent FPS on any computer. Making COD4 inaccessible for people with lower end computers mean that you will kill at least half of the competitive community.
A problem in COD2 is just that - low FPS even if one makes the game look like crap. Even COD1 at its highest settings gives more FPS then COD2 on its lowest. That is just mad since COD1 with everything on "high" certainly look better then COD2 with everything on "low". Make people that want to have high FPS have it - it will truly be one of the most important things with COD4 and one of the mayor factors that will decide if COD4 is successful as a competition game or not.
• CODTV - The community has more or less craved it forever and there is a reason for it. CODTV isn't just a fun and cool thing. It makes the game larger; having video streams doesn't really do it since it simply cost too much money for companies to run those streams. It isn't an option if one wants to broadcast live to over 10 000 people.
CODTV introduces new people to the game. It makes it more accessible for the general public and more interesting for those already in the community. With CODTV members of the community can follow their fellow teams, spy on others, develop new tactics, get inspired… and so on. CODTV also opens up the doors for larger events and partnerships for teams with sponsors and so on. It opens more doors then I can think of now. Garetjax can probably tell you the rest of it.
These are my ideas on what a CODTV should include:
- Spectate freely in a game: follow or just fly around, do anything that a regular spectator can and more
- Being able to connect the stream to a audio stream. Matches becomes more exiting if there are a commentator, if CODTV doesn't support third-party audio from the server matches becomes less accessible for people that doesn't understand the game to a 100%
- Small map in a corner of the screen where you have a top-down view of all the players
- Easy interface for the beginners, it shouldn't take much to connect to a streaming server. But if one want one should be able to configure different values in order to optimize the experience or compensate for lag etc.
- Being able to spectate a the guy that is broadcasting; Why? Some people might not think it's fun to fly around in a game randomly. It would be great if one can spectate a spectator through CODTV. This would especially be great if there is a commentator that you just can follow and in that way you also get full relevancy to what him or her are saying and talking about. It also opens up for watching a game on the TV with popcorn instead of having to be active all the time in front of a monitor which isn't really that great or comfortable all the time...
- Option to have users that connect to the stream send to an IRC-channel (interface in the CODTV not through 3rd party application). This so people very easily can discuss the game. This also brings me to the next point;
- Being able to run COD4 in windowed mode so that you can do other things while watching a game (chat with people about the game for instance as mentioned above)
- Being able to watch a COD4 game through a 3rd-party-like program WITHOUT owning the actual game (a way to introduce even more people to the game)
- Set delay so that team members from team "x" can't tell their team mates via the stream what's going on, it should be configurable in X seconds
• Maps - A few maps in both COD and COD2 have been great. These are; Railyard (COD1 only), Harbor (COD1 only), Dawnville, Carentan, Toujane, Matmata & Burgundy. The rest has been bad for competitive play since they haven't offered a good diversity. 5 maps out of 15 that is good to play matches on are really, really weak. Those previously mentioned maps (for COD2) actually are the most liked one on public servers as well… The reason those mentioned maps suit well for competitive play is because the different classes are in some way effective and that all different playing styles work well at them. They also work tactic wise since none of them are too complex or too simple. Generally they share a maximum of 2-3 *GOOD* (don't get you killed way too easy) passages to a bombsite (we're talking S&D now, the most played game type in the competitive community) and not more then 3-4 ways that lead to the bomb sites with some smaller variations here and there.
Toujane, to mention a more in depth example, also feature a two-level play field since one can be on the roofs on most buildings which really ads. However the buildings aren't cluttered with rubbish.. debris and so on, so a player up on the roof doesn't get too large of an advantage. The map also features distinct passages and a very easily laid out layout that is easy to learn but yet offers such variations so that the map work for hardcore competitive play. It also feature a small set of debris that isn't too much but not too little either. Just enough cover and not too much clutter!
You should study those more successful maps and really take in what make just those maps so successful and try to implement it more in the maps that ship with COD4. The game can have controls that are amazing, pixelregistration that is amazing and so on… but it often comes down to how fun the maps are and how well their "replayability" is. If the maps aren't good the game isn't good. COD2 had only a handful of good maps. That has been a really weak point for the game.
You could, as you have before, argue that the community itself could make new maps but the people that make maps aren't the ones competing in the game. This often makes the custom maps very poor for competition. The map makers are often more interested in making a cool map then making a map that really works in all aspects. People that compete in the game just don't have the time it takes to create a solid map and if they have maybe doesn't have the skill to do it or the actual design interest. Even if they actually have.. custom maps are generally seen as a bad thing due to the reason that almost all custom maps isn't suitable for competitive play at all.
Another big obstacle is that in order to make a map more "official" by the community everyone needs to have it on their computer. This can't be done since not everyone will download "random guys" map just because some competitive players say so. However all maps that comes "out-of-the-box" is official and everyone WILL have it. This also counts for maps that you release through patches.
An idea on the subject would to take a look at on what teams are the greatest in North America and in the EU and have them look for maps and vote for them and then have it released in a patch. Why only top performing teams in the NA and the EU you might wonder? Well… teams that play the game competitive at that level really, really play the game more then hardcore. It's these guys that know about ALL the bugs in the game, all the tweaks, all the glitches and all that makes everything good and bad about the game. Their expertises with the game, playing wise, will in any day be more then you can offer yourselves. And this shouldn't be too hard to believe since those guys literally put 4-8 hours a day playing the game for a long period of time.
GENERAL WARNING: DON'T ADD TO MUCH DEBRIS AND STUFF TO THE MAPS BECAUSE MAPS LIKE CAEN, LENINGRAD, BREAKOUT ETC SIMPLY HAVE TOO MUCH AND THEY DOESN'T PLAY WELL FOR NEARLY THAT REASON ALONE.
• Maps#2 - Many maps are poorly created. They have glitches and all sort of issues that needs proper testing. I know that you, of course, test your maps in advance but this time around couldn't you actually fix maps that already have been shipped? Many bugs can easily be fixed by you. It's often just some corner, some box or something small that is actually glitching. More updating of the already existing maps would be great and would add to their replayability.
Also a lot of maps have brushes that conflict with other brushes and thus decreasing performance. These brushes actually have a great impact on FPS (your in-house map makers surely can tell you this) and mapping wise should be optimized. There are many examples in the maps of COD2 where you can witness these faulty brushes. FPS, as I said, is of the outmost importance for the competitive community.
• Lag - COD2 have/had a bit of lag and the pixelregistration didn't really work to a 100%. I know that you have been given information about this several times already but I have clip from a player that yet again proves this: http://www.callofduty.se/0-gzgrejjer/tempgrejjs/stoffe.avi
This player had at that moment a ping of 32ms and a non-existing lag. Yet he fires and totally misses his target and is rewarded with a kill. His opponent had a ping of 37ms and didn't suffer from any lag either. No one of the players had any type of FPS-related lag as well. This is a problem and a similar problem in COD4 would make the game more "random" (the element of luck should be as small as possible so that players with skill often comes out on top against people with less skill). It's just bad that a player that actually doesn't hit someone get a hit and a player that hit doesn't. The registration was better back in COD1.
• Pixelregistration - I mentioned lag above and this has some relevance to it. In COD1 it was harder to get a clean headshot because getting one is well, not really that easy especially not from a longer distance. In COD2 one can basically shoot some ones "mantra" and get a hit. Getting a clean headshot in COD2 is way too easy in comparison to COD1 where one needed more skill in order to get such, generally seen, skilled shots. The pixelregistration needs to be better so that those that play the game more is rewarded more for their aim. COD2 often feature luck in the sense that people quite often get lucky headshots across a map, this isn't good for competitive play. The less luck or "randomness" the better.
• PAM "OUT-OF-THE-BOX" - PAM is a great addition to the COD series. It makes the game easier for matches and adds a lot of features that has been needed in order to make the game better competition wise. It also have helped the competitive community to more easily set standards to rules and so on. You have Garetjax on your list of "community invited members" so he will hopefully make solid points about this. A great thing with PAM is by the way that it is community built. Therefore we don't have to wait until you, IW, release a patch or something like that. You have systems that simply are a bit too slow in order to fix smaller stuff fast like Garetjax and Worm can. However it would still be great if you included PAM just to show your support for it and above all… continued support for it.
• No nighvision in multiplayer - It might be cool in the single player experience but nightvision and such things isn't really a great idea for multiplayer. I don't believe it really would be that much fun on a COD-typical map.
• Don't add TOO much gadgets - Too much will be just that, too much. At least have it configurable so that there can be some sort of standard in competition.
• In-Game browser AND a real browser - This is more general but the built in browser in previous games has been really basic. It would be great if you can implement a proper game browser not for competitive players or more hardcore ones… but just for people that are new to the game. The best would be if the user could choose "normal" or "advanced". The normal should be even more simple and rule out servers with too high ping by default (150+ at least). It should be as easy as possible for new players to play the game in multiplayer. You could even add a tutorial or something for the really new ones.
The "real" browser should be something like ASE (The All Seeing Eye). Simple and effective + an array of really useful filters and functions if one want.
A problem now for the newbie is for example ping. You often witness players with a high ping and this is most probably because they don't know about ping - the game isn't much fun to this people. You should simplify it for new users to select a proper server. You can even add such a beginner thing as to let users select their state and only include servers, by default, which has less latency then 80ms. You shouldn't have to be a geek in order to enjoy the multiplayer experience. Or even better add a "This server seem to be be bad for you - you might experience that your shots doesn't count, you should try anotherone with less ping. What is ping? Read more >" that pops up if a player try to connect to a server with higher latency then 80ms.
• Gamestate - Fix it. You know about it, no need to explain it further.
• HTTP-redirect at release - It's a great tool to increase the games longevity. Also have a separate MOD & MAP-directory so that users more easily can remove mods that conflict with others etc. HTTP-redirect has been a real pain for many people with less computer skills; they often remove wrong files from their COD/COD2 directory … and have to reinstall the whole game. An even better solution to actually support this further would be to include a GUI for adding and removing mods (like Mozilla Firefox extensions maybe?). (this have now be reported to be included, however no details are yet given and this is not a mayor one anyway - it would be awful if IW left out stuff that has been in the game since COD1....)
• SV_FPS 30 - The more server FPS the less lag! SV_FPS 30 wasn't supported in COD2 and was modded in via PAM. COD4 should support SV_FPS 30 since it make the game less laggy, more responsive and accurate.
• Have a large LAN - The WSVG (World Series of Video Games - one of the largest event organiser for games) is holding two $20 000 competitions for COD2 - why can't you 4-5 weeks after the release of COD4 do something similar but maybe a bit larger ($30 000 + $30 000)? It would be an extremely great way to promote your game as a really great competitive game with mayor support from its developer. Do not have both events in North America though. Have one in North America and one In the EU. It's quite expensive for EU-teams to fly all the way to the US... and well.. it just wouldn't be fair.
If you did this you would also be the first ever to support a game in such a way. COD4 would be written about everywhere at all sites and probably in most gaming magazines as well. You should however release the information 1-2 weeks before launch and make sure you hype it as much as you can with different updates about it etc. The possibilities are endless… if you let the people that actually compete in the community make up the rules and such details. (No crazy DM-tournaments …, S&D is the most played game type in COD/COD2 and the only one that is being played at LANs).
• Release all the maps - Release all the maps as .map and include everything so that community can add or remove things that simply clutters. This is a great way for the community to optimize maps for competitive play (setting up a standard wouldn't be that hard since the competitive community can cooperate in larger projects as recently shown when the competitive community got WSVG to include COD2).
• In-Game ADS - Imagine a sports arena without any ads, TV without any ads and so on. If you want COD4 to be a great game competition wise make it easy to actually add banners/ads into the game itself. How would this work you might think, well here is a non-technical solution;
Usually the COD-maps have different spots with sort-of-ads on walls a bit everywhere. If you could make those certain spots dynamic in the sense that the server checks the/a config.cfg and that one actually can specify http-addresses to new images that automatically get loaded for the user(s) that connect to the server. One good function to have regarding this is a banner ticker command (a command that lets one specify if banners should change to another banner in X seconds time, the same as you see at many sports arenas). A fade-in/-out function would also be good for this so that these banners don't distract the players too much.
Of course it also has to include some type of resize-algorithm so that banners included keep their aspect ratio. Yet another addition would be for the the server admin to specify where these banners should be. There should be TWO slots in each spawn (especially in Search & Destroy that is the undisputed leader in competitive play) and the option to choose "spawn only" for server admins that really doesn't want ads all over the maps.
When no http-addresses are put in the default images or no images should be displayed.
This sort of function would be the first of its kind and would truly add to the COD4 experience competition wise. It would really make COD4 stand out from the competition. And no, this can't be modded in. The option would be to create custom maps from the orginal maps but creating custom maps for each event / each server administrator etc. is too much of a hassle.
• Scoreboard - Have it customizable so that one can change colors, size, what to display and so on. This isn't really important for general game play but for TV broadcasts it can be good to be able to clear it up and make it more readable. Make it controllable via CSS, it would be so easy to change then.
• Fragmovies / demo controls - As you might now there are several quite skilled gamers out there that make so called "fragmovies". These are in all way to YOUR benefit since they always make your game look good, fun, challenging and well - many movies really makes you want to play the game. The problem however is that exporting clips from COD1/2 has never been efficient. One can for starters NOT rewind a demo (imagine you're looking at a demo, you see a great kill that you want to include but what to do now? One can't just go back and press "record" - you'll have to restart the whole demo and fast forward to that round, but first you'll have to write down the time and round when that kill accur… Imagine doing this over and over… and over.. and over… again). One can only export in the .tga-format which is bad, .avi -clips is far more easy to handle. COD2 has terrible performance because one can't run the game in windowed mode either (everyone wants to record at DX9, 1280x1024 with everything maxed out in order to get the greatest looking image quality).
Include descent demo controls / movie making controls;
- Option to rewind demos (one of the most crucial ones here)
- "OUT-OF-THE-BOX" controls for; play, pause, stop, fast forward, rewind, fast rewind + ability to forward / rewind in timescale 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9
- Option to export as .avi (add optimization code as well If you got the time for it in order to get a better performance)
- Ability to "tag" time codes / events and then "record all tags" (The demo control then goes to tag1 (time xx:xx > xx:xx), tag2 time: yy:yy > yy:yy etc etc.. and records them)
- Windowed mode as described before
- Camera modes! Option to choose different camera mode settings when following players in 3rd person + just general types of camera modes that we can see in other games
- Option to choose "smooth movement" so that one can follow a player in-air and make turns without having to redo it a hundred times because you didn't move your mouse smoothly
- Being able to switch and bind players so that one can choose to spectate a certain player faster then browsing through them all (this has been really poor in previous games)
- Optimize export (I have no clue have you would achieve this, but it would definitely be great)
- Option to have a demo-config (look at www.seismovision.net - a 3rd-party application that makes it easier to playback demos in COD1 & COD2, but it isn't that totally efficient since it can't take care of rewind functions and all other more "advanced" things)
You might have this question: Why would you go through such a hassle of adding more advanced demo functions when most people that play the game doesn't make use of them?
My answer: Fragmovies and movies from the game of all types is a powerful tool for you to actually get FREE advertising of your game. The more quality fragmovies and misc. movies from COD4 that comes out the more will be interested in bying it and this long after the game has been released. There is nothing like watching a quality fragmovie regarding ones will to play the game.
Examples of fragmovies;
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/stixur2.rar
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/Wonderbase_Highlights_HQ.rar
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/therise2.wmv
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/Optimystic.rar
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/Momentum_by_cem.rar
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/DIGNITAS-Made_In_Britain-2006.rar
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/BreathE.rar
• Advertising - There simply isn't enough. When Battlefield 2 was released I saw ads everywhere about the game here in Sweden (however the company are from Sweden so I don't know if they targeted the Swedish market). For both COD1/2 advertising seems to have been non-existent. You got to show more of your game.
If you have a tight budget you can always choose internet marketing as a solution, however printed materials often gives more of a shine and always are looked upon as more serious. If COD4 is to be successful you need to reach out to more people then the ones surfing gaming related sites and reading gaming related magazines.
• COD4 Multiplayer edition - Release a COD4 Multiplayer only box a few months after the initial release. This will give you more advertising and will get to the gamers that "I want to test COD4 but I don't want to spend $1000 on it". Also make sure it stands out on the shelves at the gaming stores, make the box shiny gold, silver or red (important about this is to check the current competition in order to see if it will actually stand out or not - take the dummy box, place it in a game store and check the visibility)
• Weapon balance - It's important the the weapon balance is correct. In COD2 we have the shotgun that is too powerful and easy to use. Don't have any overpowered guns, any atom bombs (nades with too much power as in COD2) or anything that make the game less skilled. An example of a good weapon is the Mp44 in COD2.
A game where one side has a weapon that is too powerful and useful isn't really fun longterm.
Last words
There are things that you can do with COD4 that no developer has made before you. You have to ability to do something great and rock the foundations of what we today call Electronic Sport. I ask you to seriously consider the "sports" aspect of the game and how it can evolve - what you need to include and what you need to simulate from real arenas in order to make maps as just that - arenas for sporting teams.
One developer will sooner or later be the first one to make a truly remarkable game for the Electronic Sport that will be the one that is played everywhere for years to come. It was Counter-Strike but it is starting to fade away one piece at the time. COD4 can be the game to take over - don't you wish that it is your game that teams travel around the world to compete in? Your game that it is every boys dream to become really good at?
I hope that I've shed some light on some of these issues/additions and that my participation will affect the way you think about this game.
Best regards,
Tommie "general z" Hansen
Callofduty.se - The Swedish community since 2003
http://www.charlieoscardelta.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=14505
I now choose to post my private message to the community manager 'fourzerotwo' since he has neglected to give answers to questions that he asked that i privately should write. He also stated that it would not be a useless waste of time, however he haven't even reported reading my document even though i have asked him several times through private messages (at the infinityward.com forums). There have now been two months since i wrote this letter and i'm fed up with waiting for nothing.
fourzerotwo's ignorance seems to be proof that IW will not care about any of the issues or request i'm mentioning in this letter.[/i]
* If you find this post hard to read due to massive amount of text you can download the original document here: http://www.callofduty.se/0-gzgrejjer/tempgrejjs/COD4.doc
If you agree you should go to the charlieoscardelta.com -forums and show your lack of faith. The competitive community should NOT be neglected any more.
Link to the thread at COD.com:
http://www.charlieoscardelta.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=14505
COD4: Competitive multiplayer aspects
Disclaimer: These opinions are my own and don't represent the community as a whole even though most of these opinions are shared and have been discussed forever within the competitive community.
Who am I?
My name is Tommie Hansen (aka general z). I was born in Sweden (Stockholm) in 1982 and am today 25 years old. In my time away from the computer I work as a graphic and website designer and am also the chief editor at Callofduty.se - the Swedish community since 2003.
I've been following the Call of Duty series for the PC since around August-October 2003 (before the first Call of Duty game was released).
This document
In this document I will try to look at some different aspects regarding competitive gaming (and a little general things as well) in Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2 and what I think should be in the coming title Call of Duty 4. The good that has been in favour for the community and the bad that has not. I will try to explain each point as good as I can but if you fail to understand what I'm saying to a full extent - I'm open for a discussion.
The good in previous games
• The COD series has always been fast paced and different modes and classes has always served different gamers preferences
• The ability to lean, crouch etc. always have made the game more "skilled"
• Responsive AIM
• Easy to get going, not too advanced but the depth has always been there due to the different classes and their unique qualities and downsides. The Call of Duty series has always been quite simple in multiplayer and that has, in my point of view, made the game more accessible for new people
• An array of console settings
• Quite small maps that has worked well for tactics and intense matches online as well as offline on LANs.
• "Aim down the sight" has been sort of a trademark for the Call of Duty series in multiplayer and that too adds to the skill that a team need in order to come out on top - another "skill factor"
• Colored names - not a big deal but it does add to the feeling that one can customize a bit
• Quite easy to set up servers - one doesn't really have to be a pro in order to set up a Linux server
The bad in previous games
• The ability to lean, crouch etc. unfortunately had its part of bad bugs. Glitches in both COD and COD2 have been a real problem in matches both online and offline
• The smoke in COD2 made the game very laggy for many people. People that generally had a solid 125 FPS could and can still drop to 30 FPS if there are smoke present, this is a mayor issue since people just doesn't like to lag because of a "simple" thing as smoke (both thrown and the dust flying around on maps). FPS is extremely important for a good multiplayer experience. Smoke shouldn't in any way kill 70-80 FPS for someone
• The pixel registration introduced in COD2 didn't really work that well, it's to common that one get killed by a shot that should have missed and this is not really that great for online competition
• Lack of general community support (however you seem to be more responsive nowadays which is great)
• Lack of community support#2 - You don't seem to in any way support LANs / offline competitions that people and communities invest a lot of time, money and blood in. It's a shame since these people actually are doing you a favour and are putting a lot of hard work into organizing these events
COD4: Multiplayer wish list
• Make perks and unlockable items configurable. Custom skins and such will be equal to people hacking and trying to get an unfair advantage. It may be fun for public play but it isn't really suited for competitive play. It would be great if we could configure COD4 in all ways possible in order to set a competitive standard that work long-term and that minimizes abuse.
• FPS, FPS and FPS. COD4 will look amazing and that's great! But in order to make COD4 really successful people will need to play it in a descent way even if they can't afford the latest top-of-the-line computer. Descent = a minimum of 80FPS on a mid-range computer. As you have said yourselves, it's very important that the game runs smoothly and this is even more important for competitive play. Why do you think Counter-Strike 1.6 is so successful? Is it only because of the style of the game? Not really. It's because anyone can play the game with a descent FPS on any computer. Making COD4 inaccessible for people with lower end computers mean that you will kill at least half of the competitive community.
A problem in COD2 is just that - low FPS even if one makes the game look like crap. Even COD1 at its highest settings gives more FPS then COD2 on its lowest. That is just mad since COD1 with everything on "high" certainly look better then COD2 with everything on "low". Make people that want to have high FPS have it - it will truly be one of the most important things with COD4 and one of the mayor factors that will decide if COD4 is successful as a competition game or not.
• CODTV - The community has more or less craved it forever and there is a reason for it. CODTV isn't just a fun and cool thing. It makes the game larger; having video streams doesn't really do it since it simply cost too much money for companies to run those streams. It isn't an option if one wants to broadcast live to over 10 000 people.
CODTV introduces new people to the game. It makes it more accessible for the general public and more interesting for those already in the community. With CODTV members of the community can follow their fellow teams, spy on others, develop new tactics, get inspired… and so on. CODTV also opens up the doors for larger events and partnerships for teams with sponsors and so on. It opens more doors then I can think of now. Garetjax can probably tell you the rest of it.
These are my ideas on what a CODTV should include:
- Spectate freely in a game: follow or just fly around, do anything that a regular spectator can and more
- Being able to connect the stream to a audio stream. Matches becomes more exiting if there are a commentator, if CODTV doesn't support third-party audio from the server matches becomes less accessible for people that doesn't understand the game to a 100%
- Small map in a corner of the screen where you have a top-down view of all the players
- Easy interface for the beginners, it shouldn't take much to connect to a streaming server. But if one want one should be able to configure different values in order to optimize the experience or compensate for lag etc.
- Being able to spectate a the guy that is broadcasting; Why? Some people might not think it's fun to fly around in a game randomly. It would be great if one can spectate a spectator through CODTV. This would especially be great if there is a commentator that you just can follow and in that way you also get full relevancy to what him or her are saying and talking about. It also opens up for watching a game on the TV with popcorn instead of having to be active all the time in front of a monitor which isn't really that great or comfortable all the time...
- Option to have users that connect to the stream send to an IRC-channel (interface in the CODTV not through 3rd party application). This so people very easily can discuss the game. This also brings me to the next point;
- Being able to run COD4 in windowed mode so that you can do other things while watching a game (chat with people about the game for instance as mentioned above)
- Being able to watch a COD4 game through a 3rd-party-like program WITHOUT owning the actual game (a way to introduce even more people to the game)
- Set delay so that team members from team "x" can't tell their team mates via the stream what's going on, it should be configurable in X seconds
• Maps - A few maps in both COD and COD2 have been great. These are; Railyard (COD1 only), Harbor (COD1 only), Dawnville, Carentan, Toujane, Matmata & Burgundy. The rest has been bad for competitive play since they haven't offered a good diversity. 5 maps out of 15 that is good to play matches on are really, really weak. Those previously mentioned maps (for COD2) actually are the most liked one on public servers as well… The reason those mentioned maps suit well for competitive play is because the different classes are in some way effective and that all different playing styles work well at them. They also work tactic wise since none of them are too complex or too simple. Generally they share a maximum of 2-3 *GOOD* (don't get you killed way too easy) passages to a bombsite (we're talking S&D now, the most played game type in the competitive community) and not more then 3-4 ways that lead to the bomb sites with some smaller variations here and there.
Toujane, to mention a more in depth example, also feature a two-level play field since one can be on the roofs on most buildings which really ads. However the buildings aren't cluttered with rubbish.. debris and so on, so a player up on the roof doesn't get too large of an advantage. The map also features distinct passages and a very easily laid out layout that is easy to learn but yet offers such variations so that the map work for hardcore competitive play. It also feature a small set of debris that isn't too much but not too little either. Just enough cover and not too much clutter!
You should study those more successful maps and really take in what make just those maps so successful and try to implement it more in the maps that ship with COD4. The game can have controls that are amazing, pixelregistration that is amazing and so on… but it often comes down to how fun the maps are and how well their "replayability" is. If the maps aren't good the game isn't good. COD2 had only a handful of good maps. That has been a really weak point for the game.
You could, as you have before, argue that the community itself could make new maps but the people that make maps aren't the ones competing in the game. This often makes the custom maps very poor for competition. The map makers are often more interested in making a cool map then making a map that really works in all aspects. People that compete in the game just don't have the time it takes to create a solid map and if they have maybe doesn't have the skill to do it or the actual design interest. Even if they actually have.. custom maps are generally seen as a bad thing due to the reason that almost all custom maps isn't suitable for competitive play at all.
Another big obstacle is that in order to make a map more "official" by the community everyone needs to have it on their computer. This can't be done since not everyone will download "random guys" map just because some competitive players say so. However all maps that comes "out-of-the-box" is official and everyone WILL have it. This also counts for maps that you release through patches.
An idea on the subject would to take a look at on what teams are the greatest in North America and in the EU and have them look for maps and vote for them and then have it released in a patch. Why only top performing teams in the NA and the EU you might wonder? Well… teams that play the game competitive at that level really, really play the game more then hardcore. It's these guys that know about ALL the bugs in the game, all the tweaks, all the glitches and all that makes everything good and bad about the game. Their expertises with the game, playing wise, will in any day be more then you can offer yourselves. And this shouldn't be too hard to believe since those guys literally put 4-8 hours a day playing the game for a long period of time.
GENERAL WARNING: DON'T ADD TO MUCH DEBRIS AND STUFF TO THE MAPS BECAUSE MAPS LIKE CAEN, LENINGRAD, BREAKOUT ETC SIMPLY HAVE TOO MUCH AND THEY DOESN'T PLAY WELL FOR NEARLY THAT REASON ALONE.
• Maps#2 - Many maps are poorly created. They have glitches and all sort of issues that needs proper testing. I know that you, of course, test your maps in advance but this time around couldn't you actually fix maps that already have been shipped? Many bugs can easily be fixed by you. It's often just some corner, some box or something small that is actually glitching. More updating of the already existing maps would be great and would add to their replayability.
Also a lot of maps have brushes that conflict with other brushes and thus decreasing performance. These brushes actually have a great impact on FPS (your in-house map makers surely can tell you this) and mapping wise should be optimized. There are many examples in the maps of COD2 where you can witness these faulty brushes. FPS, as I said, is of the outmost importance for the competitive community.
• Lag - COD2 have/had a bit of lag and the pixelregistration didn't really work to a 100%. I know that you have been given information about this several times already but I have clip from a player that yet again proves this: http://www.callofduty.se/0-gzgrejjer/tempgrejjs/stoffe.avi
This player had at that moment a ping of 32ms and a non-existing lag. Yet he fires and totally misses his target and is rewarded with a kill. His opponent had a ping of 37ms and didn't suffer from any lag either. No one of the players had any type of FPS-related lag as well. This is a problem and a similar problem in COD4 would make the game more "random" (the element of luck should be as small as possible so that players with skill often comes out on top against people with less skill). It's just bad that a player that actually doesn't hit someone get a hit and a player that hit doesn't. The registration was better back in COD1.
• Pixelregistration - I mentioned lag above and this has some relevance to it. In COD1 it was harder to get a clean headshot because getting one is well, not really that easy especially not from a longer distance. In COD2 one can basically shoot some ones "mantra" and get a hit. Getting a clean headshot in COD2 is way too easy in comparison to COD1 where one needed more skill in order to get such, generally seen, skilled shots. The pixelregistration needs to be better so that those that play the game more is rewarded more for their aim. COD2 often feature luck in the sense that people quite often get lucky headshots across a map, this isn't good for competitive play. The less luck or "randomness" the better.
• PAM "OUT-OF-THE-BOX" - PAM is a great addition to the COD series. It makes the game easier for matches and adds a lot of features that has been needed in order to make the game better competition wise. It also have helped the competitive community to more easily set standards to rules and so on. You have Garetjax on your list of "community invited members" so he will hopefully make solid points about this. A great thing with PAM is by the way that it is community built. Therefore we don't have to wait until you, IW, release a patch or something like that. You have systems that simply are a bit too slow in order to fix smaller stuff fast like Garetjax and Worm can. However it would still be great if you included PAM just to show your support for it and above all… continued support for it.
• No nighvision in multiplayer - It might be cool in the single player experience but nightvision and such things isn't really a great idea for multiplayer. I don't believe it really would be that much fun on a COD-typical map.
• Don't add TOO much gadgets - Too much will be just that, too much. At least have it configurable so that there can be some sort of standard in competition.
• In-Game browser AND a real browser - This is more general but the built in browser in previous games has been really basic. It would be great if you can implement a proper game browser not for competitive players or more hardcore ones… but just for people that are new to the game. The best would be if the user could choose "normal" or "advanced". The normal should be even more simple and rule out servers with too high ping by default (150+ at least). It should be as easy as possible for new players to play the game in multiplayer. You could even add a tutorial or something for the really new ones.
The "real" browser should be something like ASE (The All Seeing Eye). Simple and effective + an array of really useful filters and functions if one want.
A problem now for the newbie is for example ping. You often witness players with a high ping and this is most probably because they don't know about ping - the game isn't much fun to this people. You should simplify it for new users to select a proper server. You can even add such a beginner thing as to let users select their state and only include servers, by default, which has less latency then 80ms. You shouldn't have to be a geek in order to enjoy the multiplayer experience. Or even better add a "This server seem to be be bad for you - you might experience that your shots doesn't count, you should try anotherone with less ping. What is ping? Read more >" that pops up if a player try to connect to a server with higher latency then 80ms.
• Gamestate - Fix it. You know about it, no need to explain it further.
• HTTP-redirect at release - It's a great tool to increase the games longevity. Also have a separate MOD & MAP-directory so that users more easily can remove mods that conflict with others etc. HTTP-redirect has been a real pain for many people with less computer skills; they often remove wrong files from their COD/COD2 directory … and have to reinstall the whole game. An even better solution to actually support this further would be to include a GUI for adding and removing mods (like Mozilla Firefox extensions maybe?). (this have now be reported to be included, however no details are yet given and this is not a mayor one anyway - it would be awful if IW left out stuff that has been in the game since COD1....)
• SV_FPS 30 - The more server FPS the less lag! SV_FPS 30 wasn't supported in COD2 and was modded in via PAM. COD4 should support SV_FPS 30 since it make the game less laggy, more responsive and accurate.
• Have a large LAN - The WSVG (World Series of Video Games - one of the largest event organiser for games) is holding two $20 000 competitions for COD2 - why can't you 4-5 weeks after the release of COD4 do something similar but maybe a bit larger ($30 000 + $30 000)? It would be an extremely great way to promote your game as a really great competitive game with mayor support from its developer. Do not have both events in North America though. Have one in North America and one In the EU. It's quite expensive for EU-teams to fly all the way to the US... and well.. it just wouldn't be fair.
If you did this you would also be the first ever to support a game in such a way. COD4 would be written about everywhere at all sites and probably in most gaming magazines as well. You should however release the information 1-2 weeks before launch and make sure you hype it as much as you can with different updates about it etc. The possibilities are endless… if you let the people that actually compete in the community make up the rules and such details. (No crazy DM-tournaments …, S&D is the most played game type in COD/COD2 and the only one that is being played at LANs).
• Release all the maps - Release all the maps as .map and include everything so that community can add or remove things that simply clutters. This is a great way for the community to optimize maps for competitive play (setting up a standard wouldn't be that hard since the competitive community can cooperate in larger projects as recently shown when the competitive community got WSVG to include COD2).
• In-Game ADS - Imagine a sports arena without any ads, TV without any ads and so on. If you want COD4 to be a great game competition wise make it easy to actually add banners/ads into the game itself. How would this work you might think, well here is a non-technical solution;
Usually the COD-maps have different spots with sort-of-ads on walls a bit everywhere. If you could make those certain spots dynamic in the sense that the server checks the/a config.cfg and that one actually can specify http-addresses to new images that automatically get loaded for the user(s) that connect to the server. One good function to have regarding this is a banner ticker command (a command that lets one specify if banners should change to another banner in X seconds time, the same as you see at many sports arenas). A fade-in/-out function would also be good for this so that these banners don't distract the players too much.
Of course it also has to include some type of resize-algorithm so that banners included keep their aspect ratio. Yet another addition would be for the the server admin to specify where these banners should be. There should be TWO slots in each spawn (especially in Search & Destroy that is the undisputed leader in competitive play) and the option to choose "spawn only" for server admins that really doesn't want ads all over the maps.
When no http-addresses are put in the default images or no images should be displayed.
This sort of function would be the first of its kind and would truly add to the COD4 experience competition wise. It would really make COD4 stand out from the competition. And no, this can't be modded in. The option would be to create custom maps from the orginal maps but creating custom maps for each event / each server administrator etc. is too much of a hassle.
• Scoreboard - Have it customizable so that one can change colors, size, what to display and so on. This isn't really important for general game play but for TV broadcasts it can be good to be able to clear it up and make it more readable. Make it controllable via CSS, it would be so easy to change then.
• Fragmovies / demo controls - As you might now there are several quite skilled gamers out there that make so called "fragmovies". These are in all way to YOUR benefit since they always make your game look good, fun, challenging and well - many movies really makes you want to play the game. The problem however is that exporting clips from COD1/2 has never been efficient. One can for starters NOT rewind a demo (imagine you're looking at a demo, you see a great kill that you want to include but what to do now? One can't just go back and press "record" - you'll have to restart the whole demo and fast forward to that round, but first you'll have to write down the time and round when that kill accur… Imagine doing this over and over… and over.. and over… again). One can only export in the .tga-format which is bad, .avi -clips is far more easy to handle. COD2 has terrible performance because one can't run the game in windowed mode either (everyone wants to record at DX9, 1280x1024 with everything maxed out in order to get the greatest looking image quality).
Include descent demo controls / movie making controls;
- Option to rewind demos (one of the most crucial ones here)
- "OUT-OF-THE-BOX" controls for; play, pause, stop, fast forward, rewind, fast rewind + ability to forward / rewind in timescale 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9
- Option to export as .avi (add optimization code as well If you got the time for it in order to get a better performance)
- Ability to "tag" time codes / events and then "record all tags" (The demo control then goes to tag1 (time xx:xx > xx:xx), tag2 time: yy:yy > yy:yy etc etc.. and records them)
- Windowed mode as described before
- Camera modes! Option to choose different camera mode settings when following players in 3rd person + just general types of camera modes that we can see in other games
- Option to choose "smooth movement" so that one can follow a player in-air and make turns without having to redo it a hundred times because you didn't move your mouse smoothly
- Being able to switch and bind players so that one can choose to spectate a certain player faster then browsing through them all (this has been really poor in previous games)
- Optimize export (I have no clue have you would achieve this, but it would definitely be great)
- Option to have a demo-config (look at www.seismovision.net - a 3rd-party application that makes it easier to playback demos in COD1 & COD2, but it isn't that totally efficient since it can't take care of rewind functions and all other more "advanced" things)
You might have this question: Why would you go through such a hassle of adding more advanced demo functions when most people that play the game doesn't make use of them?
My answer: Fragmovies and movies from the game of all types is a powerful tool for you to actually get FREE advertising of your game. The more quality fragmovies and misc. movies from COD4 that comes out the more will be interested in bying it and this long after the game has been released. There is nothing like watching a quality fragmovie regarding ones will to play the game.
Examples of fragmovies;
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/stixur2.rar
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/Wonderbase_Highlights_HQ.rar
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/therise2.wmv
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/Optimystic.rar
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/Momentum_by_cem.rar
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/DIGNITAS-Made_In_Britain-2006.rar
http://ftp.callofduty.se/Call_of_Duty_2/Filmer/Fragfilmer/BreathE.rar
• Advertising - There simply isn't enough. When Battlefield 2 was released I saw ads everywhere about the game here in Sweden (however the company are from Sweden so I don't know if they targeted the Swedish market). For both COD1/2 advertising seems to have been non-existent. You got to show more of your game.
If you have a tight budget you can always choose internet marketing as a solution, however printed materials often gives more of a shine and always are looked upon as more serious. If COD4 is to be successful you need to reach out to more people then the ones surfing gaming related sites and reading gaming related magazines.
• COD4 Multiplayer edition - Release a COD4 Multiplayer only box a few months after the initial release. This will give you more advertising and will get to the gamers that "I want to test COD4 but I don't want to spend $1000 on it". Also make sure it stands out on the shelves at the gaming stores, make the box shiny gold, silver or red (important about this is to check the current competition in order to see if it will actually stand out or not - take the dummy box, place it in a game store and check the visibility)
• Weapon balance - It's important the the weapon balance is correct. In COD2 we have the shotgun that is too powerful and easy to use. Don't have any overpowered guns, any atom bombs (nades with too much power as in COD2) or anything that make the game less skilled. An example of a good weapon is the Mp44 in COD2.
A game where one side has a weapon that is too powerful and useful isn't really fun longterm.
Last words
There are things that you can do with COD4 that no developer has made before you. You have to ability to do something great and rock the foundations of what we today call Electronic Sport. I ask you to seriously consider the "sports" aspect of the game and how it can evolve - what you need to include and what you need to simulate from real arenas in order to make maps as just that - arenas for sporting teams.
One developer will sooner or later be the first one to make a truly remarkable game for the Electronic Sport that will be the one that is played everywhere for years to come. It was Counter-Strike but it is starting to fade away one piece at the time. COD4 can be the game to take over - don't you wish that it is your game that teams travel around the world to compete in? Your game that it is every boys dream to become really good at?
I hope that I've shed some light on some of these issues/additions and that my participation will affect the way you think about this game.
Best regards,
Tommie "general z" Hansen
Callofduty.se - The Swedish community since 2003
nice about config stuff
http://www.callofduty.se/0-gzgrejjer/tempgrejjs/COD4.doc
Make it into a column tbh
it was interesting, but cod fragmovies suck :/