I want to save subspace and turn it into a mega-successful game on Facebook

[wickedlasers]

First off, long-time Subspace player, spent a lot of my years in Chaos zone where my favorite pastime was assembling cloak turrets while getting chased by frequencies of javelins. Because of these memories, I have always had this nagging feeling when I see what today's popular culture considers "gaming" - its a bunch of crap compared to subspace back in the early days of Chaos Zone.

 

Over the past 10+ years, have gained a lot of experience in marketing and business and created a business making wicked lasers.

 

Look at Facebook and Zynga, all the Zynga games are essentially the BBS games, remember L.O.R.D (lord of the red dragon), it's all games like these, but scaled to the reach that Facebook provides. Fundamentally, Subspace should be as popular as all those Zynga games. Obviously, there needs to be some updates in graphics but to keep the gameplay the same would be key. Imagine being on Facebook and playing subspace with all your friends. That's what we need to get this game viral again.

 

So, my proposal is to turn this game into a Facebook game initially, then go from there. Maybe pc/osx clients and iphone/android clients... But the key is to start on Facebook as this game has many elements of what it takes to be a viral hit. There will be other tactics that need to be added such as "badges" "achievements" "in-game currency" and other stuff that I feel is lame, but are needed to be a commercial success.

 

Before getting into specifics with exactly how/who/when, I'm interested in hearing what you guys have to say about this, I'm prepared to commit not only financially, but leverage our team, contacts in the gaming industry, and press contacts.

 

Best,

Steve

 

P.S. Wanted to make one comparison: Back when SVS settings were the best, that's when the game was the most fun. When all those crazy zones with one-shot kill such as Trench Wars came in, that's when the game degenerated to a n00b game. In a way, taking this experience to Facebook means turning this into a n00b game, because that's what the masses want, it took me a while to learn how to fly and shoot in a SVS zone. I'm making this comparison just to exemplify that in order to take something and make it popular on a commercial scale, there needs to be a lot of sacrificing from what your personal vision of what is best is. Remember, if you are reading this, you are most likely a hard-core enthusiast of the game, but 99.9% of everyone else is not. In order to be successful its very important to consider this and design for what will bring the most users, and inevitably, most revenues which allow for the most reinvestment into the enterprise.

[L.C.]

um.. Good luck. How much money ya' got to pay someone to write up a new client?

[Cheese]

ill do it for $50,000 USD

[Resol]

I'd like to vote, but I can't.

 

I don't agree with either statement.

 

I don't think you have to take Subspace to Facebook to make it a success, and I also don't see a game like subspace working on facebook.

 

And I hate to break it to you, whereas putting the name on facebook is a perfectly good idea in order to draw attention in attempts to make it popular once again, 90% of the people on facebook don't even use their computers to interact with it, they use their mobile device. A android / smartphone app wont matter much, I can honestly say I wouldn't be playing on my phone. And I would probably go as far to say that 50% of facebook users don't even own / have a computer with access to the internet.

 

If you were interested in investing into the game, I would start with simple advertising on facebook. Another idea would be to link just the chat to facebook, where you can select a zone to chat in. I'm fairly confident we have more spectators then players anyway. Then you could turn facebook into a central news and information app for subspace, announce when games are starting ect..

 

Who knows, I'm probably wrong and, "Yes, it has the best chance of viral success if we update the game and put it on FB"

[Dr Brain]

I honestly think cheese's estimate of 50k is low. So unless you're thinking of sinking serious cash into this, you should move on.

[»Lynx]

http://c519620.r20.cf3.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/dead-horse11.jpg

So we're beating this horse again? Yawn.

[X_PennyWise]

You'd have to make a new client. That's the only way to keep the game from fading away. The thing is after you would complete the client, then you have essentially opened a can of worms.

 

If you wanted to appeal to the regular people, you would need a staff willing to update/upgrade on a regular basis. A staff and updates/upgrades cost money. How do you get money? You advertise, but then the ownership issues come into play. The way I understand it was that as long as we didn't make any money off of the Subspace client, then we could use it without repercussions. I'm not completely sure how that understanding applies to the Continuum client, and how it would (or if it would) apply to a new client. I'm pretty sure it doesn't apply to us anymore, but I would personally be weary of VIE if you decided to start generating revenue from the game.

 

I do agree with your initial point, though. I don't think you would necessarily need to make it in FB, but a mobile version would absolutely kick ass. Mobile is the future IMO, and social media could certainly help influence that. Like I said though, this all requires a new client.

 

I've personally always felt that the ability to create your own zones or even arenas was what made SS/Cont special. I've always thought that if we could simplify the map and settings process so that the common peasant had the ability to create zones then it would improve the population. That's how I fell in love with this game, and we all know the PC gaming community loves the ability to mod their games. If it was simple to create the map and settings, and even simpler to get that zone hosted (even temporarily), then I think you could draw another last breath into SS/Cont.

 

 

Don't let the pessimists deter what you want to accomplish. SS is full of them, and it seems they're the only ones left. If we didn't have people like you occasionally reminding us that our game is slowly fading away, then no one will do anything to stop it, even if it is inevitable.

[wickedlasers]

You guys all are right, and mobile is really where this needs to go. And definitely some of the features needs to be changed to be updated to modern game play dynamics, as long as the experience of SVS is still intact.

 

And the main issue is whether or not there is a team of people to take on this project. This is something I have to mediate on, as Im currently working on a business.

 

Anyhow, we all know how to save Subspace

 

1) A company needs to take this over and turn it into a commercial enterprise

 

2) Needs mobile clients, then perhaps spread to osx/pc clients, and then perhaps html5 for facebook, the key would be a FB login so the account can be linked to your identity.

 

I will reply again if I have decided if this is something me and my team wants to do. I may have been a little bit too "gun-ho" and its a large amount of work, and Ive never been involved in gaming business directly, so its not a decision I can make without a significant amount of thought.

 

Thanks for entertaining this topic.

[Resol]

A android / smartphone app wont matter much, I can honestly say I wouldn't be playing on my phone.

 

You say we need to start at the mobile device, then "perhaps" spread t pc clients?

 

This already has fail written all over it.

 

You got one thing right, you need to think about this for a while before you do anything.

 

Develop a facebook app that interacts with a database of players, you can incorporate many new ideas into that as well as be a very positive influence to the game.

 

You could be toggle being notified of games, share when you win an event, this that and the other thing. If you think for one second you're going to move this community to mobile gaming, you're wrong. How many people to do see on the move playing online games on their phone? How many people do you really think are going to want to play this game on their phone?

 

Honestly, this is just such a bad idea. I think using mobile devices to better interact with the community is a great idea, but no one is going to play.

 

The only reason this game is here today, and the reason it has been around so long, is because anyone is able to join us and if they want, they can make their own zone. Making their own maps, their own graphics and sounds. A ton of people have tried doing things on their own. Look at all the bots and everything else a normal everyday player can be apart of. Creating a new subspace needs to carry this if it's expected to be taken on by the current players, and in my opinion in order to attract anyone new.

[Dr Brain]

The only reason this game is here today, and the reason it has been around so long, is because anyone is able to join us and if they want, they can make their own zone. Making their own maps, their own graphics and sounds. A ton of people have tried doing things on their own. Look at all the bots and everything else a normal everyday player can be apart of. Creating a new subspace needs to carry this if it's expected to be taken on by the current players, and in my opinion in order to attract anyone new.

 

I couldn't agree with this more. Player driven content is SubSpace. You could make a multiplayer 2d spaceship game, but it's not SS without the player-run zones (it'd be Cosmic Rift). Just keep that in mind when forging ahead with your project.

 

We wish you all the best regardless of whether you choose to go for the SS clone or the CR clone. I hope you'll keep us aprised.

[Cheese]

I honestly think cheese's estimate of 50k is low.

 

thats because i was being serious

[JDS]

pish posh, leave it alone, it has not died yet, i cant imagine it will....

[Wormhole Surfer]

I can imagine it will die because I am already watching it die. Years ago we would never have imagined the lack of activity we see now. Chaos has 6 people total playing right now. Death Star Battle has 10. EG actually has about 35 playing, but their total population logged on right now is still about half of what it was 5 years ago. I didn't even bother checking Trench Wars since I'm sure they're doing fine.

 

Whether your target audience is facebook users, casual web users or smartphone users, it would be nice to see this game transformed into something that will still be alive 10 years from now.

[Samapico]

If YOU want to make a facebook client for this game, go right ahead, no one's gonna stop you... But you won't convince anyone to do it for you. But IMO, any development spare time should be spent towards a new actual client so we can improve the game with new features everyone has wanted for years.

[Resol]

My thoughts on this:

 

If I were to develop subspace as a facebook application, I would like to see the SSC Billing Server directly or if possible indirectly tied into the application. Containing all the players, and when a player chooses, they can link there in game stats and squad information to their facebook account. I think that there should be a command to do this in game, the SSFB app would then send the request to the player profile chosen to confirm the link.

 

I saw an idea posted by LtNirvana saying how it would be nice to have a friends list feature in-game which I think would also be nice to have in the SSFB app showing which of their friends are online and what zone they are currently playing, the arena they are in and how long they have been there. Perhaps even a Zone / Arena history information block.

 

Each zone should have an SSFB network administrator that would allow each zone to post Event information to users. Users would be able to toggle notifications from each zone. Could even set up population notifications, which users could toggle for zone / arenas.

 

I could probably come up with a lot more ideas, but that's where I would start.

[juh?]

Fuck Facebook

[dkson0]

Well Really This Game is Really Addicting if You Look at it, You might as well find an Investor and Start This. On the Long Run It could go well.....Like this site, it's been uptated and looks new maybe if we try the same to the game it might work!

 

G00D Luck

 

(EG RULES)

 

P.S. If you want to see what some Subspace Guys are upto Check out this (You might have seen this) http://www.subspace....-graphics-dump/

 

P.P.S (Start By Advertising and I'm quite sure that It WILL NOT WORK ON FACE BOOK )

 

Please, We Should Try This, Trying and Doing New Things Leads to a Better End ( I HOPE!) (Just Kidding)

Edited February 8, 2012 by dkson0

[Bargeld]

Subspace is/was a great game. Awesome community, awesome people (most of em).

 

To put this simply, the game requires high resolution. Most PC monitors and televisions now are 1920x1080 for HD video. For those of you who used to drool about the dell and apple monitors that do 2560x2048 know what I'm talking about. In this day and age of handheld devices and HD mainstream, subspace can never excel. The game simply isn't anywhere near as enjoyable at 800x480 as it is at 1600x1200. Even dropping to the resolutions of HD is like playing through a mail slot in a door. The game with thrive only as long as there are players out there with monitor purchases dedicated to this game. But playing on a tablet or phone... never gonna happen.

 

Sorry to be a downer, but I just dropped in after many years and saw this topic and thought I would share with the community the same struggles that were apparent 5-10 years ago.

 

And hi Polix, Ulti, Jenn_B, NfS, hallu and all the others that are still lurking about. Glad to see some of ya all are still keeping it going.

 

Have fun!

 

http://bargeld.us/storage/alpha.gif

Edited February 25, 2012 by Bargeld

[dkson0]

Lol, Keep Trying - Thatz Life!

[Static Burn]

To put this simply, the game requires high resolution. Most PC monitors and televisions now are 1920x1080 for HD video. For those of you who used to drool about the dell and apple monitors that do 2560x2048 know what I'm talking about. In this day and age of handheld devices and HD mainstream, subspace can never excel. The game simply isn't anywhere near as enjoyable at 800x480 as it is at 1600x1200. Even dropping to the resolutions of HD is like playing through a mail slot in a door. The game with thrive only as long as there are players out there with monitor purchases dedicated to this game. But playing on a tablet or phone... never gonna happen.

 

Settings could be changed so ships are smaller making smaller resolutions appear larger. An arena in trench wars (?go minijavs) does this and it makes 1024x768 look like 1600x1200. These pictures are both at 1024x768 so you can see the difference it makes.

 

http://i.imgur.com/GRtSi.png

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/RP9eD.png

[Bargeld]

The tiles are still 16x16 though, in the end you will end up fitting 2 ships thru each empty tile that provides a 'door'. We did this same thing years ago too, we had a mini in alpha. It makes you feel like there is a ton of space, but it doesn't actually DO anything for you. Take those screeners, and scale and crop them to 800x480 and imagine yourself reading chat and trying to control your ship and all your weapons. An external keyboard will definately be required just to play & use weapons & chat.

 

I really really WANT this to not be true... but seriously, just imagine trying to play like this. Also consider that most other tablet and phone games have much less functions/buttons and are mostly 'point and click'. I'm not suggesting that anyone STOP developing SS/Continuum/anyOtherClient, I'm just suggesting that those who are going this route, trying to bring the game to the mainstream platforms of today, might consider taking a couple steps back and re-evaluating what they can do to further the community. Basically, forget about making a mobile/facebook/etc client, and focus on the game on a PC, where it's pretty much guaranteed to stay.

 

Along similar lines, has anyone made an external chat client that is stable, multi-platform and doesn't require anyone to be on spcial VIP lists or have sysadmin access? I've always wanted that on a phone

[xenonaut]

Mobile is the way to go nowadays, but you don't have to switch platform for this game to get noticed. I don't know if Cont already have a facebook group, but starting one on facebook is a good way to get noticed. As long as you have active members on fb that post to the group and received message from the group, their friends will take notice. The group itself can announce Continuum events like tournaments etc. to its members. Have trophy charts of winning squads. Have some kind of Hall of Fame list on the FB group page. If you can show that this is a thriving competitive community, I am sure people will come to at least check it out.

[»1587200]

Along similar lines, has anyone made an external chat client that is stable, multi-platform and doesn't require anyone to be on spcial VIP lists or have sysadmin access? I've always wanted that on a phone

It's called IRC.

[Yeno]

The funny thing with this game actually is that if it gets the attention it needs it's probably the most addicting game there is.

It's so easy to get stuck with it.

[Grandias]

Why don't we make fliars and hand them out to people in the street!