[Special Review] Dissected: Livestream with Cedric and Hazel-Rah

[Flexoo 6,980]

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Hey there, tankers! Last week was specific when it comes to our regular dose of actualities. Instead of the traditional Friday V-log, our English community manager, Cedric Debono, and Tanki Online lead developer, Semyon Strizhak (Hazel-Rah) hosted a live stream session. They answered a some frequently asked questions and revealed some upcoming plans.

 

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If you missed the live stream, don't worry. You can still view the video here or on the official Tanki Online EN YouTube channel. Blackdrakon30 and I will break down the individual parts into compact segments, so you can easily and quickly check everything mentioned in the stream. If you would like to watch only a specific part of the live stream, click the timer next to the text. It will direct you to the desired part you want to learn more about.

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Questions & Answers

 

 

► 1:30  Question No.1

 

"What makes developers qualified to make changes to the game?"

 

At the very beginning, Cedric raised probably the most common question of why developers intervene in the game and why they don't let players decide what's best for the game. Hazel explains that there's a major difference between the young gaming community and an experienced, highly educated development team. The majority of young players simply lack the experience and objective view on gaming mechanics to be capable of making decisions for such a project. Developers are trying to objectively review the game, and implement those things that will benefit the game, the players and the balance the most. To emphasize his gaming experience in various game genres, Hazel also listed a number of games he played.

 

Here's the list of games Hazel mentioned:

 

TPS (Third Person Shooters):

 

Metal Gear Solid

Syphon Filter

Kill Switch

Gears of War

 

Racing Games:

 

Battle City

Twisted Metal

Need for Speed

 

FPS (First Person Shooters):

 

OverWatch

Team Fortress 2

Doom

Half-Life

 

Flight Games & Simulators:

 

War Thunder (90+ hours)

Il-2 Sturmovik

Ace Combat

Wingover

 

RPG (Role Playing Games):

 

Rogue Legacy

Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, X, XII, XIII

Dark Souls I

 

RTS (Real Time Strategies):

 

Command and Conquer

StarCraft

Warcraft 3

 

That's an enviable amount of gaming experience under Hazel's belt. Additionally, Hazel notes that his work experience does not come only from playing and examining other games and their features, but also from great knowledge of Tanki Online mechanics. As he declares, he has acted as commentator, eSports player and tester, and has also been playing the game since 2011. Hazel also highlights that he did not become a lead developer overnight. He had to perform his role in the development team for almost 2 years before he was allowed to make any bigger changes by himself. These are the main premises that make Hazel qualified for the job of lead developer.

 

► 13:10  Question No.2

 

"Why are reasonable ideas and suggestions made by players not implemented to the game?"

 

Cedric picks up on the previous query and directly forwards another difficult question. Do developers listen to our feedback? Hazel-Rah confirms that developers care about the ideas players come up with; however, they proceed in other ways from how players expect them to go. Developers look for new ideas, but the implementation process is lengthy and requires a lot of time to clearly inspect how and what will be influenced in the interconnected web of all the game's features. Hazel provides the example of alterations that have been just recently added to the game, which were planned a good year before.

 

This explains how important it is for developers to carefully plan and test the feature to be in sync with the whole gaming mechanism. Moreover, Hazel also notes that players often do not realize or understand what impact some players' ideas may have if they were implemented. Developers must evaluate the optimal way to implement the change to the benefit of all players. So to put it simply, developers do listen to our feedback, but they can't always solve the things the way we suggest for the sake of whole game.

 

To illustrate the point, Hazel brings up the example of a doctor. If your hand is hurting, you don't go to your doctor and ask him/her to amputate your hand. You speak to your doctor, explain what ails you, and then you listen to the doctor's recommendations, not the other way round.

 

► 20:24  Question No.3

 

"How long is the developer's to-do list?"

 

This crucial question sheds a lot of light on the way updates work. Hazel-Rah clarifies that as of now, there are at least 40 items on the developers' list of updates, and there are features planned for at least the next six months. Thus, pushing anything new to the list is super difficult.

 

Another interesting detail concerns the rapport between the development and financial department. As Cedric says, there must be some balance between the "quality of life" game updates and "monetization" updates. In other words, developers need to devote some of their time to updates that help revenue, which is what ultimately keeps the game and the whole company afloat.

 

► 22:05  Question No.4

 

"Will you implement the changes to supplies from the 48hr experiment?"

 

Hazel-Rah replies with a decisive 'No'. The supply system adapted from Tanki X did not work out as expected during the experimental period. The main issue was the 60 second supply reload time, slowing down overall gameplay. However, Hazel-Rah mentions that developers will look for other solution and may come up with another experiment in the future. The question of why developers did not allow players to test this in the test server is also tackled here. As Hazel-Rah explains, the test server is not suitable for this sort of testing. Moreover, it's always best to test stuff in an authentic environment to get the most accurate data.

 

► 42:03  Question No.5

 

"Why are developers over-complicating the game?"

 

Our lead developer goes on to explain that the game dev department does not introduce new updates to make the game complicated, but simply to keep it interesting and fresh for both old and new players.

 

After 8 years in the business, TO wants to bring around fresh features and avoid the game becoming obsolete. Everything's done to make the game slightly challenging for the players, but at the same time, keeping the game as simple as possible. And of course, TO tempts its costumers and regular players to stay in the game by providing them with new things to explore.

 

► 45:52  Question No.6

 

"Why do you remove a feature from a turret and then add it as an alteration?"

 

Hazel-Rah makes clear that there have been some changes to how balance updates will work, and this of course resulted in some changes to turrets and alterations. However, he rejects the idea that turrets lost their parameters at the expense of alterations. He insists that alterations aren't intended to be a must. Their role is to bring more diversity to the game and serve the purpose of further customization.

 

► 57:08  Question No.7

 

"When will you add more member slots to clans? Will clan licenses become cheaper?"

 

Hazel reveals that the initial number was supposed to be six slots per clan. However, this number was deemed insufficient and it was boosted to the current twelve members per clan. The current price was set to cover the expenses from development.

 

In the near future, clan license prices will go down, but the number of players for a starting clan will also be reduced. Those who already have a Clan, will keep the current number of slots. New Clans will be cheaper but will have less slots. To increase the number of slots, new clans will need to pay an extra fee.

 

There will also be some new features added to clan licenses to make it even more popular.

 

► 1:01:15 Question No.8

 

"Will you ever remove supplies?"

 

This one was to be expected. Supplies won't be removed from the game any time soon. They have been present in the game for too long and they are far too important to be left out that easily. However, developers will keep on conducting experiments with supplies to find the optimal way to use them in battles. Players don't have to worry about whether they will loose their garage supplies, as recalculating and refunding the supplies would be ultimately unmanageable.

 

► 1:02:39 Question No.9

 

"Will Tanki Online stay 'on the market'?"

 

Hazel-Rah confirms that Tanki Online will stay here and won't be replaced by Tanki X as long as there will be a high enough demand to play it. Developers plan to continue supporting the game and implement new features in upcoming years.

 

► 1:04:03 Question No.10

 

"What will happen to the Flash version and Game client?"

 

At first, developers had planned for Unity Tanki to replace Flash version. As the time progressed, it turned out that TX would not be able to replace Tanki as a browser game, since it moved away from WebGL, and thus had to turn into a client-based game. Developers decided to split the games into two separate projects. In the coming year, Tanki X will go its own separate way and turn into a far different game in comparison to its predecessor. Nevertheless, the browser version will continue onward, and might transform into a HTML5 version (like YouTube, for example). In that case, the old engine will be replaced with an HTML5 one so that the game can move forward to new heights. 

 

► 1:08:30 Question No.11

 

"Why are you making so many changes to the game? Why don't you fix the lag, errors and cheating instead?"

 

Hazel-rah explains that Tanki Online is still in development. The game was a bit neglected in the past few years, that's why a lot of new features have been implemented to make it better than before. As Cedric elegantly put it: "Developers try to catch up with the lack of development in the past years." Hazel-Rah implies that after solving the priorities as gold boxes, shop section and alterations, developers will work on fixing errors and focus more on stuff requested by players.

 

► 1:14:48 Question No.12

 

"Are you going to implement the team-kick system?"

 

The Kick-system won't be implemented before the game and battle systems are restructured. Hazel-Rah admits that mults represent a big game problem, especially in recent years. Before introducing a new team-kick, developers must make sure it won't be abused like the previous one was.

 

► 1:18:12 Question No.13

 

"Why does the Battle button send us to the same boring maps and battles?"

 

There are currently around 30 maps that can be created through the Battle button, which is considered sufficient for the time being. Hazel-Rah mentioned that continuous pressing of the battle button is counterproductive as it sends you to the recently created battles. If you join a bad map or battle you don't like, wait for at least five minutes, then use it again. Also, this feature is only temporary, and a new, more advanced button that will always send you to new maps and new players is being prepared.

 

► 1:21:58 Question No.14

 

"Will you take care of small annoyances like current pause time or parkour mode sky kill?"

 

Yes. After dealing with the priorities, developers will start fixing minor problems. As a matter of fact, some of the smaller issues have already been fixed, such as the adjustments to game settings, and the ability to customize controls.

 

► 1:25:39 Question No.15

 

"What happened to XT items? Will there be more XTs?"

 

XTs will most likely be change to skins. In other words, you won't have to buy another tank that has the exactly same properties as the one you already own — you will only buy a skin that will make your current tank look like an XT. That's why there will not be more XTs and alterations for XTs released in the future.

 

► 1:28:01 Question No.16

 

"Would you consider creating a game mode different from the current ones, something like Tanki Football?"

 

We can't gather a conclusive yes or no from Hazel-Rah. However, developers have worked on balancing the Assault mode. There are also two main criteria that have to be fulfilled before a new mode is introduced — it must be balanced, and it must work on all current maps. There might be new modes in the future, but it's more of a pipe-dream right now.

 

► 1:35:51 Question No.17

 

"Will you bring more hulls to the game?"

 

Hazel says that he's got something very special up his sleeve for hulls. For now, he's calling it "character" (see 53:55). If this new feature is implemented successfully, two new hulls will be added to the game (one light and one heavy hull). They will differ a lot from the current hulls. More will be known once the "character" for hulls is implemented.

__________________________________________________________________________________

 

Future Plans

 

► 27:12 Artillery

 

The statistics, name, and release date of the Artillery turret are all currently unconfirmed. According to the developers, the weapon was designed to possess unique characteristics to differentiate its gameplay from all other turrets. The lack of an aiming scope, absence of rotation capabilities, and the other mechanics make Artillery difficult to use, but act as a counterbalance for the turret's massive damage, splash damage, and ability to launch projectiles over obstacles. 

 

► 48:07 Firebird and Freeze Buffs

 

It seems there's another Patch update coming our way in the near future. Hazel-Rah declares that he considers stock Firebird and Freeze as under-performing turrets, and that he will be buffing their stats. That's certainly good news for all close combat lovers.

 

► 51:54 Renting Alterations for Crystals

 

Although it's not dead certain, we might live to see the option to rent alterations for in-game currency (crystals), since currently, the renting-for-money option isn't very popular with players.

 

► 53:11 New Batch of Alterations

 

We still have some empty alterations' slots in the garages. Cedric and Hazel-Rah talk about M0 alterations, which will bring purely cosmetic options for turrets (i.e. we'll be able to change the color of the projectile like in Tanki X). It's also revealed that M3 alterations will most likely be left out of the game.

 

► 53:55 Character Changes to Hulls

 

Hazel-Rah resumes with his explanation of why M3 turret alterations won't be added to the game. There will most likely be some special new character traits added to hulls that will replace the M3 turret alterations. Right now, hulls lack distinctive features that would identify and differentiate them from others. It's mentioned that these character traits will be different from the traditional and boring changes to speed, weight, protection or other parameters, so you can look forward to a whole new array of mysterious augments for hulls planned for this summer (assuming all goes well with the development timeline).

 

► 1:00:32 Clan Currency

 

Clan currency will allow players to get more slots in their clan. It will be purchasable for money, but will be mostly obtainable through clan efforts (winning clan wars, championships, etc.). You'll be able to purchase various features and things within the clan, which should appear throughout this year.

 

 

We hope you enjoyed all the answers and information on updates coming our way. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Edited March 10, 2017 by Vikingsrallentando

[Hex 11,520]

So much stuff coming. Can't wait C:

[M-axis 589]

This article got WAY to little attention. Just wanted to say I've been waiting for this article for ages and really enjoyed it since I didn't have time to watch the full stream. Thanks so much and keep up the good work! :D 

 

 

Flexo, reply to this comment and you'll make my day :wub:   Plzzz   :P  

[Flexoo 6,980]

This article got WAY to little attention. Just wanted to say I've been waiting for this article for ages and really enjoyed it since I didn't have time to watch the full stream. Thanks so much and keep up the good work! :D 

 

 

Flexo, reply to this comment and you'll make my day :wub:   Plzzz   :P  

Thank you. I appreciate you like it :).

[ll.xx.indian.xx.ll 69]

WOWWWW, REALLY NICE, GOOD JOB DEVELOPERS... :)  :)  :)  :)  :)

[maria-mary 23]

nice! :)

[RustyNail 1,538]

A good event, communication between development and players' base is a good thing.

 

I would like, however to point out that adding too many new features to the game in short periods of time, is another way to make the game pay to play. All the cosmetic variables and clan system variables are great, but adding many new items (turrets / modifications / alterations / hulls etc), only increase the need to buy those products, else one can't play against all those who do buy the new items.

For example, I still can't purchase a decent module against Striker... if a new item is added any time shortly, that would be two items behind.. leading finally to not be able to be competent in most battles.

That was just an example..

 

Last, I do admit that the so called "character" got me intrigued.. looking forward to learn more, especially if it refers to any new light "alteration" of hulls.

(why did you have to boost heavy hulls that much? :( )

[Ninja 10,468]

Blah, blah, blah, blah

 

Fix the cheaters and the game if fine like it is.

Very constructive if I may say so.

[fluctuation123 3,435]

@electro: :D

 

nice article, Flexoo. thank you!

Edited March 7, 2017 by fluctuation123

[AMON_AMARTH 0]

" However, he rejects the idea that turrets lost their parameters at the expense of alterations."
If he rejects the idea then maybe he should explain what happened to twins. A turret we had for years the same way, now it has self-damage and we can get back to what we had for years with buying an alteration. So, he shouldn't reject obvious things because that's ignorance, to not call it a lie. 

[Flexoo 6,980]

" However, he rejects the idea that turrets lost their parameters at the expense of alterations."

If he rejects the idea then maybe he should explain what happened to twins. A turret we had for years the same way, now it has self-damage and we can get back to what we had for years with buying an alteration. So, he shouldn't reject obvious things because that's ignorance, to not call it a lie. 

Twins did not lose any of its previous features. It's true that Twins got self-damage, but it also has the splash ability now. This was added to make Twins more challenging to play as the only thing limiting its effectiveness in the past was its range. If you equipped the M1 alteration that doubled the speed of projectile and range, you suddenly had one of the most powerful and easy-to-use weapons out there.

[r_I_already_won0 2,339]

All that mattered to me was "Firebird Buff".

 

Not too happy about lack of M3 alterations and hull alterations. "Character" seems a bit.....ehhh.

 

Good article and thanks! :)

Edited March 7, 2017 by r_I_already_won0

[Tethorakismeno 28]

Hello,

Let me thank you first for the nice idea of having the opportunity to clear out some things with this live stream session.

I could say many about what was and what wasn't mentioned but anyway. So I'd only like to give a comment about hulls.

Instead of tweaking hulls or making new ones (not bad idea but..) could you do something with the behavior of the existing? I mean could existing hulls be more realistic?

As a mammoth user many times I come up with a big annoyance while I push back a smaller hull like viking I actually be pushed back and some other times I run over them. I wouldn't mind if I could kill them by running over but this never happens. So please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Taco 2,820]

Well summarized! This is the go-to article for those who haven't been able to watch the live stream and could easily get a quick summary under 5 minutes for it, amazing! Well done!  :D

[saurabhmann 509]

I see Cedric reading this too ^^.

Nice article Flexoo , keep up the GW.

[AbsoluteZero 3,729]

Thanks for the summary and time links to youtube!

 

 

With regard to the Kick system, Hazel said that "players will kick players that are playing good". Kick2 ensures this would not happen. I know he mentioned kick2 in stream and he said it wouldn't work because, "You're trying to appeal to two different approaches. You're trying to make sure that players who want to be able to kick people will be able to kick people and the players who do not want to be kicked will not be kicked. And it's not going to work, seriously!

 

To re-cap, 

 

If a player who does not want to be kicked is playing poorly, good or even great compared to that of the players around him, he will mathematically not be able to receive enough votes to be kicked. It's only when they are playing at a level that is indistinguishable to that of a mult will they be able to receive enough votes to be booted.

 

kick2 topic

 

It was designed to counter abuse.

I'm not wanting a response to this now because the topic is closed. I just thought I'd say this for the record and for the 500 players that like the topic.

 

Thanks.

[jordankiller 16]

"They're role is to bring more diversity to the game and serve the purpose of further customization. " Grammar error: "their" not "they're". "They're" means "they are".

[Crip 4,735]

"They're role is to bring more diversity to the game and serve the purpose of further customization. " Grammar error: "their" not "they're". "They're" means "they are".

Fixed.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Savage
Plus, you saw nothing (bandit)

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

 

"Will you implement the changes to supplies from the 48hr experiment?"

 

Hazel-Rah replies with decisive a 'No'. 

Great Article but I believe this sentence is phrased incorrectly. Probably should read "Hazel-Rah replies with a decisive 'No'." or "Hazel-Rah replies decisively with a 'No'." 

[racer22_online 206]

Some good questions and answers - I like your summary text.

 

TO remains a good game but could do a lot better in the 'fair play' department.

The heavy sense of 'unfair' play probably causes many to leave.

I know we can play XP/BP where we do get fair play but that does not 'vary' enough, so I still need the standard game (for each level of my Alt. accounts).
E.g. I would like added a special BP/XP format with Wasps and Hornets and ANY turret (using a 'balanced' MU setup etc. as is done for BP/XP).

I recommend Hazel should add to his list of games played the game of Chess!
In Chess if ONE side was given 2 queens in place of the rooks (i.e. gets 3 queens) - this is how it is in many team battles in TO.
I.e. not balanced and not fair; the losing side soon know it and can do nothing about the poor score line.
By simply recording on the score sheet how many Garage drugs each player used will make it obvious what happened and who was to blame.
The only reason you don't do this is because it embarrasses some players.
If you try this as an experiment (after all it's the truth) you may find this slows down garage drug use in a voluntary manner (I know we always get some idiots, zombies, kids etc. who will abuse the drugs - but not so many.

The reason garage drug battles (and now most standard battles (above Major level)) switch to become so one sided is because the leading team also gains control of most of the air drop zones.  And worse the losing side mostly refuse to drug because it's not worth it.
The smart cool down process is fine as is - we just need a sensible max limit to garage drug use per side or per player to stop the abuse particularly on the leading side (or by finding ways to boost the losing side.)

One simple (and small) idea I've not seen anyone suggest ;0)  is to note that when 2 sides have equal numbers of players where player slots are still available - the crazy thing is that the next player can join the leading side!
 This of course helps the leading side and makes life much harder for the losing side.  Please do an 'experiment' making it only possible to join the losing side when side numbers are equal.  This should help the losing side catch up a bit.

I also suggest giving Kick2 an experiment - I know some might get annoyed at being kicked - but who knows we might find nearly everyone loves the idea - e.g. we accept getting a parking ticket is part of life from time to time.  I.e. under performing in TO will remind players that the scoreboard is where it's at and not camping in low scoring places or otherwise not making an effort (or multing).

In the 'fair play' department - some tanks at the higher levels have become 'nightmares'; with 50% protection against my  gun, and using DA and DD and RK.  I.e. certain tanks I can only 'run away' from because I have zero chance of taking them down (mostly Hammers).  If I meet 3 of these in a battle I have no choice but to leave the battle!  I once managed to push one off a bridge and it landed upside down - we both got bored while I tried to kill it even with DD on! (Also they can self destruct faster than I can kill them - shooting them should restart the self destruct timer at least once!)   Because we cannot take the 50% protection  away from these 'mega tanks' - I suggest automatically upping the power of the guns that face them to effectively give the 'mega tank' only 35% protection.  This makes it worth attacking them - otherwise there is no game - might as well go head-but a tree.

If Mammoths think they have a hard time with Wasps pushing them - you try using a Wasp / Rail short to medium range v Twins, Hammer, Smokey, Vulcan, Thunder, Shaft, the Wasp has been 'programmed' to 'turn' uncontrollably to the side on being hit (you can feel the physics have been 'messed up' unrealistically).  I.e. the Railgun / Wasp is forced into hide and seek missions (which lack variety) - CTF and DM are 'messed up' in standard games for Wasp / Rail, unless we get a big map - funny how Berlin and Dusseldorf are not being used by anyone at present.  No wonder most Railguns end up on permanent DD and this annoys nearly everyone.  Please reduce this 'hit turning' effect by 50% and I promise to use less DD!

When a Thunder self destructs on the end on my Railgun while I wait for the blasted thing (my Railgun) to reload - why can't I get a kill for that? I.e. the last tank that shoots a tank that self destructs should get the kill.  Please test this.
 

Edited March 8, 2017 by racer22_online

[racer22_online 206]

Wow just to confound things, on my Brigadier account Wasp / Rail on Skylark, I actually managed to win a DM for the first time at this level (only used 3 nitros for escape purposes.)  (Some skill and lots of luck - see later)

Also only about 20% of the opposition was drugging (1 Dictator could not turn his turret - hence, defeated 4 times by 'encircling').

So maybe things aren't so bad once in a while - indeed, this battle was probably proof that reduced garage drugging is the key to letting a few skills shine though.

 

On the other hand MANY of my recent battles at all levels have been 'appalling' 'garage drug' fests - it will be good to see what the Steam users conclude - I doubt many of them will enjoy being beaten up so badly, where's the fun in that?  Do note, it's amazing still to be saying that the 'play-ability' of the TO environment is way superior to TX - partly because my Alienware gaming laptop i7 PC is not powerful enough for TX.  Also flashplayer11 is working reliably for me. Just the 'no reason' self-destructs of my Wasp remains an annoyance - perhaps 1 in 20 battles.

So, what about those with poor skills and lots of money?  Has to be said TO has done lots to give them advantages without buying garage drugs. It's just we all know that 'supplies kits' are the 'cheapest' form of advantage.

The question is will they buy MU and Premium instead of Supplies kits if drugging was made more 'controlled' in DM and 'balanced' in team games (equal limits to both sides)?

 

The answer is for TO to try a live experiment say for a week and ask the buyers if it affects their spending.  You may be surprised to find that players like me will reward TO by spending real money on cosmetic (non performance items) like paint, therefore revenues will not be affected.

 

One automatic variable garage  drug limit method is to prevent the leading team using more then 10 more garage drugs than the losing team!  This dynamically controls the number of drugs in use and prevents the leading team from over abusing the losing team.  However, if both sides are full of druggers then that's fine - I will accept that as a dynamic variable, and effectively controlled by the players in that battle.

 

I think most people have a 'feeling' for any game or sport, is this game fair?  Does the best player have the best chance of winning?

 

By the way no wonder the Railgun is such a pain to use - it's like a russian roulette revolver.  It's so 'unreliable' e.g. at M2.7 - I get a range of damage between 190 (no DD and v protection paint) and 2100 (with DD)!  I.e. just by being 'un-luckly' I can hit someone 8 times and not kill them - or hit 8 tanks and get no kills.  Then again if I get 'lucky' I go around one-shotting everything and 2 shots for a mammy!  No skill in that then.  No wonder this gun gets an 'alteration' to help fix this, i.e. truly making it a 'Pro' gun if you can afford it.  Hence, BP/XP is always the best place for this gun - in standard games it's hard to get a decent cat and mouse fight with another Railgun - either you kill them easily or they kill you easily or a drugged  Hammer/Thunder one-shots you in the back.  Hence, you end up keeping away from everything, even people on your own side (one nudge and you miss your shot, usually means instant death).  By the way Highways is now a joke for a Wasp - unless you use a Shaft.  It used to fine as it was until Shafts were buffed. The way it is now the  spawn points need putting on the lower ground level.

[arnav0506 2,777]

Thanks flex, watching the stream was endorsing my wifi to go plop.. Saw this article and.. Well.. Can't express my gratitude..

[FailArmyGT 210]

Only thing, what i love to see is m0 new alteration.

If it comes. Then i change my paint of rail to green.