Tanki Mobile - A desperate attempt to save the game?

[Dliver 436]

Let's face it Tanki on a PC is almost dead. We're at the point that the game is having a hard time even reaching 30,000 during peak times. Now for you new players that may seam like a lot, but when I began, there use to be over 100,000 during peak times and it was hard to even get on the servers. But after a series of unpopular changes to the game you've seen that number dwindle down to what you see today. Even during special events you hardly see any increase in  the numbers of players now.

 

Now many just say it's because the gaming community has moved on and it's an old and tired game. If that is the case why even have a mobile version? The game has had it's day. But instead they've decided to go mobile thus showing that there is still something there. That being said though, I don't care how good you do the interface it's going to be a more sluggish and cumbersome game on the mobile platform due to the complexity of the controls and side items like supplies and special power ups. Hence a worse game. Any still playing the PC version will have an unfair advantage over mobile users due to their ability to respond with quicker controls. I know this will happen because that's the case with every game I've played that uses both interfaces. This will in the end force the Dev's and Pony Tail Boy to discontinue support for the PC version. Probably, they'll claim, due to lack of support. Or they may purposefully cripple the PC controls to "Make the game more balanced". Wev'e already seen minor experiments along those lines in the game. One other option could be to separate the 2 versions like they did with Tanki and Tanki X. But I don't see that happening.

 

I therefore propose the theory that this is just another desperate attempt by Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's to keep the money rolling in. They know a lot of people will give a mobile version a try, and will spend money on upgrades.They've destroyed the PC version, now it's time for them to try and farm another group. It may even get them to retirement.

 

You can see how they're already trying to transition over to mobile by the way they've pushed a match making system that will force you play on the maps that they choose and with, for the most part, the people whom they choose. They're not doing it for us they're doing it for themselves to try and make the mobile version work.

 

Now if you think this will improve the game I ask you to go back and  take a look at the last few years. Bad decision after bad decision has driven players away from the game. Broken promise after broken promise til you have a game that is so buggy as to make it extremely frustrating to play.  Even the downloadable client is crap. Instead of fixing problems it's been one band aid after another. All you see are gimmicks and glitter. Do you really think a mobile version will be better?

 

I hope that I'm wrong, but knowing the record of Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's this is just another desperate attempt on their part to keep the game going so that their paychecks don't bounce.

 

So what do you think? Will this save Tanki and make it better, or is it just another gimmick to keep the gravy train rolling?

 

 

[tankcalm 324]

if Tanki goes for mobile just to save the game, then they gonna have a hell of hard time doing that.

 

mobile games are straight from the future, so addictive and way too avanced in theire marketing and gameplay, while tanki is so old, and gets boring after a while, and too much updates kiled it, and it's owners are way too stubborn to listen to our feedback.

 

i'm sure they are going for the mobile not to save the game, but to get new players (new profits) from them, after all, this is just a business, and they way low ranks are fun and designed, i'm sure they are gonna make a LOT of $$$$$ but at the cost of a bad reputaion, they will make a profit, but the game will lose the last drops of respect doing so.

[Viking4s 10,791]

hum... it would be not wise not to go on the mobile platform.
But saying it is a programmed death of the PC version is a rather huge assumption.  

[Maf 32,307]

I don't think it's a desperate attempt. More like a logical step that's meant to bring in new audiences.

[Nicola_M 1,563]

I can't see how mobile is ever going to work.  It's hard enough to get a reliable enough signal on the phone for a call let alone a game that needs a constant signal.

And I'm in a so-called developed country.

How's the signal going to work out in India, or downtown Novosibirsk?

 

And what about battery life?  I can just about get a day out of my phone battery for phone stuff.  Games, not a hope.

 

They are wringing the game out for the very last drop before it dies from the large and continual dose of neglect they gave it.

Edited May 14, 2018 by Nicola_M

[X-Toxical 174]

Tanki should just scrap mobile. Work on all the lags, glitches and bugs on your trash servers. More people care about smooth gameplay, than a mobile version that will probably be impossible to use

[RevengeAttacker 217]

Well there are about 500000 people that play tanki every week...

[Nine 693]

^^You wish

[Guest]

Actually, Tanki moble was in development for many years, starting when the devs were going to shift Tanki to Unity. However, when it became clear that "Unity tanki" was going to be its own game, Tanki X, the mobile version was shelved for a later time. Since HTML5 supports mobile devices, the devs dusted off the mobile version and began to work on it once again, putting us where we are now.

---

Personally, I'm not too hyped for the mobile version because of the amount of noobs it will dump into the game. On the flip side, this would mean more revenue for Tanki, allowing them to buy more servers across the globe.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Guest

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

Pretty much building the game from the ground up on a new platform is a desperate attempt? It's an ambitious project, not a desperate attempt.

[Maf 32,307]

^^You wish

He's not wrong though. The total number of active players in the game is a few hundred thousand. They're just never online at the same time.

[Dliver 436]

Pretty much building the game from the ground up on a new platform is a desperate attempt? It's an ambitious project, not a desperate attempt.

You are right there, they are trying to build from the ground up because they drove it into the ground in the first place.

[Dliver 436]

He's not wrong though. The total number of active players in the game is a few hundred thousand. They're just never online at the same time.

I agree totally , so that being the case there are at best 30,000 (and that is starting to stretch it) playing during peak times and that is from a base of let's say a couple 100000 active players, like you said. Then when there was over 100,000 players playing during peak times in the past there must have been nearly a 1,000,000 active players. Seems to show bad decision making, by my way of thinking, for the Dev's to loose that many players. So if that is their track record, how is it going to be any better on a mobile device. Yes you may get a jump in players, but that will also fade away because the same people who are ruining the game today will be running the mobile game.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Dliver

[Maf 32,307]

Seems to show bad decision making on my part for the Dev's to loose that many players.

Not true. Very few players actually left because of "bad" updates. Most leave because they get bored, and very few people play the same game for years. The problem is that new people aren't coming in to replace the leavers, because the game is outdated and can't compete with more modern games of similar style. This is why things like matchmaking and mobile version are being added - to make the game more appealing to today's average casual gamers.

[Dliver 436]

hum... it would be not wise not to go on the mobile platform.

But saying it is a programmed death of the PC version is a rather huge assumption.  

It's just one possible theory to try and explain and make sense of the chain of bad decisions that the Dev's have made that have driven so many players away from the game. Also it gives a starting point for the discussion.

[Dliver 436]

Not true. Very few players actually left because of "bad" updates. Most leave because they get bored, and very few people play the same game for years. The problem is that new people aren't coming in to replace the leavers, because the game is outdated and can't compete with more modern games of similar style. This is why things like matchmaking and mobile version are being added - to make the game more appealing to today's average casual gamers.

You just restate one of my opening points. If that is the case, how is the mobile going to accomplish that? The mobile version is just a copy of the PC version. The only difference is it provides another means of access to the same old tired worn out game (according to you).

 

I would agree that some leave out of boredom, but I would also contend that a very large number left because of the bad decisions that you ignore and try to apologize for. Do you even read the forums.  I know you do because I constantly see your responses to every negative post, where you try for the most part to put the Dev's in the best light.

 

But that is my opinion. Either way the Dev's have done a very poor job keeping players and attracting new players. My contention is with those same people running things will things really change? 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Dliver

[Maf 32,307]

You just restate my one of my opening points. If that is the case, how is the mobile going to accomplish that? The mobile version is just a copy of the PC version. The only difference is it provides another means of access to the same old tired worn out game (according to you).

It matters a lot. Developers said that nowadays the majority of players (especially tanki's target audience - teens) play on their mobile phones and don't always have access to a PC. Besides, being able to play on phone means that you can access tanki in a lot more situations, such as in shopping malls, at airports, at friends' houses, etc. It opens up many new opportunities for people to play the game where they previously wouldn't be able to.

 

As for the game still being stale and old - that will hopefully be fixed by other updates, such as matchmaking, new game modes, new cool features, etc.

[Maf 32,307]

Do you even read the forums. I know you do because I constantly see your responses to every negative post, where you try for the most part to put the Dev's in the best light.

I realise that it looks like I'm defending develpers' decisions no matter what, but that's just because I consider every update from the perspective of all parties involved, not just as a player. Of course as an "old-school" player I dislike removal of missions from PRO, the repair kit and supply changes, the inability to choose maps in matchmaking and a bunch of other updates. But I understand why these updates were necessary, so I don't complain about them and instead try to explain devs' reasoning for those updates to everyone else, to hopefully convince people that devs aren't dumb and they do care about their player base and do know what they're doing.

 

That being said, developers themselves admit that not all of their decisions were right. A bunch of updates and new features were bugged or had a number of unexpected issues, some updates had the right idea but some things were missed... Examples of those include the 2012 Rebalance, addition of various crystal box values, the DM tournaments, and quite a few more. So mistakes have definitely been made, but the number of players lost because of them is much lower than the number of potential new players not gained due to the game being outdated and unsuitable for new audiences.

 

In fact, one of the biggest mistakes developers made was leaving Tanki Online to die back in 2015, when they thought that Tanki X would replace it. TX had unexpected issues, while Tanki Online lost thousands of players due to lack of updates and new features. And now they're trying to make up for what they lost.

[DieselPlatinum 5,121]

I think the mobile version will just bring in more players that don't turn their turrets.

 

TO should just abandon the mobile version and replace it with console, that is if they're not going to work on more important updates like html5 and a proper MM that works, or a rebalance update.

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

TO should just abandon the mobile version and replace it with console, that is if they're not going to work on more important updates like html5 and a proper MM that works, or a rebalance update.

No one will play TO on consoles.

 

Mobile development and HTML5 are being worked on simultaneously, because mobile version runs on HTML5.

[RevengeAttacker 217]

^^You wish

I can give you solid proof. Don't make this into a flame war because you have bad feelings about me.

 

And yes, dilver, you are right about the amount of players but who knows? Maybe tanki online mobile might be good.

[cjlkajdsaldjaskjdasd 71]

Very few players actually left because of "bad" updates. 

Forgot mission update that moved missions to non-pro battles?

The number of people who threatened to leave the game if the update was not removed?

The hate on the game chat and the game forum?

 

The number of people who actually quit?

Peak used to be at 60k players in those days.

I know because those were my favourite days in tanki.

 

Making 1 vs 1 Ping - Pong CTF to do the finish first missions, and capping the flag even before the other guy spawned.

 

Making highways cp to get the control points and supply boxes missions done.

 

playing xp/bp to get the crystals / experience missions done.

 

i have very fond memories of the old days.

 

back then we got discount on kits like full MU viking m2 and get 100% discount on viking m3 in kits.

Plus the festive offer discounts also used to add to kits.

 

They took away all that from us.

 

Yes, a few updates were good, like more mission rewards, and now the new unbreakable chain, but the effects of the bad updates were far more, and the good ones came too late.

 

now they have lost players and most of them only because of the bad updates, not because people got bored.

[Viking4s 10,791]

I've heard of a few rumours that the other two separated communities (BR/ES and Chinese) can fight face to face with the rest of the communities (EN, RU, DE, etc) when the mobile version of the game released to everyone :ph34r:

If it is the case then they would no be able to play with there own pc community.

You can't mix everything.

[Dliver 436]

As for the game still being stale and old - that will hopefully be fixed by other updates, such as matchmaking, new game modes, new cool features, etc.

And that is the crux of the matter. Hopefully it will be fixed. That takes me to another point I made. Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's have made claim after claim they're making the game better with the changes they've made. The point is that they've done just the opposite. Now while no one is going to make the right call every-time, you would hope that they would make the right calls MOST of the time. Pony Tail Boy and the Dev's have done the exact opposite, and with that track record I would have to think that they are not going to do any better on a new platform. I say fix the problems first. Put out a quality product on your existing platform before moving on to another. HTML5 isn't a golden bullet that is going to magically fix all the problems. It may be more stable, it may fix some of the hacking problems, and it may even allow cross platform compatibility, but the main problem lies in content and game play. The Dev's and Pony Tail Boy have been notoriously  arrogant in not listening to the players. Granted you can't do everything everyone wants, but even when it has been proven that a certain course was wrong they refuse to back track and try something different. So that is why we have the situation we have today. Bad decision piled on bad decision and a dwindling player base. That will not change with the mobile version.   

[Maf 32,307]

Forgot mission update that moved missions to non-pro battles?

The number of people who threatened to leave the game if the update was not removed?

The hate on the game chat and the game forum?

 

The number of people who actually quit?

Peak used to be at 60k players in those days.

I know because those were my favourite days in tanki.

The number of people threatening to leave the game and hating in the chat and forum doesn't show that those people actually left the game because of those updates. I actually did a small experiment back when that update was released and for every forum post that said something along the lines of "this game is ruined, I quit!" I made note of the author and checked their profile - of the 15 or so people I recorded, all of them continued playing in the following month.

 

As for the peak number of players going down - see my replies on the previous page. People have always been leaving, but it's the number of new players that went down, so there's no one to replace those, who left.

 

Making 1 vs 1 Ping - Pong CTF to do the finish first missions, and capping the flag even before the other guy spawned.

 

Making highways cp to get the control points and supply boxes missions done.

 

playing xp/bp to get the crystals / experience missions done.

 

i have very fond memories of the old days.

And there you go - you just pointed out the exact reason why missions had to be removed from PRO. Of course you have fond memories of those times, because you could complete difficult missions in 5 minutes, claim massive rewards and be happy. This is not how missions are meant to be completed, therefore developers had to fix the exploit that allowed players to get such high rewards with minimal effort. Now the system makes perfect sense - everyone does missions in the same, fair conditions and you can't just capture one flag in a private battle to complete a "first place" mission that would otherwise take 30 minutes and a lot of effort to do.

 

Now how about you look at it from a different perspective: removal of missions from PRO allowed devs to give players a huge increase in mission rewards. The 20% mission reward increase, the temporary 300% weekly chain reward increase, the permanent 300% increase, addition of containers in chain rewards and unbreakable mission chains. Since missions now take much more effort to complete, the high rewards are completely justified. Without removal of missions from PRO we would never get all these bonuses.

 

back then we got discount on kits like full MU viking m2 and get 100% discount on viking m3 in kits.

Plus the festive offer discounts also used to add to kits.

 

They took away all that from us.

 

Yes, a few updates were good, like more mission rewards, and now the new unbreakable chain, but the effects of the bad updates were far more, and the good ones came too late.

 

now they have lost players and most of them only because of the bad updates, not because people got bored.

I have a theory that due to the way our minds work, negative events/changes make a greater impact on our memory and are therefore easier to remember. So while there may have been more good things than bad, to a lot of people it seems that the bad things outweigh the good because you remember them better, even if that may not be the case. Anyway, it's just a theory I have, but it's worth giving a thought.