[synergy]

Ok, before I get flamed for this, I know this has been brought up before. The reason I'm bringing it up again is simply because I think the previous posts did not outline their reasoning nor did they show the benefits of its usage.

To kick this off, I'd like to say I've noticed the UrT community dwindling more and more over the last couple of months. By this I mean the number of players who know how to play is far out numbered by the new kids who don't know how to play. This is both good and bad....

Good:

• New players
  
• New play styles
  
• New servers
  
• New teams/clans

Bad:

• Breeding of trolls
  
• More immature players
  
• More hacks being detected
  
• More admin abuse (towards newer players)
  
• More inexperienced server admins
  
• Old clans are dying
  
• Too many new clans are starting and failing

Now don't get me twisted, I like the fact there are new players coming in. This definitely brings some new tactics to the table and makes some of us have to adapt our play styles to remain on top. My recommendation is in regards to these new players, how many do you estimate have picked up this game since the 4.1.1 release? Since the 4.2 Beta? As Frankie has said, there are only soft numbers nothing exact. If Frozen Sand put Urban Terror 4.1.1 and/or Urban Terror 4.2 on steam it would more than double the publicity and the community size.

My reasoning behind what I'm saying is simply based on statistics, Nexon put Combat Arms on steam, within a month the game gained 20% more players and is still increasing. SG Interactive has not put Project Blackout on steam and has suffered a minimum 20% loss in community players. There are plenty of other free shooters out there that are decent, good, or just plain shit. The difference between them all really is just community base and advertising. Look at TF2, since being release on steam for free, it has become one of the most popular FPS games, it's popularity has increased more than 10 fold since its free release.

Granted, there are just as many P2P shooters out there, many of which are part of a series or franchise. However, these games are less popular on PC/Mac than on console games, this is where F2P games take the advantage. Battlefield, CoD, and MoH are clearly the heavy hitters when it comes to P2P shooters, but we all know why. Higher quality engines and graphics, campaign as well as multi-player, buddy lists, and dlc content all give them advantages over F2P games. But, their fan base and community are generally less interested and less loyal to the game as those who play F2P games.

With Urban Terror's diverse OS support and classic fast paced game play, it would do very well on steam. The possibilities are endless when you look at what steam could do for the Urban Terror community. The pros far out way the cons on this idea.

Pros

• New skilled players
  
• New competitive clans
  
• New community members
  
• Fresh input on the game
  
• Fresh ideas
  
• Fresh sets of eyes (newer players skilled could spot glitches and issues easier)
  
• Larger and more loyal fan base
  
• Better advertisement
  
• Better update distribution
  
• Less working hacks*

*Hacks are harder to enable to a steam game rather than a stand alone such as UrT. Most stand alone games require an injection where as UrT just uses a launcher that initiates the hack using the UrT as a medium.

Cons

• Have to install steam (if not already done)
  
• Have to use a middle-man client

If you believe I've left any off please post them.

Last but not least, my final recommendation is to put both 4.1(.1) and 4.2 on steam. As we can all see, 4.2 servers are generally located outside the US, mostly across the Atlantic, 4.1(.1) still have fairly active American servers as well as active servers across the Atlantic. With both the stable and beta versions out there the community would more than likely thrive. Of course it would help to get the game featured during a 'steam sale' (even though it's free) so that the game gets recognized without having to be searched desperately for. I personally have found many f2p games through steam sale advertisements and many of them I enjoyed for a good length of time.

This post has been edited by synergy: 02 January 2013 - 12:54 AM

[SilverFoxZ]

UrT should be put on steam when HD is released in my opinion.

[synergy]

Why wait that long? If FS would get the game up there now it would help the community even more than waiting for HD to be released to do it.

[CaptainAhab]

synergy, on 02 January 2013 - 12:55 AM, said:

Why wait that long? If FS would get the game up there now it would help the community even more than waiting for HD to be released to do it.

First impressions go a long way in the long run (retaining the initial wave of new players).

Get it as polished as possible for a Steam release.

[Quit TyberiusPrime]

synergy, on 02 January 2013 - 12:55 AM, said:

Why wait that long? If FS would get the game up there now it would help the community even more than waiting for HD to be released to do it.

How would putting up a game that is 5+ years old help the community, or better said FS team.
Yes there would be more new players, but it also means more new/old demands and suggestions.
More pressure, need to find more people to help develop the game. More complex structure of a dev team means you have to spend more time managing the team than developing the game.
Managing the team isn't just giving assignments, everybody has to be on the same page or you have chaos.
HD engine still isn't updated fully, every new change in one section creates unexpected bugs in another.
So before the game goes on steam you have to meet some minimum requirements.
It's not just "stick it on steam and it will be popular".
Just look at the steam forum, there are hundreds of games that have a section on the forum. but not so many that have an active community.

Steam isn't some super easy way to become popular, it can do the opposite if your product isn't ready.

[SilverFoxZ]

I think to get the game more popular the Devs and players should start to contact famous youtubers such as TotalBiscuit once 4.2 is stable and somewhat polished so it doesnt scare away the mass.


I am sure that TB would make a interview type video together with one of the devs if the devs would contact him.

Example:


Also the skilled montage makers in the UrT Community could start submitting their montages to channels like PixelEnemy or Machinima etc. etc.

Steam should be considerd when HD is nice and polished for the reasons mentioned above.

This post has been edited by SilverFoxZ: 02 January 2013 - 04:32 AM

[[T]BludShoT]

They would have to wait at least until 4.2 is fully ready, and 4.1 has been completely replaced. Putting it on before that would be completely inadvisable. Otherwise new steam users would be introduced to a game (community) in chaos. And whether they went on steam eventually or not, their focus would still need to be the same right now anyway, fixing up 4.2.

When 4.2 is fully solid and 4.1 has been replaced, then yeah, imo it would be cool to put it on steam as a free advertisement-like product, like W:ET. Then they can come out with Urban Terror 2 some day, have some previous cred (with valve, etc), and then like ET:QW, charge for it or have some F2P system like TF2/DOTA2, ie: Paid Fun stuff and skins etc.

[synergy]

4.2 will never be finished or polished enough for steam. It is an advanced alpha at best and its been under construction for over a year. Granted, I know coding a game and debugging everything is not an easy task, but face the facts people. There are players who downloaded 4.1.1 and 4.2 coming into the game brand new and still prefer 4.1 over 4.2 due to how it looks and feels. UrT4.2 is of course a work-in-progress, I understand that, but many of the newer players aren't understanding that and are quitting the game as a whole due to bugs and issues. Reverting to 4.1 and updating the weapons, skins, and textures is a far better option. Based on the fact that 4.2 is still so 'broken' for lack of a better term, HD is still many years out, waiting for HD to be released is asinine by that point the community would be dead or almost solely Euro based. I know for many players in the community, that would not be an issue but for us in the Western hemisphere that causes some issues. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for making the game look good but we have to remember, its FREE for us to play. Regardless of how it looks, it's still a game that will grab attention if UrT 4.1 is released. An example of this would be Counter Strike:Source, the game was released on steam, then later they released CS: Global Offense. Put 4.1 up there and add 4.2 as a package to it, allow players to download both simultaneously as CSS did with CSS (stable) and CSS beta (not so much), both games are playable but 4.1 is more stable than the 4.2 'beta'.

As for the steam forums, who uses those? Check the forums on the game developers site. They're thriving with suggestions, clan stuff, competitive things, support topics and who knows what else. Steam forums are there for support and casual posting not for a thriving community.

[[T]BludShoT]

Nah that's silly.

If 4.2 "will never be finished" or never be as polished as 4.1, then we might as well start pk3ing our bags. 4.1 is abandonware with no future.

This post has been edited by BludShoT: 02 January 2013 - 10:14 PM

[pulse]

BludShoT, on 02 January 2013 - 04:32 AM, said:

Then they can come out with Urban Terror 2 some day, have some previous cred (with valve, etc), and then like ET:QW, charge for it or have some F2P system like TF2/DOTA2, ie: Paid Fun stuff and skins etc.