News Feature Requests Update #6- A Little Help From my Friends

[Ashley Barley]

Feature Requests Update #6- A Little Help From my Friends
​

Welcome to the sixth feature requests update! This time we’ll be looking at a few of the multiplayer feature requests that we have received and shedding some light on those questions.

One thing that many people have asked about is the inclusion of an in-game guild or clan system, so that players can organise themselves into social groups. Unfortunately this isn’t something that is planned for initial release, but may be considered as a post-launch addition:

Sandy: Voluntary only – there will not to my knowledge be an ‘official’ in-game definition of this.
Michael: Not to begin with, the player groups are organised by the players themselves. This may be expanded after the initial release.
​

Another thing that people asked about was if there would be some sort of player rankings, where you could compare your achievements against other players. Whilst this is something that we plan to implement, we do not know yet exactly what these ratings will represent:

Sandy: There will be stats that can be accessed that are quite wide ranging. Rankings will be part of this – but we need to discuss what the categories will actually be and how this is measured.
Michael: Yes, although the details have not been determined yet.
​

Audio chat with other players was another feature you were all curious about, obviously in an open world multiplayer game like Elite: Dangerous it makes sense to provide players with as many avenues of communication as possible. For this reason, there will almost definitely be voice chat available:

Sandy: Yes almost certainly, we would like to do this
Michael: Yes we intend to include this.
David: Yes – both chat between specific players, and ‘hailing’ other nearby ships
​

The question of community server hosting was also brought up during the Kickstarter, will players be able to host their own private servers? As it currently stands this is not something that we plan to support:

Michael: Not currently planned.
Sandy: We can discuss making the server software available to the ‘wild’ at some stage if we ever drop support for the official server(s).
​

Whilst there won’t be any way in Elite: Dangerous for a player to become completely stranded without any hope of returning to a Space Station on their own, many of you were interested in the ability to send a distress call, so that you may be rescued by other players.

Whilst it is unlikely that you would need this feature to actually get back to civilization, there may be situations such as being assailed by pirates or requiring some fuel to get back to the nearest station before your life support fails that would make it useful. For that reason, we hope to add some sort of distress call functionality:

Sandy: Yes, something along these lines will be available
Michael: Yes, we will be looking into this.
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That’s it for this week’s feature requests update, hopefully some of this information was useful to you all! I’ll be back next week with some more feature requests, until then if you have any questions then please don’t hesitate to reply in this thread or PM me.

Thanks, Ashley

 

[DobrijZmej]

Translate on Russian here: link
Перевод выпуска на русский язык тут: ссылка

 

[Penthux]

Thanks Ashley! Great update.

First of all, I think clans/guilds/corporations/syndicates are a very important concept to a lot of people. It can be very beneficial for an individual to belong to such a group, for more reasons than I care to get into right now. It can also be detrimental to others outside of that group, for more reasons than I care to get into right now. If the plan for Frontier Developments is to eventually include such a feature in E: D, I would support it wholeheartedly.

Rankings: YES! Stat's are always a good thing, for bragging rights, achievements, and weighing-up potential rivals, as well as individual standing/high-score type matters, to name but a few advantages of having such a feature.

Voice chat/audio is not something I think is very important. TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, Skype (etc.) has been the preferred medium for audio communication in most games I have played over the past decade or so. Why fix something that works or copy it? In eve-online there is exactly this feature yet when I played a couple of years ago we still used Ventrilo because it was more stable and had better quality of audio.

Hosting your own private server(s) would remind me of minecraft and look how many servers there are to choose from. It's not something I would be interested in seeing for E: D.

Distress calls = YES YES YES PLEASE! I want my victims to be able to cry for help as they're dying! (if they get the chance) <Loud cough> I mean errr... people should be able to request urgent assistance in times of dire need! haha

Great update. Thanks again!

 

[Caribou]

Feature Requests Update #6- A Little Help From my Friends
​

[/INDENT]
The question of community server hosting was also brought up during the Kickstarter, will players be able to host their own private servers? As it currently stands this is not something that we plan to support:

Michael: Not currently planned.
Sandy: We can discuss making the server software available to the ‘wild’ at some stage if we ever drop support for the official server(s).
​

Hi Guys - so how does this affect the "Single Player" experience? Would they need to connect to the FD servers even if they play alone?

 

[jabokai]

Nice wee update. :smilie:

A few comments -

Guilds: While I primarily want to be a solo player in a multiplayer universe and not be part of a guild, I suspect a lot of people will squeal about this one! I don't think it would take much to implement a very basic guild system (ignoring the fluff such as ranks, shared storage/ships, other member to member benefits, etc)... Basically just a version of a friend list with a private chat channel.

Rankings: I kind of hoped this wouldn't appear but suspected it would. Depending on what they are, they will drive the game in those directions rather than keeping things very open. It looked like (with the change of Elite status from combat only to include other areas) that might be the case - that people would play the WHOLE game - but I fear this will drive extremes.

Audio chat: Glad to hear this will be investigated. While 3rd party systems exist and are perfectly fine, you can't hail someone verbally if they're on some other system... fine for guilds who don't want to talk to anyone else, but not good for spontaneous play.

 

[OpenFly]

Pentax:
Voice chat/audio is not something I think is very important. TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, Skype (etc.) has been the preferred medium for audio communication in most games I have played over the past decade or so. Why fix something that works or copy it? In eve-online there is exactly this feature yet when I played a couple of years ago we still used Ventrilo because it was more stable and had better quality of audio.

Totally agree. I can be an unsociable so-and-so and much prefer to type rather than speak to someone most of the time. Would also save on E: D server bandwidth and processing. As you say, I always end up using Skype (cos it just works) - I've had so many games where I've wasted so much time messing with settings cos "I can hear you, can you hear me? Hello ... hello, HELLO ... "

 

[Ashley Barley]

Hi Guys - so how does this affect the "Single Player" experience? Would they need to connect to the FD servers even if they play alone?

This has no impact on single player, you'll still be free to play that offline if you wish. You may need to sync with our servers occassionally if you wish to update your playable galaxy, but thats it.

Thanks Ashley! Great update.

First of all, I think clans/guilds/corporations/syndicates are a very important concept to a lot of people.

<snip>

Voice chat/audio is not something I think is very important. TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, Skype (etc.) has been the preferred medium for audio communication in most games I have played over the past decade or so. Why fix something that works or copy it? In eve-online there is exactly this feature yet when I played a couple of years ago we still used Ventrilo because it was more stable and had better quality of audio.

In regards to clans and guilds, this isn't something that we're leaving out for a specific design reason. Its more to do with prioritising features for the initial release. This should hopefully mean that if we do implement it later we will be able to make it a much 'fuller' feature. Players will still be able to organise themselves into smaller private groups at launch though.

Whilst players can use seperate voice chat clients if they wish, this doesn't allow them to communicate with random players and vocally hail other ships that they may not know. Things like Teamspeak and Ventrillo only really allow you to chat to players that have access to your lobby, not ones you may just come accross and wish to talk to. So even for players that prefer to use third-party clients there will be some benefits to the chat system.

 

[DobrijZmej]

Ashley, you can tell me about the voice chat - at Frontier already has some developments of the system, or you are planning to buy this technology from other developers (Skype or TeamSpeak, or etc), or have not started to develop this function?

 

[Ashley Barley]

Ashley, you can tell me about the voice chat - at Frontier already has some developments of the system, or you are planning to buy this technology from other developers (Skype or TeamSpeak, or etc), or have not started to develop this function?

We'll almost definitely develop it outselves, whether we have something in the works already or not I'm afraid I don't know.

 

[mr.wolfie]

Guilds: Hate them. They're the ruin of MMOs for me. I am an individual, in life and online. When I look into the Total Perspective Vortex, I see my place in the universe(s) and I'm fine with it.

Voice chat: don't need it to speak to the person sitting next to me. Will probably never use it in game.

Private servers: won't need them while FD exists, I hope. But good to know that it's a possibility.

Distress Calls: heh heh, yeah right!

 

[Bikky]

I'd so like to offer some of my server's meagre resources to host ED.

3x146gb
8 core's of 2.8ghz xeon
currently 8gb RAM
100mb dedicated upstream and downstream internet.

wasted for 3 small websites

 

[DobrijZmej]

We'll almost definitely develop it outselves, whether we have something in the works already or not I'm afraid I don't know.

Thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately, it makes me sad. Voice chat technology is very complex in terms of clean sound from the noise and traffic of optimal compression. I hoped that you will use one of the existing technologies.
In most games that I play, and where voice chat has been implemented on its own, it has been implemented very superficial voice just was not listening.
However, I hope that you are able to cope with this problem. It is a pity that it will have to spend a lot of time that could be used for other tasks.
Thanks again, and I hope that you will succeed!

I think my English is terrible in this post, sorry.​

 

[breakpointUK]

Groups/clans/parties

Groups seem to be a way of controlling the instance you are in, everyone will initially start in (All) and then it is possiable to start a (Group) where invited players are playing together away from everyone else but yet share overall galaxy data... This should not be confused with clans and parties...

If not clan support, there needs to be system to allow players to party up (fly together, flag as allied, stay in formation), if only to allow shared communications but also to share waypoint navigation, status and location.

My hope is that there will be missions and goals which will require like-minded players to party up and work together... No just preset 'attack outpost' type missions, but also missions where you choose a task, for example... I will go get the materials, while you two attack the ships, say the word and Bob can drop the bomb...

Comms
There must be voice comms support within the game, although Ts/vent work very well, having players away from the community is terrible... Quick/instant simple comms is going to be so important if only because the action on screen is going to demand your full attention... Swapping to an external voice app is going to 'break' immersion and 'break' your concentration

 

[Voyager_NL]

I think that in game voice adds to the immersion. _IF_ it becomes an integral part of the game. That also asks for a pretty good implementation of the functionality.

If I compare that to the start of the XBOX era where MS had that implemented from scratch it surely was somewhat buggy at the start but got better and better all the time. Until ofcourse all the screaming scriptkiddies came online and basically took out the fun for me for a while.

So to me In-game voice is somewhat a two headed monster... It can be fun and immersive when implemented correctly and it can be annoing when abused or buggy / badly imlemented.

Some functionality that could be good or interesting to have:
- Being able to mute on a per person basis. Except for genuine distress signals: they should come through in some way or form at any time. This DOES allow for blatant abuse but I've got my forward beamlaser to cover that problem... Owh come to think of it: there shoud be some ruling that you can shoot someone for abusing the comms without becoming a fugitive!
- I'd like to hear static and narrowband alterations of the voice. Including possibilities to change the nature of your voice for annonimity purposes... (realtime process client side) Nothing else is so immersive then when you hear a crackling voice through the comms that really SOUNDS broadcasted.

Regarding clans: I was actually hoping for that as I was planning to do some clan-stuff with a mate of mine (and hopfully grow our clan) But who knows: a separate start and some loose cooperation can be just as fun..

 

[breakpointUK]

Regarding clans: I was actually hoping for that as I was planning to do some clan-stuff with a mate of mine (and hopfully grow our clan) But who knows: a separate start and some loose cooperation can be just as fun..

Agreed...

I think the community needs to realise that clanning in ED will be nothing like they have experienced in other games... The idea of a clan is often misunderstood for people that collectively try to control an aspect of the game's mechanics (exploit), grief or gang up (on solo players)...

Support for clanning can result in just "party" comms and information sharing, something that will not directly effect another players experience... The only impact maybe that others will know you are part of a clan. I am happy with this basic form of clanning, although I would like shared assets too.

But, seperately we need the ability to start a temporary party... For missions etc maybe limitations for maximum player amount...

So ultimately..

Hardcore (Ironman)
Casual

All
Group

Clan
Solo

Party
Solo

so you could have

Casual>All>Clan>Solo
Hardcore>All>Solo>Party

 

[Voyager_NL]

Agreed...

I think the community needs to realise that clanning in ED will be nothing like they have experienced in other games... The idea of a clan is often misunderstood for people that collectively try to control an aspect of the game's mechanics (exploit), grief or gang up (on solo players)...

Support for clanning can result in just "party" comms and information sharing, something that will not directly effect another players experience... The only impact maybe that others will know you are part of a clan. I am happy with this basic form of clanning, although I would like shared assets too.

But, seperately we need the ability to start a temporary party... For missions etc maybe limitations for maximum player amount...

So ultimately..

Hardcore (Ironman)
Casual

All
Group

Clan
Solo

Party
Solo

so you could have

Casual>All>Clan>Solo
Hardcore>All>Solo>Party

Hi Breakpoint,

Why should hardcore/ironman not have a clan structure? Is it really meant to be to survive on your own? I think Ironman can be a survival game in any form. If people feel saver in a clan they should be able to do that.

 

[Patrick_68000]

Nice update as usual.

Stats and Ranking variety are very important for the game because they provide content to the game. From the reading too.

They make it possible to be situated. Appreciate the champions.

I hope we can also admire the spaceships rotation of the top players (eg : 100 first players or even all) in each classification.

-------


I'm not interested in voice chat. As there will be several communication channels I prefer much text chat with the keyboard.

I hope for text chat, there will be a translator for all major European languages ​​(even approximate (like google translation)).

It would be regrettable between pilots of different nationalities, not to understand.

 

[breakpointUK]

Hi Breakpoint,

Why should hardcore/ironman not have a clan structure? Is it really meant to be to survive on your own? I think Ironman can be a survival game in any form. If people feel saver in a clan they should be able to do that.

The above is a structure tree, so you choose a mode (casual/hardcore), then choose All/Group (hot swappable or forced cool down). These choices determine your game mechanics and rules.

Clan
You can either register a clan, join a clan or leave current clan. When you are in clan your commander is in the clan no matter if you are on the Hardcore/Casual server, in the All / Custom Group..

Party (same game mode/group)
upto 8 players
is temporary
can consist of any player (solo/clanned)
invite only
consists of a leader
leader may disband party
leader may transfer leader status to another player
leader can set waypoints for other party members
leader can flag target as enemy
leader can accept missions (co-op missions) and chooses members of mission party (upto 4 players)
A kick vote can be started by any member of the party (if leader is kicked, leader status goes to the next player that was invited)

 

[Warbler]

"Michael: Not to begin with, the player groups are organised by the players themselves. This may be expanded after the initial release."

To what extent will we be able to organise our groups?

 

[acr0b3rts]

I'm getting more and more worried about EDs level of ambition on this project. It is of course good to aim high but you have to be realistic about what's achievable and what's manageable.

I'm frankly shocked that ED would even consider implementing their own voice chat system in the game, when (as many others have also stated) there are mature and proven alternatives such as TeamSpeak, etc. Additionally, these systems require no management or bandwidth resources from ED!

The technical and network resource horrors of upholding high quality low latency voice comms should not be underestimated. Hailing/etc can definitely be handled textually. As far as imersion is concerned, I would rather imagine the voice behind a hailing text than having to imagine the spotty face of the teenage voice I'd actually be hearing (for example)!

At the very least, leave voice out of the first release. Focus your efforts on what you know and what you're good at.

As an 'investor' in this project, I want to start hearing some feedback from ED regarding planning and scope for first release.