Proposed minor tweeks

[xsherlock]

Ok, here are some tweeks that I think would make the game easier.

I now play all days in the Euro time zone and it is quite evident we are suffering from lack of players, so I have Zatikon open in the background and sometimes miss that there are wanting players to play.

I see some other top players stuck in forum unresponsive so they are doing the same

It would be nice to have a posibility to poke another player so it would somehow give a sound on his side.
This hould be limited to non-demo and not to fequent

On the other hand Iphone port would get us gazillion of players easily

Option to disable music but not sounds is a must.

Audio notification on the last 20 seconds of the move could be introduced aswell.

We already discused that nice chess like ranking system should be back.

A player browser could be improved to show who is playing who, and how many ranking poinst are at stake.

A playes should be able to set what games it is willing to play out of  selection (ranked constr, ranked random, casual constr, casual random, cooperative)

This could be incorporated to one screen with chat, but i'm not pushing on that.

demo players at (ai level < 20 with less then 20 matches total) should be marked with some icon to know they are total newbees.

In future a spectator mode would be nice.

[minime]

some more http://www.pontifex2.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>
- maybe the random and the constructed rankings should be separated. but we can keep this composite ranking as well.
- playing first is a big advantage in constructed. it should be balanced somehow. for example the player who plays first could use less actions. and i think that, playing first should be decided random. (the whole situation is very similar to magic the gathering, where now the player who plays first do not draw a card.)

[xsherlock]

here is my proposed upgrade to user list,

http://www.vsat.pl/img/zatikon_menu.png" border="0">

The idea I would introduce is that user sets what games he is willing to play at the moment. a button to clear all can be added to  bottom bar, so users  can quickly switch of all the invites. Playing a game would be initiated by clicking a user and selecting a game out of the list of games he is willing to play

> minime, i do agree that starting player in constructed should be crippled by less commands as those storming elephants are a nightmare

[minime]

oh and I'm not sure if it is a good idea to call the free game a 'demo'. It isn't a normal demo with huge limitations. Some of my friends not even tried the game because they thought that, it is 'only' a demo. I had to say them it isn't that kind of demo. I think you should call it zatikon basic or something like that. Or just say that zatikon is a free game and there is an addon for cash(this is the same kind of thing as the free mmorpg-s).

[NozeM]

http://www.pontifex2.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> This looks very nice and a great benefit for the game.

[mongolian]

Let's be clear here for an objective.  There are some things that will help improve the game and there are crucial changes to (1) sustain players and (2) grow the player base.

I think alot of the ideas above have merit but little is addressing how we can expand the player base and sustain those new players.  Due to lack of a player pool, more things other then single player are needed to grab in new players and keep them here.

A new button for "Train" mode needs to be added is another big area.  The train mode can be many things but I think it basically need to let players see how every piece functions without actually playing a game.  I say this because new players tend not to want to read and just want to click click.  So, if there is a train mode that let's players only see & move 1 piece on the board this would help. In the advanced trainer mode, maybe an entire board could be setup for this.

So a trainer mode is a good start, but the game does need a few more things:
- Audio disable is a must (like said before)
- Auto-reconnect is a high priority.  Too many games being dropped.
- A new improved challenge system medium priority.  Difficult to explain what is perfect here, but alot of improovement can come here.
- Add a couple new modes like: http://www.pontifex2.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=38;t=1100" target="_blank">Tactical Chess Mode and more importantly. A chess scenario mode for single player.  The chess scenario mode will be something like "solve this problem within 3 moves" (kill the sorcerer).

Another thing that is creating negative friction in the game is the unit descriptions.  I would like to see is a re-write on all units description.  Desciptions need to be mimised in terms of content and written in a more PC-obvious way.  It's just not PC enough for noobs/people who don't read and that should be this game's target demographic to grow big.

Last, but probablly most important. Advertising & Marketing.  This game is a gem, if you've found it.  And yes, strategy games are a small demographic and it's hard to find gamers, but I've seen games like trivian being advertising on yahoo and that just amazes me it being such a wimpy game graphics and game overall.  For what ever little budget there is, I highly reccomend advertising on other main game sites:

- http://jayisgames.com" target="_blank">jayisgames.com (someone needs to put up a new article on it)
- http://kongregate.com" target="_blank">kongregate.com
- http://gamespot.com" target="_blank">gamespot.com
- http://gameportal.com" target="_blank">gameportal.com
- http://mail.yahoo.com" target="_blank">mail.yahoo.com (if bigger budget)

I'm sure there are plenty other big & small gun places to advertise..but the #1 thing this game needs is a bigger player base.  That comes with a budget unfortunately http://www.pontifex2.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':('>

[travcm]

(minime @ Feb. 14 2009,11:06)

QUOTE

oh and I'm not sure if it is a good idea to call the free game a 'demo'. It isn't a normal demo with huge limitations. Some of my friends not even tried the game because they thought that, it is 'only' a demo. I had to say them it isn't that kind of demo. I think you should call it zatikon basic or something like that. Or just say that zatikon is a free game and there is an addon for cash(this is the same kind of thing as the free mmorpg-s).

Agreed.

[Lunaraia]

here are a few new places that can be utelized to put up an add for zatikon:

armorgames.com
newgrounds.com

onemanga.com, yes I am aware that this is not a gaming site, but you would be suprised about how many game fanatics are also into comics

Youtube.com, seriously this place have aprox 1mill visitors a day, NOT putting an add on this site would be a great loss in the long run

Myspace.com same as youtube

Google.com  you know, if you add Zarikon to googles search engine under strategy games you miht get a few new players