Game Survey - Help us Decide BZFlag's Future

[tainn]

Submitted.

Just as a heads-up on the BZFlag Discord tag prompt; Discord discriminators were phased out between May 2023 and March 2024, at which point anyone not voluntarily transitioning into the new naming system was forcefully assigned a new name. So there's no four-digit number.

[goatmilker]

Done! Thanks to Kierra for the invitation to fill it out and thanks to the people who care enough to ask the questions (they were good questions). Can't wait to see what comes of it.

[Carioca]

Done and miss the Bzflag community.

[2fat2fly]

Done. Thanks to Kierra invited me.

A bit of a paradox, is what is BZFlag? Since improving BZFlag is on one side of the scale, while on the other hand changes to the game, could make BZFlag no longer BZFlag. (Ironically enough.)

-Zehra

Word.
That's exactly what I'm thinking too. Isn't BzFlag exactly what it is because it is what it is?

[allejo]

Hello, fellow tank enthusiasts,

First, thank you so much for filling out the survey. Special shoutout to Kierra for her tremendous efforts in bringing this survey to a wide range of active and retired players. Over the past month, I've learned quite a bit from the survey results.

Shoutout to kbar for pointing out a fundamental problem with our approach over the past month. We had a fantastic turnout of nearly 200 survey submissions, and 96% of those submissions were from players who have played BZFlag for 5+ years. This is precisely the type of feedback we wanted from our regular players. However, we didn't get enough feedback from new players on what was missing from the game, and that's my bad. I didn't communicate via the website and in-game global messages to attract new players to the survey; this will be my next step.

After discussing this with Marva, we've decided to extend the survey for an undetermined amount of time while we work to get feedback from new players. This means there will be website updates, further communications (in-game and on the forums), and, as brad suggested, a newsletter.

I've got some work ahead of me over the next few weeks, but your submissions and continued support are highly appreciated!

---

PSA: If you submitted the survey anonymously or I missed your callsign and you are not a part of the new Survey Champions group, send me a PM and I will add you to the group. Or if you are a part of the Leagues United Discord and haven't received your Survey Champion role, send me a DM on Discord.

[Monster]

I got a link to this topic via Email. Thx for letting me know and for setting up the survey.

[Pinocchio]

<snip>
After discussing this with Marva, we've decided to extend the survey for an undetermined amount of time while we work to get feedback from new players. This means there will be website updates, further communications (in-game and on the forums), and, as brad suggested, a newsletter.
<snip>

Are we talking decades or centuries? (EDIT: This is *not* intended as a criticism of the devs. I was just hoping to understand what's going on and see what people think of the game.)
More seriously, the way Kierra talked about it, it sounded like you guys couldn't wait to get the survey's results and act on them. So what is the plan?

[allejo]

Are we talking decades or centuries?
More seriously, the way Kierra talked about it, it sounded like you guys couldn't wait to get the survey's results and act on them. So what is the plan?

Less than a year. More accurately, "a couple of months" as per my discussion with Marva.

We were excited to see the results, yes. We didn't expect the results to be so skewed (96% players with 5+ years). So we reevaluated why this happened and it was because other than Kierra's efforts and everyone else's word of mouth, no new players were made aware of the survey. This is why I have website updates and new ideas/plans brewing.

A part of attracting new player feedback, there will be improvements to the website with more tutorials, easier to navigate designs, etc. Basically the next step is to prepare properly to make the environment welcoming to new players and get their feedback so we can work on a roadmap for the game next.

[Pinocchio]

Thanks!

[dartman]

2 ideas I thought of since doing the survey, with new players in mind:

1) In game interactive tutorial possibly in the guise of a simple single-player campaign...the survey brought up the idea of "story/narrative" a couple times, and while I don't think the people who look for that in their games are gonna seek out BZFlag (not to mention I'm not sure how any kind of deep narrative would work given the open-source community-made direction of the game), maybe some kind of light and silly story could be used to help guide newbies through the different facets of the game. Maybe they're in the "Training League" and have to cycle through each one of the teams who teach them a different facet of the gameplay using a variety of classic maps, completing simple missions from fictional/scripted versions of veteran bzflag players who excelled at different skills. Hopefully the player is well-rounded enough by the end to be ready for the real thing. It doesn't need to be a crazy story but maybe just something to spruce it up with more personality than just a bland tutorial, idk.

2) In-game map editor, accessible right there from the main menu, so it's obvious from the very beginning that BZFlag uses user-created maps and anyone can get involved; it's not about waiting around for BZFlag Studios to drop that sweet new map pack or whatever, the community is directly responsible for making this game what it is whether that's designing maps, hosting servers, developing the source code, or just keeping the camaraderie alive. Map mode should be easy and fun to use, but hopefully robust enough to be a viable tool as well. All your boxes, pyramids, teles, bases of course, and maybe include a selection of prefab mesh objects from the forums as long as the license is OK, but also allow the ability to import your own objects if you want. It doesn't have to be the only way to make maps but having something like that right there within the game itself could encourage the creative players to get more involved, and then new content + maps means more fun for everyone. Getting to regularly check out new maps back in the day definitely helped me stay engaged with the game as long as I did and the same could be true for new players as well.

No idea if either of these are feasible right now but if by some chance they are, I feel like they could both make a difference with new player retention.

[red rider]

Yes, and maybe a pop up tip to show how to add objects. I know that you get really frustrated when you can't find the add object button (LOL). Also, you could let them say to dismiss that, or they could get really irritated once they know where it is.

Very easy to complete, however, I chose a really bad option. Where can I get the survey again?

[blast]

We might be able to edit the submitted value from the form. Or at the very least, we could fix it in the resulting data at the end when we export stuff. What did you want to change?

[red rider]

I chose a noon/midnight key, I would like to add my survey as, "Change the DownloadAccess file back to submitting all, as I'm using some textures from planet mofo (http://images.planet-mofo.com/A-Delusio ... orge/skins) for my maps. I don't see why it was changed in BZFlag 2.4.2.4."