Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers • Hacker News Board

Re: Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers

#11

Post by vans » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 12:36 PM UTC

NhanH wrote: post #8

timvdalen wrote: post #2

Really liked playing the beta (or was it alpha?) of this when it came out, but the pricing didn't really make sense for me. Paying per compute time works for businesses looking for flexible cloud solutions, but as an individual this makes playing the game much less fun (because you're constantly paying attention to the cost).

Back then, it was capped at $30,and unless you are in the top 10-20 players, you can get by with a lot less. In any case, the pricing model has changed and it is $9/month flat rate, so that concern is obsolete now.

far too high

Re: Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers

#12

Post by valarauca1 » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 12:58 PM UTC

lawless123 wrote: post #5

rhaps0dy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also implies some sort of pay to win - with more compute you can presumably do search algorithms that act smarter.

it would also make the game cheaper if you figure out less computationally intensive algos to win.

    it would also make the game cheaper if you figure out 
    les[s] computationally intensive algos to win.

Yes but a player who was an absolute shite programmer could just throw their bank account at the problem.

While my O(n) solution maybe eloquent, they can afford O(n^n) so provided our _players_ make the same outcome the algorithmic complexity is irrelevant if you can afford it.

The game uses a soft turn based _ticks_ timer. So provided your O(n^n) solution can execute in 1 tick. Their is no difference.

Re: Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers

#13

Post by JokerDan » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:16 PM UTC

mdpopescu wrote: post #9

harigov wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they should open this up as a AI programming platform and sell any algorithms that come out of it.

I'm pretty sure that would quickly get them in trouble because of copyright issues...

Unless they explicitly stated any players submit their rights to ownership of the algorithms they write. Even then I feel an open source alternative geared towards research would be better than a for-profit closed source organisation, but they will have their own business needs and ideas they want to stick to.

Re: Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers

#14

Post by trothamel » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:19 PM UTC

keithnz wrote: post #10

NhanH wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back then, it was capped at $30,and unless you are in the top 10-20 players, you can get by with a lot less. In any case, the pricing model has changed and it is $9/month flat rate, so that concern is obsolete now.

so, its now around the price of netflix? hmmmm, and could easily add up to a AAA game? seems a bit off

Why?

This is $84 a year for the high-end subscription, including Steam discounts, which isn't really that much money. I don't know if the game is any good, but if you're the type of person that considers it to be, that is the sort of money that can be well worth playing for the feelings of accomplishment the game provides.

That's why games can have monthly costs that are similar to Netflix, with much less content - Netflix doesn't provide the same sort of sense of accomplishing something. (Let's ignore the fact that nothing in the game world might actually matter - it's the feeling that is important.)

Re: Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers

#15

Post by brianwawok » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:42 PM UTC

vans wrote: post #11

NhanH wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back then, it was capped at $30,and unless you are in the top 10-20 players, you can get by with a lot less. In any case, the pricing model has changed and it is $9/month flat rate, so that concern is obsolete now.

far too high

Sound like perhaps you aren't the target market?

People should be able to price at what they want to, without getting HN flak.

Re: Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers

#16

Post by LanceH » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:47 PM UTC

timvdalen wrote: post #2

Really liked playing the beta (or was it alpha?) of this when it came out, but the pricing didn't really make sense for me. Paying per compute time works for businesses looking for flexible cloud solutions, but as an individual this makes playing the game much less fun (because you're constantly paying attention to the cost).

I believe it is pay one price and you get as much computing ability as your level indicates.

Re: Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers

#17

Post by gargarplex » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:51 PM UTC

If I put on my Product Manager hat:

1) Invest in good art

2) Tell me how long it takes to get up and running. Is there a walkthrough that can get me on the leaderboard in 10min? If so, I want to see it (and I don't want to pay).

Re: Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers

#18

Post by zaroth » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:53 PM UTC

C# team did something similar when it first came out, I can't remember what it was called. You wrote a module and submitted the code to run on their servers. It was a similar 'critter' game where your code hunted for food, tried to reproduce, and competed with other code running in the same sandbox. There was a limited energy budget which was the main constraint on your code and meant you had to conserve energy and optimize your moves in order for your organism to thrive.

It was a really neat way to learn the language and highlighted the security of the interpreter that they could sandbox your code.

I'm sure there must be precursors to even that, probably written in Smalltalk or Mumps or something.

Re: Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers

#19

Post by Y_Y » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 1:53 PM UTC

brianwawok wrote: post #15

vans wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

far too high

Sound like perhaps you aren't the target market? People should be able to price at what they want to, without getting HN flak.

This is a discussion website. Being vindictive isn't helpful, but niether is criticism inherently bad. An awful lot of the good content here is experts being critical of new ideas.

Re: Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers

#20

Post by libc » Mon, Mar 27, 2017, 2:07 PM UTC

LanceH wrote: post #16

timvdalen wrote: post #2

Really liked playing the beta (or was it alpha?) of this when it came out, but the pricing didn't really make sense for me. Paying per compute time works for businesses looking for flexible cloud solutions, but as an individual this makes playing the game much less fun (because you're constantly paying attention to the cost).

I believe it is pay one price and you get as much computing ability as your level indicates.

This is correct. If you buy it on Steam you get access to an offline/local server, in addition to being able to play in the persistent universe for free but with a severely limited CPU cap. There is also a way to purchase CPU time with ingame currency similar to EVE Online.