Monday Musings #34 – Giving Thanks with Stats
One of the last things I added into MoteMancer before EA Launch was a way to do in-game feedback (shoutout to Easy Feedback Form on the Unity store!) and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Not only have I gotten hundreds of submissions for suggestions and bugs, but I also use it to track game completions to see how robust the content actually is. You can always try to guess based on your own play patterns, but it's always important to validate your assumptions. So today I want to say thank you not only to everyone who posts actively, but also to the people who just play and are enjoying themselves while the game continues to grow.
[h3]Problem Solving Time[/h3]
I've easily spent thousands of hours playing automation games and modded Minecraft, whose systems and complexity allow for personal expression while problem solving all the while - creating your own concoction of problem-solving spaghetti bit by bit. When making a game like MoteMancer, you hope to live up to the depth and breadth of your sources of inspiration. I remember multiple restarts and just enjoying the logistical gardens, where completion wasn't really the most important goal, but still something reserved for 'eventually'.
I'm happy to say that so far MoteMancer seems to be filling that trajectory. i did a quick survey of the last two months of completion times, and MoteMancer is landing at ~101 hours mean completion time, and ~83 hours median completion time, which feels great personally. To me it means that there is enough to get lost in but it also has a reachable goal, so the balance is pretty spot-on to what I'd hoped for.
So far the fastest clear for restoring the Great Portal belongs to veriszg at just under 32 hours. And the longest clear time to date is held by rqtballer at just over 335 hours. Both of these numbers are awesome to me. Also the highest player structure count is 127,853 - proving that I have my work cut out for me on the perf side :)
[h3]A Thousand-Hour Game?[/h3]
Games that reach the worthiness of a thousand+ hours are more than an experience, they are comfort. They are games that help you think deeper and become their own unique flow state. They provide a space to let you stretch out. At this stage of MoteMancer's development, I don't think we're there yet, but I do think the current foundation shows that it is capable of becoming that. MoteMancer is uniquely set up in the automation space to actively change its ruleset per playthrough, and I think that will be a fantastic finishing move if I can pull it off.
There are still plenty of things on the docket to build and polish in the mean-time, but mostly I wanted to take a moment to stop and thank everyone who decided to step into MoteMancer's garden while it's still growing. I could not have done it without you.
Keep using that in-game feedback form. Happy Thanksgiving! 🌿
~CyanAvatar
[h3]Problem Solving Time[/h3]
I've easily spent thousands of hours playing automation games and modded Minecraft, whose systems and complexity allow for personal expression while problem solving all the while - creating your own concoction of problem-solving spaghetti bit by bit. When making a game like MoteMancer, you hope to live up to the depth and breadth of your sources of inspiration. I remember multiple restarts and just enjoying the logistical gardens, where completion wasn't really the most important goal, but still something reserved for 'eventually'.
I'm happy to say that so far MoteMancer seems to be filling that trajectory. i did a quick survey of the last two months of completion times, and MoteMancer is landing at ~101 hours mean completion time, and ~83 hours median completion time, which feels great personally. To me it means that there is enough to get lost in but it also has a reachable goal, so the balance is pretty spot-on to what I'd hoped for.
So far the fastest clear for restoring the Great Portal belongs to veriszg at just under 32 hours. And the longest clear time to date is held by rqtballer at just over 335 hours. Both of these numbers are awesome to me. Also the highest player structure count is 127,853 - proving that I have my work cut out for me on the perf side :)
[h3]A Thousand-Hour Game?[/h3]
Games that reach the worthiness of a thousand+ hours are more than an experience, they are comfort. They are games that help you think deeper and become their own unique flow state. They provide a space to let you stretch out. At this stage of MoteMancer's development, I don't think we're there yet, but I do think the current foundation shows that it is capable of becoming that. MoteMancer is uniquely set up in the automation space to actively change its ruleset per playthrough, and I think that will be a fantastic finishing move if I can pull it off.
There are still plenty of things on the docket to build and polish in the mean-time, but mostly I wanted to take a moment to stop and thank everyone who decided to step into MoteMancer's garden while it's still growing. I could not have done it without you.
Keep using that in-game feedback form. Happy Thanksgiving! 🌿
~CyanAvatar