EA Starts Community Developer Section in their Forums

[Plok 328]

EA has opened a special section in the Official C&C Forums where fans can share their ideas to make C&C better. Here's what they say in their blog:

 

Many of our community members have great ideas on how to improve future Command & Conquer games. This place is built to discuss your ideas with people, who also want to make C&C even better. Start to share your ideas and develop them to something great, based on the community feedback.

 

The most discussed and loved ideas will be passed on to the developer team, so be sure to bring your idea onto our community table. Maybe it will be your idea, which changes everything!

You can find the Community Developer Section right here.

[Gben 20]

This seems like a good idea, but well probably just be known as a can of worms.

[Plok 328]

Already they have two really nice ideas: Blizzard-like quotes and making a new Tiberium game, ignoring TT.

[Sonic 296]

Haven't read all the threads there, probably never will, but this is the best I've found so far http://www.commandandconquer.com/forums/sh...n-to-the-basics

 

Return to the basics

 

Subject:

Return to the basics

 

Description:

Return to the basics of Real-Time-Strategy, focusing on resource gathering, management, deployment, and tactical maneuvering.

 

Positive Effect:

Broad appeal as the basics are easy for new people to pick up and the mastery comes from implementation of tactics and strategy instead of speed of user's interfacing.

 

Negative Effect:

Hard-core (APS-focused) gamers will be discouraged. Many will decry the absence of their personal fantasies (Mai the Psychic Girl / dolphins with rockets on their backs)

[Guest Stevie_K]

Negative Effect:

Many will decry the absence of their personal fantasies (Mai the Psychic Girl / dolphins with rockets on their backs)

 

Hahahaha

 

There's plenty of good ideas already. Though I somehow got this feeling that none of this effort will really matter in the end.

[Golan 6]

I'm still undecided whether listening to the community is a good or a bad thing...

[Waraddict 0]

Ask the community? I'd make a bet the next C&C won't be too good...

 

It's a not a question of whether the community as a whole is good of thinking of ideas, it's just the fact that

 

1. It hints that the development team may not have much confidence in their own decisions and basically probably don't know what's fun.

2. If, at best, the community gives good ideas, you can't just throw them altogether and hope that you get a good game, compromise between all these ideas could end up with a pretty rubbish game.

3. Also worth noting, although an idea may seem like a good idea in theory, we may not like how that idea is implemented in the actual finished game.

 

I'd really like them to stop ignoring the fanbase at one stage in the series' development, going all gun-ho with their complete own interpretation on what the community wants and then effectively turning to us afterwards at a later stage to ask 'so you think you know how to make a good game? Well tell us then!'.

 

Just simply look back on the past C&Cs, see what worked and didn't work, use your own senses on what was fun and what wasn't, I always wondered why some of the more fun innovative features introduced in one C&C were missing in the next C&C, e.g. General's XP system was fun and I think it would have fitted fine into C&C3 without ruining the feel.

 

If the Development team aren't capable of doing this, then they're simply not suitable for the job.

Edited May 18, 2011 by Waraddict

[Cypher 4]

Errr... guys,

 

 

This isn't a "We need your help" forum.

Nor is it a "We want your ideas" forums.

 

 

It's just a forum to encourage a bit more constructive debate within the forums.

We are already flooded with various "do this" and "do that" posts on the other forums. So instead of just having them all over the place, and without any guidelines, Eric created this forum - which is moderated - to encourage the posts to be well thought out and properly structured (otherwise it won't be opened for discussion).

 

Yes, the better posts, with all their ensuing discussions, will be summarized for the dev team to take a look. Sure. But that's the polar opposite of "We need your ideas".

[Malevolence 6]

A suggestion simply put:

Look at all the games and the history of development until now, not just the C&C franchise, or RTS franchise, but one a global scale, look at it, make case studies, and understand what makes a particular series so successful.

Then proceed to the drawing board or anywhere cool and brainstorm.

Ask yourself again:

Do we, the developers, have any solid, promising and interesting ideas?

Do we have an excellent story plot to tell?

What game engine, mechanics, etc do we use?

Who are the audiences? (The fans themselves? Hardcore gamers? Korean APM users? Whiny kids? Horny teenage boys? Causal gamers? Remember you can never please everyone, make a pick!)

What genre? True RTS? FPS? MMO? RTT? Something else?

Multiplayer?

Funding and support?

Post-release game support?

Most importantly, keep reminding yourselves has this project truly redefined what Command & Conquer is???

Occasionally pop by the newly created forum and generate and borrow new constructive ideas to improve on what you have in your mind.

***Time and proper management.***

Success.

Cake.

Edited May 19, 2011 by Malevolence