How does IBT bring value to Steemit?
It's time to collapse, kick back, wash off the sweat and blood and other goey bits that may have splattered on you and reflect on a closing IBT#6.
For those who have just finished the boss round, I'd like to grab some overall feedback about IBT#6 - while it's still fresh in your minds :)
For me It's important to get feedback, so that the experience itself can be improved, for instance:
- Are people having fun?
- Is it a bit long, too short?
- Does it need more pictures?
- Did you get easily confused, can we display instructions better?
- Were the Stages engaging enough or was it like a chore?
- Does a bot that partially work, make it to frustrating to play or is it tolerable?
I know it seems a bit strange to be asking these questions on Steemit...but with IBT it's a little different from other competitions, it's a contest that has been shaped just as much by the players as it has been by myself.
I was recently reading a post by a high reputation Steemian that most competitions on Steemit are bad for the platform.
It implied strongly that people who run competitions don't tend to care about the platform or the players, they pretend to offer a great Steem prize, but instead hand out a fraction meanwhile grabbing all the upvotes and resteems for themselves. It's believed this behavior is bad for the platform and you could say these people are behaving like paid auction style whale bots.
The take away for me as current host for IBT, is that I need to responsibly ask questions about quality?and what is quality? to me everyone goes on and on about quality - we demand great quality photo's, quality content, a nice polished essay is what deserves the upvotes, but is it?... for me it has always come down to, does it add value or remove value from peoples Steemit experience.
I really enjoy IBT and some of the comments and pictures range from oddly crazy to hilarious! I care allot about the success of Steemit and so I try to take onboard all comments/concerns for IBT - vs. turn away the perceived negative comments as well.
Not too long back I had a interesting comment, it was along the lines of:
- IBT makes no sense, it's a bunch of people spamming a page with made up stories - how is that good quality content?
Rather then outright disagree (as the person was coming from a good place - they care about Steemit), I responded with I think IBT is exactly what Steemit is all about.
The freedom to blog about what you want and how you want to. My personal thoughts are, there are very few places we are allowed to use our imagination and not be told your ridiculous! or you need to be 100% serious if you want to add value.
Personally, I love and enjoy reading the free text style replies in IBT and while I could make it a completely automated game, I never will. Don't get me wrong I'll keep working hard to make it run smooth and easier to use etc, but I feel like we would lose something special if we lost that chance for people to add their own story in as we went along - hence I spend hours trying to make the bot work with the platform, vs. making an off Steemit app.
Still, I'm just one person of many who contributes to IBT; we have sponsors, judges, helpers, players, upvotes, resteemers, I can't presume to know what all these stakeholders think or believe? - so here is another opportunity to share what you think, does IBT add value for you? where can/should we improve :)
Cheers
Special thanks to @spaceginger for his artistic skills with the Interactive Battle Tournament Image above and @ryivhnn for the new upgoats!!!, 100% of Steem raised will be reserved for the IBT#7 prize pool.
Hey Nigel,
I would like to put myself forward as a sponsor for your page and the IBT.
As you know on my page I offer a free contest daily for SBD and also once a week on a Sunday I giveaway physical silver bullion.
I’m passionate about spreading precious metal to parts of the globe and boosting the users on Steemit.
The IBT contest and its community is something we need on Steemit and unique from what I’ve seen.
With your consent I want to offer a 1 ounce silver bar or coin worth $35 AUD to the IBT.
This would be awarded as @lordnigel sees fit and shipping will be covered to the winners location as part of the prize.
To gauge if this is something your community would like please let me know below :)
You are all also welcome to visit my page and participate in a no upvote, follow, or resteem GIF contests held daily.
Here is an example of a coin I can offer indefinitely as a sponsor of your content each month.
Wow! sounds like a great offer man - I love your competitions, those coins are great and I think people would appreciate receiving them - apart from the fact they are made of precious metals, they could be collectable some day soon as well.
hmm some players might prefer to remain anonymous though - how might that work?, anyways let see if others like the idea as well :)
Any complaints if I added a sweet coin to the first prize for IBT?
So cool!, some great ideas coming from this feedback post
No objections here. I'm sure the players would really appreciate the bonus offering and the IBT might attract some new folks from the precious metals community. The only potential problem I see is if there ends up being a final tie for 1st place (I guess we'd have to go to a Gobball tiebreaker in that case and the sole winner of that would win the coin).
Sounds good - It's been awhile since we had a tie, I like the idea of putting the Gobbo to work hehe :)
Great, sounds like a plan!
Sweet! - IBT7 and beyond is gonna rock.
Thanks mate
Lol... it says insert coin!!!
Haha you noticed :)
I think this is a great idea. I happen to love collecting coins. :D I hope other players too would like this idea. :))
Thanks bro, yeah I agree :) - It feels weird, but really cool receiving something physical in the mail from the world of Steemit! I think it would make a great addition to the IBT prizes.
After speaking to you at the meet up, the competition makes more sense that it did initially. Is it bad for the platform? How could it be?
If you are offering a SBD prize, you are going to get upvotes and SBD yourself (shouldn't you be rewarded too?) but that doesn't mean it's bad for the platform.
Given that that there are people who openly spout some pretty horrible political and racist views up at the higher end, and people are voting for them, then pretty much anything other than that is great for the platform.
Steepshot photos of my lunch might not bring "value" to the platform, but it dilutes some of the filth you don't want the people you are trying to bring to the platform to see.
For me it's just about making sure it makes people happy or laugh - it really depends how you measure value. Certainly bright unique photo's or brilliantly written posts are valuable and you feel good from viewing or reading.
These feedback posts are just me checking/trying to measure the value of this competition & if possible how to make them better...not an easy thing to do as we all see things from our own perspective, but if I know mostly people are happy then I'm happy.
Hahaha a Steepshot photo of your lunch could be valuable - I guess it depends how tasty your lunch looks ; @doctorcrypto played the last IBT as a hamburger and it certainly made me hungry, I do have concerns though now that killer sandwiches may turn the tables on us mere humans:)
Man-eating Burgers? Oh dear!
But yes, it's all relative to our own experience and definitions of what is benefit to the platform. In the long term we will look back and see what was beneficial and what wasn't.
Personally, I find it a bit of lighthearted fun, and an avenue to engage with people I might not have otherwise (Steemit is a vast place). It is a pretty 'contained' game so as far as I can see it isn't bothering anyone who doesn't play (there's no spamming or player-created posts involved).
As an overall observation on the game itself, I do find it a little fast-paced, and the mini-game rather chaotic and confusing so I don't participate in that round ... but otherwise it is loads of fun and a chance to act out of character (and not be judged for it, lolololol).
The carrot of being gifted a payout for winning a round is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned, and I appreciate all the effort that goes in to creating and running such a game regardless - thank you m'lord.
@cryptonik told me I'd enjoy playing and he was right .... dangnabit! :D
Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback. We definately have a mixed response on the mini-games, particularly in the middle of the tournament and then it resumes. I may have a chat to @doughtaker about having the mini-game as a little IBT spin off. Perhaps something to be played inbetween IBT tournaments. Personally I felt the mini-game went much better this time though - interested to see how others feel.
I'm glad the payout aspect comes across as a bonus, it's definitely what I have been going for, still everyone is in Steemit for different reasons. I like the idea of people seeing IBT as a monthly retreat/break from the normal daily blogging, some fun while still making some Steem on the side :)
I hope @cryptonik comes back at some stage - he is an excellent programmer and my code is...err fit for purpose/works sometimes hehe.
When you say the game is fast paced, is it because of how quick the stage posts come out? or more like, you have to kind of play all your turns out quickly per stage because it gets hard to follow? ..just want to make sure I have a proper handle on how it's a bit fast and where
Cheers
I am back with 1000% more energy and crypto fever! Ready to jump into IBT#7. Hit me up in discord @lordnigel and let's discuss!
Yay! sweet as - man all this programming has given me a back ache (hunched over screen for hours). Will jump on shortly have to get you up to speed ..:)
I would have to second that I feel the pace is a bit much. But I am a busy guy and always short of time. I feel like by the time I get a chance to play a round there are already a couple more out and I don't really have time to even get involved in other peoples story lines.
For people that have a lot of free time maybe it is alright though. I have a shit ton of stuff going on right now.
Yeah being busy is my biggest issue - to be honest @doughtaker makes it possible to run or I wouldnt be able to keep up; sometimes I just gotta build posts while I can as life gets in the way... I think the best I can commit to is try to be consistent and post a stage each night around the same time. Fortunately it is self paced...still, I take your point can't interact as get left behind..will think on more.
Sorry, I should have clarified - yes to how quickly each stage comes out.
I understand momentum is good too, though.
As for nik ... do come into the Aus/NZ discord to hassle him back to the game ;) mwahahah
Wow! First, don't let anyone's opinion of IBT's place on Steemit have any effect on you if they believe this is spam. That is laughable. Good thing Judge Killary Dredd didn't catch 'em saying it! hahaha
IBT does add much value to my experience here. It's like playing an old classic D20 style game but digital and Orgeon Trail Style! I look forward to when the time comes around. I enjoy thinking up my little contributions and finding the perfect GIFs for the moment! For me, you kind of get out of IBT what you put into it. I really enjoy the way it is and see a lot of potential for growth and expanding the concept.
This is quite a lot to think about as I am now caught up with all the comments up to the time I am writing this, but off the top...
As I was reading it occurred to me that a few mini games as a pre-tournament training and enrollment period would help draw interest and familiarize folks with some of the commands. This would also provide a testing period for the bot commands and code bugs. This way you get the mini-games out of the way early while people learn how to play and get a heads up on what to expect for bot duties. You could even do a series of mini-games in between IBT's as suggested. I like the mini games and feel they are a cool part of IBT.
The 3 life per round wasn't confusing for me, except when Gobbo came into play. I could never figure if I lost the life if I won against Gobbo or if I got another crack at it with the same life. Starting with 3 lives every round trying to carry them over for the attack at the end made sense to me though. Gobbo could be a mini boss for the mini games and pop up from time to time as a secondary battle within a level.... where everyone battles a couple Gobbos and a Boss? IDK just thinking out loud now.
I have so many ideas... I don't want to overthink and/or overcomplicate since there are already so many things to consider. This is a good place to start for now. Back in Texas we say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" I don't think anything about IBT is broken... (even if the bot needs to have the Devil beaten out of 'em! "Bob Ross" style!) but I do thing development is good.
Cool mate - if you take doctorcrypto's last comment your the second to imply that really it's probably ok as is..which is re-assuring...and yeah maybe it doesn't need any more changes at all?, just maybe some polish around quicker play instructions upfront to make it easier for new people and done.
As you say if it ain't broke! I guess the bench mark is to see if we get more or less players next time?
Perhaps this is a better way forward vs. continuing to develop the bot? Still having the bot tell you if you were successful or not with an attack, would streamline the process a little.
I'm starting to like the idea of some single rounds inbetween IBT's as a way of testing the bot. This makes allot of sense to me, I guess it doesn't matter if we recycle old images etc if it's just "Instant play" matches.
Like I could just make them quick and easy style.
...I do worry a little though that someone may say.."what the heck do you keep posting lordnigel? this is a blogging site not a PC game" haha but yeah, maybe I worry too much.
I think taking some time to strategize and plan will go a long way. I have a few ideas. You would be fine to leave it as is and just polish it up a bit as you develop the concept. You know what you have in mind and what you set out to do. I also think how big or interesting this would get and how many people will ultimately participate depends on how much time and effort is spent in developing the concept and making it a fun experience for the player.
So far it's already there... so how much you want to polish is up to you. In my mind it would make more sense if there was a story to why the tournament is being held. What is the tournament and why is there a boss and fighting rounds. The story kind of unfolds as you go... and keeping room for the player to have their creative input is half the fun. Having some sort of backstory and purpose behind the tournament would make it a bit more cohesive when a new person starts.
Like back in the tournament days... it was all the knights coming from all over and doing the different competitions. That didn't need a story other than the particpants background and maybe the king or whoever throwing the tourny.
This is where maybe a season or pre-season would be a great time to get your mini-games in, check your commands and code, give the people some background information about the GITs and Upcoming series of quests/battles. I would rather wait a little longer in between IBTs and have a little longer of an experience.
Having maybe a preseason of minigames and enrollment... then maybe a few levels to have a season or campaign that doesn't weigh too positive or negative towards the tournament itself in order to familiarize everyone with the gameplay... then start the tournament where life is carried over and added to the final attack.
I want to reassure you that nothing is broke and I don't know how much work the bot needs... or how easy it is to add things to it. It all depends on your vision and the time available to put in as well as how much polish you think it all needs to get your goals met. So far it's a valuable experience that I am thankful for and that I enjoy being able to engage in! Thanks
Cool! thanks for taking the time to give a good detailed comment. This is really positive that people are willing to give feedback and chip in - your right I have in my head where to go, but it's not whats in my head that's important, it's what people want to get the most fun/value :)
Your right we need to tie the story up together some how.. I like how your thinking are you a sci fi writer?
When I first created the map (was a pencil drawing), it was a loose story only..like you wanna be hero's in this slightly crazy fantasy land, where weird shit happens but you don't care, you just bash your way through and get to kill a boss...sweet and classic!
I do have a back story for Gobbo, just didn't finish it...but yeah, hehehe maybe bit too crazy!
The only issue with a story is it still needs to be generic enough that it can be applied, over and over with each new IBT. Each Stage post story is always varied so I think that keeps them new and interesting.
How about something simple like: we are all strangers riding on a train and suddenly this crazy little gobbo creature appears and in a flash your all somewhere else. you meet wizardzap and he apologies for the little Git! he explains gobbo is a minion of an evil wizard who lives in a castle across the sea in this new dimension we are all trapped in... the only way to return home is by travelling to the dark wizards castle and help wizardzap take him down - so like wizardzap goes with you on the journey.
I'm still trying to think about a comment steemseph has made a couple of times...not much interaction between players, anyone have thoughts on this. I was thinking @doughtaker might have a way via a mini-game. at stage 6...and having the mini game as I mentioned like a semi-final...hmmn
I typed another super long comment in response. I think it would be more efficient to talk on Discord or have a chat on Steemit.chat. I communicate more effectively verbally. Otherwise, you may spend the next few days just reading comments! hahhaha Maybe this week we could plan a little time. I feel like there is too much to discuss to go back and forth on comments. I think you had some great ideas and maybe it will help to discuss it with a newer person along with the wisdom of a seasoned vet like doughtaker! Just didn't want you to think I skipped over your comment. After like 10 paragraphs I scrapped my comment and decided to just wait for a good time to talk. I know everyone is busy... but this feels important to me and I would love to help make it easier on everyone to exchange ideas. Hope you had a great weekend brother!
Find me on discord mate and drop me a line there. Not easy for me to chat in person though, I'm normally in a room with others when doing Steemit; or typing a bit, then running around, typing a bit then hit button. Do a search for nigelrhil and add me as a mate - it all helps, or yeah steemchat :) can see if we can T up a chat is you like as well, on a Tuesday night I'm in the man cave. cheers
I'm way to late here, just trying to catch up on your posts. Most things have already been said and I do agree that the pace can be hard to keep up with for those short on time. I did like to try and read through how everyone else is doing on the game, but some days I didn't get the chance to come back for the late comers.
What is fiction if not a made up story? Does that mean all the fiction writers on here are just spammers? If someone doesn't want to read the comments, then they can leave the page without reading them. There are plenty of things on steemit I don't enjoy reading about, but others do.
I had you on auto upvote before I even tried IBT because I thought it was worth supporting. People were obviously enjoying it. If I though you were posting 💩 I wouldn't be voting it. You're always going to get someone who doesn't like it and obviously you're not doing it for them.
I really don't think IBT is quite the same thing that Galen was talking about.
Thanks for your comments, IBT lives on.
There are many challenges ahead and allot of work to take it to the next level. We won't make everyone happy, but if the majority enjoy, then it's a win :)
Many contests do not make enough money to pay for themselves. Often the people that run them hope they'll be successful and they'll have fun, and maybe they'll make enough to pay for themselves. Often they don't. But hopefully, they're still fun.
Basically, that's what all the contests are for, fun.
This is a blogging platform and a social network. I can't see how these sorts of things are any less fitted to this place than anything else here. They actually kinda seem like a perfect fit.
This is my thinking as well, but I maybe missing something... Even if worse case a person who runs a contest is doing it purely to make upvotes or get followers, how is that any different from someone who blogs about what they cooked for breakfast? If people don't like it, just don't upvote it or participate.
I wonder though if there are some scammers or something targetting new people, like guess what food this is and I'll pay you 10 Steem...but then never actually pay anyone anything. AGAIN though just stop following them, I suppose though that could turnoff people from the platform.
For me, I just want to make sure IBT isn't seen as negative and that it also enhances Steemit, not just offers a few personal rewards.
Cheers for your comment
There might be some scammers, but I'm pretty sure some people would get really sore about that.
This place has some of the smartest people on the net. Running scams on here is kinda dumb.
They might get away for a while though and make a bit.
If I thought that an innovative, engaging, creative game like this was bad for the platform, I wouldn't be so proud to sponsor it.
You do great work, @lordnigel.
You put the time and the creative energy into this, and it shows.
You have quite the reputation for supporting "the good stuff" on Steemit :) so that's a great confidence booster/compliment for us. Thanks
...still not clear where IBT is going, but a number of us are having fun building and participating, some aspects seem to be getting locked in hehe...lets see where it takes us next :)
Cheers for your ongoing support
I also think it is a creative use of the platform and the rewards are built right instead of having to go somewhere else to play or collect rewards.
Thank you, for your help in building Adelaide :)
Mate, It's a pleasure rocking up and sharing a beer with fellow Steemians (got to have stuff to look forward to in life :))
Absolutely. Wouldn't be the same without you.
I left a couple of other short comments on other peoples reply threads.
Please don't take any of theses suggestions too hard I find overall IBT to be enjoyable to play and they are just what I don't like from my perspective.
I'm not a fan of the shop items the way they were this iteration of IBT. I felt like if you randomly drew the helmet you had an unfair advantage for the rest of the game including the boss round. It was almost impossible to not win a round on the first try with the helmet.
So either their can't be an extremely overpowered item or it needs to reset every round. I kind of like the idea of it resetting every round. That would also give everyone 6 chances to draw the helmet or similar overpowered items.
I also think if you had to send money to wizard zap every round for items then we could raise more funds to power up the bot. I think the fee for items could go up to something like 0.05 STEEM every round. I know you are probably trying to keep it low to be fair to people with small wallets but between wizardzap upvotes, and upvotes for playing each round and for winning on the first attack it should still be profitable for those players. Maybe there is some additional way we can compensate people.
The other thing I feel doesn't quite play right are when you steal and draw a negative item. In most games if you steal a crappy item you don't have to use it. You could sell it or throw it away. But you probably have negative items because you want to add an element of risk to stealing which I like. I would suggest that if you choose to steal there is a chance that you get caught or activate a trap and automatically lose a life or some other consequence.
Although probably too complicated right now having some sort of inventory of items that could be accumulated and carried over to future rounds would be pretty cool too.
Some great points here, I'm gonna take key points from everyone's comments and create an improvement list summary post in a couple days:)
Wow! your really getting me thinking, so.... if every item you collected stacked and stayed in your inventory, might improve play? so like you can only get a few each round (like currently, a luckydip, a pickpocket and a gobbo pocket), but you never lose any. I could try to have it display when you type !l3 ... So if you do pickpocket and get a bad one, you can make up for it by doing more pickpockets next round...or buying an additional lucky dip each round?
It may be technically difficult to achieve, I need to investigate..Alternatively we could make it possible to sell a negative item back to @wizardzap, if people favor making a little to power up our bot. I'm not really keen to raise the price for @wizardzap as I don't want preclude really new Steemit users from playing. As @Steemseph mentioned, imagine if IBT was so fun people joined Steemit just to play, and from there learned about the greater Steemit world as well. hehe
..hmnn I could also make gobbos dropped item positive, i mean you did defeat him :)
The stacked items is interesting but I think you would have to be careful that the combined bonuses didn't become so large as to almost make the attack roll irrelevant. I was thinking more like an inventory that could be activated when needed.
Ok... so more like items are consumable, you collect as you go along, keep them in your bag and can use once when you want type deal?
Yeah, but maybe there is a limit to how many you can hold like 3 or something. Otherwise everyone will just save all their good items for the boss round. There is pros and cons to everything. But it is just an idea.
My main concern was people drawing a single item on the first round that then gives them an edge over everyone else for the entire game though. So I would say priority on game balancing but if somehow we can swing having an item inventory that would be super cool.
..I'm thinking you can luckydip every round if you want (at low transfer cost). But you can only keep one luckydip item (so whatever you get replaces your current). In this sense if you don't mind leveling up wizardzap, not happy with your item can keep trying. I'll also remove the helm +4 is too high. I'm also thinking as you level-up your chances of gaining a better luckydip item increases a bit. As you said pro's cons to any approach, but this might work..
I might remove the negative items from gobbo and just make them +1's or something minor...Still thinking though :)
That sounds more balanced for sure. Some of the Gobbo items could actually be more powerful because they don't carry over to the next round.
Are people having fun?
Yea, and me too, but I wish there was more interaction between players.
Is it a bit long, too short?
I think I wish Stages were posted every other day. Not sure though. I'm in a very different time zone. (PST)
Does it need more pictures?
Sure why not? Eye candy is always fun. Replay value will increase also.
Did you get easily confused, can we display instructions better?
-Not confused... level 3 seems unattainable though. Maybe it carries over to the next IBT?... that makes competing hard for new contestants though... yer probably not doing that.
-Is it difficult to keep track of players comments? I wasn't sure where to post my game instructions... Is one long continuous replay/thread preferred?
Were the Stages engaging enough or was it like a chore?
Not a chore.
Does a bot that partially work, make it to frustrating to play or is it tolerable?
No not frustrating. Confusing when an error occurred and I called two or three commands. I'm glad we have real life officiators.
Thanks mate - getting a sense it's probably not bad how it is. The key things I'm taking away:
-Clean up the instructions, front load the play instructions so a new person can easily see what they have to do.
-Try to make it easier/more intuitive for new people to play, might need to simplify some of the game play but not too much
-Think about the post release dates thinking one a day is ok, but i should aim for a consistent time so people know when to expect it - time zone is hard, but people play at own pace
-No one has spoken about prizes, so I'm gonna take that as a sign it's probably ok/reasonable enough.
SUMMARY
From what I'm hearing we might leave most as is. Run a mini game maybe, once a week for those interested, perhaps link it to the @wizardzap powerup posts some how vs. just doing posts asking for handouts and giving updates.
Running the mini-games is also a great way of getting the bot some practice :)
After reading the first couple of sentences, I had an idea. If we were speaking IRL I would have been rude and cut you off.
Anyway, I wanna make IBT a slow GIF that shows the basic step of game play. A series of images put into a gif that shows the progression of @lordnigels gameplay for example. It would be scroll looking.
"it's probably not bad how it is" very true. Lots of good stuff in there and I've noticed healthy improvements to. You have a great team.
Ok, i'm gonna read the rest now.
Mate that would be awesome! I'm asking some new players now if they'd like to help by sharing exactly what they got stuck on etc, so this should help guide it... biggest issue I've had with that is each new one changes a little as I'm struggling to know if it's a winning formula or not. So if you did do that, just need to know it might need a few minor tweaks each time as we tweak the game play. Certain things are set in concrete now in my mind. i.e. the prizes and how they work, the luckydip item system, the campaign map and item shop might as well stay as is. I'm not sure on the bot and attacks yet though...Will try to tease that out here a bit more. Like what do you think about merging all the player types? so instead of enrolling as a wizard, warrior or archer, you just enrol. Then you can use any one of the attacks across classes. Perhaps I could collapse the attacks down a bit? or tweak what they do, their odds etc...what do you think? or should it just be left now?
oh that is good to know, I'll approach it like that. My first instinct was to copy your game play thread from one of the IBT6 stages. What ever it is i'll make it adjustable.
I personally like the different character classes, but I'm not sure how necessary it is. It would inspire me to approach my character differently if I knew it was a warrior instead of a wizard. I understand the difficulty of balancing the attacks though. I can't say I have seen unfair class attack advantages, but it takes a while to notice that kinda imbalance sometimes imhe.
How necessary is the level up process? Maybe the !special attack is not necessary or maybe just that one attack should be the strongest and common one. Keep the !mysticzap, (!lessdamageing) attack character specific though (compromise). If it's necessary to keep level up process, then maybe just remove that attack completely and build a level up reward system into the store items (as is).
I guess it's hard for me to imagine the game without character classes. I kinda think it appeals to the Dungeons And Dragons/RPG crowd.
Yep I think your right - it's interesting to discuss though. I suspect most feel the same and the 3 classes are cool and help people invent their characters during enrolment. At this point they stay then :) kindda nice to lock some stuff in :)
Yeah the level up system is interesting..I think we could do something else with this...Maybe something like, everyone can do the !special spell as a last ditch effort and instead move the level up system towards the quality of items you can get....like maybe your odds of getting a great lucky dip item go up as you level up kindda thing?
move the level up system towards the quality of items you can get....like maybe your odds of getting a great lucky dip item go up as you level up kindda thing?
That sounds good. Especially if it makes your job easier.
"Especially if the grub gets better and bigger." says Angle Food.
I like the way you think.
Agreed, clean up the instruction a little. Front load is a nice word to hear. (Not a donut joke.)
Maybe give player a more descriptive prompt for their accomplishments... specific instructions?
Like, "Your character made it to level 1. Stay lazy, don't read the instruction we put in the Instruction Post and please just type '!levelup' to graduate level 1." Something like that might be helpful. Maybe just a link in every post that take players back to your Game Play Instructions Post. IF nothing changes, it nice to have a real person making a presence (you and @doughtaker)
Yeah the timezone thing is hard and own pace is nice. Maybe just clearly express to people that they have until the payout date, or whatever "following days more" to complete the stage.
Prizes... more is always better. I never felt like saying too much about the numbers part of it all. I just assumed IBT was giving as much a healthy portion as possible in relation the amount that was being generated plus the donations for awesome supporters that I would give a donut to. (IBT seems to be kinda generously natured overall.) I hope you, players, and officials are all earning some booty for their time. (The SBD booty, not the peasant retribution upon Angel Food with a wand kind of booty.)
Further rambling that you don't need to respond to if your busy...
Having a three tier rewards structure is smart.
Maybe a grand prize death match/cage match between the three mightiest players?
Maybe more opportunities to win prizes during game play? Wacky prizes, like the things that happen when someone earns a place in the Unofficial Book Of Records. Or just rare/statistical things to attract the numbers-to-know-kinda-fun (gets sports fans friends into stuff, imho)
Even more rambling but this time about the profitability:
I think you should go back to requiring 0.01sbd if you want to keep the same item for each round. So, for this IBT6, Angel Food would have had to pay 0.01 each stage to have the grub item again, and then again at the next stage pay to keep the grub. (OR pay 0.05sbd to keep it for all six rounds upfront bargains.)
I thought !luckydip it was a health/motivating profit structure in IBT5, especially considering the usefulness of WizardZap as gracious upvoter for participants. As a fuzzy wannabe author, I saw lots of motivation in helping to build a strong VP for WizardZap. It's like another investment VIP status.
The mini game bot practice sounds great. Practice instead of asking for hand outs is awesome. (Serve the community kinda idea.) Practice and repetition is healthy for musicians too. :)
Nice, thanks heaps for giving your thoughts..this has given me a few ideas, in particular some different prizes throughout (perhaps a special random per stage prize). I'll get to work on developing them.
Just quickly - in terms of me making Steem...well really myself and the others sponsors make next to nothing. I make some good SP, but I also throw in Steem here and there into the prize pool ontop of selling 100% of the SBD each post makes. I do gain some followers I guess, but not heaps. Yeah I like the idea of powering up @wizardzap and everyone benefiting from his upvote - it's a good ibt community thing. Progress is slow so I also put some of my personal Steem that way to boost it along, not heaps but enough to keep it moving.
The prizes are great because Steemit is about making Steem, but the ultimate idea is build a small sub-community here on Steemit. If IBT makes a tiny following and people enjoy and spend time playing, then it's successful. From my point of view i have a reasonable personal investment in Steem and it's all in SP. I now need do my part to help the platform grow, attract and retain people (I'm not the best blogger, but perhaps I can make up for it with IBT :)). Of course I'd like more Steem and I'll make some through IBT, but mainly from my other blogs etc.
In this sense I don't think its best to ask players to keep making transfers etc to keep items and that..and it may become a chore. I reacon the Ibtluckydip system is probably just right now..but lets see what others think.
Yep the mini game bot is gonna stick I reacon..it might be trial an error at first, but lets see how we go.
Thanks again for your comments, certainly given me more to think on :)
Congrats on another successful run of IBT.
So here are my thoughts...
I know you like your rules but it needs to be simplified if you want to bring in more players. For a new person, I could see IBT being very confusing. It has taken me three games to just learn the bot commands. hehe :)
However, I think that anyone who says you are just spamming and it is not quality.....Is off their rocker.
IBT is fun as hell and they just don't understand it.
The gameplay should be a round a day once it starts. 6 battle rounds and the boss round. 7 days.
One week commitment. :)
Also the mini game could be in between IBT games in order to get people interested in it and show them how it works. More aimed at people with no prior experience.
:)
I like the mini game during the regular game, but i also like the mini game idea a lot for the inbetween stuff like @doctorcrypto says. Those mini games become fundraisers too.
makes sense..
Thanks mate.
Nice idea - a mini-game or IBT training ground might be a useful way of helping new people. With a single post I would definitely be able to give new people more attention. The problem is each IBT is a little different. I wonder though if once people grasp the basics it will be easy to understand when the official tournament comes up. I believe the original bot by @cryptonik is still running, so nearly anyone could run their own mini IBT from that. Will think on..
You have raised a couple of times it needs to be a bit more simple to play. I've been scratching my head on it for a while :). IBT has it's own unique style which once you learn it (as you said took 3 games) you start to understand there are a few tricks and you need to use tactics a little to win. We need to to some how preserve this uniqueness/quality but make it more intuitive for the players to catch on...haha lets face it I'm not that good a writing instructions. I think with IBT7 I should have the bot ready to track things like, did you beat the foe or not, taking into account the item your holding. I might take away the environmental effect as it maybe making it a bit hard for people to add-up. It's not an easy task but will do my best. I will also try to simplify the life point thing as several people keep getting confused about getting 3 fresh points each stage..it might be better to return to you simply get 10 life points..and you need to get to the boss before you lose them all. The only issue is through just bad luck several people may lose them all before reaching the end..in some ways though this would make it easier to run (less and less players to manage as tournament progresses) and it would feel more like a tournament where people get eliminated...I was also thinking about collapsing the classes all in to one type. So it doesn't matter if you forget what class you are, the attacks are more around your choice of weapon. Sooo each of you can cast magic, attack with a sword or shoot a bow..you choose your weapon based on what you feel like. Hopefully by all players having exactly the same choices it might make it simpler, but at the same time, give more options/choices based on personal preference. Much to think on. Cheers
I think what you are doing is working.
Perhaps don't over think it and keep on doing great crusades.
I love IBT so whatever it becomes...I will support. Unless you go all nazi. Then not so much.
Lol! ..err will try to avoid the nazi thing (I don't think you'd be the only one to leave). However, it's important to be sure there are no deliberate cheating/scams - with Doughtaker on the case, we are all good :)
...In the end it's just a bit of fun, but yeah is also good to try and keep improving it so we can get more involved.