[Feedback Request] Alpha Two Server Meshing Technology Preview Shown in June Livestream
Hello glorious community,
We’d like your feedback on the Server Meshing Technology Preview shown during the June 2024 Development Update Livestream.
To help guide this conversation, here are a few thought starters you can choose from:
We’ll be compiling a report for the design team on Friday, July 19, 2024, so please try to get your feedback into this thread by then!
Everyone here at Intrepid Studios looks forward to reading all the feedback you have to share!
We’d like your feedback on the Server Meshing Technology Preview shown during the June 2024 Development Update Livestream.
To help guide this conversation, here are a few thought starters you can choose from:
- How do you feel about the Server Meshing Technology Preview?
- What did you think about the presentation during this development update, and hearing more about what goes on behind the scenes of server networking?
- Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Server Meshing Technology Preview?
- Are there similar systems you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
We’ll be compiling a report for the design team on Friday, July 19, 2024, so please try to get your feedback into this thread by then!
Everyone here at Intrepid Studios looks forward to reading all the feedback you have to share!
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I'd like to start a petition to grant the entire networking team a raise!
Intrepid Studios is set to actually "change the industry" because so many team members are allowed to not only voice their ideas, but try them until something works, and this stream has been a perfect showcase. How you can do all of that without feature creep or turning into vaporware is absolutely incredible.
We are so freaking ready to get hands on this project. Keep up the awesome work!
Hopefully the increased complexity to optimize will not bring bugs hard to find. Good you invested to make your debug and monitoring tools.
My only concern would be for bugs and duplication exploits that we have seen in other games. But I would imagine that Alpha two will really help eliminate anything the pops up. I am happy you are not doing layering, I prefer the feel of one world.
Thanks for all your hard work!
Perhaps a competition where the first players to find and properly report duping exploits win a Proxy Kevin doll.
The only reason it seems that way is because CIG has been far more transparent and public about their server meshing tech. SC is also a far more ambitious game in general with a lot more going on at any given moment. Not to mention that the implementation here seems to be a lot simpler than what CIG is working on and is basically just the second "tier" of server meshing tech that is being developed for Star Citizen.
One of the slides mentioned seamless patch deployment. Does that mean Ashes won't have regular downtime to roll out patches like a lot of other MMO's?
Dual Universe did most of this stuff and Star Citizen is doing all of it (their public tests have been basically identical to what Intrepid is implementing) and even taking it a couple steps further.
Edit: Atlas also did most of the things talked about in this video (at least so far, I'm currently 40 minutes in).
I was already familiar with this concept, but it was reassuring to see the team actively pushing to put the 'Massive' back into MMOs.
What did you think about the presentation during this development update, and hearing more about what goes on behind the scenes of server networking?
Definitely a more niche topic, especially coming off the heels of that legendary node war stream. That said, I'm happy the devs got to talk about their work. I can tell it meant a lot to them. That alone makes it worth it.
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Server Meshing Technology Preview?
Star Citizen has been trying to implement this as well, and I do worry that Ashes development might follow a similar trajectory if it proves unexpectedly difficult. I don't think it would be good for Alpha 2 to drag on for years while waiting on dynamic gridding.
Are there similar systems you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
Planetside 2 was my entire childhood. It was the only MMO I ever stuck with, specifically because it allowed for huge cinematic battles. If Ashes can pull off something similar with this tech, it'll be my main game for decades.
Hopefully at least one major difference is that Ashes implementation actually works as intended. I know several people who have invested in SC and they consistently report that "free weekends" are the time to take a break because the increased load breaks everything. Only A2 will tell!
I'm ready to break things until we can pvp across 4 servers with no noticeable lag... how 'bout you?
Star Citizen's live build isn't using server meshing so nobody only playing during those free weekends has ever experienced it. They've been doing short tests over the last couple of months but not during free trial periods. The tests have been pretty stable and performance has been better in general than their live servers.
That said, I'm really excited to test this out in AoC. I hope they can both deliver the experiences they're hoping to deliver.
Would certainly help the funding of the game haha
What did you think about the presentation during this development update, and hearing more about what goes on behind the scenes of server networking?
Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Server Meshing Technology Preview?
Are there similar systems you’ve seen in other games that you like or dislike? If so, please explain!
ffs that was one hell of a livestream, excellent work team!
A: Amazing live stream. I'm impressed this has been cooking for years. I love tech streams. More Tech streams please
Q: What did you think about the presentation during this development update, and hearing more about what goes on behind the scenes of server networking?
A: The presentation was well structured, and was nice to hear different developers express their insights developing the tech.
Q: Is there anything in particular you’re excited or concerned about regarding what was shown with the Server Meshing Technology Preview?
A: Excited to test it in game. Concerned about the cost of running such tech and if it will affect the initial planned monetization for the game.
I want to raise my concern over some of these tools. For example, a bind for the players to switch their targets to a leader's ping or his target would remove an aspect of coordination and organization. Having the leader ping a person and then everyone press "alt" and then nuke that person is a super oversimplification of the necessary group communication and coordination and removes an important advantage of smaller more cohesive groups over big disorganized Zergs.
This is one example of giving tools to groups that would be overall negative for the game. So I would plead intrepid to take a hard look over these intended tools to make sure they won't remove a teamplay/coordination/organization/skill aspect of the gameplay for the sake of convenience and simplification of gameplay.
As for feedback, my group consists of multiple engineers, some specifically network.
To us this was a Wizard of Oz style stream, therefore I'll spare the detailed feedback since we know what the Wizard relies on.
Good luck to all, we'll probably still be there to test your shard boundary edge cases as you need it.