Game Upcoming Changes to Multiplayer, Gamejolt

[DracoHouston]

PLEASE NOTE:
We will not be supporting the save sync system in the next update. Please make sure you retrieve your saves from the cloud.






Hello gamers! Apologies for the delay in updates, Nils has been quite busy.

I'd like to give you all a heads up on upcoming changes to multiplayer.

GameJolt

GameJolt has opened up many new ways for us to do things. This begun with the cloud syncing of save games and the Global Trade System. Our experience with this system has changed a few of our plans.

Save Games

There has been vigorous debate over the issue of how games are currently saved and what it means for future plans for multiplayer. After much thought Nils has settled on an offline/online save system. Some may be familiar with this arrangement from Diablo 2's 'open' and 'battle.net' save games.

Basically, current save games are going to be offline saves. Stored locally these save games are rife with loopholes for cheating; offline saves will not be able to participate in the GTS or global PVP. Both will get an offline only equivalent, so if you do not use the cloud saving system you can still trade to evolve pokemon and battle your friends via direct TCP connection

At this stage Nils is looking at having a single gamejolt cloud save per account, using the default game mode. We will both be looking at ways to go beyond that and offer multiple characters and cloud saves for user game modes.

For those who were worried about save encryption, worry no more! By making the decision to make a distinction between local and cloud saves we no longer have to look at ways to stop the player cheating through save files. Our focus can shift to dealing with the sort of hacks that exist in any online game.

I'm not reading all that, Draco. What's actually changing?
If you are not interested in opting into the GameJolt system:

• Your save is fine, keep using it.
• Do whatever you want with it, it is human readable plain text. Edit it all you want.
• You will not be able to use the GTS or any future global PVP system
• You will still be able to coop over network, as you can now. Eventually trade and pvp over network will be introduced to allow offline players to have a full experience.
• You won't be able to coop with the gamejolt players, but offline saves are fairly easy to cheat so if a gamejolt player wants to play with you and you don't want to start again from scratch they could just cheat their way up to where you are.

If you decide to opt into the new system:

• You will have to make a new character
• Gain access to all the online features
• 1 character, no mods except content packs.
• You can still make offline characters, as many as you want, with whatever mod you want.
• The save is stored in the cloud, therefore internet access is required to access it and save to it. Those without stable internet should stick to the offline saves.

Basically, those who are not interested in PvP and the GTS can safely ignore the gamejolt system and continue playing as normal. We aim to make offline play a fully featured pokemon game, with the capability to play user made pokemon games. You will not be missing out on trading and PVP in the long run, offline play only means you aren't as easily connected to other players.

So all we get out of this is anti cheat?
Not quite, we have some nice features planned, though some of them will be waiting for more capabilities to be added to GameJolt itself. Here is a list of features we have planned, for more detail, read on.

• Friends list - This may be possible in the short term with what we have available but it might be a medium term goal if we wait for GameJolt's planned friends feature. We would be using it anyway when it comes out
• Quick Join PVP - Join a pool of players looking for a fight and the system will find you a partner
• Player Levels - Do things ingame to increase your score, gaining you a title and emblems for your trainer card
• Customizable Trainer Card - Earn emblems to change your trainer card

Player levels?
Well, account or character levels, for gamejolt players this will be tied to account, for offline players it is tied to your character. This is not a progression system.

Levels are determined by your score.
Formula: level = CInt(Math.Floor(xRoot(3, (4 / 5) * playerPoints * 10)))

You gain points for the following things, this may be subject to change:

• Defeating an NPC (3)
• Defeating a wild Pokémon (1)
• Pokémon level up (worth the square root of the pokemon level in points)
• Pick berries (2)
• Catching a Pokémon (3)
• Getting a Gym Badge (10)
• Beating the Champion (50)
• Completing the Pokedex (1000)
• Trade with an NPC (10)
• Evolution (10)

The following ways to gain points only work online:

• Trade in the GTS (4)
• Trade in the FTS (5)
• Add a friend (1)
• Win a PvP battle (20)
• Joining a Co-op game (1)

A list of planned titles and their point thresholds, again, this may be subject to change

0-5: Bugcatcher
6-10: Youngster
11-15: Camper
16-20: Fisherman
21-25: Youngster2
26-30: Hiker
31-35: Birdkeeper
36-40: PokeManiac
41-45: Sailor
46-50: Juggler
51-55: FireBreather
56-60: BlackBelt
61-65: Gentleman
66-100: AceTrainer

Trainer Cards

Starting with the GameJolt save we will be trying to show the trainer card on the load menu. This trainer card will be customizable with different backgrounds called Emblems. Here is a mockup of how this may look

Nils is hard at work implementing these things now.

Update

Nils has implemented the GameJolt load screen and loading the save. Saving will be done as well in short order. This is definitely coming in 0.32

 

[DevoidLight]

Sounds good. Not sure I like the idea of one online save each though. Also, when will the new saves be implemented? Will most pokemon be available legit by then?

 

[Malcaroni]

Yeah. Not sure I like the idea of having to lose all of my progress if I want to use the GTS and PvP. I guess most people will have some free time over the summer, so meh.

 

[skullbI4]

if i want to pvp online i need to create new save?
i was log in with gamejolt with my offline save and in this instance i need to create new save to?

 

[Enethil]

I am a bit worried about losing the save I've put work into in order to play online, but overall this sounds pretty good to me. Also, will the pokegear be fully implemented soon?

 

[DracoHouston]

Sounds good. Not sure I like the idea of one online save each though. Also, when will the new saves be implemented? Will most pokemon be available legit by then?

I don't have an ETA but it will probably be next update.

I have discussed the 1 save only thing with Nils and we are going to look into offering more slots than 1. 1 save was chosen for simplicity while making the system work. I can't promise multiple saves out the gate but we plan to go beyond that. if only because if we don't people will just make alt accounts, not like it costs money.I'd rather they don't have to.

We are offering these cloud saves as a safe walled garden for those who want that. It allows us to focus our anti-cheat efforts and leave the offline play as it exists now untouched. You will not be able to catch all pokemon on the gamejolt save until the game is done but you can easily keep using your current character for mucking around with.

 

[DevoidLight]

Fair enough, I suppose I can live with that. I just like playing through the story much more than the endgame, but would also like to trade my good teams after I finish to my 'main' game.

 

[Malcaroni]

So how will future cheating be handled? Banning the gamejolt account from using online features?

 

[DracoHouston]

if i want to pvp online i need to create new save?
i was log in with gamejolt with my offline save and in this instance i need to create new save to?

short answers: kinda and yes

long answers: the 'offline save' is just stored locally, that doesn't mean you won't have the ability to PVP online, just via direct connection and not via the gamejolt systems. So kinda, you will need a new save to use the quick join pvp and your old save will be capable of playing against people online

the offline save syncing to gamejolt is probably going away. so yes you will have to make a new game to have an 'online' character. we are not converting old saves. i have stated otherwise in the past but that was made under the assumption that we were not going for an online/offline save split.

we were somewhat hesitant to commit to something like this, because we knew that that are issues with this sort of system (lose net access and you can't use your save. have to make a new character.creates 2 communities that can't directly interact, shrinking the pool of players you can play with, sometimes drastically so if the community overwhelmingly favours 1) but we are willing to accept these issues in exchange for a fairer, safer online service. we will go no further than this, though. we do not want to go so far with gamejolt that all players are forced onto the system.

 

[DracoHouston]

So how will future cheating be handled? Banning the gamejolt account from using online features?

my preference would be to put systems in place to catch the cheating after the fact, and mitigate the damage caused by it, and if possible close the hole that let it happen in the first place. there may be cases where a user is just completely banned from multiplayer features. i don't imagine we will revoke access to their save. if this sounds vague it is because it is, we haven't really discussed moderation policy ingame yet. we will cross that bridge when we get to it, but we will let people know beforehand what is expected of them and what the consequences are for breaking the rules.

 

[krisoffer]

sounds good to me ;D

 

[Namu]

Good thing I just started a new save after my old one wasn't working. Don't want to get attached, so I'll just not play until Tuesday in hopes that this update comes out. Even though I know there is a chance it won't.

Even so, I'd be willing to start a new save over something like this.

 

[LeoFlorenz]

Sounds DOPE!
Really glad to hear all of this!

 

[DevoidLight]

Actually there is one thing I forgot to ask. Will the Daily Pokemon Giveaway continue through the online switch? Because that's been doing a great job at increasing the pool of available pokemon to choose from, and more importantly encouraging community co-operation through trading.

 

[Myrkur]

Maybe it's me, I don't get it... if there will be the possibility of playing online/PvP with the "offline/original/maybecheated" save, will people be encouraged to create an online GameJolt save because of the new features? As Draco said

my preference would be to put systems in place to catch the cheating after the fact, and mitigate the damage caused by it, and if possible close the hole that let it happen in the first place.

wouldn't it be fairer to identify the cheated save and "clean it up"? So many people that spent dozens of hours leveling and working (in many cases honestly) on their characters would appreciate!