I’m not saying to force people into the minigame pad, and of course no one will feel “pressed” to find the minigame pad, they’re new players, they don’t even know what it is, I’m just saying the game should guide people to the minigame pad so new players can earn their first units there.
Not to mention more people would hang out around the plaza if the minigame pad was easier to reach, I know I would, I dislike going all the way there when I miss the join button
Hell if the minigame pad was in the center new players wouldn’t even need to be alerted of it, they’d just see the glowing lights and naturally go there out of curiosity.
I’m not saying I’ve never had people ask where it was, I’m saying it’s asked like everything is. My point with the screenshot was to show it was not that far and I still stand by that. In fact when you come up the subway it’s actually closer than the fountain so shrug - “quite literally hidden” my god you TURN AROUND from the stairs it’s not crazy.
Everything thing I listed was on the back side of the island, near the minigame pad just as close as the other activities to the fountain. While I was playing today I saw zero people hanging around the fountain, so this social hub thinking of the fountain idea is weird to me.
The rest of what you said is just my perception vs yours when it comes to activity. I got a kid who would take offense to the pool never being used, and again, I see people flying around all the damn time on the backside of the building. You can say it’s never used and I say the fountain is never used. It’s not a fun discussion is it?
I don’t even hate the idea of the minigame pad being there i just respect the change. I find the island is more flushed out and it’s not hard to get to at all - people need help navigating, new and old. I think a lot of this would be fixed when we get the fast travel so I don’t get the stress over it.
I mean, regardless of whatever side is right, I’m not sure they’re just gonna toss an entire part of the map (At least not any time soon), they moved it there for a reason, and I’m not sure they’re going to do any more significant lobby revamps (Not that I’ve heard).
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I’m just gonna leave my last thoughts here since I don’t want to get in an unending argument about a golden circle but I really don’t see how swapping the fountain and minigame pad is such a bad thing the devs shouldn’t do it.
The only thing it would do is make it more obvious where the minigames start, which would make more people play the minigames. Especially if they add a couple of the things I suggested in the OP, it would be pretty obvious that the pad is where minigames happen. While that wouldn’t completely solve people asking where it is, it would definitely help a lot.
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As I said before, you’re looking on your perspective as someone who has played for a while, new players, including friends of mine have had trouble finding the pad.
The stairs point to the fountain, the whole color scheme points to the fountain, the first place everyone goes to is the fountain, no one goes to the minigame pad when they first join, I’m talking about LEADING THE PLAYERS, not saying it’s impossible to get to. It’s sad because I consider minigames to be such an important part of the plaza, and it gets used so little because, as I said, it’s not very easy to notice.
It’s an essential part of game design to lead the players where to important places, if the game doesn’t lead to certain way it’s implied that it’s not an important aspect of it. The place most people visit is objectively the central plaza, as the name implies, it’s the center, where we have the casino, arcade, lasertag, etc.
The other places are merely optional places to hang out, and that’s exactly why the minigame pad feels so off, almost all activities are in a certain part of the map except the minigame pad, which is why people are, rightfully, too lazy to go all the way from the central plaza to the back of the tower to play a minigame for 2 minutes.
You have to at least accept there’s a problem in the plaza with people not going to minigames and, in my opinion, it’s because it’s aesthetically and visually hidden, and not something the game points to when you first join, leading to many people asking where the pad is, and even more who just don’t feel like going from the central plaza to the back of the tower, a place with no activities other than just being an optional place of hanging out, to play a minigame.
Simply compare the minigame pad to, for example, the casino. Everyone knows where the casino is, because the game obviously leads you there first time you join, and it’s one of the first things you see, as a consequence many new players go to the casino and try to earn money there. There is never a “Where is the casino?” question in global. Or hell, even fishing, fishing spots are way more noticable than the minigame pad, because they’re directly connected to the central plaza and can be accesed and seen in the central plaza.
Now imo minigames are far more essential to Tower Unite than fishing, yet it’s not connected to the main plaza, where most people go do their bussines.
You said:
“As I said before, you’re looking on your perspective as someone who has played for a while, new players, including friends of mine have had trouble finding the pad.”
I said previously:
“. I don’t think it’s counter intuitive to go up stairs and look around, not just run forward and expect everything laid out in a path - yes even new people because I’ve introduced the lot of them.”
“When I see people go up the stairs they immediately stop and look around, they aren’t on rails expecting everything laid out in one direction.”
And dude you need to stop saying what the purpose of the map is. I didn’t design it and neither did you. I will say this again. No one i know who has played this game for the first time just B LINES straight for anything. They look around. They ask questions. Minigames are not exclusives. In fact, I want them to change the fountain layout so I can screenshot every damn global “where the minigame pad at” that will STILL BE POSTED even if it’s RIGHT in their face.
You go on about how it needs to lead. I don’t see it that way. I see it as having an entirely useful map. You don’t use the rest of it, that’s fine that’s just on you. I use the entire map, so do my friends. Stop saying “no one” when your experiences are so damn limited I’m not repeating myself again. You are so dismissive of my experience in lieu of yours. Im willing to admit you may see things differently but I’m not saying “no one feels the way you do” so just chill out already.
Every problem you see is your perception. I’ve wasted enough breathe on someone who doesn’t listen to what I say.
edit You’re already replying before i finished re-reading one of my own sentences. I’m out.
Mate. I’m NOT saying the purpose of the map, and I’m NOT implying I made it, stop stalking about points I never made, it feels as you’re debating yourself at this point. I’m writing a suggestion to change the place of the minigame pad so people can notice it more, and it can be played more.
I said the map should LEAD people to important areas, be it aesthetically or physically. It seems you’re severely misinformed in this, so I’ll give you an example: The stairs of the train station pointing to the fountain leads people to the central plaza, this is why you see most new people go to the central plaza.
The colors of the central plaza imply certain level of importance, it’s colorful, filled with life, it leads people there aesthetically. When you leave the subway station and look back, you don’t even see the minigame pad, as a matter of fact, you only see the empty sky.
I’m not saying people don’t hang out there, I’m saying all activities happen in the central plaza (As in, games, fishing, casino, etc) so people don’t expect to have to go there for an activity.
I trust the developers and map designers and I know they put it there for a reason, whatever it may be, but this is a game in early acces and can and is constantly changing, and the devs trust users to give them suggestions on what to change, and that’s what I’m doing, because in my opinion, putting the minigame pad in a more visible location would increase the enjoyment of this game. Because I want this game to succeed.
Here are some photos of both sides you see when leaving the train station so you can see it more clearly. Where would you expect minigames to be located in?
What would be your first instinct?
I’m also not saying to completely disable an entire part of the map, the back part is pretty important to the overall map, nor am I saying no one uses that part, I’m merely stating that there’s a problem with the minigames, and that problem can be solved by moving the minigame pad to the middle, or at least in a place that’s visible from the central place. It has worked in almost all lobbies before.
And I don’t mean to sound mean, and I’m sorry if I sound aggressive, but it feels at times that you’re just going against this idea without taking into consideration a large part of what I’m saying, and arguing in bad faith overall. This isn’t a fight, this is intended to be a discussion.
Okay, this is seriously my last post here I swear. I don’t think Comunacho’s point about map design is “maps should immediately tell and push you to where every little thing is” and more “it should be easy to find the important stuff just by walking around the main area”. Having the minigames be in the spot behind the main area that almost nobody sees or turns around to immediately after joining the plaza isn’t exactly as easy to find as other games in the Plaza.
Of course, having the minigames in the main Plaza area isn’t going to completely stop people asking where it is, that’s inevitable; people still ask about Laser Tag and Trivia, like you said. But, it would at least help to make more people notice it without having to explore a while to find it or ask Global Chat, and even if people do ask it would be much easier to direct them to an area around every other activity in the Plaza than a place in the opposite edge of the map than where everything is.
That’s all I had to say, hopefully it will have been worth the wait. Thanks, and have fun.
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I’m not saying maps should immediatly push you anywhere, the map is in the end not linear, but maps should imply certain things that aren’t being implied, especially large aspects of the games like the minigame pad. As I said, as long as the minigame pad is connected in a more direct way to or more visible to the main area I’d say the problem will be pretty much fixed, and people will probably stop asking about the minigame pad so much.
Places that have inherent importance to the core of the game should be able to be accesible and lead to by the map itself, while smaller elements could be part of exploration.
There are though, other ways to make the minigame pad easier to see and access without necessarily changing the location like changing the direction of the subway stairs (for example, pointing towards the middle, or making two sets of stairs leading to different places), making the back part of the tower more interesting with more activities, so people will generally spend more time around those places, more color, etc. Adding a teleport to the minigame pad in the fountain when there are minigames going on with glowing lights and all that could also help, adding activities around the minigame pad so the central place becomes the tower rather than the fountain, there are a lot of possible things that can be done. Changing the location is just the most direct route.
But it’s something I really do wish could change, just as I was writing this there was a minigame on a 30+ lobby no one went to, and I myself didn’t realize was going on until I passed by the pad. Making the pad more visible from the central plaza would also incentivize people to go in the games in the middle because as of now most people either join at the start or don’t join.
Just gonna quickly pop in and re-iterate:
Regardless of how unintuitive it is, needing to completely redo two major areas of the lobby for a quality of life feature is not worth it now, and I’m not sure if it ever will be. A small team can only focus on one major thing at a time, and the list of features/fixes that are more important than minigame placement is vast.
I don’t have a problem with a good ol’ fashion ideological debate, just keeping it real
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Neither is Typing Derby. Or fishing. Or any shop. I feel like that’s the point to get them to run around the whole map not just stand in one spot. Why are minigames different?
I just do not get the whole “nobody sees” point. Again, I am seeing people join the server for the first time and try to get on the subway train, many people go up the stairs and turn around and go across the bridge to the minigame area before they ever go to the fountain - I’ve had friends use the pool slide and visit shops on their own, before seeing the fountain. I didn’t think it was that rare.
It felt like the devs spent the time to make the island worth something and then it’s this thing of “if everything is not laid in front of me in this circle then it’s useless” I can’t stress this enough: the island is tiny. Nothing is far. And minigames are just one damn event. Imagine building a map and then people considering a whole part of it broken because it’s not in their specific circle or doesn’t have a staircase straight to it. And TBH the more I think about it, if the fountain is the social hub people claim it is, the latency of a minigame is not really needed in that section.
" But, it would at least help to make more people notice it without having to explore a while to find it or ask Global Chat, and even if people do ask it would be much easier to direct them to an area around every other activity in the Plaza than a place in the opposite edge of the map than where everything is."
How tho? If it’s just where the fountain, until a game starts there’s no more indication than there is now. The fountain just disappears and the minigame shows up, you have to count on the new person keeping track of an environmental item. I guess if they JUST join you can say “run forward” as opposed to “turn around.” But what if they’re at the ferris wheel, it’s not any different to say “go by bowling” as it is “go by the pool” it’s just the assumption of someone knowing where one is.
Again, my experience of trying to get new friends to get the achievement for plummeting off the building and telling them to fall in the direction of the fountain - do you want to guess how many said “where the hell is the fountain?” with it right there in front of them? So yes it could be easier I guess if people did recognize it as the “center” but having people jumping off towards the minigame pad doesn’t give me much faith.
I’ve been all about making it more obvious that it’s a minigame pad. Put a big sign on it, sure, the fast travel map would fix this greatly but holy cow the idea of turning around or exploring being something that people do not do, or having devs uproot the map for the other side of a building for hypothetical new people who don’t need to be lead but need things directly in front of them and we all agree will still probably ask questions - will never not be crazy to me.
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I’ve lost all hope in making any points in this conversation so I’m just going to stop now.
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I think a first time “Plaza Tutorial” which shows each location in a top down/high up camera view with an explanation on what each activity is would be nice in this situation. The minigame pad could stay in the same spot and people would also know where it is
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You can also get teleported to the minigame pad simply by clicking the “Join Minigame” notifications which is what I do.
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I changed my mind. I have new plans for minigame platform
I will not rest until my vision is secured.
(this was an attempt at a neutral joke)
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the mini game pad is in a more isolated area
in lobby 2 it was in the centre of everything and it made it feel more special and noticeable
lobby 3 it feels more pushed off to the emptier side of the island
being where the fountain is would make it easier to find since all the fun activities big activities are on the other side of the island and people would be confused as to where it is if all the big activities were in one place, other than the mini game pad which feels isolated on the part of the island 90% of players dont really go to
i think it was a way to reduce fps problems that it could caused being in the area with everything.
but i think with the layout of the island its alright, but maybe if the game pad side had more things that you can do in the area it wouldn’t be as big of a problem, that or combining the fountain and mini game pad like lobby 2 did
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Kind of unrelated from the previous discussion, but I think it’d be a big help if the game came up with the “A minigame is starting on the gamepad, would you like to join?” prompt like it does with Trivia and all that.
I believe that’s how it worked in GMT and made it very easy to get to the minigames even when the location was constantly moving.
Plus, we have the timer in the bottom now, so maybe that could have a “Warp” button whenever a minigame is currently running that just takes you straight to the gamepad. That’ll make it accessible regardless of where it’s placed.
it does pop up on the right side of the screen