Pretty much all of these suggestions have to do with the Game Worlds feeling like they’re rushing players way too much to keep things moving. Particularly in friends-only games, and ESPECIALLY in singleplayer. There should never be a time limit in the menus if you’re playing solo. It does not make sense and is incredibly frustrating.
Ever since custom maps were added, there is simply not enough time between matches to select a map. On numerous occasions, I’ve been playing with a friend and we’re both trying to find a custom map we haven’t played before, when all of a sudden the game starts even though neither one of us has selected a map. (Side note, it would be nice if the game kept track of what maps we’ve already played.)
What’s even more annoying is that, in the menu right before a game starts, the countdown doesn’t start until at least one person is ready, but this isn’t the case for any other menu. Wouldn’t it make so much more sense for ALL menus to work this way? Why should the countdown ever start BEFORE anyone is ready? Does the game itself have somewhere it needs to be? Does Tower Unite have a doctor’s appointment in 15 minutes? Why is it rushing us so much?
In Accelerate this is pretty annoying when selecting a vehicle, because I’m given 30 seconds to choose one, but it takes like 20 seconds for any of the models to load so I can see what they look like.
But lastly, few things are more frustrating than being punished for going AFK in a singleplayer or friends-only game. This primarily applies to Minigolf. The friends I play with are patient. We don’t mind waiting for each other. But apparently Tower Unite minds it a lot. Sometimes I have to use the bathroom, or take my food out of the oven, or let my dog out, or switch my laundry - but then when I get back on my computer I find out that I’ve been automatically given a Triple Bogey for the previous 4 holes. Sometimes real life happens and it requires me to get off my computer for a few minutes, and I would really prefer if I wasn’t punished for it. My friends and I are willing to wait for each other, so why can’t the game?
Final note: sometimes when loading a custom map it says “Condo failed to load,” but if I end the game and start a new one with the same map, it works. So it would be nice if there was a retry button for that.
Honestly, for that whole last part before final note… I mean, I get it, but there’s an easy solution to that: Just make sure you can dedicate the time for playing so that those kinds of things don’t happen? Sure, things can still change while you are doing things, but I think this is the most reliable way to avoid that. I don’t see why there should be a change to the system just because it happens to frustrate a few people in this regard. All the rest of the suggestions are fully understandable and I fully share your perspective on them, including the final note and the suggestion for an retry button. I never got it either, just why we are so rushed for everything. At least in a few of those things, while the systems themselves could be changed as you suggest, in addition to that, it would be quite nice to see extended countdown time, specially for Accelerate, yet again, as you mention yourself - For example, the time could be increased from 30 seconds to 45 or even 60 (full minute). Also, I know this isn’t exactly related to the topic itself, as you mainly talk about the Game Worlds rushing everyone a lot, but since this is an suggestion thread for Quality of Life improvements for Game Worlds in general, I think it would be useful for me to link my own, old suggestion here, since it both relates to the suggestion title and is something that is already starting to partially happen for some of the Game World mutators, which is tagging system for Game World sessions/servers, though primarily the public ones, rather obviously:
Yes! the time out on map vote made a lot more sense back when there were only a handful of official maps, but with so many community maps (and no doubt more when the game hits 1.0) it can be really hard to find one that you want to play before you are forced into the next map.
I also really hope they address workshop maps failing to load too because needing to manually close out and try again is really inconvenient.
I have been setting up differences in timers for single player in ZM as a testbed before I get to everything else. The pause feature has several issues, but that’s not what you are talking about here.
When a game is single player or friends only, I agree with this. The timers are meant to keep the game going to avoid griefing. But if you are with friends, griefing is less of a concern and we should adjust the timers accordingly.
Here’s what I plan to do:
In friends only/single player only:
Disable timer on vote map until 2/3 voted, then have a 15 second last minute timer. I also plan to add sounds when players vote and when the timer engages.
Disable Minigolf level timeout timer.
Disable Accelerate customization timer.
Disable Minigolf AFK timer, but also require all players to get in the hole before proceeding.
I am also fixing the custom map install issue before 1.0 so you will see that fix soon.
I’m more than happy to hear about the planned changes, maybe save for the last one. However, an question, since my own topic never got much attention or official responses - Are there any chances for an more complex tag system on server listings to be present? Tags for things such as Minigolf collision being disabled/enabled are huge steps in the right direction, and I hope that each mutator for each Game World gets it’s own, little icon, if that wouldn’t be too much work to do. Some of us just like to play vanilla Game Worlds as they are, and yet, we can’t always know what mutators are running on the server. Or, to make things even less work, implement something similar to Minecraft server browser system - If I remember correctly, vanilla Minecraft servers have green check marks next to them, but modded ones do not. But I might be misremembering things. Regardless, clearer informing of players on whether they are playing an vanilla Game World server or not, eventually with information on each individual mutator present, would go a long way for many players.
Disable Minigolf AFK timer, but also require all players to get in the hole before proceeding.
A concern about both of these being removed-- softlocks do happen, even in official maps. Both of these being gone will softlock the game for everyone and make the game have to be abandoned.
Perhaps the level timeout timer could still run, but it pops up as a pushable button for the host in friends-only-or-single games? So the limit still can be bypassed, but won’t completely break a lobby.