I am a Long term subscriber of vo, and have spent a huge portion of my pre sub as a lite.

But I was not allways like this. I was originally a f2p.

There. I said it.

I joined because xperia was on vo, if he was not, I would've most likely left, for good. As a f2p, the controlls, the hud, the perception of movement, all seem strange, warped, unnatural. This makes even the most basic of tasks unimaginably difficult. As a full sub, I think nothing of flying my valk upto a cluster of bots, opening fire, and taking no damage. But as a f2p, I would get get utterly and completely annihilated, valk or ec.

I can instinctively use my Valk on pc to tear through dozens upon dozens of assault and guardian class bots while eating my lunch. On Android, I can instinctively imitate the /explode command fighting an orun, in the same bloody ship.

My first memories of vo is getting owned by the dentist in edras g11, repatedly. And player 1. And greenwall. And wash.

I could not even steady my ship in that period, and I (raged, and) therefore quit vo for a few months. This lack of controll, and finesss is very, very off putting. Many f2p's have quit due to this, permanently.

In order to combat this, I propose a contest to design the most effective, user-friendly interface in the form of a plugin, let it be anything, from custom to a particular droidbutton setup. Whatever floats a flailing f2p's boat.

After all, these f2ps can turn to lite subbers, who can turn to Full. Who can turn to Full on vets.

Goodnight VO, and and hope you think about this article.

* I hope the devs 'donate' between a million to a billion credits to the winner, depending upon the result!*

Cough "~oon."

I don't get it. I played VO on touchscreen for some time when I got back, and I had no issues in combat. And what one player finds to be a good DB setup another will not, we are not all the same.

Yea, but you had some idea what to do...

That, and noobs can't get plugins. We need need to implement plugins designed for noobs, for them

That, and noobs can't get plugins. We need need to implement plugins designed for noobs, for them

You want GS to implement plugins into the game directly? You realise they would have to review all the plugins and therefore waste precious time that could have been used on creating new content, right?

Eyvindr++

We just need to teach these new pilots better; I've been trying to do that, with limited success so far.

We also just changed the game from 3rd-person default on Android to 1st-person default, a few weeks ago?

I'm not saying that resolves all the control issues (it definitely does not), but it should improve some of them.

But, I'm certainly in favor of people's feedback on the best control models. We actually had a discussion thread like this, back in the early days of Android, to try and find a few different models that might work well for different use cases, with the request that people post their favorite control layouts.

We can still re-visit that. But, while it may again improve Android to some extent, there is no magical fix for trying to interact with a flat piece of glass. It's just a crap-tastic way to "control" anything (beyond simple scrolling). Think about the most basic aspects of gamepads, for 30+ years.. the top of the buttons are gently curved, and often contain a tiny nub in the middle, all of which allows you to self-center your fingers by touch, without even thinking about it. When you press the button, you automatically know, because you can feel the physical change.

Glass is just.. a piece of glass.

But, anyway, I'm fine with hearing about some great configs, or improvements on our existing config. People should also post the size of their devices, and their general hand size as well (perhaps using glove sizing).

And it should probably be on Suggestions.

Make a joystick like touch field for up down left right ship movement. That would make it tons better that's how i set up my db

VO on mobile os's does support gamepad. Several actually. If I do go trucking it wont be long at all until i have a gamepad/controller for my phone :)

+1 starblazzz's suggestion. There needs to be a strafe field for all directions. The accel/deccel controls could be moved to the side away from the strafe field.

I am not convinced that increasing f2p players on phones/tablets is the best market to attempt to experiment with f2p. However, any exposure to the game is good exposure no doubt.

I assume it's cheaper to get exposure in this way since it's easily put into the mobile market places without a huge overhead of advertising it.

Does it convert to full subscribers and/or PC subscribers ?
IMO the limited free levels offered on all platforms might have been more profitable and likely would get more subsequent exposure by word of mouth as well. Those who play on PC and/or subscribe are likely to get their gaming friends to play as well. As it is with most games once the words starts getting out.

The goal of the builders and/or faithful supporters are not the goals of the hard core gamers necessarily.
Knowing what gamers are wanting to do and seeing that others or their buds are logging in, is going to produce the most exposure and profits via word of mouth.

I assume this is why the f2p model is used anywhere anyhow. It's much easier to create the numbers in game which is essential to massive role playing games.

Does phone,tablets and other devices accomplish this goals ?
Or is it simply the nature of word of mouth that spreads to get people playing and paying ?

It's a worthwhile question and yet the plugin idea has merrit for the same purpose to attract and perhaps make massive f2p players stick.

aka Sticky players

To be honest, I always thought the default controls on both gamepads and touch screen were a little odd. The Left stick/touch area should be look around (or pitch/turn) and the right stick/touch area really should be strafe. I know a lot of games use the second stick for forwards/backwards but these games also do not have full 360 degree movement either. The little arrows could be used for speed and the accelerometer is already roll by default.

It is how I always setup my gamepad and although I don't use the touch screen often, when I do I always remove the default interface with DB and set it out best as I can like the above. Being able to strafe in all directions is a lot more important than fine speed control imho. If you use flight assist there really isn't much need to change speed a lot.

Anyway, the default controls do need some work, I don't know who thought up the current touch interface, but flying with it makes me want to go mining, and I hate mining.

IMO the missions are difficult and frustrating for a new player who is expecting something more linear and hand-holdy.

An in game warning and link to the wiki might help in that regard.

I personally believe that VO has nearly no major marketing tools. I mean, I may be wrong, don't take this the wrong way, but on all my time on the net, I've seen advertisments for vo a grand total of zero times. The only real asset is the f2p playerbase. And the way this solitary asset get station camped is very demoralizing. People have now noticed this, and haveI set up anti piracy guilds. Great.

But we need to get to the root of the problem, the f2p population should have a better interface in order to not think this game is well, as 'craptastic' as the current droid ui. No offence, inc.

We have very little game devs, working on very big projects, and therefore are very very overworked. For them to make a new interface for droid is very time consuming, but simply implementing a existing (read: player made) interface (aka, a droidbuttons setup) is, comparatively, not.

Therefore, I put this on the forums.

I personally cannot design this, but a db expert like nycercul, or any anderoid using member of our long-term playerbase, can. Read: Therefore I put this on the forums.

lol @ 'UI will save f2p from dying like noobs!'

Concerning marketing tools: I'm new here. I found VO because I actively searched for a MMO similiar to Galaxy on Fire, which I could play on my ipad. I had of course known about Eve, but I had never before heard of VO. So I agree, some sort of marketing might help. I'm fully aware that marketing takes up resources.
The cheap buy-in was definitely something which made me try out VO (and it didn't take long for a full sub).

Whether a modified UI on mobile would help with not dying as much, I don't know (I guess I might just need more practice). On the other hand, I think that higher customizability of the UI would be an easy and neat thing - that is the simple ability to choose various colors, between various HUD design elements, etc. I'm aware that plugins can do this, but plugins aren't exactly the first thing a noob learns to use. Modifiying the UI / HUD was a big part of a lot of space games I know.

Zorg, I beleive VOUPR.com has 2 skins you can choose from, and VO has 2 (albiet minorly different) skins built into it.

the unnoficial skins on VOUPR.com may not work perfectly with the game depemding on your plugin configuration and whatnot, but they should work. Though, as mobile, i suggest not using those two, especially for a phone. They arent simple themes, and may be a bit clutterful.

Also, while you visit voupr.com, check "waa.ai/Vouplugin" ([url=waa.ai/Voaplugin]link[/url]) For a vid on how to install plugins and stuff (if you allready know how, well, remember that link for other people who may not!)

Regarding marketting VO, players should be encouraged to share their experiences with Vendetta Online with people they know - the developers of a game arent the sole people in charge of getting a game into the hands of other people.