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Guest
Guest
For this month’s Design Post we decided to answer some questions from the community!
1) It seems that roles of Armory are too much: upgrading units, heroes, coalitions and others! All units and battle related feature upgrades are made in the Armory. However, there are many limitations to deal with everything with one building. How about changing the design to allow upgrade per each tab or give users the chance to build or buy another Armory?
We certainly did not mean to end up putting so many researches at the Armory. But one thing led to another, and now we have quite a bit there. We are discussing ideas that could address this, but nothing specific has been decided yet.
2) In current situation, Japanese Town Center cannot attack flying units. Is it something you intended?
Yes, it is intended that the Japanese Town Center cannot attack flying units. However, in making sure that the nations are balanced, we would consider changing it in the future.
3) We could see the river (is it a river or a sea?) in the right side of the town. Except the daily bonus, there is no usability to leverage this! (Of course, we genuinely like the graphics!) Do you have any further plan to add naval warfare or some features to leverage port or river/sea?
We often talk about introducing features to take advantage of the sea on the side of the map (by the way it was a river and we turned it into a sea). A new feature coming soon is Expeditions, which will at least put another boat on the water. Otherwise, fishing gets brought up quite often, but we haven’t committed to it yet. Any kind of battleship-y more involved use of the water would be a ways off at this point (but has been discussed).
4) Though I consider alliance as my family in DomiNations, there are some improvements that would make DomiNations more perfect! In particular, when donating troops to alliance members, I’m sometimes unsatisfied that I got some which I didn’t want. How about giving an option to users to limit the unit type when requesting units? Or, I think if we add a function to donate resources or trade goods, it could boost social features of the game as well! How do you think? I have a lot of ideas to improve alliance feature! Do you have any further plan to improve this in general?
Yeah, unfortunately the main way we help players to get the troops they want from their allies is with the text in the donation request. It’s worth considering allowing players to lock the troop type as well, although this would be a more advanced feature. We have also talked about being able to donate resources or trade goods, but we would have to be careful not to facilitate unintended player behavior with that system. We have a huge list of improvements for alliances, and we try our best to get to them with every release. You can expect some new alliance features coming soon after Atomic Age, if not sooner.
5) I don’t know why but whenever I started the game, enemies scouted my town, which hindered me to start the game!! (Maybe, am I too famous?) I understand that this is one of the major features that DomiNations has… but just keep waiting and seeing my town to get plundered by enemies makes me feel bad. How about having new features that defender could do something while we are plundered, such as we could defend from the attacker, using some traps or units to block them? Or, at least, watching the town?
I agree that not being able to do anything while your town is being scouted can be discouraging. Improving the functionality, as well as how often players get attacked, is something that we often consider. Unfortunately we don’t have anything planned for the immediate future, but we will take a look down the road.
6) My favorite feature in DomiNations is World War!! However, sometime I played this with our Alliance members, I felt bit sorry due to the lack of teamwork. How about adding mock battle /pre-battle during the World War preparation period? Will there be more improvements to be made in the future?
Funny enough, one of our programmers just emailed me about this today. It would be interesting to allow alliance members to test out each other’s War Bases. We don’t have any current plans for this feature, but it does seem like it would be worth considering.
7) Do you have a plan to add new tactics or functions in battles? I know we have Rally in it, but I think this is not enough! Will there be any further function to be added that we could leverage during the battle? Sometimes, I tactically set troops here and there but using Rally ruined everything!
Yes, we do have plans to add new tactics and possibly functions in battles. This is a topic we discuss quite a bit at the office. We have several ideas here (and we’ve tried several more that weren’t good enough to put into the game). We are working on something for the Atomic Age, so as long as it is fun, expect to see something new then. Also I understand your frustration with Rally - you definitely have to be careful with its use.
8) Do you have any plan to add new background music or sound effects in DomiNations? I only can think of sounds in Town and entering battles in DomiNations, which I strongly believe that you could do more!
There’s no plans at this time to add new background music or sound effects. I’ll pass on your feedback to the sound designer though.
9) I bought the Elephant Archer and Ninja packages with newly added pop-up sale system! I am very pleased that I could get special units which I cannot easily get. However, since it only contains one-off items like blessings and units, I was bit disappointed. It seems bit expensive as well. Do you have any further plan to add new stuffs like buildings, items that last certain time and/or permanent items?
I agree, I’m having a lot of fun with the pop-up sale troops. And we do have plans to offer more types of things in sales, including buildings. As for more permanent items in sales, we aren’t planning to add any yet, but we could consider it in the future.
10) I am a big fan of DomiNations! However, recently, I felt that there is nothing to buy any more. Even if I buy the largest crown package (US$109.99), I only can upgrade some buildings but nothing else. Do you have any plan to tweak overall economic balance or add new permanent in-shop item for high agers?
The main way we are tweaking the overall economic balance in the game is by introducing new features that players can engage with that will provide them more resources, such as we did with World War or more recently the Victory Chest. We prefer to handle discounts of items through limited time events for now. As we update the game, there will always be new permanent high age items added to the game, such as with the Airstrip and Air Defense in Industrial Age. In the near future we’ll probably add at least one more House for players as well.
11) It seems DomiNations’ in-app items are focused mainly on time-shortening items and/or consumables. Do you have any plan to add permanent items which could last forever or longer?
If you are referring to adding items such as the Dojo or similar items, but longer or more permanently, we have no plans for that at present time. That being said, it is something we will consider for the future.
Thanks for tuning in!
John Hawkins - Lead Designer
1) It seems that roles of Armory are too much: upgrading units, heroes, coalitions and others! All units and battle related feature upgrades are made in the Armory. However, there are many limitations to deal with everything with one building. How about changing the design to allow upgrade per each tab or give users the chance to build or buy another Armory?
We certainly did not mean to end up putting so many researches at the Armory. But one thing led to another, and now we have quite a bit there. We are discussing ideas that could address this, but nothing specific has been decided yet.
2) In current situation, Japanese Town Center cannot attack flying units. Is it something you intended?
Yes, it is intended that the Japanese Town Center cannot attack flying units. However, in making sure that the nations are balanced, we would consider changing it in the future.
3) We could see the river (is it a river or a sea?) in the right side of the town. Except the daily bonus, there is no usability to leverage this! (Of course, we genuinely like the graphics!) Do you have any further plan to add naval warfare or some features to leverage port or river/sea?
We often talk about introducing features to take advantage of the sea on the side of the map (by the way it was a river and we turned it into a sea). A new feature coming soon is Expeditions, which will at least put another boat on the water. Otherwise, fishing gets brought up quite often, but we haven’t committed to it yet. Any kind of battleship-y more involved use of the water would be a ways off at this point (but has been discussed).
4) Though I consider alliance as my family in DomiNations, there are some improvements that would make DomiNations more perfect! In particular, when donating troops to alliance members, I’m sometimes unsatisfied that I got some which I didn’t want. How about giving an option to users to limit the unit type when requesting units? Or, I think if we add a function to donate resources or trade goods, it could boost social features of the game as well! How do you think? I have a lot of ideas to improve alliance feature! Do you have any further plan to improve this in general?
Yeah, unfortunately the main way we help players to get the troops they want from their allies is with the text in the donation request. It’s worth considering allowing players to lock the troop type as well, although this would be a more advanced feature. We have also talked about being able to donate resources or trade goods, but we would have to be careful not to facilitate unintended player behavior with that system. We have a huge list of improvements for alliances, and we try our best to get to them with every release. You can expect some new alliance features coming soon after Atomic Age, if not sooner.
5) I don’t know why but whenever I started the game, enemies scouted my town, which hindered me to start the game!! (Maybe, am I too famous?) I understand that this is one of the major features that DomiNations has… but just keep waiting and seeing my town to get plundered by enemies makes me feel bad. How about having new features that defender could do something while we are plundered, such as we could defend from the attacker, using some traps or units to block them? Or, at least, watching the town?
I agree that not being able to do anything while your town is being scouted can be discouraging. Improving the functionality, as well as how often players get attacked, is something that we often consider. Unfortunately we don’t have anything planned for the immediate future, but we will take a look down the road.
6) My favorite feature in DomiNations is World War!! However, sometime I played this with our Alliance members, I felt bit sorry due to the lack of teamwork. How about adding mock battle /pre-battle during the World War preparation period? Will there be more improvements to be made in the future?
Funny enough, one of our programmers just emailed me about this today. It would be interesting to allow alliance members to test out each other’s War Bases. We don’t have any current plans for this feature, but it does seem like it would be worth considering.
7) Do you have a plan to add new tactics or functions in battles? I know we have Rally in it, but I think this is not enough! Will there be any further function to be added that we could leverage during the battle? Sometimes, I tactically set troops here and there but using Rally ruined everything!
Yes, we do have plans to add new tactics and possibly functions in battles. This is a topic we discuss quite a bit at the office. We have several ideas here (and we’ve tried several more that weren’t good enough to put into the game). We are working on something for the Atomic Age, so as long as it is fun, expect to see something new then. Also I understand your frustration with Rally - you definitely have to be careful with its use.
8) Do you have any plan to add new background music or sound effects in DomiNations? I only can think of sounds in Town and entering battles in DomiNations, which I strongly believe that you could do more!
There’s no plans at this time to add new background music or sound effects. I’ll pass on your feedback to the sound designer though.
9) I bought the Elephant Archer and Ninja packages with newly added pop-up sale system! I am very pleased that I could get special units which I cannot easily get. However, since it only contains one-off items like blessings and units, I was bit disappointed. It seems bit expensive as well. Do you have any further plan to add new stuffs like buildings, items that last certain time and/or permanent items?
I agree, I’m having a lot of fun with the pop-up sale troops. And we do have plans to offer more types of things in sales, including buildings. As for more permanent items in sales, we aren’t planning to add any yet, but we could consider it in the future.
10) I am a big fan of DomiNations! However, recently, I felt that there is nothing to buy any more. Even if I buy the largest crown package (US$109.99), I only can upgrade some buildings but nothing else. Do you have any plan to tweak overall economic balance or add new permanent in-shop item for high agers?
The main way we are tweaking the overall economic balance in the game is by introducing new features that players can engage with that will provide them more resources, such as we did with World War or more recently the Victory Chest. We prefer to handle discounts of items through limited time events for now. As we update the game, there will always be new permanent high age items added to the game, such as with the Airstrip and Air Defense in Industrial Age. In the near future we’ll probably add at least one more House for players as well.
11) It seems DomiNations’ in-app items are focused mainly on time-shortening items and/or consumables. Do you have any plan to add permanent items which could last forever or longer?
If you are referring to adding items such as the Dojo or similar items, but longer or more permanently, we have no plans for that at present time. That being said, it is something we will consider for the future.
Thanks for tuning in!
John Hawkins - Lead Designer
Although the end of it actually had a bit of good news... Another house Woohoo!!! That's the only positive spin I can make on this thread. Although I did have a chuckle at the music one... Can I have a show of hands as to how many of us have the music turned on? I've had mine turned off for over a year to avoid crashes.
