Glest Census

[rishenchen]

Been really bored these days with mindless games so I searched "free rts" on google... The 1st result was some dumb website with a listing of game that arent even rts, but the 2nd one was Glest O.o. That made me think Glest must be really popular now that it's listed on the front page of the google search engine. Soo... i went on IRC and there was 7 people, but all AFK. Is it just me or the glest community hasn't really changed despite the google placement?'

Now that you've listened to my boring story, can you players who actually play multiplayer these days just make a random post in here so i can see just how many players still get on? o.o

[wciow]

The sad truth is that Glest multiplayer is still almost non-existant (the people that sit in the channel all day are bots).

However in other ways the Glest community has improved quite alot since I first joined 2+ years ago. The forum community is bigger and more active than it used to be and there have been lots of new mods developed by individuals and teams.

The current Megaglest project by Titi and Softcoder is working towards improved stability for multiplayer. TBH I think that the best thing would be for a master server to be made, but this would be a huge effort and so far nobody with the combination of time, skills and interest has come along to start such a project. If they did I think the growth in the Glest community would be exponential!

[Gabbe]

What if we spam youtube with comments, then it would expand XD

[-Archmage-]

That would not be smart!

[Bruce]

I'm doing my bit to make the community grow - I now use Glest as a teaching tool in my classes with 14-16 year old students. The whole course explores modelling, animation and XML using Glest as its basis. The students are expected to design their own RTS based on what Glest allows them to do - from designing and constructing the models (using Blender) to making sure that the factions they develop are balanced. Before this course, none of them even knew Glest existed.

I've been thinking about how I could incorporate gaming elements into my classes without the costs associated with licensing, and thankfully the GPL means Glest (and tools such as Blender) make it a real possibility.

There have been some minor hurdles though - we're doing it all on Macs so I had to change the way the Mac Binary works (see post in ports forum) and I've noted that there is no Mac Bundle Map Editor - it appears I may need to arrange for a few Windows laptops with the map editor installed for each group. Still, I can work around that.

I think you've got something good going here guys - and I think it's worth spreading the word is as many practical ways as possible. I guess the difficulty is that kids are more likely to just buy the latest iteration of an existing publisher's game because that's where the multiplayer games are, and its hard to compete with that.

[ultifd]

^ Again, I think what you're doing is great.  Too bad there are problems. 
--------------
My bit is that I'm posting videos on my Youtube account... but they get very few views.

See?

Like nothing... 

[-Archmage-]

Well, we need to get Glest in more games databases.

[ultifd]

Well, we need to get Glest in more games databases.

Well, Glest is already in the popular ones...  
CNET download.com, Caiman, acid play, etc... Freeware Files, even in Retro Remakes...(<----maybe not that ppular, but Retro???  )
Yeah... and it's not like Glest is a bad game too... maybe the only "bad" thing about Glest is that you have to compile it yourself. People are lazy now, so they would rather buy an RTS game... Maybe they don't even care that it is free...
I don't know...  

[Bruce]

I think the other thing people have to get around is the general idea that free = bad. The way they see it, if something costs them $80 and is made by a big games developer/publisher, it HAS to be better than something they can download for nothing.

It's going to take some time (and a big change in attitude) before that breaks down

[ultifd]

I think the other thing people have to get around is the general idea that free = bad. The way they see it, if something costs them $80 and is made by a big games developer/publisher, it HAS to be better than something they can download for nothing.

It's going to take some time (and a big change in attitude) before that breaks down

Yeah, that's true.
-----------------------
The census of Glest is about 10 to 20. It has gone down.    

[Gabbe]

Arch, im not spamming youtube, it was a joke !!!

[Jamesgamer]

I think the other thing people have to get around is the general idea that free = bad. The way they see it, if something costs them $80 and is made by a big games developer/publisher, it HAS to be better than something they can download for nothing.

It's going to take some time (and a big change in attitude) before that breaks down

Another thing. I just played Age of Empires II a few days ago, and I noticed: A game 10 years old has a lot of features that Glest doesn't have. Of course, we're working on them, but they're still in development--either stuck in GAE/Megaglest/someone else's future plans. Most people that find glest aren't going to go find Megaglest, and a lot of people that find glest haven't even heard of IRC, let alone know how to download an IRC client.

The master server would be great, but after that we should try to work on the features that are keeping glest from being equal with 10-year-old games. In my opinion, this is more important than new factions.

[Gabbe]

make the moderators being able to change the website so people can choose GAE or MG and then quit Vanilla totally?

[John.d.h]

Another thing. I just played Age of Empires II a few days ago, and I noticed: A game 10 years old has a lot of features that Glest doesn't have. Of course, we're working on them, but they're still in development--either stuck in GAE/Megaglest/someone else's future plans.

If Glest wants to stand out, it needs to not be a clone of all the other RTS games out there (Age of ___, Warcraft, etc.).  It needs to bring something to the table that players can't get elsewhere.  Currently all it has going for it is that it's free and available for different operating systems, but honestly you can download a free demo version of a lot of other games and still get more than you get from Glest.

In my opinion, this is more important than new factions.

While I agree, the fact is that there are a lot more of us who can model and animate than there are who can dive right into the C++.  As long as that's true, we're going to get a lot of new factions and not as much engine development.

[Gabbe]

the modders are here for fun and stuff, the developers are here for wel...idk learning? fun maybe?

actually, other rts that you pay for are more interesting than glest, even if it is free, most people now today don`t care for open source or free, nowadays people got money to buy games and stuff...and cross platform isn`t really helping, since 93% windows based computers out there...
GAE will give glest a advatage with 16 players, but yet, the engine isn`t optimized enough, atleast, since it still laggs sometimes and a good GPU isn`t very much needed...

[claymore]

My bit is that I'm posting videos on my Youtube account... but they get very few views.

I can think of a reason for that... the framerate in all of them is awful.

[Gabbe]

My bit is that I'm posting videos on my Youtube account... but they get very few views.

I can think of a reason for that... the framerate in all of them is awful.

YEY! Finally someone not blind...

[ultifd]

Yes, I know that, but it can't really get any better for me 
And you know what, I am the only person doing that...no one else tries...if they try they fail, they upload nothing...  Or maybe they can't even upload it 
Something is better than nothing...
And it is better now...
So try it yourself, and create at least a hundred videos... 
---

to go find Megaglest, and a lot of people that find glest haven't even heard of IRC, let alone know how to download an IRC client.

yes, well, the easiest why to "get" to the IRC channel, is using freenode webchat...as in my sig 
Also, don't worry, as when megaglest finally fixes the multiplayer issues, titi can send an "all out" PM to everyone in this forum...(hmm, I wonder about the bots) 

[Gabbe]

lots of  and you appear to like these :   right?

common, those vids aren`t even edited, theyr pure clips with lagg, and lagg can be somewhat removed with editing software, filling in the gaps were the lagg appears, it makes the look better, but i doubt you`ll ever eve try...


the bots wil appreciate it, they love get mail from mods that they can send to their manufacturer, so search engines can stay updated...

Yeah, there are a lot of stuff upcoming, but i would appreciate most of all the multiplayer...hard to choose between MG and GAE wish they merged soon..

titi should send an "all out" pm Till ever person on the sphere...

[ultifd]

Yes, maybe, well gabbe, try it yourself, and then maybe I'll listen to you... 
I do it for fun.

Yeah, there are a lot of stuff upcoming, but i would appreciate most of all the multiplayer...hard to choose between MG and GAE wish they merged soon..

it's not that easy... 

titi should send an "all out" pm Till ever person on the sphere...

Yeah, what I said.

[Gabbe]

Yes, maybe, well gabbe, try it yourself, and then maybe I'll listen to you... 
I do it for fun.

Yeah, there are a lot of stuff upcoming, but i would appreciate most of all the multiplayer...hard to choose between MG and GAE wish they merged soon..

it's not that easy... 

titi should send an "all out" pm Till ever person on the sphere...

Yeah, what I said.

The whole globe*

apologies

[ultifd]

Well I think he will...to the forums
when megaglest is more fully stable
and GAE 0.3 is released