Archive of Test Night Recaps

New news:

1. The TCOJ FAQ has been updated with one additional rule. We are now requesting that all games be set to a time limit of 12 minutes to keep the lobby humming along and make sure we're done testing by 10:00.

2. We may be implementing a new idea of semi-permanent reserved slots for regular attendees. Discuss here.

3. The lobby sign-up thread exists again, and though we are already full, we're still accepting reserves. The game will be on Tuesday at 7 PM as usual.

4. Added this thread to talking about ongoing projects that we have tested or will test. If you want to talk about something you're planning to subject us to, or changes you made after a recent lobby, that's the place to do it. It's more permanent than the recap threads, that tend to die after a few days or a week.

 

^ That is a pretty damn large list. Wow.

Here's all my Halo 4 stuff for comparison (and I thought I was prolific):

Trapped - released
floating crap minigame - abandoned after testing proved the concept didn't work
Inducer - probably ready to release
Bleached - ready to release
Octave - almost ready to release; I want to test it 1-2 more times with a recent change I made
Congealed - releasable, but I'm holding it back to submit to the dust-up tourney (may do the same with Octave, actually)
Salvage - playable now but I want to try some substantial revisions out
Vandelay - also revising and testing currently
Smallsylum - ready to release
new minigame I won't discuss here - 0% built, but I did a pretty good proof-of-concept last night, so I'll probably be working on it this weekend

--

Also, on the subject of Salvage. I did a revision to the bottom level where it now has no hard outer boundaries, but instead soft kill "walls" marked off by Dominion lights. You guys will have to tell me if it's an improvement. I don't think the old build was bad exactly, but it was too tempting and too easy to drop down outside the playable area without realizing it, and then be stuck out there (hopefully at least in a soft kill, though placing all those kill zones was a pain and I wouldn't be shocked if I missed a spot or two).

Next up, I had an idea I'm going to attempt that involves rebuilding all the floating platforms out of mostly Impact objects so they will be a little more enclosed and pretty. I don't know if this will work out, but I'm going to at least try it and see. If it fails, you'll never see it.

Finally, I may do a test version of the map where the upper level is way closer to the lower (with a few related changes so there are more routes between the two, and hard routes rather than just teleporters and lifts). You guys have been suggesting it; I'm not sure it will work, but I can at least find an hour or two to build it and see. I'll wait and do this after I see about rebuilding the floating platforms though, because if I am able to build them differently, there will be fewer objects in them and they'll be a lot easier to lower than the current ones, which have a ton of small parts.

 

I think 12 minutes is a good cap. The thing is, a lot of our games don't last that long, so we really should not ever exceed three hours if we run 16 games at a max of 12 minutes each. CTF games will occasionally hit the limit; most other gametypes don't. Oddball, slayer and KOTH games usually wrap up in less than 10 on all but the largest maps, unless somebody's been seriously deranged with the gametype settings. Flood should be a max of 12 as long as the rounds and time per round are controlled at 3 and 4, or 4 and 3.

In fact, for a while there TCOJ as a testing lobby was wrapping up around 9:00 and we were playing matchmaking afterward. That's why I'm not in a rush to do anything radically different. It just changes a lot over time. Right now we have guys using both of their slots and running some long games, but it's not always like that.

I also don't want to go less than 12 minutes because I think you need that much for CTF in particular. Good flag strategies take a while to develop unless the map is tiny.

I believe looking at past weeks is instructive about where our issues lie. Last week our 1st real game ended (Waypoint doesn't give start times) at 7:27, and the 1st game on "Exiled Hero" ended at 7:09. We didn't really start until probably 7:15. That's 15 minutes that could have shortened the overall lobby time, and Audience and I need to stay on top of that.

After that, I see a number of games that lasted 10 minutes or less. Flag on Assault was done in 8. Pipe Dream in 10. Sanera in six minutes. CTF on Bleached, seven minutes. Clearly, 12 minutes is just a cap; it's not the amount of time we should expect every game to take. Where did we eat up time then? The Interchange CTF game (big map, you'd expect this) took 15. FFA on Freighter took 14. KOTH on Radiant took 15. FFA on Wetwork took 15 and I ended up with 45 kills, so that's two gametype setting issues - it probably should have been capped at 12 minutes and 300 points to win.

None of that is to point a finger at anyone by the way, but just to illustrate how the lobby could have wrapped up easily before ten if we had A) started on time, and B) set time limits on all games to 12 minutes. Those two things would have cut 26 minutes out of a lobby that ended at 10:23 (not counting the silliness on Smallsylum).

It's still not always the greatest for the people that go last, but that is why I try to keep things as fair as possible. If anyone gets a late game that is short on players, hit me up for next time and I will make sure you get an early spot in compensation. If anyone is running a smaller map, please let me know and I'll put you last so you're more likely to get a 2v2 or 3v3 test (Audience does this most weeks, but wasn't able to join us last time). We can always take a minute to invite random friends in to fill spaces, too (though last time Cyborg was micless and didn't give us time to do so). And if all else fails, I'll go later so someone else can go early. I believe in the model we have in place; I think it just needs a couple tweaks, and for me to keep a tighter grip on the steering wheel.

 

No chance of that. That's why I would use some rules to make sure the permanent slots are freed up if not being used, and also (not yet mentioned here) why TCOJ could possibly expand if I feel like there's enough interest to sustain two lobbies. If we had 16-20 interested players, I'd definitely look at recruiting someone among us to run a second lobby every week (maybe even at the same time), and dip further into the pool of the less-than-regulars.

However, I don't think we're quite there yet. The main intent of this idea, for right now, is not to close our ranks but just to make sure that late risers like you and Cyborg aren't getting pushed to the late slots every single week simply because you don't get up that early in the morning (or whatever the actual reason is). Particularly if you play with us all the time, I wouldn't mind saving you a seat, so to speak. Sometimes that seat will be more in the front, and sometimes back in the back. And if we were to get to the point where all the seats are saved, then maybe it's time to expand.

Personally, I'm not so worried about that. We've had the lobby for over a year and while I'd say we are mostly comprised of regulars, just who those regulars are tends to evolve. Only you, me and Cyborg have basically been playing with the group since Reach, almost every week; Audience has been more off-and-on, and even Cyborg had a period of absence when his copy of Halo 4 refused to arrive for like two months. So I really don't see a scenario where 8 guys all have permanent slots and no one else gets in. People will come and go a bit more than that.

 

List updated. Good to see so many people this week - may end up doing a 5v5 lobby just to get as many in as possible. If so, I may have to ask everybody to cap games at 10 minutes instead of 12 - we'll see what happens though. Sometimes we've had 8 sign-ups and 4+ reserves, and then had trouble even filling the lobby with 8 people - you never really know.