Warrior General Games

Originally posted by slughead42
They dropped the flex cost of creating and boosting dots to less than half of what it was, so it's actually a way better value now even with the slightly shorter time frame. It used to be 7 seasons build/5 seasons plateau (12 seasons total), now it's 4 seasons build/7 seasons plateau (11 seasons total). Just FWIW.



I didn't realize that they'd made boosting cheaper. That's my bad.

Originally posted by slughead42
They dropped the flex cost of creating and boosting dots to less than half of what it was, so it's actually a way better value now even with the slightly shorter time frame. It used to be 7 seasons build/5 seasons plateau (12 seasons total), now it's 4 seasons build/7 seasons plateau (11 seasons total). Just FWIW.

As someone that logged back in recently after being gone 10 years or so, that to me is a W! The time it took to build a dot and watch it slowly progress over what was almost a full year of actual time is what was a crutch, but at the time of the inception of the game it was a bonus if that makes sense as nobody knew about building to caps in the early seasons because players were just trying to keep up with a ever changing sim and the obvious unknown

Originally posted by Dr. E
Tell ya where you can probably find a lot of new users. The veterans administration. They offer computer systems and competitions for the disabled. If Bort wanted to create the VA a deal, I bet they would pick it up and advertise in the newsletters the DAV puts out.

I think this would be a great idea not only for GLB but for the Veterans themselves.

I love the enthusiasm and ideas. I came back after maybe a decade plus away and have been hooked for two full trips to plateau plus a couple seasons now. The learning curve is steep but it’s also possible to kind of find dots/teams at your level and enjoy the game as you learn.

New agents and/or returning agents would be amazing however they could be reached. Beyond just updated the website design, it seems like making this game app friendly somehow would go a long way to both attracting new blood and retaining it. I have to request desktop site to see a lot of features in the game and you need a laptop to use any of the super helpful scripts or even use the D play creator fully. Being able to do all of these more easily on the phone would be great. Having an app to do it all on plus easily sell to new agents would be ideal. I’ve long given up hope we get there though.

Edit: Smaller thing that would also be helpful for newer agents but really everyone, some level of search function for the forums to find stuff you know is there but don't know the thread

It's one thing to get new players, it's another to keep them.

I imagine it might be hard to get attached to one of the mainstays these days, seeing how most, have specific agents they get to build dots for them. Somehow we need to make it easier for newbies to latch on to a mainstay and teach them the ropes, so they aren't out there on some CPU team, never seen and forgotten.

In order for that to happen, the experts of particular positions would have to be willing to fully share information. Back in the day, that wasn't ever done. Not sure if people would be willing to do it now.

Originally posted by Go Pack 120
In order for that to happen, the experts of particular positions would have to be willing to fully share information. Back in the day, that wasn't ever done. Not sure if people would be willing to do it now.

There is a lot of info out there for building, KoB has plenty of info in his forum regarding building, just don't asl or expect him to open his builds I believe he will even give peeps access to his team forum if asked

Really it isn't that hard to build a decent dot once you get the hang of it. Just depends on what you want the dot to do. myself I always planned my dots for one purpose, if you try making a dot to be able to do different functions you usually end up screwing up the build or even if the dot comes out it could be serviceable just not a mvp worthy dot.

Originally posted by Go Pack 120
In order for that to happen, the experts of particular positions would have to be willing to fully share information. Back in the day, that wasn't ever done. Not sure if people would be willing to do it now.

yeah maybe some of the "beta Testers" from back in the day can share what they know.

Originally posted by pittball1
It's one thing to get new players, it's another to keep them.

I imagine it might be hard to get attached to one of the mainstays these days, seeing how most, have specific agents they get to build dots for them. Somehow we need to make it easier for newbies to latch on to a mainstay and teach them the ropes, so they aren't out there on some CPU team, never seen and forgotten.

Having a place for a new user's dot to go to beyond rookie between certain areas is the key, but if there can be enough people get interested people would buy teams and maybe there would be an expansion of leagues having more leagues for the dots to go to.

A positive that I've seen since coming back is when someone posts their build for critique it is met with respect and dignified answers which is something we wouldn't see in the earlier days when agents would insult the build and the agent which is definitely a step forward for sure!

Originally posted by Border Runners
yeah maybe some of the "beta Testers" from back in the day can share what they know.

I lolled. I've forgotten so much about stuff at this point. I'm slowly getting info again, but I've only been back for about two weeks now after over a decade off.

Originally posted by pittball1
It's one thing to get new players, it's another to keep them.

I imagine it might be hard to get attached to one of the mainstays these days, seeing how most, have specific agents they get to build dots for them. Somehow we need to make it easier for newbies to latch on to a mainstay and teach them the ropes, so they aren't out there on some CPU team, never seen and forgotten.

I appreciate your thoughts, but I think it might be easier than you think to get advice from good builders.

BUT, maybe the game needs to encourage new agents to post in the main forums.

OR, maybe the game could create a new forum where when a new agent signs up it posts "John Brown has created an Offensive Tackle". This would encourage proactive team owners to start the reach-out process. If they didn't like the start of the build, they could ignore it. If they felt pity, they could choose to send them a message.

Originally posted by Larry Roadgrader
I appreciate your thoughts, but I think it might be easier than you think to get advice from good builders.

BUT, maybe the game needs to encourage new agents to post in the main forums.

OR, maybe the game could create a new forum where when a new agent signs up it posts "John Brown has created an Offensive Tackle". This would encourage proactive team owners to start the reach-out process. If they didn't like the start of the build, they could ignore it. If they felt pity, they could choose to send them a message.

This is a 20 year old browser game with no app and no advertising. There hasn't been a new (non-returning) user in like 15 years. What are we talking about here?

The only path towards re-surging numbers that doesn't involve Bort spending fuckloads of time on a functional android/ios app (obviously NGTH), is sending out email newsletter updates to former players and trying to get some curious enough to log back in.

If someone sent out news with (a) the game changes, and (b) some continued update like once a season, you'd have tons of people unsubscribe but a few would log in and check it out. Bort doesn't need the money and doesn't want to make the effort, so nothing will be done.

Originally posted by WiSeIVIaN
Bort doesn't need the money and doesn't want to make the effort, so nothing will be done.

Unfortunately I believe that to be the truth as well.

I'm almost surprised that the development curve accelerated within the last couple of years while I was away--it actually took effort to make that happen.

Originally posted by Border Runners
yeah maybe some of the "beta Testers" from back in the day can share what they know.

Also, just to clarify, I wasn't a tester. That silly title went to anyone who played during the first 30 seasons. I've never had access to rest builds, a test server, or anything of the like. I was a Beta Player only.

Originally posted by Larry Roadgrader

I'm almost surprised that the development curve accelerated within the last couple of years while I was away--it actually took effort to make that happen.


His hand was forced a bit since the game server crashed and everything was wiped. I think he feels a sense of loyalty to GLB as his first born, so he didn't want to do everyone dirty by letting it fade to nothing.

And since he had to rebuild a lot of stuff, for a few months he was open to some improvements (accelerated building, OAI implementation which was a nearly completed project from long long ago).

But I think (understandably so) his attention and passion is not for 20 year old dotball which he hasn't worked on for 15 years.

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It's almost a shame, since if a GLB 3.0 existed which was mobile app based with ability to access via browser as well, I'm sure people would eat it up just like they ate up GLB 1.0. Lot of lessons have been learned from GLB 1.0 and GLB 2.0, and people have a thirst for a community related football RPG since its pretty cool. Would be nice to easily train players and watch games via a designated phone app.

But I imagine mobile apps are outside of Bort's wheelhouse and dotball is no longer his passion, there's a better chance of me winning the lottery without buying a ticket.