| Author |
Darkspace dead? |
DMC-13
Admiral
Evil Empires Inc.
Joined: February 16, 2008
Posts: 187
From: Huntington Beach, California, USA
|  Posted: 2008-03-19 14:56
Well first of all, just like Fatal Xpli$it, I also saw the DarkSpace CD for sale and after I looked at it, decided that it would be a very cool game to play so I bought it. After installing it and having it crash quite a few times (very discouraging) I almost gave up on it until I saw the windows rollback notice. After having to do a few other things to my computer, I was finally able to play. Despite the problems with lag, bugs, connection or whatever, I still think it's a very cool game. I've played the Beta test game and I really liked the changes that I saw. I'm sure I'll like the other changes that I haven't seen too. Now I don't know about the rest of you but I'm willing to wait for the release of the new patch so that the developers can make it problem free which will make the game even more enjoyable. Something was mentioned about funding and if that's a problem, how about putting the CD's back on the rack for sale? I don't know how large the player base was before I joined but if it is indeed getting smaller, maybe it's because of all the problems associated with accessing the site and playing the game. Hopefully that won't be a problem with the new patch. Last but not least, I most definitely agree with all of the following players listed.
Bardiche
Sanity Assassin
Spendeck
Fatal Xpli$it
Kromaticorb
Fatal Fallen Angel
Hellza
DeltaFlyer
Sincerely,
DMC-13
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Light-of-Aurora
Grand Admiral
Joined: December 01, 2003
Posts: 602
From: NJ, USA
| Posted: 2008-03-19 17:41
Darkspace never dies! D:< This game has got one hell of a die-hard community...
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Delando
Marshal
Joined: May 04, 2007
Posts: 260
| Posted: 2008-03-19 17:50
Darkspace dont die, check out the wikipedia article on us.
apparently we are a 'cult' .
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Leviatan
Cadet
Joined: April 22, 2005
Posts: 186
| Posted: 2008-03-19 19:34
Marketing through Steam is a massive wildcard, and in my somewhat educated opinion should be considered by somebody once the game is in a state that I would have a reason for subscribing for the purpose of actually playing the game, as opposed to subscribing every 3-6 months, play for two days and then go inert again.
It's pretty likely people won't find the game through google easily anymore, and if they do, they will take a glance at the latest topics of the forums and leave without even taking the trial, whereas slamming the game + 1 or 2 months of free gametime into one package on the steam would probably attract a lot of the populus such as me that buy a literal metric ton of cheap steam games just for the sake of trying them out and spending money into something more mentally constructive than a metric ton of mountain dew.
It has the downside that the same populus either spreads a good word of the game - or then declares it a pariah worldwide.
With that said I might consider subscribing for a while even if I dont play much, I have far too much money for my own good and spending it into something like this is much better than most of the stuff I spend it in.
But in my opinion it is indeed the International Atomic Energy Association Online Representatives that will ultimately either directly or indirectly kill this game.
Look mom, I made a post without a single intention of flaming somebody..
[ This Message was edited by: Tactical Missile {JASSM} on 2008-03-19 19:38 ]
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Tricore
Admiral
Joined: January 12, 2008
Posts: 3
| Posted: 2008-03-20 02:31
Yeah but have you considered advertising this game? It really rocks and you can have alot of ppl playing on it. You cud even use the daily screenshots they really look cool.
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!Lono! {Rogue Kluth}
Cadet
Joined: April 19, 2002
Posts: 128
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2008-03-20 04:36
Aloha guys its ur friendly neighborhood hawaiian.
I just had to comment when seeing this thread especially after seeing faustus' replies. btw hello big F....when i first joined the Dark Space community back in 2002, it was a birthday gift to me from another old vet of DS. yes yes my real life birthday is my birthday here. so to me that makes it even more special.
I love this game! even with all its shortcommings and issues i still log on and play here and there. when im able, i sub....when not, i lobby camp. i have since 2002 always had DS installed on ea. and every one of my comps. I will be a DS fan 4 ever.
I will be here till that damn gerbil running the server killsover and croaks a horrible death. hopefully that will be a looooooong way off, but until then, i will say what i always say when ppl asks me what is the best game i ever played. DARK SPACE BABY!!!!!!!! 4 LIFE.
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Shahks, dey only byte wen u touch dea privet pahts.
Calm down befoa I karang ur allahs!
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kromaticorb
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: March 15, 2008
Posts: 5
| Posted: 2008-03-20 04:52
i'm trying i'm trying. i am trying to get a few of my friends in this game. you know, those of us who hang out on the fringe. people who play space empires 5 and think its one helluva game. people who are up all night and run from any source of natural light (not vampires mind you, just, really really smart zombies). i've also tried to get a few other people that will download, install, log in, go omfg wtf is this garbage and literally tear out their eyes while trying to destroy their computers for merely telling them about this game. you know those types of people, every game sux that isn't their game or whatever. yes, i'm evil. and now i'm going to take my evil ass into the metaverse and die. horribly so.
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DarkSpin
Captain
Sanity Assassins
Joined: August 03, 2005
Posts: 651
From: Somewhere in the USA
| Posted: 2008-03-20 05:52
HAHAHAH Advertise hahahah... do you have any idea how expensive it is to advertise??? Some companies pay millions for just one adds... we would waste our money... Plus advertising as I believe "JACK and a few others said" Advertising a game such as this does not necessarily benefit or attract players to the game. the game is best at growing by word of mouth player to player to friend advertising. it is also the most powerful type of advertising as people will most often actually test it out.
Just putting in the fact.
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Drafell
Grand Admiral
Mythica
Joined: May 30, 2003
Posts: 2449
From: United Kingdom
| Posted: 2008-03-20 07:28
As already stated: Advertisment cost's money.
I have been handling a lot of the external PR for DS over the last few years, but it is a very time consuming role to get involved in. I currently have a choice of either promoting DarkSpace, or working on the patch. I simply do not have the time to do both jobs.
I do what I can to maintain a minimal web presence, but I have limited resources with which to work.
The best way of promoting DarkSpace is for you, the players, to do it for us.
If you are active in forums outside DS, put a link to the game in your signature. If you are involved in discussions about games in forums, work out a way to get DS into the conversation.
You only need to make one post a day, which takes 5-10 minutes at most. If we had 30 people doing this it could equate to a huge jump in game population.
A while ago did a little experiment which I will quote here:
Quote:
| Thursday, March 29, 2007
Last week I decided to try a little experiment for DarkSpace. I have always been curious about just how many people actually look at or pay attention to forum signatures, in particular how many actually click them if they have an url attached.
Personally, I was not expecting a great response, but I do have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.
I changed my signature on MMORPG.com to include a dynamic banner for DarkSpace, and then linked this to the DarkSpace site using a simple tracking URL which would monitor how many individual clicks it got. I then proceeded to post in various topics not directly associated with the DS game, and being careful to stay on topic. The basic rule was that I was not allowed to overtly advertise or mention DarkSpace unless it directly related to the topic at hand.
Based on my own browsing habits, I tend to totally disregard users forum signatures. My own expectations were to receive maybe 10-20 clicks over the trial period at most.
Instead, after a total of 26 posts, the signature received 208 clicks in the space of 7 days.
Considering that the DarkSpace wikipedia entry only received just over 1000 redirects to the main site in the space of 3 months, it goes to show just what kind of an effect passive advertisment can have.
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Now, thats an additional 200 site visits a week, or with 30 people doing the same thing, it's an additional 6000 clicks a week.
If only one person downloads the game for every 100 clicks, thats still a potential 60 new players a week.
To be quite honest, it doesn't matter if the majority do not stay around for longer than the 14 trial period, as the server numbers will be boosted by the trial players. This in turn converts into more fun and a better experience for any other people who are playing the game.
What is the reward for doing this?
We get more players in DarkSpace.
You get 7 days free subscription time for each new person that you get to subscribe and refer your ID.
[ This Message was edited by: Drafell on 2008-03-20 07:32 ]
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It's gone now, no longer here...Yet still I see, and still I fear.rnrn
rnrn
DarkSpace Developer - Retired
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Drafell
Grand Admiral
Mythica
Joined: May 30, 2003
Posts: 2449
From: United Kingdom
| Posted: 2008-03-20 19:41
But 
This might be a relic of me having to resize the texture as the source file was 2046*512 and it needs to be 2048*x to import properly
[ This Message was edited by: Drafell on 2008-03-20 19:56 ]
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It's gone now, no longer here...Yet still I see, and still I fear.rnrn
rnrn
DarkSpace Developer - Retired
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Doran
Chief Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 29, 2003
Posts: 4032
From: The Gideon Unit
| Posted: 2008-03-20 19:44
omg
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2008-03-20 20:00
Buh...
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$yTHe {C?}
Grand Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: September 29, 2002
Posts: 1292
From: Arlington, VA
| Posted: 2008-03-20 20:31
'shopped
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Pandinus imperator
Commander
Joined: March 13, 2008
Posts: 1
| Posted: 2008-03-20 20:35
im new to this game i have only playing for a week and i like the game.
so i have been refering my friends to this site and i have manged to get one of my friends to join
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Drafell
Grand Admiral
Mythica
Joined: May 30, 2003
Posts: 2449
From: United Kingdom
| Posted: 2008-03-21 03:54
Well done, Pandinus.
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It's gone now, no longer here...Yet still I see, and still I fear.rnrn
rnrn
DarkSpace Developer - Retired
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