Planets Nu

State of the Nuniverse

​

Joshua Perina - Year 0044 (2014-08)

Topics

Serious Stuff

• Economic State of the Nuniverse
• Future development goals

Fun Stuff

• About Me
• Campaign Mode Statistics
• New Feature Release

Basic Statistics

• ~1500 active players
• ~300 public games at a time

​

A lot of data is created:

• over 110,000 total games created
• API Servers are hit over 10m times/month
• ~950,000 Activity Feed Items

Economic Health of the Nuniverse

• Cash flow positive for operating costs
• Advertising
• Servers
• Support Staff
• Investments in development still made externally.
• Overall solid and stable

Development Focus

• More new players
• More site visitors (~11000 new visitors per month)
• More new players
• More signups (~300 signups per month)
• More new players
• Better retention (~50 active after 2 months)
• Keeping core players happy
• Maintaining engagement through variation

​

2014 thus far

• Introduction of Hiatus computer player and single player levels - over 17000 levels played in the first 7 months.
• Recruiter Leaderboard - Madinson the success story
• Improved mobile/tablet/touch support
• New campaign features
• Planets Con

Future Development

• Can not ignore mobile
• New mobile client - A challenging, large project.
• A simplified version of planets for new players/mobile?
• More single player levels
• Continuing Hiatus development
• New mentor game format
• 1 vs many with time cap
• Continue to explore advertising options ---

From Midshipman to Galactic Speaker

• Started as a Midshipmen for The Empire of the Birds
• Launched political career after successful campaigns at High Command.
• Gathered support for the creation of the Galactic Senate and the Nu Calendar
• Spokesman for the Galactic Senate
• Humble servant of the Emperor ---

Campaign Statistics

• 28% of games are campaign games
• 35% with stellar cartography, 36% “classic”
• Thousands of upgrades activated
• Most popular by race:
• Advanced Cloning, Saurian, SSCommand, Ore Condenser, Red Wind, B41b, Topaz Gunboats, RU25 Gunboats (SFT gaining fast), Ion Starbase Shield, Iron Lady/Heavy Armoured Transport, Tantrum Liner
• Evil Empire vs Cyborg ---

One feature to rule them all

• One game mechanic has caused more passionate discussion than any other
• Symptom of frustration and reduced fun by less experienced players, validated by suggestions from top players.
• The Universal Ship Limit and Priority Queue.

The Universal Ship Limit

• Pro: A powerful and unique mechanic unlike any other game
• Dramatically increases priority of tactics/strategy vs pure economics (vs per player unit limit games)
• Central to the game of VGA Planets
• Con: Priority and Regular build queue must be “gamed” to win
• New and intermediate players have no chance vs elite queue controllers - not just Merlin Build Control
• Must build bases by ID# vs strategic places
• “Junk” builds
• One player builds, others are frustrated = less fun

Turn 48 In Doggle Sector (#61641) - The Evil Empire - 169 planets

Turn 48 In Doggle Sector (#61641) - The Cyborg - 135 planets

Turn 48 In Doggle Sector (#61641) - Priority Queue Control

The Problem is not going away

• It’s still here 4 years after Nu began
• Many solutions suggested (weekly)
• Players seeking alternatives (999 games, PLS-70 etc.)
• One solution preferred vs many
• Very small, but significant, changes needed. Without losing the essence of the ship limit and the game.
• The Nu solution is modified version of the current queue, 3 years in the making.

The Production Queue

Change #1 - Priority Queue

• If you have Priority Points you can use them to build.
• Even if there is already 500 ships in the game. �(soft ship limit)
• Use pbX friendly codes to build.
• Priority points are never used for “regular” builds

The Production Queue

Change #2 - Regular Queue

• Starbases always build in Random order up to 500 ships.

​

• Starbases not set to build earn 2 PP.
• Before and after ship limit (if randomly selected).

​

The Production Queue

Change #3

• All ships cost +1 more priority point than they do now.

�New:

• If you destroy an enemy starbase you steal 2 PP from them (if they have some).

Some Details

Host Order is: Priority Builds, Regular Builds, Clone, combat etc…, Regular Builds

​

+1 for cost, 2 pp for stealing base and 2 pp for no ship build are configurable in private games and will be experimented with.

Move like a Glacier

• This is the first (and possibly only) �change to a core game mechanic at Nu
• and first in the last 20 years of VGA Planets�
• Will be rolled out in select games only. �
• Will be removed/modified if proven invalid.
• Primary criteria = “is game more fun?”

Final Thoughts and Questions

Final Thoughts

• Planets is bigger than all of us�
• We must work together to secure its future�
• Thank you for being so awesome