Disclaimer: Please do not construe this post as one of negativity – it couldn’t be further from the truth. I have long been a supporter and advocate for the franchise and believe that the best is yet to come. This post is simply to stimulate discussion about the future of the franchise.
This piece might ruffle a few feathers, but I think it’s a healthy discourse that is long overdue and has been on the mind of many community members like myself. As time has passed, and we've had enough time to examine the work of the PDT, of phase 1, the beginnings of Phase 2, I think this is a good time to talk about NS2 and where it's going.
For me, Natural Selection 2 has failed to evolve - therefore it must die. Arguably, its population is unrecoverable and is certain to become extinct in due time. The game is showing its age and it’s time to prepare ourselves for its inevitable death.
All of this has been said before. Though NS2 might be terminal, this is not to suggest that the franchise has to die, or that elements of NS2 cannot continue to be a part of the future of the franchise. However, as it stands, NS2 has reached a point of no return. Unfortunately ive come to believe that anyobe who says otherwise is either ignorant or needs to come to grips with the reality of the situation. Small figures of improved populace are not enough to eliminate the issues that come with defective foundations.
Many will argue that the decline began soon after launch when concurrent numbers never reached the same point as release, but for many like myself the moment the game began to die was shortly after the NS2WC. The WC was a triumph of an event for both UWE and its community. UWE really didn’t have to help fund the event, and should be eternally thanked for how much money they sunk into it 2 years after launch. It’s easy to forget they are an indie company with limited staff and resources and we should all be more mindful of this.
Understandably, UWE had to move on from the game after this – it wanted to explore new ideas, and obvious have a new product to put food on the table. Cue the CDT.
The CDT did a wonderful job after the departure of UWE. They made many QoL improvements that should have been in the game since launch. The CDT exemplified just how passionate and talented this community is, and sort to address many of the core issues that community members like themselves had issue with. They did an incredible job with what skills they had, and within the stringent boundaries they were confined to. Yes – there were boundaries. Ultimately, decisions of major changes had to be run by UWE to ensure that they were in line with the philosophy of the original devs.
The PDT has followed in a similar vein. Much of the work and changes they have done/are doing are good and well received, but ultimately like the CDT, they have lacked overarching direction, autonomy, and the necessary authority to elevate NS2 to a point of true recovery (Obraxis I can already see you shaking your head :P) A proper refresh is needed to achieve the targets that everyone wants.
In all the games I’ve played, I’ve never seen such a passionate, dedicated community as this one. The irony of this whole situation is that the devs have created such an open ecosystem for development that they were not prepared for the barrage of feedback that came with it, especially when that feedback was negative in nature. Many times this community has been called toxic, which might occur in some instances, but the majority of the time this couldn’t be further from the truth. Healthy discourse has often been mistaken as trolling, and good ideas are the collateral damage. This has occurred since beta, when people like Fana would write up large well-constructed essays with constructive criticism that were largely ignored.
You need only to look at the success of the development cycle of Blizzard’s overwatch to see the benefits of community driven multiplayer game development with solid foundations and a clear overarching direction. Obviously this is starting from scratch whereas all the additions to NS2 have been taking place whilst the game is live and on the market, but I still believe that there are lessons to be learned in overwatch’s approach. Nothing is off limits – from gameplay mechanics to simple things such as a characters pose, the blizzard team have shown they are open to ideas and changes, but necessarily governed by them. They have found a healthy balance, and have found a system to sort the good ideas from the bad/troll ones. They might be a AAA dev team, but these principles can be translated back to the indie world – many of which UWE might be doing already, but there is always room for improvement, especially when it comes to areas like game mechanics and balance.
So back to NS2 - where to from here? I believe the answer isn't as complex as some might imagine. The franchise, in its current FPS/RTS form has 2 directions – one is to make a large NS3 product similar to NS2, but the other, which I believe might be the smarter option at this point in time for both UWE and it’s community is to take what the PDT are doing now and inject it with a serious dose of steroids. To that end - I have outlined a simple version of what I believe is the realm of possibility here. The majority of community members I've asked about this plan have strongly supported it, and very much welcome the idea of change, new milestones and ultimately something new.
NS1 was a great game, but had its own set of flaws – some which nostalgia might get in the way of sometimes. NS2 was a triumph of hard work and passion but was by no means perfect. The best way to look at NS2 is as a giant experiment – there were things that worked, and things that didn’t. Mistakes were made. As soon as we come to accept that as a community and move on, the better.
Now for the assumptions. Assuming UWE want to continue to develop the franchise in one form or another (they may choose not to), it’s time to grow from this game, and use all the knowledge and experience from it to create something even better. To that end - I implore UWE to see the value in letting NS2 die. It has a had a great run, but it’s time to move on. I’m not ignorant of the fact that this is easier said than done, but I’ve seen and followed for years what UWE and this community are capable of, and believe it is possible.
Please give your franchise the right opportunity to grow again. Please let us help you grow it – you have some really bright people playing your games – some of them you have employed part time already, others are willing to help you shape your games for free. You have a unique product in the marketplace that just needs the right circumstances and healthy foundations to grow. Take the ideas of your PDT and give them the proper opportunity to help flesh them out. Let us help pay for these ideas so that you can achieve what you could not have achieved before. There is plenty of opportunity and possibilities that can come with a proper refresh, but it's time to let NS2 go.
This piece might ruffle a few feathers, but I think it’s a healthy discourse that is long overdue and has been on the mind of many community members like myself. As time has passed, and we've had enough time to examine the work of the PDT, of phase 1, the beginnings of Phase 2, I think this is a good time to talk about NS2 and where it's going.
For me, Natural Selection 2 has failed to evolve - therefore it must die. Arguably, its population is unrecoverable and is certain to become extinct in due time. The game is showing its age and it’s time to prepare ourselves for its inevitable death.
All of this has been said before. Though NS2 might be terminal, this is not to suggest that the franchise has to die, or that elements of NS2 cannot continue to be a part of the future of the franchise. However, as it stands, NS2 has reached a point of no return. Unfortunately ive come to believe that anyobe who says otherwise is either ignorant or needs to come to grips with the reality of the situation. Small figures of improved populace are not enough to eliminate the issues that come with defective foundations.
Many will argue that the decline began soon after launch when concurrent numbers never reached the same point as release, but for many like myself the moment the game began to die was shortly after the NS2WC. The WC was a triumph of an event for both UWE and its community. UWE really didn’t have to help fund the event, and should be eternally thanked for how much money they sunk into it 2 years after launch. It’s easy to forget they are an indie company with limited staff and resources and we should all be more mindful of this.
Understandably, UWE had to move on from the game after this – it wanted to explore new ideas, and obvious have a new product to put food on the table. Cue the CDT.
The CDT did a wonderful job after the departure of UWE. They made many QoL improvements that should have been in the game since launch. The CDT exemplified just how passionate and talented this community is, and sort to address many of the core issues that community members like themselves had issue with. They did an incredible job with what skills they had, and within the stringent boundaries they were confined to. Yes – there were boundaries. Ultimately, decisions of major changes had to be run by UWE to ensure that they were in line with the philosophy of the original devs.
The PDT has followed in a similar vein. Much of the work and changes they have done/are doing are good and well received, but ultimately like the CDT, they have lacked overarching direction, autonomy, and the necessary authority to elevate NS2 to a point of true recovery (Obraxis I can already see you shaking your head :P) A proper refresh is needed to achieve the targets that everyone wants.
In all the games I’ve played, I’ve never seen such a passionate, dedicated community as this one. The irony of this whole situation is that the devs have created such an open ecosystem for development that they were not prepared for the barrage of feedback that came with it, especially when that feedback was negative in nature. Many times this community has been called toxic, which might occur in some instances, but the majority of the time this couldn’t be further from the truth. Healthy discourse has often been mistaken as trolling, and good ideas are the collateral damage. This has occurred since beta, when people like Fana would write up large well-constructed essays with constructive criticism that were largely ignored.
You need only to look at the success of the development cycle of Blizzard’s overwatch to see the benefits of community driven multiplayer game development with solid foundations and a clear overarching direction. Obviously this is starting from scratch whereas all the additions to NS2 have been taking place whilst the game is live and on the market, but I still believe that there are lessons to be learned in overwatch’s approach. Nothing is off limits – from gameplay mechanics to simple things such as a characters pose, the blizzard team have shown they are open to ideas and changes, but necessarily governed by them. They have found a healthy balance, and have found a system to sort the good ideas from the bad/troll ones. They might be a AAA dev team, but these principles can be translated back to the indie world – many of which UWE might be doing already, but there is always room for improvement, especially when it comes to areas like game mechanics and balance.
So back to NS2 - where to from here? I believe the answer isn't as complex as some might imagine. The franchise, in its current FPS/RTS form has 2 directions – one is to make a large NS3 product similar to NS2, but the other, which I believe might be the smarter option at this point in time for both UWE and it’s community is to take what the PDT are doing now and inject it with a serious dose of steroids. To that end - I have outlined a simple version of what I believe is the realm of possibility here. The majority of community members I've asked about this plan have strongly supported it, and very much welcome the idea of change, new milestones and ultimately something new.
NS1 was a great game, but had its own set of flaws – some which nostalgia might get in the way of sometimes. NS2 was a triumph of hard work and passion but was by no means perfect. The best way to look at NS2 is as a giant experiment – there were things that worked, and things that didn’t. Mistakes were made. As soon as we come to accept that as a community and move on, the better.
Now for the assumptions. Assuming UWE want to continue to develop the franchise in one form or another (they may choose not to), it’s time to grow from this game, and use all the knowledge and experience from it to create something even better. To that end - I implore UWE to see the value in letting NS2 die. It has a had a great run, but it’s time to move on. I’m not ignorant of the fact that this is easier said than done, but I’ve seen and followed for years what UWE and this community are capable of, and believe it is possible.
Please give your franchise the right opportunity to grow again. Please let us help you grow it – you have some really bright people playing your games – some of them you have employed part time already, others are willing to help you shape your games for free. You have a unique product in the marketplace that just needs the right circumstances and healthy foundations to grow. Take the ideas of your PDT and give them the proper opportunity to help flesh them out. Let us help pay for these ideas so that you can achieve what you could not have achieved before. There is plenty of opportunity and possibilities that can come with a proper refresh, but it's time to let NS2 go.