Some questions for an article on Nexuiz

[CKeichel]

Wow thanks for the replies, I started this Topic today, and I didn't expect so many replies by now!
Many thanks. I'm trying to get this article published in the GEE magazine, it's a games magazine in germany for gamers, that don't want to read the average games review.
In the past they published articles from me on topics like Kenta Cho (author of some great free japanese Shoot Em Ups) and Jeff Minter.
I'm reading all you're posts and I promise, I will try to implement as much as possible of you're opinions in this article, because I think the community is for Open Source Games as much important, as the game and the developers. I would be happy to read more posts. If the article gets published, I will inform you.

[Ed]

5) Do you think the developers are listening do you, the gamers?

With Nexuiz, the line between gamers and developers isn't clear cut as with commercial games. Many community members have contributed to Nexuiz in small ways. We can post bug reports, test development versions, suggest improvements and other things. This helps to make the game better and therefore make thge community stronger!

[obi_wan]

Hey really great i didn't have enough time to read the previous posts, so excuse me in advance if i repeat some things

1) Compared to an commercial online shooter, where are the advantages of Nexuiz, and where are the disadvantages?

Advantages, compared to a commercial game :


- Free in the GPL way : You have the source files so you can modify, try to add features. This point is important cause it creates a core community, with people who like to search, learn, create and actually do things, not only critics.
- That community is really friendly i like it sooo much. I would really its 'different' as regular players know each other and answer when they are asked for advises, its really a standard to say 'hi' when entering a game and friendly messages like 'nice shot' are really frequently seen. For sure there are lamers, like everywhere, but the majority is really polite and kind. Compared to competitive games, people are there to enjoy and have fun, not to fight and win (even if we have a ladder)
- If you ask a question on the forum, you'll be answered for sure, even if there seems not to be so much posts on that forum, i would say 'the quality is there '
-Cross platform (linux, macOSX and WndoiS ) Nexuiz runs on my Mac ! That's a good point

- From a gameplay point of view, even if Nexuiz is "omg wow FAAAAST!!! oO" its a really well balanced game (i mean for weapons) with a lotta fun

To conclude the advantages i would say Nexuiz is a 'Mature' game, from all point of view.



Disadvantages, compared to a commercial game :

- Needs a quite good computer (even if it runs good on older hardware, but with less eye-candy)
- The interface not as much user friendly as it could, but that is being reworked, i've read the developers are doing it
- There is at the moment a lack of a PDF user manual, but i'll work on it as soon as i can if nobody does it before :p )
- Nexuiz lacks a bit of marketing power, but as i think its not the purpose its good we've seen with quake 4 that marketing doesn't give more players on the servers

2) Do you always find enough skilled opponents in the net?

It depends... there are some hours in the day when its hard, but in the european past 12:00 yes you can easily find different players on different servers.
Now if they are skilled... yes there are some really good players that really own the place

3) Is Nexuiz played on Lanpartys?

That one i cant answer, sry, i did not yet go to a lanparty actually.

4) For how long do you play Nexuiz?

about 10 months, it was the first FPS i'd ever played

5) Do you think the developers are listening do you, the gamers?

For sure they do, even if sometimes our suggestions are a bit weird, they always pickup the good thing They also answer when they are asked for questions from people who need help to try to modify or simply understand the game (at least my nOOb's question have always been answered), which is noticeable.

6) What other games do you play, and are you generally preferring Open Source games and software?

I played quake3 1hour in my life, quake4 too.
I tried Warsow but i really dont like the community, which doesn't help me to get the trick and go further in that game.

Yes i prefer openSource games.
For most of things i prefer openSource softwares.
There are 3 software types for which i (really) prefer proprietary softwares :
- image editing
- professionnal offset printing
- video editing

Ok this are my questions, I hope you all can help me.

hope the answers were not too boring and repetitive its late and i'm really tired at the moment...

[esteel]

hope the answers were not too boring and repetitive its late and i'm really tired at the moment...

Meh i can't fall asleep.. and you all know i like to post into this forum
I guess if the friendly community is mentioned one more time everyone will belive the forum mods edited the messages . But its simply the truth, people here are just great and its good to be a part of this!
As KadaverJack mentioned Nexuiz is short on creative people that can come up with good quality stuff like models. Maybe you can mention that we are looking for people willing to do some gpl'd stuff for the game.

[upQuark]

1) Advantages: It's available for free and the moddability factor is high.
Disadvantages: Not as many players/servers, framerates aren't as good as commercial games when eyecandy is turned up to the max.
2) Usually. Sometimes it's hard to find other players, though.
3) I brought my computer to a LAN party featuring Half Life 2 Deathmatch and Nexuiz.
4) Since it came out; about a year.
5) Yes. Nexuiz keeps on getting better and better and many ideas from these forums make it into the game.
6) Doom 3, good mods for Doom 3, Starcraft, SimCity, and Tremulous on PC; Metroid and Tetris on Nintendo DS. I don't prefer open-source software or proprietary software in general, though I do prefer certain open-source applications such as Firefox.

[Gut_Eater]

Hi Christian Keichel,
i hope my answers will help you for writing your article.

1)
As i never played another FPS than Nexuiz i cannot compare it. But i can tell you about the dis-/ advantages in general.

advantages:
-Nexuiz is completely free (GPL).
-It runs very well on Linux.
-It runs very well on my quite old PC. (But i am not able to activate most of the eye-candy.)
-I think noone before mentionned the friendly and helpful comunity, right? .
Especially one thing is important for me: The more skilled players give you hints and show you tricks to improve playing .
-Many of the other players are a bit older, just like i am. So Nexuiz is for me even the right place to talk about false teeth and stuff like that .
-You can get help in different places like in-game, in this forum or on irc. I have never seen, that a question stayed unanswered.
Not even my nooby ones .


disadvantages:
-I like the game as is. So nothing to mention here.

2)
Yes, I always find people that can play better than me .

3)
I don´t know. I never played on a lan-party.

4)
Since version 1.5. I think it was released during februrary 2006.

5)
Yes i think so. Just have a look in this forum.

6)
I still like to play Diablo II:LOD with my wife via LAN.
I would prefer not paying money for a good game than paying money for it .

[The mysterious Mr. 4m]

1. One big advantage of Nexuiz is its unique community. We've hardly had any animosities and people are always friendly and willing to help. The open source makes it easy for people to add new stuff like maps and mods. The gameplay is nice and varied and the different gametypes make it hard to get bored.
Disadvantaging is the poor graphics compared to commercial games like Quake or Doom. There arent many good servers to play and many people are lagging which seems to be a constant issue. Getting better tho.

2. I do find enough challenging opponents but I'm just somewhere in the middle of the skill scale. Some do suffer from lack of opponents tho.

3. I myself don't play at lan parties but I've heard of people liking it. The fresh fast-paced style of nexuiz seems to favor.

4. My time on Nexuiz varies from some minutes to several days. It's easy to get into the play just to get some frags but it's also entertaining enough
to play unto exhaustion. Been playing it since 1.0, short after the release in May 2005. (I really thought it started earlier!)

5. Another advantage of Nexuiz is the tight communication between developer and end user. Friends always listen to you.

6. I play the usual stuff on consoles (PS, PS2) but Nexuiz is the only pc game I play. Just enough for some quick entertainment. I don't mind spending some bucks on a mindblowing eyecandy but I do prefer getting it for free. What keeps me with Nexuiz is the fact that the community is constantly contributing (including me) and helping with development. The gameplay of Nexuiz makes up for the loss of mindblowing eyecandy and I strongly believe it will have that eyecandy one day. It's on the way.

And fog! I love fog!

[dfkgmasdfnasodrg]

I've just read through this thread and i think the important stuff has been said. I'm very happy that you bothered to ask the forum doing thorough research. some of the past reviewers have put to much weight on "based on quake 1 code" just to give an example.

[Gego]

---- i know its an old therd, but. nexuiz is not open source, its Free Foftware (not freeware).
http://www.fsf.org/

i know i have sayed "open source" to refer to this game. but its cos most ppl know what open sorce is but not FreeSoftware...

[Ed]

'Freeware' isn't open source though. Freeware is of course completely different from free software too. I would describe Nexuiz as Open Source as the Free Software argument is being a bit picky, a bit like insisting upon saying 'GNU/Linux', even Torvalds describes that as being 'just ridiculous'.