Gear Up

Gear Up

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Direct Improvements to Gear Up
By TracNam and 3 collaborators
This guide aims to list every direct improvement that can be made to the game.
Improvements listed are aimed to be as objective as possible.

Make sure to give feedback as this is an open discussion.
   
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Introduction
This guide lists direct improvement that can be made to the game.
The improvements are aimed to be as objective as possible
and doesn't contain suggestions to topics such as the balance of the game.

Make sure to give feedback as this is an open discussion.
Feedback regarding poor grammar, spelling or word choice is also appreciated
Bugs and a Broken First Impression
Most bugs in the current state if the game were introduced in the Cargo Ship update. The update was released in an early state with the intention of bug fixing it later, though this never happened. The consensus among active players is that the game should be returned to the pre Cargo Ship update, as it was far more stable.
This would take no effort and would greatly improve the game. Steamcharts depict a sharp decline in active players shortly after the release of the Cargo Ship update.

Below is a list of some bugs, though there are too many to include a full list.
  • Constant crashes
    -Easily the worst of the bunch
  • Map and menu buttons will sometimes freeze
    -Pretty much counts as a crash since the game has to be restarted
  • Keybinds reset to default when restarting the game
    -This has unfortunate synergy with the constant crashes
  • No click sounds in menu
  • When pressing TAB the player can't see who is on their team
  • Text overlapping
    -Particularly in the parts store
  • Some objects don't become transparent with the stealth supports
  • 1 pixel wide gaps and overlapping all over the place
  • Acceleration displayed in the garage is wrong
    -It doesn't considder the turret, the supports or the weapon. In addition the number is rounded, making it even harder to figure out what it's supposed to be
  • The score will randomly make huge leaps in the conquest gamemode
  • The average rank displayed in the lobby is wrong
  • Support ammo is not displayed
    -Apart from in the deathmatch gamemode
  • When holding tab killes are not displayed properly
    -Apart from in the deathmatch gamemode
Build Vehicle / Garage
The garage displays rounded numbers that don't give accurate information.
The garage should display numbers with 2 or 3 decimals.

The garage doesn't display the individual stats while hovering over parts.
Used to display armour/damage, mass and turning rotation (for bodies, weapons and turrets respectively).

The garage doesn't display several important statistics.
Every statistic the player needs should be displayed in the garage.

Weapon Statistics
Including damaging supports
  • Projectile curve
  • Recoil
  • Projectile speed
  • Ammunition
  • DPS
    -The DPS currently displayed doesn't factor in support DPS and it's rounded. With multiple weapons it displayes the average DPS of the weapons, which isn't helpful
  • Splash radius
  • Knockback
    -Dealt when the projectile hits an opponent
  • Rate of fire
  • Burst/single shot damage
  • Projectile range
    -Projectiles disappear at a certain range. This isn't immediately noticeable due to it being set very far
  • Projectile acceleration
    -Only a few projectiles have acceleration
Propulsion statistics
  • An acceleration graph
    -X would be mass, Y would be acceleration and a dot would indicate the current values
  • A high mass warning
    -For when the tank has a lot of mass on a propulsion that doesn't handle mass well. Helpful for new players
  • Max speed
    -Currently it's rounded
Other
  • Should be able to click a button to view hitboxes
  • Mass
    -Currently it's rounded
  • Turret rotation speed
Sidenote: HP is currently the only statistic properly displayed in the garage

There should be a "Generate Random Tank" button.

The Garage wont remember the most recently used support color, instead it will copy the color of the turret. The Garage should remember the previous support color.
Chat Box
The player should be able to scroll up the chat in order to view old messages.

When pressing enter the cursor should be made visible and capable of selecting text.
For instance CTRL X, C, V, etc. doesn't work.

When the chat (or menu) isn't open the cursor should be stuck in the middle of the screen, currently the cursor is able to freely roam the main monitor as the game is being played. This means the cursor will sometimes select random stuff at the edge of whatever monitor is set up next to the main one.

Currently pressing Enter means typing to the whole lobby and Right CTRL is team chat.
The game should use this system that frees up the Right CTRL key and gives more flexibility:
/whisper [player name]
/w [player name]
This means only sending a message to one player only.
/team
/t
This would send a message to the team chat.
/all
/a
This would send a message to everyone in the lobby. This would be the default chat. The chat should remember the most recent channel, so the player doesn't have to type it in every time.
/stuck
This should start a 5 second countdown, and at the end of it the tank would selfdestruct.
The same as holding down P, though it can't be cancelled.
/help
Gives a list of all the commands.
Post Game Statistics
Currently the post game statistics across all gamemodes show information relevant to the deathmatch gamemode.
In Team Deathmatch the following statistics should be displayed:
Every player in the lobby should be able to see the statistics of every other player
  • Winning and losing team
  • Kills
  • Assists
  • Deaths
  • Accuracy
  • Damage
  • Healing
  • Damage recieved
  • Experience gained
  • G gained
    -No point in viewing other players G or experience gain
In Conquest the same statistics should be displayed with the addition of Tower Captures.
Ranks
There is no indication of progression in the game. Before the Cargo Ship update other players ranks were visible in the lobby, however this was removed.
It should be possible to see other players ranks in the lobby and in-game.
Experienced players might hold back when fighting new players, and help them out.
New players might not feel demotivated when losing, if there is a visual representation in the game indicating that they just got beaten by a no-life.
Ranks should not just be visible in the lobby, but also in the killfeed, and maybe chat.


In FF14 new players have a sprout icon. I think something similar to this would be a good idea for Gear up.
Parts Store
The Parts Store should be accessible in-game. Players leaving a match to buy parts can cause a lobby to fall apart. It's also more convenient to access the Parts Store this way.

Statistics displayed in the parts store are lacking. See the "Garage" section for a full list of statistics the Parts Store should display too.

Some parts in Gear Up are joke parts like the Support Wheels, and are therefore significantly underpowered. Joke items should have a warning they are underpowered in the Parts Store. This would prevent beginners from accidentally wasting their G.
Create Game
When creating a new lobby the player should have the option to turn on a voting system. At the end of a match all players can vote on the map they want to play on next, then a map is randomly chosen. The probability of each map getting picked is represented by their respective votes.

Tag gamemode should be removed. No one likes it.

When making a lobby there should be a "Random Map" option that randomly picks a map every round.
Keybinds
As mentioned in the "Bugs and a Broken First Impression" section keybinds reset to default when the game is closed.

When holding down P "Self Destructing" should appear on the screen.
A loading bar or circle should indicate how much longer the button needs to be held down.
People underestimate how long 5 seconds is and get confused.

There should be a keybind to lock the turret. When it is held down the player can look around with the turret stuck in one direction.

There should be a hide UI keybind. It must be held down to hide the UI, to prevent players from accidentally touching it and getting confused.
Settings
In the settings there is an option to turn off chat. Why? The option to turn off chat should be removed.

It should be possible to keybind multiple actions to the same keybind.

In the main menu -> Settings -> Game... there is a button called "reset entire profile". This button deletes some data and changes the colors back do default. It also places the starter tank in the garage, though none of the parts are deleted, only changed out. The leaderboard progress and the G earned remains. This button has been usefull for fixing bugs. Reset entire profile button should have a less scary sounding name, like "bug fixing button".
Aim Reticle
The current aim reticle consist of a big circle stuck to the middle of the screen and a smaller circle following where the gun is pointing.
The big circle should have a dot in the center for clarity.

In most games the gun will focus in on a point in the far distance. In Gear Up the gun will focus on objects. This makes aiming more inconsistent and doesn't come with any benefits.
Quick demo:
https://youtu.be/t5xlX9stPys
Many of my shots fired in the demo go nowhere near where I'm aiming

The gun itself should focus on a point in the far distance while the aiming reticle should focus on objects in the game.

Sidenote: The reticle in "World of Tanks" helps the player know when they got a shot over a ridgeline.
Objects
Boxes (and other destructable objects) don't have a maximum HP. This means it is possible to heal them far beyond the intended amount. Boxes should have a maximum HP.

Every loose object should be made destructible.

Fences should be made destructible with a low amount of HP. Alternatively they could be removed in certain locations, as to not interfere with the gameplay to the extent they do now.
Extra Mentions
The game should have a killcam that last about 2 seconds.
Seeing the gameplay from the opponents prespective can give useful information.
Sidenote: The killcam would be helpful in disproving aimbot accusations

The game should have a speedometer. It could be next to the HP. Alternatively it could be a decoration that displays the mph on a small screen on top of the tank.
Sidenote: In Gear Up there are many questions that are impossible to answer without a speedometer, making it a requirement for the game.
-How much exact speed is gained by strafing?
-How much exact speed is lost going uphill?


In-game leaderboards should be expanded to show more than the top 20.

Hitboxes should be removed from all decorations. You can't deal dmg to a player by hitting their decoration, but some decorations will still take knockback.

The Replayer used to be DLC exclusive. It was removed in the Cargo Ship update. The Replayer should be returned to the game.

The Weekly Destroyed leaderboard should be displayed in the main menu. The game would feel more active and it would increase the sense of accomplishment from climbing the leaderboard.

When shooting a teammate a message should appear on the screen saying: "You're shooting an Ally!". The message should become transparent and disappear completely only a moment after appearing as to not obstruct the view of the screen. The message should only be triggered by direct hits, not splash damage. This is useful even without team damage enabled as players can get confused by the colors or by a player using stealth supports.
1 Comments
jahaz  [author] 2 Feb, 2022 @ 10:33am 
I like this. Very good work in progress. You could also add to the list of bugs that when pressing tab you don't get any idea of who is in your team.

I like your suggestion about the proposed beginner build. Fenders or alternatively the miner tracks for those who can't steer well. Tracks can rotate on the spot which is a bonus but they are slower of course.

" Getting a kill stolen by another teammate should not make a player feel bad." I liked this. It would be nice if the game could rate you on damage done in total and not just stealing the kill.

Modifying the map to show who is a high ranking vet and beginner would be useful for players to either avoid or home in on.

All in all, I agree with what you wrote, this game could have a hundred tweaks for the better, starting off with a relaunch of the pre-Cargoship version.