Why didn't RocketArena4 get big?

[James Bond]

Years ago I played a small amount of Quake3. I stumbled onto RA3 one day and never played regular quake3 again.. I thought RA3 was the coolest thing ever.

When Q4 came out, I got it, just to play RA4. RA4 finally came out... but it never caught on hardly at all.

What happened!

 

[Sureshot324]

Uh, because Quake 4 didn't catch on period. Quake style games are pretty much dead these days. Everyone's playing more realistic games like counterstrike.

 

[sandorski]

DM is growing out of favour. There was also a RA for UT that never quite caught on, Quake 2 has the last RA Mod that ever was popular.

 

[Nothinman]

Everyone's playing more realistic games like counterstrike.

So sad, but true.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Everyone's playing more realistic games like counterstrike.

So sad, but true.

It's pretty sad that people would play either.

EDIT: 11111!

 

[Childs]

Q2 players werent necessarily UT or Q3 players, and imo they went instead to Half Life multiplayer games. A lot of popular Q2 mods died when they went to UT and Q3 because of HL, not just RA.

 

[clamum]

I agree with the assertion that more people are playing "realistic" games... Counter-Strike, Battlefield 2, Call of Duty, etc. Realistic war games seem to be the "in" thing now. I personally like them so I don't really care.

But back in the day, deathmatch-style dominated. Maybe this is just a trend, and some new game with awesome DM (Unreal 2k7? hopefully) will influence other game devlopers (and gamers) to follow.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: clamum
I agree with the assertion that more people are playing "realistic" games... Counter-Strike, Battlefield 2, Call of Duty, etc. Realistic war games seem to be the "in" thing now. I personally like them so I don't really care.

But back in the day, deathmatch-style dominated. Maybe this is just a trend, and some new game with awesome DM (Unreal 2k7? hopefully) will influence other game devlopers (and gamers) to follow.

I kinda doubt DM will ever be as popular again. The main reason it was ever made was because it was simple to create, whereas other Gametypes are more complex.

 

[Nothinman]

The main reason it was ever made was because it was simple to create, whereas other Gametypes are more complex.

It was made because people like killing each other, the fact that it's simple is just an added bonus. I love fast paced Q3-type games and can't understand why people waste their time playing slow, boring games like the Battlefield series.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Everyone's playing more realistic games like counterstrike.

So sad, but true.

Lol counterstrike is "realisitic"?

 

[Sureshot324]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

The main reason it was ever made was because it was simple to create, whereas other Gametypes are more complex.

It was made because people like killing each other, the fact that it's simple is just an added bonus. I love fast paced Q3-type games and can't understand why people waste their time playing slow, boring games like the Battlefield series.

The realistic style games are more newb friendly and also have much more of a team play element. Go to any public Q3 server that's running a team mode like CTF or team DM, and there's still no teamwork whatsoever.

 

[Nothinman]

The realistic style games are more newb friendly and also have much more of a team play element. Go to any public Q3 server that's running a team mode like CTF or team DM, and there's still no teamwork whatsoever.

The realistic style games are so slow and boring, I get that it's easier for new people to pick up but QWTF, Q3F, ETF, etc are so much more fun because they're fast.

 

[skace]

I'd say the reason RA4 didn't get big is because Q4 itself is a rediculously demanding game in multiplayer. I couldn't get CTF to run smoothly and that turned me off of Q4 multiplayer before RA4 was even out. Doom3 and Quake4 went for amazing graphics, but because of that they sacraficed a whole ton in the multiplayer arena and it shows.

I think there is still a lot of gamers out there that would play something like RA4. I think if they remade Quake1 they would find a lot of people. Hell, I'd really like to see Quake1 get ported to Steam, that would be real awesome IMO.

Infact, thinking over it more, Id software should work with Valve to get Quake1,2,3, and 4 all on Steam with mods. That way people can find servers with the same interface they are used to for CS. Oh man if they put in a little work there they could really get people back into those games.

 

[Nothinman]

I think if they remade Quake1 they would find a lot of people. Hell, I'd really like to see Quake1 get ported to Steam, that would be real awesome IMO.

I doubt it, Q1 is GPL'd now so there's nothing stopping anyone from doing that. People have already taken the Doom engine and redone the graphics in OpenGL and AFAIK they haven't gotten a huge userbase either. And actually IIRC Q2 and Q3 are also GPL'd now so anyone who wants to can take and build on those engines.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I doubt it, Q1 is GPL'd now so there's nothing stopping anyone from doing that. People have already taken the Doom engine and redone the graphics in OpenGL and AFAIK they haven't gotten a huge userbase either. And actually IIRC Q2 and Q3 are also GPL'd now so anyone who wants to can take and build on those engines.

That is the problem though, I'd rather have an official release on Steam, something people can easily install without a lot of hastle and find servers easily without 3rd party server programs that have really gone down the crapper (ASE since yahoo bought it, gamespy since like 1997). Quake1 isn't accessible at all anymore on current hardware, ezquake is a freaking mess and there is too much to configure.

 

[Nothinman]

That is the problem though, I'd rather have an official release on Steam, something people can easily install without a lot of hastle

Then talk to Valve, they're free to use the engines just like anyone else. They'll have to make the source available too, but that shouldn't be a problem for them.