Bang! Howdy - MMOTBS from the Puzzle Pirates man, Daniel James

[Xanthippe]

but he doesn't brand the cow.  He sits on his horse and appears to be sleeping or something.

Just my luck.  I got a tired cowpoke.

[Lantyssa]

He just sat in the saddle for me, too.

I am not sure how much I'll play, but I'm Arroyo Amy.

[Signe]

BlackEyed Susan also seems knackered.   

[Megrim]

'Mirage' Hamilton, and this' lookin' shiny.

[Tmon]

Mongo Chodd

It's more fun than I expected.  Had to turn the music off though it was making me crazy.

[Zetleft]

Dirty Zet

Doubt I'll play it much but there ya go. 

[Hanzii]

Lee Hank

Was somewhat bored in Alpha, but the game picked up, when I actually met other live players.
It looks promising but it needs more stuff. I'll go see if I can find any of you guys and let you steal my gold (ie, I suck!).

[Yegolev]

Eustace Woodshed.  I don't have any excuse for that name.

[Soln]

Blackjack Shillac   

and my henchman

Cheaplaffs

[Furiously]

I too played for about an hour and realized the time investment for changing your face or buying anything in game was far too long, so I quit.

[Driakos]

He just sat in the saddle for me, too.

I am not sure how much I'll play, but I'm Arroyo Amy.

I tried to be fancy, and sent the cow running East on the first brand.  (away from where tired cowpoke spawns)Then the lesson stalled.  If you just run straight at it and hit it in the ass like the tutorial expects, the cowpoke will run over and slap his own special brand on the cow.

[Lantyssa]

I tried this tutorial mission yesterday and it worked.  I did make the cow run towards the cowpoke, but I think the patch might have been what fixed it.

To get a hang of things I played a few rounds against the computer (make a parlor, set players to 1, and tin cans to 1-3).  I can see playing this as a time waster on occassions, but I have to agree with Furiously about the work needed to get a simple change to your outfit.

[Xilren's Twin]

It's interesting, but the games themselves don't seem compelling enought to want to play over and over and over ad naseum.  I played 3 matches, won 2 and came in 3rd once and still barely had enough money to buy 1 set of 3 bomb cards.

And perhaps not so oddly, I wish it was fully turn based rather than the hybrid turn/real time it is.

Xilren

[Falconeer]

And perhaps not so oddly, I wish it was fully turn based rather than the hybrid turn/real time it is.

Xilren

Agree.
I am dying for a non-flash version of Dofus (or something like it, but better).

[Soukyan]

It's interesting, but the games themselves don't seem compelling enought to want to play over and over and over ad naseum.  I played 3 matches, won 2 and came in 3rd once and still barely had enough money to buy 1 set of 3 bomb cards.

And perhaps not so oddly, I wish it was fully turn based rather than the hybrid turn/real time it is.

Xilren

I actually like the hybrid turn-based system. For one, it adds a little more of a strategy element. Secondly, it allows for interesting mechanics like the Staredown card (reset the opponents timer) and the Horse card(move again immediately). I am sure that those cards could still be used in pure turn-based - lose a turn and double-turn, respectively.

Addressing the cost of things, Bang!Howdy's purchasing system came about as a result of the Doubloon Oceans in Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates. These oceans allowed players to play for free and earn Pieces of Eight (the main currency of YPP) as well as purchase Doubloons using real money. I suppose this is a sort of micropayment system similar to that used in Gunbound. You can either play and earn currency or buy currency. In any case, I am guessing that it is a rather successful model because Three Rings decided to make BangHowdy using it.

In BangHowdy, you earn scrips (the main currency) and you can either buy gold pieces with scrips at the current exchange rate or purchase gold pieces with real money. Some items don't require gold pieces, but most do. The default exchange rate is 1000 scrips for one gold piece and most items require at least 2 gold pieces and some amount of scrips to purchase. Items to purchase not only include clothing and such to change your character's appearance, but upgrade items like a shotgun and rifle to unlock more units as well as hiring other Big Shots in addition to your starting one. I'm sure you're aware of this, Xilren's, but I wanted to expound upon it for those who haven't played.

Since it is in beta at the moment, the game does not have real money purchasing enabled. That is part of the reason that the prices seem so high. Now, even if real money purchasing were enabled the costs would still be high, but the developers are assuming that you are going to do one of two things. Either spend a little bit of cash to get a few goodies, or play a heck of a lot. Three Rings have learned alot about balancing the economy with micropayment purchased currency so I have faith that BangHowdy won't get out of hand (since it appears that the devs will control the costs anyhow). Not only that, but with pick-up games. you can ask to be placed with others near your rank, so you won't be out-classed by some guy with a bunch of "phat lewts".

I played a few hours on Friday and a couple hours today. I managed to get enough money to unlock the Sharpshooter (1000 scrips and 2 gold - or 3000 scrips), since I can't manage to win 5 games in a row. Oh, I forgot to mention that. There are other ways to unlock those other units as well. IIRC, the Sharpshooter unlocks if you win 5 games in a row, and the Shotgunner unlocks if you score over 500 points in a game. While these aren't the easiest things to do, it is possible to unlock them without saving up a bunch of money and without playing very much at all. My highest score in a game so far was 492, but I also suck at strategy so... YMMV.

[Margalis]

It seems like the kind of game I would like but I don't really like it.

I feel like I want it more turn-based but I don't think that is really the problem. One nice thing about the turn system is it allows multiplayer well. The first rule of multiplayer stuff (I mean more than 2) is that adding more players can't increase the game time linearly.

I think the problem is that there just isn't that much strategy. Each unit has one attack, and there are only a few units. For the most part it seems the best strategy is for your unit to focus on the unit weak to it. For example if you use artillery on some units it does huge damage but on others does just a little bit.

There isn't much in way of terrain, high ground, facing direction or anything like that. Overall it seems too straightforward.

[Numtini]

It just seems to be lacking something. It's a bit slow and doesn't require enough thought to be that slow.

It did get me, for the first time, playing Puzzle Pirates though. And I'm hooked. Not to mention sold on their implementation of micropayments.

[Tmon]

It doesn't feel like there's any there there.  It seems mildly fun but there doesn't seem to be much reason for me to log in to play.  Oddly enough, given that I am sort asocial when it comes to online games, I think the problem is that there doesn't seem to be any way to meet new people other than by dropping into random games or crashing back rooms in the saloon.  Oh well it runs decently on the work laptop so I'll probably pop in from time to time when I'm on the road.

[Krakrok]

Play 'No Man's Land' for cowboys vs. indians instead. It's an RTS. GoGamer has it for $9.90. Gamestop and Amazon don't have it.

America is yours for the taking.. from colonizing the East to settling the Wild West, give it your best shot!
Step into the role of a Spanish conqueror, Englishman, Native American, patriot, or settler and experience six thrilling adventures where you'll encounter countless eccentric personalities determined to put a bullet through your head...

Show them who's boss. Use special forces or bounty hunters, or rely on your wits alone to get your enemies before they get you.

[Hoax]

Have to say, this title didn't impress me much.  It really lacks polish, not only that but the avatar isn't nearly interesting enough to warrent me caring what he/she looks like.  I think I'll stick with mindless Gunbound when I just feel like killing some time.  Less clicking and less thinking unless I'm involved in a long range duel.  Oh and they've got these cool backrounds you  can get now...

 :-D

There aren't enough units, the documentation is lacking and there need to be more gametypes.  The music also sucks and just  finding a game was confusing to me.  What the hell is a can anyways?

[Tmon]

  What the hell is a can anyways?

Apparently western slang for a robot

[Soln]

wow this was awful

PuzzlePirates was moderately manageable, but this this was not playable for me. After learning the UI it just wasn't fun.  I can appreciate getting farmed for a bit, but each time I try this it just keeps rubbing me the wrong way.

It's really confusing to play and see. Since they're using a gameboard design they should either allow you to zoom in closer, or zoom out completely and represent the pieces in 2d.  The 3d is just not easy to decipher.  Plus the speed.  For some reason I thought there was a bit more narrative and world to it, but it's basically just individual duels like in PuzzlePirates.  But those swordfights were more fun than this.  How is this an "MMO"?  t's just more mini-games between players.  That's not bad, but I just don't associate a VW with mini games.

I dunno.  3Rings seems to have a lot goodwill from people.  But I wouldn't spend time on this.  And yeah, I was looking forward to it.

[Soln]

good write up.  Hopefully be more.  Just not my cup of tea at the moment unfortunately.

I downloaded the new open beta of Bang! Howdy yesterday, under the mistaken impression it was related to Bang!, a game I very much enjoy.

Turns out, it isn't. But that doesn't make it bad.

I thought I would review it a little. I'm presuming, since it's an open beta, they don't mind people talking about it.

Bang! Howdy is an interesting MMOG. Extremely minimalist. The game is a real time turn-based tactical game. You take four or five characters into a stage with one or two or three other players. You get to choose which soldiers you bring in - choices like "gunman", "steam gunner", "tactician", etc. At the beginning, it's not so much "choose which to bring" as "choose which one not to bring", since you start with a bare minimum of unit choices.

The stage and game you play are random. You might be cattle-rustling or gold-hunting. Presumably, they'll add more games (such as train heists, indian raids, etc) in the future, since at the moment there are only three, two of which are nearly identical.

This makes for a moderately interesting game - a strongly tactical game. I'm pretty good at this sort of thing, so I quickly started winning my matches - second is the lowest rank I've gotten since my first match.

The game suffers, however, both in-match and out-of-match.

In-match it suffers because there is a heavy weight for whomever has spent the most money. You can get cards that allow you to do some pretty hideous special moves (although I'm the only one in any of the matches I've been in that uses them), and you can use special units (such as the sniper) which are simply better than the starting units.

This isn't always a bad thing - most games benefit from a bit of lady luck's touch, and you gotta fight who you gotta fight. But the problem is that this is a positive feedback loop: people who are better have better cards and characters, people who suck have worse characters and no cards. This means that lady luck never works FOR you, only AGAINST you. When it's FOR you, you don't need it - it just makes your domination easier.

I would think they would add some "levelled" games. For example, a train robbery game where two weak players defend against a strong player.

Out-of-match, Bang! Howdy suffers from two problems.

First, everything is really freaking expensive. Even winning in first place rarely nets more than 130 scrip. Cards typically run 50-100 scrip per card. Buying a new unit costs around 2000-5000 scrip. Buying a new hairstyle costs about the same.

There's probably some trick I don't know. I've only played about a dozen matches, so perhaps as you play more matches you start getting more scrip for a win. But I kind of doubt it's that significant: the game plans on using RMT, so they need to keep prices high.

The problem being, that means any given match results in a net reward of almost zero. If you use cards, you'll probably win the match, but the price of those cards comes out of your winner's purse - usually 70-90% of the purse goes towards paying for the one card you use.

So, why play? There's no reason to play any given match, except for fun. And, sorry, they're not that fun. The tactics are pretty simple.

The other problem they have is really the same problem: there are no other rewards.

The town is extremely minimalist. You can't "run into" other people. You can't choose who you're going to fight with (except by setting rank limits). There's no progression: fighting Steam Susan doesn't mean you and Steam Susan are rivals - it just means you might win a few scrip.

This means there's no emotional investment in the game. The monetary reward for a match is minimal, but the emotional reward is non-existant.

If there were another portion of the game, they could be woven together. For example, you could own some territory and, by landscaping it, build your own levels. Cool! But not allowed!

There are dozens of possibilities. I guess they wanted to keep it "casual-friendly", but if you lose the hardcore audience, you lose the core of your audience.

Anyway, you do get "rewards" for playing. After a while, you earn badges which reflect the number of matches of a given type you've played in. But these are meaningless. First, they don't tell you what you need to do to get a badge, so you can't aim for it. Second, you can't choose what kind of match you want to play, so you really can't aim for it.

They do have a few exceptions: the sniper and shotgunner can both be earned by doing very well in matches. But these are not enough to keep people coming back.

I don't think Bang! Howdy has any staying power as it stands. This is, however, just a beta. Maybe they'll fix things up before the release... but they can't just release more of the same kind of content. The drawing power of that content isn't enough, on its own.

[Margalis]

It's not a MMOG. It's an online game with a lobby. It's not any more "MMO" than Diablo, Starcraft or 100 other games.

My litmus test for MMOG is how many players can participate at the same time? (Not in the lobby, matchmaking or chat, but in the actual main game)

Here it looks like 4. Hardly "massive."