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Introducing: Ranked Ladder 2.0
The current formula that calculates player rating in ranked sessions is in the game for several years by now. We recently went through all the player feedback regarding ranked sessions that we received over the years, and decided that its high time to implement a rather radical change. Today wed like to present our ideas to you and to discuss it in the time that is still left before we introduce the change with the Autumn update. How does the rating system work now?
And here are its main drawbacks: The relative position at the end of the session is more important than the victory At its core, the system rewards all places in the session except for the last one. A player can finish in the 2nd place and technically lose a session (because someone else has won it) but still increase their overall rating which is considered as victory by many players. This duality of the outcome does not encourage the play style victory at any cost. Instead, it encourages to play for the highest place that the player deems possible for themselves, because victory is good but in no way necessary for the progression through the ranked ladder. A higher position guarantees a better result on its own, even if it is 3rd place versus 4th place.
It is possible to mitigate the loss of rating points but this happens at the expense of other losing players instead of the leader In order to save your own rating, sometimes you have to ignore the leader and instead join them in their attacks on someone else. There are cases when this is the right thing to do, and finding that moment of betrayal in a session requires skill and impeccable timing! But in many cases, poorly implemented strategy of the protection of ones own position leads to nothing but a sub-par experience for other players.
This approach goes against the spirit of most competitive board games In most competitive board games, anything but the first place is considered to be a loss. The current ranked formula of Gremlins, Inc., where playing for 2nd place is a viable strategy, is seen by some board game players as unfair and unsportsmanlike.
We believe that the new formula should emphasize victory and playstyle directed toward the 1st place. After all, Gremlins, Inc. is a game about prestige. For gremlins, there is no higher goal than accumulating a lot of prestige represented by player score. The player with the highest score wins the session, everyone else loses and the change in rating should reflect this. Main principles:
As you can see, there are pros that can be very beneficial for the gameplay in ranked sessions, but there are also cons that have to be addressed in order to keep the game fair and interesting. We definitely want to try the new formula for at least a few months, but we also are very interested to know your opinion about such a change: please share your comments here on Steam, or on the games Discord server, so that together we can create a better player experience. Thanks for staying with us, and we look forward to the community discussion! ______
malice Official Discord malice Twitter (game updates)
summer_magic Official Discord summer_magic Twitter (game updates)
[ 2020-08-28 09:41:45 CET ] [ Original post ]
A new approach to the calculationof player rating in Gremlins, Inc.
The current formula that calculates player rating in ranked sessions is in the game for several years by now. We recently went through all the player feedback regarding ranked sessions that we received over the years, and decided that its high time to implement a rather radical change. Today wed like to present our ideas to you and to discuss it in the time that is still left before we introduce the change with the Autumn update. How does the rating system work now?
- When a ranked session ends, each participant finishes it at a particular place (1st, 2nd, etc.).
- Each player takes rating points from every opponent who has finished at a lower place than them.
- Player at the 1st place takes points from 3 other players (if we look at 4-player ranked sessions on the European server). This player gets the most rating points.
- Player at the 2nd place takes rating points from those who occupy 3rd and 4th places, while giving some of their own points to the player who took the 1st place. The exchange is almost always good enough for the player at the 2nd place to increase their rating points.
- Players in 3rd and 4th places lose rating points, because they give away more than they take from others.
And here are its main drawbacks: The relative position at the end of the session is more important than the victory At its core, the system rewards all places in the session except for the last one. A player can finish in the 2nd place and technically lose a session (because someone else has won it) but still increase their overall rating which is considered as victory by many players. This duality of the outcome does not encourage the play style victory at any cost. Instead, it encourages to play for the highest place that the player deems possible for themselves, because victory is good but in no way necessary for the progression through the ranked ladder. A higher position guarantees a better result on its own, even if it is 3rd place versus 4th place.
It is possible to mitigate the loss of rating points but this happens at the expense of other losing players instead of the leader In order to save your own rating, sometimes you have to ignore the leader and instead join them in their attacks on someone else. There are cases when this is the right thing to do, and finding that moment of betrayal in a session requires skill and impeccable timing! But in many cases, poorly implemented strategy of the protection of ones own position leads to nothing but a sub-par experience for other players.
This approach goes against the spirit of most competitive board games In most competitive board games, anything but the first place is considered to be a loss. The current ranked formula of Gremlins, Inc., where playing for 2nd place is a viable strategy, is seen by some board game players as unfair and unsportsmanlike.
Changes that we plan to introduce
We believe that the new formula should emphasize victory and playstyle directed toward the 1st place. After all, Gremlins, Inc. is a game about prestige. For gremlins, there is no higher goal than accumulating a lot of prestige represented by player score. The player with the highest score wins the session, everyone else loses and the change in rating should reflect this. Main principles:
- Players who have lost the session do not take rating points from each other. Only the winner takes rating points from other players. This means that victory is the only way to progress higher on the ranked ladder. If you didnt win a session, you almost certainly will lose some rating points, even if you ended at the 2nd place.
- When you lose, you can mitigate the loss of rating points but this doesnt happen at the expense of other players. If you didnt win, your final position doesnt matter instead, your final score matters. The closer you are to the leader, the fewer rating points you will lose (up to 0 if your score is equal and the victory was achieved by the second tie-break).
- The formula ignores the difference in rating that the players had prior to the session. It doesnt matter if you are a strong player who has won against a weaker player, or vice versa. All that matters is how well each one of you performed in this particular session. This is because the matchmaking and the game itself can be quite random at times. We prefer not to have an extra punishment/reward for victories and losses that happened at the whim of luck. We want an environment where the only thing that matters is the players personal performance i.e., the score that was achieved during the session.
What do we want to achieve with this change?
- In sessions with 3 or more players, this eliminates any logical reason to play for any other place than the first one. If you cannot be the most prestigious gremlin in this session, you will lose prestige as the result. But even then, your best approach is to keep playing against the leader.
- This addresses the issues of 3-player sessions. When 2 out of 3 places are guaranteed to lose rating at the end of the session, the only viable strategy to avoid it for the 2nd and 3rd places is to play against the leader instead of playing against each other (which often happens under the current system).
- Sessions for rounds instead of sessions for points should become much more viable. The further the leader runs away with their high score, the bigger everyones loss of rating points gets. So it is in everyones interest to control the leader instead of hassling with each other for the 2nd or 3rd places.
- With these fixes, the available sets of rules for ranked sessions will increase without compromising with the quality of gameplay.
- Having a high rating would mean a lot! Since the only way to increase rating is to win sessions, players at the top of the ladder will prove that they are absolutely the best at winning, not just at seizing an opportunity of getting points at the 2nd place and minimizing their losses at the 3rd place. This will be true for all types of sessions, except for duels. Duels already are like that.
What are the possible issues with the new system?
- If everyone but the winner loses rating points, ranked sessions might become somewhat discouraging. Success is hard to achieve and keep because anything but victory brings you down to a certain degree. Does this make the mode more competitive? Absolutely. More interesting? Mostly for those who are competitive, ready to play in such an environment, and most importantly are able to win often enough to move forward and raise their rating. But maybe this is exactly what the ranked mode should be: a competition among those who are interested in competing, and a competition for victory instead of a hassle for a higher place? We would love to put this theory in practice and see how this affects the game.
- Griefing might become a bigger issue because players who do not care about their rating will be able to cause more harm by attacking their personal target instead of the leader. On the other hand, revenge makes no sense in such an environment because pushing an opponent under yourself will not affect your own rating. And it is quite possible that griefers will fastly drop to the very bottom of the ladder simply because it will be hard to keep your rating high when you obviously aren't playing optimally.
- Griefing in duels. This issue is specific to duels. A player who is far ahead and has full control over the situation refuses to end the session and keeps playing for dozens of rounds just to boost their ego and/or humiliate the opponent? The new system might make such behavior more attractive, and technically it won't be against the rules. There are multiple ways to fix this, starting from the simplest: duels will be played for rounds instead of points, so each session would have an easily predictable end time. Other possibilities that are more sophisticated in design and implementation include the option for the players to surrender after a certain number of rounds has passed, or an option where sessions have two end conditions: the session ends if one of the participants reaches X points or after the fixed number of rounds.
As you can see, there are pros that can be very beneficial for the gameplay in ranked sessions, but there are also cons that have to be addressed in order to keep the game fair and interesting. We definitely want to try the new formula for at least a few months, but we also are very interested to know your opinion about such a change: please share your comments here on Steam, or on the games Discord server, so that together we can create a better player experience. Thanks for staying with us, and we look forward to the community discussion! ______
malice Official Discord malice Twitter (game updates)
summer_magic Official Discord summer_magic Twitter (game updates)
[ 2020-08-28 09:41:45 CET ] [ Original post ]
Gremlins, Inc.
Alexey Bokulev
Developer
Yukitama Creative Industries
Publisher
2016-03-10
Release
Game News Posts:
349
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
Very Positive
(6107 reviews)
The Game includes VR Support
Public Linux Depots:
- Gremlins_Linux [957.92 M]
Available DLCs:
- Gremlins, Inc. – Uninvited Guests
- Gremlins, Inc. – Digital Artbook
- Gremlins, Inc. – Automated Competitors
- Gremlins, Inc. – Astral Gamblers
- Gremlins, Inc. – Famous Figures
- Gremlins, Inc. – Print & Play, Companion Card Game
- Gremlins, Inc. – Agents of Chaos
This is an intense strategy board game in a steampunk world of corrupt capitalist gremlins who compete for money, political power and prestige. Save and invest, steal and extort, arrest and get arrested – in single-player and multiplayer modes, with ranks and ladders. Unleash your inner gremlin!
HOW DO YOU PLAY THIS GAME?
Gremlins, Inc. is designed for 2 to 6 players, in multiplayer or in single-player mode (with AI bots). Each player has 6 cards on their hand (replenished from the same deck), and uses them to move around the playing field and to perform a number of different game actions. There is a lot of interaction with other players, and duels are significantly different from 3-player or 4-player games. You play for score limit, or rounds, or for time limit in custom or ranked sessions (with matchmaking by rating). Password-protected private sessions are also available.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO PLAY ONE SESSION?
The game offers different session settings to make them fit your available time, and single-player mode offers automatic Save/Load function at every turn so that you can take a break whenever you want (multiplayer mode offers re-connect functionality as long as the session is still in progress). A quick duel for 20 score points with a fast timer can finish in under 20 minutes, while a 4-player session for 60 rounds can last for 2 hours or more.
SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM STRATEGIES?
There are different types of cards in the game (permanent, regular, secret and criminal) and as each card can be used either to move or for action, you will develop both short-term and long-term strategies for making the most out of where you are, and what you have in your hand. Normally you spend half of your game time accumulating things, and another half controlling other players (stealing, arresting, making them pay a fine, initiating player conflicts, and so on). The more you play, the more new strategies you will discover, especially when combining the effects of several cards played in a row.
MAKE DECISIONS, PLAN YOUR MOVES
- This is an intense strategy game: make decisions at every round! Plan your moves, then adjust to the actions of the other players and new cards drawn.
- The design of the playing field and the layers of optional features allow for a variety of strategies. The more you play, the more roads to victory you discover, using a combination of features based on the particular setup of the session.
- The game offers a resource system that allows for many comebacks even after you're robbed or arrested (or both). With score, money, votes, malice, income and bribes, the tension remains until the very last round.
- In this game, you have to be mean to win: not letting the others to score is as important as scoring yourself. The only true moment of unity in a multiplayer session is when everybody's united against the player who's about to win the game. Earn and steal resources, set traps, arrest, initiate Player Conflicts, bluff and climb up the political ladder to become the Governor.
- The multilayer mode of the game features a system of ratings, ladders and ranked sessions: compete in a specific league, and take part in the regularly organised tournaments (normally, over 1,000 players participate). A system of anonymous masks allows everyone to compete on equal terms in a ranked session, so that you can't really disregard someone as a newbie player, or target a veteran as your prime suspect in a political race.
- In addition to the multilayer mode, the game offers 9 single-player challenges plus the option to create custom single-player sessions with different AI bots (with each major update, we keep adding new challenges).
FACTS & FIGURES
- The game currently features 169 cards in the main deck: permanent, regular, secret and criminal, each with a hand-drawn steampunk illustration (with each major update, we keep adding 1-2 new cards to the core deck).
- The game also features 34 telegrams of Misfortune in the Misfortune deck: send and receive events that may disrupt another player's plans, or significantly improve your own standing (with each major update, we keep adding 1-2 new cards to the Misfortune deck).
- Chaos Cards: an optional set of 6 cards available to every player in the game, that changes the dynamics of the session.
- Special Character Abilities: an optional feature that enables 12 sets of abilities unique to each character type, which then defines the core strategy of every player.
- There are 11 locations – the Office, the Plant, the Dump, the Marketplace, the Inferno, the Jail, the Casino, the Court, the Treasure, the Bank and the Astral Plane – and 7 spot types – Danger, Gamble, Police, Income, Bribe, Misfortune and Tribune.
- The game took us three years to develop from concept to Early Access and to full release, and we're committed to the continued support of the community and development of new features and new content. It is the brainchild of Alexey Bokulev, the acclaimed creator of Eador.Genesis. There are currently over 35,000 players of Gremlins, Inc. on Steam from all over the world, including USA, Russia, China, Japan, UK and France. Collectively, players launched over 400,000 single-player and multiplayer sessions since the game's full release in March 2016.
FINALLY, WHO ARE THE GREMLINS?
You think that’s just a pocket watch in your hand, a watch that’s a bit late because you keep forgetting to wind it up? No, no and no – you couldn’t be further from the truth! What you carry around is a whole gremlin town packed into this tiny mechanism: a town with its own bank, its own casino… and even its own jail! Gremlins are the microscopic creatures that inhabit any mechanism that they can possibly infiltrate. If a watch or a telescope malfunctions, then it’s probably due to gremlins who took up a residence there.
More than anything in life, gremlins value money, political power and prestige: prestige that one can claim after completing some sort of a grandiose engineering project. Aside from working on their own projects, gremlins mostly spend their time preventing other gremlins from building something even more grandiose. This they achieve through bribing officials and lying to the electorate, as well through stealing from their competitors - and outright arresting them.
A DISCLAIMER (JUST IN CASE)
We felt it important to note that Gremlins, Inc. is not a free-to-play game. Also, this is not a CCG or TCG: you do not need to buy boosters or packs, in every session the game offers the same deck to every player, and everyone's chances are equal.
OUR DLC POLICY
We remain committed to the principle of continuously updating the game with new features (e.g. special character abilities) and new content (e.g. new cards, new Misfortunes) that come in the form of regular updates that are FREE for every owner of the product. At the same time, from time to time we create and release fun stuff (animations, character portraits, alternative music themes) that is not related to the game mechanics, as paid DLCs. If you like it, you can support our efforts by your purchase. However, there is absolutely no pressure to own any of the DLCs in order to play the game or compete in the tournaments.
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ONLINE CONNECTION
Gremlins, Inc. was designed as a digital board game with the multiplayer mode at its heart. This is not to say that we don't like single-player – we do, and there's a separate section with the single-player challenges as well as the mode where you can create any custom single-player session that you like. However, the architecture of the game is built in a way that allows us to continually update the game mechanics and AI logic, which for this reason is processed entirely on the server side. Therefore whether you play Gremlins, Inc. in a single-player mode or in a multiplayer mode, your game client needs to be connected to Steam, and game's server, at all times. If you are looking specifically for a game that can be played offline, then Gremlins, Inc. in the current state is not the right product for you. An offline-only version of the game is currently in development for release later in 2016.
AMSTERDAM AND SINGAPORE SERVERS
The game currently supports 2 separate servers: Amsterdam and Singapore. Players are able to check their ping value for each of these servers, and play on the server that is the most convenient. Each server has its own player ladder, statistics and player profiles. Most players choose Amsterdam, since ping to Amsterdam from anywhere in the world rarely exceeds 300. However, as we saw more and more players from the Asian region join the game, especially from China, we added the server in Singapore in order to be able to offer faster connection specifically to these players. We hope that this works well for every player, as good player experience is our top priority. We will continue to monitor the quality of our server/client connection in order to adapt the servers to the changing requirements and we thank you for your patience.
MINIMAL SETUP
- OS: Ubuntu 12.04
- Processor: Intel PentiumMemory: 2 GB RAM
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: internalNetwork: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 1 GB available space
- OS: Ubuntu 12.04+
- Processor: Intel Pentium 3+ generationMemory: 4 GB RAM
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Geforce 9XX or AMDNetwork: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 1 GB available space
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