MMC Alpha Phase 0 Update December 26th 2020

[hun...@appsomniacs.com]

Wow Wow. Wow. 10k of you came out to support our test! I hope folks are having fun as well. That's a lot more than we needed (100~200) In some respected we weren't prepared, in others... bring it. We're ready. Our families tolerated us doing a Christmas Eve patch release... Luckily the first update was better than the initial release.

We are gathering data on this end. Watching. Looking for failures (and there are many, but there is some nice bits too.)

The upside is there are not too many huge game breaking bugs (yes serious annoyances... but its playable, mostly. 😉). We likely have a couple stabilization builds going out. Then Phase 0 goes in the long tail while we develop the code for phase 1.

 

We will keep the servers up for continued play as I don't think its hurting our dev plans (support is a time sink at times), it does slow us down to reply to every message sent our way, so I am going to do batch replies. That's why all messages are moderated at this time and not posted. This channel will stay clear till we get further along.

• If you are have trouble getting in the Alpha please refer back to the instructions: https://groups.google.com/g/mini-militia-classic-alpha-force/c/2wfAa4-fHKc
  
  
• If you are not able to download because Google says you are incompatible, send in your model name/number listed on your phone's setting's page in the "about" section. It will give us a clue what else might be missing that we need to add.
  
  
• Apple users I will update you when I know anything and can add you. Its not in our hands. We wait for review. This is the Apple way. They don't do big tests well, they don't publish as fast as we want...
  
  
• Our messaging on the websites and news sites are not great. Its like a time warp to April 2018. it's what we new at the time. I know its not helping. We will adjust that in the down moments.
  
  
• This is alpha. scores don't matter, rank don't matter. That whole system is getting wiped. Please do not invest yourself in anything beyond per match scores If you want to save those screen shot them. Brace your souls for something new in that regard. We don't have access to that data. We're using this as an opportunity to modernize that portion. I'd love to just pick up where we left off, but we only have a spattering of data for <10% of the user base and its unusable in the new leaderboards to come anyway. So yeah... thanks for understanding, and I get it if you don't like it. Those scores are part of the Miniclip version. Which will be there as long Miniclip wants to continue maintaining it. It's not something we control.
  
  
• Hackers Already?! 
  • Ok several of these reports have ended up being a client error. There is a map mismatch error happening to some players. It looks like they are playing through walls. It may or may not grant them advantage. I have seen reports BOTH ways. Try to figure out what map they are on... We are trying to figure it out here in the meantime. Someone probably joined RIGHT as a game started and they don't know what map to load... this is possible.
    
  • OMG there is simply some good players. Check your lag indicator. Is there a coorelation? I researched a few of these and simply was outplayed hard. Like I was standing still.
  • If its a Hacker/Cheater I need to know what they are doing. Kicking you @$$ but with specifics please!!!

Thank you all for your patience. This is far from a polished app yet , but still pretty fun even though its got janky bits and parts are just... missing. When we get into the beta (that will be open to the public) we will wanting more input as well about future directions. So don't dismay your next level great idea is not implemented as we go through this. Very little NEW ideas are being used.

Ok it gets a little wordy from here on out:

tl;dr I probably answered your question in this message. See if you can find it. (yes I am asking you to read. You could have gotten a 100 emails individually and I responded to them... :P I am respecting everyone's time in hopes it will be returned kindness. I have consolidated all the question's answers. 

 
Here are more questions that were asked that I am responding to the group on a whole:

• How long is the alpha? If you want to hear me blather on about what alpha and beta might be like listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6-zNlJxpIY&t=1s
• Release date is unknown. When its ready its ready. We would love to have this release ready in a few months if I get to decide, but I don't get to so you can't quote me. This is a process. Release dates are generally amorphous around here. 
• Dual Guns, pro pack, all that stuff is unlocked whether you had it or not, when you log in. If your not able to dual, check your hud in the , reset it to default and reset up your hud. Start there.
  
• Feature suggestions: Hold onto new ideas till beta. We're not in a space to implement, let alone track, new ideas right now.
• Voice. You can ask, the answer is still to use Discord. We will add more emotes to aid in quicker comms before voice. You can ask, I know people want voice. Right now I recommend teams use a tool like Discord.
• Asking us to "fix the glitch" without saying what the glitch is... does not help. Be specific please (e.g., chat when dead. I can work with that!)
  
• [Not] Free pro pack is given to anyone who successfully signed in... so its not really free. you have to give us a working email address... See what we did there... ;)
• If you crash please make sure to restart the app and sit at the title or menu screen for 30 seconds while online. Its the only way we will get crash logs. If you can recreate these please send in the steps here.
• Trouble downloading the app using Google Play (besides the not compatible error) Make sure Google Play Store and connected services are updated. Delete the cache and data (be prepared to log in again and prove you are who you are to Google. Try again
• Make certain the email you use to join testing is the email you are using in the Play Store. No matchy, no appy.
• Hackers... I am dismayed they came back so quickly, but not surprised. Phase 1 of the alpha (next phase) should mess up their day immensely and its just the beginning there.
• There are several more weeks if not a month+ of Alpha. Phase 1 will end in a few weeks (with any luck + skill) and will require an app update to function. Phase 1 may require multiple app updates. A lot if changing between clients and servers. The chance we get it right first try will unlikely ;) See the link in the first bullet of this list for details.
• Clans is a new feature. Its not something we will even begin to think more about till late beta and beyond.
• Facebook login is a Minclip thing. Appsomniacs doesn't use Facebook login. Not that we couldn't investigate that. We may someday, we didn't before and still don't yet though. Please remember there is no data associated between the apps. We do not have access to the Google/Apple systems the other app has. Its 100% managed by Miniclip. I need you to understand we are NOT Miniclip, This is SPARTA! I mean Appsomniacs, we are Appsomniacs. Apple/Google doesn't allow cross data sharing between apps published by different companies. We will not have access to any of the old scores and purchaces.
• Fonts. We'll figure something out. I like the new font, but you don't have too. Font's will require adaptive UI... we don't have adaptive UI, e.g., buttons...)
• Road map is the term we use to describe the direction we THINK we are taking at the current moment. Roadmaps change, adapt, and overcome. Todays roadmap is tomorrows bad idea adjusted to the next day challenges as we overcome them.
• For those of you who like the Miniclip managed game, by all means keep playing that!!! It's there for you to enjoy. Its no slight on us if you do. Frankly your patronage there is funding this venture, so please play them both! ;D
• Please make videos. Remember its alpha. also share the signup. Please support your community and their findings. It helps us. Thanks!
• Merch... God I would love merch... we need merch... do we really need merch? What would be cool. Hold onto these ideas... we want to explore this.
• Revenue for the game will come from ads at first. Then we will have points you can buy and/or watch ads (to earn along with playing.) These things keep the lights on for everyone. Then we want to explore expert packages of services for people to subscribe too. I don't want to get into this here, but there are things we'd like to do in this game, but we can't afford it on add dollars only.... These subscribers might be where that happens. Not just early access, but premiere services, more stored data, special server access, etc.
• The idea of points are being rethought in their entirety. They will play an important role in the new Loadout feature. 
• No idea why Blue stacks isn't working, I gotta get this working on the phones first before I visit that. After we have an x86 build check back.
• Lag. Servers are limited to just a few locations right now. They may be in the USA west coast one day and India the next. Its easier for us to work on them if they are close to us, but makes for some serious lag. Lag can also be the CPU, although this game is usually not taxing to new phones, but turn off blood, disable 2x view, is it better? then its a CPU lag problem. For network lag we can try a lot and never solve... but in general I expect lag here and there as we are moving servers.
• Zoom issues, we will look at those too. not sure what's wrong with zoom change.
• All of the Passcode issues were related to incorrect email address and the email server not... serving. Please try again in those cases. MAKE CERTAIN you have the right email address in the sign in. We had mail problems first couple days, but that should be solved.
• We're not going to do much account support this alpha, since 1) we don't have a team trained up to handle this unstable target 2) everything is unlocked on ANY sign in. I can see some artifacts missing (like friends, an avatar, etc.) We just thank you for your patience an understanding on this matter.
• If you have password issues, use the app to resend/reset your passcode/password respectively.
• Battlepass/new avatars/new anything... we hear ya, but hold off on that. We literally have months of work ahead of us yet. Lets get in beta and get balancing payloads and introducing new game modes, etc. Hang in there and we'll see where this goes. if it goes well we might have to bring in some artists.
• Chad and I don't speak Hindi, but we have many friends that do speak that and more (Bengali, Arabic, Malayalam, Tamil, Marathi, to name a few.) Google translate chokes on some of those at times. But we usually get the gist of what's being asked. It just ads time onto the response. We do our best.
• Here is your reply you asked for directly to you (I can't do individual emails right now. :P thank you for understanding.)

I am sorry I can't reply to everyone. It's just too much.

-Hunter (and Chad)

Appsomniacs