Optional Pausing in Coop

[vital epoch]

I've got some friends that want to play this as a coop game, but it's somewhat pressuring to try and pick up and learn when you have to select your upgrades as quickly as humanly possible to not waste precious time in multiplayer. Could we get an option to pause the game for everyone while selecting upgrades in multiplayer? Especially for shared-EXP mode, where everyone is selecting at the same time anyways.

[random scroll]

The game already does that. If everyone is within a level up bubble The game will automatically pause for you. Additionally with the shared EXP on if someone breaks the bubble before you you are still getting exp

[vital epoch]

Odd. When I was playing it didn't seem to be pausing on levelup, even when we had shared.

That said, even so it would be nice to have an option to enforce it rather than everyone having to coordinate their selections at the same time. It's still time people aren't playing or contributing if someone selects faster than everyone else.

[random scroll]

I accidentally tested this out when going AFK mid game with someone else who had gone AFK. I can certainly confirm that it does pause. However I do not think that forcing people to select things together can really work in the game. There is an item which boost your EXP gain so even with shared EXP on it is possible for someone to level up faster than the others.

[vital epoch]

That's fine, though. I can understand not wanting to be forced to constantly wait for indecisive randos, but this is an option that could be enabled in non-cooped games to allow players of inconsistent skill levels to be able to play together without needing to introduce a weird meta minigame of making sure you never click until your teammates are ready.

[high epoch]

League of legends swarm mode did this perfectly, Everyone gets the same xp even if some as a "boost" and there's a 20 second forced pause on each level up, once everyone selected a skill it resumes as normal, if you failed to select within 20 seconds it picked whichever you last mouse on or the leftmost skill. also there was a decline upgrade option if you didn't want to replace something the flow then became eveyone fighting, all get the prompt to level up at the same time, and it would only take a short time before making the action resume, thus no random hostage action and no mis timing on level ups

[severe coyote]

yes but the main mode is no exp share

[bleak fox]

If someone has an exp gear, everyone SHOULD NOT be of same level. Evolutions also slow down EXP since the evolution is more powerful than before.

[high epoch]

I dont see how having coop players be diff level and getting invulnerability at diff times from teammates can function in a non clunky way. These types of game STRIVE on pacing, having my team safe in a bubble and Me then get surrounded while they take 15 seconds to pick is an absolute horrid experience

[random scroll]

I would argue that being paused every 5 seconds because someone else on your team leveled up when you didn't and is now taking their time selecting a level up perk to be an even worse experience

[bleak fox]

Then what value would you have for having and exp cloak? When you evolve you trade some exp for stats as well.

[high epoch]

If someone has an exp boosting item it would grant the boosted XP to everyone?

As far as evolution that might mix things up, I don't have a ton in swarm but I do in other TSS and bullet heaven games, so if evolution drastically changes your exp needed it would throw a wrench into my suggestion

I do believe if you somehow get all coop members paused or upgrading at the same time it would improve the feel. My gripe about getting swarmed when my ally is picking and having no way to stop the enemies still stands. Just pause all enemies and players while someone is picking a powerup?

[vital epoch]

It keeps coming back to this, and I will continue to throw out the same foundational point:

I understand this sentiment, but this is proposing an option for people that want it. There is quite literally no negative in providing an option to players that want to wait for their friends. "Some people might hate this" isn't really a meaningful counterpoint when those people can just... not hit the button that turns it on.

[random scroll]

The game doesn't really work that way. Gear items only apply to the individual and not the group. It would be incredibly weird to have a gear item which someone has to give up a slot for to apply to the entire group when all other gear items are individual.

[random scroll]

I wasn't arguing against having an option for it. I'm not inherently against adding more options. I do question whether or not it is worth the development time as I don't think as the game currently functions it will be a fun experience for the vast majority of players... But again. Not against it. Just providing my views on why I find the current system better and why I see this idea as one that most people wouldn't enjoy.

[bleak fox]

So every gear should work for everyone?

[bleak fox]

Game would be crazy if everyone got the boost.

[high epoch]

@bleak fox I don't see what that would be a huge issue, it allows team customization and trying different strategies with multiple different setups. It's a Bullet heaven? Game is meant to be a crazy power fantasy right?

[random scroll]

I think the detriment to that is it pushes people too much to play multiplayer. It also punishes you playing single player since you are now 1/3 your maximum power. It can also lead to frustration over what your teammates pick since now what they pick affects you.

But that's getting very offtopic for this feedback thread

[bleak fox]

It would kinda force a meta onto everyone while making the game too easy unless game gets even harder for co-op. You lose diversity because now everyone needs to get attack and exp cloak because it's auto best. Using the same tem now benefits more too. Everyone needs to use Innki because you can do more damage if we get more pansuns. Someone using Pigepic now just lowered team damage because he chose movement speed when we're already fast. Now it's great for synergy but could had just used Innki instead for more power. I see it actually lowering customization if everything stacks and everyone can choose same buffs. Maybe 1 of the 2 ideas could work but both together sounds bad imo.

[random scroll]

The game already spawns more enemies in co-op...

... But like I said... This is getting extremely offtopic

[high epoch]

Sounds like too many complex mechanics for a lite survival game meant to be fun. Just scrap gear if there's no way to balance it, add the auto pause all feature as an option, or make 2 modes one hardcore for people like you who can't handle optimizing the fun out of the game. Idk what else you want. Just because you can force the same comp to work doesn't mean everyone always will and sometimes given choice people try things out.

[bleak fox]

It is balanced

[bleak fox]

I know. Was further explaining.

[severe coyote]

preventing optimising fun out of a game is what we call good game design