What if, to meet the need for reduced queue times, there was two separate but main game modes of slapshot. Quick Match can queue serval servers but it’s not for a rank and more friendly towards new players. Ranked can be a separate game mode that a slapper can take more serious by only queueing servers with competitive ping rates.
#Advertising slap- how can we grow the game
vast holly
marsh bronze
most ppl wont want to play ping roulette even if its a casual mode
hardy elbow
how the FUCK do we get west populated again
better advertisement of slapshot...
apparently none of the social media managers got paid enough or smthn bro
vast holly
better advertisement of slapshot...
what ever happened to kaxzi
or however u spell it
the thing I will say is slapshot doesn’t need so much as a really good pitch to the consumer, the games free, that’s your selling point right there, just gotta get it out there
i’m so picky about my games, but slapshot is an actual good game, like genuinely it’s the love of my life. i’ve played anything from fifa to red dead to cod to battlefield to whatever the fuck yoi wanna name
it’s a good game, and free, just need to get the name out there which is easier said than done
flint hearth
DONT WORRY I HAVE BIG PLANS
hardy elbow
it’s a good game, and free, just need to get the name out there which is easier ...
Yeah but for some reason that ain’t happening
Idk if it’s laziness from erv or they don’t have the money to pay someone 😂
distant shoal
Idk if it’s laziness from erv or they don’t have the money to pay someone 😂
if they got the money to pay other devs for like 2 other games, they got the money for more game growth
Idk if it costs to do twitch drops but it did grow a bit from that (from what I remember) we’ve only done twitch drops once I think. Tiktok clips ain’t doin shit and most “content creators” just post montages and call it a day
need some stricter rules with the content creation applications as well
vast holly
Idk if it’s laziness from erv or they don’t have the money to pay someone 😂
erv is definitely not lazy. guy works his ass off for this game. he built something from the ground up. it may appear he might be more laid back from slapshot but that’s just because the game is complete and their working on other stuff rn. but in no way is erv “lazy”
vast holly
Idk if it costs to do twitch drops but it did grow a bit from that (from what I ...
kazxi was really good for the game
honestly tik tok is a really good resource rn probably better then anyother platform to share the game
vast holly
if they got the money to pay other devs for like 2 other games, they got the mon...
it’s not entirely that simple. now i used to think the same thing but i was talking to erv about the whole thing and it really opened up my mind to how company equity and oddshot finances work
marsh bronze
what slapshot needs
distant shoal
kazxi was really good for the game
yea cuz kazxi knew what he was doing, he didn’t add fuckin fart sound effects and other weird crap
Shame he’s not around anymore, we could honestly need em rn
vast holly
honestly, he’s got a 100k+ followers and averages thousands of views per video
marsh bronze
I was told (THIS IS NOT CONFIRMED I HEARD IT FROM SOMEONE ELSE) there was some issue between erv and kazxi and because of it kazxi left
vast holly
i understand their was a falling out, but it’s a bit cheap to completely turn your back on the game
distant shoal
I was told (THIS IS NOT CONFIRMED I HEARD IT FROM SOMEONE ELSE) there was some i...
yea, not gonna get into it cuz that’s their shit but shit was so stupid
vast holly
was kazxi just an ordinary slapper before he was employed ?
marsh bronze
realistically anyone can become a big creator but it takes a lot of time and money
vast holly
realistically anyone can become a big creator but it takes a lot of time and mon...
exactly
marsh bronze
was kazxi just an ordinary slapper before he was employed ?
yes and no, he was a content creator before he was employed but originally he was just like everyone else
distant shoal
don’t get me wrong, idk the first thing abt content creation but Ik 99% of the “creators” here just post monthly montages and call it a day. They aren’t exactly growing the game, not gonna name names but yea
vast holly
yes and no, he was a content creator before he was employed but originally he wa...
damn bastard, turned his back on the game. surely he had some love for it he was in the pro league, making money
distant shoal
damn bastard, turned his back on the game. surely he had some love for it he was...
he had his reasons, same with Erv
vast holly
don’t get me wrong, idk the first thing abt content creation but Ik 99% of the “...
totally, his content was wayyyyy different. slappers like this i guess are just posting for other slappers
marsh bronze
honestly content creation is pretty easy
vast holly
once you get around the curve it can become simpler yeah
marsh bronze
if you dont wanna do montages or clips just come up with creative ideas. irl hockey, mafia, bronze to legend, etc
vast holly
really the “curve” is just getting started
marsh bronze
record with obs and seperate mic from game audio
distant shoal
I’ve done hockey edits for espn and shit before but I could never make vids with my voice and stuff. Too awkward for me
marsh bronze
use some editing software like capcut (better if you pay for premium) and edit the videos in whichever way you want
you can pull sounds off the internet
you can use ai voices now, honestly its better for short term content that ppl scroll
distant shoal
maybe but AI voices didn’t seem good with the slap stuff
marsh bronze
if you really want to grow with content creation you have to just click bait and grab attention, something about that ai voices draws attention, besides that a clever idea and decent cover image can go a super long way
distant shoal
Most recent post on slap tiktok was may bro.
vast holly
kazxi just knew how to advertise the game in a content creation style. he wasnt necessarily entertaining people, he was just teaching like puck handling and how the spl works ect ect
marsh bronze
If I wasnt playing college baseball and working on my degree id do content creation honestly
yea honestly guides can be really good
vast holly
if you really want to grow with content creation you have to just click bait and...
right now there is a lot of attention to small indie games, this could be a good strategy
marsh bronze
like the best content is an interesting looking clip followed by a guide on how to do it
vast holly
like the best content is an interesting looking clip followed by a guide on how ...
exactly what kazxi was doing. i got clipped by him one time and he broke it down 😭😭😭
marsh bronze
draw them in with the flashy clip and then tell them you can do it too
distant shoal
the main thing when u look at slap reviews is the learning curve. Shouldn’t be hard to integrate tiktok guides in the slapshot training that way the new players see it easier than having to search up the tiktok and scroll through old vids @hearty wave
marsh bronze
can we make this a new post 😭
distant shoal
can we make this a new post 😭
we’ve had like 2 billion posts on how to fix shit lmao
marsh bronze
true
distant shoal
marsh bronze
real that theres been a million posts and nothings changed but erv cant do a lot especially with the pressure to keep adding features like replays
I will say id like more training options like dangle training, advanced braking, stuff like that
distant shoal
I will say id like more training options like dangle training, advanced braking,...
I’d say bumping but bots are a bit wack
vast holly
slapshot is hard. and i don’t think the best advertisement and tutorials in the world would help keep a good portion of players. but, if we can just reach the audience of people who are hyper competitive and love sports, the game WILL grow
marsh bronze
theres not that many mechanics to slapshot so its nots exactly hard to work on them but when youre new to the game and know nothing its rough
marsh bronze
slapshot is hard. and i don’t think the best advertisement and tutorials in the ...
yea thats me
marsh bronze
I’d say bumping but bots are a bit wack
yea
distant shoal
wouldn’t want to sensory overload tutorials but damn
marsh bronze
my other idea was make a more cinematic tutorial and heavy guide players towards training
similar to the newer rocket league one where its like playing on rails
vast holly
right right
marsh bronze
when someone sees what the game can be it can give them a goal to shoot for
vast holly
when i first started playing rocket league i would only play the bots in the like the season mode thing
what if we implemented that in slap 🫣
marsh bronze
that exists
distant shoal
duct tape the puck to noobs sticks atp
vast holly
that exists
wdym
marsh bronze
bot matches that is
vast holly
yeah but rl has like a create your own team and play a season and it has a championship and stuff
marsh bronze
yes true
vast holly
with bots and it’s co op
vast holly
that would be a cool addition
vast holly
but its not the main game its more of an intro
EXACTLY
marsh bronze
maybe it could be introduced with a forced bot match
vast holly
same idea as like For Honor, which is hard at first so most players play the story mode, then go into multi player
marsh bronze
like whatver create your team and stuff and then you get into the game and its like welcome to the season opener
vast holly
maybe it could be introduced with a forced bot match
fantastic idea
vast holly
like whatver create your team and stuff and then you get into the game and its l...
erv we got some ideas
marsh bronze
the hard part is the custom teams lol
honestly this idea for me would be more important than anything else
vast holly
well yeah it would be a major change for a minor part of the game, which can be hard to commit too, but i think it would be good
need to nurture the new players
‼️‼️
distant shoal
yeah but rl has like a create your own team and play a season and it has a champ...
i mean that’s kinda already a thing but
marsh bronze
distant shoal
🤐
distant shoal
not sure how that would come at a cost of players? They’re already clueless. Maybe unlocking certain tutorials once they reach a certain rank?
marsh bronze
might as well copy the most successful physics based sports game out there
vast holly
tweak the bots to make em a little better, get that first cinematic match, and maybe than slap is in the big leagues
marsh bronze
I think bots is difficult
distant shoal
they’d have to recode the bots entirely
marsh bronze
and im sure a cinematic is too, but imo it would be an achievable big project
vast holly
how much better is a brand new slapper to a bot you think?
vast holly
cus slap has such a depravity of players that after their bot season players would probably play like silver at lowest
and they would probably get diddled, but they would at least have an understating of the game that’s less frustrating
marsh bronze
yea
honestly I like the idea of the first season being pretty easy, like maybe it ramps up but it should fs start with some wins
vast holly
draw them in with the illusion of success
marsh bronze
yea lol
vast holly
expose them to the harsh reality of quick match, and then boom you’ll hook em
distant shoal
should’ve not started strikers club bro💔 slap ain’t finished
marsh bronze
i mean ramping it up slowly should help development
vast holly
should’ve not started strikers club bro💔 slap ain’t finished
i said this too, but like sometimes devs need to explore other options in order to better understand their main title
marsh bronze
yea I wish slap got more love but I understand the logistics of owning a game development studio
vast holly
the strikers club discord has a lot of interaction for a game that isn’t even in beta
marsh bronze
yea
distant shoal
the strikers club discord has a lot of interaction for a game that isn’t even in...
that discord is dead bro wym
no one talked in there for like 2-3 weeks
vast holly
when they make announcements people pay attention
marsh bronze
I think overall the better intro is a solid idea and it might making alts a little more annoying to make
distant shoal
im goin back into my hater era
vast holly
I think overall the better intro is a solid idea and it might making alts a litt...
i agree heavily
marsh bronze
Im getting the same feeling as when Im at subway and they got the dang meat hider so I cant see how much meat they puttin on my sandwich, like I just wanna see behind the scenes to know whats going on
marsh bronze
like bro let me back there
I understand(partially) why he doesnt share everything in progress
distant shoal
maybe erv could be more transparent where the game is heading
quite honestly replay sounds like it’s been such developmental hell, I don’t think he even knows. Ik when he started strikers club it helped him learn more things abt coding since the slap engine is a lot harder to deal with
marsh bronze
its starting to feel like when rl was like were going to ue5 and then didnt update anyone for like a year and it was a shitty little update that said nothing and the update still hasnt come out
vast holly
the slap engine is such an interesting dynamic
marsh bronze
bro I wanna see how it works but im too lazy to try😭
like theres gotta be a better way to code the game but I imagine its very difficult
no offense but the fact theres no lag compensation makes the game unplayable past 60 ping
vast holly
i saw an interview where erv was talking about how they tried other stuff but eventually just had to make the whole thing
distant shoal
vast holly
and basically it’s a masterpiece for slapshot but like limits slapshot to stay as slapshot
marsh bronze
got it
vast holly
and not become evo slapshot
vast holly
i tried to pitch erv all these ideas about lag and servers ect ect and he explained it’s basically impossible
slaps too server based because the stick handling is so precise
and it’s physics based all these reasons
marsh bronze
Deep in my heart I believe theres a compromsie that changes the physics a tiny bit but makes the game much more playable
vast holly
erv said that but then he said “it woudnt be slapshot anymore”
marsh bronze
tbh
vast holly
Deep in my heart I believe theres a compromsie that changes the physics a tiny b...
wait lemme find the comment
marsh bronze
idgaf 💀
vast holly
nvm anyways it was in a ticket that got closed
marsh bronze
to me it will play similarly enough, and I understand that its a passion project based on another game but man I wish I could see the game at its best
vast holly
you know, maybe they could do a play test of a altered slapshot
marsh bronze
cuz I mean I play rocket league a lot and I often think many if slapshot played like this I would play it more
vast holly
like with the enhanced client base instead of physics based server tick thingy
marsh bronze
its not the idea of slapshot I find hard to grind its just the lag, low player count, etc
vast holly
cuz I mean I play rocket league a lot and I often think many if slapshot played ...
that’s the idea but erv said like, it’s easier for rocket leagues client to predict the next tick because cars have momentum ect ect. and the stick in slapshot can move anywhere at any speed
marsh bronze
remaking the game would take a lot of dedication
vast holly
the stick movement would be very different if they changed the game, and i’m not sure how it would work
maybe erv could give us some insight when he’s free 🙂
marsh bronze
stick momentum
distant shoal
erv said that but then he said “it woudnt be slapshot anymore”
At the end of the day, as long as it’s a hockey game people will play it. This game needs to change in order to actually fix these issues. Wouldn’t hurt to do a poll about it, be transparent and get some ideas flowing. feels like everytime people bring up this stuff they just get shut down immediately by pessimistic thinking
vast holly
true true but, idk slap is all about the stick. the dangles the tricks
marsh bronze
id relearn the physics honestly
vast holly
the bumping
marsh bronze
I think if the stick had monetum and that allowed for lag compensation the input delay would be lower so it would still feel accurate enough
vast holly
@hearty wave what would slap look like with the differed version of the physics movement and stick movement
marsh bronze
just like how in rocket league you cant speed up instantly
vast holly
honestly erv had a really great explanation for that arguement
i don’t have it anymore but he can prolly explain it to you
marsh bronze
okay id love to hear lol
vast holly
that’s why i @ed him
marsh bronze
I hear parts of it and everytime it always goes more in depth
current ideas:
new tutorial with cinematic
forced bot match that starts the player on a sort of championship run season
stick momentum
i imagine everything else is predictable
vast holly
Hello erv in the future! this is some ideas we had, also could you re explain the physics stick argument thing we talked about but for puffro 🙂
marsh bronze
stick lift and puck lift maybe
vast holly
player movement definitely is
marsh bronze
but those arent instant by any stretch
vast holly
it’s momentum based
marsh bronze
yea the gist is how would things work if inputs were all momentum based? would this allow for less input delay?
hearty wave
Hi, I've quickly gone through the (huge amount) of messages here, I'll do my best to answer the questions and feedback raised:
@vast holly @marsh bronze @distant shoal
Input Delay
The short version is in order to remove input delay, the game needs to predict where things will be because we only know the delayed version. With the speed of Slapshot's stick that can move at any time and any amount of degrees affecting the Puck and other players, it's impossible to have accurate prediction which would make the game rubber-band to the point of it being unplayable. We opted for Input Delay to preserve the accuracy of the game simulation instead. Other games like Puck suffer from the same problem.
Why don't you just change the physics to make prediction work?
We did during alpha, the game just wasn't fun at a much much slower and restricted pace. It would become a completely different game if we wanted to do that. We would have to rely less on physics and glue the puck to the stick, restrict its movement, change the way you move, have a pass button etc. Slapshot is in part so unique because these limitations generally stop other studios from investing in a concept with such a big downside.
Tutorial overhaul
I'm open to changing it completely. There are still some changes I want to make to the current one and observe the results from it before we invest a few weeks of work into overhauling it completely. I do personally believe that the tutorial isn't a cause for players experiencing the learning curve, it's the gameplay itself. No other game controls the way Slapshot does so it takes some getting used to. The tutorial shows this gameplay to people, so it's a natural quitting point if they don't resonate with it. That being said, a gentler introduction to it might still help and is on our mind.
Roadmap transparency
We've been a lot more open with our roadmap in the Game Council. It contains about 200 community members that provide feedback to our ideas and progress, as well as point out the things we need to focus on more. We might open applications to it again in the future but we don't want too many cooks in the kitchen. There is a wide variety of players in there from each region, skill level and playtime. There is a major update coming soon. We're not comfortable making a roadmap that goes too far into the future because working with a 6 year old codebase at this point can really hamstring us with some features that should be easy, but are infinitely harder because of legacy code and bugs it could cause.
Bot match
When players play for the first time, when they click on matchmaking it gives them a popup which recommends playing a bot match first. A decent amount of players do pick that option and it has helped with retention. We're looking into making the first few matches more of a co-op experience versus bots online too to ease people into the game more, but there are concerns about matchmaking time since we don't want veterans as teammates in those lobbies.
vast holly
Hi, I've quickly gone through the (huge amount) of messages here, I'll do my bes...
Just touching on the bot match topic, i really like where you were heading with the co op idea to transition players into the game. the concern of veteran players in those lobbies seems a little unfounded tho, perhaps a new player should have a special designation/rank, that serves as the primary ticket into those bot games. A veteran player woudnt have this special designation, and woudnt be queued into those games, unless they made an alt i guess. however, an issue exists within my proposed solution in that a special designation would filter down the player base to such a small percent at a given time that they probably woudnt get a game right away. so maybe the opening bot games should just be one player vs the cpu. additionally, a problem i’ve seen in slap is new players coming in as “unranked”, and being thrown into a plat game, and not enjoying their time. So to kill two birds with one stone, the rocket league season championship idea comes in. add some depth to the game’s introduction and maybe you’ve got yourself a long term player!
however, i’m not entirely sure if the unranked issue remains prevalent, because of recent changes to the ranked system. does one start from the bottom rank automatically now? or is it still the placement matches?
I was also doing some thinking earlier to my first days on slapshot. i asked myself, “what made the game stick?”. i went back to my old review of the game, there little gilbert talked of a harsh learning curve, but it wasn’t necessarily the center of my review. How can oneself be a gamer if they crumble at the slightest hint of a challenge. i think many gamers play online multiplayer games because they are not easy, because they are competitive, and because they are fast paced. slapshot meets this criteria, so why the dwindling population? i honestly cannot think of it, perhaps my unconscious bias prevents me. but one thing is for certain, the game is GOOD. maybe it just needsa lucky break, some sort of exposure, like a viral tiktok or, just something!!!! When I callback to my first years on slap, there was barely anybody on ever! sure, it was the first few years of the game, but what i found was ruins of a faded empire. old discord servers like “west coast slapshot” without a chat since 1923, and old players heading statistics leader boards that hadn’t touched the game in ages. but then, boom, a few lucky breaks on twitch ect ect and the game was booming. perhaps we need a few more lucky breaks.
games rise and fall. slapshot is what? half a decade old? that’s how long i’ve been playing atleast. maybe, just maybe, the game is done. for good.
but it can’t be! the gameplay isn’t outdated, the graphics are fresh, the foundation is there!!!! DAMNIT IM LOSING MY MIND
perhaps the only way forward is long term development of oddshot games. and the remaking of slapshot one day in the future…
distant shoal
in terms of players not sticking the most popular things I’ve seen as the reasons is
Toxic community( which that’s gonna happen anyways and I think this dev/mod team are doing the best they possibly can with it)
Ping issues (which I think that’s more of shitty middle men that’s providing the servers)
Learning curve
we should def get the TikTok up and going again tho, even if tiktok gets banned or wtvr it’s real easy to grow on that type of content if yk what ur doing and consistent
Can I ask what happened with tea? just noticed they aren’t in the server anymore
hardy elbow
we should def get the TikTok up and going again tho, even if tiktok gets banned ...
Feel like game exposure is one of the biggest issues
Easy to fix just gotta pay someone to make videos
cerulean inlet
Feel like game exposure is one of the biggest issues
What a great idea just buy advertising and the game is fixed ez
they’ve already been promoted or played by most creators that are in the same genre.
they’ve said that whatever they spend on ads they don’t earn back in player revenue.
If you want to see more players online it’s simple. go convince your friends the game is fun. fuck around in customs if they don’t like mm.
We need to bring the new players, they’re not going to magically appear when the game is already on life support.
hardy elbow
they’ve already been promoted or played by most creators that are in the same ge...
Not too sure if you know how advertisement works
Can’t just pay 1 creator and expect the game to grow you need to have a steady production of content going onto all platforms from an official channel
That grows a game
cerulean inlet
Not too sure if you know how advertisement works
my fault
hardy elbow
Or any brand and right now all social media people that oddshot hire just quit after a month
cerulean inlet
Or any brand and right now all social media people that oddshot hire just quit a...
you’re still talking as if this is a novel idea and the game pop hasn’t halved over the last few months.
bring a friend online instead of expecting more players to appear out of nowhere.
hardy elbow
bring a friend online instead of expecting more players to appear out of nowhere...
I have tried to bring many and they all thought the game was shit.
hardy elbow
you’re still talking as if this is a novel idea and the game pop hasn’t halved o...
Players quit and new players come that’s how games work but slap ain’t getting any new players because there’s no exposure
cerulean inlet
I have tried to bring many and they all thought the game was shit.
:/
cerulean inlet
I have tried to bring many and they all thought the game was shit.
I mean tbh the public mm kinda blows for new players that’s not a surprise lol.
my friends also hated mm but found freezetag and custom mini arena to be fun. After a few weekends i tricked them into playing mm and now i run into their 3 stack 
just gotta trick them into having fun
hardy elbow
my friends also hated mm but found freezetag and custom mini arena to be fun. Af...
Yeah that’s just a lot of work, issue is shit mm Is caused by no players and no players is caused by shit mm. Not much that can happen
vast holly
thats the slap cycle right there
vast holly
that would fuck match making tho
marsh bronze
I mean it was fine for a long ass time