Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Starting today, the servers should be fairly fast throughout. They will be restarting every 8 hours while I fix a crawling slowness issue.
I’ll be making an announcement later about my plans to go from this plaster solution to a full solution.
Monday, May 30th, 2011
Guys, I’ll be posting updates through the day on @IanHardingham
Monday, May 30th, 2011
Yesterday we managed to seriously upgrade the volume of users that can play online, but at the cost of sharding our servers and making it difficult for people to know which server they are on.
Today, I am going to:
- add enough new servers that hopefully we will have enough capacity full stop
- upgrade the server system to one which “just works” for the end user
I will keep you guys updated with my progress.
Sunday, May 29th, 2011
Guys, once again a huge thank you for bearing with us. I’m slowly bringing the server situation somewhat under control, and I think more and more people are being able to play with reasonable response times.
Here are the salient points:
- I have sharded our servers – when you log in please note which server you are joining, and join that server again. Matches and statistics are kept per server
- Some users, mainly mac users, may lose match data from yesterday, but not after now. If you have lost data we will get it back in time.
- We will re-sync all data when everything’s calmed down, but for now please choose a server and stick with it
- Due to this our friend system has had to change – more info is being mailed out. Basically, send your friend your own cd key and the download location from: http://www.mode7games.com/support/getURL.php
I think that everyone *should* be able to play tonight with reasonable response times.
Thank you to everyone for sticking with us during this busy time!
Friday, May 27th, 2011
Guys, we are currently undergoing server strain like I was never, ever expecting. The server is currently just about functioning, but slowly. First two important points:
- if you are stuck for a long time registering, please restart the game and try again
- if you still can’t get on, please play the single player for a while – we’re trying to upgrade our server capacity
- you activate your friend key in game after you have registered
- if your friend has not received his mail, send him the download location you recieved along with his account details
- if you still cannot sort out your friend key, please email paul bat mode7games bot com with your exact situation, forwarding your purchase email
- if you are unable to activate a key on Steam, we may not be able to sort it out for a day or so – please play outside Steam and rest assured that all keys bought from us will register on Steam very soon
Almost all serious problems not directly to do with server overload are answered here:
http://forums.mode7games.com/viewforum.php?f=21
If you need to get your download location or steam key, please go here:
http://www.mode7games.com/support/getURL.php
If you need to change your password, please go here:
http://www.mode7games.com/support/changePassword.php
These services might be slow/non functional during the server overload – please be patient in that case.
We are basically overwhelmed, both physically and emotionally, by the support we have already received from FS. Please trust that we are working as hard as we can to improve the server situation, but the single player is fully functional and we expect to sort out the servers very shortly.
Thank you,
Mode 7
Thursday, May 26th, 2011
Here is how to activate on Steam if you are an existing pre-order customer or direct sales customer…
If you purchased the game yourself from Mode 7
1.) You will need to find your original license key
It will have been mailed to you when you purchased the game
If you have lost it, contact Fastspring with your details and they will provide you with it.
2.) Open Steam and go to “Activate a Product on Steam” in the Games menu
3.) Slap that beauty in there!
If you were sent a copy of the game under the “free copy for a friend” scheme
1.) Go to this place to get your key
http://www.mode7games.com/support/getURL.php
2.) Follow the above set of instructions
If you are a journalist and were sent a review copy
Your key should now work on Steam.
If you purchased from another distributor e.g. Desura
You cannot currently activate your copy of Frozen Synapse on Steam, for obvious reasons (you bought it from a direct competitor). This may change in the future, although that is unlikely – if so, though, I will update this post.
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Hey guys.
I’ve just done a quick dump of the ELO rankings for every player who’s played more than 100 FS matches, along with their existing rank based simply on aggregate score for comparison. Apologies this isn’t formatted better, didn’t have time to get it looking pretty.
Here’s an easier to read table supplied by TehShrike
NAME ELO SCORE RANK GLOBAL RANK
TheBeefiest 7403.2 1 1
Bin 5061.85 3 3
xgreen 4326.72 4 4
YouGo 3382.08 5 2
cyron 3220.96 6 8
COBHC_M1N1M3 3080.96 7 5
limavictor426 2987.36 8 6
kyzen 2921.6 9 14
mosimo 2897.6 10 12
sittingduck 2886.72 11 13
Goateh 2827.52 12 11
Ramsar 2581.12 13 7
MrFoo 2567.04 14 16
Burn 2563.34 15 19
Zakski 2558.88 16 17
lu-tze 2375.52 17 15
MrRoboto 2326.72 18 18
Pandarsenic 2274.72 19 9
Blindsight 2267.68 20 309
kilsock 2262.88 21 20
phoses 2243.36 22 10
lyx 2228.32 23 23
LobotomyLobster 2219.2 24 21
Zolkowski 2216.16 25 22
Grave 2141.76 26 25
jaytee00 2125.44 27 24
wonderhero 2106.4 28 36
Faxmachinen 2027.36 30 26
Toeofdoom 2006.88 31 31
DelTaGC 1993.44 32 45
bubleeshaark 1973.44 33 39
icebrain 1971.52 34 56
xa3ox 1968.32 35 122
Plum 1945.76 36 43
makr 1944.0 37 28
Kelron 1942.88 38 34
Viriathus 1925.12 40 32
Dawnbringer 1916.16 41 62
FurryPants 1898.72 42 44
st.charbel 1885.6 44 51
Yokienshi 1881.12 45 58
DirtyNastyDoll 1874.4 47 61
Baboonanza 1860.0 48 66
EkajArmstro 1855.68 49 27
Ze0n 1853.44 50 30
Waylon_Cheyenne 1852.0 51 52
Ben3fic1al 1851.36 52 60
adam_0 1843.52 53 47
COB3 1809.6 60 80
TheOrangeMage 1782.88 68 82
Grimmsy 1777.92 70 63
seb27 1770.4 71 59
Mr.K 1769.12 72 156
Sykes 1766.88 75 81
Pluteus 1762.24 77 91
Aetherius 1752.16 80 57
Laeke 1745.76 85 86
PureChance 1737.12 90 68
FLiP 1735.04 91 48
Epicurus 1727.36 96 78
tifougou 1720.48 100 130
ThePhilosopher 1709.92 104 90
SFLegend 1702.72 112 152
philipp77 1700.16 113 739
antisocialfatman 1697.28 114 144
blenderer 1686.4 120 214=
erix 1682.72 122 140
rudygets 1681.76 124 124
Archa 1672.32 131 50
mindcontrol 1672.32 132 71
Moraboy 1665.6 139 195=
julien 1665.6 140 139
Eagleheart 1664.8 142 131
aglari 1663.04 144 164
VexingVision 1659.2 147 104=
RoyW 1645.6 158 179=
Buana 1637.92 167 175
Christian 1626.4 182 229
mizzu 1620.96 192 375=
Ace_Rimmer 1612.8 212 223=
inaneDirk 1612.48 215 250
Fletch 1607.84 226 191
Fallschirmjager 1606.4 229 290
RoOlfenstein 1605.6 231 300
TheInnocent 1604.16 235 185
brogame 1598.4 256 222
Pedophant 1597.92 257 272=
Legax 1597.6 258 280=
Hdfisise 1589.92 277 4708
Monhay 1583.04 316 1466=
Kazarelth 1575.68 341 253
Cooper 1567.04 383 214=
offal 1561.44 417 391
FaceWound 1555.68 461 389=
Ordo 1555.04 466 67
robs 1550.56 506 4093=
PoLLeNSKi 1545.6 545 2880=
erendis 1529.92 737 4920
Evilpigeon 1528.32 772 806=
onoko 1520.32 947 3873=
Shwonk 1518.4 990 426
Xietanu 1516.8 1047 3282=
radaeron 1514.88 1109 4810=
Abekonge 1509.6 1310 3016=
Gotee7 1504.48 1641 417=
phreeze 1504.32 1643 1208=
ouarlax 1498.08 2076 910=
Pixel 1494.4 2275 1388=
deanimate 1492.32 2433 330=
PMRN 1484.32 3079 5050
Helmer 1483.04 3192 4449
Elman 1456.32 4206 4565=
asherrd 1455.36 4217 3999=
temporary 1452.8 4279 4685=
Matzerath 1452.64 4282 4608=
tims 1449.28 4346 4485=
Pickupsticks 1435.2 4585 4556=
SuperBear 1430.56 4643 4976
Forkedman 1427.36 4673 4834=
steer 1426.88 4676 3016=
Pico 1424.32 4697 4588=
quirrel 1418.4 4754 4720
Rymdkejsaren 1397.6 4880 4840
FallingFear 1392.8 4905 4969
Koreg 1388.8 4917 4917
Markus 1375.84 4975 4279=
Malakian 1358.24 5011 3273=
UNSUB 1347.84 5032 4895
marqw 1346.08 5035 5057
SpaceHamlet 1334.08 5050 4929
CarpeDiem 1324.96 5056 4922
natemo 1293.92 5083 4968
haXs 1293.12 5084 4970
Arctic 1285.92 5089 5033
theadder 1285.12 5090 5003
Basic 1281.12 5093 5031
ilZ 1272.96 5096 5012
seederi 1269.76 5098 5067
Oak 1250.88 5103 5046
pedzouille 1243.2 5107 5076
Clone 1241.28 5108 5063
JaguarUSF 1239.52 5109 4784
Francis 1211.68 5111 5056
BlackLabel 1157.92 5114 5058
Jayhawk 1126.72 5116 5064
Phoenix-D 1090.24 5118 5074
HiroProtagonist 1045.6 5120 5072
Paul 1027.52 5122 5055
thephantompig 934.4 5123 5077
Looks like Blindsight has a huge difference – he must only be playing against quality opposition.
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
I get a lot of criticism for allowing uneven unit sides in some game modes, but I think that uneven sides create interesting matchups, and the duplicate system rewards you for doing well with a worse situation. Tellingly, often both players on a map will think they have the worse side.
Here’s a fantastic match (#5912) I just played where I had a really significantly worse team – two machine gunners and a shotgunner vs an mg, a sniper, and a rocket launcher; on an open Disputed map. It forced me to take tactics I’d never used before.
There are lots of people who feel very strongly that a game has to be “fair” to be fun. I understand where these guys are coming from – and of course FS has options for fully symetrical maps as well as teams – but I think it’s overly limiting to design. The best game memories are of getting out of a tricky situation when the odds were against you, after all.
Monday, May 9th, 2011
I apologise in advance for the following quote:
Your first release candidate is like your first girlfriend. It won’t last the week, but it’s bloody exciting.
– Ian Hardingham, 2006
On Thursday we launched the final beta version – the first public version with our single player campaign in. We did a press release (great props to Paul for making one which everyone liked so much) and got picked up on Rock Paper Shotgun and PC Gamer. We got a lot of new players, and a lot of very nice comments.
I have now fixed all the serious bugs that have been raised over the 5000 multiplayer matches and goodness-knows how many single player matches played since that release, and I am holding in my hand a real release candidate.
We’ll be updating you very soon on release dates.
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