Like last year, I want to present the roadmap for new projects for the year 2019/2020. Because indeed, a few days ago, CsAcademie celebrated it’s 3-year anniversary.
2018/2019
Last year, we launched the portal. This is the site for managing user accounts in our community. It also manages donations, financing, server administration, and accesses. The change has been difficult, but after a few weeks players have managed to adapt and use the new tool. This site has allowed us and will allow us to add more content in the future. We recently added the maps management, and banishments system. (Now, it’s a real pleasure to ban players! 😉 )
In the community, we launched the labs. Spaces to share, and work on a given project (lab sounds, overview lab, …). We decided to close the labs at the end of the year 2018 because they clearly weren’t as successful as we had hoped. Today, we have a common channel on the Rocketchat where all requests / work are concentrated, which adds a little more animation, but is still not perfect.
For events, we organized the Christmas event, proposing an advent calendar, and special Christmas nights. We had more than 550 entries on the advent calendar (it was positive compared to the year 2017), and the server was full during the special event. We have not held a new event since, missing many dates, including our 3-year anniversary.
On the server, we changed server in January (same power, but cheaper than the old one) and we continued to improve existing plugins. There have not been big changes to the rest of the gameplay.
In conclusion, we finish this year with a lot of technical changes, but a bad events organization.
Projects for 2019/2020
The year 2019/2020 will focus on improving gaming, and improving activities in and out of the game. We will continue to add new features on the portal.
The mapcycle system is now fully managed on the game server. One of this year’s projects is to manage mapcycles directly on the portal. The maps will always be chosen according to the number of people, and their size, but also according to the map frequentation. The less a map is played, the more likely it will be chosen. The system will therefore play all the maps, and avoid replaying on the same map for a few hours. The voting system for a card will also be improved, and displayed into website in real time.
An automatic system of request for record will be proposed on the portal. With a reason, any connected player will be able to ask for a record on a game where he has suspicions. The record will be sent on the RocketChat, in the overwatch channel to be viewed. (Viewing videos is a long act, any abuse will be punished).
In order to limit ghost accounts, a forgetting system will be set up on the portal. After 6 (12?) months without login, an account will be deleted, and personal information will be erased. An email will notify you one month before the effective deletion. For donor accounts, an email will be sent that the number of shares has been increased, to empty the balance. The user will be able to reconnect and return to 1 part at any time. The account will be deleted when the portfolio reaches 0 €.
Support from new donors will be put in place to help them set up the donor tag on the game, connect to TeamSpeak, and Rocketchat.
Finally, the most important part in my opinion, the organization of events. I will spend more time on the organization of new events, and I will put in place new mechanics to encourage people to help / organize their own events.