Online Ranking

[zivnix]

Hello everyone.
As much as I'd like to see multiplayer I understand that it would take much time to implement it, so it's better to leave it for your next game, FTL Online

However, there is another way of making this single player game more bonding.
What I have in mind is online ranking system. You could have kind of old school HI-SCORE lists.

There could be 3 of them:
a) Most missions accomplished,
b) Highest streak,
c) Average missions accomplished per games played.

I think that it wouldn't be so hard to implement in game. Just add accounts, link them to your server and add a couple of counters. The gain, however, would be pretty big. Players would come to the website to check their status, they'd get ranks added to their names on forum, they'd play more to improve rank and so on.

So you would gain more popularity at small cost. And it would be great for us players.

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

I'd rather not have to connect to a server, if possible. A local high score table would be good enough for me.

[Qhesz]

Personally, a 'social' meta-game does not make a single player experience better. The game itself (and also how easy it is to play the game, ie no DRM or internet requirement) is what defines the single player experience. And I've yet to see a game where the score you get at the end is at all meaningful in terms of what you did in game.

[Tur1sta]

Dungeons of Dredmor has a score screen at every death of any character. It's just nice to see how far or behind you've went from your or others playthrough. It doesn't need to be online though. A local scoreboard would do just fine.

[Dan Forever]

Geometry Wars 2 is an example of a game that is vastly improved by the presence of the leaderboards for each game displayed on the game selection screen, comparing you to your friends.

Trials HD (and I would imagine by extension, Trials Evolution also, but I haven't played it so I can't be sure) also use leaderboards to improve the game experience (and also have your friends as ghost riders to compete against whilst playing).

Obviously the presence of an online component should not in any way affect the ability to play the game offline, but the idea that a game should not have any online component because it's single player is ridiculous.