Got Single Player AI Yet?

Title says it all....

I will buy this game and most of the DLC as soon as A.I. is added and a reasonable single player experience can be had.
Hell it doesn't even need to be that good, just playable! The main Blood Bowl game AI is written and passable for me to get a game on.... Would even pay for it as an additional DLC! Wondering how many are with me on this?

Please don't troll with 'Just Play Online yadda! yadda!' - I have a 2 yr old daughter and need frequent long pause breaks!!

Ditto (other than the 2yo bit).

There is no AI yet and no-one from Cyanide has ever said that they would even consider it, let alone create it. I don't think there will ever be one.

The expensive programmer time needed won't be spent on that, they have better places to invest it. Dungeonbowl is not popular enough to warrant it. With the same amount of work they can make a big part of a new game that will sell a lot more than Dungeonbowl single player ever will. That's not even much of an opinion, that's pretty much a fact based on the amount of registered Dungeonbowl players. I don't think the investment would ever even pay for itself let alone sell better than putting the same effort into a new game.

Sorry, but there it is. Dungeonbowl AI is a pipe dream and nothing more.

Double Post
Apologies

I believe it would be profitable to implement a single player mode and be worth the developer time.

Most game reviews I have read complain about there being no single player, there is a Steam users forum thread complaining about there being no single player, I even fired up a Let’s Play You Tube video to hear them lamenting about a lack of single player mode. These forums also contain threads on the desire for this mode and I am not the first to promise my financial support for it to be implemented.

It may just be a dream to play this single player but it seems to me that there are at least as many people wanting to play this game single player as there ever were who wanted to play it exclusively online. Most people will fall somewhere inbetween but there is a clear community interest in a single player mode.

My belief is that implementing the mode won’t take that much developer time and that it would developer time that will be paid for in additional game sales and in the purchase of the single player mode DLC.

The code for a single player mode already exists in blood bowl. The dungeonbowl game already contains the team set up and player development rules in multiplayer. A single format dungeonbowl tournament is all that is required; a small league where you play the other colleges once followed by playoffs to decide the champion and the chance to develop your team over several seasons – fantastic. A more complex mode already exists in blood bowl.

Most of the code for the AI must exist in blood bowl too? In its most basic form dungeon bowl has two phases: the ‘find the ball phase’ followed by a normal game of blood bowl on an irregular shaped pitch. The AI for dealing with the second of these phases exists in blood bowl already and for the first phase little more is required than instructing blockers to guard the end zone and faster players to hunt for the chests (ball). This, together with a routine for a constant stream of players being sent into the teleporters, and we are done. Seemingly not that much work?

The problem with this game is that dungeonbowl is a niche of a niche game (blood bowl) and cyanide should have sought to appeal to both boardgame fans and computer game players to make it work.

By eliminating a single player mode (which is central the computer game player) and preventing the game from being anything other than a board game that requires a computer to play, Cyanide are alienating half of their potential customer base

 This approach also removes a platform for players to learn the game before they indulge in playing online. This leads to new players (potentially struggling with the interface and rules) being hammered by experienced players for a few games before quitting or indeed never playing/buying the game at all.

I believe a single player game will provide a learning environment for new players and through this introduce new blood into a flagging online community and breathe new life into this game. This will lead to further DLC purchases across the community and help the game to fulfil its potential.

 

 

+1, and I said the same (though not as eloquently put) very early in this forum.

[Warfish]

I'll +1 that too. very nice post.

BB is not DB..
the AI wont think to use ports
push players into pits or onto ports
think to camp or stall on last chest
or open a chest to take out a player or 3 when the ball has already been found
wont try to port round a road block or leap over it
or try to lure out a player to get around them
wont think to stall if they have the numbers (or more likely stall all the time)
wont try to bounce the ball off a wall to make it a long bomb (yes i have done this and won with it)
will it use a magic sponge?
so saying they have the code and can use from BB would have the AI stand and do nothing most the time

though would be good to see an AI
i just think there is more work than just go use the BB AI
and even the BB AI is so lame and easy it no real fun anyway (well no fun for me)
i want a better AI for BB before i even hope for an AI for DB

Improving the AI for BB makes money for Focus, who pass on a little to Cyanide.
Adding an AI for DB makes money for Cyanide.

Work out which ones better for Cyanide.

Neither.

I doubt there are enough people that would buy DB at this point to offset the cost of creating a decent AI. (And we all know that they will be ripped endlessly for the AI if they do create it ) How many sales do you think a single player AI is going to generate? 10? 50? 100? How many people bought the game over the weekend when it was $5? $5.00!

I have logged on 3 of the last 4 nights (-6) and have yet to see a single player online. I am in a couple leagues so I have scheduled matches but other than that there are *no* players online most evenings. Why would they put more time into a nearly dead game? (I'm just praying that we get private league functionality so those that have already purchased the game actually get to enjoy it for a while longer.)

(Just to be clear, I think it probably *should* have been released with an AI because it is a nitch game and "online only" can pretty easily turn into "none" if you don't have a really large player base. I just think that at this point in the life cycle they have collected a large majority of the $$$ that is out there for DB and adding single player AI will most likely not be cost effective. However, if they were to release it as DLC with a charge, it might work but I'm guessing the sales would still be quite small.)