Mods: Please do not bury this in the KOF 13 Rant thread, as I feel this needs to be put up to the forefront so that SNKP is aware of the low tier netcode that is holding this game back.
I don't know where this e-mail (perhaps it's a webmaster-only mail, I don't know) leads to, but it's our best chance at getting the netcode fixed so the US can play against a bigger selection of players and further unify the community by allowing people from coast to coast to play together.
http://www.snkplaymoreusa.com/contact-us" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
With the netcode the way it is, it's a crapshoot - some people can't play against their friends who live a 10 minute drive away from them while they can sometimes get smooth, input delay-free matches. There's no rhyme or reason as to how and why the netcode works. People can blame other people's connections and whatnot, but the fact of the matter is, as I posted on the Atlus forum is that input delay-free reasonably smooth matches are possible. GGPO has proven this. People on the WC can play against people in Korea and Japan like as though they're next to them. People in EC can do the same with their European counterparts, and we all can play against Mexicans like it's no problem.
Before you write your e-mail, please remember the following:
- SNKP DID try to implement GGPO into KOF 13, and they claimed that it conflicted with Hyperdrive Mode.
- I don't know enough about how the development process works, but I'm imagining they scrapped the GGPO idea and fell back to GSS because it was the safe, inexpensive thing to do.
- KOF 13 now sold - how well it sold is beyond me, but please tell SNKP that now that it has some money, some development time needs to be spent on improving the game. I don't know what their next big project is, as I've been told there are some things in the works, but at this moment all I can see as a consumer is a great game being held back by something every modern fighting game player, especially with a small community like KOF's needs.
- BE POLITE AND RESPECTFUL. Your message will not be heard if you're a jerk to SNKP. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is good. Flaming them for not listening to something the community has been telling them repeatedly about the past 3 or 4 months is BAD.
- Give them good usage data about your experiences. Tell them what connection you're using and give personal anecdotal evidence about your matchups. The most important part is letting them know that just because it's "smooth" does not mean it's acceptable. Give them what your pingtimes are to these people via GGPO and/or tell them about how uncommon it is to find 3-4 bar matchups. Give them the locations of these people you're playing against. Give examples of your abilities to play against these SAME people via GGPO without any problems. Don't demand GGPO to be implemented, but just tell let them know that you know good netcode is possible - if some guy who was doing this stuff in his spare time could figure out how to do it, a bunch of dedicated *and paid* coders should be able to do the same.
- I repeat, "smooth" matchups is not the main thing here - our biggest complaint is that the netplay feels like it's underwater. There is input delay - 2 frames or higher, that makes playing KOF much more difficult for us. We NEED input delay-free netcode and gameplay to be able to play and learn successfully. KOF is too sensitive to this compared to slower games like SF4 for them to get away with it.
Anyway, I'm on my way to sending my e-mail. The entire SNKP IRC channel can attest to the underwater netplay - so I'm not just a tiny minority. They're able to play input delay-free games via GGPO in any game they want. I can play a 1-frame input delay game against someone from the Netherlands with 220 ms ping and I am from Hawaii. If it can be done on GGPO, it can be done in KOF.
Thanks for reading.
