[BB], 2016 in review.
Published: 2017-01-01
Author: Teddi
As ever, it’s that time again where we go over [BB] throughout the year of 2016! Usually I’d dive in to each element here and go over each one; but instead this time I’d like to add a fore note.
In the last year of [BB], with the recent resurgence of popularity in our servers (and especially Surf) it has allowed us here at [BB] to get more done in this year than we probably did in the last 3-4 years. Having projects out there that are actually getting played is fantastic to see and gave us a renewed burst of enthusiasm to really get things rolling out the door; especially in regular updates!
So for that, thank you.
Last year I said it was premature (at the time) to say whether or not players and the popularity would stick around. I’m more than happy to say that it has! And whilst it did slow down as the new school year started, things have picked up again. This statistic is not unique to Surf (as we don’t track which server joins the first) however we’ve had a whopping 52782 players join for the first time since 1st January 2016 and these players have spent 333349858.99998719 seconds on our servers or translated; a total of 3858.215 days.
Again, while not unique to Surf, the primary amount of players have been from Surf and contributed to ten years of playtime in this year which is appropriate for our tenth anniversary! It’s absolutely insane to think just ten years ago Ben started up a small roleplay server on rp_omgcity with a small rudimentary script and a leased server. Along the way we’ve had many people come and go, for better and for worse, but it’s shaped the community in such a way that we’ve only moved from strength to strength. Many of those players that shaped [BB] are no long here anymore; again for better or for worse however they’ve taught myself and others valuable lessons both for within [BB] / Garrysmod and life itself.
Personally I’d like to see this year take [BB] even further with establishing more unique, fun gamemodes and far more original content. With that in mind lets see what this year brings and more importantly - lets see what the last year left us with!
Surf
Some parts of Surf still look like ass which is either a reflection on us as developers or Garry for how inflexible Derma is. That said we’ve absolutely blown Surf up this year full of new features. Killermon revamped the entire timetrial system to generally be significantly better and allow for better tracking internally. That combined with the introduction of the Seasonal Timetrial system has seen some of our best players competing for that #1 spot.
Not only that but Surf has driven updates to numerous systems, such as the improved spectator system and virtual keyboard system. Furthering that - we launched the hard server! Locked behind three maps (Healthy, Kitsune 2 and Lore) we allow those that really want to maximise their Surfing potential to go that extra mile with the core, original CS:S Surf settings. The hard server hasn’t seen the uptake we’d have liked which leads me to thinking that possibly we need to do more work on it - but it has so far achieved the goal it was designed to do which is provide a challenge.
There are further things I’d like to add to Surf, in particular Split Times and a Ghost system (for recording successful runs). Both of these systems are in the works - however they’re considered reasonably low priority at the moment for what gameplay enhancements they actually provide to players. I’d also like to revamp the stage selection to accommodate some much needed changes - but again, this is lower on the list of things to happen.
Deathrun
For the first half of the year Deathrun remained fairly empty, fairly broken. We’ve gone ahead and patched that all up so it’s restored to its former working glory. With these updates (and later some cube incentivization) there’s been the occasional set of players playing on there. I think the model of gameplay that Deathrun provides can still be fun however it needs further expansion and work. Balances, maps and other such things only go so far we’ve seen this year. Maybe Deathrun really has fallen out of popularity or maybe we can bring it back somehow.
BBuild
Similar to Deathrun, I ended up patching this back up in a few areas as it’d become slightly run-down in the sense of not being kept up to date with GMod. Primarily it was due to workshop having a fit but we now have working wiremod on there! I’d like to extend BBuild to have dedicated building zones for players, but build is build. A fight-to-survive server may entice some players as we’ve had some requests for people wanting the ability to disable god-mode. Whether or not we’ll look into this more remains to be seen.
Roleplay / CityRP / HL2RP / DonkeypunchingRP(?)
After we re-launched RP08 to a slightly warm reception which died fairly quickly I think it’s safe to say that no matter how much you put lipstick on an old pig it’s always going to be an old pig with lipstick on. We at [BB] need to accept that the model of roleplay which is RP08 is dead. A cityRP style gamemode is not out of the question but honestly, only if we have genuine interest. I believe we could do it with our own take on it but… really? Is there any point to it? We’ve had some requests from community members but honestly it feels like a fleeting interest, a curiosity more than anything. There is some alpha-style CityRP gamemode code lying about (which is nothing like Life for starters).
Maybe it’s just a Pipe dream and nostalgia in the sides.
Lobby / Escape
As per our original / fun ideas, this is something we need to get back online and working. Hopefully towards the middle / end of this year - we shall see!
Bhop Servers
I feel it’s worth me addressing this here. Many people have been asking for a server and as of current reply I typically give is “go play on one of the hundreds of bhop servers out there”. There is the argument to be made that keeping them within the [BB] server family is probably a good idea however the fact of the matter is that neither Killermon or myself hold any interest in Bhop. There’s no way to improve, extend or make it more fun. The fact that most players expect an autohop system just shows how gutted and plain that gamemode has become;Surf has numerous ways to change the difficulty and up the ante - Bhop doesn’t really have any other ways. If this response disappoints you, go play on one of the many servers already out there! Unless it can be proven that it’s worth our time, we have no intention of providing a Bhop server.
BBase
It’s rare BBase ever gets featured here in our yearly update but in this case it’s our yearly showcase! Introduction of the store, inventory, achievement system, equip system, delivery system and much much more! We’ve absolutely thrown everything we’ve got at it this year to revamp, overhaul and update all the systems included and we’ve been extremely successful. Every update we’ve released on all of the ‘child’ gamemodes has used these new systems in some way shape and form and you the player have only responded positively. Come the new year we look to continue this heavy expansion with hotly requested features, and features you had no idea you ever wanted! I’ll take a moment here to comment on trading / crafting. It’s in the works but you’ll have to sit tight a bit longer. We want this done right and in a way that makes sense. No, you won’t be able to sell items back for a % of cubes either!
[BB] in general
The state of [BB] has improved significantly since the start of 2016. More admins, more active admins and the successful launch of the MVP system has seen a relatively strong team come together issuing punishments and ensuring the servers remain somewhat trouble-free. We are however are on the lookout for more MVPs. Want to help the community without actually being an admin? Check it out here - or chat with an admin about how you’d like to help out more! As ever we’re still accepting sub-admins so feel free to go for that as well!
With the release of the donation system we’ve had donations flowing in now. While still somewhat irregular - for the first time in years I’ve actually found I’ve not had to pay any money out of my own pocket for the costs of our servers. This hasn’t been the case every month - but for the most part the majority is now made up from donations, so again - thank you all! I’m looking to expand the donation system and what’s available in this coming year. Similar to how we’ve had title cards and crates, I aim to provide more “fun” aspects but also extensions to what is currently available, such as title cards! More on that soon however.
I stated last year that I aimed to be more hands-off and this has happened to a degree. We now have a Surf committee designed to suggest and submit maps. Kaiden has taken on further community roles and we’ve had the likes of Ender and Brinker providing models for the store. These people (and those not listed here) have all contributed in such a way that has allowed for more time to be spent on development, so thanks to all those that contributed during the last year. Without you some of what we did really couldn’t have been done. Here’s to 2017 to be best year yet for [BB], taking us to new and exciting places!