KOF Community Growth and Outreach

[solidshark]

i guess we gotta start a campaign to hound snkp for better netcode.

how would we go about this, and how far would we be willing to give if snkp needed some sort of support to follow through?

I've been contemplating Kickstarter or petitioning, but if nothing else constant messaging or communication directed at the company is about all we've got. I have to stress POLITE messaging too, as I wouldn't blame a company for disregarding a "this lag sux, u guys r noobs @ netcode" message. Just a message telling them how they've made a great game that they love playing, how the biggest thing holding it back from even more potential players and sales is netcode, and how maybe the position your in prevents you from other offline alternatives, and you can't get a good connection with your friends locally. I've sent (still do) messages like this around just so someone is saying something.

Speaking of which, does the community still have an official community manager on-hand? Giby, is he still doing work in that regard?

Right now, the only practice I get is online with some upstate people.  One in North Carolina and the other is in New York iirc.  3 and 4 bar connections and they are pretty good. 

As for carpooling, I just did that not too long ago for KoF.  Both of my friends went for Marvel/VF primarily, and I went for KoF.

I have tried my best to help people/friends out here in AL, some just live too far out and we dont have good net down here so we're always lvl 2 connections(the bad 2 bars, some 2 bars are acceptable) so we never can play.  I thought about driving out to them to play, but IRL expenses really cut in to the gas money for said 45 min-hour and a half drives so I can never play with them.  Some people quit because I beat them with their own team in previous tournaments IN A WAY TO SHOW THEM WHAT THEIR CHARACTER CAN DO.  Instead of saying good stuff, one actually said "I can't keep up with you, I might as well give up."  I was like really?  Getting good is not a 1 week thing.  I grinded for weeks to get where I am and still do.  I have put in  OVER 300 hours on my console alone(one I do not bring to casuals) so that tells you how much I play KoF.  While playing these guys, they KNOW I am considered one of the better players in the Southeastern region and they dont really ask me for advice and always think I'm trolling them.  The other good guys in KoF in my state moved on to VF and Marvel because we basically scared off most people from KoF.  Now I have to expect out of state people to show up at tourneys to play anyone around here now, especially with Persona in the picture.

For players getting discouraged and who think you are trolling, you might have to do a little bit of what I do. With a few other gaijin (foreigners) out here learning KOF in Japan, I get online with them and do training there. I ask him to perform the move in front of me and give him tips on how to do stuff. Sometimes I'm the training dummy, and sometimes I mirror him to show him how to do it (for timing's sake). In absence of an online training mode, this really does work. Doesn't matter to me if it lowers the win/loss ratio as that # shouldn't matter much anyway.

Don't know how you could suggest this without making it seem like trolling, and don't know about their connections, but you can always direct some people to the DC practice online stuff on Saturdays, maybe they can get some community help or encouragement.

[Terrastorm]

-Hold weekly practice/teaching/casuals for KOF XIII. This is where you need to know the game more than anyone else. Bring your system, show off some good replays to them, and one thing that worked for me is uploading some tutorial vids I found online, like Dandy J's and showing those there. And show them the active difference between how you can play restrictively like SF, or how to take advantage of more of the systems.

-If there's a big tournament close to you that has KOF XIII, but you're short on funds, see if you can get a carpool going with a few guys. Pitch in, and as they're going for AE, MVC, etc., you go for KOF.

-Like choysauce mentioned, start up and keep a social network group going for KOF locals, facebook, twitter, something. Or keep up KOF content in the facebook group your local scene already has (Max playing KOF XIII, tournament from _________, etc.

And a question for you guys, is this a good enough place to talk about actual attempts at scenes and where they stand, or just ideas?

Right now, the only practice I get is online with some upstate people.  One in North Carolina and the other is in New York iirc.  3 and 4 bar connections and they are pretty good. 

As for carpooling, I just did that not too long ago for KoF.  Both of my friends went for Marvel/VF primarily, and I went for KoF.

I have tried my best to help people/friends out here in AL, some just live too far out and we dont have good net down here so we're always lvl 2 connections(the bad 2 bars, some 2 bars are acceptable) so we never can play.  I thought about driving out to them to play, but IRL expenses really cut in to the gas money for said 45 min-hour and a half drives so I can never play with them.  Some people quit because I beat them with their own team in previous tournaments IN A WAY TO SHOW THEM WHAT THEIR CHARACTER CAN DO.  Instead of saying good stuff, one actually said "I can't keep up with you, I might as well give up."  I was like really?  Getting good is not a 1 week thing.  I grinded for weeks to get where I am and still do.  I have put in  OVER 300 hours on my console alone(one I do not bring to casuals) so that tells you how much I play KoF.  While playing these guys, they KNOW I am considered one of the better players in the Southeastern region and they dont really ask me for advice and always think I'm trolling them.  The other good guys in KoF in my state moved on to VF and Marvel because we basically scared off most people from KoF.  Now I have to expect out of state people to show up at tourneys to play anyone around here now, especially with Persona in the picture.

That's definitely not how most would see that unless you told them, I would think you were just trolling too.

You really should be the one giving them advice after they lose, especially after giving them a terrible beating, so they feel somewhat motivated to keep playing. The community isn't what it use to be. Nobody is willing to improve(unless there is some incentive to do so), and everybody is content with watching streams.

[choysauce]

i'm excited that p4a is joinin kof at TRB! i feel like this may help increase the numbers for that tournament.

how are you all faring in your own communities? anything you guys are trying differently to get sessions going?

[AirLancer]

Stuck trying to find any players at all...

[solidshark]

Stuck trying to find any players at all...

FG players or KOF players?

[Tyrant292]

i'm excited that p4a is joinin kof at TRB! i feel like this may help increase the numbers for that tournament.

how are you all faring in your own communities? anything you guys are trying differently to get sessions going?

Me and my friends are trying to start a community here. Hopefully tomorrow is our starting point. Wish us luck! Our skill level is not the same at the moment so what were trying to do is learn the game and level up for the moment. Hopefully I'll upload some of our gameplay when I get the chance.

[Mikel]

While I am finding KOF players in my scene in an attempt to pick up the game again, I am too surprised to see that people are playing P4A now and somewhat dropped KOF entirely... I guess Louis was right on the hype-ass EVO finals not inspiring scene growth...

It is true that the netcode was why I dropped KOF XIII, but I guess its back to Persona 4 Arena for me.

[AirLancer]

FG players or KOF players?

Let's just put it this way. If I ask if someone's played a fighting game before, the majority of the people around me will think of UFC or Smash Bros.

[Terrastorm]

FG players or KOF players?

Let's just put it this way. If I ask if someone's played a fighting game before, the majority of the people around me will think of UFC or Smash Bros.

If you live in a college town, try putting up flyers for events or gatherings around the university.

[the7k]

Ha ha... all the people in my town think fighting games either involve Dragonball Z or Naruto. Ever time I get asked about a fighter (like, most recently, Persona 4 Arena) they ask me if it plays like either Naruto or DBZ - when I tell them it's more like Street Fighter, they just snub it off as being no good.

As you can tell, my area has no taste whatsoever.

[AirLancer]

If you live in a college town, try putting up flyers for events or gatherings around the university.

Unfortunately, a Marine Corps base is far less likely to contain players (of FGs anyway, not so much FPSs)...

[solidshark]

I'm sort of surprised at the scenes that equate main fighters they play to Naruto/DBZ or Smash/UFC, and yet I'm not. It would be really satisfying to see an area like that adopting KOF before it would adopt SF though. Odd how the Japanese area I'm in (small fishing village basically) has no scene, and the closest competitive game they've got is Pokemon on their 3DS. In that sense, consider yourselves lucky.

Only possible solution to that was the first thing choysauce brought up in the thread which was exposure. The worst thing they can do is ignore it or tell you to move off so they can put a "better" game in (response to this varies, but if it's a setup I brought, including game and system, I wouldn't budge).

And while I can't tell about a scene I have now, I can tell you what I had planned for my scene back around Detroit, and a good estimate of what would've happened.

I'd planned to hold ranbats at the best area possible for most Detroit-area players, with most of the current fighters (SSF4, U/MVC3, BB, T6, etc.) and special emphasis on KOF XIII. Tried a setup of bringing my PS2 SNK fighting collections to the same place, but that barely worked. Had I still been around, I would've held the ranbats, gotten people into KOF through just showing it off, teaching aspects about it, or holding specific tournaments for it. The presence there would still be there as of now, it'd fluxuate between people moving from game-to-game, but interest would still be there. Maybe I'd be able to make it to a tournament with a few other guys for KOF, maybe. EVO would be the big push where friends would be looking to get the game and there'd be a bigger network to teach others. It's a good 70% that that's what would've went down.

The biggest proponent to keeping people into it is to have them talking about it. Which Iori has the better Yuri Ori (taco)? Best BnBs for Shen or Benimaru? What's the easiest HD combo for Kim? How effective is Yuri's dive kick on Chin? etc.

[solidshark]

http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2012/oct/01/madkof-king-fighters-scene-getting-smaller-might-give-and-go-back-real-life/

On the offchance that this gets discussed here too, it's best to put it out there what the translator wasn't quoted on:

Cafeid_Koogle said 5 hours, 19 minutes ago

Hi, I did the translation on Twitch Tv chat while Mad Kof was speaking. I was typing fast and last few sentences didn't make it onto Twitch Tv chat.

Mad Kof and Lacid said "Please support KoF13 and play the game."http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2012/oct/01/madkof-king-fighters-scene-getting-smaller-might-give-and-go-back-real-life/#c397665


Also, got a question for the KOF community lately. If you've been to SB or any other big tournaments featuring XIII, what's been your impression on things, in skill-level, the players, numbers attended, etc.? And what would you suggest for improvements if you see any problems?

[choysauce]

i think having more media would be helpful so i wanted to ask if anyone would want to take over the "KOF13: A look into the mind" cast.

i've gotten way too busy with real life stuff so i effectively can't do this anymore. but i'd love to see it continue. please refer to the thread here to see what the stipulations and conditions are to make the show

http://dreamcancel.com/forum/index.php?topic=2276.0

[solidshark]

i think having more media would be helpful so i wanted to ask if anyone would want to take over the "KOF13: A look into the mind" cast.

i've gotten way too busy with real life stuff so i effectively can't do this anymore. but i'd love to see it continue. please refer to the thread here to see what the stipulations and conditions are to make the show

http://dreamcancel.com/forum/index.php?topic=2276.0

This is intriguing. Not sure if I'll be able to take this on fully, but I can certainly contribute with guys I match up with weekly. How often were you originally trying to have the cast? Weekly? Monthly?