I will tell you exactly what makes me get wood when playing an RTS game,
1) Graphics -- Poor it on, but make it so that even crappy PCs can play it... but if you got the hardware, please CHOKE IT with smokin' graphics.. pixel shaders, the works.
2) Simple BUT effective controls -- nothing kills an RTS game worse than an overly complicated control toolbar... I hate it... in fact, if it is too difficult, I just chuck the game completely off my system... I don't want to RTFM to play the game. I just want to jump right in and get jiggy with it.. and then RTFM when I am deeper into the game.
3) Gameplay -- This covers so much.. but standard RTS should have both single and multiplayer... There should be loads of maps, player models and scenery... no one wants to keep playing an RTS after they have played every single stage, setting, and vehicle... make it a challenged to get to some of the better equipment.. but not too much... or then it can suck too.. finding a balance for that is difficult.
Also, money, resources, and so on.. should be totally customizable.. I mean, you can change how fast or slow money is dolled out, the amount of resources available on a map and so on.. (a good example of this is with CIV4, there depending on the map type, size etc... resources are plentiful or not so.. I love that.
4) Interactivity -- you should be able to interact with ever unit, every tile, every aspect of the game... I hate it when you cannot access a tile because something is blocking the way... like mountains etc... I think mountains should be accessible *tunnels, mines, etc... That's a person peeve with me...
5)Single player missions -- let's get some serious mission-based RTS going... I don't want the game to end 2 weeks after I start it... and if it does, I want the game to be so dynamic, that the second time I play it is a totally different experience than the first time... this makes or breaks a game in my opinion.
6) Bugs -- I hate it when games are shipped, especially RTS, and they are full of bugs... make sure you give lots of ALPHA and BETA time to debug the game. Nearly every RTS released, has a patch within a few months... why couldn't they just hold off and patch the game before shipping? When it goes gold, the game should be finished... that really gets up my kilt! I hate it. And game makers aught to hide their faces when they release crap unfinished.
7) Multiplayer -- Make it run like a hooker from her pimp. I don't want to see lag, artifacts, dropped connections and otherwise piss poor multiplayer interface... It should play smooth even on a dialup.. because, believe it or not, dialup is still no. 1 in terms of users on it... code for dialup and leave those with broadband shining like a newly polished pecker.
Well I could write more but I will stop for now because my fingers are tired. I worked all day and want to watch some mythbusters and take a bath in a while. I hope this can give you some insight into my perspective on RTS.
By the way, I enjoyed AOEIII, CIV4, and Empire Earth II... these games I think did it well... but CIV4 was just buggy as hell... but it blew me away visually much like AOEIII.
PS:
8) Skinning, map add-ons, builders etc... -- make the game easily skinnable, easy to build maps and mod, and you will have won over countless RTS players... and then ready a killer Expansion pack to be released a year or two later and you'll roll in the cash flow!
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