I think one of the current big problems with Goko relative to Isotropic is the way the multiplayer lobby is set up. On iso you can just jump in and pick automatch and you will be up and running in no time. Goko's current lobby requires you to create a session or join someone's existing session. There is no way to sort and the whole thing is sort of a mash of pro and casual games. Some games have a variable amount of seats, locked seats, and very specific game conditions. The lobby feels clunky and a little chaotic. Therefore, I present to you my framework for a solution to this problem
Use More RoomsI'm not sure if everyone is aware of this but Goko's multiplayer lobby has about 20 different rooms. However, when you select multiplayer it defaults to sending you to the 'Council Room' (homage to a lost site??). I think it would be best if these different rooms were used to separate the different kind of game parameters instead of setting the parameters when creating a game session. For example, in its most basic form you would have Casual rooms and Pro rooms.
LeaderboardsGoko currently has 4 different leaderboards. I feel that 3 of these leaderboards are pretty much pointless. Having an adventure leaderboard is absurd, casual leaderboard is almost an oxymoron, and daily leaderboard is simply unnecessary. The pro leaderboard needs various improvements (mainly that you disappear from the board if you haven't played within 'x' number of days). However, I think there is a golden opportunity to improve over isotropic. Iso ranks everyone on the same board regardless of whether you predominantly play 2 player, 3 player, or 4 player. This isn't really that big of an issue on Iso since I would guess that at least 95% of games are 2 player. However, I think that if Goko created separate leaderboards for 2, 3, and 4 players it would not only make more meaningful leaderboards but it would also encourage players to branch out from playing 2 player exclusively.
Money Money MoneyOne other obstacle to having a meaningful leaderboard and an effective automatch function is the fact that not everyone will have purchased all the cards. I feel that if you really want to have a good leaderboard everyone should be on the same level playing field. You also don't want to enter an automatch and constantly end up playing someone who hasn't bought anything and be forced to play all base set cards with a much higher frequency than normal. You could set the automatch to always pick the player who has bought the most cards to be the host of the session but that encourages people to be freeloaders essentially. Therefore, I propose that in order to enter one of the pro rooms (as mentioned above) you must own all of the available cards except for Walled Village (explained below). Goko could even place a 'Pro Pack' in the store that included all cards for some number of Gokoins that advertises access to the Pro Rooms. This will also require that all promo cards become purchasable. When guilds or any new expansion is added to the pool of available cards then those cards will have to be purchased as well to let you into the Pro Rooms.
For those that do not know. You must be logged in with a Google+ account in order to acquire Walled Village. I know that there are a variety of reasons that some people will simply not be comfortable or not want to log in with a Google+ account. Therefore I think it is unfair to also require a Google+ account to play in a pro room. Walled Village could still be randomly included in a pro game if all automatched players own it.
My Grand VisionStep 1. You click Multiplayer from the front page
Step 2. A menu pops up with 3 options "Create/Join Private Game", "Casual", "Pro" (Pro is faded out if you do not own all cards)
If you choose "Create/Join Private Game" it will take you to a lobby that looks basically exactly like Goko's existing setup except without the option to make a pro game
Casual Step 3. Another menu pops up with the options "2P", "3P", ...."6P"
This then takes you to the corresponding casual room where a button labelled 'Start' will be available that begins the automatch process. Once the set number of players has been matched one is chosen as the host and the game proceeds with a random set of 10 from that persons cards.
Pro Step 3. Another menu pops up with the options "2P", "3P", "4P"
This will take you to a pro room that works identical to the corresponding casual room except that these rooms will only include people who own all cards and games will be ranked on the corresponding leaderboard.
So there it is. As easy as 1,2,3 start. The only problem I see with this setup is how to best implement colonies/shelters. For the pro games I am thinking they should either be included based on the rule book method or on a fixed % around 30%. Some people like playing with colonies/shelters all the time and also want to be included on a leaderboard. I'm not sure of the best way to handle this.
The other thing is veto mode. This might be something Goko could look at down the road but I don't think it is necessary to have right away.
Any feedback to this outline is strongly encouraged. I'm hoping that Goko becomes aware of this thread and it influences them to improve the multiplayer on their site.