Multiplayer

[Tondo]

Hi,

I have some suggestions for the developers, please let me know if you would be considering them and if we may see them in some future release:

1) It would be great if developers could put some useful features into the multiplayer interface, like option to arrange player list by name, to create "buddy list" to alert when a particular user is on-line, and make the multiplayer interface overall more user-friendly.

2) Option to skip watching previous turns when you join a game as a spectator. This is particularly annoying when the connection goes down, you have to reconnect and wait aaaallll the time until you can be put back to game.

3) Make multiplayer games gamecreator-independent. By this I mean that the game wouldnt quit if the creator decides to go and thus ruins the fun for everyone else.

4) Enable REAL replay viewing - with pause/forward/rewind/skip to turn features, replay from a point of view of specific player, remove FOW and so on...

Let me know what you think of this, and if any of these suggestions have chance to be implemented,

Tondo

[JW]

1, 2, and 4 are all BWHs. 3 you'd have to ask one of the devs.

[Boucman]

2 and 4 are implemented in SVN

1 is partly in SVN (we have the buddy list part) however it's tricky to go further than that because, without a real identification system, people can change nick and fool the system

3 is actually quite tricky, and only Yogi could answer that

[Tondo]

Thanks for your views.

As for 3, I expected it would be tricky, since if it wasnt it would have been done already. But I reckon it would be worth the effort, because now you get the dont-bother-the-gamemaster-for-if-he-starts-loosing-he'll-leave and-you-are-screwed attitude in games with 3+ players.

As for buddy list, Im not calling for some rigorous identification system, I like it the (simple) way it is. People usually use the same username, and even if it was really someone else, no harm is done. The buddy list can be stored locally, and if an username matches (maybe just closely) one in your buddy list, it can be highlighted green or something like that.

One more question... whats SVN and BWH?

Tondo

[Elvish_Pillager]

SVN = subversion, our versioning system. In common usage, it means "The latest version that hasn't been released yet."

BWH = "Been suggested before. We think it's a good idea. Hope to add eventually," which is pretty self-explanatory. "a BWH" is an idea to which that applies.

[Soliton]

But I reckon it would be worth the effort, because now you get the dont-bother-the-gamemaster-for-if-he-starts-loosing-he'll-leave and-you-are-screwed attitude in games with 3+ players.

Then you reload and play on with the rest of the players in what ever fashion you would like. With that added inconvenience you are as screwed when the host leaves as you are when any other player does so.

It might be nice to have the server choose a new host at random or so still.

As for buddy list, Im not calling for some rigorous identification system, I like it the (simple) way it is. People usually use the same username, and even if it was really someone else, no harm is done. The buddy list can be stored locally, and if an username matches (maybe just closely) one in your buddy list, it can be highlighted green or something like that.

What's so difficult in using a dedicated IM application? What's the point in reinventing the wheel (surely in a less sophisticated way than in a dedicated chat client) in Wesnoth?
I'd rather see the lobby be implemented in a way IMs could connect to it as easily as the wesnoth client, like making it an IRC channel for example.

[Yogibear]

3 is actually quite tricky, and only Yogi could answer that

Ah, thank you my friend, but i think you overestimate me a little bit .
Edit: Let's really hope i am not the only one .

From my current knowledge it might be enough to introduce a new replayer command to notify the other players that the host did quit and then trigger some action on that (like choosing a new host for example).

However, i have made the experience, that things are seldom as easy as i thought first. Especially regarding wesnoth .

[Boucman]

I meant that you're the guy with the most knowledge on that particular part of code