A couple of things about turns... (multiplayer)

[obliviondoll]

First, the good - turn notifications were an AWESOME add-on! Thanks! Really cool having a warning when a new turn is available (even if I'm a derp and still miss a turn sometimes).

BUT, there is one tiny niggling problem. When coming back to a game that's being played asynchronously, it would be nice if it played out the latest turn when you start the game, instead of just showing the new state of the battlefield. It can be disorienting not to see anything where you remember it, and not knowing how most of the things got to where they are. It IS possible to just replay the turn, but it would help with the user-friendly feel if it loaded in at the start of the replay/end of last turn, and played it out immediately.

[jarrahtech]

Hi, good to hear you find the notifications useful (and that they work :)

Automatically showing the last turn shouldn't be too hard. All the data is already available so as to handle the replay. Although , initial camera positioning would need some thought. I like the idea and will add it to the list for the next release to see if it works well.

Thanks, Charles.

[FridayBiology]

+1 (no time for additional characters but, can still write that i have no time as a reply slash +1 at the time of reading this thread, isn't that odd and very annoying #timepoor #livelife #outandabout #greatidea #nomoreeffort #Isupportthisideaandhavenothingtoadd #legobatman)

[huw]

Any updates on this? My gaming group have all just bought the game and this is the most jarring issue for me so far. Also, when a game is finished it would be very nice to be able to replay the whole game instead of just the last turn.

Oh, and I would really like to be able to save replays too, maybe even export them like you can in Frozen Synapse?

[IckleJ]

Hi

I had issues I got a notification that I had lost but could not find any way to replay the last turn to see why I lost apart from of course being blown up becasue I'm new to the game.

I agree it would be great to auto play the last turn.

[jarrahtech]

Hi,

It was a mistake for me not to add a last turn replay, or some way not to see how a game ends. I sadly did not realise how people would be playing, despite designing it for asynchronous play :( It must be frustrating, I am sorry.

Adding the ability to see the last turn after the game has ended is top of my tasklist for the next update (along with updating to the latest version of Unity). I will do what I can to get this in. It was sadly dropped from the last update due to time constraints. Although some of the base work for it was in that release, so I am confident I can get it working. Being able to save or export replays is something I will investigate, I am not sure how to do this at the moment.

So the question becomes, when is the next update? I have no real update on the next update :( The work on it has not yet started. However, my new day job is beginning to settle down - this is the first weekend I've had completely off since starting. I hope to be able to free up a night or two per week soon to start the 1.3 tasklist. This would mean I am still ok for an end of the year release.

Thanks,
Charles

[huw]

Hey, as long as it's being worked on! Thanks for the update Charles.

[IckleJ]

Thanks for the update Charles, its a fantastic game. No need to be sorry if its being addressed.

I mean I've owned it since Friday and it has two hours playtime already so its doing something right

[huw]

Maybe concentrate on the singleplayer for now until the next update. I've read somewhere that the AI absolutely does not cheat and plays by exactly the same rules, which is cool.

[obliviondoll]

It's nice to see two things about this:

1. There are more people picking this game up.
2. The dev is still prepared to support the game - even while in more profitable employment.

I really wish this game had sold better, because it's truly incredible. I hope it manages to build up more players over time.

[jarrahtech]

Many thanks, comments like these really motivate me to keep working on games. I have not forgotten Concealed Intent, nor what I have said I will do.

Huw: yes the AI does not cheat, it only has the same information available to it that a player would have. They have the same equipment, same detection and damage curves. All the same. If you are hidden or low signature, that has the same effect on the AI as it does on you. Of course some AI ships will notice if something "dangerous" (ie, big & close) suddenly disappears and try to do something about it :) Still humans players are nearly always better.

On the replay issue, I was thinking about this over the weekend, and the full replay should be possible as I store all the moves in a game for 90 days after they finish. This might actually be better than just replaying the last turn (as for just a little more work there will be a lot of extra functionality), so I will check this first when the times comes.

Unfortunately exporting replays I think will be too difficult. Frozen synapse can do this because it is 2D and has a fixed-ish camera. They can zoom out and see everything. Concealed Intent is 3D and the camera is mixed in with the action, so this is not possible. I'd have to work out where to put the camera at any point in time and it is likely something would be missed (either because it is too far or out of sight). But thanks for the suggestion.

[obliviondoll]

If you can rewatch the entire match in-engine, we can prob figure out our own camera angles and record :)

[huw]

Yeah exactly, just being able to have the whole game locally would be good enough. I don't mind using the in-game interface to view replays.

[obliviondoll]

Actually... that's an idea... can we save replays for ourselves? In a format that would let other CI players view them? Because that would be an awesome way to share...

[FridayBiology]

obliviondoll původně napsal:

Actually... that's an idea... can we save replays for ourselves? In a format that would let other CI players view them? Because that would be an awesome way to share...

+1 perhaps showing all units as available so that we can see the pathing?

[jarrahtech]

I will add all these ideas into my todo list and take a look at them. The server currently holds the global state which is then transformed on the server into a view that works on the client for a given player. So being able to see your opponent's view is as easy as seeing your own (it is a matter of telling the server to produce the view for them instead of yourself). Getting a global view that works in the client would be a bit of extra work. Being able to save a view locally and then reload/rewatch it - that is an interesting idea, I will look into it.

Thanks for the ideas!