20 replies to this topic

[Intri]

Hello
I've been thinking about some simple improvements at server chat screen. Maybe they aren't so necessary, but they could affect on new players as well as on others. I'm not sure why there weren't any changes at that place of game for long time - I think its because development team wanted to improve Battlescape part of game firstly or there are difficulties with making changes there. Anyway, discussion about them might be interesting, even if they won't be implemented.

1. Clock - DateTime field placed in the corner of screen, where current server time and date would be displayed. Players would use it to arrange matches (useful for players from diffent time zones). It might be also useful in the future, if some kind of Geoscape would be in the game. I think it is trivial to make a clock for developers .


2. Chat messages (e.g. from last 24H) visible all the time in chat screen - new players would see that there is traffic in game. Also all players could write something like 'I will be here ready to play at 07:00 AM', then other could read it after few hours and play with that player - this may also be helpful at making tournaments and increasing amount of matches. I think this solution require some kind of file on the server, where those messages would be stored(maybe already there is that kind of file on server for current type of messages).

3. Statistics from server status page(players, games, maps,etc.) avaliable directly from game (e.g.in extra screen)- people would have easy way to see them, talk about them and improve them - when you know you have bad score you would try to change it and when you know you have good score you are happy and want to play more. Statistics also could include more tables,charts,etc. in the future.

I realise that those things aren't milestones but I think it would be good start to implement them in the game.
I can place here few more ideas but firstly try those ones.

[Popek]

yes, changing the pause shortcut to something else would be great. ctrl+space would even cause less shift accidents
don't remove it completely, sometimes you gotta run quickly to the bathroom.

[Kratos]

I've been thinking about some simple improvements at server chat screen. Maybe they aren't so necessary, but they could affect on new players as well as on others. I'm not sure why there weren't any changes at that place of game for long time - I think its because development team wanted to improve Battlescape part of game firstly or there are difficulties with making changes there. Anyway, discussion about them might be interesting, even if they won't be implemented.

They may not sound necessary, but to be honest they would really enhance network interaction amongst players. The development in that area is next to nothing and should be improved. Also, the current interaction with players not being able to see each other (due to version checks), I wouldn't be surprised if players are leaving the server much more often because of this.

1. Clock - DateTime field placed in the corner of screen, where current server time and date would be displayed. Players would use it to arrange matches (useful for players from diffent time zones). It might be also useful in the future, if some kind of Geoscape would be in the game. I think it is trivial to make a clock for developers .

Time zones can be an annoyance. I'm not sure if a clock on the server would solve such a problem, but I understand it might help those who are trying to plan a match from two variated time zones. It probably would be a good idea to code this in for future tournaments.

Yes, geoscape needs to be worked on. Right now the idea is to formulate some type of basic base campaign where we can build from. We would have to create the skeleton in the geoscape demo by adding time interfaces, saved single player games, building a starting base, and allow for craft interception. After this is done, we have much more capabilities of making a simple multiplayer campaign. Players could create a base when they log in and intercept a craft at a location to land. This would signal that the player wants to play a game and another player can come along and intercept to that location.

3. Statistics from server status page(players, games, maps,etc.) avaliable directly from game (e.g.in extra screen)- people would have easy way to see them, talk about them and improve them - when you know you have bad score you would try to change it and when you know you have good score you are happy and want to play more. Statistics also could include more tables,charts,etc. in the future.

This would be interesting amongst players, since it would create a competitive atmosphere. However, be forewarned that this doesn't just create more game activity, but your cheaters, poor sports, and name changers to rear their ugly heads more often. That being said, we shouldn't hold back this feature because of a user's choice to behave.

I realise that those things aren't milestones but I think it would be good start to implement them in the game.
I can place here few more ideas but firstly try those ones.

I'm glad you introduced this issue. We possibly would not have concerned about this sooner and ignored it. As for more ideas, I think this is enough to cover some major issues for a more friendly network to player interface for now.

[hurz]

either
- a way to copy & paste (with the risk of being misused for spamming)
or
- some other means, maybe an extra server welcome text, to spread knowledge of e.g. this forum or the map depot
would be nice, too

[Sporb]

a clock on the server would be great! displaying Server time (Screw timezones)

[Intri]

I'm happy that posting this topic here was useful. It's great to hear that something will change at this area soon.

I think it would also be nice if EVERYBODY was displayed in the users box, but highlighting those with different game version with a different color instead of not showing them at all.

This idea is good - people would see there is quite big community of players (almost 100 active last 15 days, many inactive). I think there should be an option to view all/active/same version players to prevent a little mess on the list of players - sometimes it would not be necessary to see all of them.

1. Clock - DateTime field placed in the corner of screen, where current server time and date would be displayed. Players would use it to arrange matches (useful for players from diffent time zones). It might be also useful in the future, if some kind of Geoscape would be in the game. I think it is trivial to make a clock for developers .

Time zones can be an annoyance. I'm not sure if a clock on the server would solve such a problem, but I understand it might help those who are trying to plan a match from two variated time zones. It probably would be a good idea to code this in for future tournaments.

a clock on the server would be great! displaying Server time (Screw timezones)

I'm happy that you like clock idea. It's simple but can be very useful. I think it could be more customisable in the future (digital/analog, supporting many DateTime formats etc.)

This would be interesting amongst players, since it would create a competitive atmosphere. However, be forewarned that this doesn't just create more game activity, but your cheaters, poor sports, and name changers to rear their ugly heads more often. That being said, we shouldn't hold back this feature because of a user's choice to behave.

I'm aware of that there are some players which would like cheating or doing some other bad things, but there could be other stats avaliable now (like maps and guns played,matches maybe too) and players stats shown later, when prevent-cheating aspects of game would be improved.

[hurz]

either
- a way to copy & paste (with the risk of being misused for spamming)
or

I don't see the point of that

to post/retreive urls if needed

- some other means, maybe an extra server welcome text, to spread knowledge of e.g. this forum or the map depot
would be nice, too

Those familiar with the game are probably familiar with the forum, but it's doable, if people think it's useful.

This is not always the case as it seems. People being relatively new to the game and just knowing the ufo2k homepage may never have heard of the mentioned other ressources, and so may not know of those other goodies like additional maps and things.

edit: (sorry, a bit off-topic now) and/or why not add those URLs into the internal tip of the day?

Edited by hurz, 10 September 2007 - 02:11 PM.

[Intri]

I think it will take a time to prepare clock for game, so I suggest to place some kind of temporary clock on ufo2000 website. There are many free clocks in the web (e.g. I found this site http://www.clocklink.com/gallery.php ). New players won't know about that clock maybe, but it could be useful for more aware players.

Edited by Intri, 16 September 2007 - 05:16 AM.

[Kratos]

I'd rather see a clock on our statistics page. I personally find clocks distracting on a website.

Edited by Kratos, 16 September 2007 - 10:26 AM.

[Emerald]

Copying and pasting would be great.

It's impossible to remember server addresses and stuff - way easier if you could paste them in. Same with soldier names. I like them to have titles like 'Marksman' and 'Scout' (probably not a great idea, since a sly opponent might use the information to his advantage, but I'm obsessive like that so I do it regardless), anyway it would be way easier to have a copy&paste function.

And it's not like spam is that big of a problem - If there's more than 1 person in a chat room, they'll more than likely start a game. People join the server to play, not to chat, which means being a 'spammer' is fairly moot, since nobody's around to see their spam...

[Intri]

Hi
I hope there is any progress in creating new (better stable than beta) version of ufo2000. I have one more idea about chat room screen. I think it would look nice if current Geoscape globe was combined with chat room - players are listed on right and represented as dots on globe at the top of the screen (even adding some interaction e.g. clicking on dot is choosing player for game). There should be only some space for chat at the bottom (better with scrollbar). If it is too hard for coding 3D globe it could be simple 2D map instead of it for start. It might be base for future advanced player's accounts and other Geoscape features.

If developers had similar idea earlier - that's good, maybe it is already implemented and waiting for release
If not, in that case I would like to know what people (including developers of course ) are thinking about this idea.

Edited by Intri, 03 August 2008 - 03:44 AM.

[lemm]

Haha, that's clever Intri.

[Serge]

Hi
I hope there is any progress in creating new (better stable than beta) version of ufo2000. I have one more idea about chat room screen. I think it would look nice if current Geoscape globe was combined with chat room - players are listed on right and represented as dots on globe at the top of the screen (even adding some interaction e.g. clicking on dot is choosing player for game). There should be only some space for chat at the bottom (better with scrollbar). If it is too hard for coding 3D globe it could be simple 2D map instead of it for start. It might be base for future advanced player's accounts and other Geoscape features.

Something similar has been considered long ago for the (yet to be implemented) massive multiplayer part of the game. The players would have not just only a name, but their own bases with soldiers, equipment, research facilities, basic economics. In this case representing each player as a dot on map makes sense. Otherwise it is just 'eye candy' feature, cool at first look, but not a single bit more functional than we have now (except for the ability to visually represent where each of the player lives in real life if they don't mind sharing this information of course).

]If developers had similar idea earlier - that's good, maybe it is already implemented and waiting for release

Not a chance. Why would something be implemented and not released? If the developers have free time (and more importantly - motivation), new features get implemented and released. If not - everything is in a hibernated state.

Edited by Serge, 27 August 2008 - 01:24 PM.

[Intri]

Something similar has been considered long ago for the (yet to be implemented) massive multiplayer part of the game. The players would have not just only a name, but their own bases with soldiers, equipment, research facilities, basic economics. In this case representing each player as a dot on map makes sense. Otherwise it is just 'eye candy' feature, cool at first look, but not a single bit more functional than we have now (except for the ability to visually represent where each of the player lives in real life if they don't mind sharing this information of course).

I think this 'eye candy' should look better than current chat screen (anything instead of black screen would be better ) - that's why I suggest to add something like this. Game has got 'Geoscape demo' but it is useless now - placing it at chat room will make it useful.

[Serge]

I think this 'eye candy' should look better than current chat screen (anything instead of black screen would be better ) - that's why I suggest to add something like this.

Anything other than a uniformly colored background can make text messages less readable...

Game has got 'Geoscape demo' but it is useless now - placing it at chat room will make it useful.

It is as useful as any other demo

[Kratos]

Game has got 'Geoscape demo' but it is useless now - placing it at chat room will make it useful.

It is as useful as any other demo

Despite the uselessness of it being in a chat room, it might be a smart move to guide it in the direction of basic network play, for anybody that wants to begin with a MMORPG concept. Of course though, moving something in a direction doesn't guarantee anything development-wise. If it did, the demo would already have some nice single player features in itself.

Serge, are you planning on coming back to this project? If not, we might as well call it dead and encourage someone else to fork it. I'm not one to speak, but there hasn't been much activity from anybody for a whole year starting Wednesday.

Edited by Kratos, 28 August 2008 - 09:23 PM.

[Intri]

Anything other than a uniformly colored background can make text messages less readable...

I mean the globe on top of the screen and chat space placed below (with other background).

I'm not one to speak, but there hasn't been much activity from anybody for a whole year starting Wednesday.

It is sad that there weren't any new versions available for download since I started this topic - there were many ideas posted on the forum but none of them were added to the game until now. But I still have a hope that something will be changed/updated soon (in case of this game 'soon' could mean about 2-3 months).
Maybe project's activity will incease after summer's end.


Btw. What happened with statistic page? (that one with version stability, matches etc.)

Edited by Intri, 29 August 2008 - 11:40 AM.

[Kratos]

Maybe project's activity will incease after summer's end.

Ironic, that's the same assumption all of us had for the beginning of summer.

There's no active core developers. They're the ones who maintain the code for the subversion build. Without said person, everything, and I do mean everything, comes to a halt. No active contributions will even be checked or implemented from other small time developers, discouraging and ultimately killing the project. There is no easy solution to this besides having one of the already core developers becoming active again, and that's not a realistic request for those who become busy with more important things.

I really think it's time to encourage a fork while claiming the project is dead on the front page. We're getting no where. I doubt anybody will even read this that has any actual administration capabilities, so why I think I'm talking to serge, I have no idea why because it's not going to be heard, or at least responded directly.

But hey, it's those experienced and motivated people who come along and start forks.

But no Intri, nothing will be updated or changed anytime soon. It's too dead, core development-wise.

[Intri]

There's no active core developers. They're the ones who maintain the code for the subversion build. Without said person, everything, and I do mean everything, comes to a halt. No active contributions will even be checked or implemented from other small time developers, discouraging and ultimately killing the project. There is no easy solution to this besides having one of the already core developers becoming active again, and that's not a realistic request for those who become busy with more important things.

I really think it's time to encourage a fork while claiming the project is dead on the front page. We're getting no where. I doubt anybody will even read this that has any actual administration capabilities, so why I think I'm talking to serge, I have no idea why because it's not going to be heard, or at least responded directly.

But hey, it's those experienced and motivated people who come along and start forks.

But no Intri, nothing will be updated or changed anytime soon. It's too dead, core development-wise.

So this is the end? (too dramatic I think )
Well...If there is no-one who could keep this project alive as core developer, what are the posibilities? I think about couple of them now:

• to stay at current 'waiting-for-miracle' state (if someone waited one year can wait another one too, right?)
• current developers say that there will be new release soon
• to leave the project as it is now and let the users to play the current version by themselves without any support for them (does ufo2000.xcomufo.com server will be available in this case?)
• to find someone who will keep this project alive with basic list of things to do (updating website, veryfying patches from other users, holding repository etc.) - that person/people don't have to have stricty knowledge about sources of project to do that -but is there any chance to get 'keys' to project from current developers if they aren't available?
• I couldn't think about anything more at the moment

If the circumstances won't allow to find good solution, I think I could try to be that 'keeping-alive' person. But with my knowledge I think I couldn't make any big improvements at current source code by myself - all I can do is making progresses with my Ufo2000 Organizer (maybe it would be possible to add geoscape or other game features through that way).
Until there are players on the server , there is always a reason for doing something.

Edited by Intri, 30 August 2008 - 09:24 AM.