question about multiplayer

World in Flames is the computer version of Australian Design Group classic board game. World In Flames is a highly detailed game covering the both Europe and Pacific Theaters of Operations during World War II. If you want grand strategy this game is for you.

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76mm
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question about multiplayer

Post by 76mm »

i have a question about the way in which multiplayer will be handled when introduced: since everyone needs to be online at the same time to play on netplay, it could be a pain to schedule participation of every player, especially if they are in various time zones, etc.

So will it be possible for Player 1 to take over for Player 2 for a session if everyone but player 2 can participate? In other words, if 5 of 6 players are available, will one of the participating players be able to take over for the missing player?

I would think that this would be a matter of how log-ins works, etc., but I think this would be a pretty useful feature. Another question I guess is whether it is likely that players would be willing to use this feature, or if they will insist they they play their own country, or no one does. I would think that this issue would have come up during board game sessions as well, so how is it typically handled?
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AxelNL
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RE: question about multiplayer

Post by AxelNL »

ORIGINAL: 76mm

i have a question about the way in which multiplayer will be handled when introduced: since everyone needs to be online at the same time to play on netplay, it could be a pain to schedule participation of every player, especially if they are in various time zones, etc.

So will it be possible for Player 1 to take over for Player 2 for a session if everyone but player 2 can participate? In other words, if 5 of 6 players are available, will one of the participating players be able to take over for the missing player?

I would think that this would be a matter of how log-ins works, etc., but I think this would be a pretty useful feature. Another question I guess is whether it is likely that players would be willing to use this feature, or if they will insist they they play their own country, or no one does. I would think that this issue would have come up during board game sessions as well, so how is it typically handled?

Maybe using the plans for PBEM? With standing orders for simple things a player could react to during other's impulses? But Steve needs to first concentrate on getting Netplay to work, and iron out the bugs which were reported here.

Playing internationally might be a problem, BTW. I can't see Europeans, Yanks and Ozzies in one Netplay game without at least one of them getting a serious lack of sleep.

Cheers,

Lex
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76mm
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RE: question about multiplayer

Post by 76mm »

ORIGINAL: AxelNL
Maybe using the plans for PBEM? With standing orders for simple things a player could react to during other's impulses? But Steve needs to first concentrate on getting Netplay to work, and iron out the bugs which were reported here.

Playing internationally might be a problem, BTW. I can't see Europeans, Yanks and Ozzies in one Netplay game without at least one of them getting a serious lack of sleep.

I'm not very clear on how all of this will work, but I thought that Steve has said that multiplayer will involve some kind of hybrid netplay/pbem mechanism, which would seem to require people to be together during the netplay portions.

i think I'll be in a pretty lonely time zone for this game, I haven't seen many (any) other posters from Russia yet...
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RE: question about multiplayer

Post by Shannon V. OKeets »

ORIGINAL: 76mm

i have a question about the way in which multiplayer will be handled when introduced: since everyone needs to be online at the same time to play on netplay, it could be a pain to schedule participation of every player, especially if they are in various time zones, etc.

So will it be possible for Player 1 to take over for Player 2 for a session if everyone but player 2 can participate? In other words, if 5 of 6 players are available, will one of the participating players be able to take over for the missing player?

I would think that this would be a matter of how log-ins works, etc., but I think this would be a pretty useful feature. Another question I guess is whether it is likely that players would be willing to use this feature, or if they will insist they they play their own country, or no one does. I would think that this issue would have come up during board game sessions as well, so how is it typically handled?
The design (and some of the code) is for a team leader on each side. The thought there is that for land moves, only one team would have to be on-line. The team leader would 'gather' the GRLs (Game Record Logs) for his side and when the game resumes with the other side present, those accumulated GRLs would be sent as a batch to all players on the other side. I'm not sure of how many other places in the sequence of play lend themselves to this process. Perhaps production, if one side finishes production early and the other side wants to shutdown their connections. In any case, this would probably be at the end of a session, and used to give one side the ability to break off playing while the other side figures out what they are going to do.

As for players coming and going, the intent is to have the team leader capable of reassigning major power groups to different/new players. That would be for an existing player to take over for another player for a phase/turn or if a player decides to quit completely. Changing the team leader would be handled similarly.

Note that each player has a set of major power groups, as defined by the Scenario rules. Those would be the unit/measure of what it reassigned. I don't anticipate enabling the players to reassign individual major powers. Doing that would be a lot more work since the basis of the existing code is that players control the predefined major power groups. But I don't know; it might not be all that difficult. Nonetheless, that would have a very low priority in my life.

EDIT: This is all part of enabling up to 6 players to play using NetPlay.
Steve

Perfection is an elusive goal.
Numdydar
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RE: question about multiplayer

Post by Numdydar »

ORIGINAL: 76mm

i think I'll be in a pretty lonely time zone for this game, I haven't seen many (any) other posters from Russia yet...

Well obviously you need to start recruiting more people in your area to play with you [:)]
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Zorachus99
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RE: question about multiplayer

Post by Zorachus99 »

ORIGINAL: Numdydar

ORIGINAL: 76mm

i think I'll be in a pretty lonely time zone for this game, I haven't seen many (any) other posters from Russia yet...

Well obviously you need to start recruiting more people in your area to play with you [:)]

Zhukov isn't taken...
Most men can survive adversity, the true test of a man's character is power. -Abraham Lincoln
MatJack
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RE: question about multiplayer

Post by MatJack »

I'm wondering given the timing of things if it's not best to now edit the profile page to include time zone info.
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RE: question about multiplayer

Post by Shannon V. OKeets »

ORIGINAL: Mat_Jack

I'm wondering given the timing of things if it's not best to now edit the profile page to include time zone info.
That information is stored in NetPlayReg.txt; make a copy before you edit it. Leave the lines untouched. It's the last line that you would want to edit.
Steve

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Shannon V. OKeets
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RE: question about multiplayer

Post by Shannon V. OKeets »

ORIGINAL: Mat_Jack

I'm wondering given the timing of things if it's not best to now edit the profile page to include time zone info.
Bedminster! I went to Bernards HS. My mother taught at Far Hills Country Day School for a half dozen years.
Steve

Perfection is an elusive goal.
MatJack
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RE: question about multiplayer

Post by MatJack »

I've not tried net play yet so my file is empty. I'm thinking of reading post's and then contacting people based on time zone shown in thread posts.
MatJack
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RE: question about multiplayer

Post by MatJack »


WOW, then you know the area :) Hard to picture a Bernardsville transition to HI
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