Ideas to make proper multiplayer possible without the need for a stationary third screen

[Klumpen]

I already mentioned a part of this in another thread, but I am thinking...

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Idea #1:

Two Pandoras are connected via network and #2 is sending it's input commands to #1 as Joystick 2 and is configured to control player 2

(maybe even automatically by a switch in the program).

Both run the same (multiplayer enabled) program at the same time.

Possible?

ZSNES network multiplayer/Zbattle.net and Kaillera worked this way, if I understood this right and it worked for me.

Pros: not limited to 2 players max; online gaming; not much traffic

Cons: Problems with sync? Programs need to be altered too much?

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Idea #2

Two Pandoras are connected via USB and TV-Out at the same time to each other.

#2 acts as an HID while receiving and showing the picture of #1

and could therefore be used as a second controller while having it's own screen and without having to run the program itself and having to sync it somehow.

Possible?

Pros: Less sync problems; less battery power needed on #2

Cons: No netplay; much traffic.

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Please be tender if you want to tell me, that this is total BS.

 

[LTStone]

It would cool to integrate kaillera into some of the existing emus.

 

[hedwards]

I think this should work on a LAN. But how well it works is going to depend upon the genre, for some genres it will work better than for others.

Normally for this sort of game there will be a host machine that takes care of synchronizing things. I believe that in Halo, they do most of the actual calculations on the server to prevent cheating. But, it also allows the server to adjust the aiming so that you hit what you were aiming at when you pulled the trigger, rather than when the calculation goes through.

 

[pmprog]

Idea 1 can be expanded in several ways. It depends what base you have to work with.

Just sending raw inputs across can cause desync, even on LANs. I remember playing Killer Instinct over a LAN with a friend and we became desync'd

Then you have lock-step, where each players' inputs must be received by all players before the "update" is processed in-game. This means that if there is significant delays from one or more players, the game will keep pausing. This is how Starcraft works.

and finally, you have predictive, where your state is sent to the server, and if any packets are lost/dropped, the server will continue to predict your position based upon the last, until it gets a newly corrected packet from the client.

 

[notaz]

There doesn't seem to be much interest in netplay on this community. IIRC Exophase was disappointed when he added netplay to Temper and nobody even tested it.

 

[crow_riot]

^ agreed.

I asked for multiplayer testings long time ago for PaperWars and there was only one person participating except traylorpark and me... I've even shutdown the multiplayer server and noone complained as of yet

 

[pmprog]

I asked for multiplayer testings long time ago for PaperWars and there was only one person participating except traylorpark and me... I've even shutdown the multiplayer server and noone complained as of yet

Yeah, IIRC you started doing all the multiplayer stuff when I was going away for a while and missed all the testing. Are we going to see an updated PND at any point? (ie with the menu Traylorpark was demoing on your website)

Multiplayer is always awkward unless there's a lot of frequent players. I'd love to play more people at Greed Corp, but everytime I check multiplayer, nobody is on. I went looking for an opponent on DiveKick after finding massive lag trying to play foxblock, but it didn't find me an opponent.

Most of my friends aren't really gamers, which doesn't help; and I tend to find I end up playing Starcraft 2 most of the time (even that seems rare these days) only because I still have a few friends that I play with.

It's interesting to see the "Arcade" section of Starcraft 2. Unless you play one of the top 10 popular maps, you'll never (well, rarely) find a game. Such is netplay

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

^ agreed.


I asked for multiplayer testings long time ago for PaperWars and there was only one person participating except traylorpark and me... I've even shutdown the multiplayer server and noone complained as of yet

But I think time has changed now, I think more people would be interested now.  Also Temper pnd is not on the repo so not a lot of people know about it.  I just happened to stumble on it.  Look at C4A, it's growing.

 

[ekianjo]

Look at C4A, it's growing.

NOt really. Less and less people compete.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Look at C4A, it's growing.

NOt really. Less and less people compete.

If you play against the real human, I think that would change though.  I know I would like to play against you more than against the machine.

 

[Klumpen]

I finally started this thread, because over 3000 Pandoras were sold by now and with a growing number of Pandora owners the importance of multiplayer and especially netplay may grow somehow.

If there were testings a while ago, I did not notice it, was not yet a Pandorian or only watched the German boards.

 

[sswam]

Pandora isn't grunty enough to push video over the network in real time, so that's out - unless you can somehow persuade the DSP to do it.  It would have to be compressed somehow, or use a really good wifi setup (not internal).

The TV out idea is interesting but we have no video in, nor any way to handle that amount of data in software, so it can't work.  Also we don't want to use too much cables, they will likely get yanked and that means Pandora breakage.

I think the best bet is to plug one "host" Pandora into a TV, and the other one just acts as a controller over wifi, somehow (and doesn't run or display the game).  Do we have such a "Pandora as 2nd joystick over wifi" utility?

I have several Pandoras at home and would like to try this with my family.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

MasterControl

 

[Klumpen]

Transfer of input commands just like in Kaillera and Zbattle.net still does seem like the way to go,

this would be possible via LAN and Internet as well.