6 replies to this topic

[MishaParem]

http://www.devmaster...read.php?t=3394

The first reply to this topic is what got me thinking, is there a way to make "The lag would be unbearable." turn into "The lag would be *bearable."

Well, this has probably already been thought of, but the idea is to break the gaming space into areas/regions whose size is proportional to the server's hardware. When the thought came to mind, I saw a little flaw with a trivial solution. "Switching" between the regions would be a hastle, unless the servers represented political regions in the game. Suppose you get in your car and drive to another state in the US, you won't simply pass the state border, you'll go through an little station where the police officers will ask you if you have any food, drugs, medication etc in your car. In a game, the same thing can be done. When a player passes over the region boundry, they will enjoy a little cutscene, in the mean time the client switches to another server, and when the cutscene ends, the player will be ready for more action.

There was another problem that struck in as a bit of a hastle. If the user has a high speed connection, they should be fine, however if they have a slow connection, or the server is down, they're in for a problem. Solution? Well, suppose we make a GTA-style cutscene, where it is somewhat dynamic, a car you left parked nearby is still there, and you actually look exactly the same. If we do the same thing, and we guide the user up to the booth, and the officer checks the passport, id, or whatever documents you want, and then have the user continue on. Then we can "instruct" the officer to keep flipping through the documents until the connection is established, supposing the user has a slow connection. OR, if the server is down, the officer might turn the user down and make them go back.

There is plenty of room to build up on such a system, IF it works.

Questions:
1) Is such an idea possible to implement?
2) Do you see any possible flaws?
3) Do you think it is a good idea?

Scince I just started learning 3d programming, I won't be starting a project based on this idea any time soon, and I haven't even started learning how to make multiplayer games. I'm just throwing this idea out there, shoot it down as hard as you can, maybe we can patch it up afterwards to make it fly.:yes:

[Jare]

I'm unclear exactly what your "idea" is; you talk about a number of different topics, none of which are actually related to a MMOFPS (although they could be applied to one).

Seamlessly switching servers as you travel a huge territory is not easy to do, but it's fairly common in MMO games.

Cutscenes as a way to hide loading / streaming delays are a nice trick and have definitely been used in games for some time. Just remember that you have to load the cutscene itself as well!

[dave_]

MishaParem said:

http://www.devmaster...read.php?t=3394
The first reply to this topic is what got me thinking, is there a way to make "The lag would be unbearable." turn into "The lag would be *bearable."

I've worked on MMO technology. I think the above statement ["The lag would be unbearable."] is false and only people who dont know how to make network games would say it. I have implemented prediction for a MMOFPS. Its pretty well known stuff there are various compromises you have to make but its possible to do it.

The technology I worked on also provided a mechanism for switching between servers seemlessly. Both things are possible and there are resources out there on the web.

edit: As for the flipping through documents - that would be annoying just tell the user that its connecting. It wont entertain them to be 'stuck' but if they know the reason why they will accept it.

[geon]

"Then we can "instruct" the officer to keep flipping through the documents until the connection is established, supposing the user has a slow connection"

Why would it be slow to establish a connection if the user has a slow connection? (Slow as in low transfer capacity.)

Just make sure the user has all the data it needs before it comes close to the border.

[Ooka]

The idea is to give the client all it could possibly need to display or even render things within the game, and to trigger the display/rendering based on player behavior. All the data necessary to pre-load worlds is one packet per zone, indicating which of 9 to 27(for 3D space) zones to pre-load in order to allow seamless movement.

[donBerto]

dave_ said:

I've worked on MMO technology. I think the above statement ["The lag would be unbearable."] is false and only people who dont know how to make network games would say it. I have implemented prediction for a MMOFPS. Its pretty well known stuff there are various compromises you have to make but its possible to do it.

The technology I worked on also provided a mechanism for switching between servers seemlessly. Both things are possible and there are resources out there on the web.

edit: As for the flipping through documents - that would be annoying just tell the user that its connecting. It wont entertain them to be 'stuck' but if they know the reason why they will accept it.

agreed - both on the ways to properly distribute load (in turn, removing the "unbearable" aspect) and the annoying things game planners/developers do to mask an undesirable feature.

what people want is to have fun, not to be "stuck" or even the illusion of being stuck. there are definitely ways to make driving from one state into another by simply crossing the border. as the dave_ states, this can be done seamlessly.

sorry for moot point.

:regards:

[Morgan360]

They all sound like good ideas to me... but I can't help thinking of having to get out of your car and stand in line in a virtual 3D Deparment of Motor Vehicles :lol:

Which would certainly increase your aggression in preparation for the next battle...