Multiplay

[tbohner]

Do you think we can either get the multiplay code form either age of pirates of freelancer (or any other game with large capaticy) to have a dedicated server and create our own mmo. i was thinking that the freelancer code might work the best and that game is used to mod everything. i'll try to look through the code to find out if we can do it but i also hope some of you look for ways to make potc multiplayer friendly.

 

[Drunken]

Yes, I think that would be fantastic! Imagine a fellow forumer pounding the living cr@p out of you in an online ship battle <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />

Massively Multiplayer Online `Ship-jacking` Adventure! (MMOSA) <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

 

[Admiral8Q]

I think the biggest challenge would be to set a standard flow of time. Some realism would be lost, but this would have to be done for a multiplayer version of PotC.

Personnally I wouldn't care if the time realism has to be sacrificed for a multiplayer world of potc! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bookish.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":mm" border="0" alt="bookish.gif" />

 

[tbohner]

we could set it where the dedicated server set the time and every1 followed it and have like port days take several days (game days) to change from night to day about 6 hours to day/night cycle. have each day equal 15 min but still travel like normal just slow up clock

 

[Admiral8Q]

Good idea, but I think days and nights could still change the same as they do now. The biggest change would be that travel speed would have to be slowed down (maybe to 25%) on the world map mode. <i>Keep in mind that speed and time are different aspects. By speed I mean how fast the ship moves</i> Days could still change after 15 min, but it would only maybe take less than a day to travel from one island to the next.

If you were in Sea mode and in a battle, others could show up and engage in the combat which could take an hour or more of real time, so maybe a couple days of game time to resolve.

My point on time is that if it takes 4 days to travel from one island to another, in game time, no one will want to sit around for 2 hours doing nothing. So technically (game time) travel at sea would be accelerated to a "warp" speed on the world map. You could still engage other fleets, or battles.

Real time would be disproportionate to game time, but this would make for much better gameplay.

 

[Suraknar]

There are some good ideas here <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

But don;t you think it would take longer to devellop Multiplay for POTC than it will take for AOP to be released that does have Multiplay in it?

<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/keith.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="keith.gif" />

 

[Admiral8Q]

<!--`QuoteBegin-Suraknar`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Suraknar)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->There are some good ideas here <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

But don;t you think it would take longer to devellop Multiplay for POTC than it will take for AOP to be released that does have Multiplay in it?  

<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/keith.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="keith.gif" />[/quote]

Yes, I know what your saying. AOP will not have a multiplayer world in it, only ship engagements. Perhaps modding AOP would be eisier that POTC? If I knew and understood all the code for POTC, and if I had the time, I'd gladly make it into a massive multiplayer game.

 

[Suraknar]

In terms of code manipulation, I think we will have beter chances with POTC. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

However, multiplay capabilities will be built in the engine of AOP, so, untill it is out we can't say with certainty, at this point its assumptive speculation.

So we are speaking of something like Freelancer, yes I played and loved the game as well.

Well, lets see. I am no coder, but thinking of it from a graphical point of view:

Freelancer is Broken down in to various Sectors, each sector is self contained, in that you can't fly from one sector to anotrher without making the use of a Jump Gate.

In that sence, POTC has islands and you can't sail from one island to the other without going in to the world Map.

So far this matches.

Then Freelancer has various landing sites within each sector, be it planet Locations or Base Locations.

And POTC has various landing sites within each island, ports/town locations and shore locations.

This matches too.

In Freelancer while in transit from one sector to another you can't stop.

In POTC while in transit from one island to another you Can stop or Be stoped and go in to a Sea Location.

This does not match but it is actually a Bonus to POTC functionality

Graphically I don;t see it would not work <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

So what is really missing here is: (althought don't look at me for making it, I am no Programmer).

The TCP/IP, Client/Server Functionality. Not necessrilly programming the whole thing, but only Upper layer functionality, as windows (maybe through DirectX) would handle lower Layer functionality.

Then we would need to Program a way to manage the information of the various players that is somehow fed in to the POTC engine.

This might be the biggest challenge here...

As information will have to go be transmitted on the world map and also at the locations.

If two players go in to a Tavern theis positions actions and Graphics will have to show in both sides, since the engine renders all that this information has to be interpreted by the engine and diplayed to eachother's screen.

Same goes for world map encounters, and same goes for sea Location encounters.

Actions may include a variety of things from trading to damage due to combat.

And of cource, we are talking also about implementing a Chat system so players can communicate in the game.

So...if we can overcome these challenges, seems to me very possible <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

And it will be great too!

Then its all about figuring out a good balance of speeds and times etc, for the gameplay aspect.

Time will have to be the same across the board, no time accelaration possible either.

Speeds is what we can play with, same as freelancer speed during Jumping from Sector to Sector it is largelly higher than any normal speed.

Hey this may even be used for Pirates of the Burning Sea <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> A world Map with accelerated Speed <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Bottom line:

Do we have anyone around here with the knowledge to Program this in to the POTC engine?