Guest John Maragoudakis Posted December 13, 1999 Share Posted December 13, 1999 Did watching the whole game in one playback make it in the game? This is one exciting feature, especially when watching other peoples games. With a 45 min game, I can literally get some popcorn going and sit back to watch some fun WW2 battles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rommel Posted December 13, 1999 Share Posted December 13, 1999 oh i sure hope so, that'd be a very cool feature. Especially if you had like a 5 min period where there was horrible fighting going on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbg2112 Posted December 15, 1999 Share Posted December 15, 1999 Not sure what to make of the lack of an official response on this subject (is it in but it's a big surprise, or did it just not make it), but-- What would be way kewl would be the ability for the original players to annotate these movies (with the option, of course, for the movie viewer to not see these annotations). The way it would work is that when a player is viewing a turn, they could pause it at a certain point, and create an annotation via a hotkey or button. This would present a small window where they could type in comments capturing their perspective at the time. Some details to consider, like where does this annotation text appear during playback, etc., but when viewing other peoples movies it would really help you understand why they did the things that they did, given their side of FoW. Note that the way I've described doesn't sound like it would require any real mods to the game mechanics or implementation, but then again, I ain't seen the source. In particular, I think it should be part of that person's turn -- after they've finished viewing the playback for that turn, any annotations they've added can't be modified. (Now please ship the thing so I can leave the design stuff in BTS's capable hands!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Maragoudakis Posted December 15, 1999 Share Posted December 15, 1999 The annotations would help you understand other people films, especially if they were training films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted December 15, 1999 Share Posted December 15, 1999 sbg2112, It sounds interesting BUT I think it'd probably require a hell of a lot of coding PLUS the text would have to be saved in the encrypted movie file thus movie files would no longer be the same size and I can think of a few ways that this would make breaking the encryption easier for hackers also. If people wanted to do that then they might a well simply use something like Hypercam to make a movie of the playback... I should get a Hypercam licence soon and I can test if that is possible to do. ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Maragoudakis Posted December 15, 1999 Share Posted December 15, 1999 Fionn, can you post any movies,(all the turns together in one continuous playback), of any games played with the beta testers at the Gamers Net? [This message has been edited by John Maragoudakis (edited 12-15-99).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_PanzerLeader Posted December 16, 1999 Share Posted December 16, 1999 Yah i was wondering if the there was anyway to combine the coding for the movies an run it straight through ( need to find the cutoof point onteh combo turns) ] SS_PanzerLeader...out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Maragoudakis Posted December 16, 1999 Share Posted December 16, 1999 I thought it was going to make it in CM,...maybe CM2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted December 16, 1999 Share Posted December 16, 1999 Unfortunately John you don't have what is needed in the code of the beta demo to see what we see when we play the movies. The beta demo code only contains info for those units in the beta demo. I AM trying to get a Hypercam licence with a view to posting a real movie ".mpg or.avi" of the game... But I have to wait and see if that's possible. it mightn't be. ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Maragoudakis Posted December 16, 1999 Share Posted December 16, 1999 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>to see what we see when we play the movies.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> When you say 'see the movies', are you talking about just a turn's worth or are you guys able to see the whole game in one shot. Should I put the popcorn away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TZEENCH Posted December 16, 1999 Share Posted December 16, 1999 Will there be a feature that will be able to download later (like with the Tcp\Ip patch) that will enable you to link a battles worth into one movie? Or do we looking at third party inovation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbg2112 Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 Fionn, Thanks -- you raise a good point regarding the encryption, but I'm sure the code-slinging talents at BTS could address that. Regardless, I just wanted to float the idea, because as somebody who has always wanted to discover wargaming, nothing clicked for me until CM. One of the best things about CM is how much it can teach you about WWII tactics and in fact is making me realize just how little I've really learned about tactics in all my reading. So now I'm scrambling to try to learn these before the game comes out so that I'm not caught flat-footed, so to speak. I thought these annotated movies would be one useful tool for that. Perhaps another approach would be for the experts, such as yourself, to maybe do some hotseat scenarios in the style of AARS, with the express purpose of illustrating different concepts. These would be limited in scope and strictly meant for educational purposes. Of course, the editor will allow us to do these ourself, and that's great, it's just that I'd like to see / hear the military historians illustrate WWII thinking... I still would be curious to hear BTS weigh in on the viability / feasibility of this, but that can wait until after CM1. Well, I'm done with this topic -- for now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 Well I'm doing some points-based tactics for people which I'll post to CMHQ and others can probably expand on. They won't be suitable for all since I have a rather particular playing style. I suggest that watching AARs (we have more in the pipeline at CMHQ) is also a good learning tool. 2. We see them turn by turn. I don't think the code to make it a 1 hour moviefest will make it in prior to release.. I might be wrong though but that's my understanding at the present time. I think it will be released later in a patch. 3. I've done a few scenarios which might make it in which go to make some points for people to consider. So far it seems they make those points well and forcefully just as I had hoped. ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 Ps. You guys do know that I'm posting tactics tips to CMHQ at the rate of one a day don't you? I have just sent a week of artillery tips off to Matt. ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Maragoudakis Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I don't think the code to make it a 1 hour moviefest will make it in prior to release.. I might be wrong though but that's my understanding at the present time. I think it will be released later in a patch<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Thanks Fionn. Anyhow, seeing as more people find dead bodies more pressing, the impression is that not too many people think that the full movie feature is so important. At this point in the game, only solid support could save this feature from being pushed aside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_PanzerLeader Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 I think being able to watch the movies all at once is extremely important SS_PanzerLeader.out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JonS Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 aawww, common John, until your post no one had said boo about dead bodies for a whole 12 hours. Surely, that must be a bit of a record! Jon ------------------ Quo Fas et Vino du Femme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Maragoudakis Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 So, Jon, is the feature important enough to you or can you wait for the patch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
von shrad Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 I too think it is very important. I thought it was going to be in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Maragoudakis Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 Of course it's important. Only by playing back the whole game can you get the best sense of momentum. Everything falls together at that point. You can better see what action stunted the thrust. The whole point of attacking is applying force over time. You must clearly feel the flow of this power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JonS Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 John, I accept your last point about the flow-over-time thing, but consider this: By definition this playback has no impact on game play, and can't be used in any useful way for the scenario it was created in. It is something that can only be seen when the battle, and the game, is over. For that reason I don't think its worth having in the game, or rather, not worth delaying the game for. In other words, a cool, marginally useful feature that I probably wouldn't use much anyway, and would therefore happily forego. My take on the topic-without-end can be seen there Regards Jon ------------------ Quo Fas et Vino du Femme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Maragoudakis Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>It is something that can only be seen when the battle, and the game, is over.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Of course. Will that be your last battle? No. You improve by studying what happenned. Plus I want to see other people's movies. Maybe some nights, I just want to spend an hour watching some great fight imortalised at the gamers net. What better way to disect, er I mean study opponents. Learn thier style. How do they approach towns. How do they take advantage of woods. Do they take chances. All these factors will unfold before yours eyes, uninterupted. A usefull and interesting feature. The whole movie is also like a reward after the game. If you force a player to download each and every turn's movie, he will lose interest and that can't help the genre. [This message has been edited by John Maragoudakis (edited 12-17-99).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_PanzerLeader Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 It totally agree with John M - having this feature is essential for improvement, as well as keeping interest inthe game. trying to go back and pinpoint your mistakes by individually loading each and everytturn is a pain. Also having the games immortalized inthis fashion would be an awesome feature for the hall of fame . SS_PanzerLeader.....out [This message has been edited by SS_PanzerLeader (edited 12-17-99).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 What kind of sizes of the movie files can we expect in bigger scenarios? As it is now 40 turns of CE adds up to around 5 meg when zipped. Viewed only from one side that is. Bigger is bigger I guess? M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TZEENCH Posted December 17, 1999 Share Posted December 17, 1999 Humm i think having a 24 meg CM battle to watch would be fine. Hell ive got more hd space taken up in Avis than i could shake a stick at, a 50 meg file is nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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