User:CyberShadow/Assorted ideas

Random ideas that came up over the years, and finer points of the broader items above.

Options

• Customizable background detail levels
• Move instant replays from a scheme option to a game option, since it only works offline anyway?
• Team favourite colour (honoured by hosts on a first-come, first-serve basis)
• Allow customizing the six team colours (for people with colour deficiency, or who don't like certain colours).

Interface

• Specific screens:
  • Join "lobby":
    • Add easily-accessible Scheme Comparator
      • Compares the scheme chosen by the host against all locally-available schemes, and displays the name of the closest-matching scheme, with an asterisk appended if there's any difference (e.g. "Hysteria *")
      • If requested by the user, shows a list of all the differences between the host's scheme and the closest-matching scheme (e.g. "Low gravity ammo: 0 -> 1")
        • How shall the diff display be triggered? Upon mouse hover over the scheme name? Upon clicking the scheme name? In the scheme viewer?
  • In-game:
    • Pressing Escape pops up a menu and shows the mouse cursor, however it is not locked to the Escape dialog.
      • With the mouse cursor unlocked, mousing over a worm brings its name/HP bubble to the front. (solves this idea)

Game logic

• Maps:
  • Wrapped maps?
  • Auto-expand map size? (Allow placing girders outside map boundaries)
    • Infinite cavern?
  • Store map as a collection of chunks instead of a single solid object. This allows:
    • Loading maps of different sizes (dynamic resizing)
    • On-the-fly "extension" of maps (building girders in open space, or digging in any direction for infinite cavern maps)
    • Efficient in-memory representation of large maps with a lot of blank space

Network

• Peer-to-peer
  • Measure pings and construct routes dynamically?
• Don't artificially limit the maximum number of players and teams
• Asset sharing
  • Support sharing:
    • Colour maps (as presently)
    • Scheme/script assets
    • Soundbanks/fanfares
    • Terrain textures
  • Caching
  • Bandwidth usage:
    • Normal (load maps, soundbanks, route data)
    • Low bandwidth mode (load maps, but not soundbanks, and do not route data unless required to keep the game running)
    • Minimal bandwidth mode (do not load colour channel of maps, only the B&W outline)
• Unify front end (lobby) and in-game protocol
  • Map editor: (also see separate section for feature list)
    • Integrated with game logic (editing tools accessible just like weapons from a separate palette)
    • Maps should be sent as collision mask first, with progressive colour layer following
      • Colour data for loaded maps should not be stored in the message stream, but rather stored as an object reference
• Real-time support
  • Turn-based games follow current W:A behaviour - current player is a few seconds (or whatever the latency is) ahead of other players, but other players would still be able to send certain messages "from the past"
  • Real-time games are synced simultaneously
  • Sync is achieved by "rewinding" the game engine and reapplying new input if it is received "in the past"
• Desynchronization errors don't disconnect players, but rather just cause them to surrender

Map editor

• Support basic colour editing tools (MS-Paint-ish)
• Support clipboard operations
• Ability to flip maps horizontally and vertically
• Ability to generate maps based on a string (as with other Worms games)
• Ability to select a random map from the SavedLevels folder (or a sub-folder)
• "Plug-in" code model for landscape generators and texturizers
  • Add map generation for common schemes, e.g. RR (see MapGEN)
• Draw on the landscape (monochrome) level, see live texturized map?
• Layers? (parallax foreground, destructible land, indestructible land, destroyed land background, parallax background)
• Worm starting points?
• Allow pre-placing hazard objects (mines/barrels)?
• Crate drop zone probabilities?
• Allow manually specifying water colour and the background gradient

Gameplay

• Per-scheme features:
  • Rule enforcement as scheme options (see 4/Scheme options)
  • Roper:
    • Trick detection? (like here)
• Scribble feature (allow people to scribble on the viewport, even not during their turn; superimposed on the map, but not limited to being inside the map)
  • Team Scribble to discuss private strategy
  • Global Scribble to be shown to all people present in the game
  • Spectators? (same problem as with spectator team chat)
  • Private Scribble? (player-to-player, like a /msg — would there ever be a reason people would want this?)
  • Option to toggle visibility of scribble, in case it is abused or becomes distracting

Replays

• Replays are stored internally as broken into message streams / metadata / maps
• Replay viewer has a seek bar (similar to video players), with turn starts marked on it
• Allow resuming a game from replay file?
  • Allow hosting a game from current moment in the replay viewer? (idea)
  • Also allow resuming from in-between matches? (idea)
• Replay library interface
  • Replays will be stored in object database, but exportable to self-contained files
  • Search chat
  • Search by certain parameters
• Bookmark system (wkReplayShark replacement and more)
  • Bookmarks should be exportable, and show up on the seek bar

WormNET

• Each player has their own unique username and profile
• Channels structure:
  • #Sandbox for all scheme options unlocked
    • All other channels have the advanced scheme options locked (teststuff-like, scripting, etc.) to prevent overcustomization explosion
  • Separate roping and non-roping schemes into two channels:
    • #TotalWormage - using unlimited ropes is forbidden (Replaces old #PartyTime. Best name idea so far despite its similarity to Full Wormage.)
    • #RopersHeaven - using unlimited ropes is forced
  • Ranked channels with enforced settings for popular schemes
• Ranking system is TBD
• Return of flaming health bars (possibly some more tasteful team customization)
• Snooper support? (allow connecting with an IRC client for limited interactivity)
• Use a reputation system to penalize misbehaving players (quitters, griefers, etc.)?
  • 4/Reputation
• Use public-key cryptography for security:
  • People joining the game must provide a server-signed join token, which proves that WormNET registered that they joined the game
  • Each player has their own public and private key
  • Replays and messages are signed using the player's private key
  • Private messages are encrypted using the recipient's public key
• Nick list:
  • Show clan logo instead of flag if present, but show flag on mouse-over?
  • Color nicks by status (online, in-game, away, busy(?), snooper)

External links

• W:A 4.0 progress
• W:A feedback site