"Free State" game would simulate 2050 New Hampshire

[Dave Ridley]

Emailed this note to errol and received a nice reply; looks like he is still on track making progress despite the quietness on this thread.


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Errol:  There's always a fine line between checking up on a volunteer so much that it seems like I'm scolding...vs. checking up so never that it seems like I don't care about a given project.  I guess I am drifting into the latter condition now... so I figured I should check in!

In case you are wondering:  The game still is my life's dream (or at least in the top 3); your work is still so spot on that I doubt anyone else affordable can do it , and I'm still looking forward to any thoughts or actions you have to share on the project when you are ready!    Is there anything new you can think of that I can do on my end to make the project easier or more attractive for you?

Hope all is well on your end meanwhile.

Dave

[Errol]

Long time no post (Sorry), but progress hasn't stopped. I've got the multi-player thing working, and I've added radar. The AI is also working

The server side still has some instability that needs attention, but It should get through a single battle before breaking (something that has been ingored till I could get this far). I've made the battle field a bit more configurable (number of antennas, base locations, map size) and will add an interface for (different settings for different locations on the larger map). For now I am going to make the first player to log into a game the host of it and all configuration power shall go to them.

My earlier thoughts about sharing and testing the game rested on some false assumptions, however I do have some other ideas and will let you know once the instabilities have been addressed.

Attached are two screen shots.
The first is after login. It so far displays the plays logged in (only "b0" in the screen shot (myself)), and the configurable fields (as mentioned that will be expanding). The configuration will eventually be handled by the server but for now it may give players the change to make the game more interesting or tweak it to there tastes.

The second screen shot is of game play. As you can see, I've been experimenting with the drone image. You should be able to see the radar (which is drag and drop).

Anyways, I just wanted to drop a word to let you know I'm still at it. Nothing to fancy yet, but had to re-organize what I had a few times to make progress easier in the long term.

[Dave Ridley]

I'm having to move the discussion over to
http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?topic=27497.0 because of the fact that some folks are having problems seeing this forum; it's banning VPN's from seeing it in some cases.

anyway, there you'll find a link to the latest much appreciate update Errol has achieved. ... the game is now techincally multiplayer online but not really ready to play. We're still pre-alpha. 

[jerry]

I'm having to move the discussion over to
http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?topic=27497.0 because of the fact that some folks are having problems seeing this forum; it's banning VPN's from seeing it in some cases. 

Dave, sorry about that.  It is entirely my fault.  Last year Kat was being overwhelmed by hundreds of spammers per day.  She allowed the Moderators to take over the task.  As I am somewhat OCD about killing off spammers I spent many hours blocking as many as possible.  After blocking the major commercial spammers from Eastern Europe and Asia, the number of spams dropped to dozens per day, posted from open relays.

Your problems began when I started blocking IP addresses belonging to some open relays that are apparently used by some VPNs.
I only blocked them AFTER the forum received spam from that IP, so as to minimize the inconvenience to others.

If you would send me an email with the problematic IP addresses I can unblock them.

[Errol]

Updates in the works. I've been working on the lag issue, and suspect I may need to reduce the bandwidth the game is using. I've cut it in half a few week ago, and am working on cutting it almost in half again since I am still seeing the lag occasionally. I think I only see the lag when connecting through wi-fi.

I've been also trying to optimize the game on both the server and client side and hopefully reduce any bottle necks that may also cause lag.

[Errol]

Update now available. Let me know if ii seems improved.

[Errol]

I running into an issue where I have to deal with lost, late or a dump of data packets. This can cause some of the jumpiness of the game. I've think I have a solution for this. Been doing a few tests here and there to see what I can get away with.

The trick is to attempt to predict what the drones may do when an update from the server is late. The only trade off is that the game may occasional go out of sync with the server, but will be corrected on the next update. This seems to be a problem all real time multi-player games have.

On a side note, I am wondering if there is any record for amount of code written while in transit. Since I don't need to drive, the time I've found to work on this has been on my commute to and from work.

[Dave Ridley]

Thanks Errol!  Just saw your messages, because of my problems seeing nh underground.

Let's continue this discussion at http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?topic=27497.0
aka http://freestategame.com
since I and others are having trouble seeing nh underground.
I'm going to try and lock this thread now.