feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

There needs to be an annotation mechanic in the game so people can all write down their thoughts on each move and such.

Then at the end of the game you can get a time line of all the nations and their thoughts on each move.

This is REALLY great for

a) learning what people are thinking in their games
b) having "games of the masters" / tournaments where you can see what people were thinking. (sort of like chess annotations and lines the various sides where contemplating)
c) ability to go back over your games and see where you made mistakes

Certainly you can do this on paper or on your computer, but having it built into the game would be really really nice.


To effectively do the above (and a nice feature in its own right), dom2 needs to keep track of all the battles so at the end of the game you can go back and watch them and watch other nations' battles.

So you can go look at each turn and see all of the battles that have occurred on that turn and view them if you wish.

This would be great to show off that big huge massive tide turning battle that you had, but only you and your enemy were able to enjoy.


So at the end of a game or at some point of the server owners choosing you can do: "export game" and it would dump out the "recorded" game data and annotation data for others to view.

Many RTSs have the functionality to record games and it is really nice. Adding the ability to annotate during the course of the game and after the game would be wonderful additions to an already great game.


~msew

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

yeah a really cool idea if possible .

i enjoyed that option much in starcraft and warcraft 3 .
really great battle replay options there . nothing ihmo was left there what you could wish for .


so if this doesn't take too much effort it would be a nice feature to add . not only battle replays but too the option to the the world map each turn either from the sight of a special nation or as divine all knowing watcher .


given it was implemented in starcraft only very late in one of the Last patches after the game was at least 1 year out this should be not too hard .

i think illwinter surely should make programming their fulltime job and give up their other jobs .
if dominion 3 becomes a hit then ( hopefully it will ) they will earn much more money too than they can ever with their current jobs .


a statement from illwinter to their future plans would be really nice if they really plan to give up their other jobs .
so far i know one of you 3 guys is a teacher .
if i had the programming abilities / creativeness of any of you 3 guys i personally surely would try to make that my fulltime job http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif


i intended everything above written as a compliment.
i just always said you 3 guys because i didn't want to be impolite because i only remember the names of 2 of you unfortunately http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

I find the idea rather amusing, if only so I can take advantage of the opportunity given to commentate my own games with lies and deceit, so as to deceive those who would read my documents. Who the hell writes their actual thoughts in a journal, anyway, just so someone else can read it?

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">a battle journal will be rather boring http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

but the main idea is a battle replay like in starcraft . this would really be great .
i would enjoy watching your games http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

I'd be happy if they'd just create a text log with all the turn-by-turn Messages, which would be trivial to do.

That way you could go back and find out what was said via Messages between nations, and know exactly what was / was not promised, etc.

Expanding the current Messages to show who forged what would also be good.

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">yeah right .
with the current system complex trades are only doable per board pm's or instant messenger .
you would have to wait 4-5 turns ingame until you have agreed on final prices .

as you said a log of trades would be really helpful .
this should be first priority 2.13 even .
+ granting ermor the nerfed vq again

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">AAR writers? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">AAR writers? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I always figured you were lying about your actual thoughts, though. You mean those were actually true? Bad Arryn! Bad!

[ August 01, 2004, 02:43: Message edited by: Norfleet ]

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

Originally posted by Cainehill:
" I'd be happy if they'd just create a text log with all the turn-by-turn Messages, which would be trivial"

Yeah the in game messager is poor at the very best
It would be nice:-
1) to be able to see who you were writing to or at least check your sent Messages
2) edit you Messages sensibly cut & paste at least
3) store Messages from turn to turn
All of which are useful in game functions
the text file solves 1 & 3 a bit.

I think the idea of a log while amusing is not actually needed but if there is a store message facility plus an ability to send to yourself you have it.

pickles

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

dp

[ August 01, 2004, 07:33: Message edited by: Pickles ]

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Thanks! We are two, Johan Karlsson and me, but my brother Johan Osterman comes up with many good ideas as do a couple of other close friends.

Unfortunately we cannot yet work fulltime on Illwinter projects. But working as a teacher is a very rewarding job, so I don't complain (you might on the other hand http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ).

A battle replay feature would need all turnfiles from every players every turn. The turnfiles mostly contain unit info, and battles are setup with all unit info of the combattants. A battle replay feature that showed all battles in the world use a lot of memory. If the replay was strategical only it would be much easier to do. Something like a province ownership development replay.

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Thanks! We are two, Johan Karlsson and me, but my brother Johan Osterman comes up with many good ideas as do a couple of other close friends.

Unfortunately we cannot yet work fulltime on Illwinter projects. But working as a teacher is a very rewarding job, so I don't complain (you might on the other hand http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ).

A battle replay feature would need all turnfiles from every players every turn. The turnfiles mostly contain unit info, and battles are setup with all unit info of the combattants. A battle replay feature that showed all battles in the world use a lot of memory. If the replay was strategical only it would be much easier to do. Something like a province ownership development replay. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">yeah a province ownership replay (what you called strategic replay) i would wish first priority . i think thats just cool for sp http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif . if you watch your empire slowly spread through faerun and getting bigger and bigger .

with battle replays : i think for modern computers with at least 512 mb ddr ram , good graphic cards ... that should be no problem for sp .
if a full battle replay is not possible perhaps you could add the following feature :

after every battle where the player was involved he may chose to save it . if he choses that he can always watch the battles again .
unfortunately that would need a change to user interface too : adding a show battle replay icon in the starting menu , perhaps under map editor .
if you click on this you just chose the game and then the replays you saved in that to look at the battle replays .


the problem is i think these ideas take much time to develop .
but if you ever have played starcraft yourself :
blizzard offered then later battle replays from starcraft world champion tournaments etc.
so you could even watch the finals between the worlds best starcraft players .

so in dominions you could watch if you like to :
-your own games
-games from the experts (norfleet , stormbinder ...)
that would help newbies really much and be better than any guide because they see what the experts do . then they can think about it and try to findout why they did this .
this way you can quickly advance from the newbie to the mediocre player level .
furthermore everybody has its own playstyle . so it would be very interesting to watch somebody else your favourite nations and look how far their playstyle differs with yours http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif


if my ideas take too much time or you are already developing dominions 3 then please say that and i fully understand that http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

but if you think at least parts of the battle replay features are doable quite quick we could start a poll and see how much liking the battle replay feature would share .
if the result is positive then you can perhaps program this into dominions 2 for the next patch http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

p.s. and what do you think with the small change to allow the 2.12 vq for ermor in 2.13 again ?

Re: feature request: annotation and game state saving
 

One can watch battle replays for the whole game even with the current Version of Dom2. Just save your trn files (for example, by copying nation.trn into nation1.trn, nation2.trn etc each turn) and afterwards copying desired file back into nation.trn). This can be simply automated outside of Dom2. The real problem is how to select the battles to watch. By the end of the game you will have hundreds of battles, most of them being totally boring.