[DaMoose]

I have a number of suggestions:

1. 800x600 mode, or just resize the town a bit.
My monitor displays 800x600, and I don't feel like changing the resolution everytime I play the game. In 800x600, you can't see the stuff at the bottom of the screen (chat, items stuff). This was also what caused me to not make a map with the map making program, the windows for both don't fit on my monitor without me resizing my desktop.

2. A 'Chat Only' view.
Seeing as GSW is essentially a glorified chat program with mini-games, a chat-only view would be useful for all those that don't wish to play games at any given time.

3. Faster moving sprites.
Pretty self explanatory, it takes ages to move from one place on the map to another.

4. Faster loading times.
Not sure what can be done about it, but I don't feel like waiting three minutes everytime I walk into a house.

5. (Possibly a bug) - I registered with a username / password, and when I input the exact password I entered on the registration thing in the box, it gives me an error, so either the registration password box on the site needs to be limited in length, or the password entry box needs to be unlimited in length.

[Elliott]

1.) I have big resolution, so I don't have any difficulties, but I do feel for the 800x600 users.

2.) Isn't there a chat room? If now, then a 1 on 1 chat would be nice.

3.) Yes, yes, yes. Agatio is slow as all hell, terrible.

4.) It's just a connection thing probably, your 56k I assume?

5.) Just register again; everyone else seems to work fine.

[Blink]

All I agree with is the running/walking part, since there's already a chat room and the houses load fine for me, plus registration went smoothly and I keep my resolution at 1024 x 768 or whatever it is..

[Zxor]

I agree with the fast running. It does take a long time to move all over the map. But the loading isn't that bad, it only takes five minutes.

[musicman2059]

The running/walking part would be great. I think it would also be nice if messages could be just a tad bit longer. :D

[DaMoose]

In response to Agatio,

I figured I'd post the resolution thing because Max made a big deal out of the new site layout been 780 pixels wide for compatibility for 800x600 people.

If there was a chat room, I missed it during the loading... But a personal message function would be nice.

When I tested it that time, I was on 56k, yes, but it needs to be usuable by all people, I walked into an empty house, waited for it to load before discovering it was empty, only to have to go outside and wait for it to load again. I would've thought that the map was defined in program, and coordinates were sent, but it seems the map is defined off the server, and coordinates are sent, while this allows for greater flexibility (the map can be changed by the server host at anytime), it also increases loading times. I tried it on a broadband connection, and the loading was much better, but I still had to wait about 20 seconds (yes, I am impatient).

Finally, I did try to register again, but got told that the username was in use, meaning that I had just registered it, and the password length of the input on the site and in the program were different. Possibly Max could implement an in-game registration for the full version...

[Mallick]

For number five, the usernames are case sensitive, possibly you could've put a capital in the registration, and not put it in the log in? Or possibly the other way around?

Number three? I agree, also, some of the sprites have dodgy hair. I looked at their sheets, and they were perfectly normal. Except for Piers, I need to re-shade his, and give to Max for next test.

[Neon]

wha? what's wrong with peirs hair? O.o it looks perfectly fine to me.

Garet gets these annoying balck pixels when he walks to the right, but it's normal when he walks to the left (odd)

[Blink]

In response to loading empty houses, I got a really good idea about that. What if houses with people in them had the lights on? Then you could be sure that there was someone in the house before you went in.

[Neon]

or, even better, we just have a online list that lists all users online (omg, never guessed) their status (idle, playing, chatting), and their location.

[Luke]

I was thinking more maps.

Like a lighthouse map would be nice. One with puzzles and mazes. Secret areas. You know, small, and almost easy things that most people don't really care about.

Borders round town as well. Just a few suggestions though. I only played it for two days... XD

[Max]

DaMoose, we are aware of the resolution issue, and it will be fixed for the beta. In regards to the map loading, we had many discussions about it and decided that loading them off the server would offer the best flexibility, because we don't want to make people download a new version every time we change the maps a little. The map files are at most 7kb, so if it takes longer than two seconds then your computer is too slow or there is an issue with your internet connection.

A users online list was originally part of GSW (and still is), we just don't have it built into the toolbar yet. That is also going to be implemented for the beta.

There is a dedicated chat, it's in the bottom-left house. Go talk to one of the "desks" in the back of that house.

Finally, more maps are on our to-do list, but since this is only a server test we decided to not put in the new maps we have.

[DaMoose]

That particular time, I wasn't on the greatest of computers (56kb modem, plus 32mb of RAM, on Win95), so you can imagine why it wasn't working greatly, but while it is better, its not a lot better with this computer (256k broadband, 320mb (256+64), Win98).

With the log-in, I have tried several times, with both fully uppercase and lowercase, and the way I entered it on the registration form, and a number of other ways. It simply isn't working (I had this problem during the last server test too, but didn't mention it, because I assumed that the registration wasn't instant, and I would have to wait), I am 99% sure that the lengths of the input boxes are different, or that the registration thing is limited to less than 12 characters (the length of my password as input), where the login is limited to 12 characters.

A final suggestion, encrypt the map files, and have users download them separately, it allows a large amount of flexibility, whilst not affecting the actual program. Either that, or during the log-in process, have the game download all the current maps, rather than having them download in-game.

[Neon]

it's a great idea in theory, but what about people logged on while the map is changed? They would be using a different map to other people who logged on after.
Unless everyone was kicked off.

I like the way it is currently. The downloading maps as you go thing is very flexible.

[Max]

DaMoose, no offense, but do you really expect any modern game to run on computers that old? GSW makes heavy use of XML parsing, which is very processor intensive, which is why the maps load so slowly for you.

I just looked in the registered user list, and your username is: DaMoose. Your password appears to have been cut off by two characters, so it ends with "ev". Please let me know if you need more help than that.

If we encrypt the map files, then that will make them even more processor intensive, which will mean even slower loading on old computers. Plus, if they were to just be downloaded once, then they wouldn't be updated in the middle of a session if the map gets changed.

[DaMoose]

I never expected the game to run perfectly. The second computer I mentioned happens to be the only half-decent computer I have access to, and WotA / WotA2 seemed to run fine on it.

Thanks for the info with the userlist...

And if maps are updated in the middle of a session, simply boot all users, I'm simply making suggestions as to how to deal with loading times once the game is loaded, which seems to be the largest issue for me. When I said encrypted maps, it was only if users would download the maps again when they are updated, like a patch, and because the maps would be encrypted, I assume they would all be decrypted on the loading of the program, and making the actual gameplay less processor intensive. If you don't want to encrypt them, make the program download all the maps on login, and rather than having them re-download everytime you walk in or out of a building, have them load from memory, it would reduce loading times somewhat.

[Blink]

he's not going to boot everyone just because you're the only one with this problem. If you find someone else who uses GSW and has this problem then Max will want to adress it a LOT more if its more than just you. In the mean time, I think we're just going to wait for you to upgrade your PC somehow.

[DaMoose]

This may be spammy, but, chances are, that another user not registered at the forums who experiences these problems isn't going to complain :P.

Maybe rather than booting everyone, he could set up a little code to check if theres any users online, then, as soon as there isn't any, it replaces the current map with the updated map, or it alerts users online that the maps are been updated, and as soon as they change maps, the maps download.

Also, to add to other stuff I've said, I can't see any way that the map changes could be extremely large anyway (ie. large enough that it'll affect gameplay), if someone was in a house, walked outside, and the map was different, they'd be confused as all hell. Also to add, the current system isn't perfect either; what if someone stays outside or inside during the map update? The map would never be reloaded and they would have a different map.

[Blink]

No one honestly stands outside long enough that that would ever happen. Trust me, people go inside houses at least once an hour.

[Max]

DaMoose, your points are valid. Our biggest concern with storing the maps at any point in time on the user's computer is that some malicious person will decide to edit the map files. This will glitch the game because they will be walking places where they shouldn't be or accessing things they shouldn't be able to access. Alot of critical data is stored in the maps, and opening that up to a potentially malicious user would be a major problem.

Nevertheless, AveneR and I will really take into consideration if there is any better way to do maps so that you don't have this issue. We are modifying the map XML schema anyways, so maybe we can invent a better system.

[Neon]

as far as booting people is concerned, could you just make GSW automatically reconnect everyone?

[Angelic_Raine]

I agree with Agatio on the personal message thing. I mean people try to do it anyway by going off in a little room and it's a little offensive when you walk into a room only to see someone post "So-and-so is coming in the room" especially when that person is you, like what happened to me. I really couldn't care less but others could take it the wrong way and feelings could be hurt. However, I think if there was a personal message option it would eliminate this problem. Also, maybe perhaps if the window were bigger and there was a chat box off to the side or below the screen it would make things much easier to understand plus flodding wouldn't be so much of a problem because if the box were much bigger you wouldn't have to scroll up to try and read what they've said over someone elses pointless crap. As well, instead of a group kick option, try implementing a simple ignore function.

Plus, and this is just for chatters that use it, I think if you are JUST using the chat box you should address the person you are talking to because otherwise it can get quite confusing. People don't know who you are talking to if you are standing off in the corner...

Anyway they are just suggestions but I think they'd really help people to feel more at ease using GSW.

[Eothain]

yeah...i agree with the personal message idea too. Personally, i never had Angelic Raine's problem, but i know stuff like that happens, and nice it's not...

[Finfijalox2000]

;) In response to the map topic, I think there should be a GSW Overworld Map and every town/significant location will be accessable via that map. Everything else would function the same from the server tests meaning no one will have to be kicked off. When you enter an area, you would start in the center (or closest area to center if something is already there). That makes you roughly equidistant from wherever you want to go (inluding the supposed overworld map) :joy:

[Elliott]

If you want to reply to the map topic, reply to the map topic, not this one.

[Blink]

And why exactly are you responding to this now? It was posted months ago, and he last visited over a week ago, so, I doubt he'll be checking on this topic anytime soon. Maybe better to PM him next time in a situation like this.

In terms of the whole map swapping thing, I don't think many map changes have been made, just code changes to characters from what I remember...