Replay vault

[Raging_Squirrel]

Since the map vault is now finished, the time has come to write the replay vault.

Here I want to gather our community opinion on how should it look like, what features should it have and etc.
Don't hesitate to post your wishes! Any of them.
Detailed suggestions are appreciated.

Before ZeP establish the base for me where I can start to actually code it, I want to make the project on paper, so it will be easier and faster to bring it up. And here is your chance to take part in it.

Speak up!

[pip]

I would like all the features there are in GPGnet (even though I barely remember them), the possibilty to evaluate replays (with stars or whatever), why not a few filters options like maps, map size, number of players, duration of the replay, ranking of the players, etc.

And of course, it has to be perfectly balanced while keeping faction diversity

[Gowerly]

I had a d*** around in python a few months ago to see if I could get something that looked good. I didn't really get that far.

Personally, I thought the GPGNet one had everything that would really be needed, apart from the fact that it didn't actually work.

Things that would be good:
- Latest Games
- Latest Games by Player
- Latest Replays by Map
- Rated Games (therefore a rating system would be good. 1 - 5 would be sufficient)
- Popular Games (therefore you would need a way to store number of downloads of a replay)

[uberge3k]

<wall-o-text>

Here's my fantasy land dream of what The Ultimate Vault™ would look like:

Start with the map vault layout. Each replay should be represented by a thumbnail, similar to the large map previews but containing the players in their positions (ie, have their name next to their starting position, along with the color they used). Next/under to that, there would be detailed descriptions of everything that happened in that game - starting with the highlights (who won/lost, length, map name, rating, etc). An expanded view would contain the comments, links (imagine if someone made a video review of that replay - it should show up right there), and related replays. You could easily filter it with a few options - "find more replays on this map", "find more replays from this group of players", things of that nature.

Participation with those replays should be easy and obvious. Viewing the replay should be one click (we'll need to talk about how to integrate the replay switcher tool with this so that users don't even need to think about how to manage different versions), and when the replay is finished, it should be just as easy to continue watching more replays.

Two more important features:

- The ability to tag replays with special comments that appear prominently. Eg, "TAG vs", "tourney game", etc. These would be separate from standard comments as they are given much higher priority, perhaps included in the title.

- "super users" who have elevated rights in the replay system who can recommend replays, tag them, create casts, and things of that nature. Users who are extremely active with this could be given their own special sections - eg, "Zock's Reviews" - and would be very easy to get to from the main page.

Now for the pie-in-sky-doubt-it's-possible stuff:

- I want to be able to "cast" replays by typing a series of comments while watching it, and then be able to share this cast with others. To watch it, those new texts would simply appear as new chat in the replay (with the option of disabling all chat but the casters' for easier viewing). This would be a highly efficient way to explain high level strategies without needing to try to plan them in advance with the other participants, as we'd tried to do before.

- Video previews of every replay, showing a zoomed-out strategic view starting from 1/2 through the game.

- Some type of Amazon-recommendation-esque engine - "we see you've watched several replays of highly rated players on Open Palms, here's some more that fit that criteria".

</wall-o-text>

[Mond]

I just want to be able to filter all replays by:

-name (every game shows up that player joined)
-length
-map
-maybe size
-date
-name and won
-name and lost

and then if you click on a map a small pic of the layout and alle the players in that game.

All in all, store as many information as possible about a game. The filtering can be done later

[Raging_Squirrel]

I see the general majority wants to see a game length...
I talked to Zep about it, he said it's not possible atm, so I will have to find the ways of getting it.
perhaps it will require to make some sort of replay mod, which collects additional data and sends it to the server... anyone willing to help?

[Ze_PilOt]

(FOR THE MOMENT, meaning, in the first version of the vault. It's a possibility later as game time for a game is a data that the server knows).

[PsychoBoB]

Hi,

in the Supreme Comander Replay Manager the length of a game is shown. Maybe the Developer of the replay manager can give you some hints to get the length of a game...

Greets Bob

[uberge3k]

You can get this by parsing the .scfareplay file - I'd done a small amount of work on this awhile ago before we had a replay manager. PM me next time you're on and we'll talk.

[Ze_PilOt]

I guess I can count the ticks..