Well im now putting my money where my mouth is and putting some kind of promise/effort together to create a tactics engine. Being a reasonably competant programmer im in the process of bringing the required techonologies together to get things going. All i need is a really good plan and requires learning from other peoples mistakes and all there good ideas to.
So heres what would be helpfull.
A) links to other applications that aide in planning tactics
B) A list of what information you would want included.
c) Ideas ideas ideas
d) Decent images of maps. I have a whole load but if youve got really good ones we'll use those instead.
e) any designers with experience, like TANGOing excelent.
Heres what im planning on including initially
1) 6 vs 6 waypoint driven animation of manouvers.
2) DropDownList driven counters to opponents manouvers.
3) Manouver naming, i.e. defence move A, B,C etc.
4) Start round tactics, what to buy, how to knife etc.
5) Map hot spots, where and where not to stand, what to point and shoot at.
6) Team grouping. i.e. assinging certain people to communicate/move as a pair/group/team. (difficult that one but maybe usefull.)
7) Overall map tactics.
8) Anyone will be able to add/create edit new maps etc.
9) history of changes to maps. old tactics over new etc.
I hope that buy doing this, everyone will be able to work together as a team %130. Giving certain manouvers names will mean people will be able to know exactly where to go with a single term. Though it will still be something like. DDrushright or WaterDistraction+(bb or dd) secondary.
humm no all i have to do is get the hard bit done.
well i had a go it took me 2 hours to figure out how to move my little men and when they did move they faced the worng direction :oops:
ideas
Putting the movement in is a slow process for me so a waypoint method with some way of setting the line of sight (rotation)
maps
i got some of them but only the usual default maps but if u need a specific map drawing I can do that
Thats a good point actually, and a bit of a complicated one. Sometimes we may need to be moving in one direction and facing another. This for me is more of an interface issue than a getting it to look right one. I.e. how do you determine, using menus/buttons etc. how and when a person is looking in a specific direction.
Im going to suggest that each waypoint will have a little menu that allows you to determine which way the person is facing when moving to the next waypoint. Thats easy.
I imagine the flow for generating the waypoints would be something like this.
a) selction how many players on the map
B) select from a list of icons representing the players on each team which to edit
c) Click a "create route" to be able to add waypoints
c) click on the map at each point you want to add a waypoint.
d) select a "modify route" to move the newly created waypoints.
e) right click on waypoints to change face direction properties. Crawling/running etc.
f) enter Playback mode.
I will also allow you to select several routes to play in a row. so we can break down different CT and T manouvers.
Many of the standard maps are found at
http://csnation.counter-strike.net/cs2d/cs2d.htm (http://csnation.counter-strike.net/cs2d/cs2d.htm)
Ideas ... hmm
HE = green nade icon
Flash = white/yellow nade icon
smoke= grey/black nade icon
Names on each player i.e. T1, T2, T3 ..., CT1 CT2 etc. CTs are Blue and Ts are Red icons.
Maybe one could save a strategy/pattern/movement in a database?
More to come when I have put more thought into it.
all of the information will more than likely be stored in an xml file on my/a server. That way certain information can also be displayed as a normal html view if requested.
I will be basing the top down view of players on the view you see when actually in the game. i.e. the faded cone showing which direction your in, player name etc.
I'll initially add the ability to place grenade and flash points, I may even build it into the individual who should throw it rather than just a point where and at what it should be thrown.
I think it may also be helpful to add information points. where you can add notes/points about specific points in the map. i.e. dont speak here because opponents can see you talk icon. Lol ive seen this happen so many times its not funny.
Strategies...good point.
I imagine this. You can set up routes for each team.
A strategy would be a combination of team routes played once after the other.
Everything will be savable and updateable. I have full database support on my host so no problem there.
QuoteI think it may also be helpful to add information points. where you can add notes/points about specific points in the map. i.e. dont speak here because opponents can see you talk icon. Lol ive seen this happen so many times its not funny.
Your opponents can't see your talk icon any more. So there is no problem. :)
well ive actually started to look into the basics of this so i hope something will appear soonish. Currently stuck on work out how to get the men characters to move to a set of waypoints. The way points bit is easy, the moving of one to another isn't.
probably be a couple of weeks before i get an example on-line.
We wait with interest :D GL!
TL. 8)
Here are some ideas:
1. Allow the person viewing it to turn ON/OFF the movement trails (ie the lines that show where people have moved from/to).
2. Allow the user to turn ON/OFF the arc of fire indicator for the players. If you are not sure what an arc of fire is then it is simply an area of responsibility. Example - CT on aztec covering double doors. His arc of fire will prob be from double doors left to steps from water. Although predominantly in the double doors area.
3. Allow the user to change the playback speed so that it can be slowed down or speeded up.
4. Where areas of the map go under or over other routes then it would be helpful if the player icon faded out to indicate that the player was at a lower level (avoids confusion).
5. Allow user to display or hide lines showing the fastest route between 2 bomb sites (for those "oh shit" moments)
6. Place a small BB on an arc approximately 30 seconds from the spawn point. This is where I will be killed and stare at the sky while everyone else plays the round.
7. More ideas as they come to me :-)
ok, ive figured out the hard part now ive got the grunt work to do. So it is coming together, hopefully in the next few weeks i'll have a simple, select map frop down and play with waypoints thingy on my server. Wont be much to look at but will document progress.
dont you love it when no-one can see what your REALLY working on.
heres the first step towards the tactics engine.
http://www.emile-swain.co.uk/cs1974/ (http://www.emile-swain.co.uk/cs1974/)
The add/del player dont work. you can click on the squares next to the player icon and drag them to assign a path for the green blob to follow. You can click the add/del waypoint buttons to, surprise surprise, add and delete those waypoints.
The grid buttons work as well.
Its all very basic with no frills.
:lol: Bitch i am at work and need Flashplayer 6 ...ill wait till i get home
it takes like 30secs to install
sorry i just tried a flash 5 and im using flash 6 commands, so you'll have to wait till you get home.
I have found GOD and his name be ...... F .. B .. G (That was not ex-beegee btw just to let you know..thats all ...carry on)
Very nice, i wish i knew how to use the damn program.
Looks very good! :thumbsup:
hopefully, and this is a big fingers crossed i will be able to get my mate to do the interface graphics. the current CS thumbnail size banners adds were done by him. You should check out his site i think at //www.darkproject.com
(http://www.mtuspeed.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/dMw/nice_one.jpg)
i BET YOUR ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO CANT RESIST PISSING THEIR NAME IN THE SNOW EH BB?
:o sweet :o
Bring on the full version....
never eat green/yellow snow
Never eat blue snow
Added playback controls and tidied up the interface a little bit.
you can now start/stop/rew/end the manouvers.
The next step before i add any other features is getting the basic saving/loading features added.
go for it m8....keep us posted on progress
Looks good mate, looking forward to the final product..