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Multiplayer: Difference between revisions
lots of little TLC things, somehow this article (and its broken links to my FTP folder) mostly escaped my awareness till now
(lots of little TLC things, somehow this article (and its broken links to my FTP folder) mostly escaped my awareness till now) |
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[[Category:Pre-beta]] | [[Category:Pre-beta]] | ||
==Original multiplayer== | ==Original multiplayer== | ||
Perhaps the biggest blow to Oni's reception was that there was no multiplayer option. Combined with complaints about the AI, players wanted to be able to play against other humans, but this option, although developed internally at Bungie West, was not included in the release due to the constraints of Internet gameplay latency at the time. The public viewed this as another sign of the game's incompletion, comparing Oni to FPS titles with multiplayer such as Unreal and Quake, and failing to recognize that melee combat over the Internet was nearly impossible at that time (and still is; [http://wolfire.com/overgrowth Overgrowth] a.k.a. Lugaru 2 promises LAN support only | [[Image:Oni MP at E3 2000 1.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A LAN game taking place in a level probably designed for multiplayer and cut from retail Oni]] | ||
[[Image:Oni MP at E3 2000 2.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Kevin Armstrong, Oni's networking programmer, is seated at the computer in the background]] | |||
Perhaps the biggest blow to Oni's reception was that there was no multiplayer option. Combined with complaints about the AI, players wanted to be able to play against other humans, but this option, although developed internally at Bungie West, was not included in the release due to the constraints of Internet gameplay latency at the time. The public viewed this as another sign of the game's incompletion, comparing Oni to FPS titles with multiplayer such as Unreal and Quake, and failing to recognize that melee combat over the Internet was nearly impossible at that time (and still is; [http://wolfire.com/overgrowth Overgrowth] a.k.a. Lugaru 2 promises LAN support only; a notable exception seems to be [[State of Emergency]], a melee-oriented game that apparently had reasonably fluid online multiplayer). | |||
It is not clear why Bungie did not at least include LAN play functionality, since it was being used in their office for netgames and can be seen in use about 30 minutes into [http://hl.udogs.net/files/Gaming/Bungie%20Related%20Movies/MWSF%202000/Bungie%20TV/MWSF%202000/bTV_day2_big.mov THIS] video (you can see the 2-minute sequence on its own [http://iritscen.oni2.net/Steve%20demoes%20netplay.mov HERE]; notably, these 2 minutes are the only Oni | It is not clear why Bungie did not at least include LAN play functionality, since it was being used in their office for netgames and can be seen in use about 30 minutes into [http://hl.udogs.net/files/Gaming/Bungie%20Related%20Movies/MWSF%202000/Bungie%20TV/MWSF%202000/bTV_day2_big.mov THIS] video (you can see the 2-minute sequence on its own [http://iritscen.oni2.net/movies/Steve%20demoes%20netplay.mov HERE]; notably, these 2 minutes are the only in-game Oni footage in all of the Bungie TV broadcasts). Visitors to Bungie's booth at the [[wikipedia:E3|E3]] of 2000 were even able to play Oni LAN games (pictured at right). However, it is possible that multiplayer suffered from more than latency, and that, without more time to develop this mode of gameplay, the developers decided to cut it rather than frustrate players with an incomplete netplay feature. | ||
Some words from the Oni staff on multiplayer (back when it was in development) can be found in the interviews with [http://oni.bungie.org/special/part1/kevin.html Kevin Armstrong] (networking programmer) and [http://oni.bungie.org/special/part2/steve.html Steve Abeyta] (3D animator, mentions "Oni Soccer" and kickable furniture). | |||
==Fake multiplayer== | ==Fake multiplayer== | ||
Oni Team Arena. Developed by [[User:geyser|geyser]], after an "Unreal Tournament" attempt by [http://script10k.oni2.net/ Script10000], with help from [[User:Your_Mom|Your_Mom]] and [[User:EdT|EdT]]. Emulates multiplayer-like gameplay with respawning bots, meant to experiment with advanced modding, multiplayer-oriented or not (e.g., AI or collision upgrades). Project page [[AE:OTA|HERE]]. Currently more or less maintained by [[User:Gumby|Gumby]], but don't hold your breath (ADD, scope creep, whatever). In fall 2008, the Mac engine was brought on par with the PC engine, with [[BSL]] functions such as [[chr_focus]] and [[chr_location]], which opened the way for a platform-independent and fully featured version of OTA. | Oni Team Arena. Developed by [[User:geyser|geyser]], after an "Unreal Tournament" attempt by [http://script10k.oni2.net/ Script10000], with help from [[User:Your_Mom|Your_Mom]] and [[User:EdT|EdT]]. Emulates multiplayer-like gameplay with respawning bots, meant to experiment with advanced modding, multiplayer-oriented or not (e.g., AI or collision upgrades). Project page [[AE:OTA|HERE]]. Currently more or less maintained by [[User:Gumby|Gumby]], but don't hold your breath (ADD, scope creep, whatever). In fall 2008, the Mac engine was brought on par with the PC engine, with [[BSL]] functions such as [[chr_focus]] and [[chr_location]], which opened the way for a platform-independent and fully featured version of OTA. | ||
Apart from gameplay videos such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV1j0q63KFg THIS] one, a remarkable scene (''heartwarming and disturbing at the same time... [[User:Geyser|geyser]]'') is that of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5SgCZpY-wo Russian kids playing Oni Team Arena and enjoying themselves tremendously]. | Apart from gameplay videos such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV1j0q63KFg THIS] one, a remarkable scene (''heartwarming and disturbing at the same time... --[[User:Geyser|geyser]]'') is that of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5SgCZpY-wo Russian kids playing Oni Team Arena and enjoying themselves tremendously]. | ||
==Fan-made multiplayer== | ==Fan-made multiplayer== | ||
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Current knowledge of Oni's game-state and character-state structures is very nearly sufficient for multiplayer. Implementations can combine memory watching and patching, and can also be driven to some extent by Oni's own events, hooked for the purpose. Current developments include the [[AE:Flatline|Flatline]] experiment (an external patcher) and the [[Daodan DLL]]. | Current knowledge of Oni's game-state and character-state structures is very nearly sufficient for multiplayer. Implementations can combine memory watching and patching, and can also be driven to some extent by Oni's own events, hooked for the purpose. Current developments include the [[AE:Flatline|Flatline]] experiment (an external patcher) and the [[Daodan DLL]]. | ||
Some multiplayer-related features are actually present in Oni, such as "combat stats" (frag and damage counters) for every character. These combat stats are not yet accessible from [[BSL]] and so are not put to use in OTA; another problem is that dying AI lose their [[MELE]] profile, so that bots can't keep fighting after they've been fragged. An experimental fix for the latter exists, but it hasn't been implemented in a public release of the Daodan DLL as of | Some multiplayer-related features are actually present in Oni, such as "combat stats" (frag and damage counters) for every character. These combat stats are not yet accessible from [[BSL]] and so are not put to use in OTA; another problem is that dying AI lose their [[MELE]] profile, so that bots can't keep fighting after they've been fragged. An experimental fix for the latter exists, but it hasn't been implemented in a public release of the Daodan DLL as of yet. | ||