Survey: Top Priorities for Ogre VG Improvement

[selenite]

Originally Posted by GranitePenguin

1. Fix all outstanding bugs - I’m cheating by putting these together, but they are all related-but-different. There are three general classes of bugs that need to be fixed:

Bugs are all three of my items right now. After trading screenshots with dwalend I'm boggled just how out of synch the two sides of a scenario were. I'm wondering how many of my "timed out" wins were somebody who saw a ridiculous situation on the screen and gave up.

[dwalend]

Originally Posted by selenite

Bugs are all three of my items right now. After trading screenshots with dwalend I'm boggled just how out of synch the two sides of a scenario were. I'm wondering how many of my "timed out" wins were somebody who saw a ridiculous situation on the screen and gave up.

It's so broken that a discussion of improvements feels extremely premature. Further, I think it distracts from the one thing only Ogre on-line can offer over me playing solo on the dining room table - or firing up the old game in a DOS emulator. I can have a real, potentially very experienced opponent, without having to find a free evening or weekend afternoon. Vassal - for all its weird lumps - delivered that much.

I think the list should be:

1) Make two-player games actually work by fixing the game state-related bugs. (This constellation of bugs is very likely a hard-to-fix design flaw. From the logs it looks like broken distributed CQRS. I haven't done packet analysis to see what traffic should be flowing.)

2) Let me choose which scenario to offer to play, and which side, when playing a multiplayer game with a stranger.

3) Let me challenge a specific player to a specific scenario.

Get that working with the Basic, Advanced, and MkIII-on-defense scenarios first. Then on to GP's list after that's actually working.

[offsides]

I haven't had time to play much lately, and never managed to find an opponent online when I did so I don't know first-hand how well/not well that works, but I think the #1 thing Ogre needs is GranitePenguin's #1 - fix the bugs, both rule-related and gameplay thereof - and that really needs to be the top, middle and bottom of the priority list until it's done. After that, everything that everyone has said (except maybe Ogrethulu, I'm fine without it) is a good idea, with making 2-player online Ogre scenarios work better at the top of that list.

[ColBosch]

I'm going to have to jump on the bandwagon here.

#1: Fix the basic Ogre game bugs: Mk III Attack, Mk V Attack, and Mk III Defense should be 100% rules-perfect and as close to 100% operable online as possible.

#2: Fix the G.E.V. map bugs: All units should be interacting with terrain properly and all scenarios should be 100% rules-perfect.

#3: Expand to the full game: All units and scenarios from the board game should be available and working, and players should be able to create their own games - and share them, and play them against each other - freely according to the board game guidelines.

And a caveat:

#1A: DON'T SWEAT THE AI. I know some folks would like a good robot to play against, but Ogre is a complicated game for AI. Beyond the basic Ogre scenarios, I say focus on getting PvP working first and foremost.

[GranitePenguin]

Originally Posted by ColBosch

#1A: DON'T SWEAT THE AI. I know some folks would like a good robot to play against, but Ogre is a complicated game for AI. Beyond the basic Ogre scenarios, I say focus on getting PvP working first and foremost.

While that's certainly easier, the reality is a good AI is going to be important for long-term casual play that doesn't require coordination between people. Especially when I want to control what scenario I want to play, I will be playing against the AI 80-90% of the time.

[TokyoDan]

Originally Posted by GranitePenguin

While that's certainly easier, the reality is a good AI is going to be important for long-term casual play that doesn't require coordination between people. Especially when I want to control what scenario I want to play, I will be playing against the AI 80-90% of the time.

same here!

[AurochJake]

Hey everyone - thanks for taking the time to report issues and prioritise the outstanding ones.

Just a gentle reminder to be as thorough and detailed as possible. With rule inconsistencies, let us know which rule is/isn't working. If it's suggestions for content added, be as specific as possible :)

Thanks all, it's hugely appreciated!

[Tim Kauffman]

I would like to see an official statement about what the game is actually intended to finally be when it is finished.

With a list of objectives and their chances of being able to be done and completed and fully implemented and a guestimated completion timeline and the status of each one.

What are the games capabilities based on the engine being used?
How much more can be done with the game within the games capacity?
For example, what features can be implemented with the Scenario Creator and what can't, and why? If we had a better sense of these things, we could make better suggestions based on what can and can't be done or may be able to be done.

All of this would be nice to have conveyed to us in more detail, even when some of the answers are "we can't do that because the Game Engine and/or the way we programmed the game won't allow us to implement that.
Or, "We can try, but are not sure if it is possible to be fully implemented. We will keep you updated on the progress as we have more info on this."

Can we have such a list made so we have all of this in one place to view as it is updated? Otherwise it's spread out all over between the STEAM Forums and here and difficult to keep everything in perspective.

[Alain H. Dawson]

[QUOTE=Tim Kauffman;2198912]I would like to see an official statement about what the game is actually intended to finally be when it is finished.

That is an entirely reasonable and sensible request. We are already working with Auroch to put together an official State of the Game message, which we will release as soon as the details are worked out.

[GranitePenguin]

Originally Posted by Alain H. Dawson

That is an entirely reasonable and sensible request. We are already working with Auroch to put together an official State of the Game message, which we will release as soon as the details are worked out.

Sounds great. Looking forward to it. :-)