Replays

[ThorRune]

Replays'd be lovely!
Could that be done in a not-so discspace-consuming way as mpeg vidoes?

Why is this usefull?

Because, if somene got a problem, they could show us a replay of how it went wrong or something.

I was thinking how you could do it: Start WITH!!!!! a savegame, and then you do what is done WITH!!!!! MP; all mouse and kaystrokes are recorded, and the time of them are too

Problem WITH!!!!! that'd be that you could have a different game then the other guy, and then the replay would have been unusable, but that's a user side problem

Like the idea?

[Mad Dog McKill]

Maybe we can make the engine record postions (I am not too sure what this kind of recording is called but a person needs to have the game to view a demo) like in counter-strike or the upcoming Battlefield 2

This way the demos even though they could be 45 minutes, will take up only 1-10 megabytes instead of 200 megabytes for a good quality Divx

[Korenn]

replays are useful in short-duration games, not 50+ hour like ttd...

[lucaspiller]

For short demonstrations they would be good though. You could probably add a tutorial feature like there was in RCT and TTD (I think there was in TTD). I think it would be better to use our own format though rather than a video format, it would use less space.

[Pipian]

I think even if a replay was on a simplified map (e.g. only the map-view was visible) it might be interesting. It also might help to simplify by simply showing construction?

[ThorRune]

It'd make valuable contributions to the viki... I mean, "Use this and that like this"

[Wolf01]

or like a feature to make your own tutorial, where you can take the control by clicking in the main window, like RollerCoaster Tycoon (the tutorial should be like the tutorial of OTT)

[ThorRune]

Resolution would have to be fixed, or else klicking wouldn't work properly.

[Hadez]

Replays used as tutorials or demonstrations could use a network-chat interface. Showing hints in status bar, in news etc. wouldn´t be a good idea. Chat-like hints would be good, huh?

[DeletedUser21]

I have an idea!

What if you place your webcam infront of your screen and then record of whatever you are doing.

And when you do not have a webcam, you must buy one.

okay, now to get serious;
I don't think that it is a great idea because from what i'm thinking is that it is much more fun that when you made an error you must open your last save and find out what you did wrong, if you made a videofootage of it, the replay factor of the game will drop.

Why is that???

Simple: because when you find the error in an easyway you will find the game dull and boring after a while, that is a psycologic progress because it will make the game too easy, especially when you asked another to find the error for you, than in that case you won't learn anyting from your mistakes and do it over and over again.

So thats what I belive.

[Killer 11]

This would be cool

In starcraft the feature just rocks

Starcraft records every comand given to a unit so in the end my 2 hour multiplayer game replay is only 185kb

[DeletedUser21]

this game is not starcraft and you are maybe right that replay rox, but not on ottd. It just brings the replay factor down.

[grater]

Resolution would have to be fixed, or else klicking wouldn't work properly.

Not so. Replay systems for RTS games work by recording orders (and a few other actions, like chat messages) rather than recording the actual clicks and key presses, altough the mouse/screen position data could be recorded also and "superimposed" on the game as it plays back. Easy solution: For tutorial demos (but not replays), lock both recording and playback to 640x480.

I absolutely love replays in RTS games. I'm not sure how useful they would be for Tycoon games, as the main reason to watch replays in RTS games is to see who wins, and how they win. Another thing is that RTS games always have premade maps, so the map doesn't need to be included with the replay. This is not so for TTD which will invevitably make the replay larger, unless it's recorded from the very start of the game and thus the random seed used to generate the map could be sent in place of the map. Also if the underlying structure of the game engine is not carefully and robustly designed then desyncs may be a huge problem, especially in replays of multiplayer games.

[Archonix]

If you're wanting to save space, the replay could simply work like a black-box recorder in an aircraft and only store the last x minutes of play. 15 minutes is a good average, I think.

[Torrasque]

I agree with mr.x
But in multiplayer, can't you "simply" tell to the serveur to save the "doCommand" and the frame?
It is similar to save the stream. The size of the replay will be 7mo for one hour. (with 2ko/s)