Are there any plans to make Pioneer online multiplayer?

Evarchart
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Location: Preston, Lancs, England

Are there any plans to make Pioneer online multiplayer?

Post by Evarchart »

Apologies if this has been answered, I did a quick search of the forums but I couldn't find any information regarding this.
Evarchart
Posts: 110
Joined: Sat May 17, 2014 7:34 pm
Location: Preston, Lancs, England

Re: Are there any plans to make Pioneer online multiplayer?

Post by Evarchart »

Apologies, my bad. And I was making such a good impression too!!
FluffyFreak
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Re: Are there any plans to make Pioneer online multiplayer?

Post by FluffyFreak »

Don't worry, it's something that comes up quite often, probably often enough that it should be #1 on the FAQ!

You can have some fun with the idea though :) (old/non-dev forum link)
DraQ
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Re: Are there any plans to make Pioneer online multiplayer?

Post by DraQ »

Time compression.

Pioneer relies heavily on ability to speed up time up to thousands of times to skip those weeks of coasting through space with nothing happening and on mostly physically correct spaceflight that's responsible for weeks of coasting in the first place.

Time compression would put players out of sync, so the alternative would be giving up physics and scale (at which point Pioneer would have no point) or gameplay requiring some serious patience.

I guess that theoretically it would be possible to sync it so that time flow would be always that of the least compressed player, but it would probably be annoying and confusing even with just a handful of players.
Evarchart
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Location: Preston, Lancs, England

Re: Are there any plans to make Pioneer online multiplayer?

Post by Evarchart »

As I was typing the question I had a nagging sensation in the back of my mind, deep down I knew it was the time acceleration issue.
I read the thread of possible online options and I got a few of my own..if you are interested?
I think an in-game leaderboard/bulletin board would work, you could view people's profiles and see their profile pics (hopefully my facial designer idea would one day get implemented)...you could send messages in-game to people, maybe send money, co-ords (for particularly scenic views, rich mineral deposits etc, places of interest...that sort of thing). You could view their ship and ship history, current location, mission history and so on and so on...
robn
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Re: Are there any plans to make Pioneer online multiplayer?

Post by robn »

robn
Posts: 302
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 1:11 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Are there any plans to make Pioneer online multiplayer?

Post by robn »

Oh, btw, I have a HTTP/JSON client written and sitting on a branch. I haven't gotten around to pushing it to master because we don't have a server component to go with it. If anyone is interested in working on the server-side for anything like this, let me know and I'll get it cleaned up and pushed.
baobobafet
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Re: Are there any plans to make Pioneer online multiplayer?

Post by baobobafet »

Lots more directions it can go once there becomes any type of network server interaction :)

A subject that has been tossed about a lot in other forums since the earliest alpha version of Pioneer.
The problems have always been synchronizing elements in a sensible way so that time acceleration doesn't contradict the ability for two or more online players to sensibly interact.

One approach is to create a custom system - or spaceport that can be mirrored on a server. If a player entered such a system or station, they could receive a comms prompt asking if they wish to log
onto the custom station or system. If answering yes, the players gametime upon entering the system is recorded. The player's clock conforms to reflect local system time.

The player could post messages, trade, communicate with other player directly via the server - or more ambitiously, allow players to perform co-op missions, have online local system battles etc.
The players individual game time (prior to entering system/station) could later be restored when logging out of the spaceport or leaving the system. Any time spent in online systems or spaceports would be amended to the player's original game time.

If players chooses not to log in to the custom station or system, the player would enter the default game system or station as normal.
This would allow multiple players to visit and interact with each other in a common spacetime reference they could enter and exit at will.

Always thought that Gates and Mars High would be naturals for that sort of online experiment... races anyone? :)
robn
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Are there any plans to make Pioneer online multiplayer?

Post by robn »

baobobafet wrote:The problems have always been synchronizing elements in a sensible way so that time acceleration doesn't contradict the ability for two or more online players to sensibly interact.
Realtime multiplayer is not happening. Its been discussed to death and is one of the few hard scope rules we have. Its not happening :)

(trying to keep the discussion in the realms of possibility...)
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