dotproduct

[L.C.]

Greetings,

 

Here is a video of what Sharvil and I have got of dotproduct:

 

Video from 2012-07-14 -

Video from 2012-07-13 -

Video from 2010-10-31 -

Play - http://dev.nanavati.net:8000/

 

Here are some tips:

* Use Ctrl or Alt to fire guns; Alt is definitely good for Mac OS X users since Ctrl and CMD are bound to system-wide commands

* Use Tab to fire bombs

* Use Arrow keys to move around

* Hit Enter to start chat (and hit Enter again to submit)

* Pickup greens to get upgrades (bomb+gun upgrades, instant energy recharge)

* Hit a number 1-8 if you want to change ships (need full energy, limited to 1 change per 3 seconds)

* When you fire weapons, your energy (aka shields) drains. When you do not fire weapons, your energy (aka shields) recharges

* There is an energy bar at the top-center of the canvas

 

http://www.hlrse.net/Qwerty/dotproduct_keys_20120715-1210.png

 

This canvas-based game has been in development since October 2010, and as of recent has resumed development. It has been tested with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Waterfox. We are looking for potential candidates for SVS zone development and operation. If you are interested, please contact me. It is highly recommended that you have a Facebook and Google account. Thanks!

 

http://github.com/sharvil/dotproduct/ to submit bug reports, feature requests, etc. Facebook group at https://www.facebook...7971173585691/.

 

Sincerely,

Joshua Szanto

Edited August 16, 2012 by L.C.

[Samapico]

This is pretty sweet... Like

[flared]

this is awesome!

[SpaceHiker]

Fantastic! Exactly what Subspace has needed for years.

[Mom]

Nicely done!

[JoWie]

Have you tried using inverse multiplexing for the WebSocket network communication?. Could help with incidental packetloss.

 

The big issue with TCP is the buffering after packetloss/bit error/etc occurs (one segment gets dropped/damaged, subsequent segments are delayed until the bad segment is resolved).

Those may have been the big latency spikes in the video.

 

If you implement a system where you:

+ use multiple WebSockets

+ track the arrival of the messages you send (other party replies with an acknowledgment message)

+ when sending, use the socket with the least in-flight/unacknowledged messages.

 

This works especially well for redundant data (like the position of a player).

I tested this a while back, and as long as you have enough sockets and the cause of packetloss is incidental (like bit error) and not caused by congestion, the latency is comparable to UDP.

 

Of course this assumes your engine is able to deal with messages arriving in the wrong order.

 

Oh, and this piece of javascript code may be interesting (works for me with firefox + java): http://pastebin.com/6tYG8rqK . Uses LiveConnect to open an UDP connection without user interaction. Downside is that it does not work on localhost, only works with domains if you set up a reverse dns.

Edited July 15, 2012 by JoWie

[»Lynx]

It's nice, good job!

[L.C.]

Have you tried using inverse multiplexing for the WebSocket network communication?. Could help with incidental packetloss.

 

The big issue with TCP is the buffering after packetloss/bit error/etc occurs (one segment gets dropped/damaged, subsequent segments are delayed until the bad segment is resolved).

Those may have been the big latency spikes in the video.

 

If you implement a system where you:

+ use multiple WebSockets

+ track the arrival of the messages you send (other party replies with an acknowledgment message)

+ when sending, use the socket with the least in-flight/unacknowledged messages.

 

This works especially well for redundant data (like the position of a player).

I tested this a while back, and as long as you have enough sockets and the cause of packetloss is incidental (like bit error) and not caused by congestion, the latency is comparable to UDP.

 

Of course this assumes your engine is able to deal with messages arriving in the wrong order.

 

Oh, and this piece of javascript code may be interesting (works for me with firefox + java): http://pastebin.com/6tYG8rqK . Uses LiveConnect to open an UDP connection without user interaction. Downside is that it does not work on localhost, only works with domains if you set up a reverse dns.

Posted at https://github.com/s...roduct/issues/8

 

We've also opened up a Facebook Group page @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/397971173585691/ so that you can keep up-to-date with us.

Edited July 15, 2012 by L.C.

[Lone Outlaw]

You'll lose a bunch of players who don't have a facebook account, or don't want to use facebook ever. Some websites while using facebook, or google as logins, also let you create an account independent of facebook or Google. Can't think of any examples right now but there have been a few i've come across. I don't really agree with facebooks privacy policy, or how you have to bow to them to use their service. Also too many people especially girls check facebook 100 times a day even at work, which is semi retarded. Not to be so negative, it's not directed to you, but to facebook and google. It's a great thing you've done of course.

 

Plus id prefer random strangers online in a game, don't have access to my whole life when im playing. Then they can message my friends if i had any and become stalkers. And you might argue just make a subspace facebook account. But that seems to be the problem, facebook only wants you to have one account (as per their dumb policy), and they sometimes double check on you by asking for your cell phone number. As if everyone has a cell phone, and as if my phone number should be within the realm of their knowledge.

 

If this was somehow made to bring facebook players to play the real continuum using the client, it would be nice. But as a seperate entity it doesn't really help anyone but yourself and facebook. Either players from facebook come to continuum client, or people on the client go to the facebook subspace. There is no support for each other really. And this isn't connected to the SSC biller right?

Edited July 15, 2012 by Lone Outlaw

[L.C.]

You'll lose a bunch of players who don't have a facebook account, or don't want to use facebook ever. Some websites while using facebook, or google as logins, also let you create an account independent of facebook or Google. Can't think of any examples right now but there have been a few i've come across. I don't really agree with facebooks privacy policy, or how you have to bow to them to use their service. Also too many people especially girls check facebook 100 times a day even at work, which is semi retarded. Not to be so negative, it's not directed to you, but to facebook and google. It's a great thing you've done of course.

 

Plus id prefer random strangers online in a game, don't have access to my whole life when im playing. Then they can message my friends if i had any and become stalkers. And you might argue just make a subspace facebook account. But that seems to be the problem, facebook only wants you to have one account (as per their dumb policy), and they sometimes double check on you by asking for your cell phone number. As if everyone has a cell phone, and as if my phone number should be within the realm of their knowledge.

 

If this was somehow made to bring facebook players to play the real continuum using the client, it would be nice. But as a seperate entity it doesn't really help anyone but yourself and facebook. Either players from facebook come to continuum client, or people on the client go to the facebook subspace. There is no support for each other really. And this isn't connected to the SSC biller right?

Greetings,

 

This will not be confined to Facebook, and people will not be able to lookup your Facebook and message your Facebook buddies and friends, etcetera. Authentication will be opened up to Google accounts as well, and possibly Yahoo, OpenID, and other gateways as well. This form of authentication is good because of ban management and that a user database already exists. Eventually, you will be able to choose your own alias to hide your real name from other players.

 

This does not use any SubSpace protocols, so no, it isn't connected to anything known as a "biller". It uses its own server. There will be a distributable form of the server, but we haven't gotten that far and wouldn't be releasing it any time soon so as to not fragment the user base. It does support arenas, but have this function disabled (again to prevent user base fragmentation, and lack of present necessity).

 

We want to make this available to as wide and broad of a population as possible. This includes iPad users.

 

Sincerely,

Joshua Szanto

Edited July 15, 2012 by L.C.

[c00l_b0y]

Awesome man!! Already looking good!

[Snrrrub]

If you haven't played in a bit, bring in a few friends and give the latest version a spin. You can find it at the same URL (http://dev.nanavati.net:8000).

 

Recent changes:

- play area takes up almost the entire screen

- much better chat area (you can scroll, copy/paste, and click on links)

- implemented bomb blast radius

- tweaked game settings

- experimental strafe (a / z keys)

- bug fixes and performance improvements

[Snrrrub]

Lots of changes since the last post.

 

- typing indicator (speech bubble) so it's obvious if you're typekilling

- @mention a player by clicking on their name in chat

- button to make the browser enter fullscreen mode

- integrated social buttons to share on FB/G+/Twitter

- implemented a scoreboard / roster

- bug fixes

[Samapico]

Great updates... looks very polished and professional now

 

Maybe put a limit on the input string when you chat... some might like to type wall of texts in there...

I like the speech bubble

I like the scrollable chat area

I like the fullscreen-ness of the thing, and the full-screen button that maximizes even more

 

Some (constructive (I hope)) criticism:

 

Needs numeric digits for the energy

 

I didn't see the scoreboard / roster you refer to... and I.... wait I just found it lol. Is there any other way to make it pop out than to move the mouse on the left edge? It can be pretty tricky on a multimonitor setup, or a non-maximized window. In first-person shooters the Tab key is often used for that, but I guess the spacebar could be used in our case to pop that F2-like window. Buttons to sort by name/team could be nice too. Show kills/deaths too. Some people might want to have it on permanently as well, spacebar could toggle it instead of having to hold it to show the window. With its transparency it's not that obstrusive so it could be nice... maybe just have it not going over the chat in that case.

 

Maybe putting the mouse all the way down could enlarge the chat area to take up most of the screen? Like 'esc' in continuum

 

Keep up the good work

[Dav]

This is quite a lot of fun! looks very promosing indeed,

 

The dotproduct bar at the top is very irritating on small screens. Adding the ability to hide it would be great.

[Resol]

I played for about 5 minutes, seems interesting. Still some lag issues. I'll be very interested to see where this goes and what comes of it.

 

Just wanted to mention a couple bugs I noticed.

 

LC was afk and I was killing him. Sometimes it was fine, others would give me a double kill. Once was a very rapid double kill, and the other was delayed. On both occasions after I initially killed him, he briefly re-spawned in the same spot and instantly died again with no weapon collision.

 

Another possible bug I noticed happened when someone else came on; I killed them both one right after the other with maybe .2 - .3 seconds in between kills, and when they re-spawned they were both in the same spot. I'm not completely sure if this is a bug or not, but I will try to repeat the scenario at another time and see if I get similar results or if this was a fluke.

[Samapico]

I'm pretty sure I noticed the double kill thing too... but I was never sure if it was just my eyes that were tricking me... I guess I'm not alone

[Snrrrub]

Another quick update:

 

- fixed double-kill bug

- limit length of input field

- in-game latency bug fixes and improvements

- much lower game loading latency

- existing game continues running when server is recycled; new players join the new game

[Snrrrub]

Changes since last update:

 

- new: bomb recoil

- new: afterburners

- new: thrust exhaust

- better position interpolation especially around wall bounces

- better collision detection algorithm

- no longer using SVS settings

- bug fixes and performance improvements

[»Xog]

when's the server going to be up again?

 

when i click the link this is what i see: http://i47.tinypic.com/23vcbpt.png

[Samapico]

What would be missing for this to work on Android and other mobile platforms?

[Snrrrub]

@Xog: try signing in to Facebook in another tab of the same browser window and then navigating to dotproduct. The server is always running.

 

@Sama: Android and iOS will require native apps. Mobile browsers lag behind desktop browsers in both features and performance. A mobile version would also need to rethink the input system to be touch-based. In short, there's a fair amount of work involved to make dotproduct available on mobile devices.

[Dav]

it has actually loaded on my android phone running google chrome. I cant do anything though as I have no keyboard

[Dav]

UPDATE TO THE ABOVE POST

 

connected my PC keyboard to my phone (galaxy s3) with wifikeyboard and i could fly and shoot bullets. 32 fps frame rate as well.

 

I'll continue to test on android and see if it can handle a few more players online.

[Lone Outlaw]

Can you take a picture of the game on your phone and upload it?

 

Oh and that double kill glitch, exists on subspace too. Though my guess is it doesn't happen as often. But i would say it happened to me once a week at least. Or i've seen it once a week, when another player got a kill. People would die twice. Just in case no one ever experienced this, i wanted to say it's not a new problem. It happens on the continuum client too.

Edited August 13, 2012 by Lone Outlaw