Team Melee and Massively Multiplayer mode

[siamii]

Hi, I'm wondering if this engine supports a persistent world with over 1000+ players, and team melee mode, in that multiple players control the same units.

[Beherith]

1. Yes, though not the engine, Zero-K has it in an external website.
2. Yes, most games here have it, we call it co-op mode.

[siamii]

1. Yes, though not the engine, Zero-K has it in an external website.
2. Yes, most games here have it, we call it co-op mode.

Thank you for the quick reply!

I meant persistent world in the sense that there is only one single giant map that new players can join. This map is like a typical rts map with resources, workers, combat units, buildings, but scaled up to 1000+ of players and it is persistent and real time. Sort of a never ending Starcraft match with lots and lots of players.

Can you please explain how Zero-K implements this? I am not very familiar with the game but checked out their website.

I guess this could be implemented by allowing players to spawn their base anytime during the game, even after it started and by creating a really big map and the game only ends when one faction is left. (I call a faction multiple players that control the same units.) Do you think this would be possible to implement?

[hoijui]

you cant have a very long running game. new players always have to simulate the whole game from the beginning up until they join, which takes very long.
the max number of players is currently 250.

just go and play ZeroK, to see how it is like.
you should use thier own ZeroK Lobby client (windoes only) for that.

[siamii]

you cant have a very long running game. new players always have to simulate the whole game from the beginning up until they join, which takes very long.
the max number of players is currently 250.

just go and play ZeroK, to see how it is like.
you should use thier own ZeroK Lobby client (windoes only) for that.

250 is a start. So if I understand you correctly, what you are saying is that it is not possible to have a match that goes on for days or months instead of 20-40 minutes and to which new players can join any time while other players have already been playing for some time? When new players join, they might spawn their own bases somewhere on the map or they might join to a faction in co-op mode and start managing the faction's units, buildings, workers... etc. They can also leave and re-join any time to the match.

I will try out ZeroK.

Let's start from a typical Starcraft match with the following differences:
instead of 8 players per match, you can have 250 players per match
instead of playing many matches one after the other, you only play one single persistent match
instead of a normal sized map, you have a 1000x larger map.
instead of a match lasting 20-40 mins, it lasts many days or months.
instead of having all the players join in the beginning and leave in the end, players can leave and join any time they want during the match
instead of having one player per base, there can be many players per base in team melee mode
if a base has no online players at the moment, it is controlled by AI.

[zwzsg]

No, this is not a MMORTS engine. Also, stop dreaming.

[klapmongool]

It is a nice dream though.. don't give up!

[hoijui]

when a game is already running, you can join. we call it mid-game-join, or mid-join.
when in the lobby, just enter the battleroom of an already running game, and click on the [Start] button. you will then enter the running game. and you will see what happens, and there is no way around this (except you are very good in software design and C++ and lots of low level stuff, related to hardware, and willing to spend a year or two on improving the engine, and ... -> it is never gonna change).
and indeed... go dream this dream elsewhere. everythign you need for it makes spring a bad match. its like campaigning for saving the environment, and driving around in a tank, and shiping it in a plane for large distances. of course.. you could first convert the tnak to run with solar power and wind, and shoot flowers you grow on it, and use a solar powered heavy transport plane, ... some would say it is impossible, and the rest would say you are undoubtably nuts.

[Google_Frog]

I don't think any implementations of this idea exist. It looks currently infeasible.

[Forboding Angel]

It would also be quite boring.

[siamii]

thanks for the replies. They have helped me a lot.

[SinbadEV]

Clearly this thread was bumped by spam but I had an idea for how to handle thousands of players on one map... it's probably bad but this thread's going nowhere anyways.

First, it wouldn't be a massive map. It would be many linked maps.

Second, you would toss springs default networking and replace it entirely with Lua Sockets.

SO then, you would have each player alone on a single map at any time with an AI controlled opponent receiving orders from the central server that hosts the games... The map state would be saved on the server and the player would connect to Lua Sockets or whatever and download the simplified "stuff goes here" game state and then play against an AI controlled version of any other players in the "zone" his current map represents.

[zwzsg]

And you wouldn't see other people maps, nor other people would see your map. Essentially, it would be rows of 1 player versus chicken going in parallel, with the chicken waves amount equal to the excess units of other people.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Multiplayer Tetris!!! woooooo!!!! XD

[SinbadEV]

And you wouldn't see other people maps, nor other people would see your map. Essentially, it would be rows of 1 player versus chicken going in parallel, with the chicken waves amount equal to the excess units of other people.

Essentially... Maybe a bit more like a DotA clone where you are trying to break through your opponents defences and waves of creeps, if you succeed you get a chance to improve your own forces and move on to assault another zone... if you lose the zone is reset and you are pushed back to another zone you control... something like that... but yeah, the game would be single player assaults on opponents bases and improving your own control of your bases... maybe if you attacked a zone of a player that is currently online perhaps they would have the ability to relay orders to their forces or something. It's not a full idea, just a seed.