Patch: july 23rd, misc improvements, bug fixes, tournament support, facebook

[lamster]

================================================== ===============
July 23rd, 2009

Altitude is now integrated with Facebook!
Visit http://apps.facebook.com/altitudegame/ to compare stats, launch Altitude from your browser, and convert your facebook friends into loyal wingmen.

changed title screen and loading backgrounds

added chat notifications when players change teams

improved spawn point selection to reduce overlapping spawns

"Double Fire" - increased initial angular spread by 15%, decreased tracking turn rate by 10%, decreased unload rate by 10%
"Time Anchor" - (cosmetic) increased duration of blur effect to make it more obvious when the ability is activated

fixed a bunch of display issues and bugs associated with server command 'testCameraViewScale'

added player command 'listPlayers' -- show each player in the current server's nickname and permanent, unchangeable Vapor ID
added player command 'captureMode 2' -- removes all UI, including player names; use with your favorite video capture program (e.g. Fraps) to record video
added vote command 'balanceTeams' -- balances teams based on skill
added server option 'Warmup time (seconds)' to all game modes -- time after map change before first spawn
added server option 'Prevent Team Switching' (default off) -- disallow any team switch that would imbalance the player count
added server option 'Auto Balance Teams' (default on) -- balances teams 2 seconds before warmup ends and after each round (unless a tournament is in progress)
added server commands 'startTournament', 'stopTournament' -- only the players that are already on teams when startTournament is called will be allowed to spawn, others must wait until stopTournament is called -- appends the list of tournament players (nickname, VaporID, and IP) to server logs for verification purposes

"free camera" - holding left/right at the screen edge allows you to wrap-around to the other side
"free camera" - holding shift increases the scroll rate by a factor of 3
"chase camera" - changed spectate previous/next (Z/X) target traversal order from (alphabetical order by player nickname) to (left-right by plane position)
"chase camera" - to manually select a new chase target: toggle the chase cam off, move the free camera so that the plane you'd like to chase is in the center of your view, then toggle the chase cam back on

renamed "Infiltrator" to "Demolition Charge"

fixed lots of bugs

[ZidaneTribal]

what exactly does 'balance by skills' mean

[phong]

Nice thank you, waiting to see new loading screen I assume balance by score?

[lamster]

Eventually we plan to implement a sophisticated skill metric, but for now it's basically just balance by score (kills/deaths since joining server, +40 kills/deaths based on lifetime ratio to get things started). BalanceTeams simply assigns the "highest skill" player to one team, then the next 2 best to the other team, and so on.

[Esoteric]

Good stuff lams, loving the tourney and team-balancing support, should help a lot.

If I might be bold enough to ask for one more addition to starttournament -- could you make it so those server spots are reserved until endtournament? In one of our matches a player on the opposing team got disconnected mid-game and couldn't rejoin due to the full server. It would be nice to have that spot reserved for them so they don't need to message people in the server to attempt to keep kicking people until they win the auto-join.
Obviously not a big thing, just an extra.

[michael]

Originally Posted by lamster

added chat notifications when players change teams
...
added server option 'Prevent Team Switching' (default off) -- disallow any team switch that would imbalance the player count
added server option 'Auto Balance Teams' (default on) -- balances teams 2 seconds before warmup ends and after each round (unless a tournament is in progress)

Thanks

Originally Posted by lamster

added vote command 'balanceTeams' -- balances teams based on skill

Interesting, i like it. Lots of times you get partway through a TBD, and its obvious the teams are terrible, but its just the way it happened i guess. Not sure if people will actually vote for it though.

[Beagle]

A patch that doesn't involve any nerfs to Heavy Cannon

Isn't that gonna create like a time paradox or something

[tec27]

Question about the startTournament stuff: does getting disconnected and reconnected prevent a player who was on a team from rejoining that team? And are these commands vote-able, or admin only?

Edit: alright I know the answer to the voting thing now (yes), but I'm still wondering about the first question.

[lamster]

A player who is disconnected can rejoin his team. In the next micro-patch (coming soon) he will be able to rejoin the server even if the server is full, per Esoteric's request.

[tec27]

Very nice Definitely like the update, its excellent for observing/recording games. Great job!

[lamster]

Micro patch is live; a few random bug fixes, and:

[objective mode only]: players no longer move to spectator team after idling 30 seconds (still get kicked after 5 mins)
[tournament mode only]: tournament players who are disconnected are allowed back in the server even if it is full
automatic admins (Admins specified in server config) are always allowed in their server even if it is full

[NomNom]

Nice! Thanks for the tournament support!

[Jayfourke]

The new updates look good, but I've got a problem. Whenever I press ESC in game mode, it minimizes Altitude and returns me to my desktop. This has never happened before. When I click the button in the top-right corner there's no problem.

[gameguard]

some things that would help alot in tournaments

A formal way of starting the match. Right now people keep spawning and what not before the teams are ready and it becomes a big headache. Also, depending on how fast the teams get ready, the items/big bomb are sometimes already spawned and sometimes not. On top of the inconsistency, sometimes one team will get all health packs and others get shields etc and thats like a disadvantage right from the start. The items should not start spawning until the match begins.

It would be great if the spectator slot did not take up a server slot. Would it be unreasonable to make it so that you can join any server as a spectator, but you can only play if the game slots are not full?

thats all i can think of right now.

[ORYLY]

The new background is awesome. Possible converts who comPLANEd that the game looks too kiddy are now greeted by the desolation of lost_city.

You may kill me for that pun.

[phong]

Originally Posted by gameguard

It would be great if the spectator slot did not take up a server slot. Would it be unreasonable to make it so that you can join any server as a spectator, but you can only play if the game slots are not full?

Lam has already mentioned this is something he is working on. Once its in place there will be much more possibilities for improving league play.

[eth]

Cool patch, but:

I really hope Prevent Team Switching becomes default on or is put on the official servers :/ I played some games today, and as usual there are some people joining the better team(making it 3v6 for instance). So I tried to /vote balanceTeams, which failed spectacularly because everyone on the better team just wants to win. Its pointless to call them out on it too because they all have the same attitude.

I only tested doublefire in mid-close range, but at least there I didnt notice any difference - stuff still dies really fast, so still no reason to use tracker IMO.

[gameguard]

yea double fire dps is quite amazing.

There is a bug with bars staying after you die. I think it is linked to balance teams. Im not 100% sure but i think after a team balance, all the planes can die once and still retain their bars.

[combat]

I am still wondering when are the TODOS challenges going to show back up? I really want to try out those plane challenges!

Also, since you decided to make the background for the main menu a map, wouldn't it cool if you try to make a video of a match be playing in the background? The new capture mode for altitude could make a really cool video.

[jardanc@yahoo.com]

was there any updates for the server launcher in this patch because i didnt see that annoying message value 3630 is greater than 3600 anymore.

[lamster]

Originally Posted by Jayfourke

The new updates look good, but I've got a problem. Whenever I press ESC in game mode, it minimizes Altitude and returns me to my desktop. This has never happened before. When I click the button in the top-right corner there's no problem.

Your alt key is probably stuck down (Alt+Esc = minimize to desktop). Nothing about Esc behavior changed in the patch

A formal way of starting the match. Right now people keep spawning and what not before the teams are ready and it becomes a big headache. Also, depending on how fast the teams get ready, the items/big bomb are sometimes already spawned and sometimes not.

That's what I added startTournament for. Here's what I would recommend to the tournament host:
1) Set TBD warmup timer to 20 seconds (in the Server Configurator)
2) When everyone has joined the server, and put themselves on the correct team, call startTournament -- players will see the "tournament started" message and know it's game time
3) changeMap <first_tournament_map>
changeMap resets the map state, startTournament prevents non-team players from spawning and forces the team players to join the correct teams, and the 20 second warmup timer ensures noone will spawn before the other team has reloaded the map.

was there any updates for the server launcher in this patch because i didnt see that annoying message value 3630 is greater than 3600 anymore.

Yes -- the client and server run from the same (updated) code, and they both automatically update to the latest version. That issue was fixed in the last patch.

[Jayfourke]

Originally Posted by lamster

Your alt key is probably stuck down (Alt+Esc = minimize to desktop). Nothing about Esc behavior changed in the patch

Looks like that could well have been the problem, it's all good now. Thanks for the response.

[TomBRowkaH]

So there is definitely a problem with bars staying after you die. I tried it out last night and on three separate occasions I spawned with 3 gold bars after I should have lost them. I didn't notice anything in common about these occasions, but the team balance thing might have something to do with it. I don't really know.

[Esoteric]

Nice. Thanks for the micropatch, lams -- the tdm change is an appreciated annoyance-remover as well.

[phong]

Originally Posted by lamster

Your alt key is probably stuck down (Alt+Esc = minimize to desktop). Nothing about Esc behavior changed in the patch


That's what I added startTournament for. Here's what I would recommend to the tournament host:
1) Set TBD warmup timer to 20 seconds (in the Server Configurator)
2) When everyone has joined the server, and put themselves on the correct team, call startTournament -- players will see the "tournament started" message and know it's game time
3) changeMap <first_tournament_map>
changeMap resets the map state, startTournament prevents non-team players from spawning and forces the team players to join the correct teams, and the 20 second warmup timer ensures noone will spawn before the other team has reloaded the map.

Yes -- the client and server run from the same (updated) code, and they both automatically update to the latest version. That issue was fixed in the last patch.

For a tournament server, you could make a staging map that locks each spawn/player in a bubble (make it so walls dont kill you). Make this the default map on the server and the only one on the map list, then do startTournament/changemap as lam said to start the game. Once the game is over it should change back to the staging map.

[lamster]

Originally Posted by TomBRowkaH

So there is definitely a problem with bars staying after you die. I tried it out last night and on three separate occasions I spawned with 3 gold bars after I should have lost them. I didn't notice anything in common about these occasions, but the team balance thing might have something to do with it. I don't really know.

When balanceTeams forces you to change teams, your bars (and kill streak) are retained. For example: I'm on the red team with 3 gold bars, balanceTeams is called, I get moved to the blue team -- I will respawn with 3 gold bars. You should never respawn with bars in any other circumstance -- let me know if it happens.

Would everyone prefer that auto-balanced players lose their streak?

[Rechtschaffen]

Originally Posted by lamster

Would everyone prefer that auto-balanced players lose their streak?

Well, it would be nice if the players had to have a bath before joining my team.

[Ferret]

Originally Posted by lamster

When balanceTeams forces you to change teams, your bars (and kill streak) are retained. For example: I'm on the red team with 3 gold bars, balanceTeams is called, I get moved to the blue team -- I will respawn with 3 gold bars. You should never respawn with bars in any other circumstance -- let me know if it happens.

Would everyone prefer that auto-balanced players lose their streak?

I'd prefer that it have a threshold above 60%, what is it now just over 50?. Also, if it's going to kill certain people to switch the teams it should kill the entire game and force respawn as though it just started. Ideally it wouldn't count this as a death in the scoreboard and stats either. Anyway kill everyone, no one gets bars, everybody happy.

[Triped]

Originally Posted by lamster

When balanceTeams forces you to change teams, your bars (and kill streak) are retained. For example: I'm on the red team with 3 gold bars, balanceTeams is called, I get moved to the blue team -- I will respawn with 3 gold bars. You should never respawn with bars in any other circumstance -- let me know if it happens.

Would everyone prefer that auto-balanced players lose their streak?

I'm for auto-balanced players keeping their streak, but you should account for it when calculating the balance.

[FalconZ1]

I also had an issue with the Esc key. Stopped working at one point and I could no longer access the menu. All other keys worked as expected. I ended up having to terminate the game through the command console.

[gameguard]

lam there is definitely a bug with bars staying.
What i think is happening is, when there is a team balance some people get "balanced" into the same team. Maybe this gives them that one extra chance to die and keep their bars. Thats just my guess though.

Also, I think altitude has a memory leak problem. When I leaven altitude on for a long time (often times minimized), the memory usage becomes like 200k+ and altitude becomes noticably choppy. I dont think im the only one experiencing this.

[lamster]

Thanks for the report gameguard -- players reassigned to the same team do get an extra respawn -- that bug will be fixed in the next patch.

Is the memory issue new to the latest patch or has it been around forever? How long do you need to leave it open before performance becomes choppy?

[gameguard]

The performance issue as far as i know has been around forever. I think it becomes noticable after many hours. Like 3-4 hours +? It seems like this occurs when I have it tabbed out for a long time and not when im actually playing the game for a long time. Usually I would have altitude running throughout the day and tab in and out to play. After a while, I notice the choppiness and have to restart altitude.

[michael]

Originally Posted by lamster

automatic admins (Admins specified in server config) are always allowed in their server even if it is full

Yay! Haha i have always thought it was somehow ironic when I had to wait to get into my own servers

[Shyney]

Lam, could you include the ability for the players to turn the bots off?
Perhaps a vote setting that can be called by the players to disable them?
Aside from the training missions, they serve absolutely no purpose. And are just annoying Most people would rather just find another server to play on, then play with the bots.

[lamster]

Bots are a server-specific setting. The default setting is 2 bots with spectateThreshold=6, meaning none of the bots will spawn once there are 6 players in the game. I think most people like them to help seed a new server, but there are a few places (5v5 deathmatch server) that they do seem annoying, preventing good 2v2 etc. Convince the server admin to lower the spectate threshold to 2 or 4

[DiogenesDog]

Some random feedback, not all related to the patch:

* Lost City in menu looks wayyy better, even the buttons look less ugly somehow. One thing I noticed / like is that the clouds move, which they don't in the real map. Any chance of getting this back in the game?

* the actual loading bar could use some work still. One thing I see a lot of games do that's pretty cheap is to just have a long image that slowly is revealed from left to right.

* I don't know for sure if this is true, but it occurred to me that back in the day on apple.com it looked like a program could get bumped to the top of the new releases section just by releasing a new version. If that's the case, you reallly should start updating there with each patch.

* All the team balancing stuff seems nice. I agree that it should be tried out on the official servers.

* I also like the "person x joined the GREEN team" stuff. Good for catching team stackers.

* I'd love to see Locomotion, Grotto, and the ffa version of Core on the official servers. All good maps that I never get to play because they're not up there.

* Some balance changes for the Bombs version fo the Bomber would be nice. It's been weak for a long time now.

* I'd also really like to see something done with flak. It's pretty much the same as tailgun only better right now. Maybe do a thing where perk3 is something totally new (cannonballs?) and Bombs is bombs + flak (maybe even buffed flak). I dunno, just red perk-wise the bomber really gets the short end of the stick.

* On the bot thing, I think it'd be nice to have two thresholds as server settings. One is the current system where it just adds bots as necessary to fill up the server. The other would ONLY add bots to balance uneven team numbers. Maybe even allow ppl running servers to set the bots to different difficulty levels?

* Bomb indicator probably shouldn't show up for FFA.

* After years of resistng, I signed up for Facebook just to check out the Altitude app. It failed to let me submit my stats. :/ error pasted below:

HTTP Status 500 -

type Exception report

message

description The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request.

exception

javax.servlet.ServletException: Internal error Incorrect signature
ng.facebookapp.servlet.FacebookLinkAltitudeAccount .doGet(FacebookLinkAltitudeAccount.java:61)
ng.facebookapp.servlet.FacebookLinkAltitudeAccount .doPost(FacebookLinkAltitudeAccount.java:53)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet .java:637)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet .java:717)
ng.facebookapp.filter.FacebookFilter.doFilter(Face bookFilter.java:107)

note The full stack trace of the root cause is available in the Apache Tomcat/6.0.18 logs.
Apache Tomcat/6.0.18

[gameguard]

hahaha bombs + flak would be hilarious. They can only kill when people chase them.

2 useless weapons remain in the game now. Bombs and dogfighter. Bombs could probably be changed to something else all together. I think a perk that changes the primary grenade to something else would be nice. Dogfighter is a tough one since its the default weapon and we wouldnt want to overpower it. But as it is now, There is absolutely no reason to use it over recoilless (i think). I am so bad with biplane though so I cant reliably test this.

[as red as black]

Originally Posted by gameguard

hahaha bombs + flak would be hilarious. They can only kill when people chase them.

2 useless weapons remain in the game now. Bombs and dogfighter. Bombs could probably be changed to something else all together. I think a perk that changes the primary grenade to something else would be nice. Dogfighter is a tough one since its the default weapon and we wouldnt want to overpower it. But as it is now, There is absolutely no reason to use it over recoilless (i think). I am so bad with biplane though so I cant reliably test this.

http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=691

My issues with bomber.

[DiogenesDog]

I think it's a reallly close call between dogfighter and recoilless right now. definitely nowhere near useless.

EDIT: just adding some more feedback here so I don't spam too much on this thread...

* Facebook app working now, no idea what happened earlier. It's nice enough, but I don't have any experience with this stuff. One thing I did notice is that if you try to compare more than 5 guys it gets cut off. Also annoying that there's no way to multi-select your friends to compare. It'd also be really nice if there was some kind of overall leaderboard and additional, easily-calculated stats that aren't shown in-game (overall k:d ratio, xp per hour, etc.)

* facebook app: friends who are already fans of altitude shouldn't show up in my "invite ppl to play!" window

* menu: Challenges being under the Stats button is weird. Similarly, putting the Facebook stuff under Options is kind of strange.

* I had the game windowed and trying to get onto a full server while I surfed the internet, and got "kicked" from the auto-join after being idle for five minutes. Bleh!

* My desktop icon for Alt is still super pixellated / ugly in Vista. It looks like it just takes the small one and scales it up.

* The messages telling you when a person joins a team should be disabled in FFA