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March 28, 2024, 10:52 PM

Author Topic: How to get WA back in the focus  (Read 2731 times)

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Offline Xrayez

Re: How to get WA back in the focus
« Reply #15 on: June 09, 2019, 01:11 PM »
Replay system is crucial indeed, it's what allowed the whole community to grow, some other modern games implement this functionality successfully. Creating replay system is not easy if not available out-of-the-box, which makes it a valuable feature in games. And I think W:A's replay system is one of the most convenient ones, not a lot of games allow you to simply click on the replay file to watch it any moment.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2019, 01:13 PM by Xrayez »

Offline Ytrojan

Re: How to get WA back in the focus
« Reply #16 on: June 09, 2019, 05:23 PM »


I've said it before:


1. Add unicode support (chinese etc)
2. Make a wormkit module that automatically translates chat to the player's language
Unicode support is easier said than done, due to the fact that this game actually uses a bitmap font. If you want to add more text, you'll have to either make the image of the bitmap font bigger (which would mean taking the file and designing all letters from the ground up) or switch to a vector font (which doesn't support the outlines that this game has, and might BREAK compatibility with older versions and replays unless the ancient bitmap font is kept.). Either way, it would be a chore to do, and would only set back development of the vital 3.8 update.
As for the translation, maybe we should put that functionality in a snooper to see if it works. Plus, how will it translate text? Google Translate? That wouldn't work if you don't have the internet! That would also be another slog of a feature to do, and there might be bad translations. Maybe doing it in Wormkit is alright, but we should test in a snooper to see if it works or not. Everyone playing this game speaks English Anyways, so we could make. If it's done in WormKit, 3.8 might actually BREAK it. Then, you'll have to make a new version for 3.8, and some players might become dinosaurs sticking to 3.7 in the meantime, which we can already see with 3.6 and Project X, which is a WormKit module which sadly hasn't been updated for 3.7, basically forcing players to use an older version. I know I rambled on in that sentence, but I was just explaining my point.


tl;dr - These would be difficult to implement, and would waste time better spent on getting 3.8 out, which is necessary if we want this game to not become a ghost town.
Imagine What a Buck Could Do!


I now declare a brand new league (and the successor to the failed Ultra League): WormsRF!


Offline j0e

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Re: How to get WA back in the focus
« Reply #17 on: June 10, 2019, 01:03 AM »


I've said it before:


1. Add unicode support (chinese etc)
2. Make a wormkit module that automatically translates chat to the player's language
Unicode support is easier said than done, due to the fact that this game actually uses a bitmap font. If you want to add more text, you'll have to either make the image of the bitmap font bigger (which would mean taking the file and designing all letters from the ground up) or switch to a vector font (which doesn't support the outlines that this game has, and might BREAK compatibility with older versions and replays unless the ancient bitmap font is kept.). Either way, it would be a chore to do, and would only set back development of the vital 3.8 update.
As for the translation, maybe we should put that functionality in a snooper to see if it works. Plus, how will it translate text? Google Translate? That wouldn't work if you don't have the internet! That would also be another slog of a feature to do, and there might be bad translations. Maybe doing it in Wormkit is alright, but we should test in a snooper to see if it works or not. Everyone playing this game speaks English Anyways, so we could make. If it's done in WormKit, 3.8 might actually BREAK it. Then, you'll have to make a new version for 3.8, and some players might become dinosaurs sticking to 3.7 in the meantime, which we can already see with 3.6 and Project X, which is a WormKit module which sadly hasn't been updated for 3.7, basically forcing players to use an older version. I know I rambled on in that sentence, but I was just explaining my point.


tl;dr - These would be difficult to implement, and would waste time better spent on getting 3.8 out, which is necessary if we want this game to not become a ghost town.
Yandex has a free translation API allowing up to 1 million translated characters per day.
We'd have to keep the bitmap fonts I think. Maybe a system that hot-swaps the bitmap file depending on the player's language could be devised, maybe even fully through wormkit. Similar to how people can make/use custom map terrains for random maps. Might be impossible if those asian languages require more letters/glyphs for basic communication than we can fit in a bitmap. In that thread about Asian worms Pac-Man unpacked a bunch of the files from the games- I wonder if there's anything usable in there.

An alternative - now that WA has built-in windowmode support with 3.8, we could potentially disable WA's native Page Down chat menu and make a new chat window that seamlessly appears on top of the game window. That'd bypass having to make bitmap fonts for all languages. There's probably some existing open source chat program we could use/modify, which might allow copying/pasting/selecting text and voice chat in-game too. Even if unicode could only be used in-game, it'd be a big improvement.

This thread: https://www.tus-wa.com/forums/other-worms-games/(history)-online-worms-wwp-aqua-installation-running-instructions-32291/

Offline h3oCharles

Re: How to get WA back in the focus
« Reply #18 on: June 10, 2019, 06:54 PM »
There's probably some existing open source chat program we could use/modify, which might allow copying/pasting/selecting text and voice chat in-game too. Even if unicode could only be used in-game, it'd be a big improvement.
IRC?

Offline KinslayeR

Re: How to get WA back in the focus
« Reply #19 on: June 10, 2019, 08:54 PM »
it is like with girls, more u will ignore them, more they will want u,  lets ignore worms, they will be fine. No need to make another 20 topics "how to get more active bla bla bla bla.." 

Offline Ytrojan

Re: How to get WA back in the focus
« Reply #20 on: June 26, 2019, 10:04 PM »
VERY VERY Bad News.
When Hostingbuddy got updated, IT BROKE WORMNET! Now, I go onto wormnet, only to realize that Wormnet Servers and Players are having domestic problems. Chat in the MOTD box. Small WA windows. Infinite loading that I have to halt by selecting something else. Crashes after games. WILL THIS EVER STOP?!
Forget translations, we have to focus on the unstable servers. Then, and ONLY THEN, can we focus on cool things like Translations and Mobile. WA Servers could DIE if we don't.
Imagine What a Buck Could Do!


I now declare a brand new league (and the successor to the failed Ultra League): WormsRF!


Offline WTF-8

Re: How to get WA back in the focus
« Reply #21 on: June 28, 2019, 07:44 AM »
how about you stop spouting your personal imaginary issues everywhere
The manual in the installation folder is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural