You know, balancing and debugging stuff in maps has always been a bitch for me from the start. I've tried in the past to arrange all sorts of efforts (both large and small scale) to get the necessary balance and testing needed for my maps, and I know others have similar problems all the time as well.
However, I've just thought of an idea! We should host a bnet bot (if possible on each gateway) that logs all whisper messages sent to it. Then, what map makers can do is embed instructions in their maps for players to whisper to the bot in-game with all ideas, suggestions, bugs, etc. Finally, via. a function on the web (like through SEN or something), mappers can read those logs and use them for quick and easy feedback for their maps.
The theory behind this is that all the best and most valuable feedback will likely only come from players as spur of the moment-type stuff during the time they're actually in the game. Though there are people who are kind enough to step out of the game to post/email bugs and requests and such, for the most part the average bnet joe would be far too lazy (and/or incompetent) to manage that, and thus all the best feedback for a given map likely remains unknown to its maker(s).
Well, if players were given simple instructions to be able to send this feedback in-game (assuming bnet joes can follow simple instructions even
), I believe a part of this problem could be solved. People without the patience or memory capacity to deliver feedback on a given map via. email, forums, etc. would be able to do it on the spot while they play.
What do you guys think?
Post has been edited 5 time(s), last time on Oct 1 2007, 4:44 pm by Tuxedo-Templar.
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Hmm. Maybe formating for feedback should be used then? Like, sending a whisper such as:
/w Feedbot AGM1 this map sux lol
The AGM1 being a code representing the map the feedback is intended for. That code will be displayed with the in-game instructions provided in the map so the bot can know which messages are for which maps (and redirect them accordingly).
It could be abusable (as always), but it would also be useful. I'm sure a map maker could filter past a few spam messages if they're really determined.
Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Oct 1 2007, 12:52 pm by Tuxedo-Templar.
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Folders? Um, you can program a bnet bot and I'm sure make a function to parse and post the log's text data easily enough. Or at the very worst, I could manually grab the log and post it myself.
I'm just wondering if anyone would actually use this. I might make the bot for my upcoming map, but I just want to know if anyone else is interested in this idea first.
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Or you could just put your name on the map and leave your account logged in. I get whispers non-stop that way from people who find bugs or have suggestions or want to know how to do something from the map.
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That's fine too, but only for people willing and able to leave their accounts logged on most of the time. Because of my situation, I can't always do that.
I can however arrange to have a designated bot do that (won't be mine, though). I figure if anyone is interested in this idea, it might be useful to make it a shared ability.
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Hmm, you could use any old bot, just filter for whispers(would be simplest to use an additional bot per map, rather than rely on pubs to follow instructions), the other problem is that most of the people on bnet are clueless about balance, and horrible at describing bugs.
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Hmm, you could use any old bot, just filter for whispers(would be simplest to use an additional bot per map, rather than rely on pubs to follow instructions), the other problem is that most of the people on bnet are clueless about balance, and horrible at describing bugs.
Most are, but some aren't. But even fewer will bother to go through with returning feedback on a given map unless it was something they could do right on the spot.
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The idea could work, but it doesn't really need to be run by SEN. Anyone can host their own personal bot to log whispers, which I think would be more effective than if SEN ran it. You'd have more control and could modify things directly since you run the bot. Of course I suppose the plus side of SEN is that it could theoretically host it 24/7.
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The idea could work, but it doesn't really need to be run by SEN. Anyone can host their own personal bot to log whispers, which I think would be more effective than if SEN ran it. You'd have more control and could modify things directly since you run the bot. Of course I suppose the plus side of SEN is that it could theoretically host it 24/7.
but if it does go down, at least you have the ability to fix it.
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The idea could work, but it doesn't really need to be run by SEN.
Agreed.
Also, I dunno how to set up a bot on Linux... if that could even be done. Which I can't do, ATM.
I don't have physical access to the server. I'd have to set it up remotely... if you can show me how to do stuff, I can give it a shot.
But I don't even have remote access at the moment. IP will have to look into this.
I'm thinking that could be awesome, like have it so that the bot looks at the B.Net name you gave it, and if any names it knows whispers it, it sends the message to their account.
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javaop can installed via ssh.
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