AGS Live Ceremony 2011

[tzachs]

About the button, I remember the hovering but with all the people logging in and out all the time, it's hard to keep track, especially since I want to know where Ponch is at all times.
A button would actually probably be too much, but perhaps pressing Ctrl+F would open a "Find" dialog with a text box, and when you insert a name, if the user is in the crowd, his character will glow or flash or do something pretty for a few seconds.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

you could create a bunch of blank views with a placeholder sprite in frame 0 of loop 0 and make a function that checks for 'free' views by looking for this frame...or do you mean not being able to populate a loop of a view at runtime?  I admit that I've not tried this myself but since you can effectively overwrite sprites you could, in theory, populate views with a sequential series of small, black sprites that are all unique and then overwrite these with dynamic sprites as needed.  Of course, this could get very tedious depending on just how many views a character uses and how many loops and frames per loop.  If kept to a reasonable number like 2 views, 6 frames/loop and 4 loops/view, that would be 48 sprite placeholders per character maximum.  I'm not saying this is something that needs doing, but I'm pretty sure you could do it this way if you wanted to.

A button would actually probably be too much, but perhaps pressing Ctrl+F would open a "Find" dialog with a text box, and when you insert a name, if the user is in the crowd, his character will glow or flash or do something pretty for a few seconds.

A pop-up gui that displays the names of everyone in the room irc-style would work exceptionally well for something like this.  Just leave like a tabbed edge in the lower right that when clicked on opens it, then you can move it around, click a name and it will display a glowing arrow above the character (or something to that effect).

[Ponch]

it's hard to keep track, especially since I want to know where Ponch is at all times.

Ponch was over in the corner, suffering defeat in stoic silence.

[Snarky]

One thing I noticed during the ceremony this year was that I would sometimes lose track of which award was going on, particularly during some of the more rambling acceptance speeches. I feel like there should be a big caption somewhere on the screen displaying the current category (e.g. as part of the sign, "AGS AWARDS: Background Graphics"). You could probably make it a free-form label that you can set the text of with a mod command. And maybe a results board or something that gets filled in during the ceremony, so you can see how things are going? (This probably as a menu you can bring up.)

And was it just me, or was the single podium a little awkward? Maybe the announcers and winners should each have their own podiums?

Another idea: Falling confetti, like when you win a case in Phoenix Wright, for when winners are announced.

The way the client work right now is that it has an extra channel for all meta stuff. We could easily move the claps to that channel so they won't flood the main channel.

I thought the way it worked right now was that claps are just regular chat messages that contain the word "clap". How are you going to get them into a separate channel? And do you really need to? If you're going to parse them anyway, couldn't you send them over the same channel, and just filter them from displaying in the chat window? (Maybe only displaying them over the character's head instead, like I suggested.)

And is it going to be impossible to write any chat messages that include the word "clap"? That doesn't sound right.

Like tzach says, it'd be nice to support even more types of actions, so it might be best to come up with a general way to distinguish chat messages (things you say) from stuff you want to DO that shouldn't flood the channel. (Probably using the IRC /command or *action syntax.)

I don't mind heckling but obviously there need to be some order or things will get out of hand. Maybe we could add whispering or something. (so only people (literally) close by will hear it).

What about my suggestion of another (technically a third) channel for "backchat," that would be open when the regular channel is muted (with messages going to the right channel automatically)? If you make it collapsible, each attendee could choose whether they want to see it or not.

Oh, that reminds me: It would be great to have some usability improvements to the chat window. I don't remember exactly how it worked this year, so correct me if any of this is already in there, but here's my wish list: arrow-up to copy the last line you wrote, scroll-wheel support on the chat history, Page-Up/Down, Home and End-button support to jump around in the history, scroll-bar indicator to show where you are in the history, and smart auto-scroll so that it keeps you looking at the latest line unless you scroll up, and doesn't move while you're looking at the history.

A pop-up gui that displays the names of everyone in the room irc-style would work exceptionally well for something like this.  Just leave like a tabbed edge in the lower right that when clicked on opens it, then you can move it around, click a name and it will display a glowing arrow above the character (or something to that effect).

Isn't that what the little # button in the top left corner does? (Apart from actually highlighting the character on the screen, which would definitely be a cool addition.)

[Tabata]

A pop-up gui that displays the names of everyone in the room irc-style would work exceptionally well for something like this.  Just leave like a tabbed edge in the lower right that when clicked on opens it, then you can move it around, click a name and it will display a glowing arrow above the character (or something to that effect).

Isn't that what the little # button in the top left corner does? (Apart from actually highlighting the character on the screen, which would definitely be a cool addition.)

Edit:
And I loved doing the claps 

[m0ds]

Particle effects and please make the stage explode at the end plus a motorbike stunt. Cheers Duals 

[Ishmael]

Yes, I meant the "*clap*" texts appearing the IRC channel. Move that to the meta channel or wherever.

As for all this lobby talk. In the past it's been two channels, #ags was for general chat all times, ie. a lobby, and the awards channel followed the pattern -- which I think is good, should not be changed. It's a tradition and stuff after all. And it would work just as fine as it worked last year. No need to reinvent the wheel here I think.

[Wyz]

Particle effects and please make the stage explode at the end plus a motorbike stunt. Cheers Duals 

That would be awesome, but who is going to pay for that. The last time renting that venue already costed a small fortune, and that place was a dump.

Well I guess clicking on the names in the list and highlighting the character sounds like a great idea. Also maybe a /find command for the ones that prefer to type.

One thing I noticed during the ceremony this year was that I would sometimes lose track of which award was going on, particularly during some of the more rambling acceptance speeches. I feel like there should be a big caption somewhere on the screen displaying the current category (e.g. as part of the sign, "AGS AWARDS: Background Graphics"). You could probably make it a free-form label that you can set the text of with a mod command. And maybe a results board or something that gets filled in during the ceremony, so you can see how things are going? (This probably as a menu you can bring up.)

And was it just me, or was the single podium a little awkward? Maybe the announcers and winners should each have their own podiums?

Another idea: Falling confetti, like when you win a case in Phoenix Wright, for when winners are announced.

Great ideas if you'd ask me! There will be bumpers played at the stage screen for the different categories so that is covered. I do like the idea of more then one stand for speakers. Also confetti and visual effects sounds like fun.

...

I thought the way it worked right now was that claps are just regular chat messages that contain the word "clap". How are you going to get them into a separate channel? And do you really need to? If you're going to parse them anyway, couldn't you send them over the same channel, and just filter them from displaying in the chat window? (Maybe only displaying them over the character's head instead, like I suggested.)

You've got things a bit mixed. Let me explain it:
There are two channels, one is the official IRC awards channel. That channel is accessible with a general IRC client like mIRC. Everything that Duals and I added to the experience like walking and choosing avatars is transferred to a different channel so it doesn't interfere with the regular channel. Because previous years the phrase *claps* was used extensively Duals decided to simply trigger on that word. We can add a separate command for clap (and boo, cheers whatever) so it no longer is visible in the regular channel.

I don't really feel the need of a separate channel for chatter during the ceremony. I try to vision it as much as reality as possible with interactions, so feel free to twitter about it.

you could create a bunch of blank views with a placeholder sprite in frame 0 of loop 0 and make a function that checks for 'free' views by looking for this frame...or do you mean not being able to populate a loop of a view at runtime?  I admit that I've not tried this myself but since you can effectively overwrite sprites you could, in theory, populate views with a sequential series of small, black sprites that are all unique and then overwrite these with dynamic sprites as needed.  Of course, this could get very tedious depending on just how many views a character uses and how many loops and frames per loop.  If kept to a reasonable number like 2 views, 6 frames/loop and 4 loops/view, that would be 48 sprite placeholders per character maximum.  I'm not saying this is something that needs doing, but I'm pretty sure you could do it this way if you wanted to.

Hmm interesting... I'll look into that. I guess the real problem will be the fact animations might not have an equal number of frames, I don't know if that can be changed at run-time.

[Snarky]

Great ideas if you'd ask me! There will be bumpers played at the stage screen for the different categories so that is covered. I do like the idea of more then one stand for speakers. Also confetti and visual effects sounds like fun.

Cool. By "bumpers", do you mean like a text screen that is shown to announce the start of each new category? That's good, but the thing is that it goes away, so if you weren't paying attention or you step away for a minute (and since the ceremony goes on for hours, I for one tend to multitask during it), you can't necessarily tell what's happening. For you who are running the show it's probably obvious, but as an attendee, my experience this year was that it isn't; not always.

You've got things a bit mixed. Let me explain it:
There are two channels, one is the official IRC awards channel. That channel is accessible with a general IRC client like mIRC. Everything that Duals and I added to the experience like walking and choosing avatars is transferred to a different channel so it doesn't interfere with the regular channel. Because previous years the phrase *claps* was used extensively Duals decided to simply trigger on that word. We can add a separate command for clap (and boo, cheers whatever) so it no longer is visible in the regular channel.

No, I got that. My concerns were that if delegated to a separate channel, the system for detecting a "clap" command should probably be less aggressive than that used this year, and secondly that the pure-IRC version of the ceremony shouldn't lose the sense of applause and congratulation. But I guess it doesn't really matter that much how you implement it.

I don't really feel the need of a separate channel for chatter during the ceremony. I try to vision it as much as reality as possible with interactions, so feel free to twitter about it.

As Ishmael mentions, in the past we've had the general #ags channel as a "lobby" where people could chat while the awards channel was muted. It would be good to have a similar thing in the AGS client. I can understand your desire for realism, but in this case I think solutions like a whisper command limited to those nearby are clearly worse than the simple-minded solution. If it helps you come to terms with it, imagine that the avatars are chatting over IRC or twitter on their smart phones. 

[Babar]

Yeah, I kind of understand the issue with the "clap" thing. It was distracting, and kind of filled up the screen with something that wasn't REALLY necessary.

So I agree with what is being suggested... when someone uses the "trigger" by typing "*clap*", instead of showing up in the chat area on screen (i.e. the awards chatroom), it is only processed by the...system-management room(?), which can maybe create the sound effect (out of a random pool of clap sound effects, for variety ), and maybe a clap animation or something. Also the addition of boos!

[Monsieur OUXX]

1) Using the AGS theora plugin to play videos, that way, each video on each instance of the client program plays at its own speed.

Watch out, from what I've experienced, if players start your client with Direct Draw 5 (non accelerated), the video will always be played in the foreground, whatever-ish you try to display on top (I can't remember if GUIs and characters can overlap non-accelerated videos, though). I recommend you test that to avoid disappointment.

My suggestions:
- Each avatar has his name written over his head
- When they say something in the chat, a little icon appears briefly above their head (something simple and discreet like this ). That way the crowd will look more dynamic (the watcher not only thinks "wow, those guys can actually walk around" but also "wow, this guy I like is saying something right now, let's look at the chat window I can't wait to read his pun").

Suggestions I support:
- Tabata's list of who is present
- Snarky's visual reminder of what award is being given

[Snake]

/snake clicks to see OUXX's "pun"

Another suggestion: There needs to be an intermission or breaks during the ceremony for people like me who always need to leave the computer to go to the bathroom and/or get a beer.

3) Lobby room, yeah, out of the question. I mean, yeah, it's fun and all, but if you want to have that, just join before the ceremony and stay afterwards. It's kinda pointless, and well, I am still not convinced it's that useful.

I don't see why not, really. Yeah, I don't like the idea of people missing bits and pieces of the ceremony due to the "coolness" of walking around the place and chatting in different rooms, but I really don't see that happening either. We are all mature AGSers here (well, most of us) and which one of us would be fapping off in another room during the ceremony? Seriously, who'd be off messing around and not caring about it? If I can make it this year (for the first time EVAR), I'll be planting my ass in the hall and not miss a moment. I sure the hell wouldn't be off in the other room.

And you know what, if they miss something, they miss something.

But anyway, Duals, if that is the main concern, which I believe it is, then why not just be forceful and move everyone directly (or wait for everyone to come in - if moving everyone with a command isn't feasible) to the hall when it's time to start and lock the doors behind them?

Either way you decide to go, I don't care, honestly, but the main reason I'm bringing this up again is that I think it would be a neat thing to do - having a "lobby" type place for us to hang around and chat (as well as the hall to go back and forth through) before the ceremony starts, whether it's an hour before hand or an hour after. I'm sure it'll be packed... and I'm not an elbow-to-elbow kind a' guy, James.

\\--EDIT--//
Also, if there's a lobby and there are people out there (for whatever reason), there should be a speaker out there in the upper corner displaying all the text that is being said in the hall at the podium.

[Snarky]

But anyway, Duals, if that is the main concern, which I believe it is, then why not just be forceful and move everyone directly (or wait for everyone to come in - if moving everyone with a command isn't feasible) everyone directly to the hall when it's time to start and lock the doors behind them?

Escape the room puzzle!

Also confetti and visual effects sounds like fun.

If the game can handle the physics processing, how about balloons that people can knock/toss around and pop?

I want some actual gameplay in this "game", is what I'm saying. 

[Ponch]

If we're going to have a lobby, then I demand an arcade attached to it. With Pac Man, Space Invaders, and Street Fighter II. Plus, every attendee gets 10 free tokens. Also, I want to have a "pick pocket" button on my GUI to steal other people's tokens.

Also, there should be bathrooms. And a stack of back issues of AGS Today to read while I'm doing my business in the stall. And all the issues should have a random crossword puzzle for me to work on while I'm in there.

Lastly, at the end of the show, Larry Vales puts on a funktastic AGS blue jumpsuit and jumps ten school buses on a motorcycle. 

[Ghost]

Also, there should be bathrooms.

... with a 10% change that you drop the soap...

[Snake]

Also, there should be bathrooms.

... with a 10% change that you drop the soap...

Ponch, what are you doing in the bathroom with the soap?? Erm... don't tell me, forget it

[Icey]

If your not going to include a lobby(with a bar :] ) because your worried about someone missing out on something cause they are sitting in there then I think that's a little unreasonable seeing how there are people on the IRC chat who can't see anything that's happening in the there either. I really think there should be a lobby cause staying in that one small room with everyone is kinda boring. Now I'm not saying that the lobby will be even better but all I'm trying to say is it will extended the time of someone staying on the game and not switching to something else.

[Chicky]

Are you kidding me? Since when have the awards been boring?

[Tabata]

... staying in that one small room with everyone is kinda boring.

  You can't have been there, if you think like this! 

The more, the funnier!

Imagine how it is, when all bunnies (suddenly there have been a very lot  ) are running after another to the door for hiding or some chars running through the crowd to catch each other ...?
It's interactive, it's cool, it's fun â€" it's  a very special and wonderful family-meeting! 

[straydogstrut]

I loved the awards last time, I can't believe it's coming around again already..um when exactly is it??

My two cents:

Custom characters - ..mmm yes please if it's possible! Not sure how it works but if people don't provide enough frames, let them suffer the dodgy animation..either that or have Duals make everyone a unique character with multiple animations - me first please - I mean, it's not like he has anything better to do!

The lobby - this would be cool but I don't think it's a must-have for the awards imho, the one room worked fine last time.

More interactions - gimme stuff to click on and play with please

Being able to toggle on/off names

*clap* - it was pretty distracting for me, maybe have the sound effect and the words above the character's heads, but not in the chatbox itself

Icons above characters' heads such as the 'talking' speech bubble already mentioned or a some snoozing zzZZs for when your away from the keyboard. Tabata's emoticons are the only thing missing from the Awards imo

Videos - That would be really cool and was something I would've loved to see last time, but how will this work? I see you said they'll run at their own speed on each client but does that mean they might fall out of sync with the rest of the show or will they be stored locally on the client machine? Basically i'm asking 'can I accidentally break it?' as I know nothing of such technical wizardry!

+1 for a reminder of the award being presented