october
25-02-2005, 20:14
I pledge that I will depost at minimum US$20 into a Paypal account (or similar) belonging to the first person (or group of people) that can provide me with a way to *automatically* switch players on a TS server to a channel corresponding to the team they are playing on on a game server (specific details below). Further I pledge that if the said solution is crossplatform (at minimum both Windows and Linux) AND non-game specific (can be used with most or all popular games) I will up my pledge to US$40. If the TS dev team releases a publically available SDK that allows all this functionality AND modmakers to incorporate a working solution directly into mod code before anyone else claims it, I'll pay THEM US$60!
Further, if this is something YOU also think is important to gamers and TS users alike then I also HIGHLY encourage YOU to make a similar pledge!!! PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!! No amount is too small and every dollar counts.
WHAT IT NEEDS TO DO:
A method of syncing players on a game server with their participation on channels on a dedicated TS server. The solution should be easily adaptable to most popular online FPS games and documentation should be included on how to do this, preferably with examples. Specifically I am interested in the free game True Combat: Elite ( http://www.truecombat.elite/intro.php ) but a script, SDK or application that worked with Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory would also be acceptable.
This is intended to both facilitate the use of TS for realistic tactical communications on team based games and to prevent malicious players from "ghosting" or otherwise sharing information gained in a way not condusive to realistic team-based play. For team based games this means that an ideal solution would automatically parse player information provided by the server (such as used in web sites and server browsers, such as XQF and ASE, monitoring of servers), to include but not limited to player name, current status, current team (if applicable) , and perhaps player IP (for identification purposes) at a reasonable and useful interval (fast enough to prevent delay to the game being played and frequent enough to be useful as defined below) to accomplish the following:
a) Players not found on the game server are confined to a "lobby" channel or otherwise prevented from participating in the voice channels being utilized by people playing the game. Identification can be made by identical name usage on both the game and TS server or perhaps more securely, player client IP or even a pre-registration of ID. It must be impossible for a person NOT present on the game server to use the game server specific channels.
b) Players who are alive or otherwise "ingame" are automatically switched to a team-specific channel (in the case of team based games) in relation to the appropriate team in the game and may only use that channel to speak to other "live" teammates. Upon switching teams, moving to "spectator mode", being removed from the game, "dieing" (no longer "ingame"), etc., that player is removed from that channel. It must be impossible for a player NOT currently "ingame" with a "live" status to use a channel designated for such. It must also be impossible for a player in a team game to use any other channel than the channel assigned to his current team and/or status (if alive or dead, etc.).
c) Players who are found to be currently ON the game server but not assigned to a team can only communicate with other players with a similar status. This might include "spectator mode" and "dead" (removed from the current game play by conditions specific to that game, i.e., "dieing" during a round playing an FPS wargame or the like.) They might be allowed to listen in on their live teammates communications but cannot be allowed to speak on those channels.
d) At any time that the game server changes game status; i.e., start of new round, map change, game suspension, etc. players must be moved to a public channel until teams are once again established at which time a proposed solution would again make the team channel switches promptly and automatically. Players should not only be prevented from joining the wrong team channel, they should also be switched to the appropriate channel without input from the player.
[u]Optional conditions[/b]
a)Added functionality might include scalable operability for games with fluctuating team and channel numbers. It should be easy for a server admin to create the needed channels and then sync them to the game.
b)Cross platform compatibilty. A solution should be useful to any TS server regardless of server or client OS. Lack of compatibility does not disqualify a claim on the bounty however!
c)Game compatibility. An ideal solution would offer the same usefulness to any TS server administrator regardless of the specific game. This might include an SDK or scripting guidelines on how to get the solution to function with other games with some specific examples.
Further, if this is something YOU also think is important to gamers and TS users alike then I also HIGHLY encourage YOU to make a similar pledge!!! PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!! No amount is too small and every dollar counts.
WHAT IT NEEDS TO DO:
A method of syncing players on a game server with their participation on channels on a dedicated TS server. The solution should be easily adaptable to most popular online FPS games and documentation should be included on how to do this, preferably with examples. Specifically I am interested in the free game True Combat: Elite ( http://www.truecombat.elite/intro.php ) but a script, SDK or application that worked with Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory would also be acceptable.
This is intended to both facilitate the use of TS for realistic tactical communications on team based games and to prevent malicious players from "ghosting" or otherwise sharing information gained in a way not condusive to realistic team-based play. For team based games this means that an ideal solution would automatically parse player information provided by the server (such as used in web sites and server browsers, such as XQF and ASE, monitoring of servers), to include but not limited to player name, current status, current team (if applicable) , and perhaps player IP (for identification purposes) at a reasonable and useful interval (fast enough to prevent delay to the game being played and frequent enough to be useful as defined below) to accomplish the following:
a) Players not found on the game server are confined to a "lobby" channel or otherwise prevented from participating in the voice channels being utilized by people playing the game. Identification can be made by identical name usage on both the game and TS server or perhaps more securely, player client IP or even a pre-registration of ID. It must be impossible for a person NOT present on the game server to use the game server specific channels.
b) Players who are alive or otherwise "ingame" are automatically switched to a team-specific channel (in the case of team based games) in relation to the appropriate team in the game and may only use that channel to speak to other "live" teammates. Upon switching teams, moving to "spectator mode", being removed from the game, "dieing" (no longer "ingame"), etc., that player is removed from that channel. It must be impossible for a player NOT currently "ingame" with a "live" status to use a channel designated for such. It must also be impossible for a player in a team game to use any other channel than the channel assigned to his current team and/or status (if alive or dead, etc.).
c) Players who are found to be currently ON the game server but not assigned to a team can only communicate with other players with a similar status. This might include "spectator mode" and "dead" (removed from the current game play by conditions specific to that game, i.e., "dieing" during a round playing an FPS wargame or the like.) They might be allowed to listen in on their live teammates communications but cannot be allowed to speak on those channels.
d) At any time that the game server changes game status; i.e., start of new round, map change, game suspension, etc. players must be moved to a public channel until teams are once again established at which time a proposed solution would again make the team channel switches promptly and automatically. Players should not only be prevented from joining the wrong team channel, they should also be switched to the appropriate channel without input from the player.
[u]Optional conditions[/b]
a)Added functionality might include scalable operability for games with fluctuating team and channel numbers. It should be easy for a server admin to create the needed channels and then sync them to the game.
b)Cross platform compatibilty. A solution should be useful to any TS server regardless of server or client OS. Lack of compatibility does not disqualify a claim on the bounty however!
c)Game compatibility. An ideal solution would offer the same usefulness to any TS server administrator regardless of the specific game. This might include an SDK or scripting guidelines on how to get the solution to function with other games with some specific examples.