Implementing a RTS like spectator and team coordination mode

[Julius]

A game like TOL lends itself very well to team-competitions and a sort of spectator-sport like events. Other games have shown that an RTS like overview can be really great for such (see: http://youtu.be/agJa_0Tq4-0 | http://youtu.be/k3Mt0Xc6wgs ) and it could also add to the game itself by offering a additional player-slot for team coordination etc.

Here is a small tutorial for creating an RTS mode in Torque3D: http://docs.garagegames.com/torque-3d/o ... otype.html

I was wondering how one would best start with something like that, and if that would be an addition many players would like to see?

[fr1tz]

Doing something like this requires someone who is pretty familiar with the engine. Plus I don't know if a special RTS view for a "commander" is a good fit for this game. Teamplay stuff (even something as a dedicated "commander" etherform) could be done battlezone-style from the normal player view.

[Julius]

Thanks for the reply.

Even if it isn't used as a "commander" it might be still a cool spectator mode to stream via Twitch or such. But yeah, probably too much work to implement it just for that.

I am wondering though, why do you consider this as very difficult? The tutorial seems to be not too complex and all Torque script (i.e. no engine modifications needed). Of course I am probably talking non-sense as I have little programming experience

[fr1tz]

Yeah sorry it took me so long to respond, if I don't respond immediately I sometimes forget about a thread

I wouldn't call it "very" difficult, but there are issues that aren't covered in that tutorial. For example it assumes a standard RTS battlefield (one layer, small height differences, everything visible from a top-down view) which might not be the case for TOL's maps.

They were the case for ROTC, but even there, the usefulness of its "commander" view was easily eclipsed by the "show larger minimap" feature.