Bitfighter Forums

Hey guys,

I know I'm not a very active part of this community as of late, but I still think about the game pretty often and admire it very much for how much it has adapted and changed over time, even with such a small (but dedicated) group of people.

With that being said, I think one huge area of the game, not much explored in the past is the social aspect.

Looking back on when I was a regular player, I recall that I *discussed* the game, either on the forums, PM or even AIM, about as much if not more than I actually played.

I think most bitfighter players can relate to that- map making is also a big time consideration for some people, but even there, it's fairly social.

When I am in a bitfighter game and someone I know logs on, I always at least say hi. If someone I don't know logs in and doesn't respond to my greeting (and after telling him to press g to chat), I consider him weird or rude. Often, the other person had a lot to say I would get into lengthy conversations in game.

Further, Bobaduck has talked about DnD games on bitfighter. I'm not sure *exactly* what he has in mind, but if it's like DnD that I'm used to, there will be a fair amount of dialog and textual (if not verbal) interaction.

So why do I bring this up? Well, there is one *very* good feature of bitfighter that is very rarely emphasized. We all know that the map maker is good, and that the game is what it is - and that it has a lot of things that make it fun.

But I'm talking about the Chat. The chat is used in Bitfighter, probably a lot more than in other action games. Bitfighter is unique in that it can be played as a very intense game, a very casual game, or anything in between- probably because the game is so simple and the map maker is so open to creativity.


In the past when we have wanted to get more players involved in bitfighter, we have usually tried to make it more competitive- with league games or "party" kind of gatherings with a competitive edge.

After a few *years* of thought, I now realize that maybe we should have tried the other direction. What if we somehow had a server option that would simplify physics (possibly turn off turrets, disable asteroid re-spawning, maybe even lower the graphics) and emphasize low-lag scenarios?

With the ultimate goal of drawing in people who are looking for a chat room with some virtual-interaction. Then when people feel like being competative, the server host can flip the switch and amp-up the game, and the chat feature fades back into the background.

I know that "virtual reality" chat rooms are viewed as kind of cheesy, but there really is a big call for a light weight version, and I think Bitfighter is *already* a good option for that.

Correct me if I'm wrong Bobaduck or Watusimoto, but I think that with a few tweaks, and an average server strength, bitfighter could run on about as much memory as skype.

My name isn't capitalized, fool!

In seriousness though: DnD is actually a level, with one of those new-fangled levelgen script thingers, which is 4000 lines of code long. You'll, um, have to see it to believe it.

The community has always been the biggest part of bitfighter, and bitfighter is indeed quite flexible. Even in Zap!, Drex was stealing your flag, new people were building forts on gibbed, and skylark was inventing the zapdance.

I've thought in the past about ways of increasing the social pull of the game, but I haven't really had any ideas, because it always always comes back to "before we have social, we need to have players". Polishing the social features of the game is a definite step in the right direction, but I don't know how to do that. A minimalist server is probably a fine idea but I don't see it being a driving force for anything. Perhaps if we increased the social features somehow, and then filled it with dungeon/novelty maps... I dunno.

I'm running skype and sitting in the bitfighter lobby at the same time. Skype is using 157,000 K of memory, and bitfighter is using 40,000 k.

So, just to clarify:

Would it be possible to add a "shut things off" as I described, with a switch on the server? (It might also be a useful feature for debugging).

I agree that a single "social server" would not be enough to change anything. What I'm proposing is a change that makes the game more *marketable* towards the virtual-chat community. Which means that servers need to be easily created, and less crash-able.

Sounds like a good case for supervisor/levelgen scripts. They can do all sorts of manipulation of game mechanics, could even add invincibility (starting in 019) or anything else you need.

(bobdaduck can probably lend a hand)

A level gen aimed at this purpose would be excellent actually. I feel like if this could be accessed as easily as possible, that'd be best too.

Hi,

I guess just making a 'social' map would work like rabbit with an off map flag.

Oh, and furbuggy, me.rs says hi

So, someone correct me if I'm wrong: Is levelgen carnival to be the new gold standard of mapmaking?

I may not understand exactly what is being proposed here, but like, aren't there a ton of problems with that?

Though in the past I've proposed a new community gametype (like dungeons and emperors revenges) which would be the "explore" gametype, which might fit the bill if we had mapmakers who jumped on the wagon.

Emphasizing the community aspect of the game is a very good idea, but what exactly is being proposed? (if I'm going to make a script to do it I need to know what I'm making first.)

So I'm not sure if you're familiar with games like 2nd life, but that's what I'm thinking- randomly generated, non-complicated, low-lag, long duration, maps. Probably mostly bitbash, with score de-emphasized.

BitTown would be an example that didn't have enough direction. If it were a levelgen, then it would produce environments like, environments with aesthetically basic surroundings:
Meeting rooms (with chairs and tables),
A forest scene (with trees and bushes),
Streets (with parked cars and some small dashes of color) etc.

Also, something that is easy and quick to launch (a server) and join.

Looking at the way bitfighter is, launching a server isn't hard, but if it were easy to make an "auto launch" icon for a specific server, that would be nice.


Tldr; basically I want a "server type" that is easy to launch, that would promote social interaction over competitive gaming, in "muzak" style surroundings.

In other words, bitfighter.org/forums, the server

I'm not sure I'm fully on board with all the suggestions here, but I do agree with the fundamental premise: the social angle counts.

I also agree that we can do most of what was suggested here with a combination of levels and levelgens -- as the server host, you can change levels according to your mood: slow and cooperative vs. fast and feisty.

Any ideas that folks have for improving the social aspects of the game are always welcome!

I want BitTown to come back... you could almost play with other people asynchronously on it

BitTown yesssss

Perhaps we could all redesign our houses again?

I'm cooking up one as we speak.

Of course I've spent all day on Bitfighter... I think I have a problem

I'm positive sky_lark has it.

BitTown sounds familiar but I don't think I ever got on board. AKA don't have it. Furbuggy was the guy behind that project IIRC? I think he's still reachable in some way or another.

He posted a few posts a few weeks back