[Suggestion] Replay Feature

[Ghost Bear Recon]

When I look at this game I see an elaborate mechanism to input locations and actions on a timeline. There should be a way for me to save that data for any given fight and be able to generate a replay that I can watch from any vantage, including from inside the mechs themselves.

 

[Confector Tyrannis]

sounds like a lot of active cameras at once, with a huge need to record all of that... if the average mission length is 30 mins, and you're only using the default camera, how many cameras at how many angles, for a 30 min production that you can then replay from later...

just how much 'data' would be recorded, per mission, for one to then review later?

follow up, do you have a LOT of harddrives?

 

[Timaeus]

sounds like a lot of active cameras at once, with a huge need to record all of that... if the average mission length is 30 mins, and you're only using the default camera, how many cameras at how many angles, for a 30 min production that you can then replay from later...

just how much 'data' would be recorded, per mission, for one to then review later?

follow up, do you have a LOT of harddrives?

Aside from the "first Person" view, really just one camera. the debug fly-mode camera that lets the player position the camera wherever they want is all that would be needed. Assuming everything is just being done in-game, and is just saving out actions as replayable data like StarCraft II, and others, do.

 

[Confector Tyrannis]

Aside from the "first Person" view

yeah.... this is what I was focusing on more than anything else. Just in a standard 4v4 that's 8 viewpoints of the same action all at once (8 cameras)
everything else could be handled with just the one spectator cam.

as to the sc2 and saving actions to play out.... is that predicated on using just bare factors like (map, location on map, actors etc) and since the animations are the same for actions (firing a wpn etc) it's just recreating from a list of actions... so you'd be 'watching' the action the first time it actually was created, seeing as how its been created just now from the list of pre-recorded actions (previous mission)

sorry, new meds, having a hard time pushing thoughts through coherently

 

[Timaeus]

yeah.... this is what I was focusing on more than anything else. Just in a standard 4v4 that's 8 viewpoints of the same action all at once (8 cameras)
everything else could be handled with just the one spectator cam.

as to the sc2 and saving actions to play out.... is that predicated on using just bare factors like (map, location on map, actors etc) and since the animations are the same for actions (firing a wpn etc) it's just recreating from a list of actions... so you'd be 'watching' the action the first time it actually was created, seeing as how its been created just now from the list of pre-recorded actions (previous mission)

sorry, new meds, having a hard time pushing thoughts through coherently

That's not 8 cameras that's one that would be attached to a "camera mount" as it were with a specific direction and FOV. The replays wouldn't be recording every single viewpoint at the time. Just the game state data. So yeah, more or less a "list of all the events that happened", minus any calculated at that instant stuff like maybe physics for parts blowing off, or the randomization of weapon misses.

 

[Confector Tyrannis]

@Timaeus (not being argumentative just following the topic)

i could see actually reducing down to 4 cameras (there's a reason) because:

Atlas (opfor) turns to shoot at a Hunchie and Thunderbolt (player) while the player also has a Stalker in the woods (no los) and a Shadowhawk on the ridge (Spotter, CAN see Atlas)

So we have 3/4 of the lance that can see the Atlas turn to take his shot, player wants to watch the replay from the cockpit of the Hunchie, the Tbolt and the Shawk, doesn't that mean you'd have 3 different viewpoints (cameras) watching the action? and thereby needing... well no... the 'event' from the list would be recreated and then again generated just then for viewing...

aggh,,, get turned around trying to envision it as "all cockpits can see this" simultaneously

 

[Amechwarrior]

@Timaeus (not being argumentative just following the topic)

i could see actually reducing down to 4 cameras (there's a reason) because:

Atlas (opfor) turns to shoot at a Hunchie and Thunderbolt (player) while the player also has a Stalker in the woods (no los) and a Shadowhawk on the ridge (Spotter, CAN see Atlas)

So we have 3/4 of the lance that can see the Atlas turn to take his shot, player wants to watch the replay from the cockpit of the Hunchie, the Tbolt and the Shawk, doesn't that mean you'd have 3 different viewpoints (cameras) watching the action? and thereby needing... well no... the 'event' from the list would be recreated and then again generated just then for viewing...

aggh,,, get turned around trying to envision it as "all cockpits can see this" simultaneously

He means that the game just runs in engine again, no need to record many camera's PoV at once. The game is just running again and the commands + RNG results are preset. You could then have a set of coordinates to snap-to for over the shoulder cams to each unit and some view spots. No need for recording multicam PoVs.

If you've ever played any of the Total War series, that is how it handles replays, just running the match again in-engine and letting the viewer move the camera around as if they were playing.

 

[Ghost Bear Recon]

He means that the game just runs in engine again, no need to record many camera's PoV at once. The game is just running again and the commands + RNG results are preset. You could then have a set of coordinates to snap-to for over the shoulder cams to each unit and some view spots. No need for recording multicam PoVs.

If you've ever played any of the Total War series, that is how it handles replays, just running the match again in-engine and letting the viewer move the camera around as if they were playing.

Yes.