Ploxmons DevLog #17
- Replay & Reconnect
Hello everyone! Some time has passed since the last dev log so I want to give a little update about the current state of development.
The issue of reconnecting
Currently the game ends as soon as you are disconnected from the game (lost internet connection , ...). This is surely not the desired behaviour because especially for mobile you might face some disconnections through out the game when not in a stable WLAN. For this reason I decided to start working on a system that allows the player to reconnect to the game after the connection was lost.
This required a few bigger changes on the server:
- First the server needs to wait for the reconnect of the player and not just close the game immediately
- Second the server needs to inform the player about the current game state as soon as he reconnects.
Step 1 is fairly easy however step 2 is a little bit more difficult. There are basically two approaches. First the server just sends the current game state with all required information (which mons are on the field, what are their stats, ...) or second the server sends every "event" that happend up to the point of disconnection (card was played, mon attacked, ability triggered...).
At first sight option 2 seems a little bit more effort however in reality it is the better solution because this will not require big changes on both client and server side. Additionally this will allow me to implement a replay system fairly easy because it is basically the same functionality. For this reason I decided for the second option and did the required changes on the server and client. Currently there is everything done which is required for replaying a game.
Replay your games
To improve usability for the user I added a new sub UI screen for the match history where the player can view and manage his stored replays. This escalated a little bit because originally I did not plan to put so much effort in this system however now are many cool features which will make the replay system really interesting.
Current features:
- The player can store replays of games in his match history which will be listed in a designated UI
- The player can rename or delete his replays directly from the game client
- The player can (of course) start the replay and view the complete game and everything that happend there
- Players can exchange there replay files (which are located at a specific location on the computer). This will allow some cool community stuff like commenting other players games, showing off some cool plays, creating tutorials by commenting on a replay and more. Also this will allow me to reproduce potential bugs really easy because I simply need the replay file which a player can upload.
Overall I am really happy with the replay system. It turned out really well and I am excited to see it in action. I am looking forward to some cool replay files of players with nice plays (or difficult achievements completed).
Next steps
The next steps will be finishing the reconnect feature - which was the actual plan from the start.. After replaying a game is now working perfectly this should be relatively easy to finish. This is it for this devlog. Thanks for staying by and see you in the chat!
Where to find us
Join us on our Discord community to get even more insights about the project and to chat with us and the plox community! Our Discord members have acces to playtest the game occasionally. We also have fun mini games there with our very own "PloxBot"!
Other places:
- Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
- Support us on Patreon! ❤
- Website: Ploxmons.com
