These are just a few follow-up questions to the "Some questions" thread (http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=175953) posted last week. If you have not answered the questions in that thread, please answer them prior to answering these follow up questions. 1. If you could add new features to GDArena, what would they be? Would you remove anything? 2. Should the GDArena source code be publically available? Why or why not? 3. Anything else?

1- Auto-restart is the most important thing I would add... more weapons would also be nice to add another level of strategy
2- If its possible to release the source code without compromising the security of the program, then I think it would be a good idea. That way we would be able to look up any of the undocumented values in the game, figure out what happens first, etc. without having to pester people on the forums.
3- I''m not sure if this is possible, so I didn''t put it in the features answer, but it would be very helpful if, for debugging/testing purposes, ''simulation'' time could be sped up, so that the match goes as quickly as the bots can update, so that we can test a lot of matches really quickly.

1. lemme think, i wouldnt remove anything (it could be that someone else uses what i would remove...) but i would add some stuff like:
-bot chatsystem, bots can send and retrieve msg from/to eachother
-bot can see if it hit the enemy (as long as the enemy is visible)
-trees are reported when partially in view (will also block LOS correctly...)
-healthpacks (would make the gameplay more interesting)
-more obstacletypes, more weapons... (unified obstacle information structure blablabla)
-respawning weapons, or weapons with 0ammo @ beginning...
-more playmodes (no timelimit, multiplayer, respawnmode...)
-3rd dimension
-godmode for my bot
-record/play/pause/rewind/speedup...
-autoexit @ timeout/end of match
-inteligent spectatorcam
-...
Oh, wait we could simple modify the Quake2Source xD or wait for hl2
2. No definetly Not, i would invest to much time into modifying it (or not) ... maybe when the first betacontest is over so we can add features/correct your code, put our hacks into it... but i currently dont see a real ''why not'' statement to prevent publicating the code, it would still exist a valid hackfree version(as long as nobody finds the hacks), this version would be used for the contests (no modifications in the contesttime, only bugfixes)...
3.yes, lets see how well the contest will go, if only 3ppl will join then we/you either have to invest more time into the arena or its not worth investing to much time...


wow my longest post on gdnet with awfull english, hehe...


T2k

1. More weapons, ability to heal self or random health packs, and team play (controlling groups of bots).

2. Yes and No. I think that certain parts of the source should be released, such as the interface for drawing the OGL scene, etc. The core of the bot execution code and interface should not be made public as it could give some an unfair advantage. Having a small group of trusted individuals to work on the core could speed up development and possibly catch more bugs before a public release, though I''m not sure that the Arena core is big enough to warrant this. Just my thoughts. They have changed from the original posts on the subject as valid points have been brought up since for not releasing the core code.

3. During any rewrites that may happen you could setup the core execution code in a DLL that exports an interface for drawing, etc. this way separate applications could be created to run tournaments, etc. This would also allow for speedy matches where they could be run faster than real time.

- Timothy S.

1. Boss mode. I can''t debug my bots when I''m at work. Make them look like Excel cells or something...
2. Nope, why would you want/need to? Maybe after the contests are over.
3. Just the strategic elements I mentioned before.

1)I''d like to option to debug using a fixed seed.
2)Only make the source code available after your done this challenge.
3)perhaps in the future there could be a bot triathilion. People submit one bot and it must compete three diffrent kinds of challenges using the current interface. There could a deathmatch, obsticale course, maze.

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Writer, Programer, Cook, I''m a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
Chaos Factor Design Document