RTB Development

[Kalphiter]

Let's stay on topic here.

Blame Destiny

Quick Ephialtes, hire more coding monkeys! Rtb is being  overwhelmed by competition!11

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[Ephialtes]

Again, Kalphiter - try and stay on topic or I'm going to have to just delete your posts. You don't need to reply to this.

[Kalphiter]

Where are you with V4?

[Ephialtes]

Progress update. I'm toying with the idea of moving away from XMPP for the chat client at the moment. The XMPP protocol is totally non-conducive to how I want the friends list portion of the client to work, especially the invitation part. Given that the chat client allows you to filter invites based on your full/build trust with the user, an extra layer of complexity is added which XMPP doesn't like at all.

I may fiddle with some Python this weekend and see if I can put together some simple sort of proof-of-concept application. If it proves to be too time-consuming we'll stick with XMPP for v4 for the sake of getting it out sooner. The downside of course is that you won't be able to use Pidgin if I go ahead with the new server. It's a choice over how well-tuned and feature-fat the chat is for Blockland or whether you get to use external clients to talk to people in-game.

There are a load of exciting things we could do if we had a custom chat server as opposed to having to fit new features into the spaghetti maze of the java-based XMPP server used currently, one of the most prominent being a user's ability to register and moderate private/public/list-based/invite-only chatrooms.

[Reactor Worker]

Do you have any data on usage of outside clients in conjunction with RTB that would support keeping the feature over the attractive alternative? Is that something that can be accurately tracked?

Outside of updates to the chat system, are there any other major features to be expected in RTB V.4 ?

[Chrono]

Outside of updates to the chat system, are there any other major features to be expected in RTB V.4 ?

From the OP:

• File Sharing - Depending on quite a few factors, you may also be able to send Blockland files to eachother over the messenger, such as save files or screenshots.

[Ephialtes]

V4 is going to be a big one. The other planned feature is the new website which eventually everything from the forums will be moved onto. V4 will also introduce this new RTB overlay (a steam-like overlay) which you can toggle in and out of and will enable you to access the chat/forums/mod manager from within a game.

I have no idea how many people were intending to use external clients to use RTB but I figure that losing that functionality in order for all in-game users to benefit massively is a bit of a no-brainer.

One day I'm going to have to sit down and write out a very long post about the direction RTB's heading in, because it's pretty exciting both from a technical perspective of writing it and also for all the awesome features you guys are going to be getting. I think the new website will start to give an idea of this, at any rate.

[Chrono]

Sounds exciting already.

[Reactor Worker]

It's been awhile since I've visited the RTB forums. Last I remember there was very little activity there. Has that improved much? Is there considerable demand for a forum separate from the "official" Blockland forums?

Valve has done a fine job with Steam and it's interface. The new look is really clean and intuitive. I'm interested to see how much of their design you use in RTB.

[Ephialtes]

The RTB Forums are a mess and if the whole of RTB's functionality weren't based around them I would have ditched them long ago. I think they're just a "place to go" for people who get banned from here. I think I'll still have a simple forum just for RTB discussion and RTB bugs but all unrelated RTB stuff I'll encourage people to post on these forums.

I haven't actually focused on much of the UI design for v4 yet, but iTunes and Steam are two platforms I definitely look to for inspiration so there may well be some similarities.

[canto xe]

Just a quick question!Will there be an Beta version of RTB 4?So some people can participate?And if there will be one will they get credits for beta testing?

[Ephialtes]

There will be a v4 beta which will work in the same way as before - there will be about 100 slots and first people to click will get them. Testers won't be credited.

[canto xe]

There will be a v4 beta which will work in the same way as before - there will be about 100 slots and first people to click will get them. Testers won't be credited.

So Umm When do you think that beta will get off and people start testing?Also if we test the friend system and we want to add a friend which isn't in beta will it result into a bug?And show to us that he isn't online because he doesn't have RTB 4?
Also will there be beta testing section for the testers?And will there be the updater you used for beta testing or we will have to dl Rtb 4 Manually?Because last time you used Our ID's to get RTB updated

[Real Neo]

I've got a Problem with RTB, it somehow won't connect every time I start up Blockland and open Mod Manager it says Connection Failed or Error i've tried to reinstall RTB, reinstall Blockland and even dualboot Windows Vista and still got the same problem...

[Ephialtes]

Can you do the following:

1) Open Blockland
2) Open the console and type: $RTB::Debug = 2;
3) Open the Mod Manager and make the error happen again.
4) Close Blockland.
5) Email me the "console" file from your Blockland folder (ephialtes@gmail.com).

It should give me a better idea about what the problem is.