[RFE] Blackboard

badpazzword · Post by **badpazzword** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:11 pm

I noticed how the devs took care to give valor to every part of the screen (tl: orders, t: chat, bl: minimap, etc.) It suprised me, though, that the top right corner was left unused. Here's my idea.

I thought of a sort of, say, 25-chars "blackboard" where comms could write important messages like "Bomb mars, Nans go titty" or "GET IN BASE, OR I BOOT". The text would show in big, team coloured font (possibly blinking, enlarging or something on change) and it'd never scroll off the screen, becoming the comm's best friend.

To try and balance things, I thought this should come at a price. Maybe to treat it as a garr tech, and apply pay-as-you-use fees. Eg: you need 10$ to change the message, and/or 1$ for every second the message is shown. Of course I'm speaking of credits, not real life dollars. Charges apply to who last changed the blackboard, or whatever you'd like to call that. Those symbolic prices could deter from spamming and the such, and when the money runs off and the blackboard becomes unavailable, there's always good ol' `yy.

The other option was to use it for rotating Limas, but that wouldn't help situational awareness too much /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

(while we're at it, the top hand of the screen could be softly darkened/lightened - like you saw it in formula 1 broadcasts till 2003 - to help readability)

What do you think?

Post by **TheBored** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 12:17 am

Not a horrible idea, but paying for it makes no sense. Why would that 'balance' things?

TB

Psychosis · Post by **Psychosis** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 1:11 am

I think it is a good idea, but lets see what the Code people have to say.

Post by **Tigereye** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 1:41 am

I like the idea - anything to further help communication between commander and pilots is a benefit.

But of course, on the flip side... if people can't read the chat or read the orders given to them or even hit INSERT... what makes you think they'll read text at the top-right corner of the screen?

It won't solve the idiot.

--TE

jgbaxter · Post by **jgbaxter** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 3:56 am

I like the idea as short-long term notes.

So yes if we're on a bbr run it's not as important as it's a current thing.

However maybe after a minute from game start comm knows where to build their tech, they can immediately type !note1 EXP con to Sri Metsa in 5 min.... or for certain games if someone in particular is whoring your miners !note2 PK Weed on site!, or perhaps; !note3 ATTENTION Noobs, do not tailgate Defiance!...

This example uses 3 notes, so you can change each note as you need them, or you could simply have one note total...

It's sounds like a good idea. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Vlymoxyd · Post by **Vlymoxyd** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 4:07 am

A more complex system that could be awesome:

A way to add a list of task and letting players "sign up" for them.

Example: Comm says: I want that sector probed!
A pilot could "accept" the task and everyone would see that this player is doing the required task.

badpazzword · Post by **badpazzword** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:33 am

_SRM_TheBored wrote:QUOTE (_SRM_TheBored @ Jul 8 2006, 02:17 AM) Not a horrible idea, but paying for it makes no sense. Why would that 'balance' things?

TB

I thought of this as to deter abuses and ensure only important stuff is shown on there (essentially non-comms placing "it's my birthday! Yahoo" instead of comm's "enemy htt coming for garr!").

CronoDroid · Post by **CronoDroid** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 2:56 pm

Why not just limit it to the commander then?

apathos · Post by **apathos** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:42 am

Vlymoxyd wrote:QUOTE (Vlymoxyd @ Jul 8 2006, 12:07 AM) A more complex system that could be awesome:

A way to add a list of task and letting players "sign up" for them.

Example: Comm says: I want that sector probed!
A pilot could "accept" the task and everyone would see that this player is doing the required task.

I think this is an amazing idea, if it could be interfaced easily. If the comm can just type the text and click, and then someone can click once and "accept", it could really help with the delegation. Then the comm knows the time to resign is when no one jumps to obey orders.

I like this idea better than just a blackboard, though I'll take that if it 's all we can get.

DrBeginner · Post by **DrBeginner** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:56 pm

on the CONS side. The commander might be a bit too busy paying attention elsewhere to type stuff into that box. Plus it probably has to be typed in to each individual pilot. (unless you have a system that can do it to multiple pilots)

Good idea nonetheless.