Kalimar
Joined: Sep 22, 2006
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 Posted:
Apr 11, 2009 - 16:54 |
 
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This is Radio Rumor Control speaking ...
Dear listeners we have an interview coming up with questions (and hopefully some answers) to the author of the new LRB 5 client. As it has been kept in the dark for quite some time, I guess you have all been waiting for this. So stay tuned, more after a short commercial ...
<Jingle>
<Commercial>
Q: Welcome to our show, Kalimar. Probably the most pressing question of our listeners is this: is it really true ? Will there be a new client for LRB5 ? What are it's most important features ?
A: Thank you. Yes it's true. The client has been in the works for nearly 1.5 years now and is finally ready to be tested, although far from complete yet. The most distinguishing feature compared to the old LRB4 client is that it's a Client-/Server-solution where the full game state is kept at the server, dice rolls are made by the server and everything is synchronized to the clients as needed. So you can drop out of a game (voluntarily or through a disconnect) at any time and continue playing later - even from another machine.
Q: As most of our listeners haven't heard of you before, please tell us a bit about yourself and what you are doing. You sort of came out of the blue here.
A: I'm a german Software Engineer, 37 years old and a family dad with 2 little daughters. I like fantasy roleplaying and tabletop gaming and have discovered this wonderful site about 2.5 years ago. Although I'm not a terribly successful player I continue to have fun at trying to become one someday ...
Q: This new client popped up quite surprisingly. There have been several ongoing efforts to create a new client. Why this one ? Why now ? And how is it connected to the old client ?
A: *laughs* That's true. I have kept completely silent about my efforts so far because this starting more or less as a programming exercise and I wasn't entirely sure it would ever get finished. After about half year of good progress I contacted Christer to talk with him about what Fumbbl would need in a new client. After several chats with him I did toss most of what I had done so far out of the window and switched from a Peer to Peer solution over to Client-/Server. Only after I had reached a point in development where I had redone most of what I had before I contacted Christer again. He liked what he saw and we have been working on integrating the server with fumbbl for the last 3 months or so. This client has nothing whatsoever to do with Falesh's or Deaf's efforts and started completely from scratch codewise. SkiJunkie never offered his code so it has nothing to do with the old client either. I did reuse the iconsets and playing fields of his client though, as I'm no artist or designer myself.
Q: What does the new client do what doesn't it ? Any goodies you want to tell our listeners beforehand ? Are all races playable right off ?
A: Well, I've been concentrating chiefly on getting the technical framework working. That's the database, the network commands, icon settings, sound etc. Right now the client implements 44 of the 74 skills total and 14 of the 21 races are playable "out of the box". Races that are missing do so because I don't have icons for the new kinds of players (Ulfwerener, Dark Elf Assassin, Snotlings) or the client can't do some special features yet (Throw Team Mate, Goblin Secret Weapons, Bloodlust). As to the goodies: you can have own icons for all of your players (moving, standing, home team, away team) and switch in-game between team icons, roster icons and abstract icons (circles and letters). All your settings and saved team setups are stored on the server so you have them at your disposal wherever you are playing. The client shows the minimum roll for moving (dodging, going for it) to all reachable squares, it displays small dice icons for blocking / blitzing to show what you are up against. Kick-offs, passes and throw-ins are animated, all boxes (Reserve, KO, BH, SI, RIP) can "overflow" and players inside are shown in an overlay view. Ah, and the log is pretty nice too and provides color, indentation and free scrolling (not losing position when you go back in the log).
Q: So some of the races are missing yet, which ones exactly ? And what else is missing ?
A: Races unplayable right now (for the reasons mentioned before) are: Dark Elves, Goblins, Ogres, Vampires, Halflings and Norse. All others are fine, although the Orc-Ogres can't throw their Goblin Team-Mates yet. Inducements are missing for now, so there is no pre-game phase yet, but I plan to add this soon. Replay is prepared for but implementation is not completed (Replays will be done by the client itself). Spectating games works though. I still need several icons for which I hope on the help of some talented individuals in the Fumbbl community.
Q: One last question before giving our listeners the opportunity to ask some questions of their own: when will testing begin ? And who will be able to test it first ?
A: I'm off to a vacation right after the easter holidays, so if everything works out we should begin testing in May. Alpha testing will be open to the community and bug reports will go through a forum Christer provided. The client works through Java WebStart so no installation is needed beyond a Webbrowser and a recent Java Runtime (Java 6).
Q: Thank you for your answers so far. We will pass the ball to our listeners now. So call in at the station and we will continue our talk right after this short break.
<Jingle>
<Music> |
Last edited by Kalimar on %b %11, %2009 - %17:%Apr; edited 2 times in total |
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Kalimar
Joined: Sep 22, 2006
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:02 |
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Purplegoo
Joined: Mar 23, 2006
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:13 |
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Sexy. Thanks for the first look! 
(And, it looks like I might eventually be able to put the old icons on / fiddle with the pitch, which frankly in my OCD childlike state, is vital  ) |
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Burnalot
Joined: Aug 02, 2003
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:20 |
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Great news, thanks for your effort! |
_________________
If Jah is by my side, how can I be afraid? |
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SeraphimRed
Joined: Feb 01, 2004
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:20 |
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Great to put a name to the client too.
Now we know where all the donations should be going. |
_________________
Enhance YOUR FUMBBL
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Kalimar
Joined: Sep 22, 2006
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:26 |
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Q: <SeraphimRed> There are many other sites using Skiis client and similar, will your client only be offered to FUMBBL or are you making it available to the whole net, such as France BB etc...
A: Well, this client differs from the others in that it is not Peer to Peer (where you just run 2 clients to play with each other) but Client-/Server. So you need a server to play a game, which can host X clients and games. The focus right now is a tight integration with Fumbbl. But for testing purposes I do run it standalone on my laptop. So this is possible as well. The server reads teams and rosters from XML files and keeps its own state in a database which is separate from Fumbbl. So yes, it can be run outside of Fumbbl, but it does need a certain environment so it's probably not (at least not now) for everybody to play with at home ... |
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Thomcat
Joined: Jul 20, 2004
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:27 |
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Looks great - just one question:
Is it only the standard sized Pitch and Icons that can be used ? or can the much better looking large pitch+ Icons usable? |
_________________
Og inviterer hermed alle danskere MED godt humør ind i #fumbbl.dk |
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Nighteye
Joined: Apr 19, 2004
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:28 |
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Looks good. I know its still in beta, but where are the action buttons? or is that some right click option?
Also i gotta say i dont like how the client shows what roll is required to make a dodgeroll. It feels sorta like cheating to me.
But yay, new lrb5 client |
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Kalimar
Joined: Sep 22, 2006
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:28 |
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| SeraphimRed wrote: | Great to put a name to the client too.
Now we know where all the donations should be going. |
We'll set this up after the alpha test phase
The first "donations" I'll probably be getting will be moaning and whining for all the crashes and bugs still in the system. And feature requests. Lots of feature requests 
Hey, this ain't called alpha testing for nothing ... |
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Oventa
Joined: Jan 03, 2005
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:30 |
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Hello?
Am I on the radio now?
<sounds of phone radio couplings ...>
Oh ok.
So Dear Radio Moderator,
I would have one question for Kalimar.
LRB5 is already on for quite some time and I believe LRB6 is in its starting position and some time in the future we will have LRB7.
Did you take the aspect of ruleset changes into special account during development in some way?
Ok and then I wanted to greet all who know me.
My Dad and my Mom and my Wife and litte Jeanny and Uncle Tom, ...
<radiomoderato presses a button>
"click"
RM: Oh I think we lost the connection ... |
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SeraphimRed
Joined: Feb 01, 2004
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:31 |
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I appreciate that it's not peer-peer Kalimar and that it likely needs a Database backend such as SQL - the important thing is that the client isn't directly tied to FUMBBL which will please the other communities (that do run their own servers).
Thanks. |
_________________
Enhance YOUR FUMBBL
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DanTitan76
Joined: Nov 06, 2004
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:32 |
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RC
Joined: Sep 22, 2005
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:32 |
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Sexy!
(Just rolled ageing nigling on a 120k WD as first skill)
And you shouldn't make that pass |
_________________
"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar."
Last edited by RC on %b %11, %2009 - %17:%Apr; edited 1 time in total |
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Kalimar
Joined: Sep 22, 2006
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:33 |
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Q: <Nighteye> Where are the action buttons? or is that some right click option?
A: Actions are context-sensitive. It's not a right-click action (there are no right-clicks oin the client, easy on the Mac users) but there is a Popup-Menu right beside the player when you click on it. It offers what you can do right now (Block, Blitz, Move, Foul, Going For It etc.) if and when you can do it. Yes, that includes skills as Leap ... |
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Kalimar
Joined: Sep 22, 2006
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Apr 11, 2009 - 17:39 |
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Q: <Oventa> LRB5 is already on for quite some time and I believe LRB6 is in its starting position and some time in the future we will have LRB7. Did you take the aspect of ruleset changes into special account during development in some way?
A: Only where it made sense from a design perspective. It's not my goal to make a generic rules engine able to run any game or rules. The client will probably be able to play LRB4 on some later point in time. LRB6 (from what I've seen so far) is not that big a step from LRB5 than LRB5 was from LRB4. Rosters and icons are defined through XML so the are highly customizable. So Stunty for instance could be supported easily (without installing any iconsets) ... |
Last edited by Kalimar on %b %11, %2009 - %17:%Apr; edited 1 time in total |
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