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[WhoopieMonster]

Hi all,

My brother introduced me to this game and since then I've been hooked. Some really great work going on here, both dev(s) and the modifications in the pipe work.

I was a little disapointed to find out Multiplayer was a no go as I'm a big coop fan. A big reason I understand was the need to re-write large portions of the engine and latency problems. But a localised form of multiplayer such as split-screen should defeat both those issues. Other games such as Cortex Command have implimented this succesfully in my opinion, by allowing another input device such as a game pad. It could be implimented at a very basic level where Player 2 simply controls the second playable ship in the fleet - beyond that he/she has very little input. I know I'd be very happy with that 

I'd imagine a lot of other players would too.

I am aware this topic has been mentioned before, but was proposed as a modification, and to be frank with a poor OP.

What do you think about this idea? Would you find it useful?

[TJJ]

No need to restrict yourself to game pads; just plug in a few more keyboards & mice.

Though I don't know if starfarer uses LWJGL's own inbuilt Keyboard handling, or JInput's.
The latter would be required for multiple Mice/Keyboards; a relatively simple switch, and much less work than inventing a sub-optimal game pad driven control interface.

[WhoopieMonster]

A game pad was merely an example 

[Gothars]

That would be neat, but I don't think the effort would be worth it. Split screen multiplayer is of interest for very few people on PC, even more so if the players have unequal power.


A gamepad is btw. not really suited to play the game without major changes.

[BillyRueben]

The biggest hurdles then would be getting the controls to work with this.

A gamepad would be pretty bad in comparison to what we have now. IMO, if you would want to play efficiently with a gamepad, a specifc control option for them would have to be created in which you would just control the ship directly.

Expanding on that idea, let's use the 360 controller for an example:
You could use the left analog stick to control the ship's movement, the right analog stick to control the direction your turrets are firing and the direction your shields are pointing. Left Trigger controls shield up/down status, and when you activate your shields you use the right analog stick to control shields instead of turrets. I've never made a game before, so I'm not sure if this would be an easy task or something not worth tackling.

Then, I'm not sure how the current control scheme would handle on 1/2 if a screen. Probably some adjustments needed there too.

I like the split-screen idea, but it would take some serious work I'd bet.

[WhoopieMonster]

I'm not sure why people are getting caught up with the game pad idea. It was merely a suggestion. There is no reason you can't plug in another keyboard and mouse.

Its not so much about equal power, but being able to play with your friends on a game you both enjoy.

The game already scales its screen based on your monitors resolution, so that functionality is already there. You would effectively be dividing the battle screen, into two screens of X by X resolution. 

[Gothars]

Oh, and welcome to the forum WhoopieMonster!

The most flexible way to implement this would probably be to have two borderless windows with adjustable resolution. That way you could choose vertical or horizontal split and play on two monitors if you have them.

But as said, there's little hope for such extra features to be implemented at this point.

[WhoopieMonster]

Thanks 

Yeh, I don't think this is something we are likely to see. Nor would it be easy to impliment. But who knows 

I might have a look at it myself. I'm a software dev by trade - Just not a games developer

[zakastra]

If you were to somehow wrangle a multiplayer mod into existence, you would probably be enshrined as the greatest hero since the collapse. It the single most requested feature.

[TheHappyFace]

as alex stated : multiplayer would require changes in the core data which is illegal ,for us modders, due to copyright.

[WhoopieMonster]

It was my understanding that was multiplayer in the traditional sense. I.e. LANs or over the Internet. There is a massive difference. Splitscreen requires no net code to work.

[TheHappyFace]

still i am not sure if it would be possiblee to change such things from inside the mod folder even splitscreen ,although i do not have much knowledge about coding.

[Okim]

Once the game is finished and Alex gets some well earned rest and comes back in a good mood - THAN should all the talk about MP happen.

Who knows - maybe we can talk him to actually release a MP version as an expansion for some extra money, so he would be aware that people will be gladly paying for an ability to kick ass to their friends

[WhoopieMonster]

I would happily pay for a multiplayer addon

[Okim]

As do i. For a proper MP that will allow me to play with my brother online, via hotseat. But not on a split screen - its gonna be awful.