[PATCH] taunts 1 to 20, implemented prototype

[alkazar-ipse]

Type a number from 1 to 20 as chat message (or /taunt + #1-20") in order to trigger a SHORT sound along with the visually displayed "<bob> (taunt 7)" for example. As also mentioned in the code comment: TODO a check box to en/disable the sounds for players who dont like it. For now I used quotes from the movie Monty Python The Holy Grale. This is just a prototype!

[Stan]

Any news on this ?

[AlThePhoenix]

Implement taunt functionality. Taunts are put in simulation/data/taunts and can use any sound in the game. Includes a sample taunt.

[wraitii]

This was working when I tested it in a real situation, would like another look.

[elexis]

• I don't think so, not with taunts in the simulation directory, especially when named asd.json and having asd? as the title.
• Shouldn't we advertize them in the GUI, making them a clickable list for example?
• Object.keys(taunts).indexOf(currentTaunt.Name) !== -1 should be foo[bar]
• L491 uneeded variable

[elexis]

Moving to the Work In Progress milestone, since there is a patch asking for feedback, but since it is not strictly bound to a specific release.

[AlThePhoenix]

I've been working on this right after your input but I didn't get around to finish it. I'll work on it and I'll be submitting a patch in the near future. Can't exactly say when as I have to sort my computer out.

[Stan]

Nice to know you are still around :)

[alkazar-ipse]

yeah thanks.

[alkazar-ipse]

Not playing that much anymore. Tried latest alpha, cav-raid got super OP. Are those taunts getting in? =))) They are really useful and fancy for team-play experience. It's using the audio channel for passing information from player to player without having them type or read. Instead of typing "i need wood" or "one moment I'm coming to help", just type some predefined number, you save some typing time, your co-players saves some reading time

[elexis]

The idea is nice, the patch itself looks remotely ok, besides that the JSON files shouldn't be in simulation/ but gui/session/somewhere/.

What the patch misses is a way to inform the player which number corresponds to which taunt. It should be ingame, not only in some textual page elsewhere. A tooltip couldn't hold 20 taunts. I'm thinking of a tab in the chat page. I guess it could be implemented in two patches (one for the basic functionality, one for the GUI implementation).

[Stan]

That option page could also allow one to replace one taunt by another with a default button to revert back. This way people could configure the twenty messages they use the most. Dunno if we support editing translatable fields.

[elexis]

But then you have to send /taunt filename via chat, otherwise the other clients don't know what you have configured.

[alkazar-ipse]

no, there is no /taunt and no filename, that kills the entire point of speeding up and encouraging communication. Clearly none of you has ever played Age of Empires 3 online. The taunts are not documented, like... anywhere! There are about 30 per default installed with the game as an easter egg that one player once discovered randomly by chatting a number bellow 31, and then all other players pick it up from him, and all new players pick it up within their first few games. It's really intuitive (1=yes, 2=no, 3=need food, need wood, metal, stone, help, attack etc, 11=are you ready, spammed like crazy for people to green up their ready checkbox to start the game)

Very important is to allow the player to en/disable the audio in his settings because some people might find it annoying and would still like to to enjoy the rest of the game's audio. But documentation is not needed, really not. You talk about configuration of the 20 most used?... what more than 20 do you want to put in there? there is as many common things you want to tell your partners during a multiplayer game as there is, and that IS about 20-30, not more. If you want to talk about your cousin's wedding, call him on Skype while you play together. That is not the target purpose of taunts.

In Age3 you could download a patch with hundreds of quotes from movies, which were more funny then useful in most game situations even though sometimes convenient, but no one used them because no one knew about them, and they didn't work unless you installed that patch.

in short: taunts are caught up in no time by players, remembering a few useful numbers in the least concern (difficulty-wise) of a player to master the gameplay (remember this is just an optional feature, not needed for playing. Just used by the hardcore community. Same as with other things: I can code using vim and use all fancy keyboard shortcuts I want, my work colleague may still program using an IDE and use his mouse to change lines, no one is forbidding it). In the learning process players will just hear the audio while seeing the number chatted. No /keyword needed, an integer number without trailing characters can easily be parsed into a "/taunt #theInteger" locally on his machine if he enables taunts, and if enabled he can still write numbers as non-taunts by adding a space after it. Players who disable it will just get the plain text as message, and no audio.

[Stan]

Ah yeah was not thinking about that kind of taunts :) In AOM you could use buttons for those, like there was shortcuts to request resources automatically.

[alkazar-ipse]

if(_tauntsEnabled) { player types "5" -> convert to "/taunt 5";

player receives "/taunt 5" -> display "<playerName>: taunt 5", play taunt audio file _tauntMapping[5-1] saying "I need metal"; } else { player types "5" -> send "5";

player receives "/taunt 5" -> display "<playerName>: I need metal", don't play any taunt audio; }

[elexis]

no, there is no /taunt, that kills the entire point of speeding up and encouraging communication.

You misunderstood my comment. /taunt filename or /taunt tauntname is what would be sent across the network, not to be typed by the player. I mentioned there should be GUI buttons so that players know about. Just because AoE3 doesn't document it doesn't mean that we have to follow that. If we add a feature, we document it so that it can be used properly. The use case for custom taunts can indeed only be a mod pack with more taunts.

[alkazar-ipse]

Replying to elexis:

/taunt filename or /taunt tauntname is what would be sent across the network, not to be typed by the player.

Fair enough, if you make it configurable, which number is which taunt, true... but you shouldn't make it configurable :P sounds like a lot of effort for no reason. players will just use a couple of numbers, for me they were mostly 1,2,11, and 26

[alkazar-ipse]

Replying to elexis:

Just because AoE3 doesn't document it doesn't mean that we have to follow that. If we add a feature, we document it so that it can be used properly.

I agree, do document it, but I'd rather put it in some "info/documentation" place, rather than a separate tab or in settings. At some place you describe the civilisations, right? this should go to a similar place.

The use case for custom taunts can indeed only be a mod pack with more taunts.

I agree, you can't increase the game's size with unending audio files, but 20-30 short audio clips of a few seconds shouldn't be an issue

[AlThePhoenix]

Okay really now, I'm almost done with my computer and then I can finish this. Sorry for the delay.

I've already gotten the taunt GUI in which shows you which taunts there are as well as allowing you to send one. It's next to the Diplomacy button. Taunts can be disabled and they are now stored in gui/session/voicecmds. What is left to do is me having to adapt it to the newest revision if needed (it's over a year old now, lol...) and check if I forgot anything.

Maybe we also want an option to only play 'meaningful' voice commands? As in, voice commands that make you ask for resources or help, and don't play audio on commands like laughs? Should it be an extra toggle or should this be combined with 'Enable Taunts' in a drop-down menu?

[Imarok]

Move tickets to In-game UI as UI & Simulation got some sub components.