Tapes duration

bey bey · 2013-06-29 08:48:54

Just a quick suggestion: Might it be possible to put a "robbery duration" indicator of some sorts next to the tapes? Might be a number, or a little symbol based on either time or just number of moves. (Say an hourglass with three different states: top full (<10 moves), half-half (<50 moves) and bottom filled up.)

Almost all tapes I get are people taking one or two steps into the house and leaving again and I'd like to be able to ignore those beforehand. (In real life, somebody whose house is broken into 50 times a day probably also wouldn't watch security tapes of only 3 seconds length I guess.)

Last edited by bey bey (2013-06-29 08:49:08)

colorfusion · 2013-06-29 08:53:06

This would be pretty handy.
Also perhaps something to show how many tools they had/left?
Even with a lot of moves it can be boring if they have absolutely nothing and just leave, but ones that used a lot of tools even in a few goes can be pretty interesting to watch.

Maybe all this information could be put under the current hover message, something like "using X out of Y tools taken in, stepping on Z tiles in W turns."

Last edited by colorfusion (2013-06-29 09:05:43)

segarch · 2013-06-29 17:03:22

Ooh ooh and while we're on the subject of tapes, still waiting to see people's attempts played back in real time! (i.e. the timing plays back the same as it was recorded)

jasonrohrer · 2013-06-29 18:51:43

Hmm.... I wonder if extra info about each tape is really needed. I mean, there's really an endless number of statistics that might be relevant to someone for some reason, and only so much room to display them. There's also the aesthetic of combing through tapes.... the "overflow of information," like someone who would be working in a security booth in real life (watching hours of footage where you see nothing).

The server already filters out tapes where someone stands on the doormat and leaves, and is carrying no tools. Maybe it should filter even more tapes out? Like, tapes where the robber takes less than 5 steps and leaves with no tools?

As far as the realtime playback thing, that's possible to implement just by recording the number of milliseconds that pass for each step in the tape, and then the playback screen would have an option for realtime playback. That's sort of a distant future wish feature, though, after I get the core issues ironed out. Noted.

segarch · 2013-06-29 19:49:58

jasonrohrer wrote:

That's sort of a distant future wish feature, though, after I get the core issues ironed out. Noted.

Cool!

bey bey · 2013-06-30 06:56:43

jasonrohrer wrote:

Hmm.... I wonder if extra info about each tape is really needed. I mean, there's really an endless number of statistics that might be relevant to someone for some reason, and only so much room to display them. There's also the aesthetic of combing through tapes.... the "overflow of information," like someone who would be working in a security booth in real life (watching hours of footage where you see nothing).
The server already filters out tapes where someone stands on the doormat and leaves, and is carrying no tools. Maybe it should filter even more tapes out? Like, tapes where the robber takes less than 5 steps and leaves with no tools?
As far as the realtime playback thing, that's possible to implement just by recording the number of milliseconds that pass for each step in the tape, and then the playback screen would have an option for realtime playback. That's sort of a distant future wish feature, though, after I get the core issues ironed out. Noted.

Yup! It's an issue that came up with the fact that all tapes are recorded. Considering that the game has changed so much, it might make sense to at least drop all recordings where no tools are involved, nothing dies permanently and say less than 10 steps are taken.

I just thought that the duration would be something every tape would carry, it's the one logical bit of information connected to recordings (after all, you don't watch a 24 long tape not knowing when a robber entered but you get handy snippets from your security company that thus would also know the duration of the tape).

Something like an unobtrusive symbol or so would keep it quite mysterious but still allow for some sorting through. Oh: a nice symbol opportunity would be to have a stylized tape and a multiplier, indicating how many tapes your security company needed to record this robbery. Say one per 20 moves or so:

[o_o] x 2

dalleck · 2013-06-30 07:15:25

bey bey wrote:

Something like an unobtrusive symbol or so would keep it quite mysterious but still allow for some sorting through. Oh: a nice symbol opportunity would be to have a stylized tape and a multiplier, indicating how many tapes your security company needed to record this robbery. Say one per 20 moves or so:
[o_o] x 2

That seems a bit fancy. Maybe it can just be the square dots from the loading symbol.

Yeah no need for the quick in-out tapes, just remove those ones, they are annoying. Although the tapes where folks come inside for a bit and then immediately run away from your dogs can be quite entertaining for a short while I always imagine them running out screaming with their hands in the air.

ukuko · 2013-06-30 07:16:59

I think an icon to show that tools were carried into the house would be a useful aid when combing through pages of tapes.

bey bey · 2013-06-30 07:42:39

dalleck wrote:

bey bey wrote:
Something like an unobtrusive symbol or so would keep it quite mysterious but still allow for some sorting through. Oh: a nice symbol opportunity would be to have a stylized tape and a multiplier, indicating how many tapes your security company needed to record this robbery. Say one per 20 moves or so:
[o_o] x 2
That seems a bit fancy. Maybe it can just be the square dots from the loading symbol.
Yeah no need for the quick in-out tapes, just remove those ones, they are annoying. Although the tapes where folks come inside for a bit and then immediately run away from your dogs can be quite entertaining for a short while I always imagine them running out screaming with their hands in the air.

I just thought it's true to the aesthetics of the game and self-explanatory. Dots or anything work just fine of course, or an hourglass, or just the duration of the robbery computed by sign-in-sign-out.

Yeah, even those tapes with me where people take a few steps and the first plunge in blind faith (one in three people die either by faith plunge or by the middle corridor in my house) can be amusing. "Well, what did you expect to happen?!"

jasonrohrer · 2013-06-30 19:31:50

Yeah, I think you folks are convincing me that tape length is a reasonable statistic to include there. Will be in v11.

The Castle Doctrine Forums

#1 2013-06-29 08:48:54

Tapes duration

#2 2013-06-29 08:53:06

Re: Tapes duration

#3 2013-06-29 17:03:22

Re: Tapes duration

#4 2013-06-29 18:51:43

Re: Tapes duration

#5 2013-06-29 19:49:58

Re: Tapes duration

#6 2013-06-30 06:56:43

Re: Tapes duration

#7 2013-06-30 07:15:25

Re: Tapes duration

#8 2013-06-30 07:16:59

Re: Tapes duration

#9 2013-06-30 07:42:39

Re: Tapes duration

#10 2013-06-30 19:31:50

Re: Tapes duration

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