Dear Blizz’,
Many maps allow the host/first player to set the game mode right at the start. Hostbots added a clever trick to embed characters in the player handicap (as a normal user would only be able to set handicap to 60/70/80/90/100, a hostbot could basically put any value in here, which was then interpreted as a character by the game and interpreted as a chat command - overly simplified).
This had the advantage of not relying on first player to copy paste a command as soon as he enters the game, as the command could be displayed to other players and entered before the game starts.
This had limitations, mainly only 2 characters could be reliably set (as it was not possible to set/retrieve handicap for open slots). Long command lines could not be embedded in handicap values, so map makers created 2 character shortcut for popular modes.
Anyway, now that servers are hosted by you, we don’t have this feature anymore. But you can bring it back as a builtin (like you did with ping display, player counts in game list and the many small improvements you added so far), free of the hacky limitations map makers and hostbots had to deal with.
I would be happy with something like “native GetCommandLine takes nothing returns string”, together with a “!gcmd blablabla” in the lobby.
It would be amazing if you could display to every player the command line below the minimap on the right of the lobby (and make it unchangeable once the hosts starts cooldown).
Better yet, a map constant set in editor could have a list of standard command lines that the host could select from a dropdown below the minimap (have a small input slot for the command line, and a “…” button to fill in a preset from the map infos.
Cheers and keep up the hard work on our beloved game!
3 Likes
I like the idea of selecting a game mode in the lobby. I think you can already check via map script for map options such as random team or random heroes. Having more options would be nice, such as setting the max numbers of players, game difficulty, handicap etc. But I am not really a friend of command lines as a means of selecting a game mode. A simple GUI with check boxes, text fields, sliders and buttons should do the job.
I agree a GUI with check boxes would be better. However this would be a considerably bigger implementation, for both blizzard and us map makers.
Command lines are simple to implement, and allows a lot of flexibility, like entering starting gold and such… It basically adapts to any map maker’s needs, whereas a UI based system may require more work, supporting text inputs, drop downs, checkboxes…
If we look at castle fight, there is a sheer amount of option.
Game modifications can be entered by player red in the first 20 seconds of gametime before round 1 starts (like gamemodes).
-na (No Artillery): This modification disables all Structures that damage enemy's buildings directly. (Artillery, Frost Launcher & Shrine of Destruction)
-ntb (No Treasue Box): You can't build Treasure Boxes when this modification has been chosen.
-nb (No Unit Bounty): When no unit bounty is chosen, killed creeps & structures don't give bounty to the killing player.
-nt (No Taxes): You don't have to pay taxes on your income when No Taxes is chosen.
-ht (High Taxes): Tax rate increases 10% each 12.5 income (25 is normal) if high taxes are chosen.
-ns (No Specials): At this mode, you can't build any special buildings that consume food. The only foodcost buildings that you can build is the Treasure Box and Towers.
-ni (No Items): The main castle doesn't sell any items if this mode is chosen.
-nl (No Legendaries): Players don't have food to build legendary buildings.
-nrs (No Rescue Strike): Builders don't have a Rescue Strike
-llX (Lumber Limit): Sets the lumber limit to X. X can be any number between 0 and 99999. Players can't get more lumber than this limit.
-sl / -slt / -slb (Single Lane): Units can only move / fly over one lane. -sl picks a random lane while -slt picks the top lane and -slb the bottom lane
-dom (Domination): If a team dominates both lanes it gets 50% bonus income
-fowX (Fog of War): There will be Fog of War at the beginning of each round for X seconds. If you just write -fow without a number, you will have indefinite fog of war.
-nfow (Disable fog of war)
-banX (Ban Races): Before races get picked/randomed the leader of each team bans X races which cannot be picked/randomed then
-rbanX Random Ban X Races
-nfrX (Removes X new races from racepool)
-mpX (Multiple Players): Each human player controls X players. You can use this mode to make a 4on4 with only 2on2 players or test things with multiple races while playing 1on1 or alone versus bots
-ca (Caging): You are able to block units by building buildings around them in this gamemode. You can use this to build farms like in earlier versions
-empN (Extended Multiple Players): Now you can play 1xN players.
-itX Income Time X
-sd Stopping Detection
-envx: Set environmment
-envice (Icy Environment): A snowy winter environment where piles of ice are your walls;
-envlava (Lava Environment): A lava environment with mushrooms instead of trees.
-glwX (Round time limite with win result X): When the time limit reached, wins a team whoes player built first building. Example: -glw30
-gldX (Round time limite with draw result X): Same as above, but instead of win round counts as draw result.
-nafk (Disable the -afk command)
-balX (Changes autobalance variant to X)
-bal0 :All units of any left player will be divided between members in team
-bal1 :All depended players of any left player will be shared between members in team.
-bal2 :AI will take control of any left player.
-srRX (Changes amount of start resource R to value X)
-srG4000: The amount of start Gold is 4000
-srL3000: The amount of start Lumber is 3000
-skip : Use this command in the first 20 seconds to skip the remaining mode choose time and start the round immediately.
-cc (Crazy Coins): Ten coins will spawn instead of one.
-ndb (Disable debug log): Debugging
exposing all that through checkboxes would mean a very loaded GUI, requiring scrollbar (given we don’t have much space below the minimap).
Last, the command line can easily be copy-pasted, but the GUI however have no trivial way to handle it.
Reforge will probably use a new layout for BNET. So maybe it could be done via pop up menu like the overlay that shows when you press F10 when you are in the game. Having a CLI could be a second-in option that goes along with the GUI.
If blizzard has time to implement it, I’m all for it.
I’m fairly confident they will bring in some extra features to the lobby, such as change the available races and even change their name and add new ones. At least I seriously hope they implement things like this.