Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Powderkeg, a realtime, synchronous, multiplayer HTML5 action game

powderkeg.artillery.com

51–60 of 73 posts

Re: Show HN: Powderkeg, a realtime, synchronous, multiplayer HTML5 action game

#51
post #29
post #26

You might want to consider using client-side prediction and lag compensation. Here's John Carmack describing how he used the aforementioned techniques to make Quake playable over the internet: http://fabiensanglard.net/quakeSource/johnc-log.aug.htm Here's how Valve do it: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Latency_Compensatin... And here's another good article on the topic: http://gafferongames.com/networking-f…

All good links, thanks! We are in fact using client-side prediction and lag compensation. It's extremely difficult to make a perfectly-playable action game with 500ms ping — you'd be kicked off a Quake server with that kind of lag :) Powderkeg uses lockstep network synchronization and every client sees the same simulation (though the player you control has prediction). The network framerate is 10 FPS and the server w…

Is there any way to display ping?

Also perhaps the servers are a bit overloaded? Cause I'm playing from Palo Alto on a decent connection and the lag is making it pretty unplayable.

Re: Show HN: Powderkeg, a realtime, synchronous, multiplayer HTML5 action game

#52
post #51
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All good links, thanks! We are in fact using client-side prediction and lag compensation. It's extremely difficult to make a perfectly-playable action game with 500ms ping — you'd be kicked off a Quake server with that kind of lag :) Powderkeg uses lockstep network synchronization and every client sees the same simulation (though the player you control has prediction). The network framerate is 10 FPS and the server w…

Is there any way to display ping? Also perhaps the servers are a bit overloaded? Cause I'm playing from Palo Alto on a decent connection and the lag is making it pretty unplayable.

You can mouseover the tiny lag meter in your info square while playing to see ping stats.

Your connection might be fine, but you might be matched with someone on a less-than-optimal connection.

Re: Show HN: Powderkeg, a realtime, synchronous, multiplayer HTML5 action game

#53
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All good links, thanks! We are in fact using client-side prediction and lag compensation. It's extremely difficult to make a perfectly-playable action game with 500ms ping — you'd be kicked off a Quake server with that kind of lag :) Powderkeg uses lockstep network synchronization and every client sees the same simulation (though the player you control has prediction). The network framerate is 10 FPS and the server w…

So with your lockstep I presume you're allowing the client to move instantly locally then syncing back with the server? As I'm getting some minor snapbacks (I probably have 200ms+ ping being in Australia) and usually lockstep (for RTS games anyway) doesn't have that and has input delay instead as the client waits for their moves to return from the server. EDIT: Ah cool I see it's explained in your post: http://blog.a…

Yep, the 'snapbacks' you're referring to are a product of the hinting and lag compensation. Right now the "tick lag" which controls this is 200ms — we could raise it to make gameplay smoother but then the snapbacks would be even more egregious.

Re: Show HN: Powderkeg, a realtime, synchronous, multiplayer HTML5 action game

#54
post #18

Thanks for the kind words and helpful feedback everyone! We appreciate it! If you're still having trouble with Chrome or Firefox, please reply below with your browser and version, and possibly with a gist/pastebin of any console errors. Mark and I will get on it. Regarding the lag: We match you with players based on your latency to each gameserver and the amount of time you've been waiting. If you experienced a lot o…

Seems like Ghostery is causing problems on Chrome.

Re: Show HN: Powderkeg, a realtime, synchronous, multiplayer HTML5 action game

#55
post #52
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any way to display ping? Also perhaps the servers are a bit overloaded? Cause I'm playing from Palo Alto on a decent connection and the lag is making it pretty unplayable.

You can mouseover the tiny lag meter in your info square while playing to see ping stats. Your connection might be fine, but you might be matched with someone on a less-than-optimal connection.

> Your connection might be fine, but you might be matched with someone on a less-than-optimal connection.

Ahh, the unsolvable problem of lock-step back in action.

Re: Show HN: Powderkeg, a realtime, synchronous, multiplayer HTML5 action game

#56
post #55
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can mouseover the tiny lag meter in your info square while playing to see ping stats. Your connection might be fine, but you might be matched with someone on a less-than-optimal connection.

> Your connection might be fine, but you might be matched with someone on a less-than-optimal connection. Ahh, the unsolvable problem of lock-step back in action.

Suboptimal, not unsolvable. There are a handful of ways we can — and, after today's feedback, will — improve the experience.

Re: Show HN: Powderkeg, a realtime, synchronous, multiplayer HTML5 action game

#57
post #17

I'm getting these errors in Chrome (v. 22.0.1229.79 m): Unexpected response code: 404 :1 Channel error 'BROWSER_WS_ERROR': 'undefined' __runtime.js:1 Channel 0 closed. __runtime.js:1

Exact same thing here.

Are you behind a firewall or proxy?

Re: Show HN: Powderkeg, a realtime, synchronous, multiplayer HTML5 action game

#58
post #18

Thanks for the kind words and helpful feedback everyone! We appreciate it! If you're still having trouble with Chrome or Firefox, please reply below with your browser and version, and possibly with a gist/pastebin of any console errors. Mark and I will get on it. Regarding the lag: We match you with players based on your latency to each gameserver and the amount of time you've been waiting. If you experienced a lot o…

Seems like Ghostery is causing problems on Chrome.

Yep. Some of the code assumes the FB global is present, which I thought we had factored out, but apparently didn't.

Re: Show HN: Powderkeg, a realtime, synchronous, multiplayer HTML5 action game

#59

Ah bomberman! Very cool. The game is a bit laggy for some reason for me, but still cool. How long did it take to make the graphics/sprites?

Adam, our artist, was usually blocked on us, the guys implementing feature code. I believe it he spent around 130 hours from concept to completion.
Post reply on HN