Hey everyone! First, let’s start with an update. In my first blog post I said that over these last two weeks I would be working mostly on the logo system and the strong team colors system. I am happy to say that both are coming along quite well. Please if you don't read anything else in this blog skip to the 'new discussion topic' section and read that, as I think it is an important topic to discuss as a community.
Interface file
Well let’s start with the bad news. The interface file I demonstrated a mockup for last week is not yet completed. We are working on it and hopefully we will be able to get it out this week. There have been some complications making my design into a reality, some we have resolved and others we have yet to find solutions for. I have been suffering from a problem where I cannot actually use interface files on my computer for some reason which has made testing them and assisting Ahli a challenge. It is an issue I only managed to fix a few hours ago as of my writing this so I am only just starting to actually test the work in progress interface myself.
For those of you who are interested in the specific issues we have been having, they are primarily related to the unit info panel. While working on the problem Ahli uncovered a new trick for working with this panel that may interest any other interface designers. He posted about it here on the battle.net forum.
I know this is probably a bit of a disappointment but there are some other issues we are hoping to overcome as well before releasing it so it is as strong an interface as we can make it. The next challenge is to get the colors to appear more vibrant. Right now the colors in most interfaces are tinted based on player colors, and this actually causes them to be quite dull, and reaching the level of color we have in my mock-up is not possible using this method without using a custom map. So we are trying to come up with another solution at the moment.
When we release this first interface I will also show off the mock-up for the next one. Again I hope (and expect) that will be this week.
Stronger team colors module
Alright, sorry about that let’s move onto the good news. The STC system is pretty much complete now, and it will provide broadcasters with three options in the lobby. The first and default option is ‘OFF’ which is pretty self explanatory. Basically it is just a normal game without any Stronger Team Colors. The second option is ‘On - Observers’ which basically means that Stronger Team Colors is on, but that only observers will see it. The players will be completely unaffected by the more colorful textures. The third option is ‘On - Everyone’ which means that Stronger Team Colors is on, and everyone in the game including the players will see it.
I say ‘pretty much’ complete because it still needs some work to set it up for integration into GHClassic. I am also hoping that the original creator of STC will make a brief return to the project to update some of the new HotS units with STC. I probably should have made that a request before giving him his money from the project but I didn’t think of it until after the fact! Anyways hopefully he will do it, we’ll see. If he doesn’t want to or cannot do it for whatever reason I may have some time later in the project to tackle it myself.
For those of you unfamiliar with stronger team colors, it was a modification create by "pzea469" designed to make player colors more vibrant and easier to identify in game. Unfortunately at some point Blizzard made it so mods of this fashion no longer functioned, and it essentially killed the project. Luckily using a custom map system like GameHeart we are able to revive his work and try to bring it to tournaments. I think it is of particular value to streaming Starcraft online because in low quality streams it makes unit allegiance easy to identify in mirror matches, but also because I think it just makes the game look better honestly. I have thrown together a quick comparison image showing the differences between units and structures in the normal game and their STC counterparts. This might be a good time to share whether there are any units you think are very negatively affected by STC so maybe we can weed them out or change how it looks on them.
If you would like to go see it in action yourself please hop onto the NA arcade and search for "GHTesting - STC" It is just a basic melee map but with the stronger team color options in the lobby. Remember it is off by default so you need to set it to on in the lobby before starting the game as an observer.
Logos module
Adapting STC was relatively easy. I only ran into minor complications so it went pretty smoothly. That means I have been working primarily on the logos system for the last two weeks. It has been completely redesigned so it is much easier for me to update, is modular, and will function for both GameHeart Classic and GameHeart Light. Just like STC, it still needs work to be integrated into GHClassic but the foundation is there now, and most of that work has to be done in GHClassic itself and not in the logos module.
I am also happy to report that the decal transparency issue I mentioned two weeks ago has been resolved. While we were never able to find a way to set the transparency of decals in the editor directly, Zolden from the SC2mapster forums helped me to create a model which has an animation that changes the decal from 100% to 0% opacity. Now whenever we want to change the opacity/transparency of a decal we just have to tell it to go to a specific point in that animation and pause there. This greater control will hopefully allow me to improve the look of the logos on the map, and possibly even give each team/league logo an individual transparency setting so those that currently barely show up can be made more apparent and those that are too in-your-face and obnoxious can be toned down without being forced to resort to modifying the images in photoshop.
I went ahead and took a screenshot of the Aposis Gaming logo (one of my favorites) running from completely opaque to completely transparent. To put this in perspective, previously I could only use four transparency settings on a logo and two of them were either completely opaque or completely invisible.
Decals module
In addition to this redesign and transparency functionality I have created a separate mod which any map maker can add to their own maps to easily create custom ground decals. If you are a mod maker you can search for this dependency in the editor, it is currently called “GHDecals” and includes just about everything you could need to easily add new decals to your maps through triggers. Be aware that the name is likely to change when I finally figure out how I want to name and organize all of the GameHeart files online. I will post about it in this blog when I get all of that information resolved.
Many custom maps already use custom decals but it was a huge pain in the ass for me to figure out how to do (and I even had to have special models made for it) so I thought I would make it easier for people in the future by making my own work on it available to everyone in a simple to use format.
I will make a short video showing map makers how to use this decal tool towards the end of the project once everything is more finalized. But it is available now on all regions if you would like to try to figure out yourself, it is quite simple. It is also open source so you can open it up and see how it works if you want.
New discussion topic -
Team sponsors
However, my work with logos is not complete. I still need to re-enter all of the logos that have been submitted to GameHeart using the new system. But before I do that I want to make sure the system accommodates all of our needs now and for the future so we can avoid any need to redesign it again later. For this purpose I want to have a discussion as a community about the topic of team sponsors and how we can display them in GameHeart or SC2 matches in general in a way that helps to promote teams and growth. I think it is a delicate topic because it is difficult to argue that putting sponsor logos on the map or in the game really enhances the viewing experience directly. Maybe it can help teams and players earn a livelihood in some small way which can enhance the scene overall but where do we draw the line?
For me I have resisted adding team sponsors to GameHeart for a few different reasons, including wanting to avoid any kind of conflict with Blizzard who I imagined might not like the idea of a bunch of corporate logos plastered all over their game, not wanting to undermine TotalBiscuit’s ‘virtual jersey’ project which has the same goal, and not wanting to try to organize and manage the sponsor logos for teams as it is a pretty significant undertaking. GameHeart currently supports more than 170 teams. Adding all of these logos was not an insignificant task and adding sponsor logos for all of them would not be either. To make this even more complicated team sponsors change quite often so it would require a lot of maintenance as well.
I have asked TotalBiscuit and he has expressed that for him he just wants to see teams and their sponsors gain more exposure, it doesn’t matter to him whether it is through virtual jersey or GameHeart. I have also asked for feedback from Blizzard on the idea, to see whether or not they are against it. I haven’t heard back on the topic yet but even if they come back and say that we can go ahead with it, that does not mean I will implement it.
First we need a plan. A good one. One that teams, tournaments, viewers and even Blizzard can all be reasonably satisfied with. This won’t be easy, there will always be people who do not want any change, and those who want to see things change dramatically. I think there may well be a place for sponsors in these matches and that we can add them responsibly. There will undoubtedly be a lot of people who will shoot down this idea immediately but I ask anyone considering doing that to read on and perhaps participate in trying to come up with your own ideas on how it could be done even if you would rather it was not done. Your input may be very important in helping me to find something as close to satisfying everyone as I can. If you just say you hate the idea and remove yourself from the discussion, we may end up doing it anyways and then you will have lost your chance to sway the direction it goes.
So to assist with this endeavor I have created a tool that YOU can use right now to demonstrate YOUR ideas on how to display team sponsor logos on the map. It is a custom map you can find on the NA arcade as “GHTesting - Sponsors 1.” In this map you can add decals to the map, move them around as well as change their size, rotation and transparency easily. For those of you unfamiliar with changing regions, there is an option to do so at the main Starcraft login on the left side of the screen.
Once you have used the tool to create some designs/ideas on how to display team sponsors on the map come and post your screenshots in the discussion here on this blog or in the reddit thread so the rest of the community can weigh in on them.
Here is a quick one that I created. I am not saying that this is what I want to do or that I think this is the best idea, it was just a quick idea. Remember that whatever you come up with it needs to be doable on all maps, not just Akilon Wastes.
So please use the map and post screenshots of your own ideas! Unfortunately once you add a decal to the map there is no way to delete it, so just move it off screen or make it completely transparent if you no longer want it.
If you manage or are part of a team I would love to hear your feedback on this idea. Is it even of any real value to you guys? It is easy to assume that this is a good thing for you but maybe you don't actually care, or it won't have enough of an effect on you to be worth the trouble. Or maybe you think it would be the best thing that could ever happen for promoting your team in Starcraft. I want to hear from you. If not in the comments on this blog then definitely by email at TeamGameHeart@gmail.com
Tournaments, how will this affect you? I would add an option for you to disable it in case sponsor conflicts are a major concern for you but do you think this is something you would leave on?
Lastly viewers I want to hear from you as well (this may get ugly). Try to include screenshots of your own ideas with your comments so we can see what you are talking about.
What I am working on now -
For the next two weeks
For the next couple of weeks I will be continuing to work on the logos and STC mods and preparing them for integration into GHClassic. I also hope to get an actual test map running that combines the completed features so far for GHLight.
Next I plan to begin work on the notifications system.
I am also going to be discussing with the MIT Game Lab gentlemen about possible integration of their work with GHClassic. If you are unfamiliar with the MIT Overseer project you should definitely go check it out. These guys are doing amazing things that could contribute a lot to the future of spectating Starcraft.
Okay thank you everyone! I know I can be long winded but I am trying to keep you guys as in the loop as I can! And hopefully we will have that interface file ready for you in a few days.
Hey iHirO no I didn't I am sorry. I will write down to do that tomorrow. The map for messing with sponsor logos is actually called "GHTesting - Sponsors 1" and it is located on the NA region. Unless you meant that you just want to play around with adding decals to your own maps... then ignore that!
Very nice read (and as ETisME said, very professional). Having only recently used GH classic in some casts I must say I'm both impressed with the work that's been done and very optimistic about the ongoing work. I really hope to see more tournaments adopt the map use. (I do finally need to upgrade my computer tho.)
Quick question (and you can point me to the right thread/forum for an answer) but is there a way to use an existing UI in the GH maps?
y0su there is currently no way to use a custom interface file with GameHeart but that is part of the objective of this GameHeart Redesigned project. In the future when it is released you will be able to use any interface file you want with GHLight.
On October 21 2013 20:32 GameHeart wrote: y0su there is currently no way to use a custom interface file with GameHeart but that is part of the objective of this GameHeart Redesigned project. In the future when it is released you will be able to use any interface file you want with GHLight.
Thanks. No complaints about the GH UI - I'm just more comfortable using a UI I'm familiar with :D
I tried to give you another idea last time, maybe you over read it. Please respond this time :p
Screen space is always a big problem for overlays. My suggestion: put semi-relevant information into a ticker. I dont need to know the mapname, scorecount, eventname, stage of the tournament, wins needed etc all the time. all these things could appear in one single box.
Stronger team colors need to be used more often ! Yesterday I was watching Wlemu vs herO playing in the DH winter qualifier, it was aweful to watch on a dark map like Polar Night !
There was a thread floating around recently that suggesting differentiating unit effects that could get confusing in mirror matchups--specifically things like guardian shields, force fields, time warps, and fungals (and probably blinding clouds too to be honest). These seem like particularly appropriate subject matter for the STC module. Is this possible, and are effects for unit abilities any different from an implementation standpoint from buildings and units? Would this be significant/excessive scope creep?
On October 21 2013 22:52 bisl wrote: Hi GameHeart!
There was a thread floating around recently that suggesting differentiating unit effects that could get confusing in mirror matchups--specifically things like guardian shields, force fields, time warps, and fungals (and probably blinding clouds too to be honest). These seem like particularly appropriate subject matter for the STC module. Is this possible, and are effects for unit abilities any different from an implementation standpoint from buildings and units? Would this be significant/excessive scope creep?
Thanks for the great update by the way!
I'd argue against Blinding Clouds as they remove vision for both players equally but Time Warp can be really annoying in a PvP when you don't know who is casting them.
Yay, I just had another breakthrough! So, it will most likely be possible for interfaces to modify the new triggered elements for the triggered logic. That means, interfaces will be able to move and restructure the upgrade notifications and other planned for triggered UI features.
In a nutshell: interface designers will be able to control the visuals for the new GameHeart extra functionality.
So, in theory, you could modify every interface to properly work with gameheart.
Very nice write-up, extensive enough but not too long!
I'd suggest that you take a look at Stalkers and Colossi and their colors, judging from the picture. It feels like the team color disturbs their "natural" visuals, imo.
Concerning sponsor logos, I think one way could be to do them instead of the decals floating around the nexi, and keep the team logo out on the map, like before. That would kind of catch two flies in one smash, as it would remove an unnecessary visual already in place.
On October 21 2013 21:41 graNite wrote: I tried to give you another idea last time, maybe you over read it. Please respond this time :p
Screen space is always a big problem for overlays. My suggestion: put semi-relevant information into a ticker. I dont need to know the mapname, scorecount, eventname, stage of the tournament, wins needed etc all the time. all these things could appear in one single box.
There is actually no way to animate that type of thing easily in the editor. Possibly there is a ticker option somewhere but it would drastically limit your control over the information you display. You could however have information fade in and out, replacing the information before it for a time. It is an interesting idea.
On October 21 2013 22:52 bisl wrote: Hi GameHeart!
There was a thread floating around recently that suggesting differentiating unit effects that could get confusing in mirror matchups--specifically things like guardian shields, force fields, time warps, and fungals (and probably blinding clouds too to be honest). These seem like particularly appropriate subject matter for the STC module. Is this possible, and are effects for unit abilities any different from an implementation standpoint from buildings and units? Would this be significant/excessive scope creep?
Thanks for the great update by the way!
I did see that thread. I like the idea but I do not know if it would be possible to do it in a way that the players themselves do not see it. And anything that changes the game for players I am not a particularly huge fan of. I will attempt to create a working sample of this anyways and hopefully some players and a caster will cast a game on it so we can all get a feeling for it and whether we actually like it. But as I said I do not see a way to do it in a way that the game would look normal to the players at this time.
On October 22 2013 02:11 Darkdwarf wrote: Concerning sponsor logos, I think one way could be to do them instead of the decals floating around the nexi, and keep the team logo out on the map, like before. That would kind of catch two flies in one smash, as it would remove an unnecessary visual already in place.
Decals around the nexus like that are not easy to do in this way. When Pro League first did their logos in this fashion a lot of people came to me and said "You should make your logos look like that!" But they did not understand that Pro League only had to manage 8 teams, so creating/retrieving special versions of each logo from the teams was not an issue. For me I have over 170 teams and it keeps growing. And at least early on in this project I considered myself pretty lucky when a team would return my email, and that was if I could even find an email for them.
I will likely ask Zolden to remove the ground decals from the nexus/hatchery/lair/hive/command center/orbital command/planetary fortress at some point anyways so that they are not competing with any other logos we choose to put in there. But I don't think I can create specialized versions of the sponsor logos that will work as that type of decal.
On stronger team colors: I always find the stronger team colors to be useful on certain units (mainly zergs), but rather unnecessary for other races. Take the "stronger" colossus for example, it looks a bit too strong for my taste.
Buildings also do not really require stronger colors. I know whose building is whose - stronger color usually just mean I will be seeing excessive blue/red....
Here's a bug report found while testing the GHTesting custom game.
When the 'STC - Observer' mode is spectated, the inital Command Centre doesn't have stronger colours (shown below). However the first Barracks built did show the correct colours, so maybe the error is only for objects created at the beginning of the game?
On October 22 2013 03:25 Hikari wrote: On stronger team colors: I always find the stronger team colors to be useful on certain units (mainly zergs), but rather unnecessary for other races. Take the "stronger" colossus for example, it looks a bit too strong for my taste.
Buildings also do not really require stronger colors. I know whose building is whose - stronger color usually just mean I will be seeing excessive blue/red....
Agreed on the buildings and colli. If I understand it correctly, it would be something that can be switched on-off on the fly. This would mean that for a roach-vs-roach w/ fungal and infested terran (worst case scenario) battle, strong colours can be activated, and after that can be switched-off. The casters can even mention that, if necessary. For buildings it is indeed over the top, I know who's hatchery is who's, and I haven't seen that many spine v spine battles.
I think it is mainly useful in ZvZ, in PvP and TvT I can easily see who's stalker/marine is who's...
Coloured fungals (in ZvZ), scans and timewarps would be awesome and a very good addition.
On the sponsor logo's, maybe there's a way to copy the Dota2 method? They use ingame banner doodads with the teamsponsors on it, like this:
There are many sign and neon billboard doodads in SC2, maybe you can somehow edit the textures to display the teams sponsors on those ingame? Something like this: (just a bad paint, I know nothing of the editor)
Those are not possible with GameHeart because I do not make the maps and honestly I think they don't really work in Starcraft in general which has a wide array of tilesets and settings.
That type of thing works in DotA because it is literally just one map...played over and over and over and over again so it is easier to design an immersive sponsor system. That being said I also don't like immersive systems and I think for esports to really grow we need to move away from them. Which is part of the reason I removed the default UI for spectating in the first place.
On October 22 2013 06:56 FueledUpAndReadyToGo wrote: On the sponsor logo's, maybe there's a way to copy the Dota2 method? They use ingame banner doodads with the teamsponsors on it, like this: There are many sign and neon billboard doodads in SC2, maybe you can somehow edit the textures to display the teams sponsors on those ingame? Something like this: (just a bad paint, I know nothing of the editor)
Switching textures for doodads where you don't need to know if they exist or how many exist is technical possible and easy to do with triggers. BUT: - One problem would be proper textures. If the image has a bad format, that might look terrible. - The core problem is that the players would see these texture changes, too, and it might distract them. The phasing technology where different players see different things only works with units. Doodads are no units. So, atm, I don't think it's possible without tinkering with the maps.
edit: - other problem: there are only a few good models for that and they only fit in a few maps. To not make maps become ugly because of that feature, we shouldn't really encourage that. Map authors try to make their maps beautiful and this feature could ruin the ascetically aspect of the map, too, if these things would be added or they would be forced to add those.
On October 22 2013 06:56 FueledUpAndReadyToGo wrote: Nice writeup.
On the sponsor logo's, maybe there's a way to copy the Dota2 method? They use ingame banner doodads with the teamsponsors on it, like this:
There are many sign and neon billboard doodads in SC2, maybe you can somehow edit the textures to display the teams sponsors on those ingame? Something like this: (just a bad paint, I know nothing of the editor)
I think this is something individual tournaments could/should consider. It's much easier for them to take maps and add a few advertisements (even if that means taking a GH map and modifying some textures or doodads). Especially in the case of something like ATC that uses the same maps for an extended period, I would think that a small investment into map editing would be worth it to them.
Overall, it just seems that few tournaments are thinking about maps - hopefully that changes.
Maybe we could have something like in formula one where they have "Michael Schuhmacher S" or "Warsteiner Curve". What about Razor EXPO or Monster choke? Intel tower?!
On October 22 2013 04:10 iHirO wrote: Here's a bug report found while testing the GHTesting custom game.
When the 'STC - Observer' mode is spectated, the inital Command Centre doesn't have stronger colours (shown below). However the first Barracks built did show the correct colours, so maybe the error is only for objects created at the beginning of the game?
I have been trying to look into this tonight and I cannot figure out why it is happening. It works fine for me but my partner Ahli is having the same problem you are. We will continue to look into it.
Is it possible for GameHeart to access local files on a PC?
Say for example you added a transparent 'advert texture' to a map; from the player's perspective the game looks normal. However on the PC that the tournament is being streamed from, a correctly formatted bitmap is added to a specific folder. The mod detects this and replaces the transparent texture shown in game.
This solves the problem of GameHeart having to manage vast numbers of sponsor logos, as each individual tournament would create their own. The images could also be used for transitory player profiles, nationality flags, map names, text, etc.
Is this idea feasible, or would it be worth asking Blizzard to implement something like this?
iHiro - No that is not possible. Also it is probably unrealistic to expect tournaments to manage all of that to be honest. Some tournaments like GSL are able to manage vast amounts of player and team data because the same players and teams circulate through their tournament season after season. But it is much more complicated for open tournaments.
That is partially what makes GameHeart such an ideal solution to adding this kind of content. Managing and maintaining it all in one place so that all tournaments can make use of it. This also allows small tournaments to put on high quality productions with very low production costs.
Approximately a third of the textures placed on the map don't appear (e.g. only 7 textures out of 11 generated). I've tried multiple approaches to recreate the error consistently but it appears to be random.
The list dialog doesn't update when textures are repositioned, which makes alignment difficult.
Pressing 'Create Game' on the Arcade sometimes causes the game to hang while opening the Lobby, again this seems to be random and restarting fixes the error.
The textures don't appear on the map in the replay, although the list dialog is updated normally.
Decreasing a texture size by 5 large increments causes line artefacts to appear (zooming in removes this effect). Adding a minimum increment limit would prevent texture corruption. + Show Spoiler +
Increasing a texture by 35 large increments causes it to be removed. The texture doesn't reappear when decreasing it's size, so a maximum increment limit may be needed.
Textures placed on ramps only partially appear in the middle of the ramp. + Show Spoiler +
The increment controls have insufficient granularity to perfectly align the textures. A solution might be to round up the texture placement position (e.g. x:10.5, y:4.0 instead of x:10.39, y:3.85). + Show Spoiler +
Aligning rotated textures perfectly is difficult. Adding a rotation variable to the List dialog would help.
Questions:
Will the stronger colours be enabled for unlockable skins and Collector's Edition units? (My AM account is not levelled so I can't test how skins currently appear.)
Would an 'Automatic' mode setting that only enables STC when mirror match ups are detected be useful? Also if the interface was extended to 2v2, would STC be binary or could it be set only for mirrored races (e.g. In a TZ vs TP, only set STC for the terrans)?
Is it worth extending the decals to allow player flags to be shown around their base? (only one flag needed for most major tournaments )
Could a texture that is locked to the player's in game colour be added (e.g. a blue circle texture), as It could be used as a background to differentiate sponsors?
If a sponsor logo is constructed from multiple textures and needs to be repositioned, could a grouping function be added (e.g. Hold shift, select 4 textures and then move them along the x axis)? A cloning tool might also be useful.
I noticed that while observing using 'V' to get a player's vision will show their opponent's current creep situation (not the most recently seen creep).
This happened first when checking if expansions had been spotted; even if the hatchery had not been seen it will appear as if the player has vision of a small patch of creep.
I assume this is a bug related to being allied... Is there something I can do differently?
On October 28 2013 10:12 y0su wrote: Hey, just a quick note/question...
I noticed that while observing using 'V' to get a player's vision will show their opponent's current creep situation (not the most recently seen creep).
This happened first when checking if expansions had been spotted; even if the hatchery had not been seen it will appear as if the player has vision of a small patch of creep.
I assume this is a bug related to being allied... Is there something I can do differently?
Unfortunately I don't know if we can call this a bug, though I don't leave it that way intentionally. There is just nothing I can do about it in GHClassic.
It is a byproduct of using players that don't have any units to observe the game instead of real observers. Blizzard has not provided us with any way to show one player the game exactly as another player sees it as they have for observers. Instead I am forced to emulate it to the best of my ability. In GameHeart each player has a secret invisible, invincible unit that floats above their main base. This unit only servers one purpose, and it has one ability. That ability is an instant autocast ability which adds a 'buff' to any enemy unit as soon as it comes into vision. When I want to show a player's vision we first check all of his opponents units and any unit that does not have this buff gets hidden.
So this system works fine for demonstrating a clear picture of what that player has seen as far as buildings/units, but it has no effect on creep. Unfortunately there appears to be no way to track creep in this way so there is really just nothing I can do about it.
Hey everyone, just a heads up that I will not be posting a blog today. I am working really hard to try to get the first version of new GameHeart ready to be used in Break Out NA (in just a couple of days!) so I haven't had time to put the blog together. I will post one later this week.