Request for feedback on potential new feature: "Teams"

grazer

There have been lots of requests for the ability to collaborate with multiple people on a game, so I've been thinking about a way to implement that, and want to get some feedback.

Here's my current line of thinking:

1) You can create a "Team", and are the "team leader" of that team
2) You can invite others to join your team, or remove them.
3) If you accept an invitation, you are considered part of the team.
4) If you enable the "Collaborate" checkbox in the game settings, than anyone on the team can edit the game.

Thoughts? Is this something that people are interested in, or is it a waste of time?

Thanks in advance

**EDIT**
Thanks for all the input, the initial version of this feature is now live

CrimsonBlackGames

This.... this right here... would be AWESOME!!

CrimsonBlackGames

I could actually get extra help on Starblast 3.

Crystal storm would become relevant again. I say go for it!

Edit: found a bug- when you set something as a parent for an object but then change it back to none it doesn’t save

Latif3

Surely isn't a waste of time.

So you can only make one team? I think this idea makes more sense:

1) Button in game settings: "Collaboration settings".
2) Button opens a new panel with a list of all team members, the one who created the game is the leader and is the only one who can delete the game.
3) There's a text box to add people to the team.
4) In "By: [username]" below the game it will show all team members too separated by commas e.g. By: Latif, CrimsonBlackGames, PixelPizza

Also a question: What will happen if two (or more) people edit at the same time? Is it going to be realtime? Are you able to do that?

@CrimsonBlackGames I can confirm that bug, it also happened to me once but I didn't know how it happened.

grazer

Multiple people editing would work like this, at least initially:

Most edits are atomic, so they shouldn't be an issue (e.g., adding/deleting objects, changing the game settings or adding a level). The two biggest issues I see are editing sprites and editing behaviors. In these two cases, the latest version will be checked when you open the sprite or behavior window. If you attempt to save, and someone else has already updated it since you opened the window, it will warn you and either refuse to save, or give you the option to overwrite the other person's update.

CrimsonBlackGames

What about a merge option?. If they seem to clash, have the person in question see the behavior before they save it

grazer

The initial version would not have any merging, that would make the feature take a *lot* longer to release.

PixelPizza

This would be really nice. Multiple teams would be nice too.

But about the thing Latif3 said:
4) In "By: [username]" below the game it will show all team members too separated by commas e.g. By: Latif, CrimsonBlackGames, PixelPizza

I think would be better with Profile Pictures and names.
More like a list.

Oh and an idea:
In the in-game team button would be cool if we could see the person:
- Last Online or Last Edited this game
- Editing
- Online

And to avoid Multiple people editing - I think this would be a nice solution:

Whenever you try to open the Sprite editor or the behaviors or even the object box it would appear a message that says (something like this):
"This object is being edited. You can't edit or view this object as long as another user is editing."

dankermemes

i think like the team leader could section parts for team members example there's 2 teammates and the team leader so the leader does the start teammate 1 does middle and teammate 3 does the end

dankermemes

or give players jobs like one does background one does ground design one does coding and one does character design

Luminous

Sure grazer, this would definitely be a cool addition to flowlab.

XxCarbotxX

This would be amazing, I would love to see this feature and it would help with the future game I have been thinking up for a long time now. I am totally excited to see this feature be implemented and I am going to love it!

grazer

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback so far.

Also, please keep in mind that it's really easy to misunderstand someone when they write a short text comment, so try to give each other the benefit of the doubt and keep the comments civil.

CrimsonBlackGames

What about what Google docs has, and in the behaviors pretty much live. You can see other people’s mouse pointers, and other stuff. However if someone is play testing the game, all editing is locked, to prevent changes while the game is running.

I also suggest having a group chatting system to make coordination between teams easier, otherwise you have could have complete discord within a game’s behaviors

CrimsonBlackGames

I’d also suggest each team member having a specific color assigned to them, and all of the wires/behaviors they make is tinted/outlined in their color, to make things easier to regulate. Objects could be outlined with color too

PixelPizza

Funny thing:

If we don't add the "only one person can test at a time" we could do multiplayer internet games ahah

XxCarbotxX

@PixelPizza the other player would have to be on your team, and editing at the same time. and if you built your game around that, and exported the game to steam, or something else. The multiplayer function of the game would not work, because there would be no way for a second player to join in.

grazer

So the first version of collaborative editing would be pretty simple. There likely wouldn't be any Google-Docs like live editing indicators, locks, and notifications in version 1. That stuff requires there to be a constant socket connection to a server tracking the activity, and the editor doesn't have that.

It's possible that more live features could be added in the future though.

CrimsonBlackGames

How could we get a live socket on there?

Latif3

@grazer Don't make it real time. I'm pretty sure people who collaborate can easily contact each other, and they'll plan who makes what. Don't make the update too big please, there are other things flowlab needs.

CrimsonBlackGames

@Latif3 instead of not doing it, just make it lower priority, real time would be great because then you wouldn’t have clashing behaviors, and multiple people could edit at the exact same time.

What if two school users were working on a school project in the same classroom. You have a limited time period to get your work done.

CrimsonBlackGames

@grazer just curious, does the ray pass through objects? Is the direction they travel relevant to the forward of the object, or is it independent?

Please do tell

grazer

The ray only touches the nearest object.

The forward direction of the object is not relevant.

cal15016

sounds like a great idea. i have a few questions though.

will there be team chat?

team comptions?

team games?

Magnus Aalde

this idea is a great idea, but what happens if a player with indie adds a person with free-user. can he edit something or would that not work?

CrimsonBlackGames

@grazer he accidentally did the same thing I did- started a discussion, then hit the back button on his browser instead of clicking the home button on the site

grazer

gah, I can maybe fix it - who was that?

Daimon Brown

This would be really cool! It would certainly increase productivity, or so I believe.

Wizardry

This sounds fun, we could potentially have AI tournaments where we create our own mobs and let them fight each other.

PixelPizza

Ahahah @Wizardry yes

But for that we would edit each others ai and thats kinda cheating

Wizardry

But for that we would edit each others ai and thats kinda cheating

I think each player editing their own unit with its own AI would work. You just need to know the names of their objects so your AI could potentially maneuver around missiles and locate the enemy, and maybe have agreed upon limits for movement so neither's unit has an advantage, it could even be turn based using a grid to simplify things.