MP mission testing

[Cheetah]

Game information:
Date: Friday, 25 of May.
Server name: OFPEC reviews & betas
Time: 7 pm GMT (converter)
Server Game Version: 1.05

Please drop me a PM if you think that you can make it - but you don't have to PM me in order to participate. Don't be shy to drop in later!

Participants
-Cheetah (MD)
-Jimboob (MD)
-Rhysduk (MD)

Playlist:

To be announced. See bottom of this page.

[Trapper]

My point are mission makers who don't have a clan or dedicated server to test their missions but don't hesitate to build a MP Mission. Most likely they're restricted to test their missions alone, or in a small LAN or they have to host their own game without a great chance to find players.

Public passwords... that's just an idea to concentrate bandwidth usage on people who know that they're joining an OFPEC-Test-Server. If you don't have to be economical just forget about it.

I don't understand where's the problem with a predefined OFPEC intro/outro which every author should add to his beta mp mission which he would like to have played/tested on an OFPEC Server, and only to these beta versions. Why shouldn't he want to lead any comments to his central beta test thread on this board? Don't you think clueless players would at least like to find out about the comments of others people, maybe luring them to add their own and becoming OFPEC beta testers?
What I know about open MP games is that nobody cares about the briefing, and an email hidden in there will never attract much bug reports.
So many MP missions feature boring intros, providing an official 10sec titletext, hint c or dialog script and asking authors to add it also  temporary in order to get the beta mission hosted on the server isn't that much.

EDIT: Maybe a time stamp on this screen would be useful, too.

[rhysduk]

Trapper,
Your comments are always welcomed.
Allow me to try and explain this a little better.

I don't understand where's the problem with a predefined OFPEC intro/out.........

Don't you think clueless players would at least like to find out about the comments of others people, maybe luring them to add their own and becoming OFPEC beta testers?

From what you have said in the above post, quoted above; The problem being that many mission authors wish to not clutter up their beloved intro and outros (Are outro's really that common in MP Missions?) with information that bears no resemblance to their story or mission.
What happens if no Intro is present? Like you say, authors could add a hint inside the mission that gives them this information. But there is always the case of the README file, of which this information can be happily, and very easily put into. This results in mostly everyone who downloads the mission (Of which should happen with MP sessions, to increase loading times) reading the said information.

What I know about open MP games is that nobody cares about the briefing, and an email hidden in there will never attract much bug reports.

You are right in saying this. But this is not the case for everyone. There are quite a few players in the MP community that like to read the entire breifing before play is started. This could include clans, regular firends who play together, or just the average joe like you and me.
As you are probably aware, briefings in SP can contain valuable information regarding the mission, why should this not be the same in MP? The briefing could contain information regarding the completion of the mission, of which would be missed if the entire briefing was skipped.

Your picture:
 Having a small URL to OFPEC, like you have done in your picture below (www.ofpec.com), is a little more acceptable than having a big long, chunky URL to the mission thread. People do not want to be writing things like this down when trying to focus on the task at hand. This brings me back to README files, of which this information is easy accessible by everyone.
I believe that OFPEC.com is more acceptable than www.ofpec.com, but thats for another day.

If you don't have to be economical just forget about it.

This is not the case Trapper as you should now. Each person is entitled to their opinion on this matter.
You have submitted your comments and suggestions to this thread yourself, and we, MD Staff & BETA Testing, have taken them into account, and responded accordingly. All we can ask if for you to keep your suggestion coming.

Rhysduk

[Cheetah]

Trapper and others, feel free to participate tomorrow at around 7 pm GMT. There are probably going to be three people from the Mission Depot, Rhysduk - Jimboob - Cheetah.

I'll try to set up a TeamSpeak server for better communication, more news about that will come later today.

[sharkattack]

 i wont be able to make fridays meeting
my  old mate is getting married soon  stag  do tomorrow   

- you  guys  have fun -

[dmakatra]

Hey lads! Artak just told me about this newly formed MP team, and while I do not play computer games anymore, I just want to wish you the best of luck so it does not end up as my team did. You might want to check with other communties, as in my experience, OFPECers are not that keen on playing MP.

Anyway, best of luck. Perhaps I'll come aboard your server someday if I ever get hold of a copy of Armed Assault.

Take it easy lads.

/Armsty

[Cheetah]

Game information:
Date: Friday, 25 of May.
Server name: OFPEC reviews & betas
Time: 7 pm GMT (converter)
Server Game Version: 1.05

Participants
-Cheetah (MD)
-Jimboob (MD)
-Rhysduk (MD)

Playlist:

[coop] Special Operations - part 1 by Shark Attack
[coop] Special Operations - part 2 by Shark Attack
[coop] Steal 'da Choppa! by iGnotuS

Optionally: TeamSpeak 2
IP: 80 100 135 67 - 8767
Only available during testing

[Trapper]

We/I should keep in mind that there are different approaches on multi player gaming in ArmA/OFP.

Maybe it'll make my ideas more understandable if I explain my background.
I've played OFP in a German clan for almost a year, with focus on player vs player Capture&Hold and Sector Control missions in leagues. All of these missions include intros and outros with credits way over the top for the little they have to say.
For OFP MP I've created two C&H mission of which one became very popular in Germany, one small Coop and two experimental PvP Attack&Defend missions. I've added colossal Intros to all of them just for fun, too.
(As you all will know these MP Intros/Outros are cutscenes inside the missions. They are not separated like in SP Missions)
After I've left the clan I've continued to play OFP and ArmA multi player on my own. Always trying to achieve team play with complete strangers, trying out most of the new mission concepts that popped up every now and then.
I also became a guest on the LOL clan's/Nakedsquid Coop Server for a while, again noticing overdone intros all the time.

Except for the LOL with it's big mappacks I'm downloading missions mostly in game. Either way I wouldn't have read any readme for all the missions.
I did for Operation Lojack and few other very special and promising missions I've known from other sources but not for anything else.

On most of the MP missions I've worked during my clan membership, with access to a dedicated server and clan members for test games. It didn't turn out like you may expect. Most missions had to be released without decent tests. Ordinary gamers are not mission makers, they'll never have the patience and time to reproduce bugs over and over again. The missions had to reach a playable state without testing, then I've had to misuse the first release for public bug testing. When the mission concept wasn't mainstream enough the development stopped right there. A lack of test games and interest takes away the motivation.

Edit: Other gamers maybe playing SP most of the time and meet up only with a few friends to play a previously selected MP missions in a closed session from time to time.

[sharkattack]

any further meetings planned ? 

[Cheetah]

Probably Friday or in the weekend. I won't be available earlier, Rhysduk might be so if he wants to he can schedule one for tomorrow or Thursday.

[Artak]

Hardware upgrade on server starting of now. ETA 20 minutes.

/edit

Server is back online.

[Cheetah]

If the server is online

Game information:
Date:Friday, 15th of June.
Server name: OFPEC reviews & betas
Time: 9:00 pm BST, 22:00 CEST
Server Game Version: 1.05

Participants:
-Cheetah (MD)

Playlist:

Coop - Guns of Paraiso by Novosurdo
Coop 4 - The Tiptoe Boys by Shark Attack
Coop 17 - Warcries by nightfox88

Postponed until further notice, probably at the end of next week. Server maintainance.

[Artak]

Server will go offline for maintenance on June 13th for hardware upgrade and maintenance. Offline time can be anything from two days to a week. Purpose for this is to raise the server's overall performance and especially built better support for more players.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Cheetah]

Game information:
Date:Friday, 22th of June.
Server name: OFPEC reviews & betas
Time: 9:00 pm BST, 22:00 CEST
Server Game Version: 1.08

Participants:
-Cheetah (MD)
-Shark attack

Playlist:

Coop - Guns of Paraiso by Novosurdo
Coop 4 - The Tiptoe Boys by Shark Attack
Coop 17 - Warcries by nightfox88

[Artak]

Server Hardware upgrade/maintenance finished and dedicated version 1.08 installed. She's up and running for ya.