PbNews from Rm – July 2019

July 2nd, 2019

Paintball Net Update

A number of changes to mention.

On the UI/browser side:
* The biggest change is how chat and game information displays. No longer one long scroll. Now “bubbles” that fade after a time. You can still see everything that’s happened on the new “Log” tab.
* The “Need Cash?” tab has been moved into the “Store” tab.
* The satellite locator is now bigger.
* More command buttons, including more in the store.
* On the “Options” tab, some new options:
> Command Buttons on the Right (Classic layout0
> Open Store UI automatically

July 6th, 2019

Paintball Net Update

I found and fixed a couple issues:
* Bots had a tendency to “Head West” (left).
* Padding wasn’t bouncing anywhere near as much as it was supposed to.

These fixes have been booted in.

Thanks for playing!
-DavidRM

July 10th, 2019

Paintball Net Update

I’ve made a few minor changes to the browser UI, and I added new colors of paintballs into the gunshop. The paintballs all function the same. They just add some color. =)

Today I booted in a minor change that should improve performance on both the server (reduced bandwidth usage and memory churning) and the UI (reduced display updates).

Have fun!

-DavidRM

July 18th, 2019

Paintball Net Update

I booted in a handful of changes. Some minor, some … less minor.

I set the minimum bot payout to $1. NOTE: That won’t double on double day. You just won’t get $0 anymore.

The less minor changes are mostly behind the scenes. Hopefully. =)I’ve spent a lot of time this week profiling the code that gets the most use. I’ve done a lot of refactoring, and I completely overhauled how updates are sent to the players. I don’t know that you’ll notice much, but the net result is we can have a lot more players on a server without performance issues.

Now all we need is the “lot more players”. =)

In the meantime, let me know if anything looks weird.

Oh, yeah, and I added the secret store last week. It shows up every so often during games. To tempt you out of cover and into the dangers of retail…

Have fun!

-David

July 26th, 2019

Paintball Net Update

A few minor additions to the secret store this week, and I updated how the game handles idle players. Now, if you’ve been idle for a few minutes when a game starts, you’re put on standby (and not pulled into the game).

I’ve started working on a phone-specific UI. This will be separate from the default browser UI, at least in the short term. The nature of a phone’s (small) screen means I have to use different assumptions and really approach the problem of how to play in a new way.

I knew when I started that making Paintball Net work on a phone would be a challenge. Now I have a better idea of how much of a challenge.

-DavidRM