This could be either built in to a client or a separate add-on.  I am in
favor of making is a separate add-on, as then it could be configure to run
any client when you connect.  It also reduces the amount of memory consumed
while waiting for a game.


-----Original Message-----
From: netrek-dev-bounces at us.netrek.org
[mailto:netrek-dev-bounces at us.netrek.org] On Behalf Of Zach
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 4:04 PM
To: Netrek Development Mailing List
Subject: Re: [netrek-dev] netrek ideas

On 4/12/07, ChronosWS <chronosws at comcast.net> wrote:
> I would go with the idea of creating a task bar applet (or equivalent for
> the target OS.)  You would configure this to say which kinds of games you
> were interested and potentially which servers you were interested in as
well
> (in case you specifically want to use only a subset of the ones listed on
> the metaserver.)  This information would be communicated to the metaserver
> at the time a metaserver refresh is made by the applet.  The metaserver,
in
> turn, would broadcast the number of players waiting for games matching
each
> server to those who are listening (other applets, the metaserver
> application, etc.)  When the applet sees that enough players were
available
> to start tmode for a particular server, it would pop up a notification
> informing the user of such, which if clicked would launch the Netrek
client.
>
> This would require the following code:
>
> 1. A Windows taskbar applet (or equivalent for other OSes) allowing the
user
> to:
>         a. See the current status of servers, just like the metaserver
> window.
>         b. Allow the player to signal they want to play and specify:
>                 1. Game type (Bronco, Sturgeon, etc.)
>                 2. Specific server
>                 3. Other fields as desired
>         c. Broadcast the desire to the metaserver once per minute.
>         d. Re-read the metaserver status every few seconds (15, 30?)
>         d. When a particular server has enough players, pop a notification
> indicating
>                 1. Server and game type
>                 2. Number of interested players along with number of
players
> in the game
>                 3. Allowing the user to click the notification to start
the
> client and connect to the game.
>
> 2. Modification to the Metaserver as follows:
>         a. Maintain a list of players desired games
>         b. Add a 'waiting' count to each server line indicating the number
> of players waiting for a game on that server
>         c. Remove a player from the list if a refresh has not been
received
> in the past 2 minutes.

Yeah. Do you plan on adding this functionality to your new client?

Zach

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