MAGE
01-24-2010, 11:50 PM
Because the replay system works so well, people do not need to distribute their .honreplay files to people who want to watch a replay.
However sites like Honcast.com have already prooven that HoN is a great spectator game with the high volume of people watching VOD replays with quality shoutcasting to go with them.
What I propose could be done on 2 levels depending on how much time S2 would invest into the feature.
Base implementation:
Create a folder under:
C:\Users\Speno\Documents\Heroes of Newerth\game\shoutcasts
Where you can copy a mp3 or some other audio file containing a shoutcast for a specific game (eg named sc<gameid>.mp3), then when you watch the replay ingame, HoN starts the audio file giving the user full properly rendered replay with commentary for only a few mb of download.
Extended Implementation:
Create a special fileformat called .honcast for example that not only contained the audio for the shoutcast but recorded camera movements of the shoutcaster while casting the replay.
This would therefore require an ingame spectator / replay option to allow the shoutcaster to say record this spectator / replay session as a .honcast file, and the game would record audio, and record camera movements for the duration of the match.
The shoutcaster could then distribute the .honcast file which would contain the gameid, the consumer could load up the .honcast file, HoN would download the replay via the system already in place, and HoN would playback the commentators / Camera movements.
What this would achieve is users to be able to watch replays like the VOD's on honcast.com but in full resolution, and access to the UI to focus in on parts of the game the caster may have missed, all for about an 8mb download per match.
One step further, this is getting a bit extreme, but what the hell.
Would be if S2 hosted all cast files, allowing a user to bring up a game in the match stats section, select from a dropdown list which shoutcast if any they want for this particular game, and watch.
After writing this down, only the base implementation seems feasible.
Let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Speno
However sites like Honcast.com have already prooven that HoN is a great spectator game with the high volume of people watching VOD replays with quality shoutcasting to go with them.
What I propose could be done on 2 levels depending on how much time S2 would invest into the feature.
Base implementation:
Create a folder under:
C:\Users\Speno\Documents\Heroes of Newerth\game\shoutcasts
Where you can copy a mp3 or some other audio file containing a shoutcast for a specific game (eg named sc<gameid>.mp3), then when you watch the replay ingame, HoN starts the audio file giving the user full properly rendered replay with commentary for only a few mb of download.
Extended Implementation:
Create a special fileformat called .honcast for example that not only contained the audio for the shoutcast but recorded camera movements of the shoutcaster while casting the replay.
This would therefore require an ingame spectator / replay option to allow the shoutcaster to say record this spectator / replay session as a .honcast file, and the game would record audio, and record camera movements for the duration of the match.
The shoutcaster could then distribute the .honcast file which would contain the gameid, the consumer could load up the .honcast file, HoN would download the replay via the system already in place, and HoN would playback the commentators / Camera movements.
What this would achieve is users to be able to watch replays like the VOD's on honcast.com but in full resolution, and access to the UI to focus in on parts of the game the caster may have missed, all for about an 8mb download per match.
One step further, this is getting a bit extreme, but what the hell.
Would be if S2 hosted all cast files, allowing a user to bring up a game in the match stats section, select from a dropdown list which shoutcast if any they want for this particular game, and watch.
After writing this down, only the base implementation seems feasible.
Let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Speno