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Anarchy Arcade (Prototype Maintenance Update)

smsithlord
Honored Guest
Prototype Maintenance Update

Prototype users, rejoice! This patch will fix some major bugs that have arisen recently in the retired prototype.



Head to the GameJolt profile to grab the update.

The source code of the Steam version of Anarchy Arcade is a completely different branch than the prototype, so going back to update the prototype is not something I do very lightly. However, the way that the prototype was designed (in a quick & rugged fashion) makes it susceptible to serious bugs if a web server it depends on changes its address or functionality.

In contrast, the Steam version of Anarchy Arcade is resistant to these types of follies. It has superior error handling that minimizes the effect of any problems that DO occur, and it implements all web server logic as add-on scripts that can be easily swapped out or updated when needed.

The prototype had the following symptoms:

  • Steam game cabinets would spawn with broken screen & marquee images.

  • Netflix movies would fail to spawn altogether.

  • Hulu video previews would fail to playback on the in-game screens.



Issue 1
One issue with the prototype is that some of the web server scrapers, such as the Steam games info scraper, are hard-coded into the executable. This means that when they do break, it requires a major client update that everybody has to manually download & install. That's why this maintenance update is required today; Steam changed the address of the server used for game header images & screenshots. As a result, the prototype got confused and made it nearly impossible to launch your Steam games at all. This maintenance update resolves the Steam images issue.

Issue 1.5
Ideally, the Steam image server changing its address shouldn't have stopped you from being able to launch your cabinets, but unfortunately this was the case in the prototype. Again, this folly was due to the quick & rugged fashion that the prototype was developed in. The prototype has little to no error-handling, meaning that if something goes wrong, it ALL goes wrong. This is another area that the Steam version of Anarchy Arcade excels in.

The Steam version's error handling is prepared for all sorts of failures at any stage of the process because it is designed for user-created addon scripts. Not only can it handle errors, but it also filters out any malicious commands that an evil user might try to take advantage of. It is able to detect problems and use fallback settings so that you'll always be able to at least get a default shortcut to your file spawned in your arcade, even if all hell breaks loose.


Issue 2
The prototype's issue with Netflix was due in part to the poor error handling, but was also due to an incompatibility with an all-new image format that is emerging on the internet. The new format is developed by Google and called WebP. It is actually superior than many other popular image formats in its optimization and compression, which makes it ideal for mobile-ready websites.

The problem is that Google's competitors are naturally apprehensive to add support for an image format that is controlled by Google. This means that pretty much the only browser that supports the WebP image format at this time is Google's own web browser, Chrome, and the framework it is based on.

Once again, this is a problem that only affects the prototype. To patch it, this maintainance update no longer tries to use the WebP DVD covers from Netflix. It tries to find a DVD cover from TheMovieDb to use instead. In the Steam version of Anarchy Arcade, the WebP image format will actually be fully supported, but it will still grab good ol' JPEG DVD covers from TheMovieDb so that your cabinets will be easier to share with your friends in standard web browsers.


Issue 3
The prototype's issue with Hulu is right along the same lines as the Steam images issue; the web address to embed Hulu videos changed and caused the in-game playback of them to fail. This one was easy to fix in the prototype, I just had to update the address in the Hulu scraper. When you spawn new Hulu videos, they will now be visible on the in-game screens when you select them; just like before.

Emulator Support Expanded
Some multi-system emulators require you to pass them a game TYPE for them to be able to automatically load your game. This functionality has been added to the prototype and allows for complex emulators that require this launch command parameter, such as MESS, to be function with the prototype. If you're one of the people who like to create your own emulator scripts for the prototype, the keyword for this new command line parameter is $TYPE. Just include that in your launch commands where ever you want the TYPE of the item to be inserted.

Changes in version 2.2g:

  • Fixed the Steam game scraper.

  • Updated addresses of Steam image sources to reflect the new CDN.

  • Fixed the Netflix scraper.

  • Removed marquee images from the Netflix scraper.

  • Fixed the Hulu scraper.

  • Updated the address that the Hulu scraper uses for in-game previews.

  • Fixed slave marquees showing up as purple/black checkers.

  • Removed the ability to set marquees as slaves.

  • Added the keyword $TYPE to insert an item's TYPE into it's launch command.

  • Added support for emulators that require a TYPE when launching (such as MESS).


Follow Anarchy Arcade
As always, development on the Steam version of Anarchy Arcade continues. If you need to catch up on some of the most recent news, you can check out this article on how plugins work in the Steam version. You can also follow @AnarchyArcade on Twitter to be notified of all news such as updates, live streams, or just random fun.

Party on!




Previous Updates:
JavaScript Plugins & Chrome Extension
This development update described the plug-in system for Anarchy Arcade, and then shows Anarchy Arcade plugins running as Google Chrome browser extensions to create 3D cabinets on-the-fly.

New Video, 3D Web & Free Game Giveaway
The Wednesday of April 2nd I gave away a free game every hour for 24 hours during a live 24 hour Twitch.tv broadcast stream using Anarchy Arcade. It's happening next week as well. I also updated the Kickstarter video to show off some of the non-gaming related uses of Anarchy Arcade:

Over-the-shoulder spectating, multiple video screens, and 26 new cabinets!
The week of 3/17/2014 saw a prototype update that had many exciting new features.

Unique Gameplay
This explains the gameplay elements of Anarchy Arcade and the in-game economy that fuels it.

Doing What the Competition Simply Doesn't
This update talks about how Anarchy Arcade is different than its big-money corporate brothers.

Emulator Support for All
This update talks about how Anarchy Arcade is able to support a virtually infinite assortment of emulators.

Official Website Revamped & Updated
This update talks about the revamped Anarchy Arcade website.

Prototype Updated - Oculus Rift Support & Multiplayer Bug Fixes
This article talks about the initial Oculus Rift support that is now implemented into Anarchy Arcade.

Kickstarter goes LIVE!
This is the original announcement of the Kickstarter going live on March 5th.

Prototype Update 2.2c - AnarCAST.tv
This update added new features to help you share your media and activities in your arcade with your friends, even if they don't have Anarchy Arcade or a PC at all.

Twitch, YouTube, and deviantART scrapers go LIVE!
This update added new JavaScript data scrapers, fixed some bugs, and tells you about the weekly gaming marathon.

Original Introduction
Hi everybody, this is my first real post here. I just signed up today.

For the past few years I have been researching and developing a sort of media-rich 3D desktop. Basically it turns your computer into a 3D virtual world where you can customize your virtual homes and explore the virtual world that exists inside your computer.

Here's a quick video overview:






It is sort of like that cool looking Rift Theater program, except it does games, movies, websites, and pretty much everything else. It is versatile enough to be used as a 3D desktop, but is geared towards gamers (especially since it is going to be distributed via Steam.)

The project has been Greenlit and will be hitting Steam with Early Access in September. In general, players seem to feel very strongly about the game 1 way or another and I expect it to do well once it is put on Steam because of all the gamers on there.

I'll be here to answer any questions you guys might have, but in the mean time here are some links to more info about my project:

Main Website: http://www.anarchyarcade.com/
Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.smarcade.net/Anarchy_Arcade_FAQ.pdf
Greenlight (no longer active): http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=180122020 (lots of feedback from players there)

I look forward to hearing your feedback. So far Oculus Rift enthusiasts have been very excited about Anarchy Arcade, and it will be nice to hear what Oculus developers think about it.

If you want to try it out first hand, right now you can still grab the FREE prototype from the main website's Download section. All you need is Steam to play.
28 REPLIES 28

Peejle
Explorer
A few questions:

The DL link for the prototype isn't an executable. What do I do with it?
Could you be specific on how to best use it with the rift? Is it run through Steam's VR beta? Tridef? Console commands?

Thanks, looking forward to trying it.

Peejle

EDIT: I renamed the file with an .exe extension and it worked. Added -vr in the game's Steam options and it launched in Rift mode.

smsithlord
Honored Guest
Hi Peejle,
The DL link takes you to a page that will automatically start the download of the EXE file. After you install, you just have to restart Steam and it will appear in your games list.

I haven't tried it myself in VR mode, but I'm told adding the -vr option to the prototype's Steam Launch Options will start it in VR mode.

A console command that *might* be useful is vr_force_windowed 1, which will cause the Source engine to run in a borderless window even while in VR mode. However, I'm not sure if this command needs to be manually entered or not.

Running the prototype in a borderless window is important because it allows you to instantly switch between running programs, which you will probably be doing because Anarchy Arcade launches shortcuts.

Peejle
Explorer
This is really well done. Some thoughts:

The video tutorials are jumpy. They pause and sounds drop out. Also they seem to play sequentially with no way to select past tutorials from a list.

Certain parts of the interface are very hard to read (no way you could know this without a rift) and the permanent? mouse control list in the upper left clips through walls breaking immersion.

The 'vr_force_windowed 1' command is not available in the console, and some windows might have popped up in 2d mode because I couldn't toggle it.

Is there any way to play games while standing in front of a cabinet like the Retrocopy emulator?

All that being said, I highly recommend this. Once the interface kinks are worked out this will be great.

Peejle

smsithlord
Honored Guest
Awesome feedback Peejle, thanks.

Retrocopy went a different direction with the emulation, by including their own internal emulators bundled with their program. It's pretty amazing what they can do with it, but it also means that players can't use their favorite programs that they are used to.

Anarchy Arcade focuses on allowing the player to use the programs that they always have, but because of this there is no easy way to render the programs that the player uses directly onto the in-game virtual screens.

It is possible to both allow players to use their own programs AND render them to the in-game virtual screens, but it would require video capturing libraries similar to what OBS and XSplit use and would come at a high performance cost. This might be added as an option in the future some time after release, but you can't do it in the prototype and it's not planned to be a feature in the initial Steam version.

Peejle
Explorer
"smsithlord" wrote:
It is possible to both allow players to use their own programs AND render them to the in-game virtual screens... ...This might be added as an option in the future some time after release, but you can't do it in the prototype and it's not planned to be a feature in the initial Steam version.

Your 'place and forget' Movies, Youtube vids and pics in a nice VR environment are awesome. This allows one to create a personalized VR space. However, when it comes to arcade cabinets there is a disconnect between those of us that played arcade games and those that didn't. Those that did want to relive those days by playing on a cabinet in VR. The ones who never roamed arcades don't 'get' a cabinet representing a game. I hope you can find the sweet spot between the two.

Peejle

smsithlord
Honored Guest
I took 2 weeks off of developing the Steam version to get a testable version of a new social feature into the prototype.

Some people like to do broadcasts from inside of their virtual media arcades, so I put together something called www.anarcast.tv that will make it easy for you to share your media with everybody.

Basically, you can take any media item in your library and post it to your own personal anarcast.tv feed. People that are watching your feed will see the new item pop-up on their screen instantly. They can listen to the music, check out the full HD box art and screenshots, watch the trailers, and follow the links to buy/download the item; all from their PC, iPhone, iPad, Android device, gaming console, or anything else that has a web browser.

I will be tweaking this feature as I receive feedback from the player community. I expect it to catch on slowly, but be very enjoyable once people figure it out. If it goes over well in the prototype, an improved version of anarcast.tv will be featured in the Steam version as well.

I updated the original post of this thread with an overview of this new update. Enjoy!

smsithlord
Honored Guest
This week I added 3 new data scrapers to make it easier for people to spawn stuff from popular websites. These scrapers are written in JavaScript and can be created by the community themselves and used as addons.

Allowing the community the freedom to create and share their own data scrapers ensures that Anarchy Arcade will be able to adapt to the desires of the community while not having to explicitly include content from any 3rd party companies.

This week I also performed some primary testing to make sure the new WWE Network is able to display full videos from within your virtual arcades. Aside from some minor UI conflicts, it works great. Bugs will soon be sorted out.

The Twitch.tv and anarCAST broadcasting features have proven to be stable so I am now trying to increase user participation in the open prototype. This includes a 24 hour marathon every Wednesday where I use Anarchy Arcade and the anarCAST features to put on a live broadcast.

Lastly, I have been listening to the presentations given at Steam's DevDays (recently released onto YouTube) and will be incorporating many of the features of the Steamworks API that they address in them. Most notably User Generated Content and how it can improve the player's experience, something I experienced first hand while playing Counter-Strike: GO last Wednesday. I will be releasing more details about these features as I sort them out and get them organized.

The original post has been updated with the most recent information.

smsithlord
Honored Guest
Hey everybody. Just a warning that Oculus support in Anarchy Arcade is a bit too bugy to be fun at the moment. Cymatic Bruce tried it out on a live stream (along with some other great VR experiences) and I was finally able to see the issues.

However, I ordered a dev kit last week and will be working out the VR issues in the prototype ASAP.

drash
Heroic Explorer
"smsithlord" wrote:
However, I ordered a dev kit last week and will be working out the VR issues in the prototype ASAP.


Sounds great! Maybe later on, it would be cool to see a write-up describing your expectations with how things worked pre-Rift vs the VR-related issues you run into after testing with the Rift.
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