Replays - jump to point of interest

So I was thinking reading over a thread... this game is going to have good replays. But one of the problems with replays, is that they take a long time to watch, even on increased speed, and that on increased speed, it's hard to find the point you want. And you can't watch in reverse (for technical reasons, so I understand that it won't be changed most likely) so if you miss a point of interest, you have to start again.

So I wondered, would it be possible/worthwhile/interesting to introduce a list of graphs that games like Age of Empires, Starcraft and other RTS had, where you can see a basic overview of each player's economy, army size, relative territory control, etc, with an option to click on any part of any graph and fast-forward the replay to that moment (and then pause)? It might help you in figuring out why your economy suddenly crashed without having to roll through the replay 5 times to figure out what moment it happened (and on what planet) or to find a specific battle you want to visit again, or something like that.

Most replays only have a handful of interesting segments to watch. Any way to be able to get to them faster would be a good thing, I'd say. The less time we waste on watching replays, the more time we can play.

going back in the replay is really a must if this game want to be multiplayer too.

just copy starcraf 2 replay system model and dont worry about other stuff

SC2 replay model kind of sucks IIRC, doesn't let you jump to stuff you haven't seen.

Starcraft 2 has backwards replays? Is this new or have I been missing out on something for a long time? Or do you mean the option to jump backwards, which usually goes with wide inaccuracy and long loading times?

Anyway, if there's enough time to make backwards replays happen, definately include that as well.

Yes I meant that. For my experience not many games had such feature, so SC2 replays system for me is pretty solid

But if you meant backwards compatibility on SC2 there is that! http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/777747788

What are you talking about

Starcraft II's system is ok, but it could be a lot better. I meant hopping back in the replay, so when you're watching the game at 1:04:00 to be able to jump back to 0:59:00 without being forced to replay the entire game.

And Starcraft makes for relatively short games, usually 1v1. You don't want to play an entire PA replay of a 2 hour game just because you're curious what happened to your army somewhere at the half-point. You want to see a graph of army strength, click right before the sudden decline, and only watch the relevant part. Ideally, with as little waiting time as possible.

I understand it'll be hard on the technical side, but I think it'd make the replay system far more accessible. At some point I stopped watching SCII replays (and I was pretty serious about getting good) simply because it took way too much time and you only saw a little bit of relevant stuff for all the time spent looking.

well how would a game dev know what your poi is their pois might be different then yours

For the love of all that is good... please proofread... :roll: I don't mean to be rude, it's just hard to read.

EDIT: Back on topic. Though I don't really watch my own replays, I think there should be a replay vault, kind of like FAF. I would enjoy getting to watch everyone better than me duke it out.

its fixed and i will do that from now on

The starcraft replay system does not store game data. It stores input commands, and repeats the game like a TAS.

I'm curious how PA replays will work. If the game gets really long, or if the number crunching gets really intense, a normal computer could have trouble going through the replay.

This game isn't sync. Our replays are recordings which have a lot of nice properties including the stuff asked for here.

Sweet! Good to hear.

Just a thought on replays -

Would it be possible during gameplay to put up a replay flag? For example, as I'm playing something that i KNOW I will want to look at specifically in the replay happens. I hit a button (probably one of the F keys, to make it out of the way of normal gameplay) and then when I go back and watch the replay there is some way to easily get to that exact spot in the replay.
Could be a "fast forward to point of interest" or even just a mark on the time bar so that I can recognize where what ive flagged is.

-Stretch

That sounds like an interesting idea.