Demo recording & spectator mode

[Schetter]

Has there been any talk out of the LA/Pandemic camp about this?

 

If it hasn't been considered yet, then it needs to be. The lack of a demo mode, among other things, is one of the factors contributing to the breakdown of the competetive BF community. Meanwhile, dated games like CS continue to thrive.

 

Being able to record demos and play them them back is invaluable to a competetive group commander. Using demo footage from a match to analyze what went right/wrong will help groups gain skill faster and raise the bar as far as the level of competetive play overall. Demos are also fun to watch, especially between two great teams. A gaming news website I write for, Amped, has an ever-growing library of demos from games that support demo recording, featuring matchups between top teams. Not only are they entertaining, but other groups also have the opportunity to ween a trick or two off the big dogs.

 

 

The other thing worth mentioning here (and is related) is a spectator mode, preferrable something that can be password-protected so that league admins and fellow members of teams playing can watch the action in real time, instead of having to rely on what's being said over voice comms and IRC bots. This is yet another thing missing from BF and is contributing to the lack of interest as well.

[Sounds Risky]

Battlefield has a spectator mode, not every server has it, but it's there.

[Chris Anne]

If there is no way to record a demo through the game itself, you can always use Fraps .

[Schetter]

Not in the sense that I'm talking about - it's quasi-spec. In BF, you can trail behind players of your own team in 3rd-person. However, this also means that you're connected to the game as part of that team, and you'd be able to spawn in at any time if you wanted. This is entirely unacceptable for competetive play. There needs to be a 'spec' team (as in CS and Raven Shield) so that people can be connected to the game server in spectator mode and not be able to disrupt gameplay at a whim.

[Schetter]

Originally posted by Chris Anne

If there is no way to record a demo through the game itself, you can always use Fraps .

 

But that would just give you a movie of what YOU were doing. Demos record the movements of both teams, hence the advantage. Gameplay movies are not as valuable.

[StormHammer]

I certainly hope there will be demo recording and spectating built into the game.

 

I agree with your reasons for demo recording.

 

I use spectating myself when I'm new to a game that's been out for a little while. You can learn the maps, the objectives, and some tricks of gameplay simply by watching the better players. I watched several campaign matches for Enemy Territory before I ever decided to join in (and each rotation of all the maps takes 3 hours - so I spent a long time watching beforehand).

 

For a game like Battlefront, of course, I'll be jumping in feet first from the start. However, a spectator mode is still needed for people who pick the game up a few months after first release, so they can learn the ropes (if they want to do it that way, rather than simply joining and running around like a headless chicken wondering what to do).

 

AS already stated, spectating can also assist people in clans to pick up on certain tactics, and flag up problems.

[Xirion]

bah it will come!

[Mountainforest]

Well, I think you can hardly disagree with you point of view. I hope there will be a demo and spectator mode. We can only wait for the answer.