Downloads
Coming soon!
Rendezvous API download
Fully portable multiplayer Knockabout game
Currently Available
Single player Knockabout
This version of Knockabout was originally used for profiling purposes,
but is currently the most portable of the Rendezvous/Knockabout
implementations. To run this game, execute KnockaboutMiniTest and click on
create - this will create a separate window with a player running onto the
screen, and you will be able to move the player alone. To add a second player
and a ball click on reset targets. The blue player will come on to the pitch
and take the ball to one corner of the pitch. The challenge is to get the red
player to score in the goal at the top of the pitch.
This version of the game was originally used in order to create a profile of
players amongst volunteers within the Computing Department at Lancaster
University. It does, however, also provide a simple demonstration of the
operation of the Rendezvous platform. Because there is no second player in
this game, the blue player's objective of taking the ball to the corner of
the screen is very clear, but when in normal, multiplayer play the
player's objectives would be constantly updated based on movement from its
remote counterpart, ensuring that the player's and the ball's position targets
were met. More details of this process can be found in current
work.
This version of Rendezvous can also be used to experiment with the effects of
PID based tuning on the application. If speed and direction tunings are
changed, the change in behaviour of the blue player can clearly be seen.
Click on the image to download.
Rendezvous and LUCID
This version of Rendezvous is older and will require a degree of recompilation
(Visual Studio .NET C#) in order to work on a new set of machines. It is the
largest of the implementations available, and includes a simple sample Rollback
implementation for reference, allowing the user to switch between Rendezvous,
rollback and a version of without any consistency mechanism. In order to work,
this will need to be placed in c:\projects\footy and will require the editing
of the creator's IP address variable passed to PeerEndPoint from
RendezvousMain. It will also require all but the initial creator of the game
(whose IP address should be used) to have the isCreator bool in Form1.cs set to
false.
This version of Knockabout can take up to 10 players and will work across the
network with variable delay for testing purposes. It also provides the most
detailed information on the functionality of Rendezvous (prior to
optimisations). This version of Rendezvous features complete separation of the
Rendezvous arbitrator from the Knockabout game, with information passed between
the two in the form of name/value pairs and all arbitrator functionality
performed without direct knowledge of the Knockabout design, other than that
which is "programmer defined" within the Rules class.
As part of this test platform, LUCID was also featured as a means to reduce the
bandwith used to transmit messages between arbitrators by filtering out those
messages that aren't relevant at any given time.
Click on the image to download.
Knockabout Mini - Roaming Rendezvous
Rendezvous with Knockabout targetted at a group of PDAs, with the creator still
on a PC or laptop. This version is a massively cut down version of the
Rendezvous and LUCID based game, intended to make portable tests possible -
note the two different Knockabout DLLs (CE and XP) and the KnockaboutMini (PDA
- Rendezvous) and KnockaboutMiniTest (PC - Rendezvous). This version of the
software was used in order to demonstrate the application at several events,
including the ACE 2005 Conference in Valencia. Our original version used a
small, private network to connect the PDAs to the PC (and each other), although
there is no reason that this wouldn't work across a wider network.
KnockaboutMini has also been successfully trialled on a SmartPhone, although as
yet this is only as a standalone application. LUCID is not included in this
version, which is the primary reason behind the more static set up procedure.
Click on the image to download.
Pong
Our original Rendezvous trial application. This application was created prior
to the completion of the arbitrator conception, and focussed more on the
possibility of continuing to play a game even when the latencies were very
high. With such a simple game, this was translated literally into bending of
game rules, and the understanding of the basic needs of a two player game in
terms of how control of a remote player can be manipulated to tolerate high
latency effectively without detriment to the game play. This game can still be
successfully operated over two computers, although IP address and port
variables must be set for each machine.
Click on the image to download.
