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        Arimaa >> Site Discussion >> Game clients time information
        
(Message started by: Hippo on Jun 10^th, 2010, 12:23am)

Title: Game clients time information
Post by Hippo on Jun 10^th, 2010, 12:23am

I would like game clients to show both current move reserve time and total reserve time. Would anybody else like it as well?
Is it already implemented in some of the clients?

Title: Re: Game clients time information
Post by ChrisB on Jun 10^th, 2010, 3:41am

on 06/10/10 at 00:23:41, Hippo wrote:

I would like game clients to show both current move reserve time and total reserve time. Would anybody else like it as well?

Yes, that would be a nice feature.

Title: Re: Game clients time information
Post by FireBorn on Jun 10^th, 2010, 8:49am

What do you mean? I thought there was only move time and reserve time?

Title: Re: Game clients time information
Post by Sconibulus on Jun 10^th, 2010, 9:00am

Some games have a move time limit, but no cap on reserve time. For example, if I recall correctly,(which I might not) the World League games give a minute per move, each move capped at five minutes.

Assuming this is correct, and you have eight minutes in reserve, during your opponent's turn it will display the full eight minutes of reserve you have, but during your turn it will only display the 4 minutes of reserve you have available for the move (because 1 minute+4 minutes reserve=5 minutes for the move). This is at least how it works in the Javascript client.

I do agree that it might be useful to be able to see both measurements simultaneously, but I'm not sure where it might be put without overcrowding.

Title: Re: Game clients time information
Post by ocmiente on Jun 10^th, 2010, 9:05am

I also think that would be a nice feature.

I'm glad that Sconibulus explained the time controls (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/learn/matchRules.html). I was struggling to think of how to describe that. I think this requested feature is one of those things that you might not notice until you want to see it, and it's not there. Postal games and World League games are where I've noticed this issue most. You can watch the reserve time when it's the player's turn, and then when it's not. The displayed reserve time will often jump up or down when the player to move changes, because the display is changing between the reserve for the turn and the total reserve time left.

In any case, I've wanted that feature several times recently.

Title: Re: Game clients time information
Post by FireBorn on Jun 10^th, 2010, 2:32pm

Oh, so that's what was going on with the timers in my recent games.

Maybe it could be laid out like this:

Max move time:	Move time:
8:00	2:00
	Reserve time:
	10:00

Max move time will count down alongside move time until it runs out, then reserve time will start counting down. If max move time is ~~less than~~ greater than move time + reserve time at the start of the turn, it shows the sum of the two instead and counts down from there, for example:

Max move time:	Move time:
3:44	2:00
	Reserve time:
	1:44

That way players can see when they absolutely must move by watching only 1 timer.

Title: Re: Game clients time information
Post by Hippo on Jun 10^th, 2010, 2:54pm

I would just show "Extra time" what is time player have in reserve but cannot use for current turn. So you don't need to counting down that time during a move.
On opponent move there is no need to split reserve time to two parts so just showing extra time for just one player is sufficient.
(There is option to split reserve time according the next move, but everyone could look at time controls to know the split).

Title: Re: Game clients time information
Post by omar on Jun 12^th, 2010, 10:56am

I've made a note to show the total reserve time when you hover the mouse over the reserve area.