Spiral Knights - Desktop Energy Account Balance

Desktop Energy Account Balance

12 replies [Last post]

Sun, 04/15/2012 - 07:53

Bolgron

So, Spiral Knights runs on energy. For the massive amount of players who play this game for free, they rely on Mist Energy for their daily shenanigans. Unfortunately, to check your account's Energy balance, it requires launching the game on the website, or the program on your computer, and logging in. While this isn't a massive inconvenience, adding in the regular (not a problem, the continued work done here is a reason Spiral Knights is one of- , if not my- favourite MMORPG) patches can make the process quite long. Only to find you do not have the required Mist Energy to do what you wanted to do.

I propose a desktop application, or a Widget, that simply shows the Energy Balance for an account. I think it would be simple to create, and makes the process easier for all. In terms of how I think it would look, I envision something that looks exactly like the current energy tracker in the bottom right hand side of the screen. The option to buy more energy by clicking on it, like the current in game tracker does would be a great idea too.

Any feedback on this idea would be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sun, 04/15/2012 - 08:26

Bluebrawler

Sun, 04/15/2012 - 08:43

Luguiru

Stop that

This is not an alternative to your past spam. Either post relevantly or stop completely.

On a relevant note, this has been suggested in the past; an energy indicator on the website which tells you how much you have on your account, so long as you are logged in. The issue with this is keeping it up to real time.

Sun, 04/15/2012 - 10:02

Juances

On topic:
Energy refills at 1 point every 13.2 minutes.
All you need is a brain to remember last time you logged in and how much you had, then do the math. It's pretty easy, why bother with devolping an app for that. Or if your brain isnt as bright, keep notes and use a calculator. It only takes 2 minutes.

Sun, 04/15/2012 - 10:42

Goofio

Yes, remembering last time

Yes, remembering last time you were online, subtracting from the current time, converting the difference to minutes, and then dividing by 13.2 (every player is aware of this number) is much easier than double clicking an app on your desktop.

This is like saying, "Why bother using an egg timer? Just count to 300 in your head."

+1 to the OP. I would use a widget like this.

Sun, 04/15/2012 - 13:42

Serell

I believe SK is an MMO, not

I believe SK is an MMO, not an MMORPG.
Just stating that because i want to...

Now on topic, this is not a bad idea. +1

Sun, 04/15/2012 - 15:01

Toxicyoccm

+0, is it?

Why is this needed?
"While this isn't a massive inconvenience, adding in the regular [...] patches can make the process quite long. Only to find you do not have the required Mist Energy to do what you wanted to do."

Because logging on to check can be cumbersome if there are updates? Seems like a very weak reason to me. Besides, perhaps this is intentional as, now faced with not enough mist energy, you have a reason to buy crystal.
As said, every 13.2 minutes you gain back 1 unit of mist. Every 22 hours you get 100 mist energy from 0. If you were to play everyday and end at the same time you would always start your play-session with 100 mist, and you wouldn't be checking a widget every so often to say when you can play.

I don't see why this would take priority over anything, that doesn't mean it's a bad idea. Why, if you made an app where you put in your log-off time and it started counting for you, then hey! OOO didn't have to lift a finger for this suggestion.

Sun, 04/15/2012 - 15:58

Crimson-Cataphract

+1, adding to what Toxic said

This app wouldn't need to track the logout time, only the time that Windows closes SK. No point in updating while you're on the main menu screen, anyway. Since that would be able to work without looking at any game code whatsoever there wouldn't be any ToS issues.

Sun, 04/15/2012 - 16:35

Goofio

You guys are assuming that

You guys are assuming that the person's mist is at zero when they exit, which isn't always the case.

This is why a widget that communicates with the game server (like a news feed) would work better.

Sun, 04/15/2012 - 17:01

Toxicyoccm

However!

103 mist energy is capped at 100, meaning unless you are waiting to the exact minute to play again at 100, waiting 22+ hours will keep you covered.

I would hope there aren't players who log off with 6 mist energy and looking to wait until they have 10 to run stuff again. [Because at that point crystal is a more reliable route]

[still not seeing why this is needed above anything. Make a case! Knowing I haven't played in a day or two, meaning I have 100 across all accounts, is working, reliable system that doesn't require the need to whip out a little counter.]
Also!
-If this is running like a feed, will this cause even more lag with the game running from server to client to app?
-What happens if I have no internet for a minute, will it stop counting?
-How will it know to manage what accounts?
-If it looks like our current energy meter, will it have multiple bars for all the accounts I am signed up for?
-Do the two run independently, or if I buy energy for Account R it updates for R's crystal energy?
-How is this a better method than taking a day from playing when you get into the ME<10 levels?

~Toxicyoccm, who doesn't get why this is needed.

Sun, 04/15/2012 - 18:21

#10

Goofio

Sometimes people want to

Sometimes people want to craft/buy something instead of running the clockworks, which means waiting until you hit 50 or 100 mist.

The program would function as follows:

1. Widget opens a connection with the server. Login credentials control which account to track. (Aside: I don't understand why mist levels need to be private, but that's a different subject. It makes sense for CE, but mist...)

2. Server sends the user's current mist level to the widget.

3. Server sends a message each time the mist level increases, or widget checks every X minutes to get the latest mist level

The widget would be dormant/listening almost 100% of the time, so it should not cause lag.

If the connection fails, the program would try again periodically until a connection can be re-established. It could have an 'offline mode' that uses the 13.2 minutes to estimate mist levels.

Mon, 04/16/2012 - 01:27

#11

Bolgron

Well then.

Thanks for the comments. With the exception of one, it's all been nice to read.

I don't know about yourself, but I am unable to stick to a strict regiment of when I play. I usually play with friends from America - myself being British - so my time to play varies, and when I do play I always use the 100 ME. It's useful to know when the ME bar is full or at some level at any rate, like Goofio said, for crafting or the like, rather than running elevators. Hell, some people may even want to know when they have the energy to fill up the Krogmo bonus meter for 'free'. I'm sure there are many more applications of this, and I see it as a small, but valuable, asset.

The issue Toxicyoccm came up with of lag - if connected to SK, then I'd presume it'd run off it's own, small, server. Data exchanges would be minimal so a small, low 'power' server would do the job efficiently. If it wasn't run on it's own server, the size of the exchanges would probably be so small that it wouldn't effect you. Your issue with tracking accounts - logging in to the application, which makes it more necessary for it to be OOO official. The idea of a separate server would also work here. The idea of tracking - on an account basis.

Looking at an Offline Mode for this, I think it's the best way to go. The information for when SK was last used could be tracked, and when the thing is double clicked the calculation is done, and bang, you've got your number. The only thing you'd have to do would be, if you had more than 0 ME when you logged out, input the amount of remaining ME on the account. The issue is with multiple accounts that you wouldn't have an accurate running 'timer' for both if the calculation is based on when SK last closed.

The point of "Why is this needed?" I think should be changed to, "Would I use this?", which, if no, then fair enough to you.

Mon, 04/16/2012 - 04:25

#12

Hexzyle

A memory editor can simply

A memory editor can simply draw the values out of the program without even asking anything of the server.

The title of the Spiral Knights window already says "Spiral Knights - [Knightname]" and the self-inspect window is an offline feature. Your energy is also displayed to you whether you're disconnected or not, so it's all stored in the RAM.

Just have a program draw both the knight name and energy number out of javaw.exe, then start up a counter for it. You'd have seperate energy bars in the program for each knight you had open on the computer.

The only thing this wouldn't support is playing Spiral Knights across multiple computers: the energy level would still display "100" until you updated it by logging in.

This system would also work for retaining crown count and CE.

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Desktop Energy Account Balance