Robust Toolbox Launcher Redesign #133
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To clarify something from Discord (I can refine it in the doc later), the "Robust Launcher" won't support multiple Game Hubs (unless RT project managers decide they want to, in which case we can rethink this). It will only support RobustHub. The reason the diagram has Game Hubs other than RobustHub is:
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| #### Optional: Steam Release | ||
| I'm of the opinion that Robust Toolbox should have its own dedicated Steam page which ships Robust Launcher directly, to reduce confusion when people want to play other RT projects like OpenDream via Steam. I'm not saying we should do this *immediately*, but I think it's worth serious consideration if any not-SS14-adjacent projects are created in Robust Toolbox. | ||
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| We should also check Steam's policy for this sort of thing, as the SS14 launcher at this point would just be Robust Launcher in Game-specific Mode for SS14 (see below). |
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IRT Steam's policy: Trackmania 2 (consisting of Canyon, Valley, Stadium, and Lagoon) and Shootmania collectively serve as existing precedent. None of these individual titles on Steam contain a full respective game, just the Maniaplanet launcher (which handles downloading and installing the actual game), with the title on Steam just quickstarting into a specific title via launch arg. Backing out of an individual title's main menu does not exit the game, but rather, puts you in Maniaplanet's home screen, regardless of whether or not it's the only Maniaplanet title you own. The only thing these five games all share in common is the engine, Maniaplanet. (Additionally, Maniaplanet itself has quite a few parallels to the proposal; users are allowed to create their own titles, which all have their own isolated multiplayer servers, leaderboards, content packs, etc. These titles can be added to Maniaplanet's home screen, and behave identically to the actual purchasable titles in terms of UX.)
We feel like game-specific mode isn't entirely necessary at all due to this precedent. Probably the only thing that'll be necessary is that the game merely boots into the title's associated hub by default.
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The reason "Game-specific Mode" exists at all is because in prior discussions PJB outright refused to have a BYOND-style launcher that opened into a game list because it would lead to player confusion when they launch the Steam game "Space Station 14" and get a list of other games. It's unrelated to Steam policy.
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@PJB3005 Most gmod games don't have their own individual Steam store pages.
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Added a second diagram showing how launchers fit into things. |
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Added additional clarification to the Game Hubs section. |
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Don't like the idea that server hubs have to be per-game. Sounds easier if there was just an easy field to filter the game name in the advertisement data. |
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Adjusted Server Hubs to support multiple games per hub. |
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Added an optional section to run a game jam once this system is fully implemented, see latest commit for details. |
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This is a pretty great proposal, as a design I think it's a great next step in the future of robust. Byond2 electric boogaloo! |
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Eventually it would also be neat to allow developers to "bring their own game engine" and use robust for handling accounts, sessions and server browsing. But that would very much be a wyci feature. |
Read the markdown file.
Supersedes #117 in my opinion (I didn't actually write any of that nor directly incorporate it into this, that's all ZeWaka).