Hi Ferret,

Thanks for the message sorry for the delay in replying. I'm glad that
you have a new system out. It is a shame that it isn't yet compatible
with any previous system. It is a shame that companies won't work
together to agree on a standard signal so that existing customers can
switch to newer equipment without having to do it in one hit. But I
can see that you wouldn't be allowed to copy someone elses system
without permission.

I've got a few questions that I have slotted under your text.

Please note that these are just my views and if you ask other taggers
their views (even other taggers in VE) you will get different answers.

--- In virtualeclipselrp@..., "ferret1963" <Brian@S...>
wrote:

<snip>

> Pretty much all the options available in online FPS's or in any of
> the arena laser games is represented in the new LTTO system. Some
> examples:
> (1) All scoring is completely automatic, and changes depending on
the
> type of game played (11 basic game types in the first offering)

Great! VE just uses six hits and you're out in it's system but I know
that a lot of other groups want ammo counters and different hits for
different players.

I think that we would probably want to use different number of hits
on the sensors before they went down.

> (2) There is no way for "cheats" to annoy honest players (other
than
> blatantly covering the receiver).

Hmm, I hope this doesn't mean you have slaved the gun and sensor
together. We don't always have guns in our games for all characters
and non player characters, but everyone has to have a sensor in case
they are shot.

> (3) Physical areas like rooms or car-ports can become actively
scored
> to make a zone of contention.

Sounds interesting, but how much do physical area sensors cost? (a
ball park figure will do).

> (4) The Host can set a whole variety of options such as: time
limits,
> number of reloads available, number of tags until tagged-out,
number
> of seconds of shields time, whether or not friendly fire counts,
and
> whether or not teammates can give "medic assistance" to each other
in
> the event one player becomes badly tagged or needs to be "pumped-
up"
> for a strike mission.

That is great. How long does it take to do that? Is it done with dip
switches or another unit and an IR signal? Can I set up one unit and
copy all the settings over to the others?

> (5) Players receive proximity warnings, "lock-ons," and
> Identification-Friend-or-Foe information about the other players.

That sounds great. But can I turn it off? I might want to give some
players "unsophisticated guns" that don't have IFF in them.

If IFF can be turned on and off we can make it an in-character "add-
on" for players to buy.

> (6) Players receive audio and visual feedback as to whether or not
a
> fired tag landed on the target player.

That sounds interesting. I don't think it is a must have feature for
LARP but as a bonus feature it could be something that influences a
purchaser.

Can we turn off this feature? We might want to put a gun
into "sniper" mode and not have it make the noise.

> (7) The receiver is integrated with the transmitter in one unit --
> there is no extra vest or cap to wear.

Hmmmm. I don't like the idea of this. How can you shoot someone in
the back? At the moment many UK taggers have taken WoW Lazer Tag
StarSensors, pulled out the innards and used a circuit called a Y-rig
to put one sensor on the front of the head and one sensor on the back
of the head.

The disadvantage of an integrated unit is that if I put my gun down I
can't be easily shot. I also can't be shot unless I carry a gun. This
means that we can't have non-combatants in a game.

I would think that a lot of LARPers would prefer to have a head
sensor in something that fits adults and is comfortable! (IE not
anything like a WoW StarCap, with its hot foam and hard front, and
not anything like a WoW StarHelmet, which I nearly got stuck on my
head as it was too small!)

However as a pure combat system. You are probably looking to keep the
price down.

> (9) The LCD display allows the user to select which game
information
> he/she is most interested in viewing at any time, rather like a
soft-
> screen display in a modern fighter jet.

I'm sure a lot of taggers will love this. But please make it as
damage proof as possible. If it breaks easily then I won't want to
get one.

> (10) Sound effects can be "muted" for stealth mode, played audibly
to
> all, or played only through a headset worn by the player.
> (11) Headset also includes a transflective Heads-Up-Display which
> projects images of 3 "Alert Icons" in space in front of the user --
> one for "Locked-On", one for "Scored Hit", and one for "Hit by
> Opponent".

The real disadvantage with guns that connect to headsets is that you
can not put down the gun. In a Quazar type combat game you don't
actually want to put a gun down, but in LARP you are playing a
character that might have to do lots of non-combat tasks where you
need both hands free. For example:

* Giving medical assistance (we use a toy as a medical unit).
* Defusing a bomb.
* Carrying a large in-character item (and holstering the gun).

LARP players may also put down their guns to surrender. Sticking the
two things into the one unit cuts down on all of these options.

Having said that I'm sure that if you get the basic system working
and making money you can think about separate units later on when you
want to get into the LARP market.

Please please please, talk to your competitors and try to agree on
standards because if someone goes to a game with 50 or 60 players
they are FORCED to use compatible equipment. No matter how good your
stuff is if you can't shoot the stuff used by everyone else then you
will become another "betamax" of tag.

> Regarding the most anticipated question about LTTO: The first
> offering will NOT be compatible with WoW/Tiger LT systems of the
> past. I Hope to add that feature to the next offering (slated for
> release in Spring 2005), the code for which I am developing as I
> write this. The post on Adequate.com explains some of the reasons
> why, but please note that since then we have made a minor
electrical
> modification which may make Tiger- and WoW-compatability modes
> possible (might require a very minor hardware hack, I will keep
> everyone who is interested posted).

Most people I know use WoW Lazer Tag and not Tiger Lazer Tag (because
Tiger didn't make their stuff compatible).

> BTW, if anyone wanted to clue me in to their "real requirements"
for
> using LT gear in their LARPG's I will keep it in mind as I develop
> the new system -- things such as:
> (1) Under what conditions to you really use the LT gear -- all
hours
> all weather indoors and out, only at night in darkened rooms, or
> something in between?

Virtual Eclipse plays weekend LARP games lasting from Saturday
morning to Sunday afternoon. (Sometimes we also play on Friday night
but this is quite rare because of people turning up at different
times).

We play most of our games out in the country in woods and fields.

We generally go out in the night as well as in the day, and also
spend time inside buildings (like scout huts). The conditions the
sensor has to cope with are sunlight, strobing neon lights and night
time. It also has to cope with rain. (Because we wear head sensors
they have been waterproofed inside to avoid short circuits from
sweat).

The standard battery used with the WoW Lazer Tag sensor (PP9) runs
out too quickly for a game so we have made recharcable battery packs
that have more capacity than we need.

> (2) What kind of range and firing rate do you need under worst-case
> conditions (outdoors at high noon in summer)?

Range of weapons varies as many taggers hand build weapons using toy
riffles, various large lenses (often an inch across) and all sorts of
focal lenghts. Some people stick with a WoW StarLite but others have
automatic guns. In our group we prefer long range weapons to have
narrow beams and wide beam weapons (grenade launchers) to have short
ranges and slower firing rates.

But as far as I know there is no agreement on fireing rates, ranges
or beam width in the community as a whole. I've seen guns that can
shoot several widly spaced people at 400 yards before!

> (3) Is just a WoW-compatibility mode enough or should it also
support
> Tiger LT (sorry, Laser Challenge is out of the question due to
patent
> reasons) and/or compatability with the homebrew systems?

There are a couple of people out there who have already built WoW
compatible stuff for the UK community and I believe that they were
working on add on features. You need to find them. I think Dave
Bodger is one of them, but I'm not sure who the other one is.

I believe that most UK groups use WoW. However I think there is a
Laser Challenge community in the USA.

If your gun signal is generated by a digital circuit then perhaps you
could make that bit open source (or user reprogramable) so that
players or groups of players could change the signal to any other
system they want to use.

Of course I am not advocating anyone else cloaning the Laser
Challenge signal if that is not legal. ;-)

> (4) Are there any special features which would make you grin from
ear
> to ear, etc.?

We have a medical system where people get randomly injured in
specific locations after they have been shot several times. If we
could integrate something like that into a sensor it would automate
stuff for us, but that would be a one off program for just our group.

We would love to have a box that plugs into the sensor (either with a
physical connection or IR) to act as a medical diagnosis unit and
show the "injury" that a player has suffered.

Our sensors also represent "forcefields" in a VE game and we use
another device to reset the forcefield. If we could program some code
into our own hats to do that then we would have those big grins.

Basically this would mean that we would need the ability to be able
to add stuff onto the operating system of your equipment so that we
can add on features and download it into the sensors and guns.

I know that some taggers are interested in grenades that do multiple
hits in one go or even knock someone down instantly.

This could either be done as a grenade launcher/bazooka type weapon
or a bomb that a player must defuse.

So if your hit system could tell the sensor how many hits to loose a
lot of people would like your system.

That is all I can think of, but I'm sure there are other people out
there that can tell you more.

> (5) Any other information you care to put before me, I will
consider
> and try to accomodate as we move forward.
>
> Keep on Taggin -- with "the game that moves at the speed of light!"
> (stadium not included....)
>
> :-)