11 ms·

This is a weekend project of mine - looking for some feedback from the HN community. Basically you upload your .SC2Replay files and I'll convert them into web

by rynop 14y ago

This is a weekend project of mine - looking for some feedback from the HN community. Basically you upload your .SC2Replay files and I'll convert them into web replays. My twist is I make recordings from 2 players perspectives and show em both to you on the same page (sync'd of course). I have some other options as well, but I'm really looking for feedback on what things people do not like and what things you think would be cool. From a bootstrap/startup perspective, my goal for this was to produce something that would scale decently with almost no $ investment. Have this running on 1 ec2 micro, static pages and assets (js,css,img) being served up by github pages. Dynamic pages are being served directly from memcached via nginx module (pages are stored already gzipped). If anyone is interested in the implementation details I'd be willing to share cuz I think some of the techniques I used could help others looking to bootstrap their own webapp. I also have a mobile version so you can watch em on your phone. http://m.ggreplayz.com http://m.ggreplayz.com

gibybo 14y ago
How are you generating the video files then? Surely you cannot run a game of SC2 on an EC2 micro instance?
- paraboul 14y ago
  This job is done by a Chinese "agency".
  - rynop 14y ago
    haha nope. I record it real time then encode.
- endianswap 14y ago
  I imagine he has a regular desktop with a video card sitting there doing the work (especially if you look at the Improve page, he's asking for another video card or someone's spare box; it also mentions a queue, etc.).
RegEx 14y ago
Why the hell have you not posted this to /r/starcraft?!?
- rynop 14y ago
  I have actually - a while ago: http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft2/comments/t3ya3/feedback_on_my_webapp_multiperspective_sc2_web/ http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft2/comments/t3ya3/feedback_o... I haven't had time to improve it much since then. My plan is to post it here (and get a perspective from a diff audience, tech saavy but not my target). Once I iron out some more things, I'll post on reddit.
  - kapnobatairza 14y ago
    Hope you don't mind but I thought this was neat enough that I posted it myself before reading that you were not ready to yet. http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/x9uej/automatically_turn_your_sc2_game_replays_into_web/ http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/x9uej/automatical...
    - rynop 14y ago
      No that's cool - it probably gets more "street cred" not coming from the author :) I'll start replying to those reddit threads, thanks for doing this.
banana_bread 14y ago
Doesn't seem very scalable. Unless you have a way to run and record multiple games on one machine.
- rynop 14y ago
  If this gains some traction (aka $) I have ideas on how to scale it. I also have a theory for multiple on a machine, just haven't had time/resources to proof of concept it.
socrates1024 14y ago
It would be great if you could synthesize Day9's voice and autogenerate some commentary.
- rynop 14y ago
  haha yea, I'll get right on that ;)
nostromo 14y ago
I love it! A few suggestions: * Side by side might be better than one over the other. Most monitors are wider than they are tall. * I miss the sounds. I would keep the audio from both replays, but of course turn off music. * When creating the videos I'd give the player on the left a slight pan-left for the audio and the opposite for the player on the right. * Show the production tab dood!
- rynop 14y ago
  Thx! I tried side-by side but width of the videos actually take up more space on your 16:9 monitor. I have a TODO to make the replays dragable/dropable to where ever u want. Cant do sounds cuz its from 2 diff persons perspectives. Also, I dont like the sounds :) I get better framerate w/ em off too. will do on the production tab
  - hkmurakami 14y ago
    If the video is configured on the left and right, then wouldn't it make (somewhat) sense to have the speaker channels of the two videos correspond to the left and right screens? As a longtime viewer of SC and SC2 games via video, double sound source doesn't bother me at all. (I remember footage from Korean TV from about 2004 that had first person view and first person sound from two players at once)
    - rynop 14y ago
      not a bad idea, will think about it
  - lonfaris 14y ago
    Since you have at least two videos showing, could you open the production tab on the first and the units tab on the second?
    - rynop 14y ago
      When uploading your replay, you have complete control over HUD options
koko775 14y ago
How does the replay conversion work? o_0
- rynop 14y ago
  hard work and lots of problem solving - and a bit of magic :)
  - hkmurakami 14y ago
    Having using "Pengiunplug" for things like replay FPView for Broodwar, definitely concur with the "a bit of magic" assessment. I've always been fascinated by how many clever hacks come out of the SC community for adding features/functionality like this. A lot of the SC2 observer mode features were a product of hackers making plugins and utilities that enhanced the replay experience for Broodwar, so it's fun to think about what sorts of nice things will be made by such hackers going forward for SC2 :).
light3 14y ago
Some kind of algorithm for speeding up 'boring' segments is of course top of the list of features, perhaps something that allows the users to 'edit' the video. Great work!
vibrunazo 14y ago
I posted this on teamliquid. People seem extremely excited. There are some suggestions going on there. I'm not sure if you know the teamliquid community. They're huge, very active and helpful. I'm sure you'll get some nice feedback there. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=356321 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=356...

by rynop 14y ago

gibybo 14y ago

How are you generating the video files then? Surely you cannot run a game of SC2 on an EC2 micro instance?

paraboul 14y ago
This job is done by a Chinese "agency".
- rynop 14y ago
  haha nope. I record it real time then encode.
endianswap 14y ago
I imagine he has a regular desktop with a video card sitting there doing the work (especially if you look at the Improve page, he's asking for another video card or someone's spare box; it also mentions a queue, etc.).

RegEx 14y ago

Why the hell have you not posted this to /r/starcraft?!?

rynop 14y ago
I have actually - a while ago: http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft2/comments/t3ya3/feedback_on_my_webapp_multiperspective_sc2_web/ http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft2/comments/t3ya3/feedback_o... I haven't had time to improve it much since then. My plan is to post it here (and get a perspective from a diff audience, tech saavy but not my target). Once I iron out some more things, I'll post on reddit.
- kapnobatairza 14y ago
  Hope you don't mind but I thought this was neat enough that I posted it myself before reading that you were not ready to yet. http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/x9uej/automatically_turn_your_sc2_game_replays_into_web/ http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/x9uej/automatical...
  - rynop 14y ago
    No that's cool - it probably gets more "street cred" not coming from the author :) I'll start replying to those reddit threads, thanks for doing this.

banana_bread 14y ago

Doesn't seem very scalable. Unless you have a way to run and record multiple games on one machine.

rynop 14y ago
If this gains some traction (aka $) I have ideas on how to scale it. I also have a theory for multiple on a machine, just haven't had time/resources to proof of concept it.

socrates1024 14y ago

It would be great if you could synthesize Day9's voice and autogenerate some commentary.

rynop 14y ago
haha yea, I'll get right on that ;)

nostromo 14y ago

I love it! A few suggestions: * Side by side might be better than one over the other. Most monitors are wider than they are tall. * I miss the sounds. I would keep the audio from both replays, but of course turn off music. * When creating the videos I'd give the player on the left a slight pan-left for the audio and the opposite for the player on the right. * Show the production tab dood!

rynop 14y ago
Thx! I tried side-by side but width of the videos actually take up more space on your 16:9 monitor. I have a TODO to make the replays dragable/dropable to where ever u want. Cant do sounds cuz its from 2 diff persons perspectives. Also, I dont like the sounds :) I get better framerate w/ em off too. will do on the production tab
- hkmurakami 14y ago
  If the video is configured on the left and right, then wouldn't it make (somewhat) sense to have the speaker channels of the two videos correspond to the left and right screens? As a longtime viewer of SC and SC2 games via video, double sound source doesn't bother me at all. (I remember footage from Korean TV from about 2004 that had first person view and first person sound from two players at once)
  - rynop 14y ago
    not a bad idea, will think about it
- lonfaris 14y ago
  Since you have at least two videos showing, could you open the production tab on the first and the units tab on the second?
  - rynop 14y ago
    When uploading your replay, you have complete control over HUD options

koko775 14y ago

How does the replay conversion work? o_0

rynop 14y ago
hard work and lots of problem solving - and a bit of magic :)
- hkmurakami 14y ago
  Having using "Pengiunplug" for things like replay FPView for Broodwar, definitely concur with the "a bit of magic" assessment. I've always been fascinated by how many clever hacks come out of the SC community for adding features/functionality like this. A lot of the SC2 observer mode features were a product of hackers making plugins and utilities that enhanced the replay experience for Broodwar, so it's fun to think about what sorts of nice things will be made by such hackers going forward for SC2 :).

light3 14y ago

Some kind of algorithm for speeding up 'boring' segments is of course top of the list of features, perhaps something that allows the users to 'edit' the video. Great work!

vibrunazo 14y ago

I posted this on teamliquid. People seem extremely excited. There are some suggestions going on there. I'm not sure if you know the teamliquid community. They're huge, very active and helpful. I'm sure you'll get some nice feedback there. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=356321 http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=356...