Roger That: New Software In Production

Gamer Centered Entertainment

Roger That: New Software Now In Production

Key Take-Aways

NEW SOFTWARE VERSION - SATR3.10

Improved Mission Scoring via the Master Controller
Improved Digital Radio Efficiency* Improved Digital Radio Efficiency
Double the ammo for all weapons in the Battlefield ROYALE theme
New "Recommended Options" replaces "Spare Device" options.
Boosted digital radio range for Supply Crates in the Battlefield ROYALE theme
NEW: BASIC CONTROLLER which is even simpler than a Simple Controller.
Reorganized the command list order in the Simple Controller

Improved Mission Scoring via the Master Controller

This new software version offers Improved Monitoring of the Scoring Right From the Master Controller. SATR3.10 offers improved Mission Scoring direct via the Controller. This is the most significant change in this new version.

It offers improved mission-based scoring to the master controller. For example, the Controller will calculate the winning team in the Domination Game even with lots of boxes and then will announce the winning team on the gamer's gun.

Monitoring of the game results was previously done by using monitor commands (still available) or using SATRWare.

SATRWare is great for fixed venues, especially indoors, but for mobile operations or simple outdoor games over larger areas the master controller is more practical. Supported on the controller including a simple controller are the following game scores:

• Team Death Match (respawn count)
• Electronic Capture the Flag
• One Point Domination
• Multi-point (up to 4) Domination
• Heist
• Rush
• Up to 4 squad Battle Royale and
• Free for All.

The latter two game options are best done on a controller that is not also running the game timer as receiving lots of incoming updates from the gaming guns may slow the controller down.

However, generally these are not timed mission anyway. Free for All can be used in a Battle Royale style game where it is very gamer for themselves, no teams

Except for Rush, when the mission ends the controller works out the winner for you and gives the user the option to play the winning team phrase.

Scoreboard on the Controller - in game — This screen shows a single point Domination game (aka "capture & hold" game) in progress. The red team currently has the Domination Box (aka "game box") in control for 2 min 40 sec. The Blue team has it in control for exactly 2 minutes. And the Purple team has it in control for 1 min & 4 sec.

Controller game results — At the end of the game the display shows the winner and gives the Operator to issue a sound effect to all gaming guns. In this case B, for blue is the winning team, since the Blue team controlled the Domination box for 2 minutes and 44 seconds in total.

Improved Digital Radio Efficiency

The latest live gaming engine is more efficient in relation to radio system. Both in transmitting and receiving. Whenever the system processes a radio packet it can slow down including the timers. Changes have been made at the driver level to reduce this delay (3.10I+ code).

A lot of the radio traffic sent from gaming guns and boxes is for SATRWare integration, there is no 3 options on each SATR device to specify the level of integration:

• None
• Partial and
• Full.

By default, there is partial integration which provides enough data to run the new master controller scoreboard without significant delays on the gaming guns or boxes. On full integration with the scoreboard, the system has been optimized to reduce lag.

The master controller now stores for a monitor responses or scoreboard up to 20 devices in RAM rather than the SD card. RAM is much faster than writing to the SD card.

This makes the system more reliable in collecting device information.

When using system resets, the system now runs much faster. It was doing a lot of writing to the SD card which is slow, not it only writes to files that have changed.

The timers on the Domination Box are now more accurate, there were minor delays with the Scoreboard integration RF.

Double the Ammo for all Weapons in the Battlefield ROYALE Theme

In Battle Royale theme, the ammunition has been doubled on each weapon. Field test found that gamers were running out of ammunition too quickly. Afterall the “Battle Royale” is a winner-take-all competition so players need as much ammo as possible!

Also, in Battlefield Royale theme, the healing shoot lockout has been removed. Instead when players are healing from bandages or a medical kit, if they are shooting, the healing pauses.

We found the healing lock out option while “realistic” was a little frustrating to the players.

Gamers love playing “Fortnite for Real”. So, except for very small children and school groups, all our sessions now run with Battlefield Royale theme. This has been a real hit with the gamers. Battlefield Operators will need to bump up the number of Battle Boxes in their arsenal as the supply crates add a very important element to the game.

New "Recommended Options" replaces "Spare Device" Options

A new “Recommended Options” menu has replaced the former “Spare Device” list. This gives the operator a simple list of devices required to run our recommended missions, all preset to our standard set of configuration options. This allows inexperienced people to easily run our games, the same games listed on the master controller scoring (except Rush). In the new 3.10 software version the way the recommended options work across themes has been standardized.

To get a battle box into recommended options is very easy, just hold down the red button while turning the box on, it will ask if you want to reset, select Yes. This is much faster that going through all the menus and reduces vastly the chances of the staff getting it wrong. This is so simple; we use this now for our short-term rentals as well.

Boosted digital radio range for Supply Crates in the Battlefield ROYALE theme

When not in indoor range, the radio range of the supply crates has been increased by one level. We found that with larger number of people, especially nowadays where we want to spread out more, that supplies needed to be collectable over a greater distance.

A minor bug was fixed where hits on a Battlefield Royale theme shield did not count as a wound for statistics purpose.

NEW: BASIC CONTROLLER which is even simpler than a Simple Controller

There is now a BASIC CONTROLLER, which is even simpler than a SIMPLE CONTROLLER.    This is designed for festival operators or rentals to school vacation care or summer camps when it has to be incredibly simple. A basic controller has the following options:
•   Game Timer   (how long each game runs for)
•   End a Game
•   Start a Game
•   Find Everything
•   Select a Game (Only TEAM ELIMINATION and CAPTURE AND HOLD, equivalent of TDM and Domination)

Reorganize the command list order in the Simple Controller
The simple controller commands list sequence has been reorganized.

Now the list starts at “Select Game. Here’s the new list order:

•   Select Game (Select Mission for Battlefield LIVE)
•   Game Timer
•   Briefing (RF)
•   Start (RF)
•   End (RF)
•   Find (RF)
•   Red Team (IR)
•   Blue Team (IR)
•   Any Team (IR)
•   Reload (IR)
•   Set Volume
•   Reactivate IR
•   Auto. Reactivate

The way it works now, is that the very first thing an operator will want to do is to select what game to play, then set how long to play it for.   Next, an operator will want to get players ready using the briefing command (pause and reset).   Once everyone is in position Start the game and then if required End the game. Finally, when the event is over, an operator may need the FIND command.

The commands in bold are the most common once and the ones that most operators should need to run our recommended games

Summing UP

The new SATR3.10 software offers Operators and Gamers alike some exciting new features.

What do you like best about the live gaming engine improvements?