The next best thing
Posted: 16 August 2015, 16:42
When we started working on Board Game Arena, our goal was to create the next best thing to enjoy board games, right after a game night with friends around a solid wood table (which stays, of course, our all-time favourite).
Over the years since BGA's launch in 2010 and with the help of the community, we covered a lot of ground with pretty scarce resources and we are proud of the result. But still, up until now, you couldn't see a drop of sweat glide on the brow of your opponent after you put him in a difficult position, or hear his anguished swearing when understanding that his master plan was gonna backfire big time
After watching a long time for the right technology to emerge, and after more than one year in the works with ups and downs, we are proud to introduce to BGA audio and video chat!
As a matter of fact you could already do this by firing Skype in parallel with BGA, but the process of exchanging nicknames and so on was not so convenient, so we wanted it built in, independent of any external software, so that it would be as easy to use as possible.
So how does it work?
Some words of warning...
We usually don't give much thought about technology, often taking it for granted, while it relies on lots and lots of work and incremental progress. Bringing this functionality to BGA wouldn't have been possible without the hard work of Google and Mozilla engineers, and a lot of other tech-minded guys before them.
A big thank you to them and to anyone contributing free and open technologies that other people can build upon!
Over the years since BGA's launch in 2010 and with the help of the community, we covered a lot of ground with pretty scarce resources and we are proud of the result. But still, up until now, you couldn't see a drop of sweat glide on the brow of your opponent after you put him in a difficult position, or hear his anguished swearing when understanding that his master plan was gonna backfire big time
After watching a long time for the right technology to emerge, and after more than one year in the works with ups and downs, we are proud to introduce to BGA audio and video chat!
As a matter of fact you could already do this by firing Skype in parallel with BGA, but the process of exchanging nicknames and so on was not so convenient, so we wanted it built in, independent of any external software, so that it would be as easy to use as possible.
So how does it work?
- First, you'll need a modern browser implementing the WebRTC technology. Simply put, you'll need Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, which are the recommended browsers to use BGA anyway
- Second, when starting a game, you'll need to set the 'Audio-Video' option to select either 'audio only' or 'audio/video'. Then you'll get prompted for authorization to access your hardware by your browser, and after you accept, the video will appear over your player avatar (it will be small, but you can click on it to resize it and drag it anywhere you please on the page). Other videos will appear right after other players join and accept to share their cameras/microphones, so you can check that everything works in the lobby before starting the game.
Some words of warning...
- This technology is still new, not standardized in browsers yet. It's experimental and it depends on a lot of things to work (camera/microphone being properly installed on your computer, browsers implementing the technology, networks being reliable and steady, internet providers not filtering out some needed protocols with firewalls and so on). As a consequence, your mileage may vary. In case of a glitch, please remember: refresh (F5) is your friend!
- Before reporting a bug in the BGA bug tracking system, please make sure that the appropriate conditions are met (for example by checking that other sites such as https://appear.in/ or https://talky.io/ using the same technology are working properly) and if you do report a bug, please document it thoroughly. Also, it would be interesting if you could contribute to this thread by posting working configurations (country / internet provider / browser / operating system) for fellow players to know if potential trouble comes from their setup or from something else.
- Displaying multiple video streams on a page is resource intensive. You should definitely try the video in a two player game before joining a 10 players game of 6 nimmt with video on! (browser crash almost guaranteed under these conditions)
- When an active speaker is close to a microphone, it can create a sound loop (Larsen effect) that is a little harsh on the ears! For a better experience, using a computer headset with microphone is advised.
- Even with a nice community like we enjoy here on BGA, this is the internet and you can get in contact with the occasional not so nice guy, so you should probably use video chat with friends or people that you feel are all-right from playing online previously with them. Or just be ready for the occasional moron: remember that you can mute both sound and video by clicking on the video then on the appropriate icons.
We usually don't give much thought about technology, often taking it for granted, while it relies on lots and lots of work and incremental progress. Bringing this functionality to BGA wouldn't have been possible without the hard work of Google and Mozilla engineers, and a lot of other tech-minded guys before them.
A big thank you to them and to anyone contributing free and open technologies that other people can build upon!
