First and most important thing (supposed to be "main thread" of this thread
):Public lobby API / protocol
This would allow (after some toying with game GUI) to specify custom lobbies to use (for example for private clan games or when main server fails) by specifying URL (including port and optional password like key maybe) for alternative server, there should be button to restore default or list box (combo box) to choose between default and those added by user (we could have ability to add few, favorite ones). At least option to overwrite those data in settings file (which is probably possible already).
I dismiss possible idea of using current lobby to register others (only as possible source to get URLs, but not as requirement) since it can fail (sometimes servers go down for various reasons, or are not available due to DNS failures or filters), I've seen that often in games like OpenArena.
This would allow wz to talk wit arbitrary server using for example HTTP queries, also my lobby games list gadget would tak advantage of it.
For sure it already exists in some form, sine game is able to query that data.
It's about creating public documentation for it (or maybe there already is something?) and allow to replace main server by custom ones.
GUI less dedicated server
Instance of Warzone to be used as dedicated server, without game GUI and controlled by command line and / or through native GUI dialog (Qt based).
This is related to lobby ideas since having first point done then it could act also as "local" lobby server, especially if it would be able to run more than one game in parallel (using different ports for example).
It depends on how much game mechanics (like calculating projectiles routes etc.) are tied to OpenGL etc.
In worst case it could simply run "invisible window" or don't render at all (depends how much could be disabled to not break gameplay for clients).
It is related to spectator mode since host would act as one internally.
Lobby chat
Adding simple polling based chat or using more advanced stuff like client listening to events send from server (like in AJAX) to lobby, using common API (I could add it that gadget too).
Make real use of forum credentials implemented in master
This is planned in some form but since I don't know details I'll describe own vision.
Main use case would be to store statistics on central server (through generic API, we could query particular lobby server to check if it supports saving that data) so ranks could be reliable finally (except of cases when someone uses alternate accounts to login).
After connecting to lobby (using common API / protocol) we could query it to check if it requires credentials (forum credentials in case of current server) and if needed display form to input them and ask if we want to have saved them (some might prefer to relogin everytime, for security reasons). In case of current lobby we would need to have additional SQL database to store statistics. It could be still fooled (only real solution would be some signing of sent data or preferably dedicated servers acting as lobbies, also using public / private keys for authentication) but much less easily.
Additionally, forum login would be forced only when connecting to main server, no more logging in to join private games bypassing lobby.
Thats all for now.
