Edits are nice, I dunked the old post, better danker version of the main post ahead (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧
osu! might have a good online multiplayer, but it lacks a feature in which games like StepMania or Taiko no Tatsujin shine greatly: a good ol' fashioned local multiplayer.
> What do you mean, local multiplayer?
Imagine a group of nerds, each of them having an osu! account on their own computer. If they wanted to click some circles during one meet-up, as of now they'd need that each one brings a computer and some headphones, since the music is not synched in online multiplayer lobbies - and don't get me started on mechanical keyboards, you can only have one per room if you want to hear yourself typing without hearing other players' echo. But, all these problems would not happen if they all played on a single pc. The global idea of this feature would be that several people could play on a single client simultaneously.
> So basically osu!mania's coop?
Beside the obvious fact that it is a mania only feature, osu!mania's coop is all about splitting a beatmap in two parts for two players. In local multiplayer, nothing is split: each player plays on their own, they're just sharing the same client to play. This is something usual in games like StepMania or Taiko no Tatsujin. Beware, these two videos are kinda loud and overall they just suck, but I don't find much examples of local multiplayer videos so that'll have to do.
> That's good and all, but would it be offline/unranked?
If the dead posts on this forum can learn us something, it's that osu!LAN is a big no-no: you won't see a multiplayer game that is not sending scores to Bancho whatsoever. Well that's great, because with this idea I'm not talking about going offline.Since everyone is playing on their own fair and square, it's technically acceptable to send each users' scores to Bancho upon completion of the beatmap.
> Isn't having multiple accounts forbidden?[/list]
As far as I'm concerned, the rules state that one is not allowed to create a secondary account; but as long as we're respecting that, you can use your account to connect to any osu! client, be it on your own computer, on a shared pc and so on. The Rules page on the Wiki seems down right now, gotta check again soon.
> Well why not. How could it work on a single pc?
While osu!mania and osu!taiko playfiels are very stackable and very easy to imagine as local multiplayer subjects, I believe every game mode can work on local multiplayer. I'll use the small amounts of graphical skills I have to show y'all how Local Multiplayer Might Change Your Life™.
osu!standard
A.K.A. "why I should never ever be allowed to draw animu"
Here we see Ben inviting Ryan over to play some osu!standard. While Ben plays with a keyboard and a mouse, Ryan prefers to use his tablet.
Firstly, local multiplayer or not, each player need a space to themselves. In this case, splitscreen is indeed an option to do just that : here, we even see that Ben tilted his monitor in portrait orientation so that two play fields fit on a single screen. That was a useless feature of his monitor until Local Multiplayer, so good thinking there Ben.
Secondly, each players need their own pointer to play. Believe it or not, but that's a perfectly realistic feat! Sotwares like Dicolab, ScreenHero or Pluralinput are already capable of emulating numerous pointers on a single pc. As long as Ben and Ryan can click independently on their own screen, they're good to go.
osu!taiko
This time, Ryan and Gary are using a TataCon, Ben sticks to its keyboard and Yann tries out a controller.
While we're at it, it might be necessary to map inputs on log in, but since osu doesn't need that much buttons it's not that much of a big deal.
Anyway, this also shows that local multiplayer might get along well with the Party Mod, just like how StepMania and Taiko no Tatsujin allow players to set their difficulty individually.
Mock-ups for other modes coming soon (I'm hella slow)
osu! might have a good online multiplayer, but it lacks a feature in which games like StepMania or Taiko no Tatsujin shine greatly: a good ol' fashioned local multiplayer.
> What do you mean, local multiplayer?
Imagine a group of nerds, each of them having an osu! account on their own computer. If they wanted to click some circles during one meet-up, as of now they'd need that each one brings a computer and some headphones, since the music is not synched in online multiplayer lobbies - and don't get me started on mechanical keyboards, you can only have one per room if you want to hear yourself typing without hearing other players' echo. But, all these problems would not happen if they all played on a single pc. The global idea of this feature would be that several people could play on a single client simultaneously.
> So basically osu!mania's coop?
Beside the obvious fact that it is a mania only feature, osu!mania's coop is all about splitting a beatmap in two parts for two players. In local multiplayer, nothing is split: each player plays on their own, they're just sharing the same client to play. This is something usual in games like StepMania or Taiko no Tatsujin. Beware, these two videos are kinda loud and overall they just suck, but I don't find much examples of local multiplayer videos so that'll have to do.
> That's good and all, but would it be offline/unranked?
If the dead posts on this forum can learn us something, it's that osu!LAN is a big no-no: you won't see a multiplayer game that is not sending scores to Bancho whatsoever. Well that's great, because with this idea I'm not talking about going offline.Since everyone is playing on their own fair and square, it's technically acceptable to send each users' scores to Bancho upon completion of the beatmap.
> Isn't having multiple accounts forbidden?[/list]
As far as I'm concerned, the rules state that one is not allowed to create a secondary account; but as long as we're respecting that, you can use your account to connect to any osu! client, be it on your own computer, on a shared pc and so on. The Rules page on the Wiki seems down right now, gotta check again soon.
> Well why not. How could it work on a single pc?
While osu!mania and osu!taiko playfiels are very stackable and very easy to imagine as local multiplayer subjects, I believe every game mode can work on local multiplayer. I'll use the small amounts of graphical skills I have to show y'all how Local Multiplayer Might Change Your Life™.
osu!standard
Here we see Ben inviting Ryan over to play some osu!standard. While Ben plays with a keyboard and a mouse, Ryan prefers to use his tablet.
Firstly, local multiplayer or not, each player need a space to themselves. In this case, splitscreen is indeed an option to do just that : here, we even see that Ben tilted his monitor in portrait orientation so that two play fields fit on a single screen. That was a useless feature of his monitor until Local Multiplayer, so good thinking there Ben.
Secondly, each players need their own pointer to play. Believe it or not, but that's a perfectly realistic feat! Sotwares like Dicolab, ScreenHero or Pluralinput are already capable of emulating numerous pointers on a single pc. As long as Ben and Ryan can click independently on their own screen, they're good to go.
osu!taiko
This time, Ryan and Gary are using a TataCon, Ben sticks to its keyboard and Yann tries out a controller.
While we're at it, it might be necessary to map inputs on log in, but since osu doesn't need that much buttons it's not that much of a big deal.
Anyway, this also shows that local multiplayer might get along well with the Party Mod, just like how StepMania and Taiko no Tatsujin allow players to set their difficulty individually.
Mock-ups for other modes coming soon (I'm hella slow)