Tournaments
Ake Vader  /  27 Apr 2013, 18:29
Subsurface QuakeWorld 1on1 ladder beta
For quite some time Willgurht has been working on his QuakeWorld ladder project which will enable players to play 1on1 against equally skilled players on their claim to ladder fame. The ladder has now got a name - Subsurface - and the great news is that it is now in open beta stage for everyone of you to try out!
The steep learning curve in QuakeWorld has been a topic of debate for at least a decade now and the nut to crack has always been to make sure that equal players face eachother no matter what skill level they are at. In an attempt to address this, Willgurht has a very interesting project going that has just reached the beta stages as he opens up his QuakeWorld 1on1 ladder "Subsurface" for the public to try out.

If you haven't heard about the project before you may wonder what is so special about this ladder compared to any previous QuakeWorld ladders that have been present. The Subsurface ladder is a completely automated ladder and the user experience in terms of automation is what one would expect from a ladder when comparing to games like Quake Live for example;
  • The player registers on the website
  • A java plugin is installed along with the nQuake-online package (this is to make it smooth for new players, if the player already has QuakeWorld installed, it is possible to change the used installation on the "Edit Profile" page)
  • The player clicks "Play ladder" on the website (the system now tries to find an equal opponent)
  • When an opponent is found, a server is spawned
  • The QuakeWorld client is automatically launched and both players automatically connect to the server
  • The countdown starts and the match begins
  • When the game is over the result shows up on the website and ladder rank increase/decrease depending on the outcome
As mentioned above, the ladder system spawns the servers automatically and they are currently located in Sweden and Canada, so both Europeans and North American players should have the possibility to enjoy close and action packed duels on good ping while helping out to find any bugs that need to be ironed out.

Try out the Subsurface QuakeWorld 1on1 ladder!
Comments
2013-04-27, 20:27
remember this is quite complex and there will be bugs. mail any oddities to willgurht@gmail.com or post in the forum once we get a section up.
2013-04-28, 01:18
tldr wanna play
unhelpful
2013-04-28, 01:22
ok, clicked and registered and saved the link so will load and click when feel like qw. doubt there will be similar skilled peeps up for a game at the same time i am, but I guess if they all are using the same system and it's smart then anything is possible, gl
2013-04-28, 05:58
Not off to the best start i guess, had set memory limits of server way to low, incase page was slow.

Darff: I agree we the playerbase is way to small. But on the other hand, that is true regardless of a system like this.

I think the system will do fine for 2v2 mix or 4v4 mix even with a small playerbase. As it should be able to split fair teams of the players available. But not there yet.
2013-04-28, 09:33
You need to add France again in the list of the countries
Maybe you would need some help with the css too ?
2013-04-28, 10:46
added france again.

i think im capable to implemeent any suggested designs. just my taste that sucks.
2013-04-28, 15:48
Can you add North America?
2013-04-28, 16:54
Is that a country?

I added Canada, United States and Mexico + Kenya
2013-04-28, 17:29
I'm Canadian, If I was American I might get fragged!
2013-05-01, 14:01
I'm new to this ladder thing. But from what I understand, I can't use the ezQuake I already have, it has to install another nQuake specifically for the ladder games?

Edit: Nevermind, I saw now that I can use my ezQuake.
2013-05-02, 14:24
I love how this works! Works great on a fresh OS. As a QLive player who occasionally enjoyed QW, may I recommend fullbrights on q2pro? What's the word on that anyways? I've never played Q2 and was puzzled why it wasn't default there, but it is in QW.

Anyways what's most impressive is how well it works, and how easy it is to use. Perhaps a bit daunting in appearance at first, but the big buttons help.
2013-05-02, 15:57
This concept is absolutely great! Anything people can do to contribute, other than testing it out and playing of course?
2013-05-02, 16:52
Figure out a way to get more people to sign up and try it out.
2013-05-03, 09:58
Absolutly great!! Wanna try it out asap!!
2013-05-03, 17:16
when it all is working go ahead and send it to ESR and ul get loads of ppl checking it out,
2013-05-04, 13:26
cute, where is the irc chan ? - Somekind of bot that spamms "xx" has queued for "xx" in irc chan could be nice. with maybe a "jump in" link. Problem with matchmaking is you never get to play the really good players - which is very fun for the rookie now and then
2013-05-05, 09:46
That's right, a bot in a subsurface channel with that option would be awesome !
2013-05-14, 15:07
Wrote a summary on Norways perhaps biggest gaming community forum:

http://www.diskusjon.no/index.php?showtopic=1513876
2013-05-19, 14:46
OK been testing this, there are a number of bugs that need fixing before it should be promoted much imo:

QuakePhil had this hilarious problem: http://imgur.com/PHxLy8q

My ping (26 in UK) is weird - playing Rikoll I had like 72, then playing QuakePhil I had like 64... I guess I need to set my country for it to know where the best pinging server is? In which case - more countries needed on the signup thing!
2013-05-19, 15:08
yeah, i have experienced the same. So pls add Hungary too
2013-05-19, 16:01
Maybe more servers need to be added? Could be worth a shout out to the community - ping seems to be a limiting factor at the moment (I changed to be .nl and ping was still bad bad bad)
2013-05-19, 17:56
Server selection is done according to johnnys old algorithm. But there is only my server + mushis and mihawks ny server.
2013-05-23, 17:23
Can probably get one on froschroom if you ask fro...

Pls add UK to list of countries

Should be able to drop out of the countdown and not receive loss?

Should be able to tick 'play multiple games' and not have to click 'play ladder' again after every game
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