Demo Cinematic Mode

An auto-edited highlight reel from a recorded match.

Usage

demo 1                        # load a demo (from demolist, or by filename)
demoplay analyze              # print the highlights it finds, without playing
demoplay cinematic 2          # play a 2-minute reel

From the lobby's Demos page, ⚡ Highlights does the same and lets you pick a reel of 1, 2 or 5 minutes. The shared playback bar offers pause, a timeline and previous/next shot controls. HUD toggles the game HUD during first-person shots; H shows or hides playback overlays and replay chat. Escape or the gold exit plate leaves playback. See Demos.

How a reel is made

1. Analyse. DemoAnalyzer scans every frame of the demo for moments worth keeping and scores each one.
2. Build. SequenceBuilder picks the best moments to fit the length you asked for (about 8 seconds a segment on average), gives each a camera and a speed, and adds transitions. The top 15% of moments also get an instant replay from another angle.
3. Play. CinematicDemoPlayer drives the normal demo viewer through the segments, switching the camera for each one.

The analyser works on the recorded frames alone and touches no rendering or network code. It lives in the engine repo (src/shared/demo/); the player is client/CinematicDemoPlayer.ts.

What counts as a highlight

Type	What it is
frag	A kill
multi_kill	Several kills within 200 ticks (1.6 s)
airborne_frag	A kill made while the killer was in the air
streak_kill	A kill that extends a streak
first_blood	The match's first kill
movement	A trick jump, a high-speed run or a big height gain, with no kill

Each moment carries 3 seconds of lead-in and 2 seconds of follow-through.

Scoring

A kill starts at 10 points and a movement moment at 5. Tags then multiply the score:

Tag	×	Tag	×
rocket_jump	1.8	unstoppable	1.6
airborne	1.5	raging	1.4
first_blood	1.5	low_hp (under 30 HP)	1.3
trick_jump	1.3	long_range (over 1500 u)	1.2
on_fire	1.2	high_speed (over 600 u/s)	1.2
height_gain	1.2	close_range (under 150 u), revenge	1.1

A rocket jump replaces the airborne bonus rather than stacking with it, and a multi-kill adds 50% per extra kill. Where two moments overlap in time, only the higher-scoring one is kept.

Cameras and speed

Preset	Look	Speed
chase_hero	First-person chase on the killer	Normal
orbit_kill	Free camera orbiting the action	Slows to half speed just before the kill, then back
rocket_jump_hero	Below the jump arc, looking up	0.75×, dropping to 0.25× at the peak
victim_pov	Chase on the victim before they die	Half speed just before the kill
dramatic_zoom	Wide-to-tight dolly	0.25× around the kill
replay_orbit	Slow 360° orbit for the instant replay	0.25×

Transitions between segments are a cut, a crossfade, a white flash or a fade to black.

Tips

• Reel too short or empty? Run demoplay analyze first. A demo of two idle players can have few highlights, and a longer reel cannot invent more.
• Exporting. There is no built-in video export; record the reel with a screen recorder.