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Discussions / General Discussions / Generic meta server
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on: 2011-06-10 15:05:29
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Hello, I am thinking about a generic meta server for multiplayer games. The generic meta server can store generic text data (for instance json, comma separated or xml) for a generic text key. So when a player starts hosting game XYZ it sends this piece of info to the generic meta: server_started.XYZ=<ip>;<port>;<name-of-game>;<password-needed>;<name-of-rule-variant-or-mod> It will be stored on the generic meta server with a timeout (one hour or something). A unique id is returned so the server can erase his entry on the generic meta server. Another player that wants to find a game, the game queries the generic meta server for "server_started.XYZ". He gets a list of <ip>;<port>;<name-of-game>;<password-needed>;<name-of-rule-variant-or-mod> <ip>;<port>;<name-of-game>;<password-needed>;<name-of-rule-variant-or-mod> ... <ip>;<port>;<name-of-game>;<password-needed>;<name-of-rule-variant-or-mod> <ip>;<port>;<name-of-game>;<password-needed>;<name-of-rule-variant-or-mod> and the player can choose a server to connect to. Anyone thinks this would be interesting? Anyone knows of such a service already? It would be very easy to write it. But hosting is another matter. Perhaps Google app engine. Perhaps the developer of game XYZ must register on the site and obtain some sort of code to stop abuse. |
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5
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Discussions / General Discussions / Re: Eclipse vs. Netbeans
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on: 2011-03-24 13:39:07
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I used to be an Eclipse user but switched to NB some years ago. I still prefer NB but use Eclipse when I need to (for a plugin that I can't get on NB). I've used IdeaJ, but don't prefer it to either NB or Eclipse. They're all good tool thou. I also still use emacs for some tasks (never Java coding thou)
Emacs?  you are insane! vi is the way to go!  |
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6
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Discussions / General Discussions / Re: Eclipse vs. Netbeans
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on: 2011-03-23 20:30:43
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I have converted many of my friends that were using eclipse, to intellij. I have never heard of any beeing converted the other way. I have used eclipse for almost two years at work (and I don't look back). But I have to admit I have also met fanatic eclipse users that didn't convert to intellij.
IMO, Eclipse is the best free ide but Intellij is the best.
Don't miss that intellij have a free version (called community version) without lots of plugins for instance spring-support. It you don't want to do enterprise programming, you are probably going to be ok.
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7
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Games Center / Archived Projects / Re: Doodle Jump for PC
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on: 2011-02-07 17:53:58
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I would suggest that when you have made a long jump, your energy decreases the first few jumps from the new hight. This would make the game less random. As it is now, it is very easy to climp without control until you hit an enemy.
What do you mean? Say that the little fellow jumps 300 pixels high normally. I think that this height should be lower when he manages to jump onto a new level higher up. So he looses energy. If he jumps to a new level 150 px up he should loose half his energy (or something). So the next jump will only be 150 px. For each jump the jump height increases with 50 px (or maybe more). So, soon after climbing, he will be back to 300 pixels high jumps, but not directly. If he jumps to a new level 300 px up the first few jumps after that will be pretty low. |
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8
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Games Center / Archived Projects / Re: Doodle Jump for PC
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on: 2011-02-07 10:33:08
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Funny and I got 18000p. I would suggest that when you have made a long jump, your energy decreases the first few jumps from the new hight. This would make the game less random. As it is now, it is very easy to climp without control until you hit an enemy. |
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10
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Games Center / Showcase / Re: Hexara -- work in progress
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on: 2011-01-21 23:01:37
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Quite interesting, but I really miss beeing able to swap two pieces. Also, I want to be able to rotate them three and three. Place the mouse in the center of three pieces and right click to rotate them. Or something.
Technically, it works good.
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14
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Game Development / Networking & Multiplayer / Realtime networking architecture for space shooter
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on: 2010-12-09 08:35:17
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Hi!
I'm thinking about writing a descent clone. That is, you fly around in your futuristic ship in a maze and blast the other players with futuristic weapons. However, when really thinking about networking, I have some problems.
* How smart is the server? Does it handle more than connections, scores and shuffling messages around.
* What is a good solution for determining hits? (bullets can be both lightspeed and "slow" (slow =~ 200 m/s)
Should this be on the client that fired the bullet? (potential cheat problem and it works to good when the network is congested)
Should it be on the server? (the server need to have a complete physical representation of the game, otherwise the safest solution)
Should it be on the client that is hit? (similar problems as when it is on the client that fired the shot).
Should it be a combination? The firing client determines the exact hit (with the 3D geometry) and the server checks that the shot is within bounds.
I am thinking something like this:
* When connected, the server tries to determine the average ping of the client. Then server tells the client the server time. Everybody knows about the server time. Every state update package includes the server time, like: "I am Here at this Time".
* Every time a client updates its state (not counting simply traveling forward) such as turning ever so slightly, it sends a message to the server to update this. The server makes sure this is reasonably (to prevent cheat) and forwards it to the other clients. Kind of like dead reckoning, but always sending updates with player input.
* All clients simulate physics.
* When a client finds that the new packet from the server mismatches with where it is in the local simulation, it is eased to the new position over a few frames. It can be that a ship collided with something static in the local simulation but the player really avoided the obstacle.
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15
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Discussions / General Discussions / Re: Bottom of the barrel buck basic beginner needs advice
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on: 2010-12-04 04:37:40
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I've done quite a lot of both, there's not a lot of difference in terms of development cost really. Art-wise 3D is much cheaper.
Really? In my experience, it highly depends on what you are doing. Sure, terrains can be very easy to make, but a fully animated character takes quite a long time to make in 3D. Depending on the perspective in the 2D game, it can range from quite simple to about as hard as in 3D. But what do I know, I have only made one 3D game so far... To the threadstarter: Buy a book. Killer game programming in java is quite good for understanding basic game related topics, including 2D, 3D and basic AI. Do note that it covers Java 3D, not JME. The details are a bit different. Start with something simple, in 2D. Someone already suggested the excellent blender: from noob to pro. You don't have to go all the way through it. |
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16
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Games Center / Archived Projects / Re: Gunslinger 2 - sci-fi action top down shooter
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on: 2010-11-17 20:14:06
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Ok, as you might have guessed, development has slowed to a crawl. I have built and uploaded a new version now. Should work better now. There are some new features in it: * Armour (as with the guns, there are a couple of basic models that can have random extra abilities) * Recycling station - Put in four items and the recycling station creates a new random item for you. |
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18
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Discussions / General Discussions / Re: Mac App Store without Java
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on: 2010-10-27 18:26:03
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Ahh good.... I really hate Mac. Now I have one more reason to. I had to use one at work for 1.5 years. As soon as I got the chance I switched to a pc with bigger screen for half the price (it also were much more stable). |
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Game Development / Game Play & Game Design / Massive multiplayer puzzle
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on: 2010-10-25 21:12:37
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I got an idea when I was sleeping today. Maybe it is Minecraft-inspired... I dunno. At least, it lets players help create stuff online.
I'm sure you have played the various light puzzles found in cell phones and on the Internet (with mirrors and prismas you should guide a laser beam through all lamps). But when you have solved all 25 puzzles, you are done.
How about expanding this concept with user created content? But I am not thinking about a simple repository with puzzles. No, it should also keep track of who played (and solved) who's puzzles and if they liked it. Of course, an automatic system for tracking easy<->hard puzzles should be online. If a puzzle makers creations are liked by lots of people, his puzzles will be easy to find (and that will give him satisfaction). By tracking who liked what puzzles, you can get recommendations of what puzzle to solve next. You can ask for something slightly harder or easier.
How about this? (does it exist already?)
The second step in this evolution would be to move away from pure puzzles. Say you have an rpg with a mapmaker module easy accessible. Half of the game is about crushing the other players dungeons and advance your character. The other half is about expanding your own dungeon, kind of like Dungeon keeper. You earn money for expanding your dungeon by raiding other dungeons. After you have earned enough, you can go into your own dungeon and add that trap or guard that you really needed. Guards that are killed respawn and traps rearm. Of course, you will see logs of what other people did in your dungeons. Each dungeon can only be accessed once each five hours, this helps against building an easy dungeon for your friends to earn money in. An even more advanced version lets you defend your own dungeon when an opponent enters.
How about this? (does it exist already?)
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Discussions / General Discussions / Re: XML Parsing - The new way
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on: 2010-10-25 13:36:55
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There must be at least 20 ways of parsing XML Has anyone ever used XPath? I know it's supposed to be a query language for XML, but I've never seen it used anywhere in production, despite it being supported by nearly all programming languages' standard libraries. Yes, if you have to find that one node/list/attribute etc... it's for you. Instead of parsing the xml and storing all data in your own structure, you can just query the dom for that tiny bit of information you need. |
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Games Center / Featured Games / Re: Revenge of the Titans progress
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on: 2010-10-11 07:05:41
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I tried the new demo, wanted to know what endless was about. But since it was not available I tried the campaign again, seeing if it was funnier than last I tried. Apart from the good thing that the titans wait until I build my first refinery, it was worse. I want to set the difficulty. I don't want the game to decide that. IMO, starting on the hardest difficulty is stupid for a demo. If you really want to adjust the difficulty automatically, it should start easy, and if the game is going very good for the player, raise the bar. At least, the game should detect that I am lagging behind in science, and change the difficulty.
Is it possible to end up in a dead end? You have played good on the first X levels, but not good enough to be able to buy some vital technology. Then comes this critical level that you can't complete. I would be very frustrated and quit, rather than start from an earlier level and try to buy that tech.
I died deliberately a few times, restarted the level (asking for an easier), completed it and still got a gold medal, seems strange???
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Games Center / Showcase / Re: ApoCommando
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on: 2010-10-10 11:42:47
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Do you try "stop" or "go" ? Wink A step command? You mean if you type step the player will go for 1 tile? Hehe... stupid me. I didn't try them since every second counted with timepressure on. Yes, that kind of step |
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Games Center / Showcase / Re: ApoCommando
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on: 2010-10-08 19:47:21
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It's actually kind of fun, I didn't think it would be... But it is very hard after a while, requiring many retries (at least for me). I would like less timepressure, and more other challenges. Also, I would like the commands stop and step. When I am at the pipe with the plant there is no way I can jump and shoot it if I am also going forward. I have to stop. And I wouldn't mind a step command when I have stopped, moving forward just a tiny step. |
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Games Center / WIP games, tools & toy projects / Re: Please vote for jMonkeyEngine in Packt's Open Source Graphics Award
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on: 2010-10-02 11:57:14
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Sorry, I voted for Blender. Even though it's interface is not very good, it is still an extremely competent program AND there are very good documentation. Gimp also have a stupid interface and it is miles behind PS. I like krita better. Scribus is simply crap, it doesn't even have kerning. I could just as well use word open office directly. JME, although cool, lacks some in documentation compared to blender. Inkscape is good and very useful. But it is not very cool and for work I am almost always just as happy with gliffy. |
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Game Development / Networking & Multiplayer / Using VPS For Game Servers
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on: 2010-10-01 12:48:25
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Thanks teletubo!
And thanks ruben01 for pointing out Linode. They have cheaper bandwidth overages, list how many nodes are on each machine, and best of all, have a datacenter in Europe. Sweet!
I had a Linode for a year, very happy with them. The admin gui is very nice. |
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Games Center / WIP games, tools & toy projects / Re: Net Dash (WIP)
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on: 2010-09-25 11:08:09
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I got this two times: Connecting to 98.210.146.214 on port 15678
Couldn't connect to server.
java.net.ConnectException: Connection timed out: connect
at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Native Method)
at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.doConnect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(Unknown Source)
at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.Socket.connect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.Socket.connect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.Socket.<init>(Unknown Source)
at java.net.Socket.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.otcsw.networking.GameClient.connect(GameClient.java:41)
at com.otcsw.networking.game.client.GameController.keyReleased(GameController.java:51)
at java.awt.Component.processKeyEvent(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.JComponent.processKeyEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.KeyboardFocusManager.redispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.dispatchKeyEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.preDispatchKeyEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.typeAheadAssertions(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(Unknown Source)
Success connecting.
Don't do blocking things in that thread. Everything (including the console) froze. After I got the Success connecting, I got back to the "not connected" screen. Also, I couldn't type in my message here untill I killed the tab with the applet and refreshed. Running Win xp and firefox. |
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Add your game by posting it in the WIP section,
or publish it in Showcase.
The first screenshot will be displayed as a thumbnail.
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