My plan to make online GE games.

[Rux]

Hey guys. I've been thinking for a long time, and I think I may have found a way to make online games. Just keep in mind, this is theory, and hasn't been tested yet. Recently I learned a new language (sorta) auto it. It's really easy to use, and I've already began to make a few programs with it, my first being a "password protected" notepad.

AutoIt has the ability to send data over the internet using the TC/IP thing (I think that's what it was called) so what I think we can do is this:

I can make 2 programs, a client program and a server program. One person starts the server, while all the players connect to it. Now when the client program starts up, it will ask for an IP to connect to, and the name the player wants to be. The client program (now cp) will save a file with the name selected in the same dir as the game's .exe file. CP would then open the game, and the game would load the name file, which will also include any other info needed.

What I'm planning to do is have the txt files include simple, 1 or 2 lined instructions like, "nm: *insert name here" and the game would load the txt file and rip the string and place it in a var for further use. After this has happened, cp will then delete that file, so it can't be edited. SP (Server Program) would then send the client any information, like news or version updates and stuff and the CP would create the file for the game to read.

Now when you do something in the game you want everyone else to see, like walk, for instance, the game would then create a txt file called, send, which will then be transferred over to the server in a list, where the server will send in order, that way, the files won't mix together when being created. Once the cp has received game data from the server (different from the settings and information) it will create a file called received and the game would be on a constant loop to check for this file. If it finds it, it will read and perform any actions in the file, then erase it, meaning making the command an empty string, to prevent changing of the file, and then after a set time, cp will delete it. (Please keep in note this process should occur really quickly).

Now I understand that with this method, it could be easy to open the txt files before they get deleted, and then save and change them without having to know the sent functions. I'm not sure how I could fix, but we could do the next best thing and allow the server to ban IP's and maybe even MAC addresses if they are found hacking. We could also make each code long and unique for hard guessing.

So tell me what you think and any other opinions on this. Maybe you could help me think of other things I should watch out for. Thanks.

[MrJolteon]

Sounds good

[destinydesignlabs]

Sounds like you might be on to a good way for multiplayer games. I think it would work

[Rux]

This seems a lot more difficult than I thought, but it should come underway. Currently, I'm working on a simple game with 4 pacman characters walk around the screen, that will of course, be able to connect with 3 other computers.

[schnellboot]

wow hopefully it works ..

[Pattrick]

Hows that going?

[Hblade]

Here's what to do:

Make a dropbox account specifically for the "server" we're going to set up. Now, everyone who will be playing this game will need dropbox and be shared to a specific dropbox folder, (For example one called SERVER), now that 2 or more people are linked to this folder, you can... say, in your game, have pre-made accounts (Hblade, DBGames, etc, an actor for everyone on the forums, and a file for each, which I'll explain that later). Now, as your playing that game, have it save a file based on the player you picked (Or the fake login name), and then have it load everything else all at once, this might be a bit laggy but it can be useful for playing card games

So anyways, back to the point, say if I logged into the game, my exe game file would constantly be saving "hblade.game", and it'll only be like 1 KB. hblade.game (Or any other username.game), will constantly be saving my X and Y variables, while loading everyone else who's online

[Pattrick]

Would the 2gb space that dropbox gives for free be enough or would everyone who wants to play need to buy more?

[Hblade]

2GB would be more than enough the EXE would have to sit in the same folder as all of the files though

[Pattrick]

Have you set up the files yet?

[Rux]

It would be a LOT easier for me to make this if I could figure out how to read AND write pure, unencrypted text files. The problem is, the saveVars function encrypts the data, which causes a lot of problems. Can anyone make a function that can do this easily for me?

[bat78]

I'll make a guide how to make it on-line soon