Custom lobby
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/Custom lobby
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| hey, im not sure if this is the right forum topic. Since im going to discuss a system but not discuss code. But here goes. Ive made a custom lobby, and I am looking for any thoughts on it from all of you. Good/Bad ect, I dont like the idea of using Gnet or another system that is not in my control. 1).This system at the moment requires a person to register a server with me. I add thier server details to a list on my ftp server. This could be done via php if I set up a page foR it. 2).Second, the lobby on startup reads the server list and populates a combo listbox, the user can click on a server and ping it to receive its max players and current players, and what map its currently running. They can also at that time choose to join the game. 3).The server list is static, but I plan to make a ping bot to go through the list a few times a day and see who is active , and remove from the list those who are gone more than a few days. It takes a few millisecs to ping an active server and about one second to get a Not responding message if the server is down, this seems ok to me as I dont expect tiny tanks to have that many servers at one time to mess around with. 4). Ill be adding a favorites list to combat any servers that are up and down, letting you flag those that are stable. Do you think this system is ok for a project that has no publishing goals? I may(depending on how popular the game gets if it gets players at all) put ads in the lobby. heres a shot of my lobby test , the look will be improved on later, and ill be adding password support for the server as well for private games, so if its password protected it will list that when you ping the server.  |
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| I got most the basic features in I wanted, all wrapped up in an include that can be added to more projects pretty easy. all using BlitzplayPro2.2 the only definate feature ill add later is a favorites list. (Not using the built in bplay password feature), I added my own server password, as well as per server character passwords, character persistent stat recording, player to player post notes , server lists that are updated as often as I choose, from hourly , or daily all the way to monthly. All accessed from the lobby. I plan to add a lobby chat server as well so that users can manage games easier, but the chat server will have to wait. It all works really well, I just want to set up a php script so server admins can add their IP/PORTS to the list via webpage forms, should be easy as the server ips are in plain text file, only I dont know php :( |
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| <Overlay Picky> The technical details sound ok to me, but i would think about the little bolts you have on your GUI. I don't really like the look of them. Maybe they are too close to the edges? </Overly Picky> |
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ok, a few pixels in on each side ? |
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