[Resolved] How best to manipulate player data?

[influensi]

Hi. I'm writing a browser-based game in which players rule over their own nation. It is based on the game Nationstates; I plan to use the nationstates XML feeds of player's nations for the game.

Anyway, in my game, each nation's economy, population, and so on will be determined by a combination of the territories he/she owns and the bonuses associated with those territories.

My question is how to best store each nation's territory data. I have had a few ideas, but each is either to messy or has a major problem.

My first idea was to simply give each player a fixed array that would only change when I directly modified the file that stored it. This was too difficult for me to do; I want the system to be more automated.

My second idea was to give each territory an ID number, and that every one of those numbers would be prime. A player would then have a unique ID generated by multiplying the IDs of all his/her territories. However, this fails because after fifteen territories or so, a double cannot accurately hold the value. (I think.)

My third idea was to create a table in my MySQL database containing the data for each territory including its current owner. This seems to be the best method so far.

If anyone has any suggestions such as a compression or encryption method that would make the second idea work, or any other idea to make this more simple to implement, please respond.

[Huuggee]

I think, from what you are saying, it would be simple enough to keep all the territories in one table and the user in another table.
As you say, each territory would have an ID, so would a user, so you relate the userID to the territory in an SQL table.

USER TABLE

user ID name
1 Name

TERRITORY TABLE

TID, UI, Territory
1 1 Territory

Should you be making it more complex?

[influensi]

This is what I was looking for, thanks.

Basicly, each territory will be matched up by userid, and then I can retrieve all the relevant data? That's perfect.

[influensi]

Ok, I've written the following to test the retreival of data and then summing the populations of two test nations. For some reason it errors and says there's an unexpected } at line 65, which is marked below.

<?php
######################################################
#TERRA VOSEM: POLITICAL SIMULATION
#
#Copyright (c) 2005 Jacob Hickey ([e-mail]
#http://www.zifos.com
#
#This is the very first ever test of the most basic Terra Vosem prototype.
######################################################

//Connecting to the database

$dbhost = "mysql3.ixwebhosting.com";
$dbuname = "zzwiebe_jake";
$dbpass = "yeahman";
$dbname = "zzwiebe_nuke";

$dbcnx = @mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuname, $dbpass);
if (!$dbcnx) {
echo '<p>The servers broken!!</p>';
exit();
}

$database = @mysql_select_db($dbname);
if (!$database) {
exit('<p>Damn it all to hell! ' .
'The database has exploded.</p>');
}

$terrs = @('SELECT FROM tv_terr');
if (!$terrs) {
exit('<p>PROBLEM BLINK! ' .
mysql_error() . '</p>');
}
$nations = @('SELECT FROM tv_nations');
if (!$nations) {
exit('<p>PROBLEM BLINK! ' .
mysql_error() . '</p>');
}

$numterrs = mysql_numrows($terrs);
$numnations = mysql_numrows($nations);

$id=1;
while ($id < $numterrs) {
$terrnames[$id] = mysql_result($terrs, $id, "terrname");
$populationdata[$id] = mysql_result($terrs, $id, "population");
$bonusdata[$id] = mysql_result($terrs, $id, "bonus");
$owner[$id] = mysql_result($terrs, $id, "uid");

$id++;
}

$j=1;
while ($j < $numnations) {
$id=1;
while($id < $numterrs) {
if($owner[$id] == $j) {
$population[$j] += $populationdata[$id];
$bonus[$j] += $bonusdata[$id];
}
$id++
} //THIS IS LINE 65
$j++
}

echo "Tenebricosis's population is $population[1]";
echo "The other population is $population[2]";

mysql_close($dbcnx);
?>

Am I not allowed to have a nested loop, or what?

[sapoxgn]

Please format your code and use the [php ] tag.. as i m calm today.. i ll help you...

<?php
######################################################
#TERRA VOSEM: POLITICAL SIMULATION
#
#Copyright (c) 2005 Jacob Hickey ([e-mail]
#[url]http://www.zifos.com[/url]
#
#This is the very first ever test of the most basic Terra Vosem prototype.
######################################################


//Connecting to the database

$dbhost = "mysql3.ixwebhosting.com";
$dbuname = "zzwiebe_jake";
$dbpass = "yeahman";
$dbname = "zzwiebe_nuke";

$dbcnx = @mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuname, $dbpass);
if (!$dbcnx) {
 echo '<p>The servers broken!!</p>';
 exit();
}

$database = @mysql_select_db($dbname);
if (!$database) {
 exit('<p>Damn it all to hell! ' .
     'The database has exploded.</p>');
}

$terrs = @mysql_query('SELECT * FROM tv_terr');
 if (!$terrs) {
   exit('<p>PROBLEM BLINK! ' .
       mysql_error() . '</p>');
 }
$nations = @mysql_query('SELECT * FROM tv_nations');
 if (!$nations) {
   exit('<p>PROBLEM BLINK! ' .
       mysql_error() . '</p>');
 }

$numterrs = mysql_numrows($terrs);
$numnations = mysql_numrows($nations);

$id=1;
while ($id < $numterrs) {
$terrnames[$id] = mysql_result($terrs, $id, "terrname");
$populationdata[$id] = mysql_result($terrs, $id, "population");
$bonusdata[$id] = mysql_result($terrs, $id, "bonus");
$owner[$id] = mysql_result($terrs, $id, "uid");

$id++;
}


$j=1;
while ($j < $numnations) {
$id=1;
 while($id < $numterrs) {
 if($owner[$id] == $j) {
 $population[$j] += $populationdata[$id];
 $bonus[$j] += $bonusdata[$id];
 }
 $id++;
 } // There was a " ; " missing in the line above
$j++;
}

echo "Tenebricosis's population is $population[1]";
echo "The other population is $population[2]";

mysql_close($dbcnx);
?>

Obs. i didnt tested your code ok? but there was the error :rolleyes:

[influensi]

I feel stupid now. Not because I left out semi-colons, but because I had fixed that same bug on a different line before I posted here. I should have been more thorough. Thank you for your patience. :o

[sapoxgn]

Originally posted by influensi
I feel stupid now. Not because I left out semi-colons, but because I had fixed that same bug on a different line before I posted here. I should have been more thorough. Thank you for your patience. :o

np.. just use [php ] code [/php ]

colors makes me fell happy when posting 😃

[influensi]

Yes, I can see how that is very useful. I will remember to use the tags in the future.

Although, couldn't the forum be set up to recognize <?php and ?> ?