Suggestions for intra-college multiplayer game

myownsummer

Hi all!

I am workin on a multiplayer game for my college. The idea is to create a simulation-based environment that resembles a trading scenario.

e.g: Say there is a server where the game is running. Their are around 10 clients, each representing trading teams. Now, I want to divide the entire trading exercise into 4 quarters of 15 mins each, so the total game time is 60 min.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to ensure from the server's end that the game begins at EXACTLY the same time on all the machines? Maybe something like a button that one can click to start the game for ALL clients together, once they are logged in.

I am not expecting the full code, just a push in the right direction 🙂

P.S. I hope I don't sound like too much of a noob, but I am new to this.

sneakyimp

Getting PHP to effectively implement an accurate timeout is a tricky issue. Either you need to implement a rapid loop which is constantly sleeping for a short period and then checking the elapsed time (which is a total waste of CPU resources) or you need to spawn another process which can somehow come back and signal the current process. Someone has been trying it here without much luck.

I'm not super familiar with your game, but there is another possibility I think. Suppose you create a page accessible only by a referee or some kind. He clicks a button which submits a form which stores some data -- the $start_time of your game. If your game is browser-based then you can check the $current_time against your game's $start_time and if too much time has elapsed, you send a message indicating that time has expired. You might give your referee a button to start the next quarter or something.

The question then becomes 'how do I inform players that the next quarter has started'.

kostis12345

The question then becomes 'how do I inform players that the next quarter has started'.

You can make a button the referee presses which updates a DB row setting the time left,create a variable that retrieves it and pass it to a Javascript timer that displays the time left.Just an idea.

myownsummer

Hi. Thanks for the inputs!

As for the timer, I have made a simple JS-based thing. Works fine!
But I am still wondering how to "Start" the game simultaneously on all clients. The "referee" clicks on a button and the game begins for all the clients. Any ideas?

Thanks.

sneakyimp

Check the link in my signature. It requires flash but could easily do what you are saying.

kostis12345

myownsummer;10912084 wrote:
Hi. Thanks for the inputs!

As for the timer, I have made a simple JS-based thing. Works fine!
But I am still wondering how to "Start" the game simultaneously on all clients. The "referee" clicks on a button and the game begins for all the clients. Any ideas?

Thanks.

When you say clients ?Isn't the game Browser Based ?

If it is you could do this :
I guess you have a table in the DB for the Referee or a row in the Users table ,either way add a column in the table which the referee is.name it gamestart or something.
Create a button that updates the game start Column in the Referee's row.it should set that field to "1"

Now to make sure the game starts simultaneously in a file that is included in all the other pages(probable something like config) add an "If" statement that checks if that field is 1.
if it is allow the user to view the page.if it isn't display the time left before the game starts.