[thejeremy]

Hey all,
I'm planning on making an online 2-player game with PHP for a class project. I'm pretty good with PHP now, but I have no idea how to do this. The 2 main functions I want are:

1. Once a user is logged in, he/she is able to see a list of all the others who are logged in as well.

2. Being able to click on another person's user name or sending an instant message in order to initiate a game.

3. Once the game has begun, both players will be looking at the same playing field, and changes will be represented on both player's screens.

How easy/hard will this be to do within 4 weeks? Can anyone point me to some examples or good tutorials for this type of PHP code?

Thanks a bunch!

[sheky]

i noticed you said playing field...what exactly are they going to be looking at? because this program by the way you make it sound can be either very simple or VERY complex. and can i ask why PHP?

[Vormund]

One thing to note is that PHP is server-side...hence you're either going to be reloading the page each time, or using some javascript AJAX.

Using just PHP, the only way this would be possible is by setting a refresh timer on the page (refresh every x seconds), and storing values (either in a file or database) as to who's turn it is, then updating the "fields" accordingly.

The bottom line is...you need to decide what this game will be, if PHP is really what you want, and how you plan on storing data (in a file, mysql db [best], or an alternate method)... the logic being along the lines of:

1. User logs in, the session is set. Page refreshes every 5 seconds.
2. MySQL table has flags for the user's - if they're playing and who they're playing, and another to determine who's turn it is.
3. Then you might have another table with a unique game ID which those players are using, which would represent your "fields", and you would draw the HTML output based on any values stored here.

Definitely not ideal for a real game, but it'd be a good learning experience and likely good enough for your class (I assume)!

PS: I dare you to make a Chess application like this!

[thejeremy]

Thanks for the replies guys. After reviewing the game mechanics and how hard it would actually be to emulate this game, I've decided against doing it. I was choosing PHP because that's really the only language I know in terms of online programming. What are other options? I know things can be done with Java, but I felt that it would take me too long to learn game programming in Java, and I don't have that kind of time. Maybe in my free time, we'll see how things pan out in the future. Anyway, I have another question on a different project but I'll leave that for a new thread

[Murdoc]

well I've made a 4 player PHP game and i have it posted on my server right now. although it doesn't exactly do everything you've posted, but this wouldn't be a problem because it's meant for up to 4 people to play on the very same computer. The game itself is not very fascinating since it is just only a school project, but nevertheless it got us pretty good marks. We used Mysql to store our game data and we have also built our own anti-cheat system.

here's the link to our game

click here

PS: I have a group formed with my friends to try to explore into using PHP to create web games and other developments. If during the summer you're interested in joining us you can. Please contact me @ murdoc2k@gmail.com