Chrono Trigger Chat Thingy!

[IAmSerge]

it requires that you use a single program to connect the games.

please expand on the meaning of this statement, because based on my knowledge its possible that its not true...

[Ramsus]

I'll show you my terribly messy code when I get it working decent enough to have it be worth showing

Actually, the best programmers are those who have the humility and openness to let others see their code as-is, regardless of the state, and without any personal feelings of attachment to it. That's because those are the programmers who get code reviews and learn how to improve their code.

So don't be afraid of posting messy, broken, WIP code.

[Jutty]

There used to be chat games kind of like this on BYOND. http://www.byond.com/ Maybe you could use that to make it?

[Satoh]

BYOND looks like it requires a bit of knowledge to get it running... moreso it looks like a HOST for games rather than an engine.

I could be wrong, but I can't say using MySQL queries on a worldwide scale is something any Joe Hobo can do... From the looks of it you program the game and they run its servers...

Still, it is intriguing.

[Celdine]

Actually, the best programmers are those who have the humility and openness to let others see their code as-is, regardless of the state, and without any personal feelings of attachment to it. That's because those are the programmers who get code reviews and learn how to improve their code.

So don't be afraid of posting messy, broken, WIP code.

I agree with this sentiment. I wasn't planning on getting things 100% before I showed the code either. I just wanted to get it to communicate correctly so Satoh would be able to figure out how the 39dll worked.

There used to be chat games kind of like this on BYOND. http://www.byond.com/ Maybe you could use that to make it?

BYOND looks like it requires a bit of knowledge to get it running... moreso it looks like a HOST for games rather than an engine.

I could be wrong, but I can't say using MySQL queries on a worldwide scale is something any Joe Hobo can do... From the looks of it you program the game and they run its servers...

Still, it is intriguing.

I'll have to look at that. It would be nice to have something to host a server for us, as I don't know how we would have it hosted otherwise. I have some SQL experience, though almost none with MySQL.

EDIT:

please expand on the meaning of this statement, because based on my knowledge its possible that its not true...

just because I missed this earlier... I built 2 completely separate programs to make this work, one for the client and one for the server. When I tried to do this using mplay functions it didn't work because I didn't know how to edit the game ID's to make each program talk to the other. I did manage to get a program that would talk to another instance of itself, just not to an entirely different game. Either way I have it working using the 39dll functions.  My only concern is how we would host a separate server program without having someone just run it from their computer.

Update: Tested the Chat program, works fine over the internet as well.

[Satoh]

My area of expertise is simple but efficient and good looking movement scripts...

But I did program an RPG battle system once... it was a real pain to get it working... (Ironically I used CT backgrounds as the areas for that game...)

 don't think I'll be able to do anything like CT though... I also don't know how I'd have to modify the movement script to work for multiple players... (or IF I'd have to modify it.)

In the end I'll wait until you're satisfied with your code's legibility.

Also about the running server thing... Why shouldn't people run it from their PC's? it would be like hosting a private/public room on any other game... you'd just have to make sure each instance of the server program is different, so that multiple servers can exist...

[IAmSerge]

just because I missed this earlier... I built 2 completely separate programs to make this work, one for the client and one for the server. When I tried to do this using mplay functions it didn't work because I didn't know how to edit the game ID's to make each program talk to the other. I did manage to get a program that would talk to another instance of itself, just not to an entirely different game. Either way I have it working using the 39dll functions.  My only concern is how we would host a separate server program without having someone just run it from their computer.

Oh, thats strange.  I was sure you could connect to other games... I mean, I was able to make 2 separate games connect... however, if it is true that they need the same game id, as you say, then that could explain it... all I did was copy one of the games I had, change it, and it could connect with the original...

I mean, under this circumstance, it is QUITE possible to make a server/client/host system...  just by copying the game early in production and then splitting off in 2 directions.

[Satoh]

I mean, under this circumstance, it is QUITE possible to make a server/client/host system...  just by copying the game early in production and then splitting off in 2 directions.

But that's not very efficient. In terms of programming the possibility of that working is no more than a fluke. A lucky glitch.

[Celdine]

My area of expertise is simple but efficient and good looking movement scripts...

But I did program an RPG battle system once... it was a real pain to get it working... (Ironically I used CT backgrounds as the areas for that game...)

 don't think I'll be able to do anything like CT though... I also don't know how I'd have to modify the movement script to work for multiple players... (or IF I'd have to modify it.)

Well Right now I'm approaching things one system at a time. Chatting works (it needs some refinement to make it more user friendly but it works) I am currently setting up a simple account system, (I don't know if it is really neccessary for what you guys would want, but its something I wanted to mess with anyways). Next I was gonna work on player movement. So a battle system would be a last step in my mind, meaning once we get to that point, we could focus almost solely on the battle system. Did you create the battle system in game maker? if so I'd say post it, I wouldn't mind seeing how you did it.

In the end I'll wait until you're satisfied with your code's legibility.

Also about the running server thing... Why shouldn't people run it from their PC's? it would be like hosting a private/public room on any other game... you'd just have to make sure each instance of the server program is different, so that multiple servers can exist...

The easiest way to post my code is to post my current client file, I don't know a good way to do that ...

and as to the issue about people running it from their computer is that for the server to communicate, the computer running it needs to be wide open, I had to place my computer in a dmz, basically opening it up to everything. I guess you could program it to allow the user to enter an ip to hookup to their desired server to take care of the multiple server issue.

I mean, under this circumstance, it is QUITE possible to make a server/client/host system...  just by copying the game early in production and then splitting off in 2 directions.

But that's not very efficient. In terms of programming the possibility of that working is no more than a fluke. A lucky glitch.

Possibly. Not knowing how that works exactly would be a little irksome to rely on. From what I've read mplay can be laggy as is, and so far, under very light loads, the 39dll script seems to be working well.

sorry for another wall of text, you guys give me to damn much to ramble about...   

[Satoh]

Well, it was a working engine, but as the game was only designed to have 3 characters, each character had mini engine that controlled their menu options, abilities, and whatever else...

There were some generic stuff like how stats worked. It was a working, but very very limited and roughly designed RPG system... Of course considering it was a group project and I did all the code, graphics, resource gathering, etc... and I only had two weeks to do it (that is two weeks of in class hours at my college) I'd say it was not bad. Again, considering the circumstances...

EDIT: Otherwise it sort of sucked...

[Celdine]

I see. I've been in that situation waaaaaaay to many times already, so I know how it is.

Anyways I figured out I can attach files directly here... so I'm gonna quickly setup the client to ask for a server IP and throw both the server and client up for download. That way you guys can at least see what I'm messing around with right now.

Edit: Here are the project files and w/e is needed. The controls are still crap but you can get an idea of the basic communications that are going on between client and sever (which for me, is all i've really accomplished so far). You will need a full version of Game Maker to view the project files. You will need to sign in using:
username: celdine
password: celdine

the account creation button isn't coded yet.

Edit2: forgot to attach ><

[IAmSerge]

i will check it out later...

[Ema]

Leene Square Map guys!

1) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v336/Aroh46/leenebw.png

2) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v336/Aroh46/leene2.png

3) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v336/Aroh46/map-1000-guardia-fair.gif

[neo-fusion]

I understand that this is basically dead... But we really outta try and get this to actually work. We need a chat here, and this is a great idea.