Web-based games are inherently flawed because (correct me if I'm wrong) you can't maintain state between pages. For example, in a web-based tradewars game, every time a player performs a new action, the server has to check which player it is, load up the player's info, perform the action, and return a new page. In a telnet or applet based tradewars game, the server could maintain a thread for each player, maintaining state and saving a lot of processing.
PHP is great for web sites (like/.), but it sucks for game development. Take my web site for example (http://kibbles.org). I wrote it from scratch in PHP with a MySQL backend about four months ago. I chose PHP because unlike Perl (which is still my favorite language), you can embed PHP in web pages. It's worked out pretty well, but I found it very obvious that the PHP language is rough on the edges. For example, some functions (htmlentities, htmlspecialchars) are named without any delimitation, while other functions (mysql_connect, preg_match) use underscores. (And to make it worse, I name my functions like thisFunction and thatFunction.)
So in summary, PHP was made for quick web development, and that's pretty much all it's good for. My next web site will probably be written in ActiveState's PerlEX, because Perl 5 is a much more refined language.
I've been working with PHP for a while now, and it just seems to me like the wrong language to program a web-based game in. PHP is still very much in a development stage, and running any sort of web-based game in which the page refreshes for every command just seems like a lot of overhead processing.
I've actually been running my own telnet-based tradewars server for a while now, and the lack of configuation options in TWGS has really made the game quite repetitive. I'd gladly welcome any open-source initiative for a new telnet/applet based tradewars clone.
There are new games still coming out that I'm sure will eventually gain "classic" status. I'm sure most of you have seen some of the new music/rhythm games, like Dance Dance Revolution and Beatmania. Those games are really fun and addictive (and if you're young, you can tell your parents that you're getting great exercise from video games).
The biggest news here is that the windows port (which some of us use;) is totally free. Previously, one had to purchase a license to use the non-shareware windows port.
Yep, I remember when my brothers and I would each take a turn in our tradewars2002 game, set the date to the following day, and play another turn. Kinda pointless now that I think of it, but back then it seemed really fun. =)
I have to wonder, what made this an interesting article for Hemos to post? It's an old card that competes with the Voodoo3 and TNT2, when the GeForce is out and the Voodoo4/5 is expected soon. In addition, there's nothing in the article that mentions linux.
Sure, the card might be great, but this isn't the type of thing I've come to expect from Slashdot.
Made out of the best quality materials available, guaranteed to stand through earthquakes and hurricanes - and it STILL costs less than any house in San Jose! - Ted Mao
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Actually, Poolshark was the AI that did really accurate straight-line shots. Cyborg was the one that could hit practically anything. =)
Web-based games are inherently flawed because (correct me if I'm wrong) you can't maintain state between pages. For example, in a web-based tradewars game, every time a player performs a new action, the server has to check which player it is, load up the player's info, perform the action, and return a new page. In a telnet or applet based tradewars game, the server could maintain a thread for each player, maintaining state and saving a lot of processing.
PHP is great for web sites (like /.), but it sucks for game development. Take my web site for example (http://kibbles.org). I wrote it from scratch in PHP with a MySQL backend about four months ago. I chose PHP because unlike Perl (which is still my favorite language), you can embed PHP in web pages. It's worked out pretty well, but I found it very obvious that the PHP language is rough on the edges. For example, some functions (htmlentities, htmlspecialchars) are named without any delimitation, while other functions (mysql_connect, preg_match) use underscores. (And to make it worse, I name my functions like thisFunction and thatFunction.)
So in summary, PHP was made for quick web development, and that's pretty much all it's good for. My next web site will probably be written in ActiveState's PerlEX, because Perl 5 is a much more refined language.
I've been working with PHP for a while now, and it just seems to me like the wrong language to program a web-based game in. PHP is still very much in a development stage, and running any sort of web-based game in which the page refreshes for every command just seems like a lot of overhead processing.
I've actually been running my own telnet-based tradewars server for a while now, and the lack of configuation options in TWGS has really made the game quite repetitive. I'd gladly welcome any open-source initiative for a new telnet/applet based tradewars clone.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
There are new games still coming out that I'm sure will eventually gain "classic" status. I'm sure most of you have seen some of the new music/rhythm games, like Dance Dance Revolution and Beatmania. Those games are really fun and addictive (and if you're young, you can tell your parents that you're getting great exercise from video games).
The biggest news here is that the windows port (which some of us use ;) is totally free. Previously, one had to purchase a license to use the non-shareware windows port.
Unfortunately, EIS won't release the source, and hasn't made any efforts to port it as far as I know.
Yep, I remember when my brothers and I would each take a turn in our tradewars2002 game, set the date to the following day, and play another turn. Kinda pointless now that I think of it, but back then it seemed really fun. =)
Argh!
I was hoping /. wouldn't post this so that my chances of getting picked would be higher! Nooooooooo! =)
I have to wonder, what made this an interesting article for Hemos to post? It's an old card that competes with the Voodoo3 and TNT2, when the GeForce is out and the Voodoo4/5 is expected soon. In addition, there's nothing in the article that mentions linux.
Sure, the card might be great, but this isn't the type of thing I've come to expect from Slashdot.
If you really want to figure out who your values conincide with best, try the "votematch presidential selector" at govote.com.
According to the survey, I'm a liberal populist, and my values are closest to those of Gore and Bradley.
Ugh, what an ugly mozilla icon. We really need to get that changed.
Hmm... and you get moderated... up?
Made out of the best quality materials available, guaranteed to stand through earthquakes and hurricanes - and it STILL costs less than any house in San Jose! - Ted Mao
Compared to most lotteries, 1,000,000 : 1 odds are actually pretty good. I'm still not going to bet on armageddon though. =)
- Ted Mao