An Introduction to ElectroServer and PushButton Engine: Part Two
Mar/101
In part one, the focus was on building the server logic for a multiplayer game. Now, we’ll get to work on a PushButton Engine client that will connect and communicate with ElectroServer. If you’re completely unaware of how PushButton Engine works, I’d urge you to spend some time checking out the documentation to get yourself up to speed.
Let’s get started!
An Introduction to ElectroServer and PushButton Engine: Part One
Mar/103
There are many options available when deciding on which Flash engine or framework to use before development begins on your next single-player project. Should you decide to add multi-player capability, the list gets shorter. This is especially true if your game crosses over into the MMOG or Virtual World domains. Code reusability, game asset management and premium performance are all key to successfully reaching that goal. PushButton Engine satisfies these criteria and more by offering a component-based architecture, dependency injection, a robust engine core and a strong community.
When deciding on which server technology to use it’s quite a different story. The list of viable options is much shorter. Scalability, maintainability, extensibility and price all come to mind when shopping around for the right product. The RedDwarf server (formerly Project Darkstar) is tempting due to it’s cost (free) but developers who are interested in simply writing their game code may become discouraged due to it’s steep learning curve. Enter, ElectroServer. When I recently started exploring ElectroTank’s flagship product, I was hooked on it’s highly-polished API and how dead-simple it was to get up and running. Couple that experience with it’s potential to scale to hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users and it’s difficult to find a better option.
S’troidz!: Week 7 Update
Aug/096
Week 7 is here! This has been the most difficult week so far. Trying to juggle family, work and S’troidz! proved to be difficult and thus, S’troidz! had to suffer. The good news is that it wasn’t totally unproductive. I managed to implement the majority of code needed for the final alien type and that alone represents a pretty important milestone on the horizon: The completion of all major game objects!
S’troidz!: Week 6 Update
Aug/090
Week 6 has arrived along with hyperspace jumps and shields! I struggled with how shields should work but ended up settling on the most destructive method (destruction usually equals fun). This means that when shields are up, your ship becomes a weapon allowing you to smash through anything.
S’troidz!: Week 5 Update
Aug/092
It’s been an incredibly busy two weeks. Unfortunately, not so much for S’troidz! The good news is that I accomplished the goals I set for myself, was mega-productive at work (or my “real’ job) and managed to retain some semblance of a life outside coding. As difficult as it was to stay away from S’troidz!, the break actually served me well and the batteries are charged for another push.
OK, so what’s new in S’troidz! r5? Let’s see!
S’troidz!: Week 4 Update
Jul/093
I’m continually amazed at how difficult game design is. I was reminded of this during the r4 dev cycle when I started implementing power-ups and other goodies. Given the platform I’m building on, it was easy. Adjusting the game play so that it was still fun was tricky and required a change to how the ship moves.
S’troidz!: Week 3 Update
Jul/094
I learned more than I produced this week. This wasn’t by choice. I had planned for a lot more. What started as a leisure session to create some explosions (among many other things) ended up being a complete rewiring of nearly half of the classes that make up S’troidz!
S’troidz!: Week 2 Update
Jul/096
This week’s update is bittersweet. I added some cool stuff but had to dump dynamic game balancing. (It’s not you, it’s me) Deep down I knew it wouldn’t last. I just didn’t think I’d be killing it so soon. It’s still something I’d like to work on some day but for now, I’ll be rocking a more linear approach. It’s easier to test and much easier to change. Onward!
S’troidz!: Week 1 Update
Jun/0913
Welcome to the week of aliens. Well, one alien actually. I’ve already written the movement for four of them but a nasty (unrelated) bug with one of my components and a half-baked integration plan made the beginning of this week’s development a bit muddy. The good news is that I came away with a better understanding of how things should be structured and when that magical day of refactoring comes around (probably next week), I’ll be ready. Without further ado, here’s the change log for S’troidz! r1:
S’troidz!: Week 0 Update
Jun/0910
It’s here! The zeroth weekly update on My Game Experiment! I’ve actually been working on S’troidz! for a few weeks now but I don’t like negative week indexes. That’s just crazy. This update will cover the development I’ve done so far and close with what’s on the table for next week’s build.
