GL online gaming

[Omadan]

Hello all, my name is Joe an old blitzmax user. I have been messing around with GLbasic v8 free version for 2d stuff only. I must say its a neat language and the option of compiling for various platforms is a bonus altogether. I have also seen the community is very friendly.

This version ofcourse does not incorporate net stuff and 3d.

My question is the following. How good is Glbasic for net games. does it lack, as soon as 2+ players join a seesion or is it on a par with other popular languages.

Please just post if you have tried this before, dont just post yes its perfect and you havent even coded net stuff before   

Any wise remarks will be very much appreciated.

[MrTAToad]

I tried a network lobby, using what I could decode of how some old game did it.  Unfortunately, whilst it more or less worked, it was very complicated (sending and processing acknowledgements for messages).

Unfortunately there is a lack of information regarding how to do network gaming, lobbies out there, which  is a shame.

[Hatonastick]

Show me a network library that works perfectly and I'll show you a hen with teeth like a white pointer shark.  Seriously though, I'd say it is on par although I didn't do much network programming beyond the basics with BlitzMax to compare it.  Still, I've got years of experience programming network applications under UNIX and GLB pretty much allows me to do the same sort of thing -- in fact before illness got in the way I was remaking my old C MUD using GLB.  However you'd be more interested in the NET set rather than the SOCK set I'm guessing and that I haven't played around with as much.

I have no connections with GLB development etc. and I know this doesn't really answer your question but:

The first thing you need to learn about GLB and Gernot is that product support really means something here.  You find a bug, Gernot may fix it and release a patch that day depending on the bug and how busy he is.  He is also easy to talk to and open to suggestions on improving the language.  Then there is the friendly and experienced community on this forum.  Why mention this?  Because if you find that something in the networking side of things that isn't up to scratch, either Gernot will likely fix or upgrade it, or someone here will show you how to get around the problem you are experiencing.  Either way if you choose to take a punt on GLB you can't lose and you will find that there are a number of other ex-Blitz programmers on here.

[Hatonastick]

I tried a network lobby, using what I could decode of how some old game did it.  Unfortunately, whilst it more or less worked, it was very complicated (sending and processing acknowledgements for messages).

Unfortunately there is a lack of information regarding how to do network gaming, lobbies out there, which  is a shame.

What would be good, albeit insanely complex, is to come up with a working example of a game lobby system and networked game that others can refer to and which takes into account things like network security.  One of the biggest pains in the neck from a networked game developers point of view these days is hackers that manipulate data being sent to give themselves special in-game abilities, with one of the most notorious examples in recent years as to what can happen if a developer is not careful being 'The Conduit' on the Wii.  The oldest adage of programming network games is 'never trust the client', and something all server based games such as MMO's take to heart.

Hmm what would be really, really good is a set-up for GLB a bit like the one that Martin Crownover came up with for use with GameMaker (although I think he's expanded it quite a bit from where he was up to back when we used to talk semi-regularly).  See http://reflect.martincrownover.com/.  Would require a web server with PHP and SQL, and a library interface for GLB that game developers could incorporate into their games.  It would also require a lot of thought with regards to security and be a heck of a lot of work.  Still, could be really good for GLB I think.