I was wondering if I could use PHP to make a game. Is it possible?

I searched online, and I found very vague responses. By vague, I just mean people say "sure, you can use it", mention SQL for saving data...and that's all. How can I use it? I know Flash and JavaScript are popular right now for browser-based games--and I've made a JavaScript mini game on my own computer with a character walking around the HTML5 canvas--but honestly, I'd rather use PHP. In what ways can I do so in an online turn-based game? By the way, I am aware of the snake/tictactoe/other basic game tutorials that are out there, but these aren't really the kinds of games I'm referring to.

If I can use it for modern browser games, which webhost should I use? After a bit of research, I came across x10hosting. Is that a good site to use for now? I did install WAMP on my own computer, but I can't keep it online 24/7 at the moment (and I don't have a domain name yet).

*Note: If this topic is in the wrong section, please let me know.

{ PHP on server machine } <-> { data (json, html, etc) over internet } <-> { HTML/JS/AS3/Unity/etc on client machine }

PHP runs server-side only, not client-side. So you use it for the server-side half of the game, and something else for the client-side half.

Right. That's why I need a webhost that supports PHP. So I can run code on the server. Something like JavaScript is typically used for the client half, but I was wondering if that's really necessary. Can I make a pure php game (ex. a text-based game that accepts input via HTML properties, handles it, and writes new information to the browser using HTML tags)?

As for x10hosting, I haven't had any complaints with it as long as you log in every month or so, whatever the requirement is. Any issues that came up I put in a ticket and they responded quickly.

An incremental improvement from that is use javascript to communicate with the server and update only a portion of the HTML instead of reloading the whole page.

How can I do this? That seems like a good way to go. Can I use something like this:

showInventoryMenu.onclick() = function(){ guiElement.innerHTML = "<?php /*retrieve data from database*/ ?>"; }

I'm not sure how I can use Javascript to communicate with the server in any other way.

I'm not sure how I can use Javascript to communicate with the server in any other way.

# sample.coffee
# for the compiled javascript, see: http://pastebin.com/0di9bsVs
game_state =
	player_id: null
	last_update_ms: 0
	score: 0

do_update = ->
	defer = $.Deferred()

	$.ajax # nake XHR request
		url: '/update.php'
		method: 'POST'
		dataType: 'JSON'
		data:
			last_update: game_state.last_update_ms
			score: game_state.score
	.success (response) ->
		if not (response and response.success)
			defer.reject response.message or 'Unknown error occured'
			return

		defer.resolve response.payload
		return
	.error (response,code) ->
		defer.reject "Server returned #{code}"
		return

	return defer.promise()


disable_ui()
do_update()
.always ->
	enable_ui()
	return
.done (payload) ->
	update_game(payload)
	return
.fail (error) ->
	alert "An error occured\n#{error}"
	return

<?php
# update.php
$response = [
        'success' => false,
        'message' => null,
        'payload' => null
];
 
/*
# capture PHP errors and warnings, if desired
function hook_error() {
        global $response;
        $response['debug'][] = func_get_args();
}
set_error_handler('hook_error');
*/
 
$request = $_POST; # or json_decode php:?//input
try {
        # fill sample data
        $game_data = Game::update();
 
        $response['success'] = true;
        $response['payload'] = $game_data;
} catch ( Exception $ex ) {
        $response['message'] = $ex->getMessage();
}
 
 
header('Content-Type: application/json');
print json_encode($response);

Right. That's why I need a webhost that supports PHP.

If you are interested in the web why PHP?
Since you are going to be using Javascript anyway, why not pick one of the many html5/javascript game engines?
You can use PHP, but there are better options today: local storage and cloud sync.