Hello there, this is my first post here! I registered because I figured this site would be the best in my upcoming career as a game developer :P So, I want to make my first, really, game, which would be Palermo Nights. I want it to be online, in a way so that only people I send the executable to would be able to play. Also, I think I don't need a host, since the game will be only played when I am on my pc so I can self-host it me thinks. Also it doesn't need to be uber cool, since I only need basic networking capability, even with crappy graphics. So this game is basically a card game, there is THE conductor, one ace (policeman), one queen (known mobster) and one king (unknown mobster) and the rest are plain cards (citizens). The tules are pretty straightforward: The game is divided into day and night. During the night, everybody closes their eyes. The players that have the king and queen open their eyes and see each other, decide who they want to kill, in their search for the policeman and they show him to the conductor. Then, they close their eyes again and the known mobster raises his hand, eyes still closed, the policeman opens his eyes and sees the mobster. Then the night ends. At the beginning of the day, the conductor says who has died during the night. During the day, all people (except for the dead and the conductor) get to vote on who they think is a mobster. The policeman tries to rat out the known mobster without him being unmasked. After one is voted out, the night begins again. When the game finishes: -When both mobsters are out, and the game goes to the citizens. -When the policeman is out, and the game goes to the mobsters. -When all citizens are out, and the game goes to the mobsters. -Which game engine would be good for that? It doesn't need to be uber cool, since I only need basic networking capability, even with crappy graphics. -Which game engine would be the easiest for that? (it's difficult for this game to be totally click and play so I guess I'll stick with the easiest language) -How do I go about implementing these functions? -Making the screen completely black when it's night time, and only the players with the mobster cards can see the board. -Mobsters/people vote on killing people by clicking on their avatar on-game. OR -A Private Messenger system to tell the conductor who is to be killed. -A Public chat for the whole team to speak. -Some generic images to show up for the votes, nicknames for each player and maybe an avatar collection to choose from.

Quote:Original post by mechanicarts

I want it to be online, in a way so that only people I send the executable to would be able to play.

Why not go with Flash (Flex)? Or even rich web interface (jQuery perhaps)?

The barrier to entry that a standalone executable presents for a simple card game is simply too steep. Not to mention that the development and testing complexity goes up by several orders.

1.) I would recommend using Flash or even a basic PHP setup. If you need an executable I would use python with pygame. Flash has a built in drawing library and networking library. With flash however, you will have to write the server in a different language. If this game is only for sh*ts and giggles, I would recommend SmartFoxServer. Its basic version supports 20 simultaneous users and can be programmed in ActionScript. Its incredibly simple, as I remember using it to make simple online games when I was only 14.

2.) I don't see the prblem with click and play. I may not be understanding the game rules correctly, but it seems entirely click/play. King/Queen clicks user, Server tells policeman mobster. Then during a 60 second chat session the policmen and citizen talk and all the citizens vote.

3.) You would probably implement it like a loading screen. Show a graphic and have a loading bar saying "Mobster killing someone..."
3a.) When a user clicks another user the server tallies the count and after 60 seconds the user with the most votes is voted off.

4.) Its probably easiest to have the server always play conductor, seeing how the conductor doesn't really play

5.) You will find this the easiest to implement once you start.

6.) You could easily just send an 'avatar id' to the other players.

Thank you all for answering. It seems like you all get my grasp, but, still, I can't understand where to start from. So I need Flash, knowledge of actionscript, Smartfox and knowledge of (?) to program Smartfox?

It all seems aufully complex :-(