Quote:Original post by Sudi
since the iphone probably comes with a internet flat you can get the current time from a timeserver.

here are some
http://www.helmut.hullen.de/filebox/DCF77/ntpsrvr.html

Thank you Sudi, but if the device (iPhone,iPod,iPad) is not connected to the internet when the player launches the game then the player's Energy bar would remain unaffected right?

well if the server can't be reached you would use the system. which could be modified by the user but then again total cheat protection is not possible in singleplayer-offline games

Quote:Original post by Sudi
well if the server can't be reached you would use the system. which could be modified by the user but then again total cheat protection is not possible in singleplayer-offline games

Got it. Thank you all for your widom.

GamerGamer

For ordinary users, just the fact of it being an iPhone game makes it harder to cheat - it's not like you can just browse a file system, find the save file and open it up in a hex (or text) editor. :)

Quote:Original post by Zahlman
For ordinary users, just the fact of it being an iPhone game makes it harder to cheat - it's not like you can just browse a file system, find the save file and open it up in a hex (or text) editor. :)

Hi Zahlman,
The fact that the energy progress is marked by the device's time and the fact that very very easy can every user change the time cancels the idea...unfortunately...:(

Quote:Original post by gamergamer
The fact that the energy progress is marked by the device's time and the fact that very very easy can every user change the time cancels the idea...unfortunately...:(

Why?

The application will not be only filling the bar. Everything in the simulation will be based on this time.

On shutdown, store the last application time.
When the application starts:
- load the old time
- while (old_time < current_time) advance(1 minute)

This handles everything, including the bar.

If user increments time by cheating, they will not be able to cheat their way of inactivity over a period of one hour.


Then, do what this type of games did long ago (X-Com was one of them) - offer the "fastest simulation speed until event occurs" option. So if someone needs to wait for some bar to fill up, let them. But, if something happens in between that requires their attention, fall back to regular speed.

This way, if they do cheat, they'll also skip all the important events they would have handled if game were running legally, or they'll need to "catch up" by playing regularly, regardless of how long ahead they cheated.


And if they roll back the time, they'll probably break something else, especially if you also store some other history that is linked to this timer.

Such system can also be implemented as a transaction log - record all important events, replay them when application starts. Then cheating becomes next to impossible without completely breaking the state in unpredictable ways.

Quote:Original post by Daaark

Quote:Original post by Rilbur
Antheus, the point is that the energy bar would fill up with real time. I. e. you can only make so many moves per hour.

That doesn't make sense in a single player game. Just keep time while the game is running. Delta between frames can't be messed with.

Don't assume a changed clock is cheating. People cane change their clocks all the time for legit reasons. Syncing with a time server, daylight savings time, changing time zones, dead battery, etc...

Well, you're right. People can change the clock for legit reasons but in this case they will be translated to an anomaly in the Real-time Energy refill.

I am trying to avoid the mmo concept to avoid costs, production complexity and more "difficult" for an indie company factors. I am trying to insert the microtransactions in the design hence this thread and Energy refill is an important "product" for sale in freemium games. I'll tweak the design to avoid the real-time Energy idea...

Thank you very much for your comments you have been very helpful.

GamerGamer