Games

Hello. I'm a little apprehensive about posting-I've just recently been exposed to Drupal, and have little to no experience with website design. I am eager to learn, however, and everything I've discovered about Drupal leads me to believe that I could use it to do exactly what I want-that is, run a roleplaying game online. With that in mind, I've joined the games group and would welcome any advice y'all would have for me.

Per the Games and game APIs group to merge with Games discussion, I've just moved all the discussions from the Games and game APIs group to the Games group. That's the first step to retiring the former group. Next will be to migrate all users. You can make this easier by subscribing to the Games group if you're not already.

Thanks,
Aaron

The games BoF in DC was great, but it got me wondering if some of the tools that are being built here are being too narrowly marketed. Specifically, the room exploration games that are being done could be billed as "simulations". Basically you're providing a way for a non-admin, non-coder to set up an environment and let users wander about in it. That's a powerful tool that could also be useful for:

The Drupal Games BOF was good, but cut off for the next session. Litwol showed off his work with a Map API (drool...). I showed the old work from RPG, and started talking about the more recent Game Utilities I've been developing. The more interesting conversations continued afterwards, where we discussed some utilities in more detail, projects other folks are working on, and game theory & the state of current games.

There were some great ideas! Let's post some of our ongoing discussions here, get the group going again!

Per discussions on the IRC #drupal-games channel and at http://drupal.org/node/354651, we plan to merge the Games and game APIs group with the Games group. All existing nodes and users will be moved over, and the Games and game APIs group will be deleted. In the process, we'll also change the maintainer(s) to Morbus, litwol, and/or myself.

Please comment on this thread and/or the issue queue with any thoughts or concerns.

Thanks,
Aaron

From the new Game Queue module project page:

Dependent on Game Clock and Game Character.

A Game Queue will act on clock ticks, allowing game characters to add actions to a queue, which will be processed in turn.

Actions take 1 or more Action Points (AP). A character is allowed 1 or more AP to be processed in a single tick.

Before processing, each action is also assigned an Initiative weight.

Modules wishing to make use of this should implement hook_game_queue_action($action). See documentation within module for more info.

Just released the new Game Character module.

From the project page:

The Game Character module provides a structure and API for Game Character nodes on your site. You can set one or more node types to be Game Character types from the Game Character administration page, at admin/settings/game_characters. At that point, any nodes of that type will be set as game characters, which may be activated by the owning user, or any user with administrative permissions.

I've just committed the Game Clock module. The module is fully functional, except that you cannot edit existing clocks from the UI yet. (That should come later this week, allowing for an initial official release).

The module is a gaming utility, that allows the creation of game clocks. Game clocks may be used for various purposes, such as keeping an in-game calendar, tracking game effects and events, and limiting characters to acting at a slower pace suitable for a web-based game.

Consider a game in which battle is the (first thing to be finished). In this game you, as a player, take a collection of units (forming your army), and battle other armies. Armies can be made up of other players (other Drupal users), but armies can also be owned by an AI. A number of questions arise: is AI necessary in a community of healthy real-life users? Should the AI be a set of logic only, or should it take advantage of code that's already written, with Drupal users being automated by that logic?

I have been not-so-secretly working on a Drupal 6 implementation of my original Game module, with a slightly different approach to things but without all the hooplah, design, or scaffolding. I'm starting with the smallest playable component, the combat engine, and working outwards from there. Having just finished a turn-by-turn, page-load-by-page-load, game-state-saving version of the combat engine which supports 1v1, 2v1, 2v2, etc., I'm starting to branch out into a few other areas, but wanted to jot down my notes on adding an API to the combat engine. Your comments are appreciated.

World Wide Games owns a popular gaming site www.game-boyz.com. The site is staffed by volunteers. We are looking for a experienced Drupal programmer(s) to look after ongoing mtc,site strategy, new developments, R&D and yes loads of games and PC hardware.

The site is headquartered on Vancouver island and staff located in Canada & U.S. We are also looking to establish a stronger international presence and help in this area will be greatly appreciated.

Assuming the administrator gives access, anonymous users may now create and compete with characters at 5 Second Game (which is powered by the module of the same name). Additionally, if an anonymous user registers or logs in, they'll be able to claim that character as their own, allowing for saving any statistics, etc.

Hello, my name is Leandro, I'm from argentina, i just wanted to show a site that i developed with drupal: www.clanstug.com.ar, it's for a clan of gamers of the game "call of duty: united ofensive". There are still some details to finish, but basically it's completed. I'm quite happy with this site because it's the "cleanest" drupal site i've done. I've recently began undertanting module developments and advance theming tecniques so i applied all those new skills to the site. I managed to get a cross-browsing design and it came up quite nice.

The EmptyCrate Game Engine is a Drupal and Flash based game engine which allows for the creating of point and click adventure style games as a set of drupal modules and playing of those games via a Flash application, written fully in ActionScript.

The full project announcement is available at blog.emptycrate.com. A hosted game site where anyone is free to play with the engine and make their own games is available at game.emptycrate.com. Also, the first test of this engine was to create an entry to the 2008 Christian Developers Network speed game competition. The entry is avaible here, to demonstrate what is currently possible with the engine.

This site uses flashnode and a custom module to embed flash games, and let them report back to Drupal High Scores, which are stored by Drupal and reported back in various blocks.

Check it out:

http://www.StarWestGames.com

You'll need to sign up an account to try the Score Saving features.

Once beta is complete, the module will be released on Drupal.org.

Roadmap:

Save Game state support
Views Integration of Score data
Userpoints Integration

Weigh in on http://drupal.org/node/218885

Thanks,
Aaron Winborn

5 Second Game (showcase site for the 5 Second Game engine)
Spindowners (an upcoming sci-fi rpg being developed with the RPG module)
Drupal RPG (home for the Drupal RPG module)

Here is a rough mock-up for a widget for the upcoming 5 Second Game Drupal module that Morbus Iff and I are developing.

It doesn't do anything yet, but check back soon...

Basically, this mock-up is for one of several planned widgets that are meant to be embedded in blogs and other posts. As a user of the game, you would post a widget featuring your character (at the bottom), and other people viewing the widget could fight your character, using an anonymous character, or logging in and using their own.

Read on for more details!

The engine for 5 Second Game is built on a Rock-Scissors-Paper concept. There are three stats, corresponding to that, and everything modifies that: character classes, skills, combat, etc. It is meant to be a fast paced, easy to grasp, infinitely extensible game.

The game is designed to be fit into an embeddable widget, so that users may post the game in a blog or other page, allowing others to quickly and easily play the game. A widget may highlight that user's character, challenging all takers.

The game lends itself well to guilds and the like as well, which are also built into the system. Characters may belong to one or more guilds, which govern themselves as desired by their players. The system honors the guilds' wishes, so that characters belonging to a specific user-formed guild might gain certain bonuses (or suffer penalties) according to the guild charters.

Additionally, servers may choose to allow characters to migrate between certain other servers. The character may be "translated" during migration, so that world/genre integrity is maintained (if desired). However, the simplicity of the system lends itself easily to that, if an administrator doesn't mind a gun-toting sheriff to arrive at the scene of a medieval tournament, or conversely if the player of a high elf wizard doesn't mind being translated to a nanobotic engineer on a space station.

You can play the game at http://5secondgame.com to see it in action (once it's built...)

So... it was late last night and I was a little disconcerted from staining my floors upstairs on a windless evening... the windows were open, but there was little air movement to blow those noxious fumes outside. I found myself fiddling away online after my wife went to bed and decided I wanted to make a Duel module so users could challenge one another to combat. The thing is, I can't decide on how to build stats and provide battles.

So I have recently implemented and committed RPG Achieve in the RPG module series for Drupal. This allows games to record achievements of players, such as "You have slain 14 dragons", or "You were the first to summit Ploggers Peak". Next in that progression will be RPG Quest, which will allow achievements to be grouped together.

Hi Guys
I am Binod Chandran from India. I would like to participate in Gsoc 2008 through Drupal.
I have been using and playing with Drupal for around 2yrs.I had contributed to Drupal through Ghop held 3 months back.

I have experience working with languages like C,C++.Currently learning PHP.knows Basic MySql.

My project proposal for GSoC 2008 is Games module for Drupal integrating the pnFlashgames [http://www.pnflashgames.com]Game Component into Drupal.

I am looking of a way to increase stickness to my Drupal powered business index.
Light games seem like an interesting option.

Some ideas:
1. Random picture => identify the business.
2. Weekly Polls with Prizes.
3. Crossword / Puzzle module (e.g. like here).
4. Complete tasks to earn points.

Which modules do you recommend?
And do you have other game ideas which encourage stickness?

Thanks in advance,

Amnon

We had an excellent BoF session about the state of gaming in Drupal, focusing mainly on the RPG module. Although I would like to point people to a really awesome Facebook/Drupal game written by one of the participants, only I don't remember his name or have his card handy... Maybe someone else can point to that?

I created a module that provides an API for "real-time" games and I'm ready to make an original contribution, but I'm not entirely sure what to name the module. The name that I've used so far (game_api) would just create confusion and conflicts with existing game APIs, so I'm looking for suggestions.

Hi all..

I just posted a module idea I'm using in the RTS framework and I think this can be helpfull also for the rpg engine.

"Jailing a user" at http://groups.drupal.org/node/8628

To avoid cross posing, a resume of the module idea is to jail the user into a page untill he completes an operation, but leave the user free enough to check some uris (documentation, faq, forum). Any other uri not "allowed" will redirect the user again to it's incomplete operation.

I'm going to bring up an old discussion now. I don't think there's been much discussion in forums (but if so, maybe someone can dig up some posts). But there has been much over the past couple of years in IRC.

This has to do with integrating RPG with the Drupal node system. The current RPG module is its own entity, entirely unattached to nodes. This is a reversal of earlier versions of the module. Originally, I'd planned to fully integrate it with CCK and Views, and if you look at the first few dozen commits, you'll see that RPG objects were actually node types, and the attributes were fields.

Eventually, I ran into several problems. Some issues were merely difficult, while others seemed nearly insurmountable. Thus, I rewrote the engine, making RPG objects an entirely separate entity in the database.

Now I'm writing graphical support for RPG, and am finding myself duplicating code, and questioning (yet again) my original decision to detach RPG from nodes. Here are some Pro's and Con's of using node types & fields for RPG objects:

There's combat now! Well, in a manner of speaking.

If you create a character at DrupalRPG.org, you can also try to hit other characters. Nothing beyond notifications of hit or miss really happen right now. But you can pick up wiffle bats you might see lying around. Or even experiment with making your own.

NOTE: In the last message, I mislead you. When creating the PC, you have to insert your UID for the PC value, not the number 1. Again, make sure to give yourself a location too, or you'll be in limbo.

You can certainly game the system (such as it is right now). For instance, there are fields for attack and defend skills, which are pretty generic. Soon, that will be out of the realm of character creation, or at least not without using character points or something.

Here's a screenshot (click for full view), where you can also see a hint of some fancy jquery in the right sidebar:

This is as good a time as any. The RPG module is in official Alpha. You can make characters, walk around, and pick up & drop objects now. The rest is window dressing... ;) I've attached a screenshot here.

You can make a character at DrupalRPG.org. If you do, some caveats: [EDIT] set the 'PC' attribute to your user uid on the character creation page[/EDIT]; make sure to set a location to one of the two rooms currently available; when you walk around, the messages don't work entirely. If you take something, make sure you leave things on the floor for other people to take.

There's only a few rooms right now, and a few objects. Things will probably get cluttered very quickly as people make characters and objects, so I'll probably have to do some housecleaning soon.

It's now (sort of) possible to create characters, rooms, exits, and move around in RPG. I've been breaking up the code into various contributed modules, introducing in the newest release: RPG Action, RPG Event, RPG Skill, and the rudiments of a ruleset built on top of Drudge: MUDSlinger, which introduces basic combat. I've been adding new hooks to allow modules to interact more simply to create more complex results. I'm also moving things in the direction of Drupal 6.

I've just implemented a basic messaging system for RPG. This allows actions to create output that might be altered before display, and allows it to be displayed in customizable fashions.

A new module was created, RPG Message. It provides an API for two functions, rpg_message and rpg_messages. Also, the RPG Drudge ruleset module now depends on this module, and provides a hook_rpg_message_alter that adds the room to the message, and all "listeners" in a room.

Basically, when you create a message, you will provide the following basic information: WHO did an action, who was the TARGET of the action (if there was one), and with WHAT was the action performed (when needed). You will also create at least a default MESSAGE to be displayed, and possibly customized messages (such as a message to be displayed to WHO, another to the TARGET, and a third to any observers).

The Drudge ruleset will alter the message to include anyone present nearby as observers (in the #listeners array), unless the message is marked as #private.

You may now create objects with the RPG module. The Create RPG Object link at /rpg/create will list the available types, and after clicking on a link, you can fill out the forms. You can browse created objects at View RPG Object /rpg/view, and view/edit individual objects from there.

Still a lot of work to be done, but this brings things one step closer to a game. Next will be exposing available actions for objects. After that, it'll be some work on Drudge, to make sure we have rooms & exits. Then is the PC creation stuff, and we'll have enough that someone will be able to create a character, walk around, and pick up & drop things. That should be in place sometime in November.

Then things can really get moving...

(Cross-posted at Drupal RPG.)

Aaron Winborn
Drupal RPG, home of the RPG module
Spindowners, an upcoming sci-fi browser RPG

For those of you Drupal gamers out there who are on Steam:

The Steam Drupal Group

Hi all.. First I would like to give thanks to dmitrig01 and aaron because of the great effort to move on this topic.

I just posted this as well at the Drupal forums, but I figured you folks could give some good input too.

I just posted this as well at the Drupal forums, but I figured you folks could give some good input too.

Here's a basic roadmap of the RPG module. Much of this is complete or in process. You can build a fully functional game when everything here is done. In particular, the first ruleset, Drudge, will make a lot of this much easier, by having pre-defined basic types that will probably be useful to most RPGs. There's no timeline for this -- some tasks are easy, some more difficult, some still need to be spec'd. Also, depends on when folks have time to work.

Meanwhile, if you want to test out current development, go ahead and try out the ruleset imports, and type/attribute edits. There are other links in there, but they are in various states of disrepair. If you do this, expect to need to wipe out your database tables later -- some things are still in flux, and I'm not yet writing update functions.

(Cross-posted at Drupal RPG)

Aaron Winborn
Drupal RPG, home of the RPG module.
Spindowners, a sci-fi web rpg being developed with the rpg module.

The latest commit brings things even closer. Rulesets may be imported from modules now. A new module has been created in the package (RPG Base Classes), separating the base classes from the core module. When attributes are created from these classes, tables are created both to create the new type/attribute combination, and to store data in rpg objects.

So now the ruleset idea is maturing, and I've entered a new module into the rpg project of the repository, for Drudge (rpg_drudge.module in the rpg/rulesets folder).

Workflow: lower-order object types will be part of a basic system, possibly Drudge or possibly something lower than that. You may 'import' a ruleset of objects & game rules from such a module, which uses hook_rpg_ruleset. The module will have an array of types, and functions that define those types.

How would one go about creating an online version of GURPS with the RPG or Game modules? Is it very difficult? Does it require a lot of knowledge of PHP programming, or is it mostly adding/changing variables? This is something I'd be very interested in doing.

After a conversation with dmitrig01, I think I found the way to best integrate the flexibility I can see with the current system with the robustness & speed of using php include files that was part of RPG originally. Because I'm not near my computer this weekend, I'm going to just add some notes here directly to remind myself this direction when I get back to programming next week:

Import Rulesets

I just updated the RPG project page with a more current description. To add to the discussion, I'm cross-posting the juicy parts here and at Drupal RPG. (Sorry in advance for the spam if you're subscribed to the three posted groups...)

RPG

The engine itself does little more than provide a core to build a game with. Although it is intended to be for online RPG's, there is no reason the base couldn't be expanded to create other types of games, such as Turn-Based Strategy games, RTS games, or even slidescrollers. The engine is able to do this by providing basic functionality for administrators to create, use, and share 'rulesets'.

Rulesets are definitions of the Types, Attributes, and Actions used to create in-game objects. They may be created in forms available to game administrators, and may also be imported/exported from forms or even files. RPG Object Types follow inheritance rules, and may even include multiple parents, allowing types to share and even override attributes and actions.

For the RPG module, I just published the API, which is "bleeding cutting edge" since it is the development copy I use before it even gets committed to the CVS repository. Go take a peek!

Drudge is the first Ruleset I'm designing, to give an idea of how things will evolve. From the include file:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fudge_die

After actions are done, the next concept I want to tackle are Rulesets. Games built with the RPG will have a Ruleset, which may be unique to the site, shared with other sites, or a combination. Rulesets are the Actions, Events, and basic Objects that build the world for that site. They may be imported and exported, either through a form text area or with an include file. Once in the site, they may be customized using the various administration screens.

Objects may refer to 'resources' in the game, for things such as 'sprites' (graphics for display or animation), 'scripts' (php scripts that may be run at certain times), and 'nodes' (which refer to Drupal nodes, for use as the designer deigns).

Modules may define a new resource, using a hook (something like hook_rpg_resource). Once available, objects may or may not be supplied a hook by that module, allowing such things as an object to have a default sprite assigned for display.

A new game entitled "60 Blank White Cards", coded in Drupal and by the well-known Morbus Iff, has just launched its teaser site which alludes to "cash prizes", "prize-winning points", and offers up the requisite word puzzle for those ready to learn more. Take a look-see, give it a Digg, sign up for an account, solve the puzzle, and wait for the next update!

I recently became reacquainted with the Actions module, and realized that it might be a good hook for RPG actions, rather than reinventing the wheel. So this week I'm studying that (and the workflow module), to see how it might work. I would need to create the basic RPG actions and the admin UI, but I think it would work.

Aaron Winborn
Drupal RPG, home of the RPG module.
Spindowners, an upcoming text-based rpg being developed with the RPG Module for Drupal.

A little question... is there an avatar system thought already?
Anyone considered one?

If there is one, where can I find information about it and get involved on it's development.
What else can I help with?

I created myself a story node with a title, so I might as well fill it with personal deadlines.

I see we have had a number of new people, so I would like to talk about this group.