[Freeciv-Dev] Re: libkdegames

[Gregor Zeitlinger <zeitling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 28 Dec 2001, Neil Stevens wrote:
> Oh, by the way, there already is a KGame in libkdegames, that is a 
> multiplayer game framework.  So an extra libadvkdegames is unlikely. :-)
> See http://www.freekde.org/article.php?sid=24
I wasn't aware of that, thaks. Looks quite nice. Here's a short summary
from the link above:

Feature list:
- Easy to use network options. All games will be network
  aware without programming much network and certainly
  without needing to know about sockets, TCP etc.
- chat widgets dialogs, predefined network and game
  configuration dialogs available
- load/save of your game with about one line of code.
  You can use the load/game mechanism even if you don't intend
  to write a network game.
- Game flow logic, nextPlayer, gameOver, ... available
  Suitabel for tunr based and not turn based games
- Game variables bases on property system. It even allows
  runtime inspection of the game properties in a separate window
- Flexible and easy exchangable input modules, e.g. keyboard
  or mouse (others like joysticks, ... can be added later)
- Object orientated game design: Game - Player - I/O
- Very easy to program computer player either direct or even
  in a separate process without you needing to know about
  processes or interprocess communication
- Computer players can be replaced by network players or vice versa
  even in a running game

What about maps and views of maps (isomeric or classic bird eye)? It's
common to Boson and Freeciv at least. And what about units that can walk
across the map? And something like a city in freeciv or a building in
Boson?
Don't get me wrong. I think it's great not to reinvent the wheel every
time, but I think the idea can go a bit further. Something lile the gnu
gaming zone is probably on that list as well.
On of the things that might be hairy is performance. The freeciv network
protocol is designed for that purpose and therefore quite fast.
Also, what's about ai support. Since this is a fairly complex task, a
library would help. We've discussed scripting for this purpose. Is there
something for that planned in KGames (like PyQt)?

For those interested from freeciv, here are some other links to KGames

The Design:
http://webcvs.kde.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/kdegames/libkdegames/kgame/DESIGN?rev=1.10&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup

general description:
http://webcvs.kde.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/~checkout~/kdegames/libkdegames/kgame/libkdegames.html?rev=1.1&content-type=text/html

-- 
Gregor Zeitlinger      
gregor@xxxxxxxxxxxxx