I have developed a multi-user game using GWT, and I would like some
feedback on how I implemented it. It works OK but it isn't perfect so I'm
trying to work out the glitches.
Here is a summary of the key features of the game:
- Multiple independent games can be happening concurrently within the app
- Each game can have an arbitrary number of players
- Each game is broken up into timed "turns", and a turn can be initiated
by any player
- All players can create input to the game during a turn, and all
players should see any input by other players in the game right away
- A player can be anonymous or can log in
- A player can chat with other players while playing
- At the end of the turn, the game state is updated with results from
the turn, and the game waits for a player to initiate a new turn
- Players can come and go as they please, entering or leaving a game in
the middle of a turn, between turns, or just shut down their browser or the
computer can go to sleep
- Players can leave one game and go into another game at any time
I implemented the game using Channel and Task Queue APIs from AppEngine.
It is a GWT app using the MVP model, but is based on the original History
model (no Activities/Places) and I have not used UiBinder or RequestFactory.
Here are my questions and issues:
- What is a good way to generate a Client ID for the Channel? Right now
the app creates a persistent Player object for each new player, and uses
the JDO-generated ID as the Client ID. It stores the ID in a Collection of
Players in each Game object to update all the players in the game
"real-time". I use a cron servlet to delete old Players when I don't need
them anymore, but I feel like there has to be a way to do this without
creating a persistent object that I am going to get rid of later.
- When the computer goes to sleep or the user logs off the computer, a
Player may not be removed from a Game object properly, and has to be
removed later by a clean-up process. Is there any way to ensure proper
removal of a player when the computer sleeps or the user logs off? (I'm
thinking about using the new channel_presence feature in the Channel API)
- The way the timed turn works is with a Task Queue object with a
countdownMillis property. This seems to work pretty well, but if the Task
Queue does not fire on time it can result in odd behavior. Can I trust the
the Task Queue object will fire on time consistently? Is there a better
way to implement a timed turn feature?
- Minor issue: Right now the app does not store any state between
visits to the web app site, nor when the user logs in or logs out - the app
always enters at a default location. What is the best way to store state.
Cookies? Persistence objects on the server?
I am in the process of re-writing the app using UiBinder, RequestFactory,
and Activities and Places. I would like to improve some of the above
implementations in the process. Any help and ideas would be much
appreciated. Thanks!
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