Feel free to organize this section into subsections, this is a mess ;)

If entering the website: http://games.asobrain.com/ you are taken to a couple of small games. If you then are testing Xplorers you will find yourself in a small lobby full of players playing this game. There is a list of players, a chatwindow, a window where you can see games being played and games that are open for you to join.

Behind this little window there is a ranking system for every registered player, there are some statistics and some more information about what kind of player you are.

Now this is what actually keeps that game alive and well. We can make a wonderful game that people will find great but in the end if you don’t have anyone to play against it will fall flat and die within a couple of days.

Having a server where people can walk in and immediately find another player eager to fight is a great thing and shouldn’t be that hard to program. Having a ranking system similar to the ELO-system (used in Chessladders and similar leagues) also offers more life to the game. If we brainstorm further there could be cups, competitions, etc.

So if I just can wish for some seconds I would like:

A server where people, from the game, can walk into a lobby. The lobby should contain: A list of all players (registered and nonregistered) registering your name gives you the benefit of playing ranked games (and the name is also highlighted in other colour so you can see other registered players). A main chat where results of matches are declared and you can also send text messages that are shown to everyone.

A create game button where you can create games and wait for another player to join.

When clicking on a player not ingame you can see his ranking and statistics (matches played, date joined etc) send personal messages and also challenge to a match. If challenge is accepted you are both taken immediately to game. There must be a blocking-function as well if you are bumping into annoying people that wont take no for an answer. Blocking a person will also mute him in mainchat. I don’t think we should have any spectatorfunctions as it will mean a lot more when netcoding the actual game.

If the player is registered (name and password required) the server database will record and store following data:

Loginname/Screenname (same)

Password

Matches played

Matches won/lost

Time played

Current ranking national, current ranking international.

Progress graph (can be shown in month or year)

Blocked persons

Percents won by unit (Pawn-14%, Chimera-74% etc)

When it comes to netcoding the actual game I (Andreas) am a total idiot and know nothing about the technical issues. All I know is that there will be only two players (hence 2 units) to send information about which shouldn’t be very hard to control the lag. My suggestion is that the creator of the game (or the challenger) will act as the gameserver if we need that. The central Lobbyserver will not act as a gameserver.