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Boardgame.io: an engine for creating turn-based games using JavaScript

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Re: Boardgame.io: an engine for creating turn-based games using JavaScript

#51

Post by Savageman »

fleabitdev wrote: post #13

This engine uses a Redux-like architecture. You have a State type (containing data like "the position of the black kingside rook") and a stream of in-game actions (like "knight to F3"). Each action is handled by a pure function which converts the current State to a new State. You can either transmit State deltas from the server to the client, or just transmit the actions themselves ( https://longwelwind.net/blog/netw…

How does secret state fit in this? If you want each player hand to be secret, then each player has its own state?

Re: Boardgame.io: an engine for creating turn-based games using JavaScript

#52

Post by thrwthsnw »

mankyd wrote: post #35
nicolodavis wrote: post #8

Original creator of boardgame.io here. A pleasant surprise to see this here after many years. More recently, I've been working on https://boardgamelab.app/ , which uses a visual programming language to model game rules while also taking care of the UI layer.

I feel like saying that is supports AI players, but not having a simple, already hosted example is a disservice. Even tic tac toe, or go fish would be a nice hook to help people understand what it actually delivers.

Go to the projects page on the docs site

Re: Boardgame.io: an engine for creating turn-based games using JavaScript

#53

Post by fleabitdev »

Savageman wrote: post #51
fleabitdev wrote: post #13

This engine uses a Redux-like architecture. You have a State type (containing data like "the position of the black kingside rook") and a stream of in-game actions (like "knight to F3"). Each action is handled by a pure function which converts the current State to a new State. You can either transmit State deltas from the server to the client, or just transmit the actions themselves ( https://longwelwind.net/blog/netw…

How does secret state fit in this? If you want each player hand to be secret, then each player has its own state?

boardgame.io only runs game logic on the server, and it censors the State just before sending it to each client. This strategy makes the UI feel less responsive, but it keeps things simple.

The Swords and Ravens blog post recommends resolving actions on the client when they don't require secret information, but resolving other actions on the server. You'd also need to resolve actions on the server when they involve RNG.

Re: Boardgame.io: an engine for creating turn-based games using JavaScript

#54

Post by moffkalast »

thrwthsnw wrote: post #52
mankyd wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like saying that is supports AI players, but not having a simple, already hosted example is a disservice. Even tic tac toe, or go fish would be a nice hook to help people understand what it actually delivers.

Go to the projects page on the docs site

I think this is the one, there's quite a few it seems, but not all work: https://boardgame.io/documentation/#/notable_projects

Re: Boardgame.io: an engine for creating turn-based games using JavaScript

#55

Post by Savageman »

fleabitdev wrote: post #53
Savageman wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does secret state fit in this? If you want each player hand to be secret, then each player has its own state?

boardgame.io only runs game logic on the server, and it censors the State just before sending it to each client. This strategy makes the UI feel less responsive, but it keeps things simple. The Swords and Ravens blog post recommends resolving actions on the client when they don't require secret information, but resolving other actions on the server. You'd also need to resolve actions on the server when they involve R…

Interesting, would you share the link of this post please?

Re: Boardgame.io: an engine for creating turn-based games using JavaScript

#56

Post by fleabitdev »

Savageman wrote: post #55
fleabitdev wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

boardgame.io only runs game logic on the server, and it censors the State just before sending it to each client. This strategy makes the UI feel less responsive, but it keeps things simple. The Swords and Ravens blog post recommends resolving actions on the client when they don't require secret information, but resolving other actions on the server. You'd also need to resolve actions on the server when they involve R…

Interesting, would you share the link of this post please?

https://longwelwind.net/blog/networking-turn-based-game/

Re: Boardgame.io: an engine for creating turn-based games using JavaScript

#57

Post by lukan »

LosEstupidos wrote: post #48
beretguy wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was this iOS game which died which I wanted to recreate: https://web.archive.org/web/20161020010853/http://www.82apps... But I have 0 knowledge of game development. Maybe this could make my job easier? Or maybe somebody else who know how to write game can do it? Please?

[flagged]

So you provided a thoughtful response, to show us how it is done?

The question was basically, can you rewrite that game for me?

Yeah sure, anything else?

Sorry, it was really not adding much to the conversation. The first question on its own would have been a simple yes.

Re: Boardgame.io: an engine for creating turn-based games using JavaScript

#58

Post by cleanerbob »

nicolodavis wrote: post #8

Original creator of boardgame.io here. A pleasant surprise to see this here after many years. More recently, I've been working on https://boardgamelab.app/ , which uses a visual programming language to model game rules while also taking care of the UI layer.

[dead]

Re: Boardgame.io: an engine for creating turn-based games using JavaScript

#59

Post by ginsider_oaks »

LudwigNagasena wrote: post #19
fleabitdev wrote: post #13

This engine uses a Redux-like architecture. You have a State type (containing data like "the position of the black kingside rook") and a stream of in-game actions (like "knight to F3"). Each action is handled by a pure function which converts the current State to a new State. You can either transmit State deltas from the server to the client, or just transmit the actions themselves ( https://longwelwind.net/blog/netw…

My main pain point with any sort of Flux-like state management is transitions [1]. The state of UI is not fully described by the state of the game [2]. If I play a card, the game state can be instantly updated to the next decison-making point, but in reality I want to show steps of the game through animations, some of which are concurrent and some of which are consecutive. That usually ends up in a mess; and I've nev…

I remember someone making a card game GALGA [1] in Haskell and compiling a high-level "rules" DSL to a low-level "animation" DSL and "primitive" DSL for handling animations and state changes respectively.

[1] https://roganmurley.com/2021/12/11/free-monads.html

Re: Boardgame.io: an engine for creating turn-based games using JavaScript

#60

Post by gr4vityWall »

LudwigNagasena wrote: post #19
fleabitdev wrote: post #13

This engine uses a Redux-like architecture. You have a State type (containing data like "the position of the black kingside rook") and a stream of in-game actions (like "knight to F3"). Each action is handled by a pure function which converts the current State to a new State. You can either transmit State deltas from the server to the client, or just transmit the actions themselves ( https://longwelwind.net/blog/netw…

My main pain point with any sort of Flux-like state management is transitions [1]. The state of UI is not fully described by the state of the game [2]. If I play a card, the game state can be instantly updated to the next decison-making point, but in reality I want to show steps of the game through animations, some of which are concurrent and some of which are consecutive. That usually ends up in a mess; and I've nev…

(game dev) What I did in the past was having actions generate both a new state, and a stack of 'instructions' that update the UI, which was deliberately not a 1:1 representation of the game state for the exact reasons you described.

Then you can 'execute' the stack within a command VM of some sorts, where instructions can move sprites around, play sounds, etc. You can have 'high level' instructions ("display the enemy's death") implemented as a combination of low level instructions ('reduce that health bar count until it goes to zero' -> 'change entity X's sprite to dead sprite' -> 'give player 200 gold as reward' -> 'play sound' -> 'change text in the text bar to something' -> ...)

It ended up working waaay better than what I was expecting, felt very easy to reason about, wasn't hard to maintain, and scratched that itch of implementing an interesting solution. :)

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