I have been thinking something similar :)
But my proposal would be a set of JavaBeans that can be used in other clients. A sample client would be provided, but it
doesn't make sense to duplicate the effort or force people away from the client they like.
A games protocol would have to be defined. Maybe something along the lines of GamesML? There is nothing mature at the moment (that I'm aware of). It is a pity that Jabber does not support message types (does it? any comments please!). So the game info would have to be sent as a <message>.
It is an ideal platform for turn based game playing. I imagine a menu in a client ->send text message, ->send chess move, etc.
When a chess (or game) move is received, the game board pops up and each move made is sent as an im. Conferences would allow multiplayer games (ie. bridge). Wonderful! It's a lot easier then going the yahoo games!
On a grander scale, it allows for massively multiplayer games. Games state is kept btwn all clients in a small area (allowing for scale). I was inspired here by Crosbie Fitch and the articles he write for GamaSutra, "CyberSpace in the 21st Century". This idea needs development.
I've been excited about this idea for a few months and have been investigating the options. JabberBeans looks nice, thanks to David Waite who is a member of the Jabber team (I think?). I think it should be supported by developers as the library for the Java language.
I had a 404 trying to get the JabberApplet source as well. You'll need to get it from cvs. See the cvs page for details.
I have not used Jabberoo or Net::Jabber. I have found reading the "Cheat Sheet" and just playing with JabberBeans the best way to learn.
Re, your notes on the server. I don't think it would be needed. Just have game beans that uses Jabber for presence and protocol.
I would love to develop this, I work full-time as a c++ developer and have 2 small kids. Oh crap, late nights for me.
Anyone else interested in this project?
"Ronald Gainey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
I apologize in advance if I haven't found the appropriate forum or if my questions are all answered in some great doc(s) somewhere, I have spent some time reading doc, but I am still finding my way around.
I'm interested in developing an online interactive game, and I believe Jabber may provide a good platform for my project. The game is of turn-taking, board game style, and Jabber's presence, IM, and chat facilities seem to be a great fit, as well as, of course, the underlying messaging platform for my application-specific messaging.
I was hoping to leverage some of the existing application code base and avoid reinventing the wheel, where possible. My background is pretty solid in C++, and I am just starting to seriously learn Java. Is JabberBeans the current state-of-the-art as far as a Java API for Jabber? I first looked at this a while back, and encountered a number of references to the JECI, but that seems to be either dead or to have evolved into JabberBeans, is that close to accurate?
On the client side, I am leaning towards an applet. I had hoped to perhaps use the JabberApplet as a base from which to begin coding, but when I go to the SourceForge project for the applet, I get a 404 for the source download page, is this code still available? If not, are there any other open source Java clients I might re-use or learn from? Or do I just need to start from scratch with the well-written "Jabber Client Developer's Cheat Sheet" by Jens Alfke?
On the server side, I believe that my server component would be, from the Jabber architecture world-view, just another client. That is, if I understand correctly, the Jabber protocol should allow me to pass around my application-specific messages without any particular exentions to the core Jabber messaging protocol. So from my application perspective I'd have distinct client/server components, but to Jabber these pieces would both be peers to each other and client entities to Jabber. Do I understand this correctly?
Would Jabberoo be the C++ equivalent to JabberBeans? Is either of these more mature, robust, or full-featured? How about Net::Jabber? DJ Adams "Fun With Jabber" is also a nice tutorial, but I don't know if the quickest route for me is to learn perl, get up to speed with Java, or stick with C++. I have been leaning towards Java on the server, since I'm pretty sure I want to use it for the client anyway.
Many questions, I know, even a few answers would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
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