Posted By: fastlane69
Would you be interested in a book about GS MP? - 07/14/10 23:57
Hi all,
What you see below is an overview of the book I'm writing. It's based off a book I wrote a year after getting into GS using A5/6. It's been years since then and both my experience with GS and my writing skills have improved. Hence while based on that old work, it's really been updated to take everything up to A8 (in beta) into account.
It's an intermediate level introduction to GS networking. The first 3rd is an overview of networking in general, to set the stage for what is to come. The second third of the book discusses the basic elements of GS. Not how they work insomuch as what they are and their relation to each other. The emphasis is on networking (and thus graphics or audio functions are not discussed) as well as presenting a unified view of the GS engine. Lastly, the final third takes everything up to that point and puts it together. It is here that how GS networks is specifically discussed. The purpose is NOT on how to make anything. The demo is there merely to showcase all the GS network functionality. But the idea is that there will be a followup book which would in fact talk about design and development strategies for specific projects (like MP, MMO, casual, etc). Al the same, an advanced user after reading this book should be able to take the demos and build on them to suit their needs.
The numbers are the current page numbers with chapters 1, 2, appendices, and images all done. Chapter 3 is about 80% done and I still need to put the final touches on the demos. The book length should hover around 100 pp. and the demos will be less than 10MB each. Thus the entire package, book + 3 demos, should be less than a 30 MB download. If there is interest in this work, it could be complete in as little as two months at which point I would put it up for sale via a digital download at a yet to be determined price.
Please let me know if this would be of use to you, suggestions on other topics or formats for the books, and generally any questions or comments you might have.
What you see below is an overview of the book I'm writing. It's based off a book I wrote a year after getting into GS using A5/6. It's been years since then and both my experience with GS and my writing skills have improved. Hence while based on that old work, it's really been updated to take everything up to A8 (in beta) into account.
It's an intermediate level introduction to GS networking. The first 3rd is an overview of networking in general, to set the stage for what is to come. The second third of the book discusses the basic elements of GS. Not how they work insomuch as what they are and their relation to each other. The emphasis is on networking (and thus graphics or audio functions are not discussed) as well as presenting a unified view of the GS engine. Lastly, the final third takes everything up to that point and puts it together. It is here that how GS networks is specifically discussed. The purpose is NOT on how to make anything. The demo is there merely to showcase all the GS network functionality. But the idea is that there will be a followup book which would in fact talk about design and development strategies for specific projects (like MP, MMO, casual, etc). Al the same, an advanced user after reading this book should be able to take the demos and build on them to suit their needs.
The numbers are the current page numbers with chapters 1, 2, appendices, and images all done. Chapter 3 is about 80% done and I still need to put the final touches on the demos. The book length should hover around 100 pp. and the demos will be less than 10MB each. Thus the entire package, book + 3 demos, should be less than a 30 MB download. If there is interest in this work, it could be complete in as little as two months at which point I would put it up for sale via a digital download at a yet to be determined price.
Please let me know if this would be of use to you, suggestions on other topics or formats for the books, and generally any questions or comments you might have.
Code:
. Table of Contents Introduction 4 Chapter 1: Network Basics 7 UML Diagrams 7 Component Diagram 8 Use Case Diagram 9 Sequence Diagram 10 Client/Server Architecture 11 N-Tier architecture 11 Client/Server vs. Peer-to-Peer Networks 13 GS Client/Server 2-Tier Architecture 15 If(Connection) 16 My.Terminology 19 Demo 1: Non-Interactive Dedicated Servers 21 Chapter 2: GameStudio™ Basics 25 GameStudio History 25 Authorware Editors 26 MED 27 WED 28 SED 30 Data Structures 33 Quants, frames, ticks, and seconds 33 Strings and Text 34 Vars, long, double 34 Structs and flags 34 Skills 34 Event System 35 Input events 37 Detection events 39 Collision events 41 Engine events 43 Demo 2: Interactive Non-Dedicated Server 44 Chapter 3: GameStudio Networking 46 Network Communication Protocols 47 GS Network object Indexing 48 If(Event_Type == Event_Join) 49 Automatic updates 54 Scripted updates 58 If(Event_Type == Event_Leave) 60 Session_Connect() 62 Network Entities 66 Player=Ent_Create() 67 Network Action() 70 My, My.Skills, and My.Event() 72 If(Event_Type == Event_Disconnect) 74 Scripted Updates 76 If(Event_Type == Event_Var) 78 If(Event_Type == Event_String) 79 If(Event_Type == Event_Data) 79 If(Event_Type == Event_Receive) 80 Network Engine Control 82 Network statistics 82 Packet control 83 Function control 84 Client control 84 Demo 3: Non-Interactive Client with Zoning 86 Appendices C-lite network functions and variables glossary 87 GS and networking glossary 96 Bibliography 107 Revision notes 108   Table of Images Figure 1: ScreenShot (SS) PAST™ 4 Figure 2: Component Diagram (CD) Template 8 Figure 3: Use Case Diagram (UCD) Template 9 Figure 4: Sequence Diagram (SD) Template 10 Figure 5: CD 3, 4, and GS’ 2 Tier Architectures 12 Figure 6: UCD P2P and C/S Networks 13 Figure 7: UCD Client 14 Figure 8: UCD GS Client-Side and Server-Side networks 18 Figure 9: UCD Dedicated Server 24 Figure 11: SS MED 27 Figure 12: SS WED 28 Figure 13: SS SED 30 Figure 14: CD Events and Event Handlers 35 Figure 15: CD Detection Events 40 Figure 16: CD Entity Collision Events 42 Figure 10: UCD Non-Dedicated Server 45 Figure 17: UCD Joining 52 Figure 18: SD Joining 53 Figure 19: UCD Automatic and Scripted Updates 54 Figure 20: SD Automatic Updates 57 Figure 21: SD Scripted Updates 59 Figure 22: UCD Leaving 61 Figure 23: SD Leaving 61 Figure 24: SD Session_Connect() 65 Figure 25: UCD Client Ent_Create() 69 Figure 26: SD Client Ent_Create() 69