[jdev] how to program a jabber game server

[Richard Dobson]

> So, the only solution (or correct way to do it ?) is to let
> a bot handle the game mechanics ?
>
> I mean, when a user perform a game action, the client should
> send the server a <message...> to the game bot JID, which
> I have to program in a script language ? In that case, the bot may
> process the game state, store it in a database, send messages to
> the other players, etc... ?
>
> In fact, I've seen a JEP example here (about chess) :
> http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/inbox/chess.html
> and I thought that the server was directly handling
> <chess:rules> or <chess:piece> tags. If this is possible,
> is it the right way to do it, and how do we program
> a Jabber server ?
I would suggest writing it as a server component, now before you can 
write one it is best if you first pick the server that you will be 
working with as components tend to work differently in different 
servers, either that or you could make use of the Component Protocol 
(assuming your chosen server supports it) which is at 
http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0114.html.

Out of interest, what game are you looking at implementing? as it might 
be helpful to standardise the protocol for it, like the attempt at the 
chess one above. I myself am implementing a game component at the moment 
which will support several different simple games.

Richard