what about the future?

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by lch

MoseHansen shares his Perl scripts from his automated Dom2 game server, if you're interested in that. I did plan to develop a fully customizable web frontend for Dom3 game servers in PHP using some other frontend before Matryx showed me his site, but I dropped that project when it became apparent that the Llamaserver became the de-facto standard for playing Dom3 games and people have no issues about PBEM turns, I then put the time into the Dom3Wiki instead. It seemed there was no need for a network equivalent, and what actually killed it for me was the whole user management stuff that one has to model and implement.

A front end something like this?
http://www.dom3minions.com/lab/MakeGame.htm
Actually most of the pieces for such a server have been ironed out if someone wanted to do it.

I didnt really want to with Dom3Minons. Like most things of mine it was meant more as a proof-of-concept for others to build on and improve. Which has happened to some extent. What I had originally wanted was for Dom3Minions to be a community asset as a shell account server but very few took me up on it and Im losing the ability to keep up with even that little an offering. I never did plan to go to a full hosting service.

As far as the need, de-facto, and no problems with pbem I would disagree. It is very common on this forum to put larger games on LLama's server (and I greatly appreciate it for that) but its not "the de-facto standard for playing Dom3 games". Possibly it is on Sombre's. On the other forums very little is pbem, nor does there seem much interest in it altho I make sure they all know that LLama's is available.

But if someone wanted to create a server like Matryx's (they would have to do it from scratch I guess) then it might spread things out abit. That server arrangment is entirely setup for hosted direct-connect games. It facilitates their different forum style because it serves some of the purpose that separate game threads do on this forum. It displays games that want players, allows them to find out the settings, join if they wish reserving the nation they want, download the mods and maps for it, and once the game starts it allows checking to see who has done their turns. And it gives a one-stop location for checking the status of the games you are in. But unlike servers like LLama's or Dom3Minions it doesnt host any. The games are all being played on other systems. In fact, a number of the games are being hosted on Dom3Minions.

Of the 3 types of servers, I have put that one forth as the best concept for any possible future official server IMHO.

Gandalf Parker
--
feci quod potui, faciant meliora potentes
I have done what I could, those who can will do better.