Re: [pbmserv-dev] PBM Server game development

[John Williams <williams@morinda.com>]

On Thu, 1 Mar 2001, Bob Lafleur wrote:

> I'm thinking of writing a game for PBMServer. Is there any documentation on
> how to write a "well behaved" game, or should I just look through the code
> of the games that are available and try to figure it out? 

Send "help implementation.notes" to the server for a brief description of
how it is set up.  Pick a simple game and study it to see how it works in
detail.  (The "fetch.2" command will get the source code from the server.)

> Does anyone have
> any tips on how I can test my game "offline" before submitting it to be
> loaded on the server (without having to set up my own local server,
> hopefully)? Thanks.

If you use Linux (or any other Unix), it's quite easy.  To run the
game, you can just execute it from the command line, just like it
would appear in the subject of a mail.  To see the output, make a small
change in sendmail.c to execute a script instead of /sbin/sendmail.  The
script should look something like "cat -", i.e. it just sends its input to
the terminal.

This assumes you have your directory structure set up, and PBMHOME set,
as described in implementation.notes.

> Why are there no card-based games on PBMServer? Just because no one has
> decided to write any, or is there another reason? 

That would be the reason.

> The game I am thinking of
> writing is called "Tuck", which is sort-of like Parchesi, but played with
> cards. The game has some element of chance because of the cards, but also
> requires some skill. I'm curious if anyone else has heard of Tuck besides me
> and a few people I play it with?

Sorry, never heard of it.

I can answer any other questions you may have.

~ John Williams