RE: [War-devel] Plans for multiserver "backbone" structure

[SamBC <sa...@ni...>]

Comments below:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Thomas Lund
>
>
> Hi
>
> Nice subj :-)
>
> I have 2 weeks holiday from friday, and then I have (finally) time to
> code again.
>
> Plans for the holiday are:
>
> * basic mainserver + gameserver structure
> * basic chatroom
>
I will get some more definite rules drafted, with some basic units - see
forthcoming email!

> All in all: networking
>
> I have been thinking about implememnting a server structure ala:
>
>   main  <---->  main
>  /  | \           |
> gs  gs gs         gs
> |   |  | \	 / |\
> c   c  c  c	c  c c
>

gameserver <-> client relationship is one to many, yes - each client has one
gameserver at any one time, gameservers are mutually isolated & have many
clients, correct? If so, good.

> main = mainserver holding login info, game stats, experience point for
> squads, chat relay, list of gameservers connected, etc
> gs = gameservers. These run the games, and are the servers that clients
> (c) connect to. The gameservers validate the user/passwd with the main
> servers, and get lists of other users connectd to the "war network". A
> ggameserver could be one of the clients actually.
>

I would suggest that gameserver and client may possibly be the same machine,
but separate programs. Look at the Freeciv project (www.freeciv.org) for an
idea how this is done.

> Communication between mainservers and gs<->main are encryptd somehow.
> When reporting stats back to main servers from games, we should
> implemnent some validation thing with keys so nobody can cheat. I have
> absolutely no clue how to do this, but thats the fun of programming -
> learning :-)
>

Possible idea - as the game progresses, events are summarised into a sort of
hash system that includes a complex 1-way (?) encryption of all of the
events that led to experience so it can be used to verify experience ratings
for the battle. The algorithm should be semi-random to preclude
construction. Furthermore, hash-key verification direct from more than one
client should be necessary (ie the two players agree that they had the game
& what the outcome was - only the program does the agreeing for them).

> In the beginning there will only be 1 mainserver.
>

Of course, as it is opensource people may start up separate mainservers
producing extra "War Networks" which are separate from the project
mainserver


SamBC