Category: Games

Board games, miniatures games, role playing games.

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Looking at database structure for Cluster

We’ve framed out the ‘Cluster’ game graphically (at least to a first approximation). Currently the cluster generation is handled in Unity and there are no game rules and no save games.

I’m in the process of roughing out the MySQL database structure that will hold persistent game data and convey it between players and looking at coding up the php code needed to manage this data and implement game turn logic and playing field generation.

Once the basics are sketched out, I expect to remove the generation logic from the Unity code-base and switch things over to use the layouts and turn management provided by the site based php code.

I’m expecting to see the database side layout break out into:

  • System Data. Things that control game operation but do not change game to game or player to player.
  • Player Data. Information about the players that is not related to a particular game. Name, picture or icon, other particulars.
  • Game Data. Information that is a base part of a particular game run but does not change turn by turn.
  • Turn Data. Turn and move data for the game.

System Data

  • Star name list
  • Planet types list
  • Configuration such as number of stars per game and other similar items.

Player Data

  • Player ID
  • Player Name
  • Player picture or icon
  • Games played
  • Wins/Losses

Game Data

  • Stars Information
    Table with color, location
  • Planets Information
    Table with type, properties, max pop, orbit

Turn Data

  • User Move
    Fleets from -> to. Scouts from -> to.
  • Resource Production
    Build Ship here, Build planetary resource here, Spend on research. Form and break fleets.
  • Combat Resolution
    Combat results. Remove destroyed ships. Resolve ownership changes.
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Spent some time looking at game rules last night…

I spent some time looking at miniatures and wargame rules last night (and bought a discounted Unity book from Packt that I’m hoping will give me more insights into areas of interest).

I need to take the next step on build-out of my ‘Cluster’ game in the next few days and generate a population of stars from a prefab and then get hit-testing of mouse clicks to star working. I think I have most of the bits in had to carry this off, but I need to test it out.

In the initial pass, I’m not looking to implement anything overly fancy in the star generation and positioning code. I may even simply walk them around the board with reckless abandon at first.

I found some examples here that seem to show how to take a mouse click position on the UI and hit-test the viewport normal from that position. This code even does (or suggests) the zoom function I was thinking about implementing in order to view individual systems.

I expect in the longer run, there will also want to be various control panels supplied with information that is more classically UI style to make managing the overall effort easier. Ideally this could be done without these, but I’m not quite sure how to get there at this point.

I think I may set up the board game tonight and look at running a few turns solo just to get back into the feel of the game. If I do, I’ll post pictures of the board with counters on it and related items.

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More Games in my Collection

The bigger, mostly newer games I have.

Star fleet battles. Big, complex, huge number of ships and options. I haven’t had anyone around who knows the game in decades and it is a really hard game to get people started on with the rather massive basic rules set.

My original star fleet battles set. Simpler rules from simpler days. The game has become so much larger since then. Better balanced and with far more options. I haven’t cut the counter sheets for the newer edition as I have plenty of these older counters to use should the opportunity arise.

Federation commander is a simplified version of star fleet battles. I picked it up with hopes that it might be a simpler option. May be at some point.

Federation and Empire (and the earlier Federation Space) are both strategic level old series Star Trek combat. A complex game and one that I’ve never yet had a chance to play against a real opponent. Seems like another game that badly wants computer support to really play. It would be pretty amazing to get a real play through of this though.

And StarFire is the truly huge scale strategic game with massive scope but also massive complexity. On balance I’ve found this game fascinating to read through and containing well though out technologies and mechanics, but without computer support I can’t really imagine finding the time to play it.

Traveller isn’t primarily a wargame, but it is full of ideas for space game trading and space combat. Add in Striker with tactical ground combat and the possibilities for inspiration are pretty extensive. Lots to play with here.

I’d also love to run a traveller game sometime. Perhaps far in the future in retirement…

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The core of my wargame collection

Here’s the core of my wargame collection. These are all rather old and I still regret not having bought more back when they were readily available (but the back then I had much less money to spend).

I also had two of the core GDW Europa series games, Fire in the East and Scorched earth covering the eastern front through the entire second world war. I tried setting them up to play with a friend and circumstances resulted in the counters and some other related parts being left with the friend when we lost touch. I still might try to replace these at some point, but that is likely to be pretty expensive.

I also have a batch of metagaming micro-games that are interesting.

I expect that my copy of Chitin-I is also around somewhere but it isn’t with my core collection. I’d be interested in getting my hands on a copy of battlesuit if circumstances permit.

I have an extensive starfleet battles collection including a full set of federation and empire. I’ve played a lot of SFB in the past but never yet found an opportunity to try out F&E.

I have various editions of starfire around though while the game is fascinating to read, I’m not at all convinced that it is playable without a major amount of computer assist.

I expect to be trying to build some simple wargame-like games using unity over the next year or so. I expect to take inspiration from the games in my collection, but as these are still under copyright I’ll not be directly cloning content.

I expect to post some more information here as I get to coding and I’ll try to post some more detailed comments on the individual games as I get to them and time permits. I’m also making a concerted effort to ensure that all relevant parts are reunited with their game boxes.

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