Cyberkilla

Admin

Total Posts: 5,984
Online Status: Offline
Mon Sep 15 14:16:46 EDT 2014

This isn't going to be of any great interest to anyone just yet, but in the interests of keeping things out in the open, here's what I was working on last week:
  • Implement a mechanism to take a series of JavaScript and CSS files, and concatenate them into a single file, minified, compressed, and cached server-side.
    • This is necessary, because the new version of the game is going to be a lot more interactive (but not bloated!), and I want to keep this game a tight operation.
    • Additionally, by dynamically compressing a**ets into single files, it significantly reduces the number of HTTP requests that your browser will have to make.
  • Split core game actions into modules, accessible via a shared internal API. This makes it easier perform actions, such as equipping items, moving around a map, transferring funds, etc., from any point in the game.
  • Create a framework for an AJAX and WebSocket API, which will be used to expose certain actions (again, such as managing your inventory, banking, navigating maps, etc.) via AJAX calls. This removes the need to reload the page in many cases, making things even faster.
    • This will also be used as a notification system, and for chat, to push new messages to your browser either instantly, or periodically (via polling), to remove the need to reload the page.
These changes are not visible currently, but they will allow much more rich content, and more HTML5 features to be made use of. For instance, the new world nav page uses an HTML5 canvas tag for drawing.

I just though it best to mention that I was actively working on the game (smiley)


Invisible War ][
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited by Cyberkilla @ Mon Sep 15 14:17:00 EDT 2014

Aurum KodEXo

Mod

Total Posts: 2,575
Online Status: Offline
Mon Sep 15 15:38:55 EDT 2014

Hot damn, how many times is the improvement of speed? (smiley)


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cyberkilla

Admin

Total Posts: 5,984
Online Status: Offline
Tue Sep 16 8:17:36 EDT 2014

Quote from Aurum KodEXo
Hot damn, how many times is the improvement of speed? (smiley)

Potentially a lot faster. I mean, we're pretty fast now. Rendering pages takes a few ms, but not needing to render the page at all is obviously going to be faster still.

I want to make certain things, like equipping items, withdrawing funds, etc., not require a page reload. Certain things don't make sense as an AJAX request, and those will continue to be separate page requests. It should be interesting.

I've been getting a lot of questions about making attacks happen without leaving the map. That's something I'm still a bit wary of at the moment (I prefer the separate page IMHO), but at least we'd have a nice way to do it, if needed.


Invisible War ][
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited by Cyberkilla @ Tue Sep 16 8:18:04 EDT 2014

Cyberkilla

Admin

Total Posts: 5,984
Online Status: Offline
Thu Sep 18 15:03:51 EDT 2014

I've just updated the main server to the latest and greatest PHP and Apache. It shouldn't have caused any side-effects, but it things that were previously working are suddenly broken, you know why (smiley)

If you do notice anything, let me know (smiley)


Invisible War ][