Technical Implementation

Just some comments to myself:

• Server controls what is on the map (the client shall not assume anything)

Internal actions

• Show Map
• Show Map at pos x,y
• Show Map at nest n
• Help about n (predefined constants in app) - or use the wiki pages?
• Show spieces chat with prepared message/location x,y

etc

Determine water vs land

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3645649/i-need-to-know-the-predefined-point-is-in-the-sea-or-on-the-land That pixel or one next to it just to bu sure?

Client

• Will have a service (or similar) run once per hour, or so, sending position (web or gcm). The pos is passivly get. I.e. if there is one, read it.

Client <-> Server

• All actions are asynchronous
• Send all waiting actions (in client) to one server script using a background thread.
  • The client application holds a list of actions waiting to be performed (with a generated serial id)
  • A json-list with actions
  • All actions have a serial number (unique to user and say 5 min?) and info on what to perform
  • If the action already took place (serial number) just send the updated info (for that action)
  • The server responds with apropriate data on all actions or error messages and also a part with new data (that might have been changed)
  • The client updates data and remove confirmed actions from the list of waiting actions
  • The client sends a new request with waiting actions (including those who where not confirmed)

• Notification from server if nearby actions take place, the notifications shall contain enough data to update the info in the client (typically attacks)

Animals

• Amout of animals: Linear to the number of active players.
• Have a an (average) lifetime and disappears after that time (no matter if in inventory or on ground)
• Show up nearby users, or on locations where users have been.
• Notifications to nearby users (with setting)

Food

• Pretty evenly distibuted on earth
• Only visible on zoomed in.
• TODO Decrease and disappear after some time? New show up. How?
• When looking at area x1,x1 -> x2,y2, maybe it "scans the lines" and the distance to the next food occurrence is relative to the latitude to get it evenly distibuted. (instead of checking a square pattern)
• TODO But how to figure out where to spawn more food and where has it already been done?
• Math pattern having a fixed amount of food and a table with the removed ones (and dropped) and let the patters slowly slide/change in some way...
• Where is it calculated?
  • One table with lat L,LL and long L,LL values showing where it has been added
  • One table with actual food items on the map. When picked up, they respawn efter some time, or grow up again.
  • After som time food disappear at the current location and get new distribution, with overlap. TODO HOW?)
  • There are fixed areas where the food appear. Over time the internal pos and location is changed. Two overlapping formulas or just one and a fix time when it is changed to the new. Once a week the removed resources are reset and the new ones appear?

DB

• nest - about nests and the potentially colony living there
• nest_distance - actual distance between nearby nests
• country - move the strings here and store a pointer in the nest-table
• sub country location - move the strings here and store a pointer in the nest-table

• items on the map
  • animals - location
  • animals_log/history - what they did... some how. Needed?
  • food

• user - basic user data
• user_unit - about each unit connected for each player (needed for notifications)
• user_location - track user location, once per hour or so to be able to spawn creatures at resonable locations, and prevent cheating.
• user_inventory - in some way....

• log - what happened and when. (id ref to types of actions)
• log_user - what event are useful for what user

• historical scores, statistics, log of scores... or something..., even if it all may be calculated by replaying the log.... to be able the get graphs etc. A parts of nest dump every 25h or so...
  • This means that nests may not be deleted from the table, just "inactivated" when destroyed.

• chat - todo