ExtendingMultiplayerServer

Me

Hi, my name is Gaurav Mitra . I am 21 years old and a 3rd year Software Engineering/Science student at the Australian National University , Canberra. I have been playing wesnoth for about 2 years now , and its about time i contributed to its development !

Coding Experience

I am proficient in the following programming languages :

• C
• C++
• Java
• Haskell
• ADA

I am familiar with Linux environments which is where most of my coding is done . However, one of my home pc's has windows on it where i use cygwin to compile programs. But i prefer Eclipse for Java and C++ projects. My favourite code editors other than eclipse are Kate on linux and Notepad++ on windows. I have used SVN extensively for coursework and use the Tortoise SVN shell extension in windows for version control. I am also familiar with basic Networking concepts

My teamwork experience is as follows :

• In my 1st year I had worked on a Java game called blockOut in a team of 4 people
• Am currently working in a team of 6 to develop a Linux Robotic Framework written in C as a year long university project
• I have worked in groups of 2-4 for numerous presentations on topics such as AJAX etc

My preferred method of development is Agile and i like working in groups of 2-3 people.

As far as GSoC participation goes , this is my first time ! My motivation for participating is mainly to gain experience in developing a professional project and i get to develop wesnoth which is great ! But i intend on going through with wesnoth development even after its over.

Gaming Experience

I started playing games about 10 years back when i got my first pc . I prefer strategy war games rather than first person ones, hence my interest in wesnoth . My personal favourite game though is Age Of Empires II Conquerors , of which i have a fair bit of multiplayer gaming experience . As an opponent i do not favour AI because invariably its moves can be predicted . Human opponents are unpredictable and hence exciting to fight , which makes me play multiplayer games more often ! I also prefer more of gameplay rather than storyline . Im also very much in contact with a big wesnoth playing community here in ANU so am in constant competition with them in gameplay !

Communication Skills

I speak fluent English , Bengali and Hindi !

Contact Info

> IRC nick: dudegaurav

> Wesnoth Forum : dudegaurav

> Gna : dudegaurav

> Email: dude.gaurav@gmail.com

> Skype name: dude.gaurav , available for voip anytime !

The times that i am awake are generally very flexible , usually i sleep from 15:00 to 21:00 UTC and am available the rest of the time . I will be logged into IRC most of the time but may not be checking it frequently so feel free to email me as i check mail every 30 mins !

My Ideas for Extending the Multiplayer Server

My motivation for choosing this project comes from the fact that i am a fan of multiplayer games and wesnoth would have much better market value with more advanced multiplayer capabilities. Im also proficient in C++ which helps i guess , and am a quick learner of concepts.

As mentioned by wesnoth developers in their suggestions for this topic , the basic idea is to study the current multiplayer lobby , come up with tweaks , get them approved and code them ! At the moment , the tweaks that are evident to me are :

• Support for different versions of wesnoth i.e. different versions would have separate rooms and they could compete there rather than having to download the latest version again
• Support for different game types eg. Epic games ( maybe 100x100 maps ) , Large games and so on . Grouping of a certain type of game would enable players to choose games they are interested in , easily
• Providing proper login authentication similar to IRC
• Player profiles , having info about player details , number of games played , won , lost , best match etc
• Database for storing player profiles and ranking players based on their game statistics
• Grouping similar games , maybe making a grid layout rather than the scroll up/down (current) one
• Improved communication system between players i.e. private chat etc
• Simple room system similar to IRC , and separate rooms for different wesnoth versions , maybe more rooms for match making purposes
• Filtering mechanism for games interested in i.e. game search system by specifying different criteria such as number of free slots , playing against whom ( i.e. Northeners/Elves.. ) , number of players , map size , map terrain , etc.
• Having a multiplayer section on the website detailing player stats , game stats etc.
• Support for other languages for player convenience .

Overview

Page under construction at the moment , rest will be up shortly !