Implementing Turn based play on TGE 1.5.2

#1 This is an intriguing code concept I never put much thought into since there are no immediate plans for Zombie Shortbus to make a turn based game. However, I'd like to take a stab at providing a little starter information for you.

My immediate thought is to first create a global variable for tracking who is currently up for a turn ($activeClient). At the start of a game (networked or single player), you roll a number (getRandom(100)) to see who gets the first turn and set up an array ($clientList[0]) ordered by those numbers. Once number of players ($maxNumPlayers) is reached, you can start game play. Two other important variables to keep track of would be a global, server variable to toggle game play starting, and a client side variable which doesn't allow important player actions until it is their turn.

I guess this might be the starting pseudo code:

In server\scripts\game.cs:

$activeClient = -1;
$maxPlayerCount = 5;
$clientList[0];
$readyToStartGame = false;
function GameConnection::onClientEnterGame(%this)
{

   [b]//... After starting code, but before %this.playerSpawn()[/b]

   %this.turnOrder = -1;                       [b]// Create the variable and give it an invalid value[/b]
   %this.roll = getRandom(100);          [b]// Pick a random number to determine turn order[/b]
   %this.turnDone = true;                    [b]// Create a variable for determining if client is done[/b]
   checkForMaxPlayers();
}

From here, you would want to create the sorted array of clients based on their roll variable. I personally hate sorting algorithms, but here's a shot:

Somewhere in server\scripts\game.cs:

function checkForMaxPlayers()
{
     // How many clients have connected?
     %count = ClientGroup.getCount();

     // Are we all filled up?
     if(%count > $maxPlayerCount )
     { 
            // Go through the client list and store it in our array for sorting
            for (%i = 0; %i < %count; %i++)
	   {
                 %cl = ClientGroup.getObject(%i);
                 $clientList[%i] = %cl;
           }
           
           // Sort our array
           sortClientList();
           
           // Iterate through our sorted array and assign turn order
           for (%i = 0; %i < %count; %i++)
	   {
                 $clientList[%i].turnOrder = %i;
           }
        
           // First client in our array is up for action
           $clientList[0].turnDone = false;
           $activeClient = $clientList[0];
           
           // All clients are ready, the game can proceed
           $readyToStartGame = true;
     }
     else
          return false;
}

// TODO - Fill this out, or using one of the various script array resources for sorting
function sortClientList()
{
     [b]// Perform crazy script sorting algorithm on list based on .roll variable[/b]
}

Once all the players are connected, ready, and sorted, you would toggle the $readyToStartGame, which is checked most likely in function startGame() in server\scripts\game.cs.

There are lots of ways to go about this code concept, in both script and engine code. This is just a starting way if you want to stick to script. We can probably discuss this further in this thread, but see how you like my starting procedure before I continue.

*EDIT*- Of course, you could just assign turn order on a first come, first serve basis. Players are assigned turn order as they connect to the game, which eliminates the need for the sorted client list variable I created.

Also, handling the start of the game and what not is also determined on whether or not you'll have a lobby system like most RTS games (StarCraft, Rise of Nations, etc), or if this an RTS at all.