Tall Tales Online game (Pure AutoIt custom webserver, source provided)

[TheSaint]

Version 1.0.0.14 has been released (source code linked in the OP) and is live on the server. HTML is now disabled in all fields except the admin's announcement box. The RSS feed will not be available from the login page anymore, since it was exposing the feed of the last active user.

Great!

Most significantly, the length requirements are now enforced at the server level; you must contribute at least 5 words, and no more than 45 words. There is now no way around these requirements (previously, sending POST data straight over TCP instead of using a browser could post more than 45 words, and there was no minimum length requirement).

Good idea, but shouldn't have been necessary ... some people are idiots obviously ... Why participate if you aren't going to participate properly?

I know TheSaint's original game required 3 words, but I thought I'd up that a little so that you couldn't ever read the entirety of a user's contribution until the story was closed. Besides, 3 words is awfully lazy

As I said above ... what use is only 3 words ... most likely stops the story from flowing properly?

We've got a few new users in the last few days, and actually have a few stories which are newly active again, so check it out again if you haven't recently!

Great, good idea!

I think at this point that all significant avenues for abuse have been either closed or are easily fixed (users banned/deleted, etc), so I'm comfortable publicizing the game to a wider audience. I'm still working on a few enhancements which I'll release when they're ready. Most significantly, an in-game messaging system. But I still want to allow EDITS to posts, rather than blanket deletions, and open those options up to story owners (creators) as well as admins.

Good ideas. Maybe you could also consider implementing some other options, like extending the word display limit (only by the story's initiator of course). I will probably add a preview (glimpse) option to my program shortly, etc.

By the way, except for two hours last night when part of my server's TCP stack freaked out, there has been no downtime in the last two weeks or so.

Brilliant!

Once again, Thanks!

Edited April 1, 2009 by TheSaint

[james3mg]

OK, ladies and gentlemen! Version 1.1 is out, running on the server, and the source code linked up in the OP.

What's so significant that this has been promoted to v1.1, you ask? The answer is quite simple; the addition of a working in-game messaging system!

As a normal user, you'll see a new fourth tab on the navigation bar (admins, this tab appears just before your Admin tab, which is now the fifth tab, and slightly colored red to give it a little distinction). Clicking on that will open your inbox, along with providing a smaller navigation bar below the main links, giving you the options to switch between inbox, outbox and compose message screens. Note also that the messages link at the top notes in parenthesis how many UNREAD messages you have waiting. NO, HTML is not permitted, even in messages.

I think you'll get the hang of how it works quite easily

For those running their own TallTales servers; fear not, for the first time you run v1.1 or higher, the new table required in the database will simply be silently added to your existing database, so no migration is required.

Now...get writing!