Gridiron Academics: A Programming Dynasty

[GoldenEagle]

Introduction

I have been thinking about doing this game for some time now. I finally think I have the programming skill and the motivation to get it done. I wanted to put my thoughts down on paper and get some response from others about what I think and whether or not it will work. There is no better place for objective opinion than FOFC. Therefore, I have decided to post this in the dynasty section.

This dynasty will be a place for me to vent. It will be the design notes. I am not intending to attempt any type of story line. I know some of the programming dynasties have been followed with great interest in the past and I hope that this can gain that same type of following.

Gridiron Academics

Gridiron Academics (I think it was condors who came up with the name originally) is going to be a football simulation based on sort of a mesh between college and high school football team. There will be 16 conferences in each state with 9 teams in each conference. Each state will hold a playoff at the end of the year to determine the state champion.

Owners will build their teams through recruiting. They will be able to recruit from every high school in the country. Recruits will have profiles and teams will have to contact them regarding their preferences to get a better understanding on whether or not they have a shot at the recruit.

I have some more ideas that will be introduced later on but this is the basic underlining of the game and what it will revolve around. Teams will of course be able to set game plans and have complete control over the program. I like to think of it as a multiplayer college football league.

Background Info

I will be writing the game in PHP and will be using SQL to store the data. It will be MySQL until I can get some more financial resources to upgrade. Most of my time in the beginning will be spent planning. If you have a solid plan in place, the programming will be much easier - at least, that is what I am told. I have never attempted a project of this magnitude before.

I am trying to spend at least an hour a day doing some sort of work. I will be posting updates here of all of my thoughts, actions, etc. The weekends are busy times for me so I will not have much time to do anything. However, during the week I should be all business. That is making the assumption that I do not get saddled down with any additional work for school, which is inevitable.

[Cap Ologist]

Looks very interesting, I'll be reading along as I'm trying to learn PHP right now. Teach me well!

[Young Drachma]

This does look great and ambitious. Looking forward to tuning in as well.

[GoldenEagle]

March 31st, 2005

My objectives heading in to today are:
-Review HTML and CSS
-Begin to learn some JavaScript

As you can see, I am starting out with the fundamental of web page building. I am already very familiar with HTML, but I figured it would be worth the time to review it since I have not used it in awhile. I will be using the fine resources over at htmlgoodies.com to do so. I will also take the time to look over the section on Cascading Style Sheets.

I have taken a course in JavaScript before but do not remember much of it. To be honest, I snoozed through it. I also want to begin learning some of the fundamentals and follow up on it over the next week or so. I will be using the resources at htmlgoodies.com to do that as well.

I began the day reading over all the primers at the site I posted above. This went well and this stuff comes back to you real easy. HTML is very simple for those who are unfamiliar with it. If you ever are interested in learning, I suggest the site as it is free and you will learn just as much as you do with any book.

I also spent some time reviewing Cascading Style Sheets. For those of you who are unfamiliar, CSS allows a very easy way for your site to have a reliable, consistent look throughout various web pages. It is now the standard that the W3C encourages. They are easy to learn and to add into your site.

I also went over the two JavaScript primers on the site. I am not planning on using JavaScript much and I am not in a real big hurry to learn it. I will use when I need to add some dynamic features to the site that can not be added with PHP. I guess what I am looking to do is put it in my bag of tricks and use it in the future.

That concludes the work that I am doing today. I did not get anything done in terms of actual game development, but I did go over some key building block fundamentals. Tomorrow and the weekend are expected to be busy but I will try to find the time to put some work in.

Time Spent: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

[AStott]

Good luck, GoldenEagle!

A couple comments. First, don't be so quick to assume that you'll want to ditch MySQL in exchange for a paid product. MySQL is in use by many large corporations for good reason. It's very functional and very stable. It also plays extremely nicely with PHP. I think you'll find it a good solution in both the long term and short term. I use it for all my PHP/database needs.

Second, One of the benefits of Javascript is the ability to reduce page requests (thus reducing server and bandwidth requirements). This can be very useful when considering development of something like this. Less server and bandwidth usage means lower operating costs.

[GoldenEagle]

April 4th, 2005

My objectives heading in to the day are:

-Continue learning about JavaScript

After taking the weekend off, I am looking forward to getting back into this project. Unfortunately, real life has a way of getting involved sometimes. I have three tests this week including a couple of tough ones. I also have a paper due on Tuesday. In short, my time will be limited this week and I may be only to put in an hour in each day.

I start off the day picking up where I was last time. I am continuing to read over the JavaScript primers that I introduced in the previous post. This stuff is going smoothly. It reminds me of C++ in a way. Once you learn object orientated programming, everything seems to flow together from one computer language to another.

The first primer I read introduced me to the concept of Dates and Times. It also brought up the concept of the object orientated programming that I mentioned above. JavaScript uses dot notation. Dot notation is where you declare a method of the object by using a dot in-between them.

The second primer I cover goes over events and event handlers. It discusses multiple event handlers on one line. It shows how to change the background color of a document with event handlers.

The next primer did some more tricks with event handlers. None of these tricks seem like they are going to help me out but I guess they are still good to review. It would be very cool if you could create your own event handlers. I guess if you combined some of them, you could do something like that.

The fourth primer I review first introduces the multiple line comment structure. That is one that goes /* - */. Again, I have seen this in several other languages. Next, it goes over variables and the prompt command that is used in websites. Finally, it reviews what has been discussed in the previous five lessons and prepares us for the next primers.

This is all the time that I have to spend with this for the day. I hate it when school gets in the way. I also have a bad problem of not focusing on school work which prolongs it even more. Tomorrow, hope to get into some of the early planning stages if I have time.

Time Spent: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes

[GoldenEagle]

April 5th, 2004

My objectives heading into the day are:
-Continue to learn JavaScript

I wanted to spend some time going in to the planning stages. But time was severely limited today. I had a tough test to study for in Managerial Accounting. I was also called in to work when I did not expect to work today. As a result, I just spent what little time I did have reading more of the JavaScript primers.

The first primer goes over the properties and how the work in JavaScript. I can compare it to C++ except the properties are already defined. It does go into some pretty neat stuff about how to get browser info. You can also assign variable names to the data.

The next primer makes reference to objects as nouns. I agree with this. The objects are what is being done. The properties are like adjectives in the fact that they are used to describe objects. Methods on the other hand, are verbs. They are used to make your object do something. It discusses the hierarchy of objects and how things derive from each other in JavaScript.

Up next is functions. JavaScript to me is a watered down version of other advanced computer languages. Functions essentially work the same way as one could imagine. You define some variables and do some brief assignment. You then call the function and it executes.

This is all the time I have for today. I know I have another exam tomorrow and have to complete some homework for that class as well. After that though, I should have some free time. Hopefully I will be able to spend some time planning and designing the actual product.

Time Spent: 30 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours