Board Game Arena - User contributions [en]

Gamehelpperch

2026-02-03T19:12:28Z

Bennygui: Created page with "== Setup == Each player receives 2 objective cards and must keep one. == Migration Phase == Each player places 2 of their birds in the migration bag. == Recruit Phase == Each player receives 2 of their birds and also draw 2 random birds from the migration bag. == Perch Phase == This is the main phase of the game. Each player takes turn placing exactly one bird on one of the tiles. Birds must be stacked on top of other birds of the some color. Placing a bird in a n..."

== Setup ==

Each player receives 2 objective cards and must keep one.

== Migration Phase ==

Each player places 2 of their birds in the migration bag.

== Recruit Phase ==

Each player receives 2 of their birds and also draw 2 random birds from the migration bag.

== Perch Phase ==

This is the main phase of the game. Each player takes turn placing exactly one bird on
one of the tiles. Birds must be stacked on top of other birds of the some color. Placing
a bird in a nest counts as one more bird of that color on the tile.

Before or after placing a bird, the player may use a bonus action:
* Place a birdhouse. This counts as one more bird and protects the birds from effects of creatures and zap.
* Zap a bird. Remove a bird from any tile and send them to the fountain.
* Activate a creature. Each creature can only be activated one per Perch Phase.

When all players have placed all their birds, the Perch Phase ends.

== Upkeep Phase ==
* Each location is scored: the player with the most birds scores the first points on the tile, the second most scores the second points, and the third most scores the third points. Ties cancels each other.
* The turn order is then determined: this player with the highest score goes first, the second highest goes second, and so on. In case of a tie, the player with that arrived first at that score is considered first.
* Creature are made available.
* Trigger tiles with upkeep effects.
* Advance the round marker. At the start of the 4th round, players gain a birdhouse. On the 5th round, players gain a zap token. At the end of the 5th round, the game ends.
* If the game has not ended, a new Migration Phase starts.

== End Game Scoring ==
* Birds in the migration bag are send to the plaza.
* Each player reveals their objective card and scores points accordingly.
* The player with the largest flock on a single tile scores 10 points.
* Each controlled tile scores 3 points to their controller.
* Each bird on the fountain scores points according to their height.
* Each bird on the plaza scores 1 point.

The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most birdson a single tile wins.
In case of a tie, the player with the most birds on the fountain wins. If still tied, the players share the victory.

Gamehelpcakemaster

2025-02-15T02:39:56Z

Bennygui:

=== Overview ===

Cake Master is a game where you draft cards to build cakes.

The players with the tastiest cakes scores the most Star points. Also, players with cakes that can meet the demands of customers will also score Star points.

The game is played over 3 rounds. In each round, the players draft 3 cards a total of 4 times to build 3 cakes made of 4 cards each.

Scoring happens at the end of each of the 3 rounds.

== Round: Start ==

* At the start of round 1, 1 customer is drawn.

* At the start of round 2, 2 customers are drawn.

* At the start of round 3, 3 customers are drawn.

== Turn ==

On each turn:

* All players receive 3 cake cards

* All players choose 1 cake card to give to their left player and 1 cake card to give to their right player. The player keeps the 3rd cake card.

* All cake cards are passed left and right

* All players must place their cake cards to build 3 cakes. The cake cards can be placed on any of the 3 cakes.

All those steps are done 4 times and then all players will have exactly 3 complete cakes.

== Round: End ==

At the end of the round, the sum of Tasty points of the player’s cakes is calculated. The players with the highest Tasty points sum score 2 Star points. The players with the lowest Tasty points sum score 0 Star points. All other players score 1 Star points.

Then, if the players have cakes that meets customer demands, they score 1 Star points per cake. For a player, a cake can only be used to score one customer and one customer can only score one cake.

Then, all customer cards and cake cards are discarded. The cake cards are shuffled.

== Tasty Points ==

* Only 1 icing color: 3 Tasty points

* 2 icing colors: 1 Tasty point

* 3 icing colors: 0 Tasty points

* Each complete rosette: 1 Tasty point

* A cake with no half rosette: 1 Tasty point

* Each pair of 1 raspberry and 1 blueberry: 1 Tasty point

== End game ==

The game ends after 3 rounds. The player with the most Star points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most Tasty points in the last round wins.

== Two Players Variant ==

With the 2 players variant, the game plays the same except for the draft: instead of giving a cake card to the left and a cake card to the right, the players choose 1 of the 3 cards to keep and give the other 2 cards to the other player. Then players keep one of those 2 cards and give the last card to the other player. They then proceed to place those cards to form cakes like normally,

== Solo ==

In the Solo game, the Tasty points are not used.

At the start of the game, 3 customers are drawn.

On their turn, the player receives 4 cards and must choose 1 card to discard. The player can also replace any number of cake cards in their hand with new cards, but can only do this 3 times for the whole game.

At the end of the round, Tasty points are not calculated, only customers demands are checked.

Customers that are scored are discarded. At the start of the next round, new customers are drawn if there are less then 3 customers so that there are always 3 customers each round.

Gamehelpcakemaster

2025-02-06T21:40:43Z

Bennygui: Created page with "== Overview == Cake Master is a game where you draft cards to build cakes. The players with the tastiest cakes scores the most Star points. Also, players with cakes that can meet the demands of customers will also score Star points. The game is played over 3 rounds. In each round, the players draft 3 cards a total of 4 times to build 3 cakes made of 4 cards each. Scoring happens at the end of each of the 3 rounds. == Round: Start == * At the start of round 1, 1 cus..."

== Overview ==

Cake Master is a game where you draft cards to build cakes.

The players with the tastiest cakes scores the most Star points. Also, players with cakes that can meet the demands of customers will also score Star points.

The game is played over 3 rounds. In each round, the players draft 3 cards a total of 4 times to build 3 cakes made of 4 cards each.

Scoring happens at the end of each of the 3 rounds.

== Round: Start ==

* At the start of round 1, 1 customer is drawn.

* At the start of round 2, 2 customers are drawn.

* At the start of round 3, 3 customers are drawn.

== Turn ==

On each turn:

* All players receive 3 cake cards

* All players choose 1 cake card to give to their left player and 1 cake card to give to their right player. The player keeps the 3rd cake card.

* All cake cards are passed left and right

* All players must place their cake cards to build 3 cakes. The cake cards can be placed on any of the 3 cakes.

All those steps are done 4 times and then all players will have exactly 3 complete cakes.

== Round: End ==

At the end of the round, the sum of Tasty points of the player’s cakes is calculated. The players with the highest Tasty points sum score 2 Star points. The players with the lowest Tasty points sum score 0 Star points. All other players score 1 Star points.

Then, if the players have cakes that meets customer demands, they score 1 Star points per cake. For a player, a cake can only be used to score one customer and one customer can only score one cake.

Then, all customer cards and cake cards are discarded. The cake cards are shuffled.

== Tasty Points ==

* Only 1 icing: 3 Tasty points

* 2 icing: 1 Tasty point

* 3 icing: 0 Tasty points

* Each complete rosette: 1 Tasty point

* A cake with no half rosette: 1 Tasty point

* Each pair of 1 raspberry and 1 blueberry: 1 Tasty point

== End game ==

The game ends after 3 rounds. The player with the most Star points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most Tasty points in the last round wins.

== Two Players Variant ==

With the 2 players variant, the game plays the same except for the draft: instead of giving a cake card to the left and a cake card to the right, the players choose 1 of the 3 cards to keep and give the other 2 cards to the other player. Then players keep one of those 2 cards and give the last card to the other player. They then proceed to place those cards to form cakes like normally,

== Solo ==

In the Solo game, the Tasty points are not used.

At the start of the game, 3 customers are drawn.

On their turn, the player receives 4 cards and must choose 1 card to discard. The player can also replace any number of cake cards in their hand with new cards, but can only do this 3 times for the whole game.

At the end of the round, Tasty points are not calculated, only customers demands are checked.

Customers that are scored are discarded. At the start of the next round, new customers are drawn if there are less then 3 customers so that there are always 3 customers each round.

Bugsclarification barenpark

2024-07-30T14:58:38Z

Bennygui: Created page with "Problem: In the last turn, I cannot place a tile, except by covering at pit! Solution: You are on a table with the "Pit Variant for Expert" option activated. With this variant, it is legal on the last round to place a tile that covers a pit."

Problem: In the last turn, I cannot place a tile, except by covering at pit!

Solution: You are on a table with the "Pit Variant for Expert" option activated. With this variant, it is legal on the last round to place a tile that covers a pit.

Bugsclarification draftandwriterecords

2024-07-29T10:31:28Z

Bennygui:

Frequent problem: "The game skipped the 'claim goal' phase and did not let me claim a goal"

Solution: "You can claim a maximum of 6 goals. After 6 goals, the game will skip your goal claiming phase."

Frequent problem: "The game lets me choose my card but not play it onto the board. If I accept the choose card it ends my turn"

Solution: "Your table has the "Draft Mode: "Competitive" mode enabled. The description is: "Follow the strict rules: Wait to see all drafted cards before placing your bonus, but is slower to play" So you must choose your card and then everyone reveals their cards. Only after that you can choose what to do with your bonuses."

Gamehelpdraftandwriterecords

2024-07-18T18:09:41Z

Bennygui: /* Solo Mode */

== Overview ==

Draft & Write Records is a game where you draft cards to score points and gain bonuses on your player sheet. The game is played over a series of weeks and weekends.

In a week, players draft 4 out of 5 cards to check spaces on their player sheets. After a week comes the weekend where players can claim objectives to score points and gain bonuses.

== Setup ==

In the setup, players choose a color linked to the lead singer. Then, public goals are revealed and players must choose one private goal out of 2 goals.

== Week ==

At the start of each week, players draw 5 play cards each from the play deck, or from their shuffled private discard if the play deck is empty. Then, players choose 1 card to play.

Once all players choose, all players must mark their player sheets. Players can always choose to Fail a card. Then play cards are passed clockwise or counterclockwise (this alternates each week) and the same steps are done. The last card is then discarded in a private discard for each player. So each player chooses 4 cards and discard one card.

There are 3 types of play cards:

* Crew: Each crew has a subsection: Singer, Musician, Producer and Backstage. They can only be placed in their subsection. Some spaces requires that a cash restriction be lifted before a crew can be placed. Crew can have harmonies between them if their color matches.

* Agenda: Agenda must be marked in the Agenda section on the player sheet.

* Asset: Assets must be marked in the Assets section on the player sheet.

== Weekend ==

Each public goal is checked. If one or multiple players can claim the goal, they can choose to claim it or pass. If at least one player claims the goal, the goal is discarded. Multiple players can claim the same goal. When a goal is claimed, the players score points and can gain bonuses that they must mark on their player sheet. If a public goal is impossible to be claimed by any players, it’s discarded.

Once all 4 public goals have been checked, players can do the same with their private goal.

== Player Sheets ==

There are 10 sections on the player sheets:

* Fail: If you cannot place a play card or if you choose not to place it, you can fail. You check spaces from left to right and you will lose points based on the rigthmost checked space. You gain a cash restriction bonus on your second fail.

* Goals: When you claim a goal, you write its score in these spaces. You can claim a maximum of 6 goals.

* Agenda: You can check these spaces in any order with a play card or with some bonuses. You gain bonuses if you check all spaces in a row, a column or a diagonal.

* Release: You can release Album or Singles. In either case, you check spaces from left to right. Some spaces give you bonuses. You score points based on the number of Album multipled by the number of Singles.

* Crew: You place the score of a crew play card and you color each of the 4 spaces around. You can use a multiplier on the score if you have unused multiplier in your multiplier section. If the color matches the color of another crew, you gain a bonues. You cannot place crews in spaces where there’s a cash restriction, you must check the cash restriction first. You lose points at the end of the game if your crew is not full.

* Tour: You start checking spaces from the top-left. You must check a space before to be able to fo further. Some spaces are protected by cash restriction which must be checked before you can go further. Some spaces give you bonuses.

* Multiplier: When you gain a multiplier, you check a space. You can use a multiplier when you place crews to gain a bigger score.

* Assets: You can check these spaces in any order with a play card or with some bonuses. You gain bonuses if you check the two spaces around a bonus.

* Harmonies: You can check these spaces in any order when you gain an harmony bonus for a specific color for the crews. You can also gain harmony bonuses for any color. Some spaces give you bonuses. You score points if you check all spaces in a row or a column.

* Scores: This section only contains the total of the score of each sections.

== End game ==

When one player has checked all Fails, or placed all Crews or claimed the maximum number of goals on their player sheet, the end of the game is triggered.

If the end game is trigged in a week, the week ends and there is one last weekend. If the end game is trigged in a weekend, the game ends at the end of that weekend.

At the end of the game, check one Fail for each missing crew.

== Solo Mode ==

In Solo, you do not have a private goal. The turn structure is also different:

On your turn, you draw two play cards. You then choose:

* Option A: you play one of the two cards and discard the other. You then start another turn.

* Option B: You draw a third card. If all cards are of the same section or if no cards are of the same section, you can play any one card. If not, then there are two cards with the same section and you must play the other card. Then, you can claim or pass a single goal. If you pass or cannot claim a goal, you discard the 4th goal. If you claim a goal, you discard the 4th goal, except if you claimed the 4th goal. You then slide all goals right and draw a new goal. You then start another turn.

The game ends when you cannot draw two play cards or if you checked all Fails, or placed all Crews or claimed the maximum number of goals on your player sheet.

Bugsclarification draftandwriterecords

2024-06-25T14:33:54Z

Bennygui: Created page with "Frequent problem: "The game lets me choose my card but not play it onto the board. If I accept the choose card it ends my turn" Solution: "This is not a bug. Your table has the "Draft Mode: "Competitive" mode enabled. The description is: "Follow the strict rules: Wait to see all drafted cards before placing your bonus, but is slower to play" So you must choose your card and then everyone reveals their cards. Only after that you can choose what to do with your bonuses.""

Frequent problem: "The game lets me choose my card but not play it onto the board. If I accept the choose card it ends my turn"

Solution: "This is not a bug. Your table has the "Draft Mode: "Competitive" mode enabled. The description is: "Follow the strict rules: Wait to see all drafted cards before placing your bonus, but is slower to play"

So you must choose your card and then everyone reveals their cards. Only after that you can choose what to do with your bonuses."

Gamehelpdraftandwriterecords

2024-04-03T20:57:54Z

Bennygui: Created page with "== Overview == Draft & Write Records is a game where you draft cards to score points and gain bonuses on your player sheet. The game is payed over a series of weeks and weekends. In a week, players draft 4 out of 5 cards to check spaces on their player sheets. After a week comes the weekend where players can claim objectives to score points and gain bonuses.stat == Setup == In the setup, players choose a color linked to the lead singer. Then, public goals are reveale..."

== Overview ==

Draft & Write Records is a game where you draft cards to score points and gain bonuses on your player sheet. The game is payed over a series of weeks and weekends.

In a week, players draft 4 out of 5 cards to check spaces on their player sheets. After a week comes the weekend where players can claim objectives to score points and gain bonuses.stat

== Setup ==

In the setup, players choose a color linked to the lead singer. Then, public goals are revealed and players must choose one private goal out of 2 goals.

== Week ==

At the start of each week, players draw 5 play cards each from the play deck, or from their shuffled private discard if the play deck is empty. Then, players choose 1 card to play.

Once all players choose, all players must mark their player sheets. Players can always choose to Fail a card. Then play cards are passed clockwise or counterclockwise (this alternates each week) and the same steps are done. The last card is then discarded in a private discard for each player. So each player chooses 4 cards and discard one card.

There are 3 types of play cards:

* Crew: Each crew has a subsection: Singer, Musician, Producer and Backstage. They can only be placed in their subsection. Some spaces requires that a cash restriction be lifted before a crew can be placed. Crew can have harmonies between them if their color matches.

* Agenda: Agenda must be marked in the Agenda section on the player sheet.

* Asset: Assets must be marked in the Assets section on the player sheet.

== Weekend ==

Each public goal is checked. If one or multiple players can claim the goal, they can choose to claim it or pass. If at least one player claims the goal, the goal is discarded. Multiple players can claim the same goal. When a goal is claimed, the players score points and can gain bonuses that they must mark on their player sheet. If a public goal is impossible to be claimed by any players, it’s discarded.

Once all 4 public goals have been checked, players can do the same with their private goal.

== Player Sheets ==

There are 10 sections on the player sheets:

* Fail: If you cannot place a play card or if you choose not to place it, you can fail. You check spaces from left to right and you will loose points based on the rigthmost checked space. You gain a cash restriction bonus on your second fail.

* Goals: When you claim a goal, you write its score in these spaces. You can claim a maximum of 6 goals.

* Agenda: You can check these spaces in any order with a play card or with some bonuses. You gain bonuses if you check all spaces in a row, a column or a diagonal.

* Release: You can release Album or Singles. In either case, you check spaces from left to right. Some spaces give you bonuses. You score points based on the number of Album multipled by the number of Singles.

* Crew: You place the score of a crew play card and you color each of the 4 spaces around. You can use a multiplier on the score if you have unused multiplier in your multiplier section. If the color matches the color of another crew, you gain a bonues. You cannot place crews in spaces where there’s a cash restriction, you must check the cash restriction first. You loose points at the end of the game if your crew is not full.

* Tour: You start checking spaces from the top-left. You must check a space before to be able to fo further. Some spaces are protected by cash restriction which must be checked before you can go further. Some spaces give you bonuses.

* Multiplier: When you gain a multiplier, you check a space. You can use a multiplier when you place crews to gain a bigger score.

* Assets: You can check these spaces in any order with a play card or with some bonuses. You gain bonuses if you check the two spaces around a bonus.

* Harmonies: You can check these spaces in any order when you gain an harmony bonus for a specific color for the crews. You can also gain harmony bonuses for any color. Some spaces give you bonuses. You score points if you check all spaces in a row or a column.

* Scores: This section only contains the total of the score of each sections.

== End game ==

When one player has checked all Fails, or placed all Crews or claimed the maximum number of goals on their player sheet, the end of the game is triggered.

If the end game is trigged in a week, the week ends and there is one last weekend. If the end game is trigged in a weekend, the game ends at the end of that weekend.

At the end of the game, check one Fail for each missing crew.

== Solo Mode ==

In Solo, you do not have a private goal. The turn structure is also different:

On your turn, you draw two play cards. You then choose:

* Option A: you play one of the two cards and discard the other. You then start another turn.

* Option B: You draw a third card. If all cards are of the same section or if no cards are of the same section, you can play any cards. If not, then there are two cards with the same section and you must play the other card. Then, you can claim or pass a single goal. You you pass or cannot claim a goal, you discard the 4th goal. If you claim a goal, you discard the 4th goal, except if you claimed the 4th goal. You then slide all goals right and draw a new goal. You then start another turn.

The game ends when you cannot draw two play cards or if you checked all Fails, or placed all Crews or claimed the maximum number of goals on your player sheet.

Gamehelpromirami

2023-10-24T13:27:38Z

Bennygui:

== Overview ==

Romi Rami is a game with two markets:

* One with '''Number''' cards, used to build your hand.

* One with '''Contract''' cards, that you must complete with cards from your hand to score points.

The aim of the game is to score the most points with the Contracts but also with bonus and trophies that you can get with your Contracts.

== Setup ==

* Each player receives 3 Number cards

* The Number market is filled with 6 cards

* The Contract market is filled with 4 cards

* Four Trophies are randomly choosen

* Each player receives a Joker token (a Star)

* One player receives the First Player token

== Rounds ==

The game is played in rounds. A round always starts with the first player. Each players plays a Turn in order. The game always ends at the end of a Round.

== Turns ==

On their turn, a player must follow these steps:

* Take 1, 2 or 3 cards from the Number market. The cards must either all have the same Number or all have the same Suit.

* Optional: Complete one or more Contract from the Contract market. Once completed, the Contract card is added to the player’s play area. The used Number Cards are either discarded or keep in a face-down pile. See the Completing Contracts section for all the details.

* The markets are refilled

* If the player has less than 3 cards in hand, their must draw Number cards from the deck to refill their hand. If the player has more then 10 cards in hand, they must dicard Number cards to 10 cards.

== Completing Contracts ==

To complete a Contract, you must play Number cards from your hand and you must respect the requirements. The requirements are always for the numbers on the Number cards and never for the suit. The requirements can be:

* 2, 3, 4 or 5 cards with the same number. Some contracts require a specific pair, like a pair of 1.

* 3, 4 or 5 cards forming a sequence of consecutive numbers, like the card 1, 2 and 3 or 2, 3 and 4.

You can also use your Joker (Star) once per game in place of a Number card. If unused, the Joker (Star) scores 1 point at the end of the game.

Once a contract is completed, the used Number cards with a Suit matching the Suit on the Contract are placed in a face-down pile. These are the Suit Bonus cards. The used Numbers cards that do not match the Suit on the Contract are discarded. The Joker (Star) does not count as a Suit Bonus.

== End Game ==

The game ends at the end of the round when at least one player has enough Contract cards:

* In a 2 players game, 7 contracts are needed to end the game.

* In a 3 players game, 6 contracts are needed to end the game.

* In a 4 players game, 5 contracts are needed to end the game.

== Trophies ==

At the end of the game, Trophies are awarded to the player with the most of each requirement at the top of their Contract cards. In case of a tie, the Trophy is not awarded at all.

The Trophies with a Suit are given to the player with the most of this Suit on their Contract cards.

The Trophies with 2, 3, 4 and 5 cards are given to the player with the most of these icons on their Contract cards.

== Scores ==

At the end of the game, the total score of a player is counted by adding:

* The score on each of their Contract cards;

* The score on each of their Trophies;

* One point for each card in their Suit Bonus pile;

* One point if the player has not used their Joker (Star)

In case of a tie, the player with the most card in their Suit Bonus pile wins.

Gamehelpromirami

2023-10-24T12:48:34Z

Bennygui: Created page with "== Overview == Romi Rami is a game with two markets: * One with Number cards, used to build your hand. * One with Contract cards, that you must complete with cards from your hand to score points. The aim of the game is to score the most points with the Contracts but also with bonus and trophies that you can get with your Contracts. == Setup == * Each player receives 3 Number cards * The Number market is filled with 6 cards * The Contract market is filled with 4 c..."

== Overview ==

Romi Rami is a game with two markets:

* One with Number cards, used to build your hand.

* One with Contract cards, that you must complete with cards from your hand to score points.

The aim of the game is to score the most points with the Contracts but also with bonus and trophies that you can get with your Contracts.

== Setup ==

* Each player receives 3 Number cards

* The Number market is filled with 6 cards

* The Contract market is filled with 4 cards

* Four Trophies are randomly choosen

* Each player receives a Joker token (a Star)

* One player receives the First Player token

== Rounds ==

The game is played in rounds. A round always starts with the first player. Each players plays a Turn in order. The game always ends at the end of a Round.

== Turns ==

On their turn, a player must follow these steps:

* Take 1, 2 or 3 cards from the Number market. The cards must either all have the same Number or all have the same Suit.

* Optional: Complete one or more Contract from the Contract market. Once completed, the Contract card is added to the player’s play area. The used Number Cards are either discarded or keep in a face-down pile. See the Completing Contracts section for all the details.

* The markets are refilled

* If the player has less than 3 cards in hand, their must draw Number cards from the deck to refill their hand. If the player has more then 10 cards in hand, they must dicard Number cards to 10 cards.

== Completing Contracts ==

To complete a Contract, you must play Number cards from your hand and you must respect the requirements. The requirements are always for the numbers on the Number cards and never for the suit. The requirements can be:

* 2, 3, 4 or 5 cards with the same number. Some contracts require a specific pair, like a pair of 1.

* 3, 4 or 5 cards forming a sequence of consecutive numbers, like the card 1, 2 and 3 or 2, 3 and 4.

You can also use your Joker (Star) once per game in place of a Number card. If unused, the Joker (Star) scores 1 point at the end of the game.

Once a contract is completed, the used Number cards with a Suit matching the Suit on the Contract are placed in a face-down pile. These are the Suit Bonus cards. The used Numbers cards that do not match the Suit on the Contract are discarded. The Joker (Star) does not count as a Suit Bonus.

== End Game ==

The game ends at the end of the round when at least one player has enough Contract cards:

* In a 2 players game, 7 contracts are needed to end the game.

* In a 3 players game, 6 contracts are needed to end the game.

* In a 4 players game, 5 contracts are needed to end the game.

== Trophies ==

At the end of the game, Trophies are awarded to the player with the most of each requirement at the top of their Contract cards. In case of a tie, the Trophy is not awarded at all.

The Trophies with a Suit are given to the player with the most of this Suit on their Contract cards.

The Trophies with 2, 3, 4 and 5 cards are given to the player with the most of these icons on their Contract cards.

== Scores ==

At the end of the game, the total score of a player is counted by adding:

* The score on each of their Contract cards;

* The score on each of their Trophies;

* One point for each card in their Suit Bonus pile;

* One point if the player has not used their Joker (Star)

In case of a tie, the player with the most card in their Suit Bonus pile wins.

Pre-release checklist

2023-10-13T11:04:13Z

Bennygui: /* Move from Dev to Alpha */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

If you think your game is ready to be reviewed by by BGA admins and/or Publisher (aka go to Alpha stage) please consult this checklist first

=== Move from Dev to Alpha ===
# ''' License '''
## BGA must have a license for the game for a project to be moved to production, even to alpha. If you don't have license yet you can continue checking other stuff from the list below, but at the end it cannot be moved until license situation is cleared.
# ''' Metadata and graphics '''
## [[Game_meta-information: gameinfos.inc.php]] has correct and up to date information about the game.
## Game box graphics is 3D version of the game box (if available) and publisher icon is correct (see [[Game art: img directory]]). Space around the box has to be transparent, not white.
## You have added a game_banner.jpg and some game_displayX.jpg images to make the game page pretty (NB: on the studio, you have to create a build for these images to appear on the studio game page)
## There are no images in the img directory that are not needed anymore
## Multiple images (i.e. cards) are compressed in "Sprite" (see [[Game art: img directory]])
## Each image should not exceed 4Mb
## Total size should not exceed 10Mb, image compression should be used otherwise (it also helps a lot to re-encode images as indexed palette vs RBG). If you have legitimate reason to have more than 10Mb (i.e. expansions), you have to make a note of that when requesting move to alpha
## If you use extra fonts, they should be freeware (please include a .txt with the licence information in addition to the font files)
# ''' Server side '''
## When giving their turn to a player, you give them some extra time with the giveExtraTime() function
## Game progression is implemented (getGameProgression() in php)
## Zombie turn is implemented (zombieTurn() in php). Note: it can only be tested if you explicitly click on the quit button to create a zombie. If you are expelled it does not generated a Zombie.
## You have defined and implemented some meaningful statistics for your game (i.e. total points, point from source A, B, C...)
## Game has meaningful notification messages (but don't overkill it, more user logs will slow down the loading)
## You implemented tiebreaking (using aux score field) and updated tiebreaker description in meta-data
## Database: make sure you do not programmatically manage transactions or call queries that change database schema or even TRUNCATE (queries that would cause implicit commit) during normal game opearations
## Database: make sure you DB schema would be sufficient to complete the game and good enough for possible expantions, changing db schema schema after the release even in alpha is very challenging (it is possible but much better if you don't need to deal with it)
# ''' Client side '''
## Check that you use ajaxcall only on player actions and never initiated programmatically. Otherwise, your code will very likely create race conditions resulting in deadlocks or other errors. This can also break replays and tutorials. ''Exception: sometimes you can do no-op moves with timeouts (i.e. user has only one choice, but its unwise to reveal this information by skipping user turn), timeout has to be canceling itself if state transition happen automaticaly (i.e. during replay)''
# ''' User Interface '''
## Review BGA UI design Guidelines [[BGA_Studio_Guidelines]]
## Check all your English messages for proper use of punctuation, capitalization, usage of present tense in notification (not past) and gender neutrality. See [[Translations]] for English rules.
## If the elements in your game zone don't occupy all the available horizontal space, '''they should be centered'''.
## If your game elements become blurry or pixellated when using the browser zoom, you may want to consider [[Game_art:_img_directory#Use_background-size | higher resolution images with background-size]]
## Non-self explanatory graphic elements should have tooltips
## Strings in your source code are ready for translation. See [[Translations]]. You can generate dummy translations for checking that everything is ready for translation from your "Manage game" page.
## A prefix for example a trigram for your game that you prepend to all the css classes to avoid namespace conflicts, i.e. vla_selected vs selected
## If you are looking for advice on design and some 3rd party testing you can post a message on the developers forum, and ask other developers, there are a lot of people who will gladly do it.
# ''' Special testing '''
## Click "Use minified JS" and "Use minified CSS" buttons on the game management page, then test your game. This will prevent you from having a panic attack when the game releases in alpha and it is stuck in "Connecting to game".
## Game is tested with spectator (non player observer): change the testuser in the URL to see the game as another user (same URL as when clicking on red arrow). As a spectator, you should be able to see the game as if you were sitting beside of the players at a real table: all public information, no private information.
## Game is tested with in-game replay from last move feature (by clicking on notification log items).
## After finishing a game, it is possible to watch the replay (using the "Replay game" button on the table page) from game start to game end without errors.
## Game works in Chrome and Firefox browsers at least. Also very recommended to test in Edge and Safari.
## Game works on mobile device (if you don't have mobile device to test at least test in Chrome with smaller screen, they have a mode for that)
## Test your game in realtime mode. Usually people will run out of time if you use default times unless you add call giveExtraTime($active_player_id) before each turn
## Test your game in 3D mode (if it makes sense; 3D mode can also be disabled through the 'enable_3d' parameter for gameinfos.inc.php, but if it "mostly works", it can be nice to keep it activated even if 2D is more appropriate for the game, just because it's fun to look at)
## Check your game against the waiting screen, otherwise game start can fail. See [[Practical_debugging#Debugging_an_issue_with_the_waiting_screen]]
# ''' Cleanup '''
## Remove all unnecessary console.log and other tracing from your js code (Note: technically it is removed by minimizer, but not console.error)
## Remove all unnecessary debug logging from your php code
## Copyright headers in all source files have your name
## Remove unncessery files from main folder (can move some to misc folder)
## Remove all unused graphics from img/ folder
# ''' Static Analysis '''
## Some of the checks above are automated, to run them go to control panel, go to your project and select "Check project" button (it will open like a game table, and you click on Start button to run analysis)
# ''' Finally move to Alpha status '''
## If possible (meaning if there is not already a project with that name) copy your project to a new project '''matching exactly the name of the game''' (no prefix or suffix). If not possible move on to the next steps, admin will have to retrieve the other project and overwrite it.
## Create a build for your game from the "manage game" page (using the '''Build a new release version''' section) and check the log to make sure that everything builds fine (after a successful build, you should see a new version in "Versions available for production").
## Really ready? Click on the '''Request ALPHA status''' button available above your just built version. You cannot deploy yourself from the "manage game" page until this first ALPHA deploy has been done by the admins. Clicking this button will file a request in the BGA ticketing system and you'll receive a confirmation email allowing to reply to add some information on the ticket if needed. Note: you can also ask for moving your project to "private Alpha" - in this case you will invite people manually rather than having your game immediately visible to the whole BGA reviewers community. When you press you button you should receive acknowledgement email, you can reply to this email with more details if needed.
* ''' Wait '''
** When admins publish (push to alpha) they will send an email to the developer with all relevant information about the next steps.

=== Move from Alpha to Beta ===
# The implementation '''must be approved by the publisher''' (if not a public domain game)
# Generally it is recommended (but not essential) to have at least 10 approvals from reviewer with rank > 3.5 and not too many bugs opened
# If the game is well-received (preferably game rating ≥4.5) and there are no pending issues the game may pass as administrative discretion without 10+ approvals
# Click on the '''Request BETA status''' button available above your latest build. Clicking this button will file a request in the BGA ticketing system and you'll receive a confirmation email allowing to reply to add some information on the ticket if needed.

[[Category:Studio]]

Gamehelpgoldblivion

2023-08-21T11:26:28Z

Bennygui: You cannot have the same building twice

== Overview ==

GOLDblivion is a deck building game where each player gets two decks: one with GOLDblivion cards (blue) and one with Combat cards (red).

The aim of the game is to get the most gold bars. When one player gets 10 or more gold bars, players play until the round is over and the player with the most gold bars wins!

Players have two resources in the game: nuggets and material. Players are not limited for the number of nuggets they can have but they are limited to 4 material.

== Setup ==

All players get the same starting GOLDblivion deck and Combat deck. At the start of the game, players select a Noble that they shuffle in their GOLDblivion deck. This is done in reverse turn order.

== Round Overview ==

GOLDblivion is played in rounds. The game will end at the end of a round. The structure of a round is:

* Draw: All players draw 5 GOLDblivion cards from their deck.

* Development: All player must choose a card from their hand and place it under their player board, either on the Produce Nugget Side or the Produce Material Side.

* Production: All player produce nuggets and material depending on the number of cards: 1 nugget for each card in the Produce Nugget Side and 1 material for each 2 cards in the Produce Material Side (rounded down).

* Actions: Player turns: Each player plays turns until all player have passed.

* End of round: Buildings are reactivated, cards are shuffled in their deck and magic tokens are shuffled face down. The First Player Token is passed to the next player that must destroy a card from the market.

== Player Turn Overview ==

On their turn, players must play 2 main actions and any number of bonus actions.

'''Main actions:'''

* Play a card: Play a card from your hand and activate the ability. (Note: Some abilities have a cost but you can play the card without paying its cost but you don’t activate the ability.)

* Buy a card: You pay the cost of the card in nuggets or material. If it’s a combat card, you shuffle it in your Combat deck. If it’s a GOLDblivion building card, you place it in your play area. If it’s a GOLDblivion card that is not a building, you shuffle it in your GOLDblivion deck. ''You cannot have the same building twice''.

* Activate a village tile. You pay the cost and you activate the ability. You then flip the tile to reveal the other side.

* Pass. You must buy as many gold bars as you can (see the “Buy a gold bar” Bonus action). After you pass, you cannot do any other actions in this round.

'''Bonus actions:'''

* Buy a gold bar: Pay 7 nuggets to buy a gold bar.

* Activate a building: Activate the building to activate its ability. Some abilities have a cost. You can only activate a building once per round.

* Use a magic token: Place the magic token face up in the supply and activate its ability. Face up magic tokens cannot be gained.

== Abilities ==

Here are the abilites that can be found on cards, enemy tiles, magic tokens and village:

* Destroy a card from the markets (GOLDblivion or Combat cards). If you can destroy 2 cards, you must choose them before you replenish the market.

* Gain nuggets. This can depend on the number of icons on your cards in your play area.

* Gain material.

* Gain gold bars.

* Gain a combat card at not cost. If at least one of the two combat card pile is empty, you can take a combat card from the top of the deck of another player.

* Draw a GOLDblivion card from your deck.

* Roll a dice. On 2 faces, you gain 1 nugget. On 2 faces, you gain 2 nuggets. On 1 face, you gain a material. On 1 face you gain a magic token.

* Reactivate a building card in your play area.

* Reactivate non building GOLDblivion card in your play area.

* Gain a magic token. You can have a maximum of 3 magic tokens.

* Gain a non building GOLDblivion card from the market at no cost and shuffle it in your GOLDblivion deck.

* Start a combat.

The following abilities can only be found on combat cards:

* Gain 0-3 combat power.

* Draw another Combat card. You must do it immediately.

* Copy the power of another Combat card that you used in this fight.

* Destroy the current card to gain more combat power.

== Combat ==

When you activate an ability that starts a combat, you must do the following actions in order:

* Choose an enemy tile: Choose a face down or a face up enemy to fight. Flip the tile if it's face down.

* Draw combat cards: Draw as many Combat cards from your Combat deck as there are empty sides around the enemy. The top side with water does not count as empty sides.

* Resolve combat: Count the power of your fighters and activate remaning optional combat abilities. Drawing another combat card is not optionnal.

* Win or Lose: If your power is equal or greater than the power of your enemy, you win. If it’s not, you lose. If you win, take the enemy tile and activate its abilites to gain the rewards. If you lose, destroy one of the combat card that you used in the fight.

Forest enemies have a power between 2 and 5. Mountain enemies have a power between 6 and 9. The Cow-Dragon enemy is printed on the board and has a power of 10.

== Tie Breaker ==

The player with the most gold bar wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most nuggets and then the most enemy tiles wins.

== Solo Mode ==

In Solo, you play against a Solo Noble. The game plays like the normal game with the following changes:

* There is no First Player Token, the player always plays first.

* The GOLDblivion market slides from left to right when it’s filled.

* If the GOLDblivion market is empty, the player looses immediately.

* The player must play 3 main actions instead of 2

* The player cannot pass with cards in its hand.

* The “Destroy a card from the markets” ability can be used to destroy a nugget of the Solo Noble instead of a card.

* After the player turn, the Solo Noble plays.

The Solo Noble plays like this:

* A dice is used to select a card in the GOLDblivion market

* The type of card (building, human, elf, dwarf) is used to select where the card is placed under the Solo Noble board.

* The abilities on the Solo Board are activated from left to right.

The abilities are:

* The “Gain a combat card at not cost” ability has no effect.

* The Solo Noble does no gain solo tokens. Instead, the power on the board is activated.

* Destroy the rightmost card of the GOLDblivion market.

* The player looses a nugget.

* The player must flip an enemy tile.

* The player must destroy a visible enemy tile. The Solo Noble gets the reward.

Some boards have a “6+”: this means that if there are 6 or more cards under this ability, the ability is activated twice.

Gamehelpgoldblivion

2023-08-13T16:55:58Z

Bennygui: /* Combat */

== Overview ==

GOLDblivion is a deck building game where each player gets two decks: one with GOLDblivion cards (blue) and one with Combat cards (red).

The aim of the game is to get the most gold bars. When one player gets 10 or more gold bars, players play until the round is over and the player with the most gold bars wins!

Players have two resources in the game: nuggets and material. Players are not limited for the number of nuggets they can have but they are limited to 4 material.

== Setup ==

All players get the same starting GOLDblivion deck and Combat deck. At the start of the game, players select a Noble that they shuffle in their GOLDblivion deck. This is done in reverse turn order.

== Round Overview ==

GOLDblivion is played in rounds. The game will end at the end of a round. The structure of a round is:

* Draw: All players draw 5 GOLDblivion cards from their deck.

* Development: All player must choose a card from their hand and place it under their player board, either on the Produce Nugget Side or the Produce Material Side.

* Production: All player produce nuggets and material depending on the number of cards: 1 nugget for each card in the Produce Nugget Side and 1 material for each 2 cards in the Produce Material Side (rounded down).

* Actions: Player turns: Each player plays turns until all player have passed.

* End of round: Buildings are reactivated, cards are shuffled in their deck and magic tokens are shuffled face down. The First Player Token is passed to the next player that must destroy a card from the market.

== Player Turn Overview ==

On their turn, players must play 2 main actions and any number of bonus actions.

'''Main actions:'''

* Play a card: Play a card from your hand and activate the ability. (Note: Some abilities have a cost but you can play the card without paying its cost but you don’t activate the ability.)

* Buy a card: You pay the cost of the card in nuggets or material. If it’s a combat card, you shuffle it in your Combat deck. If it’s a GOLDblivion building card, you place it in your play area. If it’s a GOLDblivion card that is not a building, you shuffle it in your GOLDblivion deck.

* Activate a village tile. You pay the cost and you activate the ability. You then flip the tile to reveal the other side.

* Pass. You must buy as many gold bars as you can (see the “Buy a gold bar” Bonus action). After you pass, you cannot do any other actions in this round.

'''Bonus actions:'''

* Buy a gold bar: Pay 7 nuggets to buy a gold bar.

* Activate a building: Activate the building to activate its ability. Some abilities have a cost. You can only activate a building once per round.

* Use a magic token: Place the magic token face up in the supply and activate its ability. Face up magic tokens cannot be gained.

== Abilities ==

Here are the abilites that can be found on cards, enemy tiles, magic tokens and village:

* Destroy a card from the markets (GOLDblivion or Combat cards). If you can destroy 2 cards, you must choose them before you replenish the market.

* Gain nuggets. This can depend on the number of icons on your cards in your play area.

* Gain material.

* Gain gold bars.

* Gain a combat card at not cost. If at least one of the two combat card pile is empty, you can take a combat card from the top of the deck of another player.

* Draw a GOLDblivion card from your deck.

* Roll a dice. On 2 faces, you gain 1 nugget. On 2 faces, you gain 2 nuggets. On 1 face, you gain a material. On 1 face you gain a magic token.

* Reactivate a building card in your play area.

* Reactivate non building GOLDblivion card in your play area.

* Gain a magic token. You can have a maximum of 3 magic tokens.

* Gain a non building GOLDblivion card from the market at no cost and shuffle it in your GOLDblivion deck.

* Start a combat.

The following abilities can only be found on combat cards:

* Gain 0-3 combat power.

* Draw another Combat card. You must do it immediately.

* Copy the power of another Combat card that you used in this fight.

* Destroy the current card to gain more combat power.

== Combat ==

When you activate an ability that starts a combat, you must do the following actions in order:

* Choose an enemy tile: Choose a face down or a face up enemy to fight. Flip the tile if it's face down.

* Draw combat cards: Draw as many Combat cards from your Combat deck as there are empty sides around the enemy. The top side with water does not count as empty sides.

* Resolve combat: Count the power of your fighters and activate remaning optional combat abilities. Drawing another combat card is not optionnal.

* Win or Lose: If your power is equal or greater than the power of your enemy, you win. If it’s not, you lose. If you win, take the enemy tile and activate its abilites to gain the rewards. If you lose, destroy one of the combat card that you used in the fight.

Forest enemies have a power between 2 and 5. Mountain enemies have a power between 6 and 9. The Cow-Dragon enemy is printed on the board and has a power of 10.

== Tie Breaker ==

The player with the most gold bar wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most nuggets and then the most enemy tiles wins.

== Solo Mode ==

In Solo, you play against a Solo Noble. The game plays like the normal game with the following changes:

* There is no First Player Token, the player always plays first.

* The GOLDblivion market slides from left to right when it’s filled.

* If the GOLDblivion market is empty, the player looses immediately.

* The player must play 3 main actions instead of 2

* The player cannot pass with cards in its hand.

* The “Destroy a card from the markets” ability can be used to destroy a nugget of the Solo Noble instead of a card.

* After the player turn, the Solo Noble plays.

The Solo Noble plays like this:

* A dice is used to select a card in the GOLDblivion market

* The type of card (building, human, elf, dwarf) is used to select where the card is placed under the Solo Noble board.

* The abilities on the Solo Board are activated from left to right.

The abilities are:

* The “Gain a combat card at not cost” ability has no effect.

* The Solo Noble does no gain solo tokens. Instead, the power on the board is activated.

* Destroy the rightmost card of the GOLDblivion market.

* The player looses a nugget.

* The player must flip an enemy tile.

* The player must destroy a visible enemy tile. The Solo Noble gets the reward.

Some boards have a “6+”: this means that if there are 6 or more cards under this ability, the ability is activated twice.

Gamehelpgoldblivion

2023-08-07T13:28:15Z

Bennygui: Created page with "== Overview == GOLDblivion is a deck building game where each player gets two decks: one with GOLDblivion cards (blue) and one with Combat cards (red). The aim of the game is to get the most gold bars. When one player gets 10 or more gold bars, players play until the round is over and the player with the most gold bars wins! Players have two resources in the game: nuggets and material. Players are not limited for the number of nuggets they can have but they are limite..."

== Overview ==

GOLDblivion is a deck building game where each player gets two decks: one with GOLDblivion cards (blue) and one with Combat cards (red).

The aim of the game is to get the most gold bars. When one player gets 10 or more gold bars, players play until the round is over and the player with the most gold bars wins!

Players have two resources in the game: nuggets and material. Players are not limited for the number of nuggets they can have but they are limited to 4 material.

== Setup ==

All players get the same starting GOLDblivion deck and Combat deck. At the start of the game, players select a Noble that they shuffle in their GOLDblivion deck. This is done in reverse turn order.

== Round Overview ==

GOLDblivion is played in rounds. The game will end at the end of a round. The structure of a round is:

* Draw: All players draw 5 GOLDblivion cards from their deck.

* Development: All player must choose a card from their hand and place it under their player board, either on the Produce Nugget Side or the Produce Material Side.

* Production: All player produce nuggets and material depending on the number of cards: 1 nugget for each card in the Produce Nugget Side and 1 material for each 2 cards in the Produce Material Side (rounded down).

* Actions: Player turns: Each player plays turns until all player have passed.

* End of round: Buildings are reactivated, cards are shuffled in their deck and magic tokens are shuffled face down. The First Player Token is passed to the next player that must destroy a card from the market.

== Player Turn Overview ==

On their turn, players must play 2 main actions and any number of bonus actions.

'''Main actions:'''

* Play a card: Play a card from your hand and activate the ability. (Note: Some abilities have a cost but you can play the card without paying its cost but you don’t activate the ability.)

* Buy a card: You pay the cost of the card in nuggets or material. If it’s a combat card, you shuffle it in your Combat deck. If it’s a GOLDblivion building card, you place it in your play area. If it’s a GOLDblivion card that is not a building, you shuffle it in your GOLDblivion deck.

* Activate a village tile. You pay the cost and you activate the ability. You then flip the tile to reveal the other side.

* Pass. You must buy as many gold bars as you can (see the “Buy a gold bar” Bonus action). After you pass, you cannot do any other actions in this round.

'''Bonus actions:'''

* Buy a gold bar: Pay 7 nuggets to buy a gold bar.

* Activate a building: Activate the building to activate its ability. Some abilities have a cost. You can only activate a building once per round.

* Use a magic token: Place the magic token face up in the supply and activate its ability. Face up magic tokens cannot be gained.

== Abilities ==

Here are the abilites that can be found on cards, enemy tiles, magic tokens and village:

* Destroy a card from the markets (GOLDblivion or Combat cards). If you can destroy 2 cards, you must choose them before you replenish the market.

* Gain nuggets. This can depend on the number of icons on your cards in your play area.

* Gain material.

* Gain gold bars.

* Gain a combat card at not cost. If at least one of the two combat card pile is empty, you can take a combat card from the top of the deck of another player.

* Draw a GOLDblivion card from your deck.

* Roll a dice. On 2 faces, you gain 1 nugget. On 2 faces, you gain 2 nuggets. On 1 face, you gain a material. On 1 face you gain a magic token.

* Reactivate a building card in your play area.

* Reactivate non building GOLDblivion card in your play area.

* Gain a magic token. You can have a maximum of 3 magic tokens.

* Gain a non building GOLDblivion card from the market at no cost and shuffle it in your GOLDblivion deck.

* Start a combat.

The following abilities can only be found on combat cards:

* Gain 0-3 combat power.

* Draw another Combat card. You must do it immediately.

* Copy the power of another Combat card that you used in this fight.

* Destroy the current card to gain more combat power.

== Combat ==

When you activate an ability that starts a combat, you must do the following actions in order:

* Choose an enemy tile: Choose a face down or a face up enemy to fight. Flip the tile if it's face down.

* Draw combat cards: Draw as many Combat cards from your Combat deck as there are free space around the enemy. The top side with water does not count as free sides.

* Resolve combat: Count the power of your fighters and activate remaning optional combat abilities. Drawing another combat card is not optionnal.

* Win or Lose: If your power is equal or greater than the power of your enemy, you win. If it’s not, you lose. If you win, take the enemy tile and activate its abilites to gain the rewards. If you lose, destroy one of the combat card that you used in the fight.

Forest enemies have a power between 2 and 5. Mountain enemies have a power between 6 and 9. The Cow-Dragon enemy is printed on the board and has a power of 10.

== Tie Breaker ==

The player with the most gold bar wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most nuggets and then the most enemy tiles wins.

== Solo Mode ==

In Solo, you play against a Solo Noble. The game plays like the normal game with the following changes:

* There is no First Player Token, the player always plays first.

* The GOLDblivion market slides from left to right when it’s filled.

* If the GOLDblivion market is empty, the player looses immediately.

* The player must play 3 main actions instead of 2

* The player cannot pass with cards in its hand.

* The “Destroy a card from the markets” ability can be used to destroy a nugget of the Solo Noble instead of a card.

* After the player turn, the Solo Noble plays.

The Solo Noble plays like this:

* A dice is used to select a card in the GOLDblivion market

* The type of card (building, human, elf, dwarf) is used to select where the card is placed under the Solo Noble board.

* The abilities on the Solo Board are activated from left to right.

The abilities are:

* The “Gain a combat card at not cost” ability has no effect.

* The Solo Noble does no gain solo tokens. Instead, the power on the board is activated.

* Destroy the rightmost card of the GOLDblivion market.

* The player looses a nugget.

* The player must flip an enemy tile.

* The player must destroy a visible enemy tile. The Solo Noble gets the reward.

Some boards have a “6+”: this means that if there are 6 or more cards under this ability, the ability is activated twice.

Gamehelpbarenpark

2023-05-05T11:17:52Z

Bennygui:

== Playing Turns ==

To start: Place your initial tile on your park area. (It must fit on the board and not cover a pit.)

In later turns, place any tile you have obtained on your park area, touching at least one edge of a previously placed tile. It still must fit on the board and not cover a pit.

If you do not have any tiles, you must pass. After passing, you must take a Green Area of your choice, and then end your turn.

== Covering icons ==

When any portion of a tile covers an icon on the park board, you get a reward from the group supply.

* Green wheelbarrow: Gain a Green Area (1 to 3 squares) of your choice.
* White cement truck: Gain an Animal House tile (4 squares) or a Green Area (1 to 3 squares) to your supply. Animal Houses earn victory points when placed.
* Orange excavator: Gain an Enclosure tile (5 squares) to your supply. Enclosures earn victory points when placed.
* Construction crew: Gain a new park area and place it immediately. It must border an existing area and not be at a level lower than your entrance.

When you fill any park area completely, you earn a bear statue worth victory points. Finishing a park area earlier is worth more victory points.

The game end is triggered when a player completes all four of their Park Areas. Each other player gets one more turn and then counts up their points. Most points wins!

== Achievements ==
Most experienced Bärenpark players like to play with achievements. 3 random achievements are placed under the supply area. Hover over the achievements to see what is required to earn them. (Long press on mobile). Completing achievements earlier is worth more victory points.

== End of game ==
The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the tied players total the point values on the tiles left in their supply (which they did not place)-the highest-value total breaks the tie. If still tied, there are multiple winners.

== Pit variant ==
As an expert variant, you can cover up pits on your last turn, though you won't get the bear bonus for a tile with its pit covered up.

== Mini Expansion: Souvenir Shops ==
When you cover the construction crew icon on your final (i.e., fourth) park area, immediately choose an
available souvenir shop tile and place it in your supply. (The larger the tile you choose, the fewer points you will
get for it once placed.)

Gamehelpearth

2023-02-10T00:09:35Z

Bennygui: /* Main Actions */

== Overview ==

Earth is an engine building game played over rounds in which each player gets a turn creating their own island with its terrain and flora. The game ends at the end of the round in which a player completes its island of 16 cards in a 4x4 grid.

== Setup ==

The game starts with each player choosing an Island, a Climate and an Ecosystem card. The Island card dictates your starting soil, compost size and hand of card. The Climate card has a basic ability to help start your engine. The Ecosystem card is an end game scoring card.

== Turn Overview ==

On a player's turn, they must choose a main action: Plant (green), Compost (red), Water (blue) or Grow (yellow). The active player gets to do a more powerful version of the action and the other players will do a less powerful version. Then, all players can activate their cards with abilities matching the main action color.

== Main Actions ==

* '''Plant (green)''': Place cards from your hand in your tableau. You must pay the cost of the card with soil. Cards must form a 4x4 grid at the end of the game. When placing a card, it must touch existing cards from your tableau (diagonally or orthogonally). The active player plants 2 cards and the others plant 1 card. After, the active player draws 4 cards and keep 1 and the others draw 1 card. (Drawing cards cannot be undone so, for the active player, planting the second card cannot be undone. For the others, planting cannot be undone)

* '''Compost''': Gain soil and/or draw card from the deck and place them in your compost without looking at them. Each card in your compost scores 1 point the end of the game.

* '''Water''': Place sprouts (cube) on sprout spots on cards in your tableau or gain soil. Each sprout scores 1 point at the end of the game.

* '''Grow''': Place growth pieces or canopies on growth spot on cards in your tableau and/or draw cards to your hand. Each growth piece scores 1 point at the end of the game but the last piece you place when reaching the maximum growth of the card must be a canopy. A card with a canopy scores the growth score on the card instead of 1 point per piece. (Drawing cards cannot be undone)

== Activation ==
After the main action, all players activate their cards with matching color. You either activate your Island, your Climate and then your Tableau '''or''' you activate your Tableau and then your Island and your Climate. When activating your Tableau, you activate it in order from left to right and top to bottom. You can skip activating abilites. For abilities with a colon (:), you must pay the cost to gain the benefits.

Note that Black abilities are activated when the card is planted in your tableau. Brown abilities are either in-game effects or end game scoring.

== Abilities ==

The most common in-game abilities are:

* Draw cards from deck (cannot be undone)
* Gain or Pay Growth pieces
* Gain or Pay Sprout pieces
* Gain or Pay Soil
* Compost cards from your hand
* Compost cards from the deck (cannot be undone)
* Discard cards from your compost (cannot be undone)
* Reduce the cost of cards of a certain type (Tree, Herb, Mushroom, Bush) or with certain habitat (Sunny, Wet, Rocky, Cold)

There are other in-game abilites that are less common:

* Draw cards from the your compost (cannot be undone)
* Pay part of the cost of a card with your compost, sprout pieces or growth pieces
* Copy the ability of another card
* Plant another card at no cost and draw cards (cannot be undone)
* Prevent the player from choosing a specific main action
* Cards that counts as any type (Tree, Herb, Mushroom, Bush)

== Event Cards ==

Event cards can be played at any time but not in the middle of an action or ability. Played event cards are placed in a pile on the player board. Some event cards have negative score and will make the player lose points at the end of the game.

== Conversion ==

At any time (but not in the middle of an action or ability), players can convert 3 sprouts to 2 soil (but not the other way around). Note that 3 sprouts is 3 points at the end of the game.

== Fauna Cards ==
Four Fauna cards are selected at random at the start of the game. These are in-game objectives to complete. The first player to complete the objective gets more points. If multiple players complete an objective in the same turn, the active player scores more points and then players are placed in turn order.

== 4x4 Bonus ==
The first player to complete its 4x4 Tableau scores a 7 point bonus. If multiple players complete their tableau in the same turn, the active player scores the bonus or the first player in turn order.

== Ecosystem Cards ==
Each player has an Ecosystem card and there are 2 randomly selected public Ecosystem cards. Player's ecosystem cards can only be scored by the player that owns it. Public Ecosystem cards are scored by all players.

== Flora vs Cards ==
When a Fauna or an Ecosystem card mention '''Flora''', it means that it applies only to green planted cards (Tree, Herb, Mushroom, Bush) in your tableau. If they mention '''cards''', it means all cards in your tableau and possibly Island and Climate cards.

== End Game Scoring ==

At the end of the game, the following score points:

* Score on cards in your Tableau, on your Island and Climate cards
* Positive and negative score on your Event cards
* Score 1 point per card in your compost
* Score 1 point per sprout piece on cards in your Tableau
* Score 1 point per growth piece on cards in your Tableau. If a card growth height is maxed (it has a canopy), score the points on the card instead
* Score Terrain cards in your Tableau with Brown abilities that score points
* Score your private Ecosystem card
* Score the 2 public Ecosystem cards
* Score points from the Fauna board: for the 4 cards and the bonus for the first to finish its 4x4 Tableau

== Beginner, Standard and Advanced Mode ==

* In Beginner Mode, there are no Ecosystem cards. Also, all players get 10 points per Fauna card objective.
* Standard Mode is what is described above.
* In Advanced Mode, players get more choices of Island, Climate and Ecosystem cards at the start of the game but the gameplay is the same as Standard Mode.

== Solo Mode ==

In Solo, you play against Gaia. You play your turn like normal and then Gaia will “follow” your main action. Then Gaia plays its turn by drawing a card from a deck of 6 Gaia cards. You then “follow” Gaia's action and then Gaia plays her main action. Once the 6 cards are drawn, the deck is reshuffled and you play the next 6 turn. The game ends when the player finishies its 4x4 Tableau or when Gaia draws its last card.

Gamehelpearth

2023-02-10T00:08:17Z

Bennygui: /* Activation */

== Overview ==

Earth is an engine building game played over rounds in which each player gets a turn creating their own island with its terrain and flora. The game ends at the end of the round in which a player completes its island of 16 cards in a 4x4 grid.

== Setup ==

The game starts with each player choosing an Island, a Climate and an Ecosystem card. The Island card dictates your starting soil, compost size and hand of card. The Climate card has a basic ability to help start your engine. The Ecosystem card is an end game scoring card.

== Turn Overview ==

On a player's turn, they must choose a main action: Plant (green), Compost (red), Water (blue) or Grow (yellow). The active player gets to do a more powerful version of the action and the other players will do a less powerful version. Then, all players can activate their cards with abilities matching the main action color.

== Main Actions ==

* Plant (green): Place cards from your hand in your tableau. You must pay the cost of the card with soil. Cards must form a 4x4 grid at the end of the game. When placing a card, it must touch existing cards from your tableau (diagonally or orthogonally). The active player plants 2 cards and the others plant 1 card. After, the active player draws 4 cards and keep 1 and the others draw 1 card. (Drawing cards cannot be undone so, for the active player, planting the second card cannot be undone. For the others, planting cannot be undone)

* Compost: Gain soil and/or draw card from the deck and place them in your compost without looking at them. Each card in your compost scores 1 point the end of the game.

* Water: Place sprouts (cube) on sprout spots on cards in your tableau or gain soil. Each sprout scores 1 point at the end of the game.

* Grow: Place growth pieces or canopies on growth spot on cards in your tableau and/or draw cards to your hand. Each growth piece scores 1 point at the end of the game but the last piece you place when reaching the maximum growth of the card must be a canopy. A card with a canopy scores the growth score on the card instead of 1 point per piece. (Drawing cards cannot be undone)

== Activation ==
After the main action, all players activate their cards with matching color. You either activate your Island, your Climate and then your Tableau '''or''' you activate your Tableau and then your Island and your Climate. When activating your Tableau, you activate it in order from left to right and top to bottom. You can skip activating abilites. For abilities with a colon (:), you must pay the cost to gain the benefits.

Note that Black abilities are activated when the card is planted in your tableau. Brown abilities are either in-game effects or end game scoring.

== Abilities ==

The most common in-game abilities are:

* Draw cards from deck (cannot be undone)
* Gain or Pay Growth pieces
* Gain or Pay Sprout pieces
* Gain or Pay Soil
* Compost cards from your hand
* Compost cards from the deck (cannot be undone)
* Discard cards from your compost (cannot be undone)
* Reduce the cost of cards of a certain type (Tree, Herb, Mushroom, Bush) or with certain habitat (Sunny, Wet, Rocky, Cold)

There are other in-game abilites that are less common:

* Draw cards from the your compost (cannot be undone)
* Pay part of the cost of a card with your compost, sprout pieces or growth pieces
* Copy the ability of another card
* Plant another card at no cost and draw cards (cannot be undone)
* Prevent the player from choosing a specific main action
* Cards that counts as any type (Tree, Herb, Mushroom, Bush)

== Event Cards ==

Event cards can be played at any time but not in the middle of an action or ability. Played event cards are placed in a pile on the player board. Some event cards have negative score and will make the player lose points at the end of the game.

== Conversion ==

At any time (but not in the middle of an action or ability), players can convert 3 sprouts to 2 soil (but not the other way around). Note that 3 sprouts is 3 points at the end of the game.

== Fauna Cards ==
Four Fauna cards are selected at random at the start of the game. These are in-game objectives to complete. The first player to complete the objective gets more points. If multiple players complete an objective in the same turn, the active player scores more points and then players are placed in turn order.

== 4x4 Bonus ==
The first player to complete its 4x4 Tableau scores a 7 point bonus. If multiple players complete their tableau in the same turn, the active player scores the bonus or the first player in turn order.

== Ecosystem Cards ==
Each player has an Ecosystem card and there are 2 randomly selected public Ecosystem cards. Player's ecosystem cards can only be scored by the player that owns it. Public Ecosystem cards are scored by all players.

== Flora vs Cards ==
When a Fauna or an Ecosystem card mention '''Flora''', it means that it applies only to green planted cards (Tree, Herb, Mushroom, Bush) in your tableau. If they mention '''cards''', it means all cards in your tableau and possibly Island and Climate cards.

== End Game Scoring ==

At the end of the game, the following score points:

* Score on cards in your Tableau, on your Island and Climate cards
* Positive and negative score on your Event cards
* Score 1 point per card in your compost
* Score 1 point per sprout piece on cards in your Tableau
* Score 1 point per growth piece on cards in your Tableau. If a card growth height is maxed (it has a canopy), score the points on the card instead
* Score Terrain cards in your Tableau with Brown abilities that score points
* Score your private Ecosystem card
* Score the 2 public Ecosystem cards
* Score points from the Fauna board: for the 4 cards and the bonus for the first to finish its 4x4 Tableau

== Beginner, Standard and Advanced Mode ==

* In Beginner Mode, there are no Ecosystem cards. Also, all players get 10 points per Fauna card objective.
* Standard Mode is what is described above.
* In Advanced Mode, players get more choices of Island, Climate and Ecosystem cards at the start of the game but the gameplay is the same as Standard Mode.

== Solo Mode ==

In Solo, you play against Gaia. You play your turn like normal and then Gaia will “follow” your main action. Then Gaia plays its turn by drawing a card from a deck of 6 Gaia cards. You then “follow” Gaia's action and then Gaia plays her main action. Once the 6 cards are drawn, the deck is reshuffled and you play the next 6 turn. The game ends when the player finishies its 4x4 Tableau or when Gaia draws its last card.

Gamehelpearth

2023-01-30T02:16:57Z

Bennygui:

== Overview ==

Earth is an engine building game played over rounds in which each player gets a turn creating their own island with its terrain and flora. The game ends at the end of the round in which a player completes its island of 16 cards in a 4x4 grid.

== Setup ==

The game starts with each player choosing an Island, a Climate and an Ecosystem card. The Island card dictates your starting soil, compost size and hand of card. The Climate card has a basic ability to help start your engine. The Ecosystem card is an end game scoring card.

== Turn Overview ==

On a player's turn, they must choose a main action: Plant (green), Compost (red), Water (blue) or Grow (yellow). The active player gets to do a more powerful version of the action and the other players will do a less powerful version. Then, all players can activate their cards with abilities matching the main action color.

== Main Actions ==

* Plant (green): Place cards from your hand in your tableau. You must pay the cost of the card with soil. Cards must form a 4x4 grid at the end of the game. When placing a card, it must touch existing cards from your tableau (diagonally or orthogonally). The active player plants 2 cards and the others plant 1 card. After, the active player draws 4 cards and keep 1 and the others draw 1 card. (Drawing cards cannot be undone so, for the active player, planting the second card cannot be undone. For the others, planting cannot be undone)

* Compost: Gain soil and/or draw card from the deck and place them in your compost without looking at them. Each card in your compost scores 1 point the end of the game.

* Water: Place sprouts (cube) on sprout spots on cards in your tableau or gain soil. Each sprout scores 1 point at the end of the game.

* Grow: Place growth pieces or canopies on growth spot on cards in your tableau and/or draw cards to your hand. Each growth piece scores 1 point at the end of the game but the last piece you place when reaching the maximum growth of the card must be a canopy. A card with a canopy scores the growth score on the card instead of 1 point per piece. (Drawing cards cannot be undone)

== Activation ==
After the main action, all players activate their cards with matching color. You either activate your Island, your Climate and then your Tableau '''or''' you activate your Tableau and then your Island and your Climate. When activating you Tableau, you activate it in order from left to right and top to bottom. You can skip activating abilites. For abilities with a colon (:), you must pay the cost to gain the benefits.

Note that Black abilities are activated when the card is planted in your tableau. Brown abilities are either in-game effects or end game scoring.

== Abilities ==

The most common in-game abilities are:

* Draw cards from deck (cannot be undone)
* Gain or Pay Growth pieces
* Gain or Pay Sprout pieces
* Gain or Pay Soil
* Compost cards from your hand
* Compost cards from the deck (cannot be undone)
* Discard cards from your compost (cannot be undone)
* Reduce the cost of cards of a certain type (Tree, Herb, Mushroom, Bush) or with certain habitat (Sunny, Wet, Rocky, Cold)

There are other in-game abilites that are less common:

* Draw cards from the your compost (cannot be undone)
* Pay part of the cost of a card with your compost, sprout pieces or growth pieces
* Copy the ability of another card
* Plant another card at no cost and draw cards (cannot be undone)
* Prevent the player from choosing a specific main action
* Cards that counts as any type (Tree, Herb, Mushroom, Bush)

== Event Cards ==

Event cards can be played at any time but not in the middle of an action or ability. Played event cards are placed in a pile on the player board. Some event cards have negative score and will make the player lose points at the end of the game.

== Conversion ==

At any time (but not in the middle of an action or ability), players can convert 3 sprouts to 2 soil (but not the other way around). Note that 3 sprouts is 3 points at the end of the game.

== Fauna Cards ==
Four Fauna cards are selected at random at the start of the game. These are in-game objectives to complete. The first player to complete the objective gets more points. If multiple players complete an objective in the same turn, the active player scores more points and then players are placed in turn order.

== 4x4 Bonus ==
The first player to complete its 4x4 Tableau scores a 7 point bonus. If multiple players complete their tableau in the same turn, the active player scores the bonus or the first player in turn order.

== Ecosystem Cards ==
Each player has an Ecosystem card and there are 2 randomly selected public Ecosystem cards. Player's ecosystem cards can only be scored by the player that owns it. Public Ecosystem cards are scored by all players.

== Flora vs Cards ==
When a Fauna or an Ecosystem card mention '''Flora''', it means that it applies only to green planted cards (Tree, Herb, Mushroom, Bush) in your tableau. If they mention '''cards''', it means all cards in your tableau and possibly Island and Climate cards.

== End Game Scoring ==

At the end of the game, the following score points:

* Score on cards in your Tableau, on your Island and Climate cards
* Positive and negative score on your Event cards
* Score 1 point per card in your compost
* Score 1 point per sprout piece on cards in your Tableau
* Score 1 point per growth piece on cards in your Tableau. If a card growth height is maxed (it has a canopy), score the points on the card instead
* Score Terrain cards in your Tableau with Brown abilities that score points
* Score your private Ecosystem card
* Score the 2 public Ecosystem cards
* Score points from the Fauna board: for the 4 cards and the bonus for the first to finish its 4x4 Tableau

== Beginner, Standard and Advanced Mode ==

* In Beginner Mode, there are no Ecosystem cards. Also, all players get 10 points per Fauna card objective.
* Standard Mode is what is described above.
* In Advanced Mode, players get more choices of Island, Climate and Ecosystem cards at the start of the game but the gameplay is the same as Standard Mode.

== Solo Mode ==

In Solo, you play against Gaia. You play your turn like normal and then Gaia will “follow” your main action. Then Gaia plays its turn by drawing a card from a deck of 6 Gaia cards. You then “follow” Gaia's action and then Gaia plays her main action. Once the 6 cards are drawn, the deck is reshuffled and you play the next 6 turn. The game ends when the player finishies its 4x4 Tableau or when Gaia draws its last card.

Gamehelpearth

2023-01-16T13:31:24Z

Bennygui: Created page with "== Overview == Earth is an engine building game played over rounds in which each player gets a turn creating their own island with its terrain and flora. The game ends at the end of the round in which a player completes its island of 16 cards in a 4x4 grid. == Setup == The game starts with each player choosing an Island, a Climate and an Ecosystem card. The Island card dictates your starting soil, compost size and hand of card. The Climate card has a basic ability to..."

== Overview ==

Earth is an engine building game played over rounds in which each player gets a turn creating their own island with its terrain and flora. The game ends at the end of the round in which a player completes its island of 16 cards in a 4x4 grid.

== Setup ==

The game starts with each player choosing an Island, a Climate and an Ecosystem card. The Island card dictates your starting soil, compost size and hand of card. The Climate card has a basic ability to help start your engine. The Ecosystem card is an end game scoring card.

== Turn Overview ==

On a player's turn, they must choose a main action: Plant (green), Compost (red), Water (blue) or Grow (yellow). The active player gets to do a more powerful version of the action and the other players will do a less powerful version. Then, all players can activate their cards with abilities matching the main action color.

== Main Actions ==

* Plant (green): Place cards from your hand in your tableau. You must pay the cost of the card with soil. Cards must form a 4x4 grid at the end of the game. When placing a card, it must touch existing cards from your tableau (diagonally or orthogonally). The active player plants 2 cards and the others plant 1 card. After, the active player draws 4 cards and keep 1 and the others draw 1 card. (Drawing cards cannot be undone so, for the active player, planting the second card cannot be undone. For the others, planting cannot be undone)

* Compost: Gain soil and/or draw card from the deck and place them in your compost without looking at them. Each card in your compost scores 1 point the end of the game.

* Water: Place sprouts (cube) on sprout spots on cards in your tableau or gain soil. Each sprout scores 1 point at the end of the game.

* Grow: Place growth pieces or canopies on growth spot on cards in your tableau and/or draw cards to your hand. Each growth piece scores 1 point at the end of the game but the last piece you place when reaching the maximum growth of the card must be a canopy. A card with a canopy scores the growth score on the card instead of 1 point per piece. (Drawing cards cannot be undone)

== Activation ==
After the main action, all players activate their cards with matching color. You either activate your Island, your Climate and then your Tableau '''or''' you activate your Tableau and then your Island and your Climate. When activating you Tableau, you activate it in order from left to right and top to bottom. You can skip activating abilites. For abilities with a colon (:), you must pay the cost to gain the benefits.

Note that Black abilities are activated when the card is planted in your tableau. Brown abilities are either in-game effects or end game scoring.

== Abilities ==

The most common in-game abilities are:

* Draw cards from deck (cannot be undone)
* Gain or Pay Growth pieces
* Gain or Pay Sprout pieces
* Gain or Pay Soil
* Compost cards from your hand
* Compost cards from the deck (cannot be undone)
* Discard cards from your compost (cannot be undone)
* Reduce the cost of cards of a certain type (Tree, Herb, Mushroom, Bush) or with certain habitat (Sunny, Wet, Rocky, Cold)

There are other in-game abilites that are less common:

* Draw cards from the your compost (cannot be undone)
* Pay part of the cost of a card with your compost, sprout pieces or growth pieces
* Copy the ability of another card
* Plant another card at no cost and draw cards (cannot be undone)
* Prevent the player from choosing a specific main action
* Cards that counts as any type (Tree, Herb, Mushroom, Bush)

== Event Cards ==

Event cards can be played at any time but not in the middle of an action or ability. Played event cards are placed in a pile on the player board. Some event cards have negative score and will make the player lose points at the end of the game.

== Conversion ==

At any time (but not in the middle of an action or ability), players can convert 3 sprouts to 2 soil (but not the other way around). Note that 3 sprouts is 3 points at the end of the game.

== Fauna Cards ==
Four Fauna cards are selected at random at the start of the game. These are in-game objectives to complete. The first player to complete the objective gets more points. If multiple players complete an objective in the same turn, the active player scores more points and then players are placed in turn order.

== 4x4 Bonus ==
The first player to complete its 4x4 Tableau scores a 7 point bonus. If multiple players complete their tableau in the same turn, the active player scores the bonus or the first player in turn order.

== Ecosystem Cards ==
Each player has an Ecosystem card and there are 2 randomly selected public Ecosystem cards. Player's ecosystem cards can only be scored by the player that owns it. Public Ecosystem cards are scored by all players.

== End Game Scoring ==

At the end of the game, the following score points:

* Score on cards in your Tableau, on your Island and Climate cards
* Positive and negative score on your Event cards
* Score 1 point per card in your compost
* Score 1 point per sprout piece on cards in your Tableau
* Score 1 point per growth piece on cards in your Tableau. If a card growth height is maxed (it has a canopy), score the points on the card instead
* Score Terrain cards in your Tableau with Brown abilities that score points
* Score your private Ecosystem card
* Score the 2 public Ecosystem cards
* Score points from the Fauna board: for the 4 cards and the bonus for the first to finish its 4x4 Tableau

== Beginner, Standard and Advanced Mode ==

* In Beginner Mode, there are no Ecosystem cards. Also, all players get 10 points per Fauna card objective.
* Standard Mode is what is described above.
* In Advanced Mode, players get more choices of Island, Climate and Ecosystem cards at the start of the game but the gameplay is the same as Standard Mode.

== Solo Mode ==

In Solo, you play against Gaia. You play your turn like normal and then Gaia will “follow” your main action. Then Gaia plays its turn by drawing a card from a deck of 6 Gaia cards. You then “follow” Gaia's action and then Gaia plays her main action. Once the 6 cards are drawn, the deck is reshuffled and you play the next 6 turn. The game ends when the player finishies its 4x4 Tableau or when Gaia draws its last card.

Main game logic: Game.php

2022-04-08T20:11:22Z

Bennygui:

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

This is the main file for your game logic. Here you initialize the game, persist data, implement the rules and notify the client interface of changes.

== File Structure ==

The details of how the file is structured are described directly with comments in the code skeleton provided to you.

Here is the basic structure:

* Constructor: where you define global variables.
* setupNewGame: initial setup of the game. Takes an array of players, indexed by player_id. Structure of each player includes player_name, player_canal, player_avatar, and flags indicating admin/ai/premium/order/language/beginner.
* getAllDatas: where you retrieve all game data during a complete reload of the game. Returned value must include ['players'][playerId]['score'] for scores to populate when F5 is pressed.
* getGameProgression: where you compute the game progression indicator. Returns a number indicating percent of progression (0-100)
* Utility functions: your utility functions.
* Player actions: the entry points for players actions ([https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Players_actions:_yourgamename.action.php more info here]).
* Game state arguments: methods to return additional data on specific game states ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#args more info here]).
* Game state actions: the logic to run when entering a new game state ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#action more info here]).
* zombieTurn: what to do it's the turn of a zombie player.
* upgradeTableDb: function to migrate database if you change it after release on production.

== Accessing player information ==

'''Important''': In the following methods, be mindful of the difference between the "active" player and the "current" player. The '''active''' player is the player whose turn it is - not necessarily the player who sent a request! The '''current''' player is the player who sent the request and will see the results returned by your methods: not necessarily the player whose turn it is!

; getPlayersNumber()
: Returns the number of players playing at the table
: Note: doesn't work in setupNewGame (use count($players) instead).

; getActivePlayerId()
: Get the "active_player", whatever what is the current state type.
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multiplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getActivePlayerName()
: Get the "active_player" name
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getPlayerNameById($player_id)
: Get the name by id

; getPlayerColorById($player_id)
: Get the color by id

; getPlayerNoById($player_id)
: Get 'player_no' (number) by id

; loadPlayersBasicInfos()
: Get an associative array with generic data about players (ie: not game specific data).
: The key of the associative array is the player id. The returned table is cached, so ok to call multiple times without performance concerns.
: <code>array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos())</code> will therefore returns an array containing players id
: The content of each value is:
: * player_name - the name of the player
: * player_color (ex: ff0000) - the color code of the player
: * player_no - the position of the player at the start of the game in natural table order, i.e. 1,2,3

<pre>
$players = $this->loadPlayersBasicInfos();
foreach ($players as $player_id => $info) {
$player_color = $info['player_color'];
...
}
</pre>
Note: if you want array of player ids only you can do this:
$player_ids = array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos());

; getCurrentPlayerId()
: Get the "current_player". The current player is the one from which the action originated (the one who sent the request).
: '''Be careful''': This is not necessarily the active player!
: In general, you shouldn't use this method, unless you are in "multiplayer" state.
: '''Very important''': in your setupNewGame and zombieTurn function, you must never use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message (these actions are triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to these actions).

; getCurrentPlayerName()
: Get the "current_player" name
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; getCurrentPlayerColor()
: Get the "current_player" color
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; isCurrentPlayerZombie()
: Check the "current_player" zombie status. If true, player is zombie, i.e. left or was kicked out of the game.

; isSpectator()
: Check the "current_player" spectator status. If true, the user accessing the game is a spectator (not part of the game). For this user, the interface should display all public information, and no private information (like a friend sitting at the same table as players and just spectating the game).

; getActivePlayerColor()
: This function does not seems to exist in API, if you need it here is implementation
function getActivePlayerColor() {
$player_id = self::getActivePlayerId();
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (isset($players[$player_id]))
return $players[$player_id]['player_color'];
else
return null;
}
; isPlayerZombie($player_id)
: This method does not exists, but if you need it it looks like this
protected function isPlayerZombie($player_id) {
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (! isset($players[$player_id]))
throw new BgaSystemException("Player $player_id is not playing here");

return ($players[$player_id]['player_zombie'] == 1);
}

== Accessing the database ==

The main game logic should be the only point from which you should access the game database. You access your database using SQL queries with the methods below.

'''IMPORTANT'''

BGA uses [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/sql-syntax-transactions.html database transactions]. This means that your database changes WON'T BE APPLIED to the database until your request ends normally (web request, not database request). Using transactions is in fact very useful for you; at any time, if your game logic detects that something is wrong (example: a disallowed move), you just have to throw an exception and all changes to the game situation will be removed. This also means that you need not (and in fact cannot) use your own transactions for multiple related database operations.

However there are sets of database operation that initite implicit commit (most common mistake is to use "TRUNCATE"), you cannot use these operations during the game, it breaks the unrolling of transactions and will lead to nasty issues
(https://mariadb.com/kb/en/sql-statements-that-cause-an-implicit-commit).

; DbQuery( $sql )
: This is the generic method to access the database.
: It can execute any type of SELECT/UPDATE/DELETE/REPLACE/INSERT query on the database.
: For SELECT queries, the specialized methods below are much better.
: Do not use method for TUNCATE, DROP and other table altering operations. See disclamer above about implicit commits. If you really need TRUNCATE use DELETE FROM xxx instead.

; getUniqueValueFromDB( $sql )
: Returns a unique value from DB or null if no value is found.
: $sql must be a SELECT query.
: Raise an exception if more than 1 row is returned.

; getCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Returns an associative array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The key of the resulting associative array is the first field specified in the SELECT query.
: The value of the resulting associative array is an associative array with all the field specified in the SELECT query and associated values.
: First column must be a primary or alternate key (semantically, it does not actually have to declared in sql as such).
: The resulting collection can be empty (it won't be null).
: If you specified $bSingleValue=true and if your SQL query request 2 fields A and B, the method returns an associative array "A=>B", otherwise its A=>[A,B]
: Note: The name a bit misleading, it really return associative array, i.e. map and NOT a collection. You cannot use it to get list of values which may have duplicates (hence primary key requirement on first column). If you need simple array use getObjectListFromDB() method.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
1234 => array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
1235 => array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
1234 => 'myuser0',
1235 => 'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getNonEmptyCollectionFromDB( $sql )
: Same as getCollectionFromDB($sdl), but raise an exception if the collection is empty. Note: this function does NOT have 2nd argument as previous one does.

; getObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Returns one row for the sql SELECT query as an associative array or null if there is no result
: Raise an exception if the query return more than one row (you can use LIMIT 1 in the query to avoid the exception)

Example:
<pre>
self::getObjectFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'" );

Result:
array(
'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1
)
</pre>

; getNonEmptyObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Similar to previous one, but raise an exception if no row is found

; getObjectListFromDB( $sql, $bUniqueValue=false )
: Return an array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The result is the same as "getCollectionFromDB" except that the result is a simple array (and not an associative array).
: The result can be empty.
: If you specified $bUniqueValue=true and if your SQL query request 1 field, the method returns directly an array of values.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
'myuser0',
'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getDoubleKeyCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Return an associative array of associative array, from a SQL SELECT query.
: First array level correspond to first column specified in SQL query.
: Second array level correspond to second column specified in SQL query.
: If bSingleValue = true, keep only third column on result

; DbGetLastId()
: Return the PRIMARY key of the last inserted row (see PHP mysql_insert_id function).

; DbAffectedRow()
: Return the number of row affected by the last operation

; escapeStringForDB( $string )
: You must use this function on every string type data in your database that contains unsafe data.
: (unsafe = can be modified by a player).
: This method makes sure that no SQL injection will be done through the string used.
: Note: if you using standard types in ajax actions, like AT_alphanum it is sanitized before arrival,
: this is only needed if you manage to get unchecked string, like in the games where user has to enter text as a response.

<pre>

</pre>

Note: see Editing [[Game database model: dbmodel.sql]] to know how to define your database model.

== Use globals ==

Sometimes, you want a single global integer value for your game, and you don't want to create a DB table specifically for it.

You can do this with the BGA framework "global." Your value will be stored in the "global" table in the database, and you can access it with simple methods.

'''initGameStateLabels'''

This method should be located at the beginning of __construct() method of ''yourgamename.game.php''. This is where you define the globals used in your game logic, by assigning them IDs.

You can define up to 80 globals, with IDs from 10 to 89 (inclusive, there can be gaps). You must '''not''' use globals outside this range, as those values are used by other components of the framework.

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11
) );
</pre>

or

<pre>
$this->GAMESTATELABELS = ["my_first_global_variable" => 10, "my_second_global_variable" => 11];
self::initGameStateLabels($this->GAMESTATELABELS);
</pre>

This is also in this method that you will define your game options. In that case, IDs need to be between 100 and 199 (inclusive, there can be gaps) Check this for more details [[Game_options_and_preferences:_gameoptions.inc.php]]

With option set, the method will look like

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11,
"my_game_variant" => 100
) );
</pre>

'''setGameStateInitialValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Initialize your global value. Must be called before any use of your global, so you should call this method from your "setupNewGame" method. $value_value must be an integer.

It seems that a non initialized value will not be restored with undo system, so it is therefore advisable to initialize them all in your "setupNewGame" method.

<pre>foreach ($this->GAMESTATELABELS as $value_label=> $ID) if ($ID >= 10 && $ID < 90) self::setGameStateInitialValue($value_label, 0);</pre>

'''getGameStateValue( $value_label )'''

Retrieve the current value of a global.

For debugging purposes, you can have labels and value pairs send to client side by inserting that line of code in your "getAllDatas":

<pre>$result['labels'] = array_combine(array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS), array_map('self::getGameStateValue', array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS)));</pre>

'''setGameStateValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Set the current value of a global. $value_value must be an integer.

'''incGameStateValue( $value_label, $increment )'''

Increment the current value of a global. If increment is negative, decrement the value of the global.

Return the final value of the global.

=== BGA predefined globals ===

BGA already defines some globals in the ''global'' database table. You should not change them directly but it can be useful to know what they mean when debugging:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! global_id !! Meaning
|-
| 1 || Active state id
|-
| 2 || Active player id
|-
| 3 || Next move number
|-
| 6 || Player turn number
|-
| 7 || Game progression
|-
| 8 || Initial reflection time
|-
| 9 || Additional reflection time
|-
| 200 || Reflexion time profile
|-
| 207 || GAMESTATE_GAME_LANG
|-
| 201 || BGA ranking mode
|-
| 300 || GAMESTATE_GAMEVERSION: Current version of the game (when in production)
|-
| 301 || GAMESTATE_GAME_RESULT_NEUTRALIZED
|-
| 302 || GAMESTATE_NEUTRALIZED_PLAYER_ID
|-
| 304 || GAMESTATE_UNDO_MOVES_STORED
|-
| 305 || GAMESTATE_UNDO_MOVES_PLAYER
|-
| 306 || GAMESTATE_LOCK_TIMESTAMP
|}

== Game states and active players ==

=== Activate player handling ===

; $this->activeNextPlayer()
: Make the next player active in the natural player order.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->activePrevPlayer()
: Make the previous player active (in the natural player order).
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->gamestate->changeActivePlayer( $player_id )
: You can call this method to make any player active.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->getActivePlayerId()
: Return the "active_player" id
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multipleactiveplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multipleactiveplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

=== Multiple activate player handling ===

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()
: All playing players are made active. Update notification is sent to all players (this will trigger '''onUpdateActionButtons''').
: Usually, you use this method at the beginning of a game state (e.g., "stGameState") which transitions to a ''multipleactiveplayer'' state in which multiple players have to perform some action. Do not use this method if you going to make some more changes in the active player list. (I.e., if you want to take away multipleactiveplayer status immediately afterwards, use setPlayersMultiactive instead.)

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_MultiPlayerInit() {
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
}
</pre>

; $this->stMakeEveryoneActive()
:this method can be used in state machine to make everybody active as "st" method of multiplayeractive state, it just calls $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()

This is to be used in state declaration:
<pre>
2 => array(
"name" => "playerTurnPlace",
"description" => clienttranslate('Other player must place ships'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must place ships (click on YOUR SHIPS board to place)'),
"type" => "multipleactiveplayer",
'action' => 'stMakeEveryoneActive',
'args' => 'arg_playerTurnPlace',
"possibleactions" => array( "actionBla" ),
"transitions" => array( "next" => 4, "last" => 99)
),
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersNonMultiactive( $next_state )
: All playing players are made inactive. Transition to next state

; $this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive( $players, $next_state, $bExclusive = false )
: Make a specific list of players active during a multiactive gamestate. Update notification is sent to all players whose state changed.
: "players" is the array of player id that should be made active. If "players" is not empty the value of "next_state" will be ignored (you can put whatever you want)
: If "exclusive" parameter is not set or false it doesn't deactivate other previously active players. If its set to true, the players who will be multiactive at the end are only these in "$players" array

: In case "players" is empty, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise

; $this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $player_id, $next_state )
: During a multiactive game state, make the specified player inactive.
: Usually, you call this method during a multiactive game state after a player did his action. It is also possible to call it directly from multiplayer action handler.
: If this player was the last active player, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise
Example of usage (see state declaration of playerTurnPlace above):
<pre>
function actionBla($args) {
self::checkAction('actionBla');
// handle the action using $this->getCurrentPlayerId()
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 'next');
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->getActivePlayerList()
: With this method you can retrieve the list of the active player at any time.
: During a "game" type gamestate, it will return a void array.
: During a "activeplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array with one value (the active player id).
: During a "multipleactiveplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array of the active players id.
: Note: you should only use this method in the latter case.

; $this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( $next_state_if_none )
: Sends update notification about multiplayer changes. All multiactive set* functions above do that, however if you want to change state manually using db queries for complex calculations, you have to call this yourself after. Do not call this if you calling one of the other setters above.
Example: you have player teams and you want to activate all players in one team
<pre>
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='0'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='1' WHERE player_id='$player_id' AND player_team='$team_no'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );

$this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( 'error' );
</pre>

; updating database manually
: Use this helper function to change multiactive state without sending notification
<pre>
/**
* Changes values of multiactivity in db, does not sent notifications.
* To send notifications after use updateMultiactiveOrNextState
* @param number $player_id, player id <=0 or null - means ALL
* @param number $value - 1 multiactive, 0 non multiactive
*/
function dbSetPlayerMultiactive($player_id = -1, $value = 1) {
if (! $value)
$value = 0;
else
$value = 1;
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive = '$value' WHERE player_zombie = 0 and player_eliminated = 0";
if ($player_id > 0) {
$sql .= " AND player_id = $player_id";
}
self::DbQuery($sql);
}
</pre>

;$this->gamestate->isPlayerActive($player_id)
:Return true if specified player is active right now.
:This method take into account game state type, ie nobody is active if game state is "game" and several players can be active if game state is "multiplayer"

=== States functions ===
; $this->gamestate->nextState( $transition )
: Change current state to a new state. Important: the $transition parameter is the name of the transition, and NOT the name of the target game state, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for more information about states.

; $this->checkAction( $actionName, $bThrowException=true )
: Check if the current player can perform a specific action in the current game state, and optionally throw an exception if they can't.
: The action is valid if it is listed in the "possibleactions" array for the current game state (see game state description).
: This method MUST be the first one called in ALL your PHP methods that handle player actions, in order to make sure a player doesn't perform an action not allowed by the rules at the point in the game. It should not be called from methods where the current player is not necessarily the active player, otherwise it may fail with an "It is not your turn" exception.
: If "bThrowException" is set to "false", the function returns '''false''' in case of failure instead of throwing an exception. This is useful when several actions are possible, in order to test each of them without throwing exceptions.

; $this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction( $action )
: (rarely used)
: This works exactly like "checkAction" (above), except that it does NOT check if the current player is active.
: This is used specifically in certain game states when you want to authorize additional actions for players that are not active at the moment.
: Example: in ''Libertalia'', you want to authorize players to change their mind about the card played. They are of course not active at the time they change their mind, so you cannot use "checkAction"; use "checkPossibleAction" instead.

This is how PHP action looks that returns player to active state (only for multiplayeractive states). To be able to execute on js side do not checkAction on js side for this specific one.

function actionUnpass() {
$this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction('actionUnpass'); // player changed mind about passing while others were thinking
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive(array ($this->getCurrentPlayerId() ), 'error', false);
}

; $this->gamestate->state()
: Get an associative array of current game state attributes, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for state attributes.

$state=$this->gamestate->state(); if( $state['name'] == 'myGameState' ) {...}

I suggest to define and use this function in your php class to access state name:

public function getStateName() {
$state = $this->gamestate->state();
return $state['name'];
}

; $this->gamestate->state_id()
: Get the id of the current game state (rarely useful, its best to use name, unless you use constants for state ids)

; $this->gamestate->isMutiactiveState()
: Return true if we are in multipleactiveplayer state, false otherwise

=== Private parallel states ===

See the overview of private parallel states [[Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#Private_parallel_states|here]].

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers()
: All active players in a multiactive state are entering a first private state defined in the master state's initialprivate parameter.
: Every time you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods below.
: Note: at least one player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating some or all players
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method

$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

// in some cases you can move immediately some or all players to different private states
if ($someCondition) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}

if ($other condition) {
//move single player to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($specificPlayerId, "some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds)
: Players with specified ids are entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateState($playerId)
: Player with the specified id is entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Everytime you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods above
: Note: player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating that player
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_ChangeMind() {
// This player finished his move before, but now decides change something while other players are still active
// We activate the player and initialize his private state
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive([$this->getCurrentPlayerId()], "");
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateState(this->getCurrentPlayerId());

// It is also possible to move the player to some other specific state immediately
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers($transition)
: All active players will transition to next private state by specified transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state
: Note: this is usually used after initializing the private state to move players to specific private state according to the game logic

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

if ($specificOption) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: Players with specified ids will transition to next private state specified by provided transition.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($playerId, $transition)
: Player with specified id will transition to next private state specified by provided transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player
: Note: this is usually used after some player actions to move to next private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers()
: All players private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used to clean up after leaving a master state in which private states were used, but can be used in other cases when we want to exit private parallel states and use a regular multiactive state for all players
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private states as they will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state after exiting private parallel states to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stNextRound() {
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers();
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: For players with specified ids private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($playerId)
: For player with specified id private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used when deactivating player to clean up their parallel state
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private state as it will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state when not needed to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function done() {
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "newTurn" );
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId());
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($playerId, $newStateId)
: For player with specified id a new private state would be set
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this should be rarely used as it doesn't check if the transition is allowed (it doesn't even specifies transition). This can be useful in very complex cases when standard state machine is not adequate (i.e. specific cards can lead to some micro action in various states where defining transitions back and forth can become very tedious.)
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state

if ($playerHaveSpecificCard)
return $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 35);

$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

== Players turn order ==

When table is created the "natural" player order is assigned to player at random, and stored in "read-only" field "player_no".
If you need to create a custom order you should never change natural order but have a separate data structure.
For example you can alter the players table to add another "custom_order" field, you can use state globals or you can use your natural board database,
to store meeple_color/position_location pair.
BGA currently does not provide any API to create/store custom player order.

'''getNextPlayerTable()'''

Return an associative array which associate each player with the next player around the table.

In addition, key 0 is associated to the first player to play.

Example: if three player with ID 1000, 2000 and 3000 are around the table, in this order, the method returns:
<pre>
array(
1000 => 2000,
2000 => 3000,
3000 => 1000,
0 => 1000
);
</pre>

'''getPrevPlayerTable()'''

Same as above, but the associative array associate the previous player around the table. However there no 0 index here.

'''getPlayerAfter( $player_id )'''

Get player playing after given player in natural playing order.

'''getPlayerBefore( $player_id )'''

Get player playing before given player in natural playing order.

Note: There is no API to modify this order, if you have custom player order you have to maintain it in your database
and have custom function to access it.

'''createNextPlayerTable( $players, $bLoop=true )'''

Using $players array creates a map of current => next as in example from getNextPlayerTable(), however you can use custom order here.
If parmeter $bLoop is set to true then last player will points to first (creaing a loop), false otherwise.
In any case index 0 points to first player (first element of $players array). $players is array of player ids in desired order.

Note: This function '''DOES NOT''' change the order in database, it only creates a map using key/values as descibed.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function getNextPlayerTableCustom() {
$starting = $this->getStartingPlayer(); // custom function to get starting player
$player_ids = $this->getPlayerIdsInOrder($starting); // custom function to create players array starting from starting player
return $this->createNextPlayerTable($player_ids, false); // create next player table in custom order
}
</pre>

<pre>
$table = $this->createNextPlayerTable([3,2,1], false);

will return:
[
3000 => 2000,
2000 => 1000,
1000 => null,
0 => 3000
]
</pre>

== Notify players ==

To understand notifications, please read [http://www.slideshare.net/boardgamearena/the-bga-framework-at-a-glance The BGA Framework at a glance] first.

'''IMPORTANT'''

Notifications are sent at the very end of the request, when it ends normally. It means that if you throw an exception for any reason (ex: move not allowed), no notifications will be sent to players.
Notifications sent between the game start (setupNewGame) and the end of the "action" method of the first active state will never reach their destination.

=== NotifyAllPlayers ===

'''notifyAllPlayers( $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Send a notification to all players of the game.

* notification_type:
A string that defines the type of your notification.

Your game interface Javascript logic will use this to know what is the type of the received notification (and to trigger the corresponding method).

* notification_log:
A string that defines what is to be displayed in the game log.

You can use an empty string here (""). In this case, nothing is displayed in the game log.

If you define a real string here, you should use "clienttranslate" method to make sure it can be translated.

You can use arguments in your notification_log strings, that refers to values defines in the "notification_args" argument (see below).
Note: Make sure you only use single quotes ('), otherwise PHP will try to interpolate the variable and will ignore the values in the args array.

* notification_args:
The arguments of your notifications, as an associative array.

This array will be transmitted to the game interface logic, in order the game interface can be updated.

Complete notifyAllPlayers example (from "Reversi"):

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y
) );
</pre>

You can see in the example above the use of the "clienttranslate" method, and the use of 2 arguments "player_name" and "returned_nbr" in the notification log.

'''Important''': NO private data must be sent with this method, as a cheater could see it even if it is not used explicitly by the game interface logic. If you want to send private information to a player, please use notifyPlayer below.

'''Important''': this array is serialized to be sent to the browsers, and will be saved with the notification to be able to replay the game later. If it is too big, it can make notifications slower / less reliable, and replay archives very big (to the point of failing). So as a general rule, you should send only the minimum of information necessary to update the client interface with no overhead in order to keep the notifications as light as possible.

'''Important''': When the game page is reloaded (i.e. F5 or when loading turn based game) all previous notifications are replayed as history notifications. These notifications do not trigger notification handlers and are used basically to build the game log. Because of that most of the notification arguments, except i18n, player_id and all arguments used in the message, are removed from these history notifications. If you need additional arguments in history notifications you can add special field <b>preserve</b> to notification arguments, like this:

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y,
'preserve' => [ 'x', 'y' ]
) );
</pre>
In this example, fields x and y will be preserved when replaying history notification at the game load.

==== HTML in Notifications ====

You CAN use some HTML inside your notification log, however it not recommended for many reasons:
* Its bad architecture, ui elements leak into server now you have to manage ui in many places
* If you decided to change something in ui in future version, old games replay and tutorials may not work, since they use stored notifications
* When you read log preview for old games its unreadable (this is log before you enter the game replay, useful for troubleshooting or game analysis)
* Its more data to transfer and store in db
* Its nightmare for translators, at least don't put HTML tags inside the "clienttranslate" method. You can use a notification argument instead, and provide your HTML through this argument.

If you still want to have pretty pictures in the log check this [[BGA_Studio_Cookbook#Inject_images_and_styled_html_in_the_log]].

==== Recursive Notifications ====

If your notification contains some phrases that build programmatically you may need to use recursive notifications. In this case the argument can be not only the string but
an array itself, which contains 'log' and 'args', i.e.

$this->notifyAllPlayers('playerLog',clienttranslate('Game moves ${token_name_rec}'),
['token_name_rec'=>['log'=>'${token_name} #${token_number}',
'args'=> ['token_name'=>clienttranslate('Boo'), 'token_number'=>$number, 'i18n'=>['token_name'] ]
]
]);

Special handling of arguments:
* ${player_name} - this will be wrapped in html and text shown using color of the corresponding player, some colors also have reserved background. This will apply recursively as well.
* ${player_name2} - same

==== Excluding some players ====

Sometimes you want to notify all players of a message but not have it appear in the log of specific players (for example, have every player see "Player X draws a card" but have Player X see "You draw the Ace of Spades").

To send a notification to all players but have some clients ignore it, send it as normal from the server, but implement '''setIgnoreNotificationCheck''' on the client to ignore the message under given conditions. See the X.js documentation for more details.

=== NotifyPlayer ===

'''notifyPlayer( $player_id, $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Same as above, except that the notification is sent to one player only.

This method must be used each time some private information must be transmitted to a player.

Important: the variable for player name must be ${player_name} in order to be highlighted with the player color in the game log. If you want a second player name in the log, name the variable ${player_name2}, etc.

Note that spectators cannot be notified using this method, because their player ID is not available via loadPlayersBasicInfos() or otherwise. You must use notifyAllPlayers() for any notification that spectators should get.

== About random and randomness ==

A large number of board games rely on random, most often based on dice, cards shuffling, picking some item in a bag, and so on. This is very important to ensure a high level of randomness for each of these situations.

Here's are a list of techniques you should use in these situations, from the best to the worst.

=== Dice and bga_rand ===

'''bga_rand( min, max )'''
This is a BGA framework function that provides you a random number between "min" and "max" (inclusive), using the best available random method available on the system.

This is the preferred function you should use, because we are updating it when a better method is introduced.

As of now, bga_rand is based on the PHP function "random_int", which ensures a cryptographic level of randomness.

In particular, it is '''mandatory''' to use it for all '''dice throw''' (ie: games using other methods for dice throwing will be rejected by BGA during review).

Note: rand() and mt_rand() are deprecated on BGA and should not be used anymore, as their randomness is not as good as "bga_rand".

=== shuffle and cards shuffling ===

To shuffle items, like a pile of cards, the best way is to use the BGA PHP [[Deck]] component and to use "shuffle" method. This ensures that the best available shuffling method is used, and that if in the future we improve it your game will be up to date.

As of now, the Deck component shuffle method is based on PHP "shuffle" method, which has quite good randomness (even it is not as good as bga_rand). In consequence, we accept other shuffling methods during reviews, as long as they are based on PHP "shuffle" function (or similar, like "array_rand").

=== Other methods ===

Mysql "RAND()" function has not enough randomness to be a valid method to get a random element on BGA. This function has been used in some existing games and has given acceptable results, but now it should be avoided and you should use other methods instead.

== Game statistics ==

There are 2 types of statistics:
* a "player" statistic is a statistic associated to a player
* a "table" statistic is a statistic not associated to a player (global statistic for this game).

See [[Game statistics: stats.inc.php]] to see how you define statistics for your game.

'''initStat( $table_or_player, $name, $value, $player_id = null )'''

Create a statistic entry with a default value.

This method must be called for each statistic of your game, in your setupNewGame method.
If you neglect to call this for a statistic, and also do not update the value during the course of a certain game using setStat or incStat, the value of the stat will be undefined rather than 0. This will result in it being ignored at the end of the game, as if it didn't apply to that particular game, and excluded from cumulative statistics. As a consequence - if do not want statistic to be applied, do not init it, or call set or inc on it.

'$table_or_player' must be set to "table" if this is a table statistic, or "player" if this is a player statistic.

'$name' is the name of your statistic, as it has been defined in your stats.inc.php file.

'$value' is the initial value of the statistic. If this is a player statistic and if the player is not specified by "$player_id" argument, the value is set for ALL players.

'''setStat( $value, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Set a statistic $name to $value.

If "$player_id" is not specified, setStat consider it is a TABLE statistic.

If "$player_id" is specified, setStat consider it is a PLAYER statistic.

'''incStat( $delta, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Increment (or decrement) specified statistic value by $delta value. Same behavior as setStat function.

'''getStat( $name, $player_id = null )'''

Return the value of statistic specified by $name. Useful when creating derivative statistics such as average.

== Translations ==

See [[Translations]]

== Manage player scores and Tie breaker ==

=== Normal scoring ===

At the end of the game, players automatically get a rank depending on their score: the player with the biggest score is #1, the player with the second biggest score is #2, and so on...

During the game, you update player's score directly by updating "player_score" field of "player" table in database.

Examples:
<pre>

// +2 points to active player
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=player_score+2 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

// Set score of active player to 5
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=5 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

</pre>

Note: don't forget to notify the client side in order the score control can be updated accordingly.

=== Tie breaker ===

Tie breaker is used when two players get the same score at the end of a game.

Tie breaker is using "player_score_aux" field of "player" table. It is updated exactly like the "player_score" field.

Tie breaker score is displayed only for players who are tied at the end of the game. Most of the time, it is not supposed to be displayed explicitly during the game.

When you are using "player_score_aux" functionality, you must describe the formula to use in your gameinfos.inc.php file like this:

<pre>
'tie_breaker_description' => totranslate("Describe here your tie breaker formula"),
</pre>

This description will be used as a tooltip to explain to players how this auxiliary score has been calculated.

See also [https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Game_meta-information:_gameinfos.inc.php#Multiple_tie_breaker_management Multiple Tie Breaker Management].

=== Co-operative game ===

To make everyone win/lose together in a full-coop game:

Add the following in gameinfos.inc.php :
'is_coop' => 1, // full cooperative

Assign a score of zero to everyone if it's a loss.
Assign the same score > 0 to everyone if it's a win.

=== Semi-coop ===

If the game is not full-coop, then everyone loses = everyone is tied. I.e. set score to 0 to everybody.

=== Only "winners" and "losers" ===

For some games, there is only a group (or a single) "winner", and everyone else is a "loser", with no "end of game rank" (1st, 2nd, 3rd...).

Examples:
* Coup
* Not Alone
* Werewolves
* Quantum

In this case:
* Set the scores so that the winner has the best score, and the other players have the same (lower) score.
* Add the following lines to gameinfos.inc.php:

<pre>
// If in the game, all losers are equal (no score to rank them or explicit in the rules that losers are not ranked between them), set this to true
// The game end result will display "Winner" for the 1st player and "Loser" for all other players
'losers_not_ranked' => true,
</pre>

Werewolves and Coup are implemented like this, as you can see here:
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=werewolves&section=lastresults
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=coupcitystate&section=lastresults

Adding this has the following effects:
* On game results for this game, "Winner" or "Loser" is going to appear instead of the usual "1st, 2nd, 3rd, ...".
* When a game is over, the result of the game will be "End of game: Victory" or "End of game: Defeat" depending on the result of the CURRENT player (instead of the usual "Victory of XXX").
* When calculating ELO points, if there is at least one "Loser", no "victorious" player can lose ELO points, and no "losing" player can win ELO point. Usually it may happened because being tie with many players with a low rank is considered as a tie and may cost you points. If losers_not_ranked is set, we prevent this behavior and make sure you only gain/loss ELO when you get the corresponding results.

Important: this SHOULD NOT be used for cooperative games (see is_coop parameter), or for 2 players games (it makes no sense in this case).

=== Solo ===

If game supports solo variant, a negative or zero score means defeat, a positive score means victory.

=== Player elimination ===

In some games, this is useful to eliminate a player from the game in order he/she can start another game without waiting for the current game end.

This case should be rare. Please don't use player elimination feature if some player just has to wait the last 10% of the game for game end. This feature should be used only in games where players are eliminated all along the game (typical examples: "Perudo" or "The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow").

Usage:

* Player to eliminate should NOT be active anymore (preferably use the feature in a "game" type game state).
* In your PHP code:
self::eliminatePlayer( <player_to_eliminate_id> );
* the player is informed in a dialog box that he no longer have to play and can start another game if he/she wants too (with buttons "stay at this table" "quit table and back to main site"). In any case, the player is free to start & join another table from now.
* When your game is over, all players who have been eliminated before receive a "notification" (the small "!" icon on the top right of the BGA interface) that indicate them that "the game has ended" and invite them to review the game results.

'''Important: this should not be used on a player who has already left the game ("zombie") as leaving/being kicked of the game (outside of the scope of the rules) is not the same as being eliminated from the game (according to the rules), except if in the course of the game, the zombie player is eliminated according to the rules.'''

=== Scoring Helper functions ===

These functions should have been API but they are not, just add them to your php game and use for every game.

// get score
function dbGetScore($player_id) {
return $this->getUniqueValueFromDB("SELECT player_score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set score
function dbSetScore($player_id, $count) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score='$count' WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set aux score (tie breaker)
function dbSetAuxScore($player_id, $score) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score_aux=$score WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// increment score (can be negative too)
function dbIncScore($player_id, $inc) {
$count = $this->dbGetScore($player_id);
if ($inc != 0) {
$count += $inc;
$this->dbSetScore($player_id, $count);
}
return $count;
}

== Reflexion time ==

; function giveExtraTime( $player_id, $specific_time=null )
: Give standard extra time to this player.
: Standard extra time depends on the speed of the game (small with "slow" game option, bigger with other options).
: You can also specify an exact time to add, in seconds, with the "specified_time" argument (rarely used).

; function isAsync()
: Returns true if game is turn based, false if it is realtime

== Undo moves ==

Please read our [[BGA Undo policy]] before.

'''Important''': Before using these methods, you must also add the following to your "gameinfos.inc.php" file, otherwise these methods are ineffective:
'db_undo_support' => true

Note: if you deploy undo support after game is in production this will take into effect for new games only, old games will give user an error if user choses Undo action, but otherwise it should not affect them.

; function undoSavepoint( )
: Save the whole game situation inside an "Undo save point".
: There is only ONE undo save point available (see [[BGA Undo policy]]). Cannot use in multiactivate state or in game state where next state is multiactive.
: Note: this function does not actually do anything when it is called, it only raises the flag to store the database AFTER transaction is over. So the actual state will be saved when you exit the function calling it (technically before first queued notification is sent, which matters if you transition to game state not to user state after), this may affect what you end up saving.

; function undoRestorePoint()
: Restore the situation previously saved as an "Undo save point".
: You must make sure that the active player is the same after and before the undoRestorePoint (ie: this is your responsibility to ensure that the player that is active when this method is called is exactly the same than the player that was active when the undoSavePoint method has been called).

function actionUndo() {
self::checkAction('actionUndo');
$this->undoRestorePoint();
$this->gamestate->nextState('next'); // transition to single player state (i.e. beginning of player actions for this turn)
}

'''Important note''': if you are reading game state variable right after restore (without changing state first) it won't work properly as the global table cache is not automatically refreshed after undoRestorePoint(). So you should either change state immediately to refresh game state values, or use $this->gamestate->reloadState() to refresh the state. If you choose to do the latest, be aware that this will bring the state machine back to the state during which the save point snapshot has been taken using undoSavepoint() (which means your transition you do after has to declared in the state which was saved, not in the state which was active for your actionUndo())

== Managing errors and exceptions ==

Note: when you throw an exception, all database changes and all notifications are cancelled immediately. This way, the game situation that existed before the request is completely restored.

; throw new BgaUserException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a user error
: You must throw this exception when a player wants to do something that they are not allowed to do.
: The error message will be shown to the player as a "red message".
: The error message must be translated, make sure you use self::_() or $this->_() here and NOT clientranslate()
: Throwing such an exception is NOT considered a bug, so it is not traced in BGA error logs.

Example from Gomoku:
<pre>
throw new BgaUserException( self::_("There is already a stone on this intersection, you can't play there") );
</pre>

; throw new BgaVisibleSystemException ( $error_message)
: You must throw this exception when you detect something that is not supposed to happened in your code.
: The error message is shown to the user as an "Unexpected error", in order that he can report it in the forum.
: The error message is logged in BGA error logs. If it happens regularly, we will report it to you.

; throw new BgaSystemException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a system exception. The message will be hidden from the user, but show in the logs. Use this if the message contains technical information.
: You shouldn't use this type of exception except if you think the information shown could be critical. Indeed: a generic error message will be shown to the user, so it's going to be difficult for you to see what happened.

== Zombie mode ==

When a player leaves a game for any reason (expelled, quit), he becomes a "zombie player". In this case, the results of the game won't count for statistics, but this is cool if the other players can finish the game anyway. That's why zombie mode exists: allow the other player to finish the game, even if the situation is not ideal.

While developing your zombie mode, keep in mind that:
* Do not refer to the rules, because this situation is not planned by the rules.
* Try to figure that you are playing with your friends and one of them has to leave: how can we finish the game without killing the spirit of the game?
* The idea is NOT to develop an artificial intelligence for the game.
* Do not try to end the game early, even in a two-player game. The zombie is there to allow the game to continue, not to end it. Trying to end the game is not supported by the framework and will likely cause unexpected errors.

Most of the time, the best thing to do when it is zombie player turn is to jump immediately to a state where he is not active anymore. For example, if he is in a game state where he has a choice between playing A and playing B, the best thing to do is NOT to choose A or B, but to pass. So, even if there's no "pass" action in the rules, add a "zombiepass" transitition in your game state and use it.

Each time a zombie player must play, your "zombieTurn" method is called.

Parameters:
* $state: the name of the current game state.
* $active_player: the id of the active player.

Most of the time, your zombieTurn method looks like this:

<pre>
function zombieTurn( $state, $active_player )
{
$statename = $state['name'];

if( $statename == 'myFirstGameState'
|| $statename == 'my2ndGameState'
|| $statename == 'my3rdGameState'
....
)
{
$this->gamestate->nextState( "zombiePass" );
}
else
throw new BgaVisibleSystemException( "Zombie mode not supported at this game state: ".$statename );
}
</pre>

Note that in the example above, all corresponding game state should implement "zombiePass" as a transition.

'''Very important''': your zombie code will be called when the player leaves the game. This action is triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to this action. In your zombieTurn function, you must '''never''' use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message.

== Player color preferences ==

BGA players (Club members) may now choose their preferred color for playing. For example, if they are used to play green for every board game, they can select "green" in their BGA preferences page.

Making your game compatible with colors preferences is very easy and requires only 1 line of configuration change:

On your gameinfos.inc.php file, add the following lines :

// Favorite colors support: if set to "true", support attribution of favorite colors based on player's preferences (see reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method)
// NB: this parameter is used only to flag games supporting this feature; you must use (or not use) reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method to actually enable or disable the feature.
'favorite_colors_support' => true,

Then, on your main <your_game>.game.php file check the code of "setupNewGame". New template already have correct code, but if you editing very old game and it may be absent.

$gameinfos = $this->getGameinfos();
...
if ($gameinfos['favorite_colors_support'])
$this->reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences($players, $gameinfos['player_colors']); // this should be above reloadPlayersBasicInfos()
self::reloadPlayersBasicInfos();

The "reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences" method reattributes all colors, taking into account players color preferences and available colors.

Note that you must update the colors to indicate the colors available for your game.

Some important remarks:
* for some games (i.e. Chess), the color has an influence on a mechanism of the game, most of the time by giving a special advantage to a player (i.e. Starting the game). Color preference mechanism must NOT be used in such a case.
* your logic should NEVER consider that the first player has the color X, that the second player has the color Y, and so on. If this is the case, your game will NOT be compatible with reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences as this method attribute colors to players based on their preferences and not based as their order at the table.

Colours currently listed as a choice in preferences (Note - you don't have to pick these, the "closest" color will be found):

* #ff0000 Red
* #008000 Green
* #0000ff Blue
* #ffa500 Yellow
* #000000 Black
* #ffffff White
* #e94190 Pink
* #982fff Purple
* #72c3b1 Cyan
* #f07f16 Orange
* #bdd002 Khaki green
* #7b7b7b Gray

== Legacy games API ==

For some very specific games ("legacy", "campaign"), you need to keep some informations from a game to another.

This should be an exceptional situation: the legacy API is costing resources on Board Game Arena databases, and is slowing down the game setup process + game end of game process. Please do not use it for things like:
* keeping a player preference/settings (=> player preferences and game options should be used instead)
* keeping a statistics, a score, or a ranking, while it is not planned in the physical board game, or while there is no added value compared to BGA statistics / rankings.

You should use it for:
* legacy games: when some components of the game has been altered in a previous game and should be kept as it is.
* "campaign style" games: when a player is getting a "reward" at the end of a game, and should be able to use it in further games.

Important: you cannot store more than 64k of data (serialized as JSON) per player per game. If you go over 64k, storeLegacyData function is going to FAIL, and there is a risk to create a major bug (= players blocked) in your game. You MUST make sure that no more than 64k of data is used for each player for your game. For example, if you are implementing a "campaign style" game and if you allow a player to start multiple campaign, you must LIMIT the number of different campaign so that the total data size to not go over the limit. We strongly recommend you to use this:

try
{
$this->storeLegacyTeamData( 'my_variable', $my_data );
}
catch( feException $e ) // feException is a base class of BgaSystemException and others...
{
if( $e->getCode() == FEX_legacy_size_exceeded )
{
// Do something here to free some space in Legacy data (ex: by removing some variables)
}
else
throw $e;
}

The keys may only contain letters and numbers, underscore seems not to be allowed.

; function storeLegacyData( $player_id, $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Store some data associated with $key for the given user / current game
: In the opposite of all other game data, this data will PERSIST after the end of this table, and can be re-used
: in a future table with the same game.
: IMPORTANT: The only possible place where you can use this method is when the game is over at your table (last game action). Otherwise, there is a risk of conflicts between ongoing games.
: TTL is a time-to-live: the maximum, and default, is 365 days.
: In any way, the total data (= all keys) you can store for a given user+game is 64k (note: data is store serialized as JSON data)

; function retrieveLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Get data associated with $key for the current game
: This data is common to ALL tables from the same game for this player, and persist from one table to another.
: Note: calling this function has an important cost => please call it few times (possibly: only ONCE) for each player for 1 game if possible
: Note: you can use '%' in $key to retrieve all keys matching the given patterns

; function removeLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Remove some legacy data with the given key
: (useful to free some data to avoid going over 64k)

; function storeLegacyTeamData( $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Same as storeLegacyData, except that it stores some data for the whole team within the current table
: Ie: if players A, B and C are at a table, the legacy data will be saved for future table with (exactly) A, B and C on the table.
: This is useful for games which are intended to be played several time by the same team.
: Note: the data total size is still limited, so you must implement catch the FEX_legacy_size_exceeded exception if it happens

; function retrieveLegacyTeamData($key)
: Same as retrieveLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

; function removeLegacyTeamData()
: Same as removeLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

== Language dependent games API ==

This API is used for games that are heavily language dependent. Two most common use cases are:
* Games that have a language dependent component that are not necessarily translatable, typically a list of words. (Think of games like Codenames, Decrypto, Just One...)
* Games with massive communication where players would like to ensure that all participants speak the same language. (Think of games like Werewolf, The Resistance, maybe even dixit...)

If this option is used, the table created will be limited only to users that have specific language in their profile. Player starting the game would be able to chose one of the languages he speaks.

There is a new property language_dependency in gameinfos.inc.php which can be set like this:
'language_dependency' => false, //or if the property is missing, the game is not language dependent
'language_dependency' => true, //all players at the table must speak the same language
'language_dependency' => array( 1 => 'en', 2 => 'fr', 3 => 'it' ), //1-based list of supported languages

In the gamename.game.php file, you can get the id of selected language with the method '''getGameLanguage'''.
; function getGameLanguage()
: Returns an index of the selected language as defined in gameinfos.inc.php.

Languages currently available on BGA are:
'ar' => array( 'name' => "العربية", 'code' => 'ar_AE' ), // Arabic
'be' => array( 'name' => "беларуская мова", 'code' => 'be_BY' ), // Belarusian
'bn' => array( 'name' => "বাংলা", 'code' => 'bn_BD' ), // Bengali
'bg' => array( 'name' => "български език", 'code' => 'bg_BG' ), // Bulgarian
'ca' => array( 'name' => "català", 'code' => 'ca_ES' ), // Catalan
'cs' => array( 'name' => "čeština", 'code' => 'cs_CZ' ), // Czech
'da' => array( 'name' => "dansk", 'code' => 'da_DK' ), // Danish
'de' => array( 'name' => "deutsch", 'code' => 'de_DE' ), // German
'el' => array( 'name' => "Ελληνικά", 'code' => 'el_GR' ), // Greek
'en' => array( 'name' => "English", 'code' => 'en_US' ), // English
'es' => array( 'name' => "español", 'code' => 'es_ES' ), // Spanish
'et' => array( 'name' => "eesti keel", 'code' => 'et_EE' ), // Estonian
'fi' => array( 'name' => "suomi", 'code' => 'fi_FI' ), // Finnish
'fr' => array( 'name' => "français", 'code' => 'fr_FR' ), // French
'he' => array( 'name' => "עברית", 'code' => 'he_IL' ), // Hebrew
'hi' => array( 'name' => "हिन्दी", 'code' => 'hi_IN' ), // Hindi
'hr' => array( 'name' => "Hrvatski", 'code' => 'hr_HR' ), // Croatian
'hu' => array( 'name' => "magyar", 'code' => 'hu_HU' ), // Hungarian
'id' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Indonesia", 'code' => 'id_ID' ), // Indonesian
'ms' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Malaysia", 'code' => 'ms_MY' ), // Malaysian
'it' => array( 'name' => "italiano", 'code' => 'it_IT' ), // Italian
'ja' => array( 'name' => "日本語", 'code' => 'ja_JP' ), // Japanese
'jv' => array( 'name' => "Basa Jawa", 'code' => 'jv_JV' ), // Javanese
'ko' => array( 'name' => "한국어", 'code' => 'ko_KR' ), // Korean
'lt' => array( 'name' => "lietuvių", 'code' => 'lt_LT' ), // Lithuanian
'lv' => array( 'name' => "latviešu", 'code' => 'lv_LV' ), // Latvian
'nl' => array( 'name' => "nederlands", 'code' => 'nl_NL' ), // Dutch
'no' => array( 'name' => "norsk", 'code' => 'nb_NO' ), // Norwegian
'oc' => array( 'name' => "occitan", 'code' => 'oc_FR' ), // Occitan
'pl' => array( 'name' => "polski", 'code' => 'pl_PL' ), // Polish
'pt' => array( 'name' => "português", 'code' => 'pt_PT' ), // Portuguese
'ro' => array( 'name' => "română", 'code' => 'ro_RO' ), // Romanian
'ru' => array( 'name' => "Русский язык", 'code' => 'ru_RU' ), // Russian
'sk' => array( 'name' => "slovenčina", 'code' => 'sk_SK' ), // Slovak
'sl' => array( 'name' => "slovenščina", 'code' => 'sl_SI' ), // Slovenian
'sr' => array( 'name' => "Српски", 'code' => 'sr_RS' ), // Serbian
'sv' => array( 'name' => "svenska", 'code' => 'sv_SE' ), // Swedish
'tr' => array( 'name' => "Türkçe", 'code' => 'tr_TR' ), // Turkish
'uk' => array( 'name' => "Українська мова", 'code' => 'uk_UA' ), // Ukrainian
'zh' => array( 'name' => "中文 (漢)", 'code' => 'zh_TW' ), // Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan)
'zh-cn' => array( 'name' => "中文 (汉)", 'code' => 'zh_CN' ), // Simplified Chinese (Mainland China, Singapore)

== Debugging and Tracing ==

To debug php code you can use some tracing functions available from the parent class such as debug, trace, error, warn, dump.

self::debug("Ahh!");
self::dump('my_var',$my_var);

See [[Practical_debugging]] section for complete information about debugging interfaces and where to find logs.

Tutorial reversi

2022-04-08T20:10:41Z

Bennygui:

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

== Introduction ==

Using this tutorial, you can build a complete working game on the BGA environment: Reversi.

Before you read this tutorial, you must:
* Read the overall presentations of the BGA Framework ([[Studio|see here]]).
* Know the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversi#Rules rules of Reversi].
* Know the languages used on BGA: PHP, SQL, HTML, CSS, Javascript
* Setup your development environment [http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/First_steps_with_BGA_Studio First Steps with BGA Studio]

== Create your first game ==

With the initial skeleton of code provided initially, you can already start a game from the BGA Studio. For now, we are going to work with one player only. Most of the time it is simpler to proceed with only one player during the early phase of development of your game, as it's easy and fast to start/stop games.

(If you choose to start with 2 players, you should see two names on the right: testdude0 and testdude1. To switch between them, press the red arrow button near their names; it will open another tab. This way you don't need to login and logout from multiple accounts.)

Reminder: Always use the "Express Start" button to start the game.

Thus, you can start a "Reversi" game, and arrive on a void, empty game. Yeah.

== Let it look like Reversi ==

It's always a good idea to start with a little bit of graphic work. Why? Because this helps to figure out how the final game will be, and issues that may appear later.

Be careful designing the layout of your game: you must always keep in mind that players with a 1024px screen width must be able to play. Usually, it means that the width of the play area can be 750px (in the worst case).

For Reversi, it's useless to have a 750x750px board - much too big, so we choose this one which fit perfectly (536x528):

[[File:Board.jpg]]

Note that we are using a jpg file. Jpg are lighter than png, so faster to load. Later we are going to use PNGs for discs for transparency purpose.

Now, let's make it appear in our game:
* upload board.jpg in your "img/" directory.
* edit "reversi_reversi.tpl" to add a 'div' for your board.

Note: If you are building this game by following the tutorial, you will have a different project name than 'reversi'. The file names in your project will be different than shown in this tutorial, replacing 'reversi' with your project name. It should be trivial to find the right file in your project, but be sure that any code (other than comments) that references 'reversi' is changed to your actual project name.

<pre>
<div id="board">
</div>
</pre>

* edit your reversi.css file to transform it into a visible board:

#board {
width: 536px;
height: 528px;
background-image: url('img/board.jpg');
}

Refresh your page. Here's your board:

[[File:reversi1.jpg]]

If the board does not appear, check the image filename. Remember file names are case sensitive!

== Make the squares appear ==

Now, we need to create some invisible HTML elements where squares are. These elements will be used as position references for white and black discs.
We need 64 squares. To avoid writing 64 'div' elements on our template, we are going to use the "block" feature.

Let's modify our template like this:

<pre>
<div id="board">

<div id="square_{X}_{Y}" class="square" style="left: {LEFT}px; top: {TOP}px;"></div>

</div>
</pre>

As you can see, we created a "square" block, with 4 variable elements: X, Y, LEFT and TOP. We are going to use this block 64 times during page load.

Let's do it in our "reversi.view.php" file, inside the build_page function:

<pre>
$this->page->begin_block( "reversi_reversi", "square" );

$hor_scale = 64.8;
$ver_scale = 64.4;
for( $x=1; $x<=8; $x++ )
{
for( $y=1; $y<=8; $y++ )
{
$this->page->insert_block( "square", array(
'X' => $x,
'Y' => $y,
'LEFT' => round( ($x-1)*$hor_scale+10 ),
'TOP' => round( ($y-1)*$ver_scale+7 )
) );
}
}
</pre>

Note: as you can see, squares in our "board.jpg" files do not have an exact width/height in pixels, and that's the reason we are using floating point numbers here.

Now, to finish our work and check if everything works fine, we are going to style our square a little bit in our CSS stylesheet:

<pre>
#board {
width: 536px;
height: 528px;
background-image: url('img/board.jpg');
position: relative;
}

.square {
width: 62px;
height: 62px;
position: absolute;
background-color: red;
}
</pre>

Explanations:
* With "position: relative" on board, we ensure square elements are positioned relatively to board.
* For the test, we use a red background color for the square. This is a useful tip to figure out if everything is fine with invisible elements.

Let's refresh and check our our (beautiful) squares:

[[File:reversi2.jpg]]

If the red squares do not appear, check your css file (Chrome DevTools: Application > Frames > top > Stylesheets > reversi.css). If your changes are not there try clearing your cache!

Hint: Now that we know our squares are set up correctly, we can hide the red background. You can remove the "background-color: red;" line from your .square class in the CSS stylesheet.

== The discs ==

Now, our board is ready to receive some disc tokens!

[Note: Throughout this tutorial, sometimes "tokens" is used, and sometimes "discs" is used. They are often swapped if you're looking at code in the reversi example project.]

At first, we introduce a new 'div' element as a child of "board" to host all these tokens (in our template):

<pre>


<div id="tokens">
</div>
</div>
</pre>

Then, let's introduce a new piece of art with the discs. We need some transparency here so we are using a png file:

[[File:tokens.png]]

Upload this image file "tokens.png" in your "img/" directory.

Important: we are using ONE file for both discs. It's really important that you use a minimum number of graphic files for your game with this "CSS sprite" technique, because it makes the game loading faster and more reliable. [http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_image_sprites.asp Read more about CSS sprites].

Now, let's separate the disc with some CSS stuff:

<pre>
.token {
width: 56px;
height: 56px;
position: absolute;
background-image: url('img/tokens.png');
}
.tokencolor_ffffff { background-position: 0px 0px; }
.tokencolor_000000 { background-position: -56px 0px; }
</pre>

With this CSS code, we apply the classes "token" and "tokencolor_ffffff" to a div element and we've got a white token. Yeah.

Note the "position: absolute" which allows us to position tokens on the board and make them "slide" to their positions.

Now, let's make a first token appear on our board. Disc tokens are not visible at the beginning of the game: they appear dynamically during the game. For this reason, we are going to make them appear from our Javascript code, with a BGA Framework technique called "JS template".

In our template file (reversi_reversi.tpl), let's create the piece of HTML needed to display our token:

<pre>
<script type="text/javascript">

// Templates

var jstpl_token='<div class="token tokencolor_${color}" id="token_${x_y}"></div>';

</script>
</pre>

Note: we already created the "templates" section for you in the game skeleton.

As you can see, we defined a JS template named "jstpl_token" with a piece of HTML and two variables: the color of the token and its x/y coordinates. Note that the syntax of the argument is different for template block variables (braces <code>{}</code>) and JS template variables (dollar and braces <code>${}</code>).

Now, let's create a method in our Javascript code (in the "reversi.js" file) that will make a token appear on the board, using this template. Add under the section //// Utility methods:

<pre>
addTokenOnBoard: function( x, y, player )
{
dojo.place( this.format_block( 'jstpl_token', {
x_y: x+'_'+y,
color: this.gamedatas.players[ player ].color
} ) , 'tokens' );

this.placeOnObject( 'token_'+x+'_'+y, 'overall_player_board_'+player );
this.slideToObject( 'token_'+x+'_'+y, 'square_'+x+'_'+y ).play();
},
</pre>

At first, with "dojo.place" and "this.format_block" methods, we create a HTML piece of code and insert it as a new child of "tokens" div element.

Then, with BGA "this.placeOnObject" method, we place this element over the panel of some player. Immediately after, using BGA "this.slideToObject" method, we make the disc slide to the "square" element, its final destination.

"'overall_player_board_'+player" refers to the div element that contains each player's information and avatar. By initially placing the token here, it gives the effect that the player's avatar is throwing the token onto the board.

Note: don't forget to call the "play()", otherwise the token remains at its original location.

Note: note that during all the process, the parent of the new disc HTML element will remain "tokens". placeOnObject and slideToObject methods are only moving the position of elements on screen, and they are not modifying the HTML tree.

Before we can show a token, we need to set the player colors in the setupNewGame function in reversi.game.php:
<pre>
$default_colors = array( "ffffff", "000000" );
</pre>

Note: Probably you'll have to remove the line "self::reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences( $players, $gameinfos['player_colors'] );".

Now, to test if everything works fine, just add "this.addTokenOnBoard( 2, 2, [player_id] )" in the "setup" Javascript method in reversi.js, and restart the game.

A token should appear and slide immediately to its position, like this:

[[File:reversi3.jpg]]

== The database ==

We did most of the client-side programming, so let's have a look on the other side now.

To design the database model of our game, the best thing to do is to follow the "Go to game database" link at the bottom of our game, to access the database directly with a [http://www.phpmyadmin.net/ PhpMyAdmin] instance. Your PhpMyAdmin username/password is in your welcome email (and currently the same as the SFTP username/password).

Then, you can create the tables you need for your game (do not remove existing tables!), and report every SQL command used in your "dbmodel.sql" file. How do you generate SQL to create table after creating the table in the UI? See [https://www.itsupportguides.com/knowledge-base/tech-tips-tricks/how-to-generate-sql-create-table-script-using-phpmyadmin/ here]. Add 'IF NOT EXISTS' to the CREATE TABLE sql (see example below).

[[File:reversi4.jpg]]

The database model of Reversi is very simple: just one table with the squares of the board.

<pre>
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `board` (
`board_x` smallint(5) unsigned NOT NULL,
`board_y` smallint(5) unsigned NOT NULL,
`board_player` int(10) unsigned DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`board_x`,`board_y`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB;
</pre>

Add the above SQL to dbmodel.sql. Now, a new database with a "board" table will be created each time we start a Reversi game. This is why after modifying our dbmodel.sql it's a good time to stop & start again our game.

== Setup the initial game position ==

The "setupNewGame" method of our reversi.game.php is called during initial setup: this is the place to initialize our data and to place the initial tokens on the board (initially, there are 4 tokens on the board).

Let's do this:

<pre>
// Init the board
$sql = "INSERT INTO board (board_x,board_y,board_player) VALUES ";
$sql_values = array();
list( $blackplayer_id, $whiteplayer_id ) = array_keys( $players );
for( $x=1; $x<=8; $x++ )
{
for( $y=1; $y<=8; $y++ )
{
$token_value = "NULL";
if( ($x==4 && $y==4) || ($x==5 && $y==5) ) // Initial positions of white player
$token_value = "'$whiteplayer_id'";
else if( ($x==4 && $y==5) || ($x==5 && $y==4) ) // Initial positions of black player
$token_value = "'$blackplayer_id'";

$sql_values[] = "('$x','$y',$token_value)";
}
}
$sql .= implode( ',', $sql_values );
self::DbQuery( $sql );

// Active first player
self::activeNextPlayer();
</pre>

We create one table entry for each square, with a "NULL" value which means "empty square". For 4 specific squares, we place an initial token.

At the end, we call activeNextPlayer to make the first player active at the beginning of the game.

You need to remove the call to self::reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences() in SetupNewGame() so that any player color preferences do not override the two colors supported here.

Now, we need to make these tokens appear on the client side. The first step is to return the token positions with our "getAllDatas" PHP method (called during each page reload):

<pre>
// Get reversi board token
$result['board'] = self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT board_x x, board_y y, board_player player
FROM board
WHERE board_player IS NOT NULL" );
</pre>

We are using the BGA framework "getObjectListFromDB" method that formats the result of this SQL query in a PHP array with x, y and player attributes.

Last, we process this array client side, and place a disc token on the board for each array item. We do this using our Javascript "setup" method:

<pre>
for( var i in gamedatas.board )
{
var square = gamedatas.board[i];

if( square.player !== null )
{
this.addTokenOnBoard( square.x, square.y, square.player );
}
}
</pre>

Our "board" entry created in "getAllDatas" can be used here as "gamedatas.board" in our Javascript. We are using our previously developed "addTokenOnBoard" method.

Reload... and here we are:

[[File:reversi5.jpg]]

It starts to smell Reversi here...

== The game state machine ==

Now, let's stop our game again, because we are going to start the core game logic.

You already read [http://www.slideshare.net/boardgamearena/bga-studio-focus-on-bga-game-state-machine Focus on BGA game state machine], so you know that this is the heart of your game logic. For reversi, it's very simple. Here's a diagram of our game state machine:

[[File:reversi6.jpg]]

And here's our "states.inc.php", according to this diagram:

<pre>
$machinestates = array(

1 => array(
"name" => "gameSetup",
"description" => clienttranslate("Game setup"),
"type" => "manager",
"action" => "stGameSetup",
"transitions" => array( "" => 10 )
),

10 => array(
"name" => "playerTurn",
"description" => clienttranslate('${actplayer} must play a disc'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must play a disc'),
"type" => "activeplayer",
"args" => "argPlayerTurn",
"possibleactions" => array( 'playDisc' ),
"transitions" => array( "playDisc" => 11, "zombiePass" => 11 )
),

11 => array(
"name" => "nextPlayer",
"type" => "game",
"action" => "stNextPlayer",
"updateGameProgression" => true,
"transitions" => array( "nextTurn" => 10, "cantPlay" => 11, "endGame" => 99 )
),

99 => array(
"name" => "gameEnd",
"description" => clienttranslate("End of game"),
"type" => "manager",
"action" => "stGameEnd",
"args" => "argGameEnd"
)

);
</pre>

Now, let's create in reversi.game.php the methods that are declared in this game states description file:
* argPlayerTurn
* stNextPlayer

... and start a new Reversi game.

As you can see on the screen capture below, the BGA framework makes the game jump to our first game state "playerTurn" right after the initial setup. That's why the status bar contains the description of playerTurn state ("XXXX must play a disc"):

[[File:reversi7.jpg]]

== The rules ==

We will use the "getPossibleMoves" PHP method to:
* Indicate to the current player where she is allowed to play by returning a list of coordinates
* Check if the player has the right to play in the spot they choose

This is pure PHP programming here, and there are no special things from the BGA framework that can be used. This is why we won't go into details here. The overall idea is:
* Create a "getTurnedOverDiscs(x,y)" method that returns coordinates of discs that would be turned over if a token would be played at x,y.
* Loop through all free squares of the board and call the "getTurnedOverDiscs" method on each of them. If at least 1 token is turned over, this is a valid move.

IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that making a database query is slow, so please don't load the entire game board with a SQL query multiple times. In our implementation, we load the entire board once at the beginning of "getPossibleMoves", and then pass the board as an argument to all methods.

If you want to look into details, please look at the "utility method" sections of reversi.game.php. If building the tutorial yourself, copy the functions under "Utility functions" comment from the Reversi tutorial.

== Display allowed moves ==

Now we want to highlight the squares where the player can place a disc.

To do this, we add a "argPlayerTurn" method in reversi.game.php. This method is called on the server each time we enter into "playerTurn" game state, and its result is transferred automatically to the client-side:

<pre>
function argPlayerTurn()
{
return array(
'possibleMoves' => self::getPossibleMoves( self::getActivePlayerId() )
);
}
</pre>

We use the "getPossibleMoves" method we just developed.

Each time we enter into a new game state, we use the "onEnteringState" Javascript method (in the reversi.js file, under "Game & client states"). This lets us use the data returned by the method above on the client side.

<pre>
onEnteringState: function( stateName, args )
{
console.log( 'Entering state: '+stateName );

switch( stateName )
{
case 'playerTurn':
this.updatePossibleMoves( args.args.possibleMoves );
break;
}
},
</pre>

So, when we enter into "playerTurn" game state, we call our "updatePossibleMoves" method (under the "Utility functions" section). This method looks like this:

<pre>
updatePossibleMoves: function( possibleMoves )
{
// Remove current possible moves
dojo.query( '.possibleMove' ).removeClass( 'possibleMove' );

for( var x in possibleMoves )
{
for( var y in possibleMoves[ x ] )
{
// x,y is a possible move
dojo.addClass( 'square_'+x+'_'+y, 'possibleMove' );
}
}

this.addTooltipToClass( 'possibleMove', '', _('Place a disc here') );
},
</pre>
Here's what this does. At first, it removes all "possibleMove" classes currently applied with the very useful combination of "dojo.query" and "removeClass" method.

Then it loops through all possible moves our PHP "updatePossibleMoves" function created for us, and adds the "possibleMove" class to each corresponding square.

Finally, it uses the BGA framework "addTooltipToClass" method to associate a tooltip to all those highlighted squares so that players can understand their meaning.

To see the possible moves we need to create a CSS class ("possibleMove") that can be applied to a "square" element to highlight it:
<pre>
.possibleMove {
background-color: white;
opacity: 0.2;
filter:alpha(opacity=20); /* For IE8 and earlier */
cursor: pointer;
}
</pre>

And here we are:

[[File:reversi8.jpg.jpg]]

== Let's play ==

From now, it's better to restart a game with 2 players, because we are going to implement a complete Reversi turn. The summary of what we are going to do is:
* When we click on a "possibleMove" square, send the move to the server.
* Server side, check the move is correct, apply Reversi rules and jump to next player.
* Client side, change the disc position to reflect the move.

First we associate each click on a square to one of our methods using our Javascript "setup" method:

<pre>
dojo.query( '.square' ).connect( 'onclick', this, 'onPlayDisc' );
</pre>

Note the use of the "dojo.query" method to get all HTML elements with "square" class in just one function call. Now, our "onPlayDisc" method is called each time someone clicks on a square.

Here's our "onPlayDisc" method below:

<pre>
onPlayDisc: function( evt )
{
// Stop this event propagation
dojo.stopEvent( evt );

// Get the clicked square x and y
// Note: square id format is "square_X_Y"
var coords = evt.currentTarget.id.split('_');
var x = coords[1];
var y = coords[2];

if( ! dojo.hasClass( 'square_'+x+'_'+y, 'possibleMove' ) )
{
// This is not a possible move => the click does nothing
return ;
}

if( this.checkAction( 'playDisc' ) ) // Check that this action is possible at this moment
{
this.ajaxcall( "/reversi/reversi/playDisc.html", {
x:x,
y:y
}, this, function( result ) {} );
}
},
</pre>

What we do here is:
* We stop the propagation of the Javascript "onclick" event. Otherwise, it can lead to random behavior so it's always a good idea.
* We get the x/y coordinates of the square by using "evt.currentTarget.id".
* We check that clicked square has the "possibleMove" class, otherwise we know for sure that we can't play there.
* We check that "playDisc" action is possible, according to current game state (see "possibleactions" entry in our "playerTurn" game state defined above). This check is important to avoid issues if a player double clicks on a square.
* Finally, we make a call to the server using BGA "ajaxcall" method with argument x and y. Be sure to update the first parameter to match your game if building the tutorial yourself. E.g. "/yourgamename/yourgamename/playDisc.html"

Now, we have to manage this "playDisc" action on the server side. At first, we introduce a "playDisc" entry point in our "reversi.action.php":

<pre>
public function playDisc()
{
self::setAjaxMode();
$x = self::getArg( "x", AT_posint, true );
$y = self::getArg( "y", AT_posint, true );
$result = $this->game->playDisc( $x, $y );
self::ajaxResponse( );
}
</pre>

As you can see, we get the 2 arguments x and y from the javascript call, and call a corresponding "playDisc" method in our game logic (reversi.game.php).

Now, let's have a look of this playDisc method:

<pre>
function playDisc( $x, $y )
{
// Check that this player is active and that this action is possible at this moment
self::checkAction( 'playDisc' );
</pre>

... at first, we check that this action is possible according to current game state (see "possible action"). We already did it on client side, but it's important to do it on server side too (otherwise it would be possible to cheat).

<pre>
// Now, check if this is a possible move
$board = self::getBoard();
$player_id = self::getActivePlayerId();
$turnedOverDiscs = self::getTurnedOverDiscs( $x, $y, $player_id, $board );

if( count( $turnedOverDiscs ) > 0 )
{
// This move is possible!
</pre>

...now, we are using the "getTurnedOverDiscs" method again to check that this move is possible.

<pre>
// Let's place a disc at x,y and return all "$returned" discs to the active player

$sql = "UPDATE board SET board_player='$player_id'
WHERE ( board_x, board_y) IN ( ";

foreach( $turnedOverDiscs as $turnedOver )
{
$sql .= "('".$turnedOver['x']."','".$turnedOver['y']."'),";
}
$sql .= "('$x','$y') ) ";

self::DbQuery( $sql );

</pre>

... we update the database to change the color of all turned over disc + the disc we just placed.

<pre>
// Update scores according to the number of disc on board
$sql = "UPDATE player
SET player_score = (
SELECT COUNT( board_x ) FROM board WHERE board_player=player_id
)";
self::DbQuery( $sql );

// Statistics
self::incStat( count( $turnedOverDiscs ), "turnedOver", $player_id );
if( ($x==1 && $y==1) || ($x==8 && $y==1) || ($x==1 && $y==8) || ($x==8 && $y==8) )
self::incStat( 1, 'discPlayedOnCorner', $player_id );
else if( $x==1 || $x==8 || $y==1 || $y==8 )
self::incStat( 1, 'discPlayedOnBorder', $player_id );
else if( $x>=3 && $x<=6 && $y>=3 && $y<=6 )
self::incStat( 1, 'discPlayedOnCenter', $player_id );

</pre>

... now, we update both player score by counting all disc, and we manage game statistics.

<pre>
// Notify
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ), array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y
) );

self::notifyAllPlayers( "turnOverDiscs", '', array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'turnedOver' => $turnedOverDiscs
) );

$newScores = self::getCollectionFromDb( "SELECT player_id, player_score FROM player", true );
self::notifyAllPlayers( "newScores", "", array(
"scores" => $newScores
) );
</pre>

... then we notify about all these changes. We are using for that 3 notifications ('playDisc', 'turnOverDiscs' and 'newScores' that we are going to implement on client side later). Note that the description of the 'playDisc' notification will be logged in the game log.

<pre>
// Then, go to the next state
$this->gamestate->nextState( 'playDisc' );
}
else
throw new BgaSystemException( "Impossible move" );
}
</pre>

... finally, we jump to the next game state if everything goes fine ('playDisc' is the name of a transition in the 'playerTurn' game state description above which leads to state 11 which is 'nextPlayer').

To make the statistics work, we have to initialize them in stats.inc.php:

<pre>
// Statistics existing for each player
"player" => array(

"discPlayedOnCorner" => array( "id"=> 10,
"name" => totranslate("Discs played on a corner"),
"type" => "int" ),

"discPlayedOnBorder" => array( "id"=> 11,
"name" => totranslate("Discs played on a border"),
"type" => "int" ),

"discPlayedOnCenter" => array( "id"=> 12,
"name" => totranslate("Discs played on board center part"),
"type" => "int" ),

"turnedOver" => array( "id"=> 13,
"name" => totranslate("Number of discs turned over"),
"type" => "int" )
)
</pre>

A last thing to do on the server side is to activate the next player when we enter the "nextPlayer" game state (in the "reversi.game.php" file, under "Game state reactions"):

<pre>
function stNextPlayer()
{
// Active next player
$player_id = self::activeNextPlayer();

// Check if both player has at least 1 discs, and if there are free squares to play
$player_to_discs = self::getCollectionFromDb( "SELECT board_player, COUNT( board_x )
FROM board
GROUP BY board_player", true );

if( ! isset( $player_to_discs[ null ] ) )
{
// Index 0 has not been set => there's no more free place on the board !
// => end of the game
$this->gamestate->nextState( 'endGame' );
return ;
}
else if( ! isset( $player_to_discs[ $player_id ] ) )
{
// Active player has no more disc on the board => he looses immediately
$this->gamestate->nextState( 'endGame' );
return ;
}

// Can this player play?

$possibleMoves = self::getPossibleMoves( $player_id );
if( count( $possibleMoves ) == 0 )
{

// This player can't play
// Can his opponent play ?
$opponent_id = self::getUniqueValueFromDb( "SELECT player_id FROM player WHERE player_id!='$player_id' " );
if( count( self::getPossibleMoves( $opponent_id ) ) == 0 )
{
// Nobody can move => end of the game
$this->gamestate->nextState( 'endGame' );
}
else
{
// => pass his turn
$this->gamestate->nextState( 'cantPlay' );
}
}
else
{
// This player can play. Give him some extra time
self::giveExtraTime( $player_id );
$this->gamestate->nextState( 'nextTurn' );
}

}
</pre>

Now, when we play a disc, the rules are checked and the disc appears in the database.

[[File:reversi9.jpg]]

Of course, as we don't manage notifications on client side, we need to press F5 after each move to see the changes on the board.

== Make the move appear automatically ==

Now, what we have to do is process the notifications sent by the server and make the move appear on the interface.

In our "setupNotifications" method, we register 2 methods for the 2 notifications we created at the previous step ('playDisc' and 'turnOverDiscs'):

<pre>
dojo.subscribe( 'playDisc', this, "notif_playDisc" );
this.notifqueue.setSynchronous( 'playDisc', 500 );
dojo.subscribe( 'turnOverDiscs', this, "notif_turnOverDiscs" );
this.notifqueue.setSynchronous( 'turnOverDiscs', 1500 );
dojo.subscribe( 'newScores', this, "notif_newScores" );
this.notifqueue.setSynchronous( 'newScores', 500 );
</pre>

As you can see, we associate each of our 3 notifications with a method prefixed with "notif_". We also define these notifications as "synchronous", with a duration in millisecond. It tells the user interface to wait some time after executing the notification, to let the animation end before starting the next notification. In our specific case, the animation will be the following:
* Make a disc slide from the player panel to its place on the board
* (wait 500ms)
* Make all turned over discs blink (and of course turned them over)
* (wait 1500ms)
* Update the player scores
* (wait 500ms)

The 2nd parameter in dojo.subscribe call (this) is the 'context', and will be passed in as a parameter to the specified method.

Let's have a look now on the "playDisc" notification handler method:

<pre>
notif_playDisc: function( notif )
{
// Remove current possible moves (makes the board more clear)
dojo.query( '.possibleMove' ).removeClass( 'possibleMove' );

this.addTokenOnBoard( notif.args.x, notif.args.y, notif.args.player_id );
},
</pre>

No surprise here, we re-used some existing stuff to:
* Remove the highlighted squares.
* Add a new disc on board, coming from player panel.

Now, here's the method that handles the turnOverDiscs notification:

<pre>
notif_turnOverDiscs: function( notif )
{
// Get the color of the player who is returning the discs
var targetColor = this.gamedatas.players[ notif.args.player_id ].color;

// Make these discs blink and set them to the specified color
for( var i in notif.args.turnedOver )
{
var token = notif.args.turnedOver[ i ];

// Make the token blink 2 times
var anim = dojo.fx.chain( [
dojo.fadeOut( { node: 'token_'+token.x+'_'+token.y } ),
dojo.fadeIn( { node: 'token_'+token.x+'_'+token.y } ),
dojo.fadeOut( {
node: 'token_'+token.x+'_'+token.y,
onEnd: function( node ) {

// Remove any color class
dojo.removeClass( node, [ 'tokencolor_000000', 'tokencolor_ffffff' ] );
// ... and add the good one
dojo.addClass( node, 'tokencolor_'+targetColor );

}
} ),
dojo.fadeIn( { node: 'token_'+token.x+'_'+token.y } )

] ); // end of dojo.fx.chain

// ... and launch the animation
anim.play();
}
},
</pre>

The list of the discs to be turned over has been made available by our server side code in "notif.args.turnedOver" (see previous paragraph). We loop through all these discs, and create a complex animation using dojo.Animation for each of them. The complete documentation on dojo animations [http://dojotoolkit.org/documentation/tutorials/1.6/animation/ can be found here].

In few words: we create a chain of 4 animations to make the disc fade out, fade in, fade out again, and fade in again. At the end of the second fade out, we change the color of the disc. Finally, we launch the animation with "play()".

And Also the notification to update the scores:

<pre>
notif_newScores: function( notif )
{
for( var player_id in notif.args.scores )
{
var newScore = notif.args.scores[ player_id ];
this.scoreCtrl[ player_id ].toValue( newScore );
}
},
</pre>

Players actions: yourgamename.action.php

2022-04-08T20:10:27Z

Bennygui:

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

== Purpose of this file ==

With this file, you define all the player entry points (i.e., possible game actions) for your game.

This file is a sort of "bridge" between the AJAX calls you perform from the Javascript client side, and your main PHP code in "yourgame.game.php".

The role of the methods defined in this file is to filter the arguments, format them a bit, and then call a corresponding PHP method from your main game logic ("yourgame.game.php" file).

Methods in this file should be short: no game logic must be introduced here.

== Example of typical action method ==

(from Reversi example)

<pre>
public function playDisc()
{
self::setAjaxMode();
$x = self::getArg( "x", AT_posint, true );
$y = self::getArg( "y", AT_posint, true );
$result = $this->game->playDisc( $x, $y );
self::ajaxResponse( );
}
</pre>

== Methods to use in action methods ==

'''function setAjaxMode()'''

Must be used at the beginning of each action method.

'''function ajaxResponse()'''

Must be used at the end of each action method.

'''function getArg( $argName, $argType, $mandatory=false, $default=NULL, $argTypeDetails=array(), $bCanFail=false )'''

This method must be used to retrieve the arguments sent with your AJAX query.

You must ''not'' use "_GET", "_POST" or equivalent PHP variables to do this, as it is unsafe.

This method uses the following arguments:

* argName: the name of the argument to retrieve.
* argType: the type of the argument. You should use one of the following:
'AT_int' for an integer
'AT_posint' for a positive integer
'AT_float' for a float
'AT_bool' for 1/0/true/false
'AT_enum' for an enumeration (argTypeDetails lists the possible values as an array)
'AT_alphanum' for a string with 0-9a-zA-Z_ and space
'AT_alphanum_dash' for a string with 0-9a-zA-Z_- and space
'AT_numberlist' for a list of numbers separated with "," or ";" (example: 1,4;2,3;-1,2)
'AT_base64' for a base64-encoded string (SECURITY WARNING*)
'AT_json' for a JSON stringified string (SECURITY WARNING**)

* mandatory: specify "true" if the argument is mandatory.
* default: if mandatory=false, you can specify here a default value in case the argument is not present.
* argTypeDetails: used with the 'AT_enum'. Validates that the value passed in is in this list.
* bCanFail: if true, specify that it may be possible that the argument won't be of the type specified by argType (and then do not log this as a fatal error in the system, and return a standard exception to the player).

'''SECURITY WARNING''': If using AT_base64 or AT_json, or other undocumented unchecked types you must perform validation on unpacked data, i.e. do not use any of it unchecked, i.e. pass to DB queries or return back in notifications.

Here is an example of a sanity check for JSON :
'''
public function actMyAction()
{
self::setAjaxMode();
$args = self::getArg('actionArgs', AT_json, true);
$this->validateJSonAlphaNum($args, 'actionArgs');
$this->game->actMyAction($args);
self::ajaxResponse();
}

public function validateJSonAlphaNum($value, $argName = 'unknown')
{
if (is_array($value)) {
foreach ($value as $key => $v) {
$this->validateJSonAlphaNum($key, $argName);
$this->validateJSonAlphaNum($v, $argName);
}
return true;
}
if (is_int($value)) {
return true;
}
$bValid = preg_match("/^[_0-9a-zA-Z- ]*$/", $value) === 1;
if (!$bValid) {
throw new BgaSystemException("Bad value for: $argName", true, true, FEX_bad_input_argument);
}
return true;
}
'''

'''AT_enum and argTypeDetails Example'''

Validates that the value of 'myarg' is either 'apple', 'orange', or 'banana'

$myarg = self::getArg( 'myarg', AT_enum, false, null, [ 'apple', 'orange', 'banana' ] ); // optional enum

'''function isArg( $argName )'''

This is a useful method when you only want to check if an argument is present or not present in your AJAX request (and don't care about the value).

It returns "true" or "false" according to whether "argName" has been specified as an argument of the AJAX request or not.

== Useful tip: retrieve a list of numbers ==

If your Javascript sends a list of integers separated by ";" (example: "1;2;3;4") as an argument, you can transform them into a PHP array with the following:

<pre>
public function playCards()
{
self::setAjaxMode();

$card_ids_raw = self::getArg( "card_ids", AT_numberlist, true );

// Removing last ';' if exists
if( substr( $card_ids_raw, -1 ) == ';' )
$card_ids_raw = substr( $card_ids_raw, 0, -1 );
if( $card_ids_raw == '' )
$card_ids = array();
else
$card_ids = explode( ';', $card_ids_raw );

$this->game->playCards( $card_ids );
self::ajaxResponse( );
}
</pre>

== Example pass array of Id's ==

If your Javascript sends a list of object denomated by alphanumerical tokenId, you can use AT_alphanum type and space as array separator:

<pre>
// sending 'card_ids' => "card_1 card_23 card_12"
public function playCards() {
self::setAjaxMode();

$card_ids_raw = self::getArg( "card_ids", AT_alphanum, true );
$card_ids_raw = trim($card_ids_raw);

if( $card_ids_raw == '' )
$card_ids = array();
else
$card_ids = explode( ' ', $card_ids_raw );

$this->game->playCards( $card_ids );
self::ajaxResponse( );
}
</pre>

== Retrieving data from ajax call ==

Note that this is not possible to return any result from a player action: it should return nothing (action went fine) or an exception (action unsuccessful).

The typical way to implement this is using games states with game state arguments. Eventually, use player notifications.

== Game action handler ==
This is note on what you should be doing and not doing ggg.game.php action handler vs action.php handler

action.php
* action handler in action.php should very simple and it should ONLY extract arguments from ajax call, pass them down to game handler
* it should not implement any game logic or check for validity beyong the syntax. I.e. DO NOT put checkAction this action.php

game.php
* call checkAction('myAction') first
* check arguments for game validity (i.e. player is not cheating), throw system exceptions if it is (usually this cases where JS side won't be sending it but you still have to check for it)
* perfom action and update database, can do more check if throw user exception if this is not valid move by the rules
* send notifications
* transition to new state

Main game logic: Game.php

2022-03-16T15:20:03Z

Bennygui: /* BGA predefined globals */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

This is the main file for your game logic. Here you initialize the game, persist data, implement the rules and notify the client interface of changes.

== File Structure ==

The details of how the file is structured are described directly with comments in the code skeleton provided to you.

Here is the basic structure:

* Constructor: where you define global variables.
* setupNewGame: initial setup of the game. Takes an array of players, indexed by player_id. Structure of each player includes player_name, player_canal, player_avatar, and flags indicating admin/ai/premium/order/language/beginner.
* getAllDatas: where you retrieve all game data during a complete reload of the game. Returned value must include ['players'][playerId]['score'] for scores to populate when F5 is pressed.
* getGameProgression: where you compute the game progression indicator. Returns a number indicating percent of progression (0-100)
* Utility functions: your utility functions.
* Player actions: the entry points for players actions ([https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Players_actions:_yourgamename.action.php more info here]).
* Game state arguments: methods to return additional data on specific game states ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#args more info here]).
* Game state actions: the logic to run when entering a new game state ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#action more info here]).
* zombieTurn: what to do it's the turn of a zombie player.
* upgradeTableDb: function to migrate database if you change it after release on production.

== Accessing player information ==

'''Important''': In the following methods, be mindful of the difference between the "active" player and the "current" player. The '''active''' player is the player whose turn it is - not necessarily the player who sent a request! The '''current''' player is the player who sent the request and will see the results returned by your methods: not necessarily the player whose turn it is!

; getPlayersNumber()
: Returns the number of players playing at the table
: Note: doesn't work in setupNewGame (use count($players) instead).

; getActivePlayerId()
: Get the "active_player", whatever what is the current state type.
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multiplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getActivePlayerName()
: Get the "active_player" name
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getPlayerNameById($player_id)
: Get the name by id

; getPlayerColorById($player_id)
: Get the color by id

; getPlayerNoById($player_id)
: Get 'player_no' (number) by id

; loadPlayersBasicInfos()
: Get an associative array with generic data about players (ie: not game specific data).
: The key of the associative array is the player id. The returned table is cached, so ok to call multiple times without performance concerns.
: <code>array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos())</code> will therefore returns an array containing players id
: The content of each value is:
: * player_name - the name of the player
: * player_color (ex: ff0000) - the color code of the player
: * player_no - the position of the player at the start of the game in natural table order, i.e. 1,2,3

<pre>
$players = $this->loadPlayersBasicInfos();
foreach ($players as $player_id => $info) {
$player_color = $info['player_color'];
...
}
</pre>
Note: if you want array of player ids only you can do this:
$player_ids = array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos());

; getCurrentPlayerId()
: Get the "current_player". The current player is the one from which the action originated (the one who sent the request).
: '''Be careful''': This is not necessarily the active player!
: In general, you shouldn't use this method, unless you are in "multiplayer" state.
: '''Very important''': in your setupNewGame and zombieTurn function, you must never use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message (these actions are triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to these actions).

; getCurrentPlayerName()
: Get the "current_player" name
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; getCurrentPlayerColor()
: Get the "current_player" color
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; isCurrentPlayerZombie()
: Check the "current_player" zombie status. If true, player is zombie, i.e. left or was kicked out of the game.

; isSpectator()
: Check the "current_player" spectator status. If true, the user accessing the game is a spectator (not part of the game). For this user, the interface should display all public information, and no private information (like a friend sitting at the same table as players and just spectating the game).

; getActivePlayerColor()
: This function does not seems to exist in API, if you need it here is implementation
function getActivePlayerColor() {
$player_id = self::getActivePlayerId();
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (isset($players[$player_id]))
return $players[$player_id]['player_color'];
else
return null;
}
; isPlayerZombie($player_id)
: This method does not exists, but if you need it it looks like this
protected function isPlayerZombie($player_id) {
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (! isset($players[$player_id]))
throw new feException("Player $player_id is not playing here");

return ($players[$player_id]['player_zombie'] == 1);
}

== Accessing the database ==

The main game logic should be the only point from which you should access the game database. You access your database using SQL queries with the methods below.

'''IMPORTANT'''

BGA uses [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/sql-syntax-transactions.html database transactions]. This means that your database changes WON'T BE APPLIED to the database until your request ends normally (web request, not database request). Using transactions is in fact very useful for you; at any time, if your game logic detects that something is wrong (example: a disallowed move), you just have to throw an exception and all changes to the game situation will be removed. This also means that you need not (and in fact cannot) use your own transactions for multiple related database operations.

However there are sets of database operation that initite implicit commit (most common mistake is to use "TRUNCATE"), you cannot use these operations during the game, it breaks the unrolling of transactions and will lead to nasty issues
(https://mariadb.com/kb/en/sql-statements-that-cause-an-implicit-commit).

; DbQuery( $sql )
: This is the generic method to access the database.
: It can execute any type of SELECT/UPDATE/DELETE/REPLACE/INSERT query on the database.
: For SELECT queries, the specialized methods below are much better.
: Do not use method for TUNCATE, DROP and other table altering operations. See disclamer above about implicit commits. If you really need TRUNCATE use DELETE FROM xxx instead.

; getUniqueValueFromDB( $sql )
: Returns a unique value from DB or null if no value is found.
: $sql must be a SELECT query.
: Raise an exception if more than 1 row is returned.

; getCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Returns an associative array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The key of the resulting associative array is the first field specified in the SELECT query.
: The value of the resulting associative array is an associative array with all the field specified in the SELECT query and associated values.
: First column must be a primary or alternate key (semantically, it does not actually have to declared in sql as such).
: The resulting collection can be empty (it won't be null).
: If you specified $bSingleValue=true and if your SQL query request 2 fields A and B, the method returns an associative array "A=>B", otherwise its A=>[A,B]
: Note: The name a bit misleading, it really return associative array, i.e. map and NOT a collection. You cannot use it to get list of values which may have duplicates (hence primary key requirement on first column). If you need simple array use getObjectListFromDB() method.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
1234 => array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
1235 => array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
1234 => 'myuser0',
1235 => 'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getNonEmptyCollectionFromDB( $sql )
: Same as getCollectionFromDB($sdl), but raise an exception if the collection is empty. Note: this function does NOT have 2nd argument as previous one does.

; getObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Returns one row for the sql SELECT query as an associative array or null if there is no result
: Raise an exception if the query return more than one row (you can use LIMIT 1 in the query to avoid the exception)

Example:
<pre>
self::getObjectFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'" );

Result:
array(
'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1
)
</pre>

; getNonEmptyObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Similar to previous one, but raise an exception if no row is found

; getObjectListFromDB( $sql, $bUniqueValue=false )
: Return an array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The result is the same than "getCollectionFromDB" except that the result is a simple array (and not an associative array).
: The result can be empty.
: If you specified $bUniqueValue=true and if your SQL query request 1 field, the method returns directly an array of values.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
'myuser0',
'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getDoubleKeyCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Return an associative array of associative array, from a SQL SELECT query.
: First array level correspond to first column specified in SQL query.
: Second array level correspond to second column specified in SQL query.
: If bSingleValue = true, keep only third column on result

; DbGetLastId()
: Return the PRIMARY key of the last inserted row (see PHP mysql_insert_id function).

; DbAffectedRow()
: Return the number of row affected by the last operation

; escapeStringForDB( $string )
: You must use this function on every string type data in your database that contains unsafe data.
: (unsafe = can be modified by a player).
: This method makes sure that no SQL injection will be done through the string used.
: Note: if you using standard types in ajax actions, like AT_alphanum it is sanitized before arrival,
: this is only needed if you manage to get unchecked string, like in the games where user has to enter text as a response.

<pre>

</pre>

Note: see Editing [[Game database model: dbmodel.sql]] to know how to define your database model.

== Use globals ==

Sometimes, you want a single global integer value for your game, and you don't want to create a DB table specifically for it.

You can do this with the BGA framework "global." Your value will be stored in the "global" table in the database, and you can access it with simple methods.

'''initGameStateLabels'''

This method should be located at the beginning of __construct() method of ''yourgamename.game.php''. This is where you define the globals used in your game logic, by assigning them IDs.

You can define up to 80 globals, with IDs from 10 to 89 (inclusive, there can be gaps). You must '''not''' use globals outside this range, as those values are used by other components of the framework.

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11
) );
</pre>

or

<pre>
$this->GAMESTATELABELS = ["my_first_global_variable" => 10, "my_second_global_variable" => 11];
self::initGameStateLabels($this->GAMESTATELABELS);
</pre>

This is also in this method that you will define your game options. In that case, IDs need to be between 100 and 199 (inclusive, there can be gaps) Check this for more details [[Game_options_and_preferences:_gameoptions.inc.php]]

With option set, the method will look like

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11,
"my_game_variant" => 100
) );
</pre>

'''setGameStateInitialValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Initialize your global value. Must be called before any use of your global, so you should call this method from your "setupNewGame" method. $value_value must be an integer.

It seems that a non initialized value will not be restored with undo system, so it is therefore advisable to initialize them all in your "setupNewGame" method.

<pre>foreach ($this->GAMESTATELABELS as $value_label=> $ID) if ($ID >= 10 && $ID < 90) self::setGameStateInitialValue($value_label, 0);</pre>

'''getGameStateValue( $value_label )'''

Retrieve the current value of a global.

For debugging purposes, you can have labels and value pairs send to client side by inserting that line of code in your "getAllDatas":

<pre>$result['labels'] = array_combine(array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS), array_map('self::getGameStateValue', array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS)));</pre>

'''setGameStateValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Set the current value of a global. $value_value must be an integer.

'''incGameStateValue( $value_label, $increment )'''

Increment the current value of a global. If increment is negative, decrement the value of the global.

Return the final value of the global.

=== BGA predefined globals ===

BGA already defines some globals in the ''global'' database table. You should not change them directly but it can be useful to know what they mean when debugging:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! global_id !! Meaning
|-
| 1 || Active state id
|-
| 2 || Active player id
|-
| 3 || Next move number
|-
| 6 || Player turn number
|-
| 7 || Game progression
|-
| 8 || Initial reflection time
|-
| 9 || Additional reflection time
|-
| 200 || Reflexion time profile
|-
| 207 || GAMESTATE_GAME_LANG
|-
| 201 || BGA ranking mode
|-
| 300 || GAMESTATE_GAMEVERSION: Current version of the game (when in production)
|-
| 301 || GAMESTATE_GAME_RESULT_NEUTRALIZED
|-
| 302 || GAMESTATE_NEUTRALIZED_PLAYER_ID
|-
| 304 || GAMESTATE_UNDO_MOVES_STORED
|-
| 305 || GAMESTATE_UNDO_MOVES_PLAYER
|-
| 306 || GAMESTATE_LOCK_TIMESTAMP
|}

== Game states and active players ==

=== Activate player handling ===

; $this->activeNextPlayer()
: Make the next player active in the natural player order.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->activePrevPlayer()
: Make the previous player active (in the natural player order).
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->gamestate->changeActivePlayer( $player_id )
: You can call this method to make any player active.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->getActivePlayerId()
: Return the "active_player" id
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multipleactiveplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multipleactiveplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

=== Multiple activate player handling ===

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()
: All playing players are made active. Update notification is sent to all players (this will trigger '''onUpdateActionButtons''').
: Usually, you use this method at the beginning of a game state (e.g., "stGameState") which transitions to a ''multipleactiveplayer'' state in which multiple players have to perform some action. Do not use this method if you going to make some more changes in the active player list. (I.e., if you want to take away multipleactiveplayer status immediately afterwards, use setPlayersMultiactive instead.)

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_MultiPlayerInit() {
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
}
</pre>

; $this->stMakeEveryoneActive()
:this method can be used in state machine to make everybody active as "st" method of multiplayeractive state, it just calls $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()

This is to be used in state declaration:
<pre>
2 => array(
"name" => "playerTurnPlace",
"description" => clienttranslate('Other player must place ships'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must place ships (click on YOUR SHIPS board to place)'),
"type" => "multipleactiveplayer",
'action' => 'stMakeEveryoneActive',
'args' => 'arg_playerTurnPlace',
"possibleactions" => array( "actionBla" ),
"transitions" => array( "next" => 4, "last" => 99)
),
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersNonMultiactive( $next_state )
: All playing players are made inactive. Transition to next state

; $this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive( $players, $next_state, $bExclusive = false )
: Make a specific list of players active during a multiactive gamestate. Update notification is sent to all players whose state changed.
: "players" is the array of player id that should be made active. If "players" is not empty the value of "next_state" will be ignored (you can put whatever you want)
: If "exclusive" parameter is not set or false it doesn't deactivate other previously active players. If its set to true, the players who will be multiactive at the end are only these in "$players" array

: In case "players" is empty, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise

; $this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $player_id, $next_state )
: During a multiactive game state, make the specified player inactive.
: Usually, you call this method during a multiactive game state after a player did his action. It is also possible to call it directly from multiplayer action handler.
: If this player was the last active player, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise
Example of usage (see state declaration of playerTurnPlace above):
<pre>
function actionBla($args) {
self::checkAction('actionBla');
// handle the action using $this->getCurrentPlayerId()
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 'next');
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->getActivePlayerList()
: With this method you can retrieve the list of the active player at any time.
: During a "game" type gamestate, it will return a void array.
: During a "activeplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array with one value (the active player id).
: During a "multipleactiveplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array of the active players id.
: Note: you should only use this method in the latter case.

; $this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( $next_state_if_none )
: Sends update notification about multiplayer changes. All multiactive set* functions above do that, however if you want to change state manually using db queries for complex calculations, you have to call this yourself after. Do not call this if you calling one of the other setters above.
Example: you have player teams and you want to activate all players in one team
<pre>
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='0'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='1' WHERE player_id='$player_id' AND player_team='$team_no'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );

$this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( 'error' );
</pre>

; updating database manually
: Use this helper function to change multiactive state without sending notification
<pre>
/**
* Changes values of multiactivity in db, does not sent notifications.
* To send notifications after use updateMultiactiveOrNextState
* @param number $player_id, player id <=0 or null - means ALL
* @param number $value - 1 multiactive, 0 non multiactive
*/
function dbSetPlayerMultiactive($player_id = -1, $value = 1) {
if (! $value)
$value = 0;
else
$value = 1;
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive = '$value' WHERE player_zombie = 0 and player_eliminated = 0";
if ($player_id > 0) {
$sql .= " AND player_id = $player_id";
}
self::DbQuery($sql);
}
</pre>

;$this->gamestate->isPlayerActive($player_id)
:Return true if specified player is active right now.
:This method take into account game state type, ie nobody is active if game state is "game" and several players can be active if game state is "multiplayer"

=== States functions ===
; $this->gamestate->nextState( $transition )
: Change current state to a new state. Important: the $transition parameter is the name of the transition, and NOT the name of the target game state, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for more information about states.

; $this->checkAction( $actionName, $bThrowException=true )
: Check if the current player can perform a specific action in the current game state, and optionally throw an exception if they can't.
: The action is valid if it is listed in the "possibleactions" array for the current game state (see game state description).
: This method MUST be the first one called in ALL your PHP methods that handle player actions, in order to make sure a player doesn't perform an action not allowed by the rules at the point in the game. It should not be called from methods where the current player is not necessarily the active player, otherwise it may fail with an "It is not your turn" exception.
: If "bThrowException" is set to "false", the function returns '''false''' in case of failure instead of throwing an exception. This is useful when several actions are possible, in order to test each of them without throwing exceptions.

; $this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction( $action )
: (rarely used)
: This works exactly like "checkAction" (above), except that it does NOT check if the current player is active.
: This is used specifically in certain game states when you want to authorize additional actions for players that are not active at the moment.
: Example: in ''Libertalia'', you want to authorize players to change their mind about the card played. They are of course not active at the time they change their mind, so you cannot use "checkAction"; use "checkPossibleAction" instead.

This is how PHP action looks that returns player to active state (only for multiplayeractive states). To be able to execute on js side do not checkAction on js side for this specific one.

function actionUnpass() {
$this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction('actionUnpass'); // player changed mind about passing while others were thinking
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive(array ($this->getCurrentPlayerId() ), 'error', false);
}

; $this->gamestate->state()
: Get an associative array of current game state attributes, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for state attributes.

$state=$this->gamestate->state(); if( $state['name'] == 'myGameState' ) {...}

I suggest to define and use this function in your php class to access state name:

public function getStateName() {
$state = $this->gamestate->state();
return $state['name'];
}

; $this->gamestate->state_id()
: Get the id of the current game state (rarely useful, its best to use name, unless you use constants for state ids)

; $this->gamestate->isMutiactiveState()
: Return true if we are in multipleactiveplayer state, false otherwise

=== Private parallel states ===

See the overview of private parallel states [[Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#Private_parallel_states|here]].

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers()
: All active players in a multiactive state are entering a first private state defined in the master state's initialprivate parameter.
: Every time you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods below.
: Note: at least one player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating some or all players
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method

$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

// in some cases you can move immediately some or all players to different private states
if ($someCondition) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}

if ($other condition) {
//move single player to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($specificPlayerId, "some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds)
: Players with specified ids are entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateState($playerId)
: Player with the specified id is entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Everytime you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods above
: Note: player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating that player
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_ChangeMind() {
// This player finished his move before, but now decides change something while other players are still active
// We activate the player and initialize his private state
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive([$this->getCurrentPlayerId()], "");
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateState(this->getCurrentPlayerId());

// It is also possible to move the player to some other specific state immediately
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers($transition)
: All active players will transition to next private state by specified transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state
: Note: this is usually used after initializing the private state to move players to specific private state according to the game logic

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

if ($specificOption) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: Players with specified ids will transition to next private state specified by provided transition.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($playerId, $transition)
: Player with specified id will transition to next private state specified by provided transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player
: Note: this is usually used after some player actions to move to next private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers()
: All players private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used to clean up after leaving a master state in which private states were used, but can be used in other cases when we want to exit private parallel states and use a regular multiactive state for all players
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private states as they will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state after exiting private parallel states to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stNextRound() {
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers();
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: For players with specified ids private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($playerId)
: For player with specified id private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used when deactivating player to clean up their parallel state
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private state as it will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state when not needed to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function done() {
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "newTurn" );
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId());
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($playerId, $newStateId)
: For player with specified id a new private state would be set
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this should be rarely used as it doesn't check if the transition is allowed (it doesn't even specifies transition). This can be useful in very complex cases when standard state machine is not adequate (i.e. specific cards can lead to some micro action in various states where defining transitions back and forth can become very tedious.)
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state

if ($playerHaveSpecificCard)
return $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 35);

$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

== Players turn order ==

When table is created the "natural" player order is assigned to player at random, and stored in "read-only" field "player_no".
If you need to create a custom order you should never change natural order but have a separate data structure.
For example you can alter the players table to add another "custom_order" field, you can use state globals or you can use your natural board database,
to store meeple_color/position_location pair.
BGA currently does not provide any API to create/store custom player order.

'''getNextPlayerTable()'''

Return an associative array which associate each player with the next player around the table.

In addition, key 0 is associated to the first player to play.

Example: if three player with ID 1, 2 and 3 are around the table, in this order, the method returns:
<pre>
array(
1 => 2,
2 => 3,
3 => 1,
0 => 1
);
</pre>

'''getPrevPlayerTable()'''

Same as above, but the associative array associate the previous player around the table. However there no 0 index here.

'''getPlayerAfter( $player_id )'''

Get player playing after given player in natural playing order.

'''getPlayerBefore( $player_id )'''

Get player playing before given player in natural playing order.

Note: There is no API to modify this order, if you have custom player order you have to maintain it in your database
and have custom function to access it.

'''createNextPlayerTable( $players, $bLoop=true )'''

Using $players array creates a map of current => next as in example from getNextPlayerTable(), however you can use custom order here.
If parmeter $bLoop is set to true then last player will points to first (creaing a loop), false otherwise.
In any case index 0 points to first player (first element of $players array). $players is array of player ids in desired order.

Note: This function '''DOES NOT''' change the order in database, it only creates a map using key/values as descibed.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function getNextPlayerTableCustom() {
$starting = $this->getStartingPlayer(); // custom function to get starting player
$player_ids = $this->getPlayerIdsInOrder($starting); // custom function to create players array starting from starting player
return $this->createNextPlayerTable($player_ids, false); // create next player table in custom order
}
</pre>

<pre>
$table = $this->createNextPlayerTable([3,2,1], false);

will return:
[
3 => 2,
2 => 1,
1 => null,
0 => 3
]
</pre>

== Notify players ==

To understand notifications, please read [http://www.slideshare.net/boardgamearena/the-bga-framework-at-a-glance The BGA Framework at a glance] first.

'''IMPORTANT'''

Notifications are sent at the very end of the request, when it ends normally. It means that if you throw an exception for any reason (ex: move not allowed), no notifications will be sent to players.
Notifications sent between the game start (setupNewGame) and the end of the "action" method of the first active state will never reach their destination.

=== NotifyAllPlayers ===

'''notifyAllPlayers( $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Send a notification to all players of the game.

* notification_type:
A string that defines the type of your notification.

Your game interface Javascript logic will use this to know what is the type of the received notification (and to trigger the corresponding method).

* notification_log:
A string that defines what is to be displayed in the game log.

You can use an empty string here (""). In this case, nothing is displayed in the game log.

If you define a real string here, you should use "clienttranslate" method to make sure it can be translated.

You can use arguments in your notification_log strings, that refers to values defines in the "notification_args" argument (see below).
Note: Make sure you only use single quotes ('), otherwise PHP will try to interpolate the variable and will ignore the values in the args array.

* notification_args:
The arguments of your notifications, as an associative array.

This array will be transmitted to the game interface logic, in order the game interface can be updated.

Complete notifyAllPlayers example (from "Reversi"):

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y
) );
</pre>

You can see in the example above the use of the "clienttranslate" method, and the use of 2 arguments "player_name" and "returned_nbr" in the notification log.

'''Important''': NO private data must be sent with this method, as a cheater could see it even if it is not used explicitly by the game interface logic. If you want to send private information to a player, please use notifyPlayer below.

'''Important''': this array is serialized to be sent to the browsers, and will be saved with the notification to be able to replay the game later. If it is too big, it can make notifications slower / less reliable, and replay archives very big (to the point of failing). So as a general rule, you should send only the minimum of information necessary to update the client interface with no overhead in order to keep the notifications as light as possible.

'''Important''': When the game page is reloaded (i.e. F5 or when loading turn based game) all previous notifications are replayed as history notifications. These notifications do not trigger notification handlers and are used basically to build the game log. Because of that most of the notification arguments, except i18n, player_id and all arguments used in the message, are removed from these history notifications. If you need additional arguments in history notifications you can add special field <b>preserve</b> to notification arguments, like this:

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y,
'preserve' => [ 'x', 'y' ]
) );
</pre>
In this example, fields x and y will be preserved when replaying history notification at the game load.

==== HTML in Notifications ====

You CAN use some HTML inside your notification log, however it not recommended for many reasons:
* Its bad architecture, ui elements leak into server now you have to manage ui in many places
* If you decided to change something in ui in future version, old games replay and tutorials may not work, since they use stored notifications
* When you read log preview for old games its unreadable (this is log before you enter the game replay, useful for troubleshooting or game analysis)
* Its more data to transfer and store in db
* Its nightmare for translators, at least don't put HTML tags inside the "clienttranslate" method. You can use a notification argument instead, and provide your HTML through this argument.

If you still want to have pretty pictures in the log check this [[BGA_Studio_Cookbook#Inject_images_and_styled_html_in_the_log]].

==== Recursive Notifications ====

If your notification contains some phrases that build programmatically you may need to use recursive notifications. In this case the argument can be not only the string but
an array itself, which contains 'log' and 'args', i.e.

$this->notifyAllPlayers('playerLog',clienttranslate('Game moves ${token_name_rec}'),
['token_name_rec'=>['log'=>'${token_name} #${token_number}',
'args'=> ['token_name'=>clienttranslate('Boo'), 'token_number'=>$number, 'i18n'=>['token_name'] ]
]
]);

Special handling of arguments:
* ${player_name} - this will be wrapped in html and text shown using color of the corresponding player, some colors also have reserved background. This will apply recursively as well.
* ${player_name2} - same

==== Excluding some players ====

Sometimes you want to notify all players of a message but not have it appear in the log of specific players (for example, have every player see "Player X draws a card" but have Player X see "You draw the Ace of Spades").

To send a notification to all players but have some clients ignore it, send it as normal from the server, but implement '''setIgnoreNotificationCheck''' on the client to ignore the message under given conditions. See the X.js documentation for more details.

=== NotifyPlayer ===

'''notifyPlayer( $player_id, $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Same as above, except that the notification is sent to one player only.

This method must be used each time some private information must be transmitted to a player.

Important: the variable for player name must be ${player_name} in order to be highlighted with the player color in the game log. If you want a second player name in the log, name the variable ${player_name2}, etc.

Note that spectators cannot be notified using this method, because their player ID is not available via loadPlayersBasicInfos() or otherwise. You must use notifyAllPlayers() for any notification that spectators should get.

== About random and randomness ==

A large number of board games rely on random, most often based on dice, cards shuffling, picking some item in a bag, and so on. This is very important to ensure a high level of randomness for each of these situations.

Here's are a list of techniques you should use in these situations, from the best to the worst.

=== Dice and bga_rand ===

'''bga_rand( min, max )'''
This is a BGA framework function that provides you a random number between "min" and "max" (inclusive), using the best available random method available on the system.

This is the preferred function you should use, because we are updating it when a better method is introduced.

As of now, bga_rand is based on the PHP function "random_int", which ensures a cryptographic level of randomness.

In particular, it is '''mandatory''' to use it for all '''dice throw''' (ie: games using other methods for dice throwing will be rejected by BGA during review).

Note: rand() and mt_rand() are deprecated on BGA and should not be used anymore, as their randomness is not as good as "bga_rand".

=== shuffle and cards shuffling ===

To shuffle items, like a pile of cards, the best way is to use the BGA PHP [[Deck]] component and to use "shuffle" method. This ensures that the best available shuffling method is used, and that if in the future we improve it your game will be up to date.

As of now, the Deck component shuffle method is based on PHP "shuffle" method, which has quite good randomness (even it is not as good as bga_rand). In consequence, we accept other shuffling methods during reviews, as long as they are based on PHP "shuffle" function (or similar, like "array_rand").

=== Other methods ===

Mysql "RAND()" function has not enough randomness to be a valid method to get a random element on BGA. This function has been used in some existing games and has given acceptable results, but now it should be avoided and you should use other methods instead.

== Game statistics ==

There are 2 types of statistics:
* a "player" statistic is a statistic associated to a player
* a "table" statistic is a statistic not associated to a player (global statistic for this game).

See [[Game statistics: stats.inc.php]] to see how you define statistics for your game.

'''initStat( $table_or_player, $name, $value, $player_id = null )'''

Create a statistic entry with a default value.

This method must be called for each statistic of your game, in your setupNewGame method.
If you neglect to call this for a statistic, and also do not update the value during the course of a certain game using setStat or incStat, the value of the stat will be undefined rather than 0. This will result in it being ignored at the end of the game, as if it didn't apply to that particular game, and excluded from cumulative statistics. As a consequence - if do not want statistic to be applied, do not init it, or call set or inc on it.

'$table_or_player' must be set to "table" if this is a table statistic, or "player" if this is a player statistic.

'$name' is the name of your statistic, as it has been defined in your stats.inc.php file.

'$value' is the initial value of the statistic. If this is a player statistic and if the player is not specified by "$player_id" argument, the value is set for ALL players.

'''setStat( $value, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Set a statistic $name to $value.

If "$player_id" is not specified, setStat consider it is a TABLE statistic.

If "$player_id" is specified, setStat consider it is a PLAYER statistic.

'''incStat( $delta, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Increment (or decrement) specified statistic value by $delta value. Same behavior as setStat function.

'''getStat( $name, $player_id = null )'''

Return the value of statistic specified by $name. Useful when creating derivative statistics such as average.

== Translations ==

See [[Translations]]

== Manage player scores and Tie breaker ==

=== Normal scoring ===

At the end of the game, players automatically get a rank depending on their score: the player with the biggest score is #1, the player with the second biggest score is #2, and so on...

During the game, you update player's score directly by updating "player_score" field of "player" table in database.

Examples:
<pre>

// +2 points to active player
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=player_score+2 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

// Set score of active player to 5
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=5 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

</pre>

Note: don't forget to notify the client side in order the score control can be updated accordingly.

=== Tie breaker ===

Tie breaker is used when two players get the same score at the end of a game.

Tie breaker is using "player_score_aux" field of "player" table. It is updated exactly like the "player_score" field.

Tie breaker score is displayed only for players who are tied at the end of the game. Most of the time, it is not supposed to be displayed explicitly during the game.

When you are using "player_score_aux" functionality, you must describe the formula to use in your gameinfos.inc.php file like this:

<pre>
'tie_breaker_description' => totranslate("Describe here your tie breaker formula"),
</pre>

This description will be used as a tooltip to explain to players how this auxiliary score has been calculated.

See also [https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Game_meta-information:_gameinfos.inc.php#Multiple_tie_breaker_management Multiple Tie Breaker Management].

=== Co-operative game ===

To make everyone win/lose together in a full-coop game:

Add the following in gameinfos.inc.php :
'is_coop' => 1, // full cooperative

Assign a score of zero to everyone if it's a loss.
Assign the same score > 0 to everyone if it's a win.

=== Semi-coop ===

If the game is not full-coop, then everyone loses = everyone is tied. I.e. set score to 0 to everybody.

=== Only "winners" and "losers" ===

For some games, there is only a group (or a single) "winner", and everyone else is a "loser", with no "end of game rank" (1st, 2nd, 3rd...).

Examples:
* Coup
* Not Alone
* Werewolves
* Quantum

In this case:
* Set the scores so that the winner has the best score, and the other players have the same (lower) score.
* Add the following lines to gameinfos.inc.php:

<pre>
// If in the game, all losers are equal (no score to rank them or explicit in the rules that losers are not ranked between them), set this to true
// The game end result will display "Winner" for the 1st player and "Loser" for all other players
'losers_not_ranked' => true,
</pre>

Werewolves and Coup are implemented like this, as you can see here:
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=werewolves&section=lastresults
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=coupcitystate&section=lastresults

Adding this has the following effects:
* On game results for this game, "Winner" or "Loser" is going to appear instead of the usual "1st, 2nd, 3rd, ...".
* When a game is over, the result of the game will be "End of game: Victory" or "End of game: Defeat" depending on the result of the CURRENT player (instead of the usual "Victory of XXX").
* When calculating ELO points, if there is at least one "Loser", no "victorious" player can lose ELO points, and no "losing" player can win ELO point. Usually it may happened because being tie with many players with a low rank is considered as a tie and may cost you points. If losers_not_ranked is set, we prevent this behavior and make sure you only gain/loss ELO when you get the corresponding results.

Important: this SHOULD NOT be used for cooperative games (see is_coop parameter), or for 2 players games (it makes no sense in this case).

=== Solo ===

If game supports solo variant, a negative or zero score means defeat, a positive score means victory.

=== Player elimination ===

In some games, this is useful to eliminate a player from the game in order he/she can start another game without waiting for the current game end.

This case should be rare. Please don't use player elimination feature if some player just has to wait the last 10% of the game for game end. This feature should be used only in games where players are eliminated all along the game (typical examples: "Perudo" or "The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow").

Usage:

* Player to eliminate should NOT be active anymore (preferably use the feature in a "game" type game state).
* In your PHP code:
self::eliminatePlayer( <player_to_eliminate_id> );
* the player is informed in a dialog box that he no longer have to play and can start another game if he/she wants too (with buttons "stay at this table" "quit table and back to main site"). In any case, the player is free to start & join another table from now.
* When your game is over, all players who have been eliminated before receive a "notification" (the small "!" icon on the top right of the BGA interface) that indicate them that "the game has ended" and invite them to review the game results.

'''Important: this should not be used on a player who has already left the game ("zombie") as leaving/being kicked of the game (outside of the scope of the rules) is not the same as being eliminated from the game (according to the rules), except if in the course of the game, the zombie player is eliminated according to the rules.'''

=== Scoring Helper functions ===

These functions should have been API but they are not, just add them to your php game and use for every game.

// get score
function dbGetScore($player_id) {
return $this->getUniqueValueFromDB("SELECT player_score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set score
function dbSetScore($player_id, $count) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score='$count' WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set aux score (tie breaker)
function dbSetAuxScore($player_id, $score) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score_aux=$score WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// increment score (can be negative too)
function dbIncScore($player_id, $inc) {
$count = $this->dbGetScore($player_id);
if ($inc != 0) {
$count += $inc;
$this->dbSetScore($player_id, $count);
}
return $count;
}

== Reflexion time ==

; function giveExtraTime( $player_id, $specific_time=null )
: Give standard extra time to this player.
: Standard extra time depends on the speed of the game (small with "slow" game option, bigger with other options).
: You can also specify an exact time to add, in seconds, with the "specified_time" argument (rarely used).

; function isAsync()
: Returns true if game is turn based, false if it is realtime

== Undo moves ==

Please read our [[BGA Undo policy]] before.

'''Important''': Before using these methods, you must also add the following to your "gameinfos.inc.php" file, otherwise these methods are ineffective:
'db_undo_support' => true

Note: if you deploy undo support after game is in production this will take into effect for new games only, old games will give user an error if user choses Undo action, but otherwise it should not affect them.

; function undoSavepoint( )
: Save the whole game situation inside an "Undo save point".
: There is only ONE undo save point available (see [[BGA Undo policy]]). Cannot use in multiactivate state or in game state where next state is multiactive.
: Note: this function does not actually do anything when it is called, it only raises the flag to store the database AFTER transaction is over. So the actual state will be saved when you exit the function calling it (technically before first queued notification is sent, which matters if you transition to game state not to user state after), this may affect what you end up saving.

; function undoRestorePoint()
: Restore the situation previously saved as an "Undo save point".
: You must make sure that the active player is the same after and before the undoRestorePoint (ie: this is your responsibility to ensure that the player that is active when this method is called is exactly the same than the player that was active when the undoSavePoint method has been called).

function actionUndo() {
self::checkAction('actionUndo');
$this->undoRestorePoint();
$this->gamestate->nextState('next'); // transition to single player state (i.e. beginning of player actions for this turn)
}

'''Important note''': if you are reading game state variable right after restore (without changing state first) it won't work properly as the global table cache is not automatically refreshed after undoRestorePoint(). So you should either change state immediately to refresh game state values, or use $this->gamestate->reloadState() to refresh the state. If you choose to do the latest, be aware that this will bring the state machine back to the state during which the save point snapshot has been taken using undoSavepoint() (which means your transition you do after has to declared in the state which was saved, not in the state which was active for your actionUndo())

== Managing errors and exceptions ==

Note: when you throw an exception, all database changes and all notifications are cancelled immediately. This way, the game situation that existed before the request is completely restored.

; throw new BgaUserException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a user error
: You must throw this exception when a player wants to do something that they are not allowed to do.
: The error message will be shown to the player as a "red message".
: The error message must be translated, make sure you use self::_() or $this->_() here and NOT clientranslate()
: Throwing such an exception is NOT considered a bug, so it is not traced in BGA error logs.

Example from Gomoku:
<pre>
throw new BgaUserException( self::_("There is already a stone on this intersection, you can't play there") );
</pre>

; throw new BgaVisibleSystemException ( $error_message)
: You must throw this exception when you detect something that is not supposed to happened in your code.
: The error message is shown to the user as an "Unexpected error", in order that he can report it in the forum.
: The error message is logged in BGA error logs. If it happens regularly, we will report it to you.

; throw new BgaSystemException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a system exception. The message will be hidden from the user, but show in the logs. Use this if the message contains technical information.
: You shouldn't use this type of exception except if you think the information shown could be critical. Indeed: a generic error message will be shown to the user, so it's going to be difficult for you to see what happened.

== Zombie mode ==

When a player leaves a game for any reason (expelled, quit), he becomes a "zombie player". In this case, the results of the game won't count for statistics, but this is cool if the other players can finish the game anyway. That's why zombie mode exists: allow the other player to finish the game, even if the situation is not ideal.

While developing your zombie mode, keep in mind that:
* Do not refer to the rules, because this situation is not planned by the rules.
* Try to figure that you are playing with your friends and one of them has to leave: how can we finish the game without killing the spirit of the game?
* The idea is NOT to develop an artificial intelligence for the game.
* Do not try to end the game early, even in a two-player game. The zombie is there to allow the game to continue, not to end it. Trying to end the game is not supported by the framework and will likely cause unexpected errors.

Most of the time, the best thing to do when it is zombie player turn is to jump immediately to a state where he is not active anymore. For example, if he is in a game state where he has a choice between playing A and playing B, the best thing to do is NOT to choose A or B, but to pass. So, even if there's no "pass" action in the rules, add a "zombiepass" transitition in your game state and use it.

Each time a zombie player must play, your "zombieTurn" method is called.

Parameters:
* $state: the name of the current game state.
* $active_player: the id of the active player.

Most of the time, your zombieTurn method looks like this:

<pre>
function zombieTurn( $state, $active_player )
{
$statename = $state['name'];

if( $statename == 'myFirstGameState'
|| $statename == 'my2ndGameState'
|| $statename == 'my3rdGameState'
....
)
{
$this->gamestate->nextState( "zombiePass" );
}
else
throw new BgaVisibleSystemException( "Zombie mode not supported at this game state: ".$statename );
}
</pre>

Note that in the example above, all corresponding game state should implement "zombiePass" as a transition.

'''Very important''': your zombie code will be called when the player leaves the game. This action is triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to this action. In your zombieTurn function, you must '''never''' use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message.

== Player color preferences ==

BGA players (Club members) may now choose their preferred color for playing. For example, if they are used to play green for every board game, they can select "green" in their BGA preferences page.

Making your game compatible with colors preferences is very easy and requires only 1 line of configuration change:

On your gameinfos.inc.php file, add the following lines :

// Favorite colors support: if set to "true", support attribution of favorite colors based on player's preferences (see reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method)
// NB: this parameter is used only to flag games supporting this feature; you must use (or not use) reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method to actually enable or disable the feature.
'favorite_colors_support' => true,

Then, on your main <your_game>.game.php file check the code of "setupNewGame". New template already have correct code, but if you editing very old game and it may be absent.

$gameinfos = $this->getGameinfos();
...
if ($gameinfos['favorite_colors_support'])
$this->reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences($players, $gameinfos['player_colors']); // this should be above reloadPlayersBasicInfos()
self::reloadPlayersBasicInfos();

The "reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences" method reattributes all colors, taking into account players color preferences and available colors.

Note that you must update the colors to indicate the colors available for your game.

Some important remarks:
* for some games (i.e. Chess), the color has an influence on a mechanism of the game, most of the time by giving a special advantage to a player (i.e. Starting the game). Color preference mechanism must NOT be used in such a case.
* your logic should NEVER consider that the first player has the color X, that the second player has the color Y, and so on. If this is the case, your game will NOT be compatible with reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences as this method attribute colors to players based on their preferences and not based as their order at the table.

Colours currently listed as a choice in preferences (Note - you don't have to pick these, the "closest" color will be found):

* #ff0000 Red
* #008000 Green
* #0000ff Blue
* #ffa500 Yellow
* #000000 Black
* #ffffff White
* #e94190 Pink
* #982fff Purple
* #72c3b1 Cyan
* #f07f16 Orange
* #bdd002 Khaki green
* #7b7b7b Gray

== Legacy games API ==

For some very specific games ("legacy", "campaign"), you need to keep some informations from a game to another.

This should be an exceptional situation: the legacy API is costing resources on Board Game Arena databases, and is slowing down the game setup process + game end of game process. Please do not use it for things like:
* keeping a player preference/settings (=> player preferences and game options should be used instead)
* keeping a statistics, a score, or a ranking, while it is not planned in the physical board game, or while there is no added value compared to BGA statistics / rankings.

You should use it for:
* legacy games: when some components of the game has been altered in a previous game and should be kept as it is.
* "campaign style" games: when a player is getting a "reward" at the end of a game, and should be able to use it in further games.

Important: you cannot store more than 64k of data (serialized as JSON) per player per game. If you go over 64k, storeLegacyData function is going to FAIL, and there is a risk to create a major bug (= players blocked) in your game. You MUST make sure that no more than 64k of data is used for each player for your game. For example, if you are implementing a "campaign style" game and if you allow a player to start multiple campaign, you must LIMIT the number of different campaign so that the total data size to not go over the limit. We strongly recommend you to use this:

try
{
$this->storeLegacyTeamData( 'my_variable', $my_data );
}
catch( feException $e )
{
if( $e->getCode() == FEX_legacy_size_exceeded )
{
// Do something here to free some space in Legacy data (ex: by removing some variables)
}
else
throw $e;
}

The keys may only contain letters and numbers, underscore seems not to be allowed.

; function storeLegacyData( $player_id, $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Store some data associated with $key for the given user / current game
: In the opposite of all other game data, this data will PERSIST after the end of this table, and can be re-used
: in a future table with the same game.
: IMPORTANT: The only possible place where you can use this method is when the game is over at your table (last game action). Otherwise, there is a risk of conflicts between ongoing games.
: TTL is a time-to-live: the maximum, and default, is 365 days.
: In any way, the total data (= all keys) you can store for a given user+game is 64k (note: data is store serialized as JSON data)

; function retrieveLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Get data associated with $key for the current game
: This data is common to ALL tables from the same game for this player, and persist from one table to another.
: Note: calling this function has an important cost => please call it few times (possibly: only ONCE) for each player for 1 game if possible
: Note: you can use '%' in $key to retrieve all keys matching the given patterns

; function removeLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Remove some legacy data with the given key
: (useful to free some data to avoid going over 64k)

; function storeLegacyTeamData( $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Same as storeLegacyData, except that it stores some data for the whole team within the current table
: Ie: if players A, B and C are at a table, the legacy data will be saved for future table with (exactly) A, B and C on the table.
: This is useful for games which are intended to be played several time by the same team.
: Note: the data total size is still limited, so you must implement catch the FEX_legacy_size_exceeded exception if it happens

; function retrieveLegacyTeamData($key)
: Same as retrieveLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

; function removeLegacyTeamData()
: Same as removeLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

== Language dependent games API ==

This API is used for games that are heavily language dependent. Two most common use cases are:
* Games that have a language dependent component that are not necessarily translatable, typically a list of words. (Think of games like Codenames, Decrypto, Just One...)
* Games with massive communication where players would like to ensure that all participants speak the same language. (Think of games like Werewolf, The Resistance, maybe even dixit...)

If this option is used, the table created will be limited only to users that have specific language in their profile. Player starting the game would be able to chose one of the languages he speaks.

There is a new property language_dependency in gameinfos.inc.php which can be set like this:
'language_dependency' => false, //or if the property is missing, the game is not language dependent
'language_dependency' => true, //all players at the table must speak the same language
'language_dependency' => array( 1 => 'en', 2 => 'fr', 3 => 'it' ), //1-based list of supported languages

In the gamename.game.php file, you can get the id of selected language with the method '''getGameLanguage'''.
; function getGameLanguage()
: Returns an index of the selected language as defined in gameinfos.inc.php.

Languages currently available on BGA are:
'ar' => array( 'name' => "العربية", 'code' => 'ar_AE' ), // Arabic
'be' => array( 'name' => "беларуская мова", 'code' => 'be_BY' ), // Belarusian
'bn' => array( 'name' => "বাংলা", 'code' => 'bn_BD' ), // Bengali
'bg' => array( 'name' => "български език", 'code' => 'bg_BG' ), // Bulgarian
'ca' => array( 'name' => "català", 'code' => 'ca_ES' ), // Catalan
'cs' => array( 'name' => "čeština", 'code' => 'cs_CZ' ), // Czech
'da' => array( 'name' => "dansk", 'code' => 'da_DK' ), // Danish
'de' => array( 'name' => "deutsch", 'code' => 'de_DE' ), // German
'el' => array( 'name' => "Ελληνικά", 'code' => 'el_GR' ), // Greek
'en' => array( 'name' => "English", 'code' => 'en_US' ), // English
'es' => array( 'name' => "español", 'code' => 'es_ES' ), // Spanish
'et' => array( 'name' => "eesti keel", 'code' => 'et_EE' ), // Estonian
'fi' => array( 'name' => "suomi", 'code' => 'fi_FI' ), // Finnish
'fr' => array( 'name' => "français", 'code' => 'fr_FR' ), // French
'he' => array( 'name' => "עברית", 'code' => 'he_IL' ), // Hebrew
'hi' => array( 'name' => "हिन्दी", 'code' => 'hi_IN' ), // Hindi
'hr' => array( 'name' => "Hrvatski", 'code' => 'hr_HR' ), // Croatian
'hu' => array( 'name' => "magyar", 'code' => 'hu_HU' ), // Hungarian
'id' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Indonesia", 'code' => 'id_ID' ), // Indonesian
'ms' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Malaysia", 'code' => 'ms_MY' ), // Malaysian
'it' => array( 'name' => "italiano", 'code' => 'it_IT' ), // Italian
'ja' => array( 'name' => "日本語", 'code' => 'ja_JP' ), // Japanese
'jv' => array( 'name' => "Basa Jawa", 'code' => 'jv_JV' ), // Javanese
'ko' => array( 'name' => "한국어", 'code' => 'ko_KR' ), // Korean
'lt' => array( 'name' => "lietuvių", 'code' => 'lt_LT' ), // Lithuanian
'lv' => array( 'name' => "latviešu", 'code' => 'lv_LV' ), // Latvian
'nl' => array( 'name' => "nederlands", 'code' => 'nl_NL' ), // Dutch
'no' => array( 'name' => "norsk", 'code' => 'nb_NO' ), // Norwegian
'oc' => array( 'name' => "occitan", 'code' => 'oc_FR' ), // Occitan
'pl' => array( 'name' => "polski", 'code' => 'pl_PL' ), // Polish
'pt' => array( 'name' => "português", 'code' => 'pt_PT' ), // Portuguese
'ro' => array( 'name' => "română", 'code' => 'ro_RO' ), // Romanian
'ru' => array( 'name' => "Русский язык", 'code' => 'ru_RU' ), // Russian
'sk' => array( 'name' => "slovenčina", 'code' => 'sk_SK' ), // Slovak
'sl' => array( 'name' => "slovenščina", 'code' => 'sl_SI' ), // Slovenian
'sr' => array( 'name' => "Српски", 'code' => 'sr_RS' ), // Serbian
'sv' => array( 'name' => "svenska", 'code' => 'sv_SE' ), // Swedish
'tr' => array( 'name' => "Türkçe", 'code' => 'tr_TR' ), // Turkish
'uk' => array( 'name' => "Українська мова", 'code' => 'uk_UA' ), // Ukrainian
'zh' => array( 'name' => "中文 (漢)", 'code' => 'zh_TW' ), // Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan)
'zh-cn' => array( 'name' => "中文 (汉)", 'code' => 'zh_CN' ), // Simplified Chinese (Mainland China, Singapore)

== Debugging and Tracing ==

To debug php code you can use some tracing functions available from the parent class such as debug, trace, error, warn, dump.

self::debug("Ahh!");
self::dump('my_var',$my_var);

See [[Practical_debugging]] section for complete information about debugging interfaces and where to find logs.

Main game logic: Game.php

2022-03-16T13:28:19Z

Bennygui: /* BGA predefined globals */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

This is the main file for your game logic. Here you initialize the game, persist data, implement the rules and notify the client interface of changes.

== File Structure ==

The details of how the file is structured are described directly with comments in the code skeleton provided to you.

Here is the basic structure:

* Constructor: where you define global variables.
* setupNewGame: initial setup of the game. Takes an array of players, indexed by player_id. Structure of each player includes player_name, player_canal, player_avatar, and flags indicating admin/ai/premium/order/language/beginner.
* getAllDatas: where you retrieve all game data during a complete reload of the game. Returned value must include ['players'][playerId]['score'] for scores to populate when F5 is pressed.
* getGameProgression: where you compute the game progression indicator. Returns a number indicating percent of progression (0-100)
* Utility functions: your utility functions.
* Player actions: the entry points for players actions ([https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Players_actions:_yourgamename.action.php more info here]).
* Game state arguments: methods to return additional data on specific game states ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#args more info here]).
* Game state actions: the logic to run when entering a new game state ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#action more info here]).
* zombieTurn: what to do it's the turn of a zombie player.
* upgradeTableDb: function to migrate database if you change it after release on production.

== Accessing player information ==

'''Important''': In the following methods, be mindful of the difference between the "active" player and the "current" player. The '''active''' player is the player whose turn it is - not necessarily the player who sent a request! The '''current''' player is the player who sent the request and will see the results returned by your methods: not necessarily the player whose turn it is!

; getPlayersNumber()
: Returns the number of players playing at the table
: Note: doesn't work in setupNewGame (use count($players) instead).

; getActivePlayerId()
: Get the "active_player", whatever what is the current state type.
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multiplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getActivePlayerName()
: Get the "active_player" name
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getPlayerNameById($player_id)
: Get the name by id

; getPlayerColorById($player_id)
: Get the color by id

; getPlayerNoById($player_id)
: Get 'player_no' (number) by id

; loadPlayersBasicInfos()
: Get an associative array with generic data about players (ie: not game specific data).
: The key of the associative array is the player id. The returned table is cached, so ok to call multiple times without performance concerns.
: <code>array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos())</code> will therefore returns an array containing players id
: The content of each value is:
: * player_name - the name of the player
: * player_color (ex: ff0000) - the color code of the player
: * player_no - the position of the player at the start of the game in natural table order, i.e. 1,2,3

<pre>
$players = $this->loadPlayersBasicInfos();
foreach ($players as $player_id => $info) {
$player_color = $info['player_color'];
...
}
</pre>
Note: if you want array of player ids only you can do this:
$player_ids = array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos());

; getCurrentPlayerId()
: Get the "current_player". The current player is the one from which the action originated (the one who sent the request).
: '''Be careful''': This is not necessarily the active player!
: In general, you shouldn't use this method, unless you are in "multiplayer" state.
: '''Very important''': in your setupNewGame and zombieTurn function, you must never use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message (these actions are triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to these actions).

; getCurrentPlayerName()
: Get the "current_player" name
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; getCurrentPlayerColor()
: Get the "current_player" color
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; isCurrentPlayerZombie()
: Check the "current_player" zombie status. If true, player is zombie, i.e. left or was kicked out of the game.

; isSpectator()
: Check the "current_player" spectator status. If true, the user accessing the game is a spectator (not part of the game). For this user, the interface should display all public information, and no private information (like a friend sitting at the same table as players and just spectating the game).

; getActivePlayerColor()
: This function does not seems to exist in API, if you need it here is implementation
function getActivePlayerColor() {
$player_id = self::getActivePlayerId();
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (isset($players[$player_id]))
return $players[$player_id]['player_color'];
else
return null;
}
; isPlayerZombie($player_id)
: This method does not exists, but if you need it it looks like this
protected function isPlayerZombie($player_id) {
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (! isset($players[$player_id]))
throw new feException("Player $player_id is not playing here");

return ($players[$player_id]['player_zombie'] == 1);
}

== Accessing the database ==

The main game logic should be the only point from which you should access the game database. You access your database using SQL queries with the methods below.

'''IMPORTANT'''

BGA uses [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/sql-syntax-transactions.html database transactions]. This means that your database changes WON'T BE APPLIED to the database until your request ends normally (web request, not database request). Using transactions is in fact very useful for you; at any time, if your game logic detects that something is wrong (example: a disallowed move), you just have to throw an exception and all changes to the game situation will be removed. This also means that you need not (and in fact cannot) use your own transactions for multiple related database operations.

However there are sets of database operation that initite implicit commit (most common mistake is to use "TRUNCATE"), you cannot use these operations during the game, it breaks the unrolling of transactions and will lead to nasty issues
(https://mariadb.com/kb/en/sql-statements-that-cause-an-implicit-commit).

; DbQuery( $sql )
: This is the generic method to access the database.
: It can execute any type of SELECT/UPDATE/DELETE/REPLACE/INSERT query on the database.
: For SELECT queries, the specialized methods below are much better.
: Do not use method for TUNCATE, DROP and other table altering operations. See disclamer above about implicit commits. If you really need TRUNCATE use DELETE FROM xxx instead.

; getUniqueValueFromDB( $sql )
: Returns a unique value from DB or null if no value is found.
: $sql must be a SELECT query.
: Raise an exception if more than 1 row is returned.

; getCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Returns an associative array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The key of the resulting associative array is the first field specified in the SELECT query.
: The value of the resulting associative array is an associative array with all the field specified in the SELECT query and associated values.
: First column must be a primary or alternate key (semantically, it does not actually have to declared in sql as such).
: The resulting collection can be empty (it won't be null).
: If you specified $bSingleValue=true and if your SQL query request 2 fields A and B, the method returns an associative array "A=>B", otherwise its A=>[A,B]
: Note: The name a bit misleading, it really return associative array, i.e. map and NOT a collection. You cannot use it to get list of values which may have duplicates (hence primary key requirement on first column). If you need simple array use getObjectListFromDB() method.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
1234 => array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
1235 => array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
1234 => 'myuser0',
1235 => 'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getNonEmptyCollectionFromDB( $sql )
: Same as getCollectionFromDB($sdl), but raise an exception if the collection is empty. Note: this function does NOT have 2nd argument as previous one does.

; getObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Returns one row for the sql SELECT query as an associative array or null if there is no result
: Raise an exception if the query return more than one row (you can use LIMIT 1 in the query to avoid the exception)

Example:
<pre>
self::getObjectFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'" );

Result:
array(
'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1
)
</pre>

; getNonEmptyObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Similar to previous one, but raise an exception if no row is found

; getObjectListFromDB( $sql, $bUniqueValue=false )
: Return an array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The result is the same than "getCollectionFromDB" except that the result is a simple array (and not an associative array).
: The result can be empty.
: If you specified $bUniqueValue=true and if your SQL query request 1 field, the method returns directly an array of values.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
'myuser0',
'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getDoubleKeyCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Return an associative array of associative array, from a SQL SELECT query.
: First array level correspond to first column specified in SQL query.
: Second array level correspond to second column specified in SQL query.
: If bSingleValue = true, keep only third column on result

; DbGetLastId()
: Return the PRIMARY key of the last inserted row (see PHP mysql_insert_id function).

; DbAffectedRow()
: Return the number of row affected by the last operation

; escapeStringForDB( $string )
: You must use this function on every string type data in your database that contains unsafe data.
: (unsafe = can be modified by a player).
: This method makes sure that no SQL injection will be done through the string used.
: Note: if you using standard types in ajax actions, like AT_alphanum it is sanitized before arrival,
: this is only needed if you manage to get unchecked string, like in the games where user has to enter text as a response.

<pre>

</pre>

Note: see Editing [[Game database model: dbmodel.sql]] to know how to define your database model.

== Use globals ==

Sometimes, you want a single global integer value for your game, and you don't want to create a DB table specifically for it.

You can do this with the BGA framework "global." Your value will be stored in the "global" table in the database, and you can access it with simple methods.

'''initGameStateLabels'''

This method should be located at the beginning of __construct() method of ''yourgamename.game.php''. This is where you define the globals used in your game logic, by assigning them IDs.

You can define up to 80 globals, with IDs from 10 to 89 (inclusive, there can be gaps). You must '''not''' use globals outside this range, as those values are used by other components of the framework.

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11
) );
</pre>

or

<pre>
$this->GAMESTATELABELS = ["my_first_global_variable" => 10, "my_second_global_variable" => 11];
self::initGameStateLabels($this->GAMESTATELABELS);
</pre>

This is also in this method that you will define your game options. In that case, IDs need to be between 100 and 199 (inclusive, there can be gaps) Check this for more details [[Game_options_and_preferences:_gameoptions.inc.php]]

With option set, the method will look like

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11,
"my_game_variant" => 100
) );
</pre>

'''setGameStateInitialValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Initialize your global value. Must be called before any use of your global, so you should call this method from your "setupNewGame" method. $value_value must be an integer.

It seems that a non initialized value will not be restored with undo system, so it is therefore advisable to initialize them all in your "setupNewGame" method.

<pre>foreach ($this->GAMESTATELABELS as $value_label=> $ID) if ($ID >= 10 && $ID < 90) self::setGameStateInitialValue($value_label, 0);</pre>

'''getGameStateValue( $value_label )'''

Retrieve the current value of a global.

For debugging purposes, you can have labels and value pairs send to client side by inserting that line of code in your "getAllDatas":

<pre>$result['labels'] = array_combine(array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS), array_map('self::getGameStateValue', array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS)));</pre>

'''setGameStateValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Set the current value of a global. $value_value must be an integer.

'''incGameStateValue( $value_label, $increment )'''

Increment the current value of a global. If increment is negative, decrement the value of the global.

Return the final value of the global.

=== BGA predefined globals ===

BGA already defines some globals in the ''global'' database table. You should not change them directly but it can be useful to know what they mean when debugging:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! global_id !! Meaning
|-
| 1 || Active state id
|-
| 2 || Active player id
|-
| 3 || Next move number
|-
| 6 || Player turn number
|-
| 7 || Game progression
|-
| 8 || Initial reflextion time
|-
| 9 || Additional reflextion time
|-
| 200 || Reflexion time profile
|-
| 207 || GAMESTATE_GAME_LANG
|-
| 201 || BGA ranking mode
|-
| 300 || GAMESTATE_GAMEVERSION: Current version of the game (when in production)
|-
| 301 || GAMESTATE_GAME_RESULT_NEUTRALIZED
|-
| 302 || GAMESTATE_NEUTRALIZED_PLAYER_ID
|-
| 304 || GAMESTATE_UNDO_MOVES_STORED
|-
| 305 || GAMESTATE_UNDO_MOVES_PLAYER
|-
| 306 || GAMESTATE_LOCK_TIMESTAMP
|}

== Game states and active players ==

=== Activate player handling ===

; $this->activeNextPlayer()
: Make the next player active in the natural player order.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->activePrevPlayer()
: Make the previous player active (in the natural player order).
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->gamestate->changeActivePlayer( $player_id )
: You can call this method to make any player active.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->getActivePlayerId()
: Return the "active_player" id
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multipleactiveplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multipleactiveplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

=== Multiple activate player handling ===

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()
: All playing players are made active. Update notification is sent to all players (this will trigger '''onUpdateActionButtons''').
: Usually, you use this method at the beginning of a game state (e.g., "stGameState") which transitions to a ''multipleactiveplayer'' state in which multiple players have to perform some action. Do not use this method if you going to make some more changes in the active player list. (I.e., if you want to take away multipleactiveplayer status immediately afterwards, use setPlayersMultiactive instead.)

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_MultiPlayerInit() {
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
}
</pre>

; $this->stMakeEveryoneActive()
:this method can be used in state machine to make everybody active as "st" method of multiplayeractive state, it just calls $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()

This is to be used in state declaration:
<pre>
2 => array(
"name" => "playerTurnPlace",
"description" => clienttranslate('Other player must place ships'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must place ships (click on YOUR SHIPS board to place)'),
"type" => "multipleactiveplayer",
'action' => 'stMakeEveryoneActive',
'args' => 'arg_playerTurnPlace',
"possibleactions" => array( "actionBla" ),
"transitions" => array( "next" => 4, "last" => 99)
),
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersNonMultiactive( $next_state )
: All playing players are made inactive. Transition to next state

; $this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive( $players, $next_state, $bExclusive = false )
: Make a specific list of players active during a multiactive gamestate. Update notification is sent to all players whose state changed.
: "players" is the array of player id that should be made active. If "players" is not empty the value of "next_state" will be ignored (you can put whatever you want)
: If "exclusive" parameter is not set or false it doesn't deactivate other previously active players. If its set to true, the players who will be multiactive at the end are only these in "$players" array

: In case "players" is empty, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise

; $this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $player_id, $next_state )
: During a multiactive game state, make the specified player inactive.
: Usually, you call this method during a multiactive game state after a player did his action. It is also possible to call it directly from multiplayer action handler.
: If this player was the last active player, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise
Example of usage (see state declaration of playerTurnPlace above):
<pre>
function actionBla($args) {
self::checkAction('actionBla');
// handle the action using $this->getCurrentPlayerId()
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 'next');
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->getActivePlayerList()
: With this method you can retrieve the list of the active player at any time.
: During a "game" type gamestate, it will return a void array.
: During a "activeplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array with one value (the active player id).
: During a "multipleactiveplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array of the active players id.
: Note: you should only use this method in the latter case.

; $this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( $next_state_if_none )
: Sends update notification about multiplayer changes. All multiactive set* functions above do that, however if you want to change state manually using db queries for complex calculations, you have to call this yourself after. Do not call this if you calling one of the other setters above.
Example: you have player teams and you want to activate all players in one team
<pre>
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='0'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='1' WHERE player_id='$player_id' AND player_team='$team_no'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );

$this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( 'error' );
</pre>

; updating database manually
: Use this helper function to change multiactive state without sending notification
<pre>
/**
* Changes values of multiactivity in db, does not sent notifications.
* To send notifications after use updateMultiactiveOrNextState
* @param number $player_id, player id <=0 or null - means ALL
* @param number $value - 1 multiactive, 0 non multiactive
*/
function dbSetPlayerMultiactive($player_id = -1, $value = 1) {
if (! $value)
$value = 0;
else
$value = 1;
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive = '$value' WHERE player_zombie = 0 and player_eliminated = 0";
if ($player_id > 0) {
$sql .= " AND player_id = $player_id";
}
self::DbQuery($sql);
}
</pre>

;$this->gamestate->isPlayerActive($player_id)
:Return true if specified player is active right now.
:This method take into account game state type, ie nobody is active if game state is "game" and several players can be active if game state is "multiplayer"

=== States functions ===
; $this->gamestate->nextState( $transition )
: Change current state to a new state. Important: the $transition parameter is the name of the transition, and NOT the name of the target game state, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for more information about states.

; $this->checkAction( $actionName, $bThrowException=true )
: Check if the current player can perform a specific action in the current game state, and optionally throw an exception if they can't.
: The action is valid if it is listed in the "possibleactions" array for the current game state (see game state description).
: This method MUST be the first one called in ALL your PHP methods that handle player actions, in order to make sure a player doesn't perform an action not allowed by the rules at the point in the game. It should not be called from methods where the current player is not necessarily the active player, otherwise it may fail with an "It is not your turn" exception.
: If "bThrowException" is set to "false", the function returns '''false''' in case of failure instead of throwing an exception. This is useful when several actions are possible, in order to test each of them without throwing exceptions.

; $this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction( $action )
: (rarely used)
: This works exactly like "checkAction" (above), except that it does NOT check if the current player is active.
: This is used specifically in certain game states when you want to authorize additional actions for players that are not active at the moment.
: Example: in ''Libertalia'', you want to authorize players to change their mind about the card played. They are of course not active at the time they change their mind, so you cannot use "checkAction"; use "checkPossibleAction" instead.

This is how PHP action looks that returns player to active state (only for multiplayeractive states). To be able to execute on js side do not checkAction on js side for this specific one.

function actionUnpass() {
$this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction('actionUnpass'); // player changed mind about passing while others were thinking
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive(array ($this->getCurrentPlayerId() ), 'error', false);
}

; $this->gamestate->state()
: Get an associative array of current game state attributes, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for state attributes.

$state=$this->gamestate->state(); if( $state['name'] == 'myGameState' ) {...}

I suggest to define and use this function in your php class to access state name:

public function getStateName() {
$state = $this->gamestate->state();
return $state['name'];
}

; $this->gamestate->state_id()
: Get the id of the current game state (rarely useful, its best to use name, unless you use constants for state ids)

; $this->gamestate->isMutiactiveState()
: Return true if we are in multipleactiveplayer state, false otherwise

=== Private parallel states ===

See the overview of private parallel states [[Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#Private_parallel_states|here]].

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers()
: All active players in a multiactive state are entering a first private state defined in the master state's initialprivate parameter.
: Every time you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods below.
: Note: at least one player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating some or all players
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method

$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

// in some cases you can move immediately some or all players to different private states
if ($someCondition) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}

if ($other condition) {
//move single player to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($specificPlayerId, "some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds)
: Players with specified ids are entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateState($playerId)
: Player with the specified id is entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Everytime you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods above
: Note: player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating that player
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_ChangeMind() {
// This player finished his move before, but now decides change something while other players are still active
// We activate the player and initialize his private state
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive([$this->getCurrentPlayerId()], "");
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateState(this->getCurrentPlayerId());

// It is also possible to move the player to some other specific state immediately
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers($transition)
: All active players will transition to next private state by specified transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state
: Note: this is usually used after initializing the private state to move players to specific private state according to the game logic

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

if ($specificOption) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: Players with specified ids will transition to next private state specified by provided transition.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($playerId, $transition)
: Player with specified id will transition to next private state specified by provided transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player
: Note: this is usually used after some player actions to move to next private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers()
: All players private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used to clean up after leaving a master state in which private states were used, but can be used in other cases when we want to exit private parallel states and use a regular multiactive state for all players
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private states as they will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state after exiting private parallel states to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stNextRound() {
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers();
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: For players with specified ids private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($playerId)
: For player with specified id private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used when deactivating player to clean up their parallel state
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private state as it will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state when not needed to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function done() {
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "newTurn" );
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId());
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($playerId, $newStateId)
: For player with specified id a new private state would be set
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this should be rarely used as it doesn't check if the transition is allowed (it doesn't even specifies transition). This can be useful in very complex cases when standard state machine is not adequate (i.e. specific cards can lead to some micro action in various states where defining transitions back and forth can become very tedious.)
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state

if ($playerHaveSpecificCard)
return $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 35);

$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

== Players turn order ==

When table is created the "natural" player order is assigned to player at random, and stored in "read-only" field "player_no".
If you need to create a custom order you should never change natural order but have a separate data structure.
For example you can alter the players table to add another "custom_order" field, you can use state globals or you can use your natural board database,
to store meeple_color/position_location pair.
BGA currently does not provide any API to create/store custom player order.

'''getNextPlayerTable()'''

Return an associative array which associate each player with the next player around the table.

In addition, key 0 is associated to the first player to play.

Example: if three player with ID 1, 2 and 3 are around the table, in this order, the method returns:
<pre>
array(
1 => 2,
2 => 3,
3 => 1,
0 => 1
);
</pre>

'''getPrevPlayerTable()'''

Same as above, but the associative array associate the previous player around the table. However there no 0 index here.

'''getPlayerAfter( $player_id )'''

Get player playing after given player in natural playing order.

'''getPlayerBefore( $player_id )'''

Get player playing before given player in natural playing order.

Note: There is no API to modify this order, if you have custom player order you have to maintain it in your database
and have custom function to access it.

'''createNextPlayerTable( $players, $bLoop=true )'''

Using $players array creates a map of current => next as in example from getNextPlayerTable(), however you can use custom order here.
If parmeter $bLoop is set to true then last player will points to first (creaing a loop), false otherwise.
In any case index 0 points to first player (first element of $players array). $players is array of player ids in desired order.

Note: This function '''DOES NOT''' change the order in database, it only creates a map using key/values as descibed.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function getNextPlayerTableCustom() {
$starting = $this->getStartingPlayer(); // custom function to get starting player
$player_ids = $this->getPlayerIdsInOrder($starting); // custom function to create players array starting from starting player
return $this->createNextPlayerTable($player_ids, false); // create next player table in custom order
}
</pre>

<pre>
$table = $this->createNextPlayerTable([3,2,1], false);

will return:
[
3 => 2,
2 => 1,
1 => null,
0 => 3
]
</pre>

== Notify players ==

To understand notifications, please read [http://www.slideshare.net/boardgamearena/the-bga-framework-at-a-glance The BGA Framework at a glance] first.

'''IMPORTANT'''

Notifications are sent at the very end of the request, when it ends normally. It means that if you throw an exception for any reason (ex: move not allowed), no notifications will be sent to players.
Notifications sent between the game start (setupNewGame) and the end of the "action" method of the first active state will never reach their destination.

=== NotifyAllPlayers ===

'''notifyAllPlayers( $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Send a notification to all players of the game.

* notification_type:
A string that defines the type of your notification.

Your game interface Javascript logic will use this to know what is the type of the received notification (and to trigger the corresponding method).

* notification_log:
A string that defines what is to be displayed in the game log.

You can use an empty string here (""). In this case, nothing is displayed in the game log.

If you define a real string here, you should use "clienttranslate" method to make sure it can be translated.

You can use arguments in your notification_log strings, that refers to values defines in the "notification_args" argument (see below).
Note: Make sure you only use single quotes ('), otherwise PHP will try to interpolate the variable and will ignore the values in the args array.

* notification_args:
The arguments of your notifications, as an associative array.

This array will be transmitted to the game interface logic, in order the game interface can be updated.

Complete notifyAllPlayers example (from "Reversi"):

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y
) );
</pre>

You can see in the example above the use of the "clienttranslate" method, and the use of 2 arguments "player_name" and "returned_nbr" in the notification log.

'''Important''': NO private data must be sent with this method, as a cheater could see it even if it is not used explicitly by the game interface logic. If you want to send private information to a player, please use notifyPlayer below.

'''Important''': this array is serialized to be sent to the browsers, and will be saved with the notification to be able to replay the game later. If it is too big, it can make notifications slower / less reliable, and replay archives very big (to the point of failing). So as a general rule, you should send only the minimum of information necessary to update the client interface with no overhead in order to keep the notifications as light as possible.

'''Important''': When the game page is reloaded (i.e. F5 or when loading turn based game) all previous notifications are replayed as history notifications. These notifications do not trigger notification handlers and are used basically to build the game log. Because of that most of the notification arguments, except i18n, player_id and all arguments used in the message, are removed from these history notifications. If you need additional arguments in history notifications you can add special field <b>preserve</b> to notification arguments, like this:

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y,
'preserve' => [ 'x', 'y' ]
) );
</pre>
In this example, fields x and y will be preserved when replaying history notification at the game load.

==== HTML in Notifications ====

You CAN use some HTML inside your notification log, however it not recommended for many reasons:
* Its bad architecture, ui elements leak into server now you have to manage ui in many places
* If you decided to change something in ui in future version, old games replay and tutorials may not work, since they use stored notifications
* When you read log preview for old games its unreadable (this is log before you enter the game replay, useful for troubleshooting or game analysis)
* Its more data to transfer and store in db
* Its nightmare for translators, at least don't put HTML tags inside the "clienttranslate" method. You can use a notification argument instead, and provide your HTML through this argument.

If you still want to have pretty pictures in the log check this [[BGA_Studio_Cookbook#Inject_images_and_styled_html_in_the_log]].

==== Recursive Notifications ====

If your notification contains some phrases that build programmatically you may need to use recursive notifications. In this case the argument can be not only the string but
an array itself, which contains 'log' and 'args', i.e.

$this->notifyAllPlayers('playerLog',clienttranslate('Game moves ${token_name_rec}'),
['token_name_rec'=>['log'=>'${token_name} #${token_number}',
'args'=> ['token_name'=>clienttranslate('Boo'), 'token_number'=>$number, 'i18n'=>['token_name'] ]
]
]);

Special handling of arguments:
* ${player_name} - this will be wrapped in html and text shown using color of the corresponding player, some colors also have reserved background. This will apply recursively as well.
* ${player_name2} - same

==== Excluding some players ====

Sometimes you want to notify all players of a message but not have it appear in the log of specific players (for example, have every player see "Player X draws a card" but have Player X see "You draw the Ace of Spades").

To send a notification to all players but have some clients ignore it, send it as normal from the server, but implement '''setIgnoreNotificationCheck''' on the client to ignore the message under given conditions. See the X.js documentation for more details.

=== NotifyPlayer ===

'''notifyPlayer( $player_id, $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Same as above, except that the notification is sent to one player only.

This method must be used each time some private information must be transmitted to a player.

Important: the variable for player name must be ${player_name} in order to be highlighted with the player color in the game log. If you want a second player name in the log, name the variable ${player_name2}, etc.

Note that spectators cannot be notified using this method, because their player ID is not available via loadPlayersBasicInfos() or otherwise. You must use notifyAllPlayers() for any notification that spectators should get.

== About random and randomness ==

A large number of board games rely on random, most often based on dice, cards shuffling, picking some item in a bag, and so on. This is very important to ensure a high level of randomness for each of these situations.

Here's are a list of techniques you should use in these situations, from the best to the worst.

=== Dice and bga_rand ===

'''bga_rand( min, max )'''
This is a BGA framework function that provides you a random number between "min" and "max" (inclusive), using the best available random method available on the system.

This is the preferred function you should use, because we are updating it when a better method is introduced.

As of now, bga_rand is based on the PHP function "random_int", which ensures a cryptographic level of randomness.

In particular, it is '''mandatory''' to use it for all '''dice throw''' (ie: games using other methods for dice throwing will be rejected by BGA during review).

Note: rand() and mt_rand() are deprecated on BGA and should not be used anymore, as their randomness is not as good as "bga_rand".

=== shuffle and cards shuffling ===

To shuffle items, like a pile of cards, the best way is to use the BGA PHP [[Deck]] component and to use "shuffle" method. This ensures that the best available shuffling method is used, and that if in the future we improve it your game will be up to date.

As of now, the Deck component shuffle method is based on PHP "shuffle" method, which has quite good randomness (even it is not as good as bga_rand). In consequence, we accept other shuffling methods during reviews, as long as they are based on PHP "shuffle" function (or similar, like "array_rand").

=== Other methods ===

Mysql "RAND()" function has not enough randomness to be a valid method to get a random element on BGA. This function has been used in some existing games and has given acceptable results, but now it should be avoided and you should use other methods instead.

== Game statistics ==

There are 2 types of statistics:
* a "player" statistic is a statistic associated to a player
* a "table" statistic is a statistic not associated to a player (global statistic for this game).

See [[Game statistics: stats.inc.php]] to see how you define statistics for your game.

'''initStat( $table_or_player, $name, $value, $player_id = null )'''

Create a statistic entry with a default value.

This method must be called for each statistic of your game, in your setupNewGame method.
If you neglect to call this for a statistic, and also do not update the value during the course of a certain game using setStat or incStat, the value of the stat will be undefined rather than 0. This will result in it being ignored at the end of the game, as if it didn't apply to that particular game, and excluded from cumulative statistics. As a consequence - if do not want statistic to be applied, do not init it, or call set or inc on it.

'$table_or_player' must be set to "table" if this is a table statistic, or "player" if this is a player statistic.

'$name' is the name of your statistic, as it has been defined in your stats.inc.php file.

'$value' is the initial value of the statistic. If this is a player statistic and if the player is not specified by "$player_id" argument, the value is set for ALL players.

'''setStat( $value, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Set a statistic $name to $value.

If "$player_id" is not specified, setStat consider it is a TABLE statistic.

If "$player_id" is specified, setStat consider it is a PLAYER statistic.

'''incStat( $delta, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Increment (or decrement) specified statistic value by $delta value. Same behavior as setStat function.

'''getStat( $name, $player_id = null )'''

Return the value of statistic specified by $name. Useful when creating derivative statistics such as average.

== Translations ==

See [[Translations]]

== Manage player scores and Tie breaker ==

=== Normal scoring ===

At the end of the game, players automatically get a rank depending on their score: the player with the biggest score is #1, the player with the second biggest score is #2, and so on...

During the game, you update player's score directly by updating "player_score" field of "player" table in database.

Examples:
<pre>

// +2 points to active player
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=player_score+2 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

// Set score of active player to 5
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=5 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

</pre>

Note: don't forget to notify the client side in order the score control can be updated accordingly.

=== Tie breaker ===

Tie breaker is used when two players get the same score at the end of a game.

Tie breaker is using "player_score_aux" field of "player" table. It is updated exactly like the "player_score" field.

Tie breaker score is displayed only for players who are tied at the end of the game. Most of the time, it is not supposed to be displayed explicitly during the game.

When you are using "player_score_aux" functionality, you must describe the formula to use in your gameinfos.inc.php file like this:

<pre>
'tie_breaker_description' => totranslate("Describe here your tie breaker formula"),
</pre>

This description will be used as a tooltip to explain to players how this auxiliary score has been calculated.

=== Co-operative game ===

To make everyone win/lose together in a full-coop game:

Add the following in gameinfos.inc.php :
'is_coop' => 1, // full cooperative

Assign a score of zero to everyone if it's a loss.
Assign the same score > 0 to everyone if it's a win.

=== Semi-coop ===

If the game is not full-coop, then everyone loses = everyone is tied. I.e. set score to 0 to everybody.

=== Only "winners" and "losers" ===

For some games, there is only a group (or a single) "winner", and everyone else is a "loser", with no "end of game rank" (1st, 2nd, 3rd...).

Examples:
* Coup
* Not Alone
* Werewolves
* Quantum

In this case:
* Set the scores so that the winner has the best score, and the other players have the same (lower) score.
* Add the following lines to gameinfos.inc.php:

<pre>
// If in the game, all losers are equal (no score to rank them or explicit in the rules that losers are not ranked between them), set this to true
// The game end result will display "Winner" for the 1st player and "Loser" for all other players
'losers_not_ranked' => true,
</pre>

Werewolves and Coup are implemented like this, as you can see here:
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=werewolves&section=lastresults
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=coupcitystate&section=lastresults

Adding this has the following effects:
* On game results for this game, "Winner" or "Loser" is going to appear instead of the usual "1st, 2nd, 3rd, ...".
* When a game is over, the result of the game will be "End of game: Victory" or "End of game: Defeat" depending on the result of the CURRENT player (instead of the usual "Victory of XXX").
* When calculating ELO points, if there is at least one "Loser", no "victorious" player can lose ELO points, and no "losing" player can win ELO point. Usually it may happened because being tie with many players with a low rank is considered as a tie and may cost you points. If losers_not_ranked is set, we prevent this behavior and make sure you only gain/loss ELO when you get the corresponding results.

Important: this SHOULD NOT be used for cooperative games (see is_coop parameter), or for 2 players games (it makes no sense in this case).

=== Solo ===

If game supports solo variant, a negative or zero score means defeat, a positive score means victory.

=== Player elimination ===

In some games, this is useful to eliminate a player from the game in order he/she can start another game without waiting for the current game end.

This case should be rare. Please don't use player elimination feature if some player just has to wait the last 10% of the game for game end. This feature should be used only in games where players are eliminated all along the game (typical examples: "Perudo" or "The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow").

Usage:

* Player to eliminate should NOT be active anymore (preferably use the feature in a "game" type game state).
* In your PHP code:
self::eliminatePlayer( <player_to_eliminate_id> );
* the player is informed in a dialog box that he no longer have to play and can start another game if he/she wants too (with buttons "stay at this table" "quit table and back to main site"). In any case, the player is free to start & join another table from now.
* When your game is over, all players who have been eliminated before receive a "notification" (the small "!" icon on the top right of the BGA interface) that indicate them that "the game has ended" and invite them to review the game results.

'''Important: this should not be used on a player who has already left the game ("zombie") as leaving/being kicked of the game (outside of the scope of the rules) is not the same as being eliminated from the game (according to the rules), except if in the course of the game, the zombie player is eliminated according to the rules.'''

=== Scoring Helper functions ===

These functions should have been API but they are not, just add them to your php game and use for every game.

// get score
function dbGetScore($player_id) {
return $this->getUniqueValueFromDB("SELECT player_score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set score
function dbSetScore($player_id, $count) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score='$count' WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set aux score (tie breaker)
function dbSetAuxScore($player_id, $score) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score_aux=$score WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// increment score (can be negative too)
function dbIncScore($player_id, $inc) {
$count = $this->dbGetScore($player_id);
if ($inc != 0) {
$count += $inc;
$this->dbSetScore($player_id, $count);
}
return $count;
}

== Reflexion time ==

; function giveExtraTime( $player_id, $specific_time=null )
: Give standard extra time to this player.
: Standard extra time depends on the speed of the game (small with "slow" game option, bigger with other options).
: You can also specify an exact time to add, in seconds, with the "specified_time" argument (rarely used).

; function isAsync()
: Returns true if game is turn based, false if it is realtime

== Undo moves ==

Please read our [[BGA Undo policy]] before.

'''Important''': Before using these methods, you must also add the following to your "gameinfos.inc.php" file, otherwise these methods are ineffective:
'db_undo_support' => true

Note: if you deploy undo support after game is in production this will take into effect for new games only, old games will give user an error if user choses Undo action, but otherwise it should not affect them.

; function undoSavepoint( )
: Save the whole game situation inside an "Undo save point".
: There is only ONE undo save point available (see [[BGA Undo policy]]). Cannot use in multiactivate state or in game state where next state is multiactive.
: Note: this function does not actually do anything when it is called, it only raises the flag to store the database AFTER transaction is over. So the actual state will be saved when you exit the function calling it (technically before first queued notification is sent, which matters if you transition to game state not to user state after), this may affect what you end up saving.

; function undoRestorePoint()
: Restore the situation previously saved as an "Undo save point".
: You must make sure that the active player is the same after and before the undoRestorePoint (ie: this is your responsibility to ensure that the player that is active when this method is called is exactly the same than the player that was active when the undoSavePoint method has been called).

function actionUndo() {
self::checkAction('actionUndo');
$this->undoRestorePoint();
$this->gamestate->nextState('next'); // transition to single player state (i.e. beginning of player actions for this turn)
}

'''Important note''': if you are reading game state variable right after restore (without changing state first) it won't work properly as the global table cache is not automatically refreshed after undoRestorePoint(). So you should either change state immediately to refresh game state values, or use $this->gamestate->reloadState() to refresh the state. If you choose to do the latest, be aware that this will bring the state machine back to the state during which the save point snapshot has been taken using undoSavepoint() (which means your transition you do after has to declared in the state which was saved, not in the state which was active for your actionUndo())

== Managing errors and exceptions ==

Note: when you throw an exception, all database changes and all notifications are cancelled immediately. This way, the game situation that existed before the request is completely restored.

; throw new BgaUserException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a user error
: You must throw this exception when a player wants to do something that they are not allowed to do.
: The error message will be shown to the player as a "red message".
: The error message must be translated, make sure you use self::_() or $this->_() here and NOT clientranslate()
: Throwing such an exception is NOT considered a bug, so it is not traced in BGA error logs.

Example from Gomoku:
<pre>
throw new BgaUserException( self::_("There is already a stone on this intersection, you can't play there") );
</pre>

; throw new BgaVisibleSystemException ( $error_message)
: You must throw this exception when you detect something that is not supposed to happened in your code.
: The error message is shown to the user as an "Unexpected error", in order that he can report it in the forum.
: The error message is logged in BGA error logs. If it happens regularly, we will report it to you.

; throw new BgaSystemException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a system exception. The message will be hidden from the user, but show in the logs. Use this if the message contains technical information.
: You shouldn't use this type of exception except if you think the information shown could be critical. Indeed: a generic error message will be shown to the user, so it's going to be difficult for you to see what happened.

== Zombie mode ==

When a player leaves a game for any reason (expelled, quit), he becomes a "zombie player". In this case, the results of the game won't count for statistics, but this is cool if the other players can finish the game anyway. That's why zombie mode exists: allow the other player to finish the game, even if the situation is not ideal.

While developing your zombie mode, keep in mind that:
* Do not refer to the rules, because this situation is not planned by the rules.
* Try to figure that you are playing with your friends and one of them has to leave: how can we finish the game without killing the spirit of the game?
* The idea is NOT to develop an artificial intelligence for the game.
* Do not try to end the game early, even in a two-player game. The zombie is there to allow the game to continue, not to end it. Trying to end the game is not supported by the framework and will likely cause unexpected errors.

Most of the time, the best thing to do when it is zombie player turn is to jump immediately to a state where he is not active anymore. For example, if he is in a game state where he has a choice between playing A and playing B, the best thing to do is NOT to choose A or B, but to pass. So, even if there's no "pass" action in the rules, add a "zombiepass" transitition in your game state and use it.

Each time a zombie player must play, your "zombieTurn" method is called.

Parameters:
* $state: the name of the current game state.
* $active_player: the id of the active player.

Most of the time, your zombieTurn method looks like this:

<pre>
function zombieTurn( $state, $active_player )
{
$statename = $state['name'];

if( $statename == 'myFirstGameState'
|| $statename == 'my2ndGameState'
|| $statename == 'my3rdGameState'
....
)
{
$this->gamestate->nextState( "zombiePass" );
}
else
throw new BgaVisibleSystemException( "Zombie mode not supported at this game state: ".$statename );
}
</pre>

Note that in the example above, all corresponding game state should implement "zombiePass" as a transition.

'''Very important''': your zombie code will be called when the player leaves the game. This action is triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to this action. In your zombieTurn function, you must '''never''' use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message.

== Player color preferences ==

BGA players (Club members) may now choose their preferred color for playing. For example, if they are used to play green for every board game, they can select "green" in their BGA preferences page.

Making your game compatible with colors preferences is very easy and requires only 1 line of configuration change:

On your gameinfos.inc.php file, add the following lines :

// Favorite colors support: if set to "true", support attribution of favorite colors based on player's preferences (see reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method)
// NB: this parameter is used only to flag games supporting this feature; you must use (or not use) reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method to actually enable or disable the feature.
'favorite_colors_support' => true,

Then, on your main <your_game>.game.php file check the code of "setupNewGame". New template already have correct code, but if you editing very old game and it may be absent.

$gameinfos = $this->getGameinfos();
...
if ($gameinfos['favorite_colors_support'])
$this->reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences($players, $gameinfos['player_colors']); // this should be above reloadPlayersBasicInfos()
self::reloadPlayersBasicInfos();

The "reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences" method reattributes all colors, taking into account players color preferences and available colors.

Note that you must update the colors to indicate the colors available for your game.

Some important remarks:
* for some games (i.e. Chess), the color has an influence on a mechanism of the game, most of the time by giving a special advantage to a player (i.e. Starting the game). Color preference mechanism must NOT be used in such a case.
* your logic should NEVER consider that the first player has the color X, that the second player has the color Y, and so on. If this is the case, your game will NOT be compatible with reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences as this method attribute colors to players based on their preferences and not based as their order at the table.

Colours currently listed as a choice in preferences (Note - you don't have to pick these, the "closest" color will be found):

* #ff0000 Red
* #008000 Green
* #0000ff Blue
* #ffa500 Yellow
* #000000 Black
* #ffffff White
* #e94190 Pink
* #982fff Purple
* #72c3b1 Cyan
* #f07f16 Orange
* #bdd002 Khaki green
* #7b7b7b Gray

== Legacy games API ==

For some very specific games ("legacy", "campaign"), you need to keep some informations from a game to another.

This should be an exceptional situation: the legacy API is costing resources on Board Game Arena databases, and is slowing down the game setup process + game end of game process. Please do not use it for things like:
* keeping a player preference/settings (=> player preferences and game options should be used instead)
* keeping a statistics, a score, or a ranking, while it is not planned in the physical board game, or while there is no added value compared to BGA statistics / rankings.

You should use it for:
* legacy games: when some components of the game has been altered in a previous game and should be kept as it is.
* "campaign style" games: when a player is getting a "reward" at the end of a game, and should be able to use it in further games.

Important: you cannot store more than 64k of data (serialized as JSON) per player per game. If you go over 64k, storeLegacyData function is going to FAIL, and there is a risk to create a major bug (= players blocked) in your game. You MUST make sure that no more than 64k of data is used for each player for your game. For example, if you are implementing a "campaign style" game and if you allow a player to start multiple campaign, you must LIMIT the number of different campaign so that the total data size to not go over the limit. We strongly recommend you to use this:

try
{
$this->storeLegacyTeamData( 'my_variable', $my_data );
}
catch( feException $e )
{
if( $e->getCode() == FEX_legacy_size_exceeded )
{
// Do something here to free some space in Legacy data (ex: by removing some variables)
}
else
throw $e;
}

The keys may only contain letters and numbers, underscore seems not to be allowed.

; function storeLegacyData( $player_id, $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Store some data associated with $key for the given user / current game
: In the opposite of all other game data, this data will PERSIST after the end of this table, and can be re-used
: in a future table with the same game.
: IMPORTANT: The only possible place where you can use this method is when the game is over at your table (last game action). Otherwise, there is a risk of conflicts between ongoing games.
: TTL is a time-to-live: the maximum, and default, is 365 days.
: In any way, the total data (= all keys) you can store for a given user+game is 64k (note: data is store serialized as JSON data)

; function retrieveLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Get data associated with $key for the current game
: This data is common to ALL tables from the same game for this player, and persist from one table to another.
: Note: calling this function has an important cost => please call it few times (possibly: only ONCE) for each player for 1 game if possible
: Note: you can use '%' in $key to retrieve all keys matching the given patterns

; function removeLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Remove some legacy data with the given key
: (useful to free some data to avoid going over 64k)

; function storeLegacyTeamData( $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Same as storeLegacyData, except that it stores some data for the whole team within the current table
: Ie: if players A, B and C are at a table, the legacy data will be saved for future table with (exactly) A, B and C on the table.
: This is useful for games which are intended to be played several time by the same team.
: Note: the data total size is still limited, so you must implement catch the FEX_legacy_size_exceeded exception if it happens

; function retrieveLegacyTeamData($key)
: Same as retrieveLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

; function removeLegacyTeamData()
: Same as removeLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

== Language dependent games API ==

This API is used for games that are heavily language dependent. Two most common use cases are:
* Games that have a language dependent component that are not necessarily translatable, typically a list of words. (Think of games like Codenames, Decrypto, Just One...)
* Games with massive communication where players would like to ensure that all participants speak the same language. (Think of games like Werewolf, The Resistance, maybe even dixit...)

If this option is used, the table created will be limited only to users that have specific language in their profile. Player starting the game would be able to chose one of the languages he speaks.

There is a new property language_dependency in gameinfos.inc.php which can be set like this:
'language_dependency' => false, //or if the property is missing, the game is not language dependent
'language_dependency' => true, //all players at the table must speak the same language
'language_dependency' => array( 1 => 'en', 2 => 'fr', 3 => 'it' ), //1-based list of supported languages

In the gamename.game.php file, you can get the id of selected language with the method '''getGameLanguage'''.
; function getGameLanguage()
: Returns an index of the selected language as defined in gameinfos.inc.php.

Languages currently available on BGA are:
'ar' => array( 'name' => "العربية", 'code' => 'ar_AE' ), // Arabic
'be' => array( 'name' => "беларуская мова", 'code' => 'be_BY' ), // Belarusian
'bn' => array( 'name' => "বাংলা", 'code' => 'bn_BD' ), // Bengali
'bg' => array( 'name' => "български език", 'code' => 'bg_BG' ), // Bulgarian
'ca' => array( 'name' => "català", 'code' => 'ca_ES' ), // Catalan
'cs' => array( 'name' => "čeština", 'code' => 'cs_CZ' ), // Czech
'da' => array( 'name' => "dansk", 'code' => 'da_DK' ), // Danish
'de' => array( 'name' => "deutsch", 'code' => 'de_DE' ), // German
'el' => array( 'name' => "Ελληνικά", 'code' => 'el_GR' ), // Greek
'en' => array( 'name' => "English", 'code' => 'en_US' ), // English
'es' => array( 'name' => "español", 'code' => 'es_ES' ), // Spanish
'et' => array( 'name' => "eesti keel", 'code' => 'et_EE' ), // Estonian
'fi' => array( 'name' => "suomi", 'code' => 'fi_FI' ), // Finnish
'fr' => array( 'name' => "français", 'code' => 'fr_FR' ), // French
'he' => array( 'name' => "עברית", 'code' => 'he_IL' ), // Hebrew
'hi' => array( 'name' => "हिन्दी", 'code' => 'hi_IN' ), // Hindi
'hr' => array( 'name' => "Hrvatski", 'code' => 'hr_HR' ), // Croatian
'hu' => array( 'name' => "magyar", 'code' => 'hu_HU' ), // Hungarian
'id' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Indonesia", 'code' => 'id_ID' ), // Indonesian
'ms' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Malaysia", 'code' => 'ms_MY' ), // Malaysian
'it' => array( 'name' => "italiano", 'code' => 'it_IT' ), // Italian
'ja' => array( 'name' => "日本語", 'code' => 'ja_JP' ), // Japanese
'jv' => array( 'name' => "Basa Jawa", 'code' => 'jv_JV' ), // Javanese
'ko' => array( 'name' => "한국어", 'code' => 'ko_KR' ), // Korean
'lt' => array( 'name' => "lietuvių", 'code' => 'lt_LT' ), // Lithuanian
'lv' => array( 'name' => "latviešu", 'code' => 'lv_LV' ), // Latvian
'nl' => array( 'name' => "nederlands", 'code' => 'nl_NL' ), // Dutch
'no' => array( 'name' => "norsk", 'code' => 'nb_NO' ), // Norwegian
'oc' => array( 'name' => "occitan", 'code' => 'oc_FR' ), // Occitan
'pl' => array( 'name' => "polski", 'code' => 'pl_PL' ), // Polish
'pt' => array( 'name' => "português", 'code' => 'pt_PT' ), // Portuguese
'ro' => array( 'name' => "română", 'code' => 'ro_RO' ), // Romanian
'ru' => array( 'name' => "Русский язык", 'code' => 'ru_RU' ), // Russian
'sk' => array( 'name' => "slovenčina", 'code' => 'sk_SK' ), // Slovak
'sl' => array( 'name' => "slovenščina", 'code' => 'sl_SI' ), // Slovenian
'sr' => array( 'name' => "Српски", 'code' => 'sr_RS' ), // Serbian
'sv' => array( 'name' => "svenska", 'code' => 'sv_SE' ), // Swedish
'tr' => array( 'name' => "Türkçe", 'code' => 'tr_TR' ), // Turkish
'uk' => array( 'name' => "Українська мова", 'code' => 'uk_UA' ), // Ukrainian
'zh' => array( 'name' => "中文 (漢)", 'code' => 'zh_TW' ), // Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan)
'zh-cn' => array( 'name' => "中文 (汉)", 'code' => 'zh_CN' ), // Simplified Chinese (Mainland China, Singapore)

== Debugging and Tracing ==

To debug php code you can use some tracing functions available from the parent class such as debug, trace, error, warn, dump.

self::debug("Ahh!");
self::dump('my_var',$my_var);

See [[Practical_debugging]] section for complete information about debugging interfaces and where to find logs.

Main game logic: Game.php

2022-03-16T13:00:13Z

Bennygui: /* BGA predefined globals */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

This is the main file for your game logic. Here you initialize the game, persist data, implement the rules and notify the client interface of changes.

== File Structure ==

The details of how the file is structured are described directly with comments in the code skeleton provided to you.

Here is the basic structure:

* Constructor: where you define global variables.
* setupNewGame: initial setup of the game. Takes an array of players, indexed by player_id. Structure of each player includes player_name, player_canal, player_avatar, and flags indicating admin/ai/premium/order/language/beginner.
* getAllDatas: where you retrieve all game data during a complete reload of the game. Returned value must include ['players'][playerId]['score'] for scores to populate when F5 is pressed.
* getGameProgression: where you compute the game progression indicator. Returns a number indicating percent of progression (0-100)
* Utility functions: your utility functions.
* Player actions: the entry points for players actions ([https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Players_actions:_yourgamename.action.php more info here]).
* Game state arguments: methods to return additional data on specific game states ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#args more info here]).
* Game state actions: the logic to run when entering a new game state ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#action more info here]).
* zombieTurn: what to do it's the turn of a zombie player.
* upgradeTableDb: function to migrate database if you change it after release on production.

== Accessing player information ==

'''Important''': In the following methods, be mindful of the difference between the "active" player and the "current" player. The '''active''' player is the player whose turn it is - not necessarily the player who sent a request! The '''current''' player is the player who sent the request and will see the results returned by your methods: not necessarily the player whose turn it is!

; getPlayersNumber()
: Returns the number of players playing at the table
: Note: doesn't work in setupNewGame (use count($players) instead).

; getActivePlayerId()
: Get the "active_player", whatever what is the current state type.
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multiplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getActivePlayerName()
: Get the "active_player" name
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getPlayerNameById($player_id)
: Get the name by id

; getPlayerColorById($player_id)
: Get the color by id

; getPlayerNoById($player_id)
: Get 'player_no' (number) by id

; loadPlayersBasicInfos()
: Get an associative array with generic data about players (ie: not game specific data).
: The key of the associative array is the player id. The returned table is cached, so ok to call multiple times without performance concerns.
: <code>array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos())</code> will therefore returns an array containing players id
: The content of each value is:
: * player_name - the name of the player
: * player_color (ex: ff0000) - the color code of the player
: * player_no - the position of the player at the start of the game in natural table order, i.e. 1,2,3

<pre>
$players = $this->loadPlayersBasicInfos();
foreach ($players as $player_id => $info) {
$player_color = $info['player_color'];
...
}
</pre>
Note: if you want array of player ids only you can do this:
$player_ids = array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos());

; getCurrentPlayerId()
: Get the "current_player". The current player is the one from which the action originated (the one who sent the request).
: '''Be careful''': This is not necessarily the active player!
: In general, you shouldn't use this method, unless you are in "multiplayer" state.
: '''Very important''': in your setupNewGame and zombieTurn function, you must never use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message (these actions are triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to these actions).

; getCurrentPlayerName()
: Get the "current_player" name
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; getCurrentPlayerColor()
: Get the "current_player" color
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; isCurrentPlayerZombie()
: Check the "current_player" zombie status. If true, player is zombie, i.e. left or was kicked out of the game.

; isSpectator()
: Check the "current_player" spectator status. If true, the user accessing the game is a spectator (not part of the game). For this user, the interface should display all public information, and no private information (like a friend sitting at the same table as players and just spectating the game).

; getActivePlayerColor()
: This function does not seems to exist in API, if you need it here is implementation
function getActivePlayerColor() {
$player_id = self::getActivePlayerId();
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (isset($players[$player_id]))
return $players[$player_id]['player_color'];
else
return null;
}
; isPlayerZombie($player_id)
: This method does not exists, but if you need it it looks like this
protected function isPlayerZombie($player_id) {
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (! isset($players[$player_id]))
throw new feException("Player $player_id is not playing here");

return ($players[$player_id]['player_zombie'] == 1);
}

== Accessing the database ==

The main game logic should be the only point from which you should access the game database. You access your database using SQL queries with the methods below.

'''IMPORTANT'''

BGA uses [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/sql-syntax-transactions.html database transactions]. This means that your database changes WON'T BE APPLIED to the database until your request ends normally (web request, not database request). Using transactions is in fact very useful for you; at any time, if your game logic detects that something is wrong (example: a disallowed move), you just have to throw an exception and all changes to the game situation will be removed. This also means that you need not (and in fact cannot) use your own transactions for multiple related database operations.

However there are sets of database operation that initite implicit commit (most common mistake is to use "TRUNCATE"), you cannot use these operations during the game, it breaks the unrolling of transactions and will lead to nasty issues
(https://mariadb.com/kb/en/sql-statements-that-cause-an-implicit-commit).

; DbQuery( $sql )
: This is the generic method to access the database.
: It can execute any type of SELECT/UPDATE/DELETE/REPLACE/INSERT query on the database.
: For SELECT queries, the specialized methods below are much better.
: Do not use method for TUNCATE, DROP and other table altering operations. See disclamer above about implicit commits. If you really need TRUNCATE use DELETE FROM xxx instead.

; getUniqueValueFromDB( $sql )
: Returns a unique value from DB or null if no value is found.
: $sql must be a SELECT query.
: Raise an exception if more than 1 row is returned.

; getCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Returns an associative array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The key of the resulting associative array is the first field specified in the SELECT query.
: The value of the resulting associative array is an associative array with all the field specified in the SELECT query and associated values.
: First column must be a primary or alternate key (semantically, it does not actually have to declared in sql as such).
: The resulting collection can be empty (it won't be null).
: If you specified $bSingleValue=true and if your SQL query request 2 fields A and B, the method returns an associative array "A=>B", otherwise its A=>[A,B]
: Note: The name a bit misleading, it really return associative array, i.e. map and NOT a collection. You cannot use it to get list of values which may have duplicates (hence primary key requirement on first column). If you need simple array use getObjectListFromDB() method.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
1234 => array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
1235 => array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
1234 => 'myuser0',
1235 => 'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getNonEmptyCollectionFromDB( $sql )
: Same as getCollectionFromDB($sdl), but raise an exception if the collection is empty. Note: this function does NOT have 2nd argument as previous one does.

; getObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Returns one row for the sql SELECT query as an associative array or null if there is no result
: Raise an exception if the query return more than one row (you can use LIMIT 1 in the query to avoid the exception)

Example:
<pre>
self::getObjectFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'" );

Result:
array(
'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1
)
</pre>

; getNonEmptyObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Similar to previous one, but raise an exception if no row is found

; getObjectListFromDB( $sql, $bUniqueValue=false )
: Return an array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The result is the same than "getCollectionFromDB" except that the result is a simple array (and not an associative array).
: The result can be empty.
: If you specified $bUniqueValue=true and if your SQL query request 1 field, the method returns directly an array of values.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
'myuser0',
'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getDoubleKeyCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Return an associative array of associative array, from a SQL SELECT query.
: First array level correspond to first column specified in SQL query.
: Second array level correspond to second column specified in SQL query.
: If bSingleValue = true, keep only third column on result

; DbGetLastId()
: Return the PRIMARY key of the last inserted row (see PHP mysql_insert_id function).

; DbAffectedRow()
: Return the number of row affected by the last operation

; escapeStringForDB( $string )
: You must use this function on every string type data in your database that contains unsafe data.
: (unsafe = can be modified by a player).
: This method makes sure that no SQL injection will be done through the string used.
: Note: if you using standard types in ajax actions, like AT_alphanum it is sanitized before arrival,
: this is only needed if you manage to get unchecked string, like in the games where user has to enter text as a response.

<pre>

</pre>

Note: see Editing [[Game database model: dbmodel.sql]] to know how to define your database model.

== Use globals ==

Sometimes, you want a single global integer value for your game, and you don't want to create a DB table specifically for it.

You can do this with the BGA framework "global." Your value will be stored in the "global" table in the database, and you can access it with simple methods.

'''initGameStateLabels'''

This method should be located at the beginning of __construct() method of ''yourgamename.game.php''. This is where you define the globals used in your game logic, by assigning them IDs.

You can define up to 80 globals, with IDs from 10 to 89 (inclusive, there can be gaps). You must '''not''' use globals outside this range, as those values are used by other components of the framework.

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11
) );
</pre>

or

<pre>
$this->GAMESTATELABELS = ["my_first_global_variable" => 10, "my_second_global_variable" => 11];
self::initGameStateLabels($this->GAMESTATELABELS);
</pre>

This is also in this method that you will define your game options. In that case, IDs need to be between 100 and 199 (inclusive, there can be gaps) Check this for more details [[Game_options_and_preferences:_gameoptions.inc.php]]

With option set, the method will look like

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11,
"my_game_variant" => 100
) );
</pre>

'''setGameStateInitialValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Initialize your global value. Must be called before any use of your global, so you should call this method from your "setupNewGame" method. $value_value must be an integer.

It seems that a non initialized value will not be restored with undo system, so it is therefore advisable to initialize them all in your "setupNewGame" method.

<pre>foreach ($this->GAMESTATELABELS as $value_label=> $ID) if ($ID >= 10 && $ID < 90) self::setGameStateInitialValue($value_label, 0);</pre>

'''getGameStateValue( $value_label )'''

Retrieve the current value of a global.

For debugging purposes, you can have labels and value pairs send to client side by inserting that line of code in your "getAllDatas":

<pre>$result['labels'] = array_combine(array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS), array_map('self::getGameStateValue', array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS)));</pre>

'''setGameStateValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Set the current value of a global. $value_value must be an integer.

'''incGameStateValue( $value_label, $increment )'''

Increment the current value of a global. If increment is negative, decrement the value of the global.

Return the final value of the global.

=== BGA predefined globals ===

BGA already defines some globals in the ''global'' database table. You should not change them directly but it can be useful to know what they mean when debugging:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! global_id !! Meaning
|-
| 1 || Active state id
|-
| 2 || Active player id
|-
| 3 || Next move number
|-
| 6 || Player turn number
|-
| 7 || Game progression
|-
| 8 || Initial reflextion time
|-
| 9 || Additional reflextion time
|-
| 200 || Reflexion time profile
|-
| 201 || BGA ranking mode
|-
| 300 || Current version of the game (when in production)
|}

== Game states and active players ==

=== Activate player handling ===

; $this->activeNextPlayer()
: Make the next player active in the natural player order.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->activePrevPlayer()
: Make the previous player active (in the natural player order).
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->gamestate->changeActivePlayer( $player_id )
: You can call this method to make any player active.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->getActivePlayerId()
: Return the "active_player" id
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multipleactiveplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multipleactiveplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

=== Multiple activate player handling ===

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()
: All playing players are made active. Update notification is sent to all players (this will trigger '''onUpdateActionButtons''').
: Usually, you use this method at the beginning of a game state (e.g., "stGameState") which transitions to a ''multipleactiveplayer'' state in which multiple players have to perform some action. Do not use this method if you going to make some more changes in the active player list. (I.e., if you want to take away multipleactiveplayer status immediately afterwards, use setPlayersMultiactive instead.)

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_MultiPlayerInit() {
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
}
</pre>

; $this->stMakeEveryoneActive()
:this method can be used in state machine to make everybody active as "st" method of multiplayeractive state, it just calls $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()

This is to be used in state declaration:
<pre>
2 => array(
"name" => "playerTurnPlace",
"description" => clienttranslate('Other player must place ships'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must place ships (click on YOUR SHIPS board to place)'),
"type" => "multipleactiveplayer",
'action' => 'stMakeEveryoneActive',
'args' => 'arg_playerTurnPlace',
"possibleactions" => array( "actionBla" ),
"transitions" => array( "next" => 4, "last" => 99)
),
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersNonMultiactive( $next_state )
: All playing players are made inactive. Transition to next state

; $this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive( $players, $next_state, $bExclusive = false )
: Make a specific list of players active during a multiactive gamestate. Update notification is sent to all players whose state changed.
: "players" is the array of player id that should be made active. If "players" is not empty the value of "next_state" will be ignored (you can put whatever you want)
: If "exclusive" parameter is not set or false it doesn't deactivate other previously active players. If its set to true, the players who will be multiactive at the end are only these in "$players" array

: In case "players" is empty, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise

; $this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $player_id, $next_state )
: During a multiactive game state, make the specified player inactive.
: Usually, you call this method during a multiactive game state after a player did his action. It is also possible to call it directly from multiplayer action handler.
: If this player was the last active player, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise
Example of usage (see state declaration of playerTurnPlace above):
<pre>
function actionBla($args) {
self::checkAction('actionBla');
// handle the action using $this->getCurrentPlayerId()
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 'next');
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->getActivePlayerList()
: With this method you can retrieve the list of the active player at any time.
: During a "game" type gamestate, it will return a void array.
: During a "activeplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array with one value (the active player id).
: During a "multipleactiveplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array of the active players id.
: Note: you should only use this method in the latter case.

; $this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( $next_state_if_none )
: Sends update notification about multiplayer changes. All multiactive set* functions above do that, however if you want to change state manually using db queries for complex calculations, you have to call this yourself after. Do not call this if you calling one of the other setters above.
Example: you have player teams and you want to activate all players in one team
<pre>
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='0'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='1' WHERE player_id='$player_id' AND player_team='$team_no'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );

$this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( 'error' );
</pre>

; updating database manually
: Use this helper function to change multiactive state without sending notification
<pre>
/**
* Changes values of multiactivity in db, does not sent notifications.
* To send notifications after use updateMultiactiveOrNextState
* @param number $player_id, player id <=0 or null - means ALL
* @param number $value - 1 multiactive, 0 non multiactive
*/
function dbSetPlayerMultiactive($player_id = -1, $value = 1) {
if (! $value)
$value = 0;
else
$value = 1;
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive = '$value' WHERE player_zombie = 0 and player_eliminated = 0";
if ($player_id > 0) {
$sql .= " AND player_id = $player_id";
}
self::DbQuery($sql);
}
</pre>

;$this->gamestate->isPlayerActive($player_id)
:Return true if specified player is active right now.
:This method take into account game state type, ie nobody is active if game state is "game" and several players can be active if game state is "multiplayer"

=== States functions ===
; $this->gamestate->nextState( $transition )
: Change current state to a new state. Important: the $transition parameter is the name of the transition, and NOT the name of the target game state, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for more information about states.

; $this->checkAction( $actionName, $bThrowException=true )
: Check if the current player can perform a specific action in the current game state, and optionally throw an exception if they can't.
: The action is valid if it is listed in the "possibleactions" array for the current game state (see game state description).
: This method MUST be the first one called in ALL your PHP methods that handle player actions, in order to make sure a player doesn't perform an action not allowed by the rules at the point in the game. It should not be called from methods where the current player is not necessarily the active player, otherwise it may fail with an "It is not your turn" exception.
: If "bThrowException" is set to "false", the function returns '''false''' in case of failure instead of throwing an exception. This is useful when several actions are possible, in order to test each of them without throwing exceptions.

; $this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction( $action )
: (rarely used)
: This works exactly like "checkAction" (above), except that it does NOT check if the current player is active.
: This is used specifically in certain game states when you want to authorize additional actions for players that are not active at the moment.
: Example: in ''Libertalia'', you want to authorize players to change their mind about the card played. They are of course not active at the time they change their mind, so you cannot use "checkAction"; use "checkPossibleAction" instead.

This is how PHP action looks that returns player to active state (only for multiplayeractive states). To be able to execute on js side do not checkAction on js side for this specific one.

function actionUnpass() {
$this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction('actionUnpass'); // player changed mind about passing while others were thinking
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive(array ($this->getCurrentPlayerId() ), 'error', false);
}

; $this->gamestate->state()
: Get an associative array of current game state attributes, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for state attributes.

$state=$this->gamestate->state(); if( $state['name'] == 'myGameState' ) {...}

I suggest to define and use this function in your php class to access state name:

public function getStateName() {
$state = $this->gamestate->state();
return $state['name'];
}

; $this->gamestate->state_id()
: Get the id of the current game state (rarely useful, its best to use name, unless you use constants for state ids)

; $this->gamestate->isMutiactiveState()
: Return true if we are in multipleactiveplayer state, false otherwise

=== Private parallel states ===

See the overview of private parallel states [[Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#Private_parallel_states|here]].

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers()
: All active players in a multiactive state are entering a first private state defined in the master state's initialprivate parameter.
: Every time you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods below.
: Note: at least one player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating some or all players
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method

$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

// in some cases you can move immediately some or all players to different private states
if ($someCondition) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}

if ($other condition) {
//move single player to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($specificPlayerId, "some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds)
: Players with specified ids are entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateState($playerId)
: Player with the specified id is entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Everytime you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods above
: Note: player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating that player
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_ChangeMind() {
// This player finished his move before, but now decides change something while other players are still active
// We activate the player and initialize his private state
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive([$this->getCurrentPlayerId()], "");
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateState(this->getCurrentPlayerId());

// It is also possible to move the player to some other specific state immediately
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers($transition)
: All active players will transition to next private state by specified transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state
: Note: this is usually used after initializing the private state to move players to specific private state according to the game logic

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

if ($specificOption) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: Players with specified ids will transition to next private state specified by provided transition.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($playerId, $transition)
: Player with specified id will transition to next private state specified by provided transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player
: Note: this is usually used after some player actions to move to next private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers()
: All players private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used to clean up after leaving a master state in which private states were used, but can be used in other cases when we want to exit private parallel states and use a regular multiactive state for all players
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private states as they will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state after exiting private parallel states to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stNextRound() {
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers();
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: For players with specified ids private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($playerId)
: For player with specified id private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used when deactivating player to clean up their parallel state
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private state as it will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state when not needed to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function done() {
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "newTurn" );
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId());
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($playerId, $newStateId)
: For player with specified id a new private state would be set
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this should be rarely used as it doesn't check if the transition is allowed (it doesn't even specifies transition). This can be useful in very complex cases when standard state machine is not adequate (i.e. specific cards can lead to some micro action in various states where defining transitions back and forth can become very tedious.)
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state

if ($playerHaveSpecificCard)
return $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 35);

$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

== Players turn order ==

When table is created the "natural" player order is assigned to player at random, and stored in "read-only" field "player_no".
If you need to create a custom order you should never change natural order but have a separate data structure.
For example you can alter the players table to add another "custom_order" field, you can use state globals or you can use your natural board database,
to store meeple_color/position_location pair.
BGA currently does not provide any API to create/store custom player order.

'''getNextPlayerTable()'''

Return an associative array which associate each player with the next player around the table.

In addition, key 0 is associated to the first player to play.

Example: if three player with ID 1, 2 and 3 are around the table, in this order, the method returns:
<pre>
array(
1 => 2,
2 => 3,
3 => 1,
0 => 1
);
</pre>

'''getPrevPlayerTable()'''

Same as above, but the associative array associate the previous player around the table. However there no 0 index here.

'''getPlayerAfter( $player_id )'''

Get player playing after given player in natural playing order.

'''getPlayerBefore( $player_id )'''

Get player playing before given player in natural playing order.

Note: There is no API to modify this order, if you have custom player order you have to maintain it in your database
and have custom function to access it.

'''createNextPlayerTable( $players, $bLoop=true )'''

Using $players array creates a map of current => next as in example from getNextPlayerTable(), however you can use custom order here.
If parmeter $bLoop is set to true then last player will points to first (creaing a loop), false otherwise.
In any case index 0 points to first player (first element of $players array). $players is array of player ids in desired order.

Note: This function '''DOES NOT''' change the order in database, it only creates a map using key/values as descibed.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function getNextPlayerTableCustom() {
$starting = $this->getStartingPlayer(); // custom function to get starting player
$player_ids = $this->getPlayerIdsInOrder($starting); // custom function to create players array starting from starting player
return $this->createNextPlayerTable($player_ids, false); // create next player table in custom order
}
</pre>

<pre>
$table = $this->createNextPlayerTable([3,2,1], false);

will return:
[
3 => 2,
2 => 1,
1 => null,
0 => 3
]
</pre>

== Notify players ==

To understand notifications, please read [http://www.slideshare.net/boardgamearena/the-bga-framework-at-a-glance The BGA Framework at a glance] first.

'''IMPORTANT'''

Notifications are sent at the very end of the request, when it ends normally. It means that if you throw an exception for any reason (ex: move not allowed), no notifications will be sent to players.
Notifications sent between the game start (setupNewGame) and the end of the "action" method of the first active state will never reach their destination.

=== NotifyAllPlayers ===

'''notifyAllPlayers( $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Send a notification to all players of the game.

* notification_type:
A string that defines the type of your notification.

Your game interface Javascript logic will use this to know what is the type of the received notification (and to trigger the corresponding method).

* notification_log:
A string that defines what is to be displayed in the game log.

You can use an empty string here (""). In this case, nothing is displayed in the game log.

If you define a real string here, you should use "clienttranslate" method to make sure it can be translated.

You can use arguments in your notification_log strings, that refers to values defines in the "notification_args" argument (see below).
Note: Make sure you only use single quotes ('), otherwise PHP will try to interpolate the variable and will ignore the values in the args array.

* notification_args:
The arguments of your notifications, as an associative array.

This array will be transmitted to the game interface logic, in order the game interface can be updated.

Complete notifyAllPlayers example (from "Reversi"):

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y
) );
</pre>

You can see in the example above the use of the "clienttranslate" method, and the use of 2 arguments "player_name" and "returned_nbr" in the notification log.

'''Important''': NO private data must be sent with this method, as a cheater could see it even if it is not used explicitly by the game interface logic. If you want to send private information to a player, please use notifyPlayer below.

'''Important''': this array is serialized to be sent to the browsers, and will be saved with the notification to be able to replay the game later. If it is too big, it can make notifications slower / less reliable, and replay archives very big (to the point of failing). So as a general rule, you should send only the minimum of information necessary to update the client interface with no overhead in order to keep the notifications as light as possible.

'''Important''': When the game page is reloaded (i.e. F5 or when loading turn based game) all previous notifications are replayed as history notifications. These notifications do not trigger notification handlers and are used basically to build the game log. Because of that most of the notification arguments, except i18n, player_id and all arguments used in the message, are removed from these history notifications. If you need additional arguments in history notifications you can add special field <b>preserve</b> to notification arguments, like this:

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y,
'preserve' => [ 'x', 'y' ]
) );
</pre>
In this example, fields x and y will be preserved when replaying history notification at the game load.

==== HTML in Notifications ====

You CAN use some HTML inside your notification log, however it not recommended for many reasons:
* Its bad architecture, ui elements leak into server now you have to manage ui in many places
* If you decided to change something in ui in future version, old games replay and tutorials may not work, since they use stored notifications
* When you read log preview for old games its unreadable (this is log before you enter the game replay, useful for troubleshooting or game analysis)
* Its more data to transfer and store in db
* Its nightmare for translators, at least don't put HTML tags inside the "clienttranslate" method. You can use a notification argument instead, and provide your HTML through this argument.

If you still want to have pretty pictures in the log check this [[BGA_Studio_Cookbook#Inject_images_and_styled_html_in_the_log]].

==== Recursive Notifications ====

If your notification contains some phrases that build programmatically you may need to use recursive notifications. In this case the argument can be not only the string but
an array itself, which contains 'log' and 'args', i.e.

$this->notifyAllPlayers('playerLog',clienttranslate('Game moves ${token_name_rec}'),
['token_name_rec'=>['log'=>'${token_name} #${token_number}',
'args'=> ['token_name'=>clienttranslate('Boo'), 'token_number'=>$number, 'i18n'=>['token_name'] ]
]
]);

Special handling of arguments:
* ${player_name} - this will be wrapped in html and text shown using color of the corresponding player, some colors also have reserved background. This will apply recursively as well.
* ${player_name2} - same

==== Excluding some players ====

Sometimes you want to notify all players of a message but not have it appear in the log of specific players (for example, have every player see "Player X draws a card" but have Player X see "You draw the Ace of Spades").

To send a notification to all players but have some clients ignore it, send it as normal from the server, but implement '''setIgnoreNotificationCheck''' on the client to ignore the message under given conditions. See the X.js documentation for more details.

=== NotifyPlayer ===

'''notifyPlayer( $player_id, $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Same as above, except that the notification is sent to one player only.

This method must be used each time some private information must be transmitted to a player.

Important: the variable for player name must be ${player_name} in order to be highlighted with the player color in the game log. If you want a second player name in the log, name the variable ${player_name2}, etc.

Note that spectators cannot be notified using this method, because their player ID is not available via loadPlayersBasicInfos() or otherwise. You must use notifyAllPlayers() for any notification that spectators should get.

== About random and randomness ==

A large number of board games rely on random, most often based on dice, cards shuffling, picking some item in a bag, and so on. This is very important to ensure a high level of randomness for each of these situations.

Here's are a list of techniques you should use in these situations, from the best to the worst.

=== Dice and bga_rand ===

'''bga_rand( min, max )'''
This is a BGA framework function that provides you a random number between "min" and "max" (inclusive), using the best available random method available on the system.

This is the preferred function you should use, because we are updating it when a better method is introduced.

As of now, bga_rand is based on the PHP function "random_int", which ensures a cryptographic level of randomness.

In particular, it is '''mandatory''' to use it for all '''dice throw''' (ie: games using other methods for dice throwing will be rejected by BGA during review).

Note: rand() and mt_rand() are deprecated on BGA and should not be used anymore, as their randomness is not as good as "bga_rand".

=== shuffle and cards shuffling ===

To shuffle items, like a pile of cards, the best way is to use the BGA PHP [[Deck]] component and to use "shuffle" method. This ensures that the best available shuffling method is used, and that if in the future we improve it your game will be up to date.

As of now, the Deck component shuffle method is based on PHP "shuffle" method, which has quite good randomness (even it is not as good as bga_rand). In consequence, we accept other shuffling methods during reviews, as long as they are based on PHP "shuffle" function (or similar, like "array_rand").

=== Other methods ===

Mysql "RAND()" function has not enough randomness to be a valid method to get a random element on BGA. This function has been used in some existing games and has given acceptable results, but now it should be avoided and you should use other methods instead.

== Game statistics ==

There are 2 types of statistics:
* a "player" statistic is a statistic associated to a player
* a "table" statistic is a statistic not associated to a player (global statistic for this game).

See [[Game statistics: stats.inc.php]] to see how you define statistics for your game.

'''initStat( $table_or_player, $name, $value, $player_id = null )'''

Create a statistic entry with a default value.

This method must be called for each statistic of your game, in your setupNewGame method.
If you neglect to call this for a statistic, and also do not update the value during the course of a certain game using setStat or incStat, the value of the stat will be undefined rather than 0. This will result in it being ignored at the end of the game, as if it didn't apply to that particular game, and excluded from cumulative statistics. As a consequence - if do not want statistic to be applied, do not init it, or call set or inc on it.

'$table_or_player' must be set to "table" if this is a table statistic, or "player" if this is a player statistic.

'$name' is the name of your statistic, as it has been defined in your stats.inc.php file.

'$value' is the initial value of the statistic. If this is a player statistic and if the player is not specified by "$player_id" argument, the value is set for ALL players.

'''setStat( $value, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Set a statistic $name to $value.

If "$player_id" is not specified, setStat consider it is a TABLE statistic.

If "$player_id" is specified, setStat consider it is a PLAYER statistic.

'''incStat( $delta, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Increment (or decrement) specified statistic value by $delta value. Same behavior as setStat function.

'''getStat( $name, $player_id = null )'''

Return the value of statistic specified by $name. Useful when creating derivative statistics such as average.

== Translations ==

See [[Translations]]

== Manage player scores and Tie breaker ==

=== Normal scoring ===

At the end of the game, players automatically get a rank depending on their score: the player with the biggest score is #1, the player with the second biggest score is #2, and so on...

During the game, you update player's score directly by updating "player_score" field of "player" table in database.

Examples:
<pre>

// +2 points to active player
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=player_score+2 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

// Set score of active player to 5
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=5 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

</pre>

Note: don't forget to notify the client side in order the score control can be updated accordingly.

=== Tie breaker ===

Tie breaker is used when two players get the same score at the end of a game.

Tie breaker is using "player_score_aux" field of "player" table. It is updated exactly like the "player_score" field.

Tie breaker score is displayed only for players who are tied at the end of the game. Most of the time, it is not supposed to be displayed explicitly during the game.

When you are using "player_score_aux" functionality, you must describe the formula to use in your gameinfos.inc.php file like this:

<pre>
'tie_breaker_description' => totranslate("Describe here your tie breaker formula"),
</pre>

This description will be used as a tooltip to explain to players how this auxiliary score has been calculated.

=== Co-operative game ===

To make everyone win/lose together in a full-coop game:

Add the following in gameinfos.inc.php :
'is_coop' => 1, // full cooperative

Assign a score of zero to everyone if it's a loss.
Assign the same score > 0 to everyone if it's a win.

=== Semi-coop ===

If the game is not full-coop, then everyone loses = everyone is tied. I.e. set score to 0 to everybody.

=== Only "winners" and "losers" ===

For some games, there is only a group (or a single) "winner", and everyone else is a "loser", with no "end of game rank" (1st, 2nd, 3rd...).

Examples:
* Coup
* Not Alone
* Werewolves
* Quantum

In this case:
* Set the scores so that the winner has the best score, and the other players have the same (lower) score.
* Add the following lines to gameinfos.inc.php:

<pre>
// If in the game, all losers are equal (no score to rank them or explicit in the rules that losers are not ranked between them), set this to true
// The game end result will display "Winner" for the 1st player and "Loser" for all other players
'losers_not_ranked' => true,
</pre>

Werewolves and Coup are implemented like this, as you can see here:
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=werewolves&section=lastresults
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=coupcitystate&section=lastresults

Adding this has the following effects:
* On game results for this game, "Winner" or "Loser" is going to appear instead of the usual "1st, 2nd, 3rd, ...".
* When a game is over, the result of the game will be "End of game: Victory" or "End of game: Defeat" depending on the result of the CURRENT player (instead of the usual "Victory of XXX").
* When calculating ELO points, if there is at least one "Loser", no "victorious" player can lose ELO points, and no "losing" player can win ELO point. Usually it may happened because being tie with many players with a low rank is considered as a tie and may cost you points. If losers_not_ranked is set, we prevent this behavior and make sure you only gain/loss ELO when you get the corresponding results.

Important: this SHOULD NOT be used for cooperative games (see is_coop parameter), or for 2 players games (it makes no sense in this case).

=== Solo ===

If game supports solo variant, a negative or zero score means defeat, a positive score means victory.

=== Player elimination ===

In some games, this is useful to eliminate a player from the game in order he/she can start another game without waiting for the current game end.

This case should be rare. Please don't use player elimination feature if some player just has to wait the last 10% of the game for game end. This feature should be used only in games where players are eliminated all along the game (typical examples: "Perudo" or "The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow").

Usage:

* Player to eliminate should NOT be active anymore (preferably use the feature in a "game" type game state).
* In your PHP code:
self::eliminatePlayer( <player_to_eliminate_id> );
* the player is informed in a dialog box that he no longer have to play and can start another game if he/she wants too (with buttons "stay at this table" "quit table and back to main site"). In any case, the player is free to start & join another table from now.
* When your game is over, all players who have been eliminated before receive a "notification" (the small "!" icon on the top right of the BGA interface) that indicate them that "the game has ended" and invite them to review the game results.

'''Important: this should not be used on a player who has already left the game ("zombie") as leaving/being kicked of the game (outside of the scope of the rules) is not the same as being eliminated from the game (according to the rules), except if in the course of the game, the zombie player is eliminated according to the rules.'''

=== Scoring Helper functions ===

These functions should have been API but they are not, just add them to your php game and use for every game.

// get score
function dbGetScore($player_id) {
return $this->getUniqueValueFromDB("SELECT player_score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set score
function dbSetScore($player_id, $count) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score='$count' WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set aux score (tie breaker)
function dbSetAuxScore($player_id, $score) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score_aux=$score WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// increment score (can be negative too)
function dbIncScore($player_id, $inc) {
$count = $this->dbGetScore($player_id);
if ($inc != 0) {
$count += $inc;
$this->dbSetScore($player_id, $count);
}
return $count;
}

== Reflexion time ==

; function giveExtraTime( $player_id, $specific_time=null )
: Give standard extra time to this player.
: Standard extra time depends on the speed of the game (small with "slow" game option, bigger with other options).
: You can also specify an exact time to add, in seconds, with the "specified_time" argument (rarely used).

; function isAsync()
: Returns true if game is turn based, false if it is realtime

== Undo moves ==

Please read our [[BGA Undo policy]] before.

'''Important''': Before using these methods, you must also add the following to your "gameinfos.inc.php" file, otherwise these methods are ineffective:
'db_undo_support' => true

Note: if you deploy undo support after game is in production this will take into effect for new games only, old games will give user an error if user choses Undo action, but otherwise it should not affect them.

; function undoSavepoint( )
: Save the whole game situation inside an "Undo save point".
: There is only ONE undo save point available (see [[BGA Undo policy]]). Cannot use in multiactivate state or in game state where next state is multiactive.
: Note: this function does not actually do anything when it is called, it only raises the flag to store the database AFTER transaction is over. So the actual state will be saved when you exit the function calling it (technically before first queued notification is sent, which matters if you transition to game state not to user state after), this may affect what you end up saving.

; function undoRestorePoint()
: Restore the situation previously saved as an "Undo save point".
: You must make sure that the active player is the same after and before the undoRestorePoint (ie: this is your responsibility to ensure that the player that is active when this method is called is exactly the same than the player that was active when the undoSavePoint method has been called).

function actionUndo() {
self::checkAction('actionUndo');
$this->undoRestorePoint();
$this->gamestate->nextState('next'); // transition to single player state (i.e. beginning of player actions for this turn)
}

'''Important note''': if you are reading game state variable right after restore (without changing state first) it won't work properly as the global table cache is not automatically refreshed after undoRestorePoint(). So you should either change state immediately to refresh game state values, or use $this->gamestate->reloadState() to refresh the state. If you choose to do the latest, be aware that this will bring the state machine back to the state during which the save point snapshot has been taken using undoSavepoint() (which means your transition you do after has to declared in the state which was saved, not in the state which was active for your actionUndo())

== Managing errors and exceptions ==

Note: when you throw an exception, all database changes and all notifications are cancelled immediately. This way, the game situation that existed before the request is completely restored.

; throw new BgaUserException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a user error
: You must throw this exception when a player wants to do something that they are not allowed to do.
: The error message will be shown to the player as a "red message".
: The error message must be translated, make sure you use self::_() or $this->_() here and NOT clientranslate()
: Throwing such an exception is NOT considered a bug, so it is not traced in BGA error logs.

Example from Gomoku:
<pre>
throw new BgaUserException( self::_("There is already a stone on this intersection, you can't play there") );
</pre>

; throw new BgaVisibleSystemException ( $error_message)
: You must throw this exception when you detect something that is not supposed to happened in your code.
: The error message is shown to the user as an "Unexpected error", in order that he can report it in the forum.
: The error message is logged in BGA error logs. If it happens regularly, we will report it to you.

; throw new BgaSystemException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a system exception. The message will be hidden from the user, but show in the logs. Use this if the message contains technical information.
: You shouldn't use this type of exception except if you think the information shown could be critical. Indeed: a generic error message will be shown to the user, so it's going to be difficult for you to see what happened.

== Zombie mode ==

When a player leaves a game for any reason (expelled, quit), he becomes a "zombie player". In this case, the results of the game won't count for statistics, but this is cool if the other players can finish the game anyway. That's why zombie mode exists: allow the other player to finish the game, even if the situation is not ideal.

While developing your zombie mode, keep in mind that:
* Do not refer to the rules, because this situation is not planned by the rules.
* Try to figure that you are playing with your friends and one of them has to leave: how can we finish the game without killing the spirit of the game?
* The idea is NOT to develop an artificial intelligence for the game.
* Do not try to end the game early, even in a two-player game. The zombie is there to allow the game to continue, not to end it. Trying to end the game is not supported by the framework and will likely cause unexpected errors.

Most of the time, the best thing to do when it is zombie player turn is to jump immediately to a state where he is not active anymore. For example, if he is in a game state where he has a choice between playing A and playing B, the best thing to do is NOT to choose A or B, but to pass. So, even if there's no "pass" action in the rules, add a "zombiepass" transitition in your game state and use it.

Each time a zombie player must play, your "zombieTurn" method is called.

Parameters:
* $state: the name of the current game state.
* $active_player: the id of the active player.

Most of the time, your zombieTurn method looks like this:

<pre>
function zombieTurn( $state, $active_player )
{
$statename = $state['name'];

if( $statename == 'myFirstGameState'
|| $statename == 'my2ndGameState'
|| $statename == 'my3rdGameState'
....
)
{
$this->gamestate->nextState( "zombiePass" );
}
else
throw new BgaVisibleSystemException( "Zombie mode not supported at this game state: ".$statename );
}
</pre>

Note that in the example above, all corresponding game state should implement "zombiePass" as a transition.

'''Very important''': your zombie code will be called when the player leaves the game. This action is triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to this action. In your zombieTurn function, you must '''never''' use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message.

== Player color preferences ==

BGA players (Club members) may now choose their preferred color for playing. For example, if they are used to play green for every board game, they can select "green" in their BGA preferences page.

Making your game compatible with colors preferences is very easy and requires only 1 line of configuration change:

On your gameinfos.inc.php file, add the following lines :

// Favorite colors support: if set to "true", support attribution of favorite colors based on player's preferences (see reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method)
// NB: this parameter is used only to flag games supporting this feature; you must use (or not use) reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method to actually enable or disable the feature.
'favorite_colors_support' => true,

Then, on your main <your_game>.game.php file check the code of "setupNewGame". New template already have correct code, but if you editing very old game and it may be absent.

$gameinfos = $this->getGameinfos();
...
if ($gameinfos['favorite_colors_support'])
$this->reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences($players, $gameinfos['player_colors']); // this should be above reloadPlayersBasicInfos()
self::reloadPlayersBasicInfos();

The "reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences" method reattributes all colors, taking into account players color preferences and available colors.

Note that you must update the colors to indicate the colors available for your game.

Some important remarks:
* for some games (i.e. Chess), the color has an influence on a mechanism of the game, most of the time by giving a special advantage to a player (i.e. Starting the game). Color preference mechanism must NOT be used in such a case.
* your logic should NEVER consider that the first player has the color X, that the second player has the color Y, and so on. If this is the case, your game will NOT be compatible with reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences as this method attribute colors to players based on their preferences and not based as their order at the table.

Colours currently listed as a choice in preferences (Note - you don't have to pick these, the "closest" color will be found):

* #ff0000 Red
* #008000 Green
* #0000ff Blue
* #ffa500 Yellow
* #000000 Black
* #ffffff White
* #e94190 Pink
* #982fff Purple
* #72c3b1 Cyan
* #f07f16 Orange
* #bdd002 Khaki green
* #7b7b7b Gray

== Legacy games API ==

For some very specific games ("legacy", "campaign"), you need to keep some informations from a game to another.

This should be an exceptional situation: the legacy API is costing resources on Board Game Arena databases, and is slowing down the game setup process + game end of game process. Please do not use it for things like:
* keeping a player preference/settings (=> player preferences and game options should be used instead)
* keeping a statistics, a score, or a ranking, while it is not planned in the physical board game, or while there is no added value compared to BGA statistics / rankings.

You should use it for:
* legacy games: when some components of the game has been altered in a previous game and should be kept as it is.
* "campaign style" games: when a player is getting a "reward" at the end of a game, and should be able to use it in further games.

Important: you cannot store more than 64k of data (serialized as JSON) per player per game. If you go over 64k, storeLegacyData function is going to FAIL, and there is a risk to create a major bug (= players blocked) in your game. You MUST make sure that no more than 64k of data is used for each player for your game. For example, if you are implementing a "campaign style" game and if you allow a player to start multiple campaign, you must LIMIT the number of different campaign so that the total data size to not go over the limit. We strongly recommend you to use this:

try
{
$this->storeLegacyTeamData( 'my_variable', $my_data );
}
catch( feException $e )
{
if( $e->getCode() == FEX_legacy_size_exceeded )
{
// Do something here to free some space in Legacy data (ex: by removing some variables)
}
else
throw $e;
}

The keys may only contain letters and numbers, underscore seems not to be allowed.

; function storeLegacyData( $player_id, $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Store some data associated with $key for the given user / current game
: In the opposite of all other game data, this data will PERSIST after the end of this table, and can be re-used
: in a future table with the same game.
: IMPORTANT: The only possible place where you can use this method is when the game is over at your table (last game action). Otherwise, there is a risk of conflicts between ongoing games.
: TTL is a time-to-live: the maximum, and default, is 365 days.
: In any way, the total data (= all keys) you can store for a given user+game is 64k (note: data is store serialized as JSON data)

; function retrieveLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Get data associated with $key for the current game
: This data is common to ALL tables from the same game for this player, and persist from one table to another.
: Note: calling this function has an important cost => please call it few times (possibly: only ONCE) for each player for 1 game if possible
: Note: you can use '%' in $key to retrieve all keys matching the given patterns

; function removeLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Remove some legacy data with the given key
: (useful to free some data to avoid going over 64k)

; function storeLegacyTeamData( $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Same as storeLegacyData, except that it stores some data for the whole team within the current table
: Ie: if players A, B and C are at a table, the legacy data will be saved for future table with (exactly) A, B and C on the table.
: This is useful for games which are intended to be played several time by the same team.
: Note: the data total size is still limited, so you must implement catch the FEX_legacy_size_exceeded exception if it happens

; function retrieveLegacyTeamData($key)
: Same as retrieveLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

; function removeLegacyTeamData()
: Same as removeLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

== Language dependent games API ==

This API is used for games that are heavily language dependent. Two most common use cases are:
* Games that have a language dependent component that are not necessarily translatable, typically a list of words. (Think of games like Codenames, Decrypto, Just One...)
* Games with massive communication where players would like to ensure that all participants speak the same language. (Think of games like Werewolf, The Resistance, maybe even dixit...)

If this option is used, the table created will be limited only to users that have specific language in their profile. Player starting the game would be able to chose one of the languages he speaks.

There is a new property language_dependency in gameinfos.inc.php which can be set like this:
'language_dependency' => false, //or if the property is missing, the game is not language dependent
'language_dependency' => true, //all players at the table must speak the same language
'language_dependency' => array( 1 => 'en', 2 => 'fr', 3 => 'it' ), //1-based list of supported languages

In the gamename.game.php file, you can get the id of selected language with the method '''getGameLanguage'''.
; function getGameLanguage()
: Returns an index of the selected language as defined in gameinfos.inc.php.

Languages currently available on BGA are:
'ar' => array( 'name' => "العربية", 'code' => 'ar_AE' ), // Arabic
'be' => array( 'name' => "беларуская мова", 'code' => 'be_BY' ), // Belarusian
'bn' => array( 'name' => "বাংলা", 'code' => 'bn_BD' ), // Bengali
'bg' => array( 'name' => "български език", 'code' => 'bg_BG' ), // Bulgarian
'ca' => array( 'name' => "català", 'code' => 'ca_ES' ), // Catalan
'cs' => array( 'name' => "čeština", 'code' => 'cs_CZ' ), // Czech
'da' => array( 'name' => "dansk", 'code' => 'da_DK' ), // Danish
'de' => array( 'name' => "deutsch", 'code' => 'de_DE' ), // German
'el' => array( 'name' => "Ελληνικά", 'code' => 'el_GR' ), // Greek
'en' => array( 'name' => "English", 'code' => 'en_US' ), // English
'es' => array( 'name' => "español", 'code' => 'es_ES' ), // Spanish
'et' => array( 'name' => "eesti keel", 'code' => 'et_EE' ), // Estonian
'fi' => array( 'name' => "suomi", 'code' => 'fi_FI' ), // Finnish
'fr' => array( 'name' => "français", 'code' => 'fr_FR' ), // French
'he' => array( 'name' => "עברית", 'code' => 'he_IL' ), // Hebrew
'hi' => array( 'name' => "हिन्दी", 'code' => 'hi_IN' ), // Hindi
'hr' => array( 'name' => "Hrvatski", 'code' => 'hr_HR' ), // Croatian
'hu' => array( 'name' => "magyar", 'code' => 'hu_HU' ), // Hungarian
'id' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Indonesia", 'code' => 'id_ID' ), // Indonesian
'ms' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Malaysia", 'code' => 'ms_MY' ), // Malaysian
'it' => array( 'name' => "italiano", 'code' => 'it_IT' ), // Italian
'ja' => array( 'name' => "日本語", 'code' => 'ja_JP' ), // Japanese
'jv' => array( 'name' => "Basa Jawa", 'code' => 'jv_JV' ), // Javanese
'ko' => array( 'name' => "한국어", 'code' => 'ko_KR' ), // Korean
'lt' => array( 'name' => "lietuvių", 'code' => 'lt_LT' ), // Lithuanian
'lv' => array( 'name' => "latviešu", 'code' => 'lv_LV' ), // Latvian
'nl' => array( 'name' => "nederlands", 'code' => 'nl_NL' ), // Dutch
'no' => array( 'name' => "norsk", 'code' => 'nb_NO' ), // Norwegian
'oc' => array( 'name' => "occitan", 'code' => 'oc_FR' ), // Occitan
'pl' => array( 'name' => "polski", 'code' => 'pl_PL' ), // Polish
'pt' => array( 'name' => "português", 'code' => 'pt_PT' ), // Portuguese
'ro' => array( 'name' => "română", 'code' => 'ro_RO' ), // Romanian
'ru' => array( 'name' => "Русский язык", 'code' => 'ru_RU' ), // Russian
'sk' => array( 'name' => "slovenčina", 'code' => 'sk_SK' ), // Slovak
'sl' => array( 'name' => "slovenščina", 'code' => 'sl_SI' ), // Slovenian
'sr' => array( 'name' => "Српски", 'code' => 'sr_RS' ), // Serbian
'sv' => array( 'name' => "svenska", 'code' => 'sv_SE' ), // Swedish
'tr' => array( 'name' => "Türkçe", 'code' => 'tr_TR' ), // Turkish
'uk' => array( 'name' => "Українська мова", 'code' => 'uk_UA' ), // Ukrainian
'zh' => array( 'name' => "中文 (漢)", 'code' => 'zh_TW' ), // Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan)
'zh-cn' => array( 'name' => "中文 (汉)", 'code' => 'zh_CN' ), // Simplified Chinese (Mainland China, Singapore)

== Debugging and Tracing ==

To debug php code you can use some tracing functions available from the parent class such as debug, trace, error, warn, dump.

self::debug("Ahh!");
self::dump('my_var',$my_var);

See [[Practical_debugging]] section for complete information about debugging interfaces and where to find logs.

Main game logic: Game.php

2022-03-16T11:33:22Z

Bennygui: /* BGA predefined globals */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

This is the main file for your game logic. Here you initialize the game, persist data, implement the rules and notify the client interface of changes.

== File Structure ==

The details of how the file is structured are described directly with comments in the code skeleton provided to you.

Here is the basic structure:

* Constructor: where you define global variables.
* setupNewGame: initial setup of the game. Takes an array of players, indexed by player_id. Structure of each player includes player_name, player_canal, player_avatar, and flags indicating admin/ai/premium/order/language/beginner.
* getAllDatas: where you retrieve all game data during a complete reload of the game. Returned value must include ['players'][playerId]['score'] for scores to populate when F5 is pressed.
* getGameProgression: where you compute the game progression indicator. Returns a number indicating percent of progression (0-100)
* Utility functions: your utility functions.
* Player actions: the entry points for players actions ([https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Players_actions:_yourgamename.action.php more info here]).
* Game state arguments: methods to return additional data on specific game states ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#args more info here]).
* Game state actions: the logic to run when entering a new game state ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#action more info here]).
* zombieTurn: what to do it's the turn of a zombie player.
* upgradeTableDb: function to migrate database if you change it after release on production.

== Accessing player information ==

'''Important''': In the following methods, be mindful of the difference between the "active" player and the "current" player. The '''active''' player is the player whose turn it is - not necessarily the player who sent a request! The '''current''' player is the player who sent the request and will see the results returned by your methods: not necessarily the player whose turn it is!

; getPlayersNumber()
: Returns the number of players playing at the table
: Note: doesn't work in setupNewGame (use count($players) instead).

; getActivePlayerId()
: Get the "active_player", whatever what is the current state type.
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multiplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getActivePlayerName()
: Get the "active_player" name
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getPlayerNameById($player_id)
: Get the name by id

; getPlayerColorById($player_id)
: Get the color by id

; getPlayerNoById($player_id)
: Get 'player_no' (number) by id

; loadPlayersBasicInfos()
: Get an associative array with generic data about players (ie: not game specific data).
: The key of the associative array is the player id. The returned table is cached, so ok to call multiple times without performance concerns.
: <code>array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos())</code> will therefore returns an array containing players id
: The content of each value is:
: * player_name - the name of the player
: * player_color (ex: ff0000) - the color code of the player
: * player_no - the position of the player at the start of the game in natural table order, i.e. 1,2,3

<pre>
$players = $this->loadPlayersBasicInfos();
foreach ($players as $player_id => $info) {
$player_color = $info['player_color'];
...
}
</pre>
Note: if you want array of player ids only you can do this:
$player_ids = array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos());

; getCurrentPlayerId()
: Get the "current_player". The current player is the one from which the action originated (the one who sent the request).
: '''Be careful''': This is not necessarily the active player!
: In general, you shouldn't use this method, unless you are in "multiplayer" state.
: '''Very important''': in your setupNewGame and zombieTurn function, you must never use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message (these actions are triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to these actions).

; getCurrentPlayerName()
: Get the "current_player" name
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; getCurrentPlayerColor()
: Get the "current_player" color
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; isCurrentPlayerZombie()
: Check the "current_player" zombie status. If true, player is zombie, i.e. left or was kicked out of the game.

; isSpectator()
: Check the "current_player" spectator status. If true, the user accessing the game is a spectator (not part of the game). For this user, the interface should display all public information, and no private information (like a friend sitting at the same table as players and just spectating the game).

; getActivePlayerColor()
: This function does not seems to exist in API, if you need it here is implementation
function getActivePlayerColor() {
$player_id = self::getActivePlayerId();
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (isset($players[$player_id]))
return $players[$player_id]['player_color'];
else
return null;
}
; isPlayerZombie($player_id)
: This method does not exists, but if you need it it looks like this
protected function isPlayerZombie($player_id) {
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (! isset($players[$player_id]))
throw new feException("Player $player_id is not playing here");

return ($players[$player_id]['player_zombie'] == 1);
}

== Accessing the database ==

The main game logic should be the only point from which you should access the game database. You access your database using SQL queries with the methods below.

'''IMPORTANT'''

BGA uses [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/sql-syntax-transactions.html database transactions]. This means that your database changes WON'T BE APPLIED to the database until your request ends normally (web request, not database request). Using transactions is in fact very useful for you; at any time, if your game logic detects that something is wrong (example: a disallowed move), you just have to throw an exception and all changes to the game situation will be removed. This also means that you need not (and in fact cannot) use your own transactions for multiple related database operations.

However there are sets of database operation that initite implicit commit (most common mistake is to use "TRUNCATE"), you cannot use these operations during the game, it breaks the unrolling of transactions and will lead to nasty issues
(https://mariadb.com/kb/en/sql-statements-that-cause-an-implicit-commit).

; DbQuery( $sql )
: This is the generic method to access the database.
: It can execute any type of SELECT/UPDATE/DELETE/REPLACE/INSERT query on the database.
: For SELECT queries, the specialized methods below are much better.
: Do not use method for TUNCATE, DROP and other table altering operations. See disclamer above about implicit commits. If you really need TRUNCATE use DELETE FROM xxx instead.

; getUniqueValueFromDB( $sql )
: Returns a unique value from DB or null if no value is found.
: $sql must be a SELECT query.
: Raise an exception if more than 1 row is returned.

; getCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Returns an associative array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The key of the resulting associative array is the first field specified in the SELECT query.
: The value of the resulting associative array is an associative array with all the field specified in the SELECT query and associated values.
: First column must be a primary or alternate key (semantically, it does not actually have to declared in sql as such).
: The resulting collection can be empty (it won't be null).
: If you specified $bSingleValue=true and if your SQL query request 2 fields A and B, the method returns an associative array "A=>B", otherwise its A=>[A,B]
: Note: The name a bit misleading, it really return associative array, i.e. map and NOT a collection. You cannot use it to get list of values which may have duplicates (hence primary key requirement on first column). If you need simple array use getObjectListFromDB() method.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
1234 => array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
1235 => array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
1234 => 'myuser0',
1235 => 'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getNonEmptyCollectionFromDB( $sql )
: Same as getCollectionFromDB($sdl), but raise an exception if the collection is empty. Note: this function does NOT have 2nd argument as previous one does.

; getObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Returns one row for the sql SELECT query as an associative array or null if there is no result
: Raise an exception if the query return more than one row (you can use LIMIT 1 in the query to avoid the exception)

Example:
<pre>
self::getObjectFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'" );

Result:
array(
'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1
)
</pre>

; getNonEmptyObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Similar to previous one, but raise an exception if no row is found

; getObjectListFromDB( $sql, $bUniqueValue=false )
: Return an array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The result is the same than "getCollectionFromDB" except that the result is a simple array (and not an associative array).
: The result can be empty.
: If you specified $bUniqueValue=true and if your SQL query request 1 field, the method returns directly an array of values.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
'myuser0',
'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getDoubleKeyCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Return an associative array of associative array, from a SQL SELECT query.
: First array level correspond to first column specified in SQL query.
: Second array level correspond to second column specified in SQL query.
: If bSingleValue = true, keep only third column on result

; DbGetLastId()
: Return the PRIMARY key of the last inserted row (see PHP mysql_insert_id function).

; DbAffectedRow()
: Return the number of row affected by the last operation

; escapeStringForDB( $string )
: You must use this function on every string type data in your database that contains unsafe data.
: (unsafe = can be modified by a player).
: This method makes sure that no SQL injection will be done through the string used.
: Note: if you using standard types in ajax actions, like AT_alphanum it is sanitized before arrival,
: this is only needed if you manage to get unchecked string, like in the games where user has to enter text as a response.

<pre>

</pre>

Note: see Editing [[Game database model: dbmodel.sql]] to know how to define your database model.

== Use globals ==

Sometimes, you want a single global integer value for your game, and you don't want to create a DB table specifically for it.

You can do this with the BGA framework "global." Your value will be stored in the "global" table in the database, and you can access it with simple methods.

'''initGameStateLabels'''

This method should be located at the beginning of __construct() method of ''yourgamename.game.php''. This is where you define the globals used in your game logic, by assigning them IDs.

You can define up to 80 globals, with IDs from 10 to 89 (inclusive, there can be gaps). You must '''not''' use globals outside this range, as those values are used by other components of the framework.

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11
) );
</pre>

or

<pre>
$this->GAMESTATELABELS = ["my_first_global_variable" => 10, "my_second_global_variable" => 11];
self::initGameStateLabels($this->GAMESTATELABELS);
</pre>

This is also in this method that you will define your game options. In that case, IDs need to be between 100 and 199 (inclusive, there can be gaps) Check this for more details [[Game_options_and_preferences:_gameoptions.inc.php]]

With option set, the method will look like

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11,
"my_game_variant" => 100
) );
</pre>

'''setGameStateInitialValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Initialize your global value. Must be called before any use of your global, so you should call this method from your "setupNewGame" method. $value_value must be an integer.

It seems that a non initialized value will not be restored with undo system, so it is therefore advisable to initialize them all in your "setupNewGame" method.

<pre>foreach ($this->GAMESTATELABELS as $value_label=> $ID) if ($ID >= 10 && $ID < 90) self::setGameStateInitialValue($value_label, 0);</pre>

'''getGameStateValue( $value_label )'''

Retrieve the current value of a global.

For debugging purposes, you can have labels and value pairs send to client side by inserting that line of code in your "getAllDatas":

<pre>$result['labels'] = array_combine(array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS), array_map('self::getGameStateValue', array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS)));</pre>

'''setGameStateValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Set the current value of a global. $value_value must be an integer.

'''incGameStateValue( $value_label, $increment )'''

Increment the current value of a global. If increment is negative, decrement the value of the global.

Return the final value of the global.

=== BGA predefined globals ===

BGA already defines some globals in the ''global'' database table. You should not change them directly but it can be useful to know what they mean when debugging:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! global_id !! Meaning
|-
| 1 || Active state id
|-
| 2 || Active player id
|-
| 3 || Next move number
|-
| 300 || Current version of the game (when in production)
|}

== Game states and active players ==

=== Activate player handling ===

; $this->activeNextPlayer()
: Make the next player active in the natural player order.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->activePrevPlayer()
: Make the previous player active (in the natural player order).
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->gamestate->changeActivePlayer( $player_id )
: You can call this method to make any player active.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->getActivePlayerId()
: Return the "active_player" id
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multipleactiveplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multipleactiveplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

=== Multiple activate player handling ===

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()
: All playing players are made active. Update notification is sent to all players (this will trigger '''onUpdateActionButtons''').
: Usually, you use this method at the beginning of a game state (e.g., "stGameState") which transitions to a ''multipleactiveplayer'' state in which multiple players have to perform some action. Do not use this method if you going to make some more changes in the active player list. (I.e., if you want to take away multipleactiveplayer status immediately afterwards, use setPlayersMultiactive instead.)

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_MultiPlayerInit() {
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
}
</pre>

; $this->stMakeEveryoneActive()
:this method can be used in state machine to make everybody active as "st" method of multiplayeractive state, it just calls $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()

This is to be used in state declaration:
<pre>
2 => array(
"name" => "playerTurnPlace",
"description" => clienttranslate('Other player must place ships'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must place ships (click on YOUR SHIPS board to place)'),
"type" => "multipleactiveplayer",
'action' => 'stMakeEveryoneActive',
'args' => 'arg_playerTurnPlace',
"possibleactions" => array( "actionBla" ),
"transitions" => array( "next" => 4, "last" => 99)
),
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersNonMultiactive( $next_state )
: All playing players are made inactive. Transition to next state

; $this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive( $players, $next_state, $bExclusive = false )
: Make a specific list of players active during a multiactive gamestate. Update notification is sent to all players whose state changed.
: "players" is the array of player id that should be made active. If "players" is not empty the value of "next_state" will be ignored (you can put whatever you want)
: If "exclusive" parameter is not set or false it doesn't deactivate other previously active players. If its set to true, the players who will be multiactive at the end are only these in "$players" array

: In case "players" is empty, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise

; $this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $player_id, $next_state )
: During a multiactive game state, make the specified player inactive.
: Usually, you call this method during a multiactive game state after a player did his action. It is also possible to call it directly from multiplayer action handler.
: If this player was the last active player, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise
Example of usage (see state declaration of playerTurnPlace above):
<pre>
function actionBla($args) {
self::checkAction('actionBla');
// handle the action using $this->getCurrentPlayerId()
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 'next');
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->getActivePlayerList()
: With this method you can retrieve the list of the active player at any time.
: During a "game" type gamestate, it will return a void array.
: During a "activeplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array with one value (the active player id).
: During a "multipleactiveplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array of the active players id.
: Note: you should only use this method in the latter case.

; $this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( $next_state_if_none )
: Sends update notification about multiplayer changes. All multiactive set* functions above do that, however if you want to change state manually using db queries for complex calculations, you have to call this yourself after. Do not call this if you calling one of the other setters above.
Example: you have player teams and you want to activate all players in one team
<pre>
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='0'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='1' WHERE player_id='$player_id' AND player_team='$team_no'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );

$this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( 'error' );
</pre>

; updating database manually
: Use this helper function to change multiactive state without sending notification
<pre>
/**
* Changes values of multiactivity in db, does not sent notifications.
* To send notifications after use updateMultiactiveOrNextState
* @param number $player_id, player id <=0 or null - means ALL
* @param number $value - 1 multiactive, 0 non multiactive
*/
function dbSetPlayerMultiactive($player_id = -1, $value = 1) {
if (! $value)
$value = 0;
else
$value = 1;
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive = '$value' WHERE player_zombie = 0 and player_eliminated = 0";
if ($player_id > 0) {
$sql .= " AND player_id = $player_id";
}
self::DbQuery($sql);
}
</pre>

;$this->gamestate->isPlayerActive($player_id)
:Return true if specified player is active right now.
:This method take into account game state type, ie nobody is active if game state is "game" and several players can be active if game state is "multiplayer"

=== States functions ===
; $this->gamestate->nextState( $transition )
: Change current state to a new state. Important: the $transition parameter is the name of the transition, and NOT the name of the target game state, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for more information about states.

; $this->checkAction( $actionName, $bThrowException=true )
: Check if the current player can perform a specific action in the current game state, and optionally throw an exception if they can't.
: The action is valid if it is listed in the "possibleactions" array for the current game state (see game state description).
: This method MUST be the first one called in ALL your PHP methods that handle player actions, in order to make sure a player doesn't perform an action not allowed by the rules at the point in the game. It should not be called from methods where the current player is not necessarily the active player, otherwise it may fail with an "It is not your turn" exception.
: If "bThrowException" is set to "false", the function returns '''false''' in case of failure instead of throwing an exception. This is useful when several actions are possible, in order to test each of them without throwing exceptions.

; $this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction( $action )
: (rarely used)
: This works exactly like "checkAction" (above), except that it does NOT check if the current player is active.
: This is used specifically in certain game states when you want to authorize additional actions for players that are not active at the moment.
: Example: in ''Libertalia'', you want to authorize players to change their mind about the card played. They are of course not active at the time they change their mind, so you cannot use "checkAction"; use "checkPossibleAction" instead.

This is how PHP action looks that returns player to active state (only for multiplayeractive states). To be able to execute on js side do not checkAction on js side for this specific one.

function actionUnpass() {
$this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction('actionUnpass'); // player changed mind about passing while others were thinking
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive(array ($this->getCurrentPlayerId() ), 'error', false);
}

; $this->gamestate->state()
: Get an associative array of current game state attributes, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for state attributes.

$state=$this->gamestate->state(); if( $state['name'] == 'myGameState' ) {...}

I suggest to define and use this function in your php class to access state name:

public function getStateName() {
$state = $this->gamestate->state();
return $state['name'];
}

; $this->gamestate->state_id()
: Get the id of the current game state (rarely useful, its best to use name, unless you use constants for state ids)

; $this->gamestate->isMutiactiveState()
: Return true if we are in multipleactiveplayer state, false otherwise

=== Private parallel states ===

See the overview of private parallel states [[Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#Private_parallel_states|here]].

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers()
: All active players in a multiactive state are entering a first private state defined in the master state's initialprivate parameter.
: Every time you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods below.
: Note: at least one player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating some or all players
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method

$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

// in some cases you can move immediately some or all players to different private states
if ($someCondition) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}

if ($other condition) {
//move single player to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($specificPlayerId, "some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds)
: Players with specified ids are entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateState($playerId)
: Player with the specified id is entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Everytime you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods above
: Note: player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating that player
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_ChangeMind() {
// This player finished his move before, but now decides change something while other players are still active
// We activate the player and initialize his private state
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive([$this->getCurrentPlayerId()], "");
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateState(this->getCurrentPlayerId());

// It is also possible to move the player to some other specific state immediately
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers($transition)
: All active players will transition to next private state by specified transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state
: Note: this is usually used after initializing the private state to move players to specific private state according to the game logic

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

if ($specificOption) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: Players with specified ids will transition to next private state specified by provided transition.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($playerId, $transition)
: Player with specified id will transition to next private state specified by provided transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player
: Note: this is usually used after some player actions to move to next private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers()
: All players private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used to clean up after leaving a master state in which private states were used, but can be used in other cases when we want to exit private parallel states and use a regular multiactive state for all players
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private states as they will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state after exiting private parallel states to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stNextRound() {
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers();
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: For players with specified ids private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($playerId)
: For player with specified id private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used when deactivating player to clean up their parallel state
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private state as it will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state when not needed to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function done() {
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "newTurn" );
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId());
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($playerId, $newStateId)
: For player with specified id a new private state would be set
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this should be rarely used as it doesn't check if the transition is allowed (it doesn't even specifies transition). This can be useful in very complex cases when standard state machine is not adequate (i.e. specific cards can lead to some micro action in various states where defining transitions back and forth can become very tedious.)
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state

if ($playerHaveSpecificCard)
return $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 35);

$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

== Players turn order ==

When table is created the "natural" player order is assigned to player at random, and stored in "read-only" field "player_no".
If you need to create a custom order you should never change natural order but have a separate data structure.
For example you can alter the players table to add another "custom_order" field, you can use state globals or you can use your natural board database,
to store meeple_color/position_location pair.
BGA currently does not provide any API to create/store custom player order.

'''getNextPlayerTable()'''

Return an associative array which associate each player with the next player around the table.

In addition, key 0 is associated to the first player to play.

Example: if three player with ID 1, 2 and 3 are around the table, in this order, the method returns:
<pre>
array(
1 => 2,
2 => 3,
3 => 1,
0 => 1
);
</pre>

'''getPrevPlayerTable()'''

Same as above, but the associative array associate the previous player around the table. However there no 0 index here.

'''getPlayerAfter( $player_id )'''

Get player playing after given player in natural playing order.

'''getPlayerBefore( $player_id )'''

Get player playing before given player in natural playing order.

Note: There is no API to modify this order, if you have custom player order you have to maintain it in your database
and have custom function to access it.

'''createNextPlayerTable( $players, $bLoop=true )'''

Using $players array creates a map of current => next as in example from getNextPlayerTable(), however you can use custom order here.
If parmeter $bLoop is set to true then last player will points to first (creaing a loop), false otherwise.
In any case index 0 points to first player (first element of $players array). $players is array of player ids in desired order.

Note: This function '''DOES NOT''' change the order in database, it only creates a map using key/values as descibed.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function getNextPlayerTableCustom() {
$starting = $this->getStartingPlayer(); // custom function to get starting player
$player_ids = $this->getPlayerIdsInOrder($starting); // custom function to create players array starting from starting player
return $this->createNextPlayerTable($player_ids, false); // create next player table in custom order
}
</pre>

<pre>
$table = $this->createNextPlayerTable([3,2,1], false);

will return:
[
3 => 2,
2 => 1,
1 => null,
0 => 3
]
</pre>

== Notify players ==

To understand notifications, please read [http://www.slideshare.net/boardgamearena/the-bga-framework-at-a-glance The BGA Framework at a glance] first.

'''IMPORTANT'''

Notifications are sent at the very end of the request, when it ends normally. It means that if you throw an exception for any reason (ex: move not allowed), no notifications will be sent to players.
Notifications sent between the game start (setupNewGame) and the end of the "action" method of the first active state will never reach their destination.

=== NotifyAllPlayers ===

'''notifyAllPlayers( $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Send a notification to all players of the game.

* notification_type:
A string that defines the type of your notification.

Your game interface Javascript logic will use this to know what is the type of the received notification (and to trigger the corresponding method).

* notification_log:
A string that defines what is to be displayed in the game log.

You can use an empty string here (""). In this case, nothing is displayed in the game log.

If you define a real string here, you should use "clienttranslate" method to make sure it can be translated.

You can use arguments in your notification_log strings, that refers to values defines in the "notification_args" argument (see below).
Note: Make sure you only use single quotes ('), otherwise PHP will try to interpolate the variable and will ignore the values in the args array.

* notification_args:
The arguments of your notifications, as an associative array.

This array will be transmitted to the game interface logic, in order the game interface can be updated.

Complete notifyAllPlayers example (from "Reversi"):

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y
) );
</pre>

You can see in the example above the use of the "clienttranslate" method, and the use of 2 arguments "player_name" and "returned_nbr" in the notification log.

'''Important''': NO private data must be sent with this method, as a cheater could see it even if it is not used explicitly by the game interface logic. If you want to send private information to a player, please use notifyPlayer below.

'''Important''': this array is serialized to be sent to the browsers, and will be saved with the notification to be able to replay the game later. If it is too big, it can make notifications slower / less reliable, and replay archives very big (to the point of failing). So as a general rule, you should send only the minimum of information necessary to update the client interface with no overhead in order to keep the notifications as light as possible.

'''Important''': When the game page is reloaded (i.e. F5 or when loading turn based game) all previous notifications are replayed as history notifications. These notifications do not trigger notification handlers and are used basically to build the game log. Because of that most of the notification arguments, except i18n, player_id and all arguments used in the message, are removed from these history notifications. If you need additional arguments in history notifications you can add special field <b>preserve</b> to notification arguments, like this:

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y,
'preserve' => [ 'x', 'y' ]
) );
</pre>
In this example, fields x and y will be preserved when replaying history notification at the game load.

==== HTML in Notifications ====

You CAN use some HTML inside your notification log, however it not recommended for many reasons:
* Its bad architecture, ui elements leak into server now you have to manage ui in many places
* If you decided to change something in ui in future version, old games replay and tutorials may not work, since they use stored notifications
* When you read log preview for old games its unreadable (this is log before you enter the game replay, useful for troubleshooting or game analysis)
* Its more data to transfer and store in db
* Its nightmare for translators, at least don't put HTML tags inside the "clienttranslate" method. You can use a notification argument instead, and provide your HTML through this argument.

If you still want to have pretty pictures in the log check this [[BGA_Studio_Cookbook#Inject_images_and_styled_html_in_the_log]].

==== Recursive Notifications ====

If your notification contains some phrases that build programmatically you may need to use recursive notifications. In this case the argument can be not only the string but
an array itself, which contains 'log' and 'args', i.e.

$this->notifyAllPlayers('playerLog',clienttranslate('Game moves ${token_name_rec}'),
['token_name_rec'=>['log'=>'${token_name} #${token_number}',
'args'=> ['token_name'=>clienttranslate('Boo'), 'token_number'=>$number, 'i18n'=>['token_name'] ]
]
]);

Special handling of arguments:
* ${player_name} - this will be wrapped in html and text shown using color of the corresponding player, some colors also have reserved background. This will apply recursively as well.
* ${player_name2} - same

==== Excluding some players ====

Sometimes you want to notify all players of a message but not have it appear in the log of specific players (for example, have every player see "Player X draws a card" but have Player X see "You draw the Ace of Spades").

To send a notification to all players but have some clients ignore it, send it as normal from the server, but implement '''setIgnoreNotificationCheck''' on the client to ignore the message under given conditions. See the X.js documentation for more details.

=== NotifyPlayer ===

'''notifyPlayer( $player_id, $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Same as above, except that the notification is sent to one player only.

This method must be used each time some private information must be transmitted to a player.

Important: the variable for player name must be ${player_name} in order to be highlighted with the player color in the game log. If you want a second player name in the log, name the variable ${player_name2}, etc.

Note that spectators cannot be notified using this method, because their player ID is not available via loadPlayersBasicInfos() or otherwise. You must use notifyAllPlayers() for any notification that spectators should get.

== About random and randomness ==

A large number of board games rely on random, most often based on dice, cards shuffling, picking some item in a bag, and so on. This is very important to ensure a high level of randomness for each of these situations.

Here's are a list of techniques you should use in these situations, from the best to the worst.

=== Dice and bga_rand ===

'''bga_rand( min, max )'''
This is a BGA framework function that provides you a random number between "min" and "max" (inclusive), using the best available random method available on the system.

This is the preferred function you should use, because we are updating it when a better method is introduced.

As of now, bga_rand is based on the PHP function "random_int", which ensures a cryptographic level of randomness.

In particular, it is '''mandatory''' to use it for all '''dice throw''' (ie: games using other methods for dice throwing will be rejected by BGA during review).

Note: rand() and mt_rand() are deprecated on BGA and should not be used anymore, as their randomness is not as good as "bga_rand".

=== shuffle and cards shuffling ===

To shuffle items, like a pile of cards, the best way is to use the BGA PHP [[Deck]] component and to use "shuffle" method. This ensures that the best available shuffling method is used, and that if in the future we improve it your game will be up to date.

As of now, the Deck component shuffle method is based on PHP "shuffle" method, which has quite good randomness (even it is not as good as bga_rand). In consequence, we accept other shuffling methods during reviews, as long as they are based on PHP "shuffle" function (or similar, like "array_rand").

=== Other methods ===

Mysql "RAND()" function has not enough randomness to be a valid method to get a random element on BGA. This function has been used in some existing games and has given acceptable results, but now it should be avoided and you should use other methods instead.

== Game statistics ==

There are 2 types of statistics:
* a "player" statistic is a statistic associated to a player
* a "table" statistic is a statistic not associated to a player (global statistic for this game).

See [[Game statistics: stats.inc.php]] to see how you define statistics for your game.

'''initStat( $table_or_player, $name, $value, $player_id = null )'''

Create a statistic entry with a default value.

This method must be called for each statistic of your game, in your setupNewGame method.
If you neglect to call this for a statistic, and also do not update the value during the course of a certain game using setStat or incStat, the value of the stat will be undefined rather than 0. This will result in it being ignored at the end of the game, as if it didn't apply to that particular game, and excluded from cumulative statistics. As a consequence - if do not want statistic to be applied, do not init it, or call set or inc on it.

'$table_or_player' must be set to "table" if this is a table statistic, or "player" if this is a player statistic.

'$name' is the name of your statistic, as it has been defined in your stats.inc.php file.

'$value' is the initial value of the statistic. If this is a player statistic and if the player is not specified by "$player_id" argument, the value is set for ALL players.

'''setStat( $value, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Set a statistic $name to $value.

If "$player_id" is not specified, setStat consider it is a TABLE statistic.

If "$player_id" is specified, setStat consider it is a PLAYER statistic.

'''incStat( $delta, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Increment (or decrement) specified statistic value by $delta value. Same behavior as setStat function.

'''getStat( $name, $player_id = null )'''

Return the value of statistic specified by $name. Useful when creating derivative statistics such as average.

== Translations ==

See [[Translations]]

== Manage player scores and Tie breaker ==

=== Normal scoring ===

At the end of the game, players automatically get a rank depending on their score: the player with the biggest score is #1, the player with the second biggest score is #2, and so on...

During the game, you update player's score directly by updating "player_score" field of "player" table in database.

Examples:
<pre>

// +2 points to active player
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=player_score+2 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

// Set score of active player to 5
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=5 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

</pre>

Note: don't forget to notify the client side in order the score control can be updated accordingly.

=== Tie breaker ===

Tie breaker is used when two players get the same score at the end of a game.

Tie breaker is using "player_score_aux" field of "player" table. It is updated exactly like the "player_score" field.

Tie breaker score is displayed only for players who are tied at the end of the game. Most of the time, it is not supposed to be displayed explicitly during the game.

When you are using "player_score_aux" functionality, you must describe the formula to use in your gameinfos.inc.php file like this:

<pre>
'tie_breaker_description' => totranslate("Describe here your tie breaker formula"),
</pre>

This description will be used as a tooltip to explain to players how this auxiliary score has been calculated.

=== Co-operative game ===

To make everyone win/lose together in a full-coop game:

Add the following in gameinfos.inc.php :
'is_coop' => 1, // full cooperative

Assign a score of zero to everyone if it's a loss.
Assign the same score > 0 to everyone if it's a win.

=== Semi-coop ===

If the game is not full-coop, then everyone loses = everyone is tied. I.e. set score to 0 to everybody.

=== Only "winners" and "losers" ===

For some games, there is only a group (or a single) "winner", and everyone else is a "loser", with no "end of game rank" (1st, 2nd, 3rd...).

Examples:
* Coup
* Not Alone
* Werewolves
* Quantum

In this case:
* Set the scores so that the winner has the best score, and the other players have the same (lower) score.
* Add the following lines to gameinfos.inc.php:

<pre>
// If in the game, all losers are equal (no score to rank them or explicit in the rules that losers are not ranked between them), set this to true
// The game end result will display "Winner" for the 1st player and "Loser" for all other players
'losers_not_ranked' => true,
</pre>

Werewolves and Coup are implemented like this, as you can see here:
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=werewolves&section=lastresults
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=coupcitystate&section=lastresults

Adding this has the following effects:
* On game results for this game, "Winner" or "Loser" is going to appear instead of the usual "1st, 2nd, 3rd, ...".
* When a game is over, the result of the game will be "End of game: Victory" or "End of game: Defeat" depending on the result of the CURRENT player (instead of the usual "Victory of XXX").
* When calculating ELO points, if there is at least one "Loser", no "victorious" player can lose ELO points, and no "losing" player can win ELO point. Usually it may happened because being tie with many players with a low rank is considered as a tie and may cost you points. If losers_not_ranked is set, we prevent this behavior and make sure you only gain/loss ELO when you get the corresponding results.

Important: this SHOULD NOT be used for cooperative games (see is_coop parameter), or for 2 players games (it makes no sense in this case).

=== Solo ===

If game supports solo variant, a negative or zero score means defeat, a positive score means victory.

=== Player elimination ===

In some games, this is useful to eliminate a player from the game in order he/she can start another game without waiting for the current game end.

This case should be rare. Please don't use player elimination feature if some player just has to wait the last 10% of the game for game end. This feature should be used only in games where players are eliminated all along the game (typical examples: "Perudo" or "The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow").

Usage:

* Player to eliminate should NOT be active anymore (preferably use the feature in a "game" type game state).
* In your PHP code:
self::eliminatePlayer( <player_to_eliminate_id> );
* the player is informed in a dialog box that he no longer have to play and can start another game if he/she wants too (with buttons "stay at this table" "quit table and back to main site"). In any case, the player is free to start & join another table from now.
* When your game is over, all players who have been eliminated before receive a "notification" (the small "!" icon on the top right of the BGA interface) that indicate them that "the game has ended" and invite them to review the game results.

'''Important: this should not be used on a player who has already left the game ("zombie") as leaving/being kicked of the game (outside of the scope of the rules) is not the same as being eliminated from the game (according to the rules), except if in the course of the game, the zombie player is eliminated according to the rules.'''

=== Scoring Helper functions ===

These functions should have been API but they are not, just add them to your php game and use for every game.

// get score
function dbGetScore($player_id) {
return $this->getUniqueValueFromDB("SELECT player_score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set score
function dbSetScore($player_id, $count) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score='$count' WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set aux score (tie breaker)
function dbSetAuxScore($player_id, $score) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score_aux=$score WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// increment score (can be negative too)
function dbIncScore($player_id, $inc) {
$count = $this->dbGetScore($player_id);
if ($inc != 0) {
$count += $inc;
$this->dbSetScore($player_id, $count);
}
return $count;
}

== Reflexion time ==

; function giveExtraTime( $player_id, $specific_time=null )
: Give standard extra time to this player.
: Standard extra time depends on the speed of the game (small with "slow" game option, bigger with other options).
: You can also specify an exact time to add, in seconds, with the "specified_time" argument (rarely used).

; function isAsync()
: Returns true if game is turn based, false if it is realtime

== Undo moves ==

Please read our [[BGA Undo policy]] before.

'''Important''': Before using these methods, you must also add the following to your "gameinfos.inc.php" file, otherwise these methods are ineffective:
'db_undo_support' => true

Note: if you deploy undo support after game is in production this will take into effect for new games only, old games will give user an error if user choses Undo action, but otherwise it should not affect them.

; function undoSavepoint( )
: Save the whole game situation inside an "Undo save point".
: There is only ONE undo save point available (see [[BGA Undo policy]]). Cannot use in multiactivate state or in game state where next state is multiactive.
: Note: this function does not actually do anything when it is called, it only raises the flag to store the database AFTER transaction is over. So the actual state will be saved when you exit the function calling it (technically before first queued notification is sent, which matters if you transition to game state not to user state after), this may affect what you end up saving.

; function undoRestorePoint()
: Restore the situation previously saved as an "Undo save point".
: You must make sure that the active player is the same after and before the undoRestorePoint (ie: this is your responsibility to ensure that the player that is active when this method is called is exactly the same than the player that was active when the undoSavePoint method has been called).

function actionUndo() {
self::checkAction('actionUndo');
$this->undoRestorePoint();
$this->gamestate->nextState('next'); // transition to single player state (i.e. beginning of player actions for this turn)
}

'''Important note''': if you are reading game state variable right after restore (without changing state first) it won't work properly as the global table cache is not automatically refreshed after undoRestorePoint(). So you should either change state immediately to refresh game state values, or use $this->gamestate->reloadState() to refresh the state. If you choose to do the latest, be aware that this will bring the state machine back to the state during which the save point snapshot has been taken using undoSavepoint() (which means your transition you do after has to declared in the state which was saved, not in the state which was active for your actionUndo())

== Managing errors and exceptions ==

Note: when you throw an exception, all database changes and all notifications are cancelled immediately. This way, the game situation that existed before the request is completely restored.

; throw new BgaUserException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a user error
: You must throw this exception when a player wants to do something that they are not allowed to do.
: The error message will be shown to the player as a "red message".
: The error message must be translated, make sure you use self::_() or $this->_() here and NOT clientranslate()
: Throwing such an exception is NOT considered a bug, so it is not traced in BGA error logs.

Example from Gomoku:
<pre>
throw new BgaUserException( self::_("There is already a stone on this intersection, you can't play there") );
</pre>

; throw new BgaVisibleSystemException ( $error_message)
: You must throw this exception when you detect something that is not supposed to happened in your code.
: The error message is shown to the user as an "Unexpected error", in order that he can report it in the forum.
: The error message is logged in BGA error logs. If it happens regularly, we will report it to you.

; throw new BgaSystemException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a system exception. The message will be hidden from the user, but show in the logs. Use this if the message contains technical information.
: You shouldn't use this type of exception except if you think the information shown could be critical. Indeed: a generic error message will be shown to the user, so it's going to be difficult for you to see what happened.

== Zombie mode ==

When a player leaves a game for any reason (expelled, quit), he becomes a "zombie player". In this case, the results of the game won't count for statistics, but this is cool if the other players can finish the game anyway. That's why zombie mode exists: allow the other player to finish the game, even if the situation is not ideal.

While developing your zombie mode, keep in mind that:
* Do not refer to the rules, because this situation is not planned by the rules.
* Try to figure that you are playing with your friends and one of them has to leave: how can we finish the game without killing the spirit of the game?
* The idea is NOT to develop an artificial intelligence for the game.
* Do not try to end the game early, even in a two-player game. The zombie is there to allow the game to continue, not to end it. Trying to end the game is not supported by the framework and will likely cause unexpected errors.

Most of the time, the best thing to do when it is zombie player turn is to jump immediately to a state where he is not active anymore. For example, if he is in a game state where he has a choice between playing A and playing B, the best thing to do is NOT to choose A or B, but to pass. So, even if there's no "pass" action in the rules, add a "zombiepass" transitition in your game state and use it.

Each time a zombie player must play, your "zombieTurn" method is called.

Parameters:
* $state: the name of the current game state.
* $active_player: the id of the active player.

Most of the time, your zombieTurn method looks like this:

<pre>
function zombieTurn( $state, $active_player )
{
$statename = $state['name'];

if( $statename == 'myFirstGameState'
|| $statename == 'my2ndGameState'
|| $statename == 'my3rdGameState'
....
)
{
$this->gamestate->nextState( "zombiePass" );
}
else
throw new BgaVisibleSystemException( "Zombie mode not supported at this game state: ".$statename );
}
</pre>

Note that in the example above, all corresponding game state should implement "zombiePass" as a transition.

'''Very important''': your zombie code will be called when the player leaves the game. This action is triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to this action. In your zombieTurn function, you must '''never''' use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message.

== Player color preferences ==

BGA players (Club members) may now choose their preferred color for playing. For example, if they are used to play green for every board game, they can select "green" in their BGA preferences page.

Making your game compatible with colors preferences is very easy and requires only 1 line of configuration change:

On your gameinfos.inc.php file, add the following lines :

// Favorite colors support: if set to "true", support attribution of favorite colors based on player's preferences (see reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method)
// NB: this parameter is used only to flag games supporting this feature; you must use (or not use) reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method to actually enable or disable the feature.
'favorite_colors_support' => true,

Then, on your main <your_game>.game.php file check the code of "setupNewGame". New template already have correct code, but if you editing very old game and it may be absent.

$gameinfos = $this->getGameinfos();
...
if ($gameinfos['favorite_colors_support'])
$this->reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences($players, $gameinfos['player_colors']); // this should be above reloadPlayersBasicInfos()
self::reloadPlayersBasicInfos();

The "reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences" method reattributes all colors, taking into account players color preferences and available colors.

Note that you must update the colors to indicate the colors available for your game.

Some important remarks:
* for some games (i.e. Chess), the color has an influence on a mechanism of the game, most of the time by giving a special advantage to a player (i.e. Starting the game). Color preference mechanism must NOT be used in such a case.
* your logic should NEVER consider that the first player has the color X, that the second player has the color Y, and so on. If this is the case, your game will NOT be compatible with reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences as this method attribute colors to players based on their preferences and not based as their order at the table.

Colours currently listed as a choice in preferences (Note - you don't have to pick these, the "closest" color will be found):

* #ff0000 Red
* #008000 Green
* #0000ff Blue
* #ffa500 Yellow
* #000000 Black
* #ffffff White
* #e94190 Pink
* #982fff Purple
* #72c3b1 Cyan
* #f07f16 Orange
* #bdd002 Khaki green
* #7b7b7b Gray

== Legacy games API ==

For some very specific games ("legacy", "campaign"), you need to keep some informations from a game to another.

This should be an exceptional situation: the legacy API is costing resources on Board Game Arena databases, and is slowing down the game setup process + game end of game process. Please do not use it for things like:
* keeping a player preference/settings (=> player preferences and game options should be used instead)
* keeping a statistics, a score, or a ranking, while it is not planned in the physical board game, or while there is no added value compared to BGA statistics / rankings.

You should use it for:
* legacy games: when some components of the game has been altered in a previous game and should be kept as it is.
* "campaign style" games: when a player is getting a "reward" at the end of a game, and should be able to use it in further games.

Important: you cannot store more than 64k of data (serialized as JSON) per player per game. If you go over 64k, storeLegacyData function is going to FAIL, and there is a risk to create a major bug (= players blocked) in your game. You MUST make sure that no more than 64k of data is used for each player for your game. For example, if you are implementing a "campaign style" game and if you allow a player to start multiple campaign, you must LIMIT the number of different campaign so that the total data size to not go over the limit. We strongly recommend you to use this:

try
{
$this->storeLegacyTeamData( 'my_variable', $my_data );
}
catch( feException $e )
{
if( $e->getCode() == FEX_legacy_size_exceeded )
{
// Do something here to free some space in Legacy data (ex: by removing some variables)
}
else
throw $e;
}

The keys may only contain letters and numbers, underscore seems not to be allowed.

; function storeLegacyData( $player_id, $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Store some data associated with $key for the given user / current game
: In the opposite of all other game data, this data will PERSIST after the end of this table, and can be re-used
: in a future table with the same game.
: IMPORTANT: The only possible place where you can use this method is when the game is over at your table (last game action). Otherwise, there is a risk of conflicts between ongoing games.
: TTL is a time-to-live: the maximum, and default, is 365 days.
: In any way, the total data (= all keys) you can store for a given user+game is 64k (note: data is store serialized as JSON data)

; function retrieveLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Get data associated with $key for the current game
: This data is common to ALL tables from the same game for this player, and persist from one table to another.
: Note: calling this function has an important cost => please call it few times (possibly: only ONCE) for each player for 1 game if possible
: Note: you can use '%' in $key to retrieve all keys matching the given patterns

; function removeLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Remove some legacy data with the given key
: (useful to free some data to avoid going over 64k)

; function storeLegacyTeamData( $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Same as storeLegacyData, except that it stores some data for the whole team within the current table
: Ie: if players A, B and C are at a table, the legacy data will be saved for future table with (exactly) A, B and C on the table.
: This is useful for games which are intended to be played several time by the same team.
: Note: the data total size is still limited, so you must implement catch the FEX_legacy_size_exceeded exception if it happens

; function retrieveLegacyTeamData($key)
: Same as retrieveLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

; function removeLegacyTeamData()
: Same as removeLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

== Language dependent games API ==

This API is used for games that are heavily language dependent. Two most common use cases are:
* Games that have a language dependent component that are not necessarily translatable, typically a list of words. (Think of games like Codenames, Decrypto, Just One...)
* Games with massive communication where players would like to ensure that all participants speak the same language. (Think of games like Werewolf, The Resistance, maybe even dixit...)

If this option is used, the table created will be limited only to users that have specific language in their profile. Player starting the game would be able to chose one of the languages he speaks.

There is a new property language_dependency in gameinfos.inc.php which can be set like this:
'language_dependency' => false, //or if the property is missing, the game is not language dependent
'language_dependency' => true, //all players at the table must speak the same language
'language_dependency' => array( 1 => 'en', 2 => 'fr', 3 => 'it' ), //1-based list of supported languages

In the gamename.game.php file, you can get the id of selected language with the method '''getGameLanguage'''.
; function getGameLanguage()
: Returns an index of the selected language as defined in gameinfos.inc.php.

Languages currently available on BGA are:
'ar' => array( 'name' => "العربية", 'code' => 'ar_AE' ), // Arabic
'be' => array( 'name' => "беларуская мова", 'code' => 'be_BY' ), // Belarusian
'bn' => array( 'name' => "বাংলা", 'code' => 'bn_BD' ), // Bengali
'bg' => array( 'name' => "български език", 'code' => 'bg_BG' ), // Bulgarian
'ca' => array( 'name' => "català", 'code' => 'ca_ES' ), // Catalan
'cs' => array( 'name' => "čeština", 'code' => 'cs_CZ' ), // Czech
'da' => array( 'name' => "dansk", 'code' => 'da_DK' ), // Danish
'de' => array( 'name' => "deutsch", 'code' => 'de_DE' ), // German
'el' => array( 'name' => "Ελληνικά", 'code' => 'el_GR' ), // Greek
'en' => array( 'name' => "English", 'code' => 'en_US' ), // English
'es' => array( 'name' => "español", 'code' => 'es_ES' ), // Spanish
'et' => array( 'name' => "eesti keel", 'code' => 'et_EE' ), // Estonian
'fi' => array( 'name' => "suomi", 'code' => 'fi_FI' ), // Finnish
'fr' => array( 'name' => "français", 'code' => 'fr_FR' ), // French
'he' => array( 'name' => "עברית", 'code' => 'he_IL' ), // Hebrew
'hi' => array( 'name' => "हिन्दी", 'code' => 'hi_IN' ), // Hindi
'hr' => array( 'name' => "Hrvatski", 'code' => 'hr_HR' ), // Croatian
'hu' => array( 'name' => "magyar", 'code' => 'hu_HU' ), // Hungarian
'id' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Indonesia", 'code' => 'id_ID' ), // Indonesian
'ms' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Malaysia", 'code' => 'ms_MY' ), // Malaysian
'it' => array( 'name' => "italiano", 'code' => 'it_IT' ), // Italian
'ja' => array( 'name' => "日本語", 'code' => 'ja_JP' ), // Japanese
'jv' => array( 'name' => "Basa Jawa", 'code' => 'jv_JV' ), // Javanese
'ko' => array( 'name' => "한국어", 'code' => 'ko_KR' ), // Korean
'lt' => array( 'name' => "lietuvių", 'code' => 'lt_LT' ), // Lithuanian
'lv' => array( 'name' => "latviešu", 'code' => 'lv_LV' ), // Latvian
'nl' => array( 'name' => "nederlands", 'code' => 'nl_NL' ), // Dutch
'no' => array( 'name' => "norsk", 'code' => 'nb_NO' ), // Norwegian
'oc' => array( 'name' => "occitan", 'code' => 'oc_FR' ), // Occitan
'pl' => array( 'name' => "polski", 'code' => 'pl_PL' ), // Polish
'pt' => array( 'name' => "português", 'code' => 'pt_PT' ), // Portuguese
'ro' => array( 'name' => "română", 'code' => 'ro_RO' ), // Romanian
'ru' => array( 'name' => "Русский язык", 'code' => 'ru_RU' ), // Russian
'sk' => array( 'name' => "slovenčina", 'code' => 'sk_SK' ), // Slovak
'sl' => array( 'name' => "slovenščina", 'code' => 'sl_SI' ), // Slovenian
'sr' => array( 'name' => "Српски", 'code' => 'sr_RS' ), // Serbian
'sv' => array( 'name' => "svenska", 'code' => 'sv_SE' ), // Swedish
'tr' => array( 'name' => "Türkçe", 'code' => 'tr_TR' ), // Turkish
'uk' => array( 'name' => "Українська мова", 'code' => 'uk_UA' ), // Ukrainian
'zh' => array( 'name' => "中文 (漢)", 'code' => 'zh_TW' ), // Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan)
'zh-cn' => array( 'name' => "中文 (汉)", 'code' => 'zh_CN' ), // Simplified Chinese (Mainland China, Singapore)

== Debugging and Tracing ==

To debug php code you can use some tracing functions available from the parent class such as debug, trace, error, warn, dump.

self::debug("Ahh!");
self::dump('my_var',$my_var);

See [[Practical_debugging]] section for complete information about debugging interfaces and where to find logs.

Main game logic: Game.php

2022-03-16T11:30:14Z

Bennygui: /* Use globals */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

This is the main file for your game logic. Here you initialize the game, persist data, implement the rules and notify the client interface of changes.

== File Structure ==

The details of how the file is structured are described directly with comments in the code skeleton provided to you.

Here is the basic structure:

* Constructor: where you define global variables.
* setupNewGame: initial setup of the game. Takes an array of players, indexed by player_id. Structure of each player includes player_name, player_canal, player_avatar, and flags indicating admin/ai/premium/order/language/beginner.
* getAllDatas: where you retrieve all game data during a complete reload of the game. Returned value must include ['players'][playerId]['score'] for scores to populate when F5 is pressed.
* getGameProgression: where you compute the game progression indicator. Returns a number indicating percent of progression (0-100)
* Utility functions: your utility functions.
* Player actions: the entry points for players actions ([https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Players_actions:_yourgamename.action.php more info here]).
* Game state arguments: methods to return additional data on specific game states ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#args more info here]).
* Game state actions: the logic to run when entering a new game state ([http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#action more info here]).
* zombieTurn: what to do it's the turn of a zombie player.
* upgradeTableDb: function to migrate database if you change it after release on production.

== Accessing player information ==

'''Important''': In the following methods, be mindful of the difference between the "active" player and the "current" player. The '''active''' player is the player whose turn it is - not necessarily the player who sent a request! The '''current''' player is the player who sent the request and will see the results returned by your methods: not necessarily the player whose turn it is!

; getPlayersNumber()
: Returns the number of players playing at the table
: Note: doesn't work in setupNewGame (use count($players) instead).

; getActivePlayerId()
: Get the "active_player", whatever what is the current state type.
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multiplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getActivePlayerName()
: Get the "active_player" name
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multiplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

; getPlayerNameById($player_id)
: Get the name by id

; getPlayerColorById($player_id)
: Get the color by id

; getPlayerNoById($player_id)
: Get 'player_no' (number) by id

; loadPlayersBasicInfos()
: Get an associative array with generic data about players (ie: not game specific data).
: The key of the associative array is the player id. The returned table is cached, so ok to call multiple times without performance concerns.
: <code>array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos())</code> will therefore returns an array containing players id
: The content of each value is:
: * player_name - the name of the player
: * player_color (ex: ff0000) - the color code of the player
: * player_no - the position of the player at the start of the game in natural table order, i.e. 1,2,3

<pre>
$players = $this->loadPlayersBasicInfos();
foreach ($players as $player_id => $info) {
$player_color = $info['player_color'];
...
}
</pre>
Note: if you want array of player ids only you can do this:
$player_ids = array_keys($this->loadPlayersBasicInfos());

; getCurrentPlayerId()
: Get the "current_player". The current player is the one from which the action originated (the one who sent the request).
: '''Be careful''': This is not necessarily the active player!
: In general, you shouldn't use this method, unless you are in "multiplayer" state.
: '''Very important''': in your setupNewGame and zombieTurn function, you must never use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message (these actions are triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to these actions).

; getCurrentPlayerName()
: Get the "current_player" name
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; getCurrentPlayerColor()
: Get the "current_player" color
: Be careful using this method (see above).

; isCurrentPlayerZombie()
: Check the "current_player" zombie status. If true, player is zombie, i.e. left or was kicked out of the game.

; isSpectator()
: Check the "current_player" spectator status. If true, the user accessing the game is a spectator (not part of the game). For this user, the interface should display all public information, and no private information (like a friend sitting at the same table as players and just spectating the game).

; getActivePlayerColor()
: This function does not seems to exist in API, if you need it here is implementation
function getActivePlayerColor() {
$player_id = self::getActivePlayerId();
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (isset($players[$player_id]))
return $players[$player_id]['player_color'];
else
return null;
}
; isPlayerZombie($player_id)
: This method does not exists, but if you need it it looks like this
protected function isPlayerZombie($player_id) {
$players = self::loadPlayersBasicInfos();
if (! isset($players[$player_id]))
throw new feException("Player $player_id is not playing here");

return ($players[$player_id]['player_zombie'] == 1);
}

== Accessing the database ==

The main game logic should be the only point from which you should access the game database. You access your database using SQL queries with the methods below.

'''IMPORTANT'''

BGA uses [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/sql-syntax-transactions.html database transactions]. This means that your database changes WON'T BE APPLIED to the database until your request ends normally (web request, not database request). Using transactions is in fact very useful for you; at any time, if your game logic detects that something is wrong (example: a disallowed move), you just have to throw an exception and all changes to the game situation will be removed. This also means that you need not (and in fact cannot) use your own transactions for multiple related database operations.

However there are sets of database operation that initite implicit commit (most common mistake is to use "TRUNCATE"), you cannot use these operations during the game, it breaks the unrolling of transactions and will lead to nasty issues
(https://mariadb.com/kb/en/sql-statements-that-cause-an-implicit-commit).

; DbQuery( $sql )
: This is the generic method to access the database.
: It can execute any type of SELECT/UPDATE/DELETE/REPLACE/INSERT query on the database.
: For SELECT queries, the specialized methods below are much better.
: Do not use method for TUNCATE, DROP and other table altering operations. See disclamer above about implicit commits. If you really need TRUNCATE use DELETE FROM xxx instead.

; getUniqueValueFromDB( $sql )
: Returns a unique value from DB or null if no value is found.
: $sql must be a SELECT query.
: Raise an exception if more than 1 row is returned.

; getCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Returns an associative array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The key of the resulting associative array is the first field specified in the SELECT query.
: The value of the resulting associative array is an associative array with all the field specified in the SELECT query and associated values.
: First column must be a primary or alternate key (semantically, it does not actually have to declared in sql as such).
: The resulting collection can be empty (it won't be null).
: If you specified $bSingleValue=true and if your SQL query request 2 fields A and B, the method returns an associative array "A=>B", otherwise its A=>[A,B]
: Note: The name a bit misleading, it really return associative array, i.e. map and NOT a collection. You cannot use it to get list of values which may have duplicates (hence primary key requirement on first column). If you need simple array use getObjectListFromDB() method.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
1234 => array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
1235 => array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getCollectionFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
1234 => 'myuser0',
1235 => 'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getNonEmptyCollectionFromDB( $sql )
: Same as getCollectionFromDB($sdl), but raise an exception if the collection is empty. Note: this function does NOT have 2nd argument as previous one does.

; getObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Returns one row for the sql SELECT query as an associative array or null if there is no result
: Raise an exception if the query return more than one row (you can use LIMIT 1 in the query to avoid the exception)

Example:
<pre>
self::getObjectFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'" );

Result:
array(
'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1
)
</pre>

; getNonEmptyObjectFromDB( $sql )
: Similar to previous one, but raise an exception if no row is found

; getObjectListFromDB( $sql, $bUniqueValue=false )
: Return an array of rows for a sql SELECT query.
: The result is the same than "getCollectionFromDB" except that the result is a simple array (and not an associative array).
: The result can be empty.
: If you specified $bUniqueValue=true and if your SQL query request 1 field, the method returns directly an array of values.

Example 1:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_id id, player_name name, player_score score FROM player" );

Result:
array(
array( 'id'=>1234, 'name'=>'myuser0', 'score'=>1 ),
array( 'id'=>1235, 'name'=>'myuser1', 'score'=>0 )
)
</pre>
Example 2:
<pre>
self::getObjectListFromDB( "SELECT player_name name FROM player", true );

Result:
array(
'myuser0',
'myuser1'
)

</pre>

; getDoubleKeyCollectionFromDB( $sql, $bSingleValue=false )
: Return an associative array of associative array, from a SQL SELECT query.
: First array level correspond to first column specified in SQL query.
: Second array level correspond to second column specified in SQL query.
: If bSingleValue = true, keep only third column on result

; DbGetLastId()
: Return the PRIMARY key of the last inserted row (see PHP mysql_insert_id function).

; DbAffectedRow()
: Return the number of row affected by the last operation

; escapeStringForDB( $string )
: You must use this function on every string type data in your database that contains unsafe data.
: (unsafe = can be modified by a player).
: This method makes sure that no SQL injection will be done through the string used.
: Note: if you using standard types in ajax actions, like AT_alphanum it is sanitized before arrival,
: this is only needed if you manage to get unchecked string, like in the games where user has to enter text as a response.

<pre>

</pre>

Note: see Editing [[Game database model: dbmodel.sql]] to know how to define your database model.

== Use globals ==

Sometimes, you want a single global integer value for your game, and you don't want to create a DB table specifically for it.

You can do this with the BGA framework "global." Your value will be stored in the "global" table in the database, and you can access it with simple methods.

'''initGameStateLabels'''

This method should be located at the beginning of __construct() method of ''yourgamename.game.php''. This is where you define the globals used in your game logic, by assigning them IDs.

You can define up to 80 globals, with IDs from 10 to 89 (inclusive, there can be gaps). You must '''not''' use globals outside this range, as those values are used by other components of the framework.

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11
) );
</pre>

or

<pre>
$this->GAMESTATELABELS = ["my_first_global_variable" => 10, "my_second_global_variable" => 11];
self::initGameStateLabels($this->GAMESTATELABELS);
</pre>

This is also in this method that you will define your game options. In that case, IDs need to be between 100 and 199 (inclusive, there can be gaps) Check this for more details [[Game_options_and_preferences:_gameoptions.inc.php]]

With option set, the method will look like

<pre>
self::initGameStateLabels( array(
"my_first_global_variable" => 10,
"my_second_global_variable" => 11,
"my_game_variant" => 100
) );
</pre>

'''setGameStateInitialValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Initialize your global value. Must be called before any use of your global, so you should call this method from your "setupNewGame" method. $value_value must be an integer.

It seems that a non initialized value will not be restored with undo system, so it is therefore advisable to initialize them all in your "setupNewGame" method.

<pre>foreach ($this->GAMESTATELABELS as $value_label=> $ID) if ($ID >= 10 && $ID < 90) self::setGameStateInitialValue($value_label, 0);</pre>

'''getGameStateValue( $value_label )'''

Retrieve the current value of a global.

For debugging purposes, you can have labels and value pairs send to client side by inserting that line of code in your "getAllDatas":

<pre>$result['labels'] = array_combine(array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS), array_map('self::getGameStateValue', array_keys($this->GAMESTATELABELS)));</pre>

'''setGameStateValue( $value_label, $value_value )'''

Set the current value of a global. $value_value must be an integer.

'''incGameStateValue( $value_label, $increment )'''

Increment the current value of a global. If increment is negative, decrement the value of the global.

Return the final value of the global.

=== BGA predefined globals ===

BGA already defines some globals in the ''global'' database table. You should not change them directly but it can be useful to know what they mean when debugging:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! global_id !! Meaning
|-
| 1 || Active state
|-
| 2 || Active player id
|-
| 3 || Next move number
|-
| 300 || Current version of the game (when in production)
|}

== Game states and active players ==

=== Activate player handling ===

; $this->activeNextPlayer()
: Make the next player active in the natural player order.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->activePrevPlayer()
: Make the previous player active (in the natural player order).
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->gamestate->changeActivePlayer( $player_id )
: You can call this method to make any player active.
: Note: you CANNOT use this method in a "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer" state. You must use a "game" type game state for this.

; $this->getActivePlayerId()
: Return the "active_player" id
: Note: it does NOT mean that this player is active right now, because state type could be "game" or "multipleactiveplayer"
: Note: avoid using this method in a "multipleactiveplayer" state because it does not mean anything.

=== Multiple activate player handling ===

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()
: All playing players are made active. Update notification is sent to all players (this will trigger '''onUpdateActionButtons''').
: Usually, you use this method at the beginning of a game state (e.g., "stGameState") which transitions to a ''multipleactiveplayer'' state in which multiple players have to perform some action. Do not use this method if you going to make some more changes in the active player list. (I.e., if you want to take away multipleactiveplayer status immediately afterwards, use setPlayersMultiactive instead.)

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_MultiPlayerInit() {
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
}
</pre>

; $this->stMakeEveryoneActive()
:this method can be used in state machine to make everybody active as "st" method of multiplayeractive state, it just calls $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive()

This is to be used in state declaration:
<pre>
2 => array(
"name" => "playerTurnPlace",
"description" => clienttranslate('Other player must place ships'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must place ships (click on YOUR SHIPS board to place)'),
"type" => "multipleactiveplayer",
'action' => 'stMakeEveryoneActive',
'args' => 'arg_playerTurnPlace',
"possibleactions" => array( "actionBla" ),
"transitions" => array( "next" => 4, "last" => 99)
),
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersNonMultiactive( $next_state )
: All playing players are made inactive. Transition to next state

; $this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive( $players, $next_state, $bExclusive = false )
: Make a specific list of players active during a multiactive gamestate. Update notification is sent to all players whose state changed.
: "players" is the array of player id that should be made active. If "players" is not empty the value of "next_state" will be ignored (you can put whatever you want)
: If "exclusive" parameter is not set or false it doesn't deactivate other previously active players. If its set to true, the players who will be multiactive at the end are only these in "$players" array

: In case "players" is empty, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise

; $this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $player_id, $next_state )
: During a multiactive game state, make the specified player inactive.
: Usually, you call this method during a multiactive game state after a player did his action. It is also possible to call it directly from multiplayer action handler.
: If this player was the last active player, the method trigger the "next_state" transition to go to the next game state.
: returns true if state transition happened, false otherwise
Example of usage (see state declaration of playerTurnPlace above):
<pre>
function actionBla($args) {
self::checkAction('actionBla');
// handle the action using $this->getCurrentPlayerId()
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 'next');
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->getActivePlayerList()
: With this method you can retrieve the list of the active player at any time.
: During a "game" type gamestate, it will return a void array.
: During a "activeplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array with one value (the active player id).
: During a "multipleactiveplayer" type gamestate, it will return an array of the active players id.
: Note: you should only use this method in the latter case.

; $this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( $next_state_if_none )
: Sends update notification about multiplayer changes. All multiactive set* functions above do that, however if you want to change state manually using db queries for complex calculations, you have to call this yourself after. Do not call this if you calling one of the other setters above.
Example: you have player teams and you want to activate all players in one team
<pre>
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='0'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive='1' WHERE player_id='$player_id' AND player_team='$team_no'";
self::DbQuery( $sql );

$this->gamestate->updateMultiactiveOrNextState( 'error' );
</pre>

; updating database manually
: Use this helper function to change multiactive state without sending notification
<pre>
/**
* Changes values of multiactivity in db, does not sent notifications.
* To send notifications after use updateMultiactiveOrNextState
* @param number $player_id, player id <=0 or null - means ALL
* @param number $value - 1 multiactive, 0 non multiactive
*/
function dbSetPlayerMultiactive($player_id = -1, $value = 1) {
if (! $value)
$value = 0;
else
$value = 1;
$sql = "UPDATE player SET player_is_multiactive = '$value' WHERE player_zombie = 0 and player_eliminated = 0";
if ($player_id > 0) {
$sql .= " AND player_id = $player_id";
}
self::DbQuery($sql);
}
</pre>

;$this->gamestate->isPlayerActive($player_id)
:Return true if specified player is active right now.
:This method take into account game state type, ie nobody is active if game state is "game" and several players can be active if game state is "multiplayer"

=== States functions ===
; $this->gamestate->nextState( $transition )
: Change current state to a new state. Important: the $transition parameter is the name of the transition, and NOT the name of the target game state, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for more information about states.

; $this->checkAction( $actionName, $bThrowException=true )
: Check if the current player can perform a specific action in the current game state, and optionally throw an exception if they can't.
: The action is valid if it is listed in the "possibleactions" array for the current game state (see game state description).
: This method MUST be the first one called in ALL your PHP methods that handle player actions, in order to make sure a player doesn't perform an action not allowed by the rules at the point in the game. It should not be called from methods where the current player is not necessarily the active player, otherwise it may fail with an "It is not your turn" exception.
: If "bThrowException" is set to "false", the function returns '''false''' in case of failure instead of throwing an exception. This is useful when several actions are possible, in order to test each of them without throwing exceptions.

; $this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction( $action )
: (rarely used)
: This works exactly like "checkAction" (above), except that it does NOT check if the current player is active.
: This is used specifically in certain game states when you want to authorize additional actions for players that are not active at the moment.
: Example: in ''Libertalia'', you want to authorize players to change their mind about the card played. They are of course not active at the time they change their mind, so you cannot use "checkAction"; use "checkPossibleAction" instead.

This is how PHP action looks that returns player to active state (only for multiplayeractive states). To be able to execute on js side do not checkAction on js side for this specific one.

function actionUnpass() {
$this->gamestate->checkPossibleAction('actionUnpass'); // player changed mind about passing while others were thinking
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive(array ($this->getCurrentPlayerId() ), 'error', false);
}

; $this->gamestate->state()
: Get an associative array of current game state attributes, see [[Your game state machine: states.inc.php]] for state attributes.

$state=$this->gamestate->state(); if( $state['name'] == 'myGameState' ) {...}

I suggest to define and use this function in your php class to access state name:

public function getStateName() {
$state = $this->gamestate->state();
return $state['name'];
}

; $this->gamestate->state_id()
: Get the id of the current game state (rarely useful, its best to use name, unless you use constants for state ids)

; $this->gamestate->isMutiactiveState()
: Return true if we are in multipleactiveplayer state, false otherwise

=== Private parallel states ===

See the overview of private parallel states [[Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#Private_parallel_states|here]].

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers()
: All active players in a multiactive state are entering a first private state defined in the master state's initialprivate parameter.
: Every time you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods below.
: Note: at least one player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating some or all players
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method

$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

// in some cases you can move immediately some or all players to different private states
if ($someCondition) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}

if ($other condition) {
//move single player to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($specificPlayerId, "some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds)
: Players with specified ids are entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->initializePrivateState($playerId)
: Player with the specified id is entering a first private state defined in the master state initialprivate parameter.
: Everytime you need to start a private parallel states you need to call this or similar methods above
: Note: player needs to be active (see [[#Multiple_activate_player_handling|above]]) and current game state must be a multiactive state with initialprivate parameter defined
: Note: initialprivate parameter of master state should be set to the id of the first private state. This private state needs to be defined in states.php with the type set to 'private'.
: Note: this method is usually preceded with activating that player
: Note: initializing private state can run action or args methods of the initial private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function st_ChangeMind() {
// This player finished his move before, but now decides change something while other players are still active
// We activate the player and initialize his private state
$this->gamestate->setPlayersMultiactive([$this->getCurrentPlayerId()], "");
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateState(this->getCurrentPlayerId());

// It is also possible to move the player to some other specific state immediately
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers($transition)
: All active players will transition to next private state by specified transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state
: Note: this is usually used after initializing the private state to move players to specific private state according to the game logic

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stStartPlayerTurn() {
// This is usually done in master state action method
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

if ($specificOption) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("some_transition");
}
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: Players with specified ids will transition to next private state specified by provided transition.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($playerId, $transition)
: Player with specified id will transition to next private state specified by provided transition
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: transition should lead to another private state (i.e. a state with type defined as 'private'
: Note: transition should be defined in private state in which the players currently are.
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player
: Note: this is usually used after some player actions to move to next private state

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers()
: All players private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used to clean up after leaving a master state in which private states were used, but can be used in other cases when we want to exit private parallel states and use a regular multiactive state for all players
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private states as they will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state after exiting private parallel states to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function stNextRound() {
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForAllPlayers();
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateStateForPlayers($playerIds, $transition)
: For players with specified ids private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used.
: Same considerations apply as for the method above.

; $this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($playerId)
: For player with specified id private state will be reset to null, which means they will get out of private parallel states and be in a master state like the private states are not used
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this is usually used when deactivating player to clean up their parallel state
: Note: After unseting private state only actions on master state are possible
: Note: Usually it is not necessary to unset private state as it will be initialized to first private state when private states are needed again. Nevertheless it is generally better to clean private state when not needed to avoid bugs.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function done() {
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive( $this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "newTurn" );
$this->gamestate->unsetPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId());
}
</pre>

; $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($playerId, $newStateId)
: For player with specified id a new private state would be set
: Note: game needs to be in a master state which allows private parallel states
: Note: this should be rarely used as it doesn't check if the transition is allowed (it doesn't even specifies transition). This can be useful in very complex cases when standard state machine is not adequate (i.e. specific cards can lead to some micro action in various states where defining transitions back and forth can become very tedious.)
: Note: this method can run action or args methods of the target state for specified player

Example of usage:
<pre>
function someAction() {
$this->checkAction("someAction"); //needs to be defined in the current state

if ($playerHaveSpecificCard)
return $this->gamestate->setPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), 35);

$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "some_transition");
}
</pre>

== Players turn order ==

When table is created the "natural" player order is assigned to player at random, and stored in "read-only" field "player_no".
If you need to create a custom order you should never change natural order but have a separate data structure.
For example you can alter the players table to add another "custom_order" field, you can use state globals or you can use your natural board database,
to store meeple_color/position_location pair.
BGA currently does not provide any API to create/store custom player order.

'''getNextPlayerTable()'''

Return an associative array which associate each player with the next player around the table.

In addition, key 0 is associated to the first player to play.

Example: if three player with ID 1, 2 and 3 are around the table, in this order, the method returns:
<pre>
array(
1 => 2,
2 => 3,
3 => 1,
0 => 1
);
</pre>

'''getPrevPlayerTable()'''

Same as above, but the associative array associate the previous player around the table. However there no 0 index here.

'''getPlayerAfter( $player_id )'''

Get player playing after given player in natural playing order.

'''getPlayerBefore( $player_id )'''

Get player playing before given player in natural playing order.

Note: There is no API to modify this order, if you have custom player order you have to maintain it in your database
and have custom function to access it.

'''createNextPlayerTable( $players, $bLoop=true )'''

Using $players array creates a map of current => next as in example from getNextPlayerTable(), however you can use custom order here.
If parmeter $bLoop is set to true then last player will points to first (creaing a loop), false otherwise.
In any case index 0 points to first player (first element of $players array). $players is array of player ids in desired order.

Note: This function '''DOES NOT''' change the order in database, it only creates a map using key/values as descibed.

Example of usage:
<pre>
function getNextPlayerTableCustom() {
$starting = $this->getStartingPlayer(); // custom function to get starting player
$player_ids = $this->getPlayerIdsInOrder($starting); // custom function to create players array starting from starting player
return $this->createNextPlayerTable($player_ids, false); // create next player table in custom order
}
</pre>

<pre>
$table = $this->createNextPlayerTable([3,2,1], false);

will return:
[
3 => 2,
2 => 1,
1 => null,
0 => 3
]
</pre>

== Notify players ==

To understand notifications, please read [http://www.slideshare.net/boardgamearena/the-bga-framework-at-a-glance The BGA Framework at a glance] first.

'''IMPORTANT'''

Notifications are sent at the very end of the request, when it ends normally. It means that if you throw an exception for any reason (ex: move not allowed), no notifications will be sent to players.
Notifications sent between the game start (setupNewGame) and the end of the "action" method of the first active state will never reach their destination.

=== NotifyAllPlayers ===

'''notifyAllPlayers( $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Send a notification to all players of the game.

* notification_type:
A string that defines the type of your notification.

Your game interface Javascript logic will use this to know what is the type of the received notification (and to trigger the corresponding method).

* notification_log:
A string that defines what is to be displayed in the game log.

You can use an empty string here (""). In this case, nothing is displayed in the game log.

If you define a real string here, you should use "clienttranslate" method to make sure it can be translated.

You can use arguments in your notification_log strings, that refers to values defines in the "notification_args" argument (see below).
Note: Make sure you only use single quotes ('), otherwise PHP will try to interpolate the variable and will ignore the values in the args array.

* notification_args:
The arguments of your notifications, as an associative array.

This array will be transmitted to the game interface logic, in order the game interface can be updated.

Complete notifyAllPlayers example (from "Reversi"):

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y
) );
</pre>

You can see in the example above the use of the "clienttranslate" method, and the use of 2 arguments "player_name" and "returned_nbr" in the notification log.

'''Important''': NO private data must be sent with this method, as a cheater could see it even if it is not used explicitly by the game interface logic. If you want to send private information to a player, please use notifyPlayer below.

'''Important''': this array is serialized to be sent to the browsers, and will be saved with the notification to be able to replay the game later. If it is too big, it can make notifications slower / less reliable, and replay archives very big (to the point of failing). So as a general rule, you should send only the minimum of information necessary to update the client interface with no overhead in order to keep the notifications as light as possible.

'''Important''': When the game page is reloaded (i.e. F5 or when loading turn based game) all previous notifications are replayed as history notifications. These notifications do not trigger notification handlers and are used basically to build the game log. Because of that most of the notification arguments, except i18n, player_id and all arguments used in the message, are removed from these history notifications. If you need additional arguments in history notifications you can add special field <b>preserve</b> to notification arguments, like this:

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( "playDisc", clienttranslate( '${player_name} plays a disc and turns over ${returned_nbr} disc(s)' ),
array(
'player_id' => $player_id,
'player_name' => self::getActivePlayerName(),
'returned_nbr' => count( $turnedOverDiscs ),
'x' => $x,
'y' => $y,
'preserve' => [ 'x', 'y' ]
) );
</pre>
In this example, fields x and y will be preserved when replaying history notification at the game load.

==== HTML in Notifications ====

You CAN use some HTML inside your notification log, however it not recommended for many reasons:
* Its bad architecture, ui elements leak into server now you have to manage ui in many places
* If you decided to change something in ui in future version, old games replay and tutorials may not work, since they use stored notifications
* When you read log preview for old games its unreadable (this is log before you enter the game replay, useful for troubleshooting or game analysis)
* Its more data to transfer and store in db
* Its nightmare for translators, at least don't put HTML tags inside the "clienttranslate" method. You can use a notification argument instead, and provide your HTML through this argument.

If you still want to have pretty pictures in the log check this [[BGA_Studio_Cookbook#Inject_images_and_styled_html_in_the_log]].

==== Recursive Notifications ====

If your notification contains some phrases that build programmatically you may need to use recursive notifications. In this case the argument can be not only the string but
an array itself, which contains 'log' and 'args', i.e.

$this->notifyAllPlayers('playerLog',clienttranslate('Game moves ${token_name_rec}'),
['token_name_rec'=>['log'=>'${token_name} #${token_number}',
'args'=> ['token_name'=>clienttranslate('Boo'), 'token_number'=>$number, 'i18n'=>['token_name'] ]
]
]);

Special handling of arguments:
* ${player_name} - this will be wrapped in html and text shown using color of the corresponding player, some colors also have reserved background. This will apply recursively as well.
* ${player_name2} - same

==== Excluding some players ====

Sometimes you want to notify all players of a message but not have it appear in the log of specific players (for example, have every player see "Player X draws a card" but have Player X see "You draw the Ace of Spades").

To send a notification to all players but have some clients ignore it, send it as normal from the server, but implement '''setIgnoreNotificationCheck''' on the client to ignore the message under given conditions. See the X.js documentation for more details.

=== NotifyPlayer ===

'''notifyPlayer( $player_id, $notification_type, $notification_log, $notification_args )'''

Same as above, except that the notification is sent to one player only.

This method must be used each time some private information must be transmitted to a player.

Important: the variable for player name must be ${player_name} in order to be highlighted with the player color in the game log. If you want a second player name in the log, name the variable ${player_name2}, etc.

Note that spectators cannot be notified using this method, because their player ID is not available via loadPlayersBasicInfos() or otherwise. You must use notifyAllPlayers() for any notification that spectators should get.

== About random and randomness ==

A large number of board games rely on random, most often based on dice, cards shuffling, picking some item in a bag, and so on. This is very important to ensure a high level of randomness for each of these situations.

Here's are a list of techniques you should use in these situations, from the best to the worst.

=== Dice and bga_rand ===

'''bga_rand( min, max )'''
This is a BGA framework function that provides you a random number between "min" and "max" (inclusive), using the best available random method available on the system.

This is the preferred function you should use, because we are updating it when a better method is introduced.

As of now, bga_rand is based on the PHP function "random_int", which ensures a cryptographic level of randomness.

In particular, it is '''mandatory''' to use it for all '''dice throw''' (ie: games using other methods for dice throwing will be rejected by BGA during review).

Note: rand() and mt_rand() are deprecated on BGA and should not be used anymore, as their randomness is not as good as "bga_rand".

=== shuffle and cards shuffling ===

To shuffle items, like a pile of cards, the best way is to use the BGA PHP [[Deck]] component and to use "shuffle" method. This ensures that the best available shuffling method is used, and that if in the future we improve it your game will be up to date.

As of now, the Deck component shuffle method is based on PHP "shuffle" method, which has quite good randomness (even it is not as good as bga_rand). In consequence, we accept other shuffling methods during reviews, as long as they are based on PHP "shuffle" function (or similar, like "array_rand").

=== Other methods ===

Mysql "RAND()" function has not enough randomness to be a valid method to get a random element on BGA. This function has been used in some existing games and has given acceptable results, but now it should be avoided and you should use other methods instead.

== Game statistics ==

There are 2 types of statistics:
* a "player" statistic is a statistic associated to a player
* a "table" statistic is a statistic not associated to a player (global statistic for this game).

See [[Game statistics: stats.inc.php]] to see how you define statistics for your game.

'''initStat( $table_or_player, $name, $value, $player_id = null )'''

Create a statistic entry with a default value.

This method must be called for each statistic of your game, in your setupNewGame method.
If you neglect to call this for a statistic, and also do not update the value during the course of a certain game using setStat or incStat, the value of the stat will be undefined rather than 0. This will result in it being ignored at the end of the game, as if it didn't apply to that particular game, and excluded from cumulative statistics. As a consequence - if do not want statistic to be applied, do not init it, or call set or inc on it.

'$table_or_player' must be set to "table" if this is a table statistic, or "player" if this is a player statistic.

'$name' is the name of your statistic, as it has been defined in your stats.inc.php file.

'$value' is the initial value of the statistic. If this is a player statistic and if the player is not specified by "$player_id" argument, the value is set for ALL players.

'''setStat( $value, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Set a statistic $name to $value.

If "$player_id" is not specified, setStat consider it is a TABLE statistic.

If "$player_id" is specified, setStat consider it is a PLAYER statistic.

'''incStat( $delta, $name, $player_id = null )'''

Increment (or decrement) specified statistic value by $delta value. Same behavior as setStat function.

'''getStat( $name, $player_id = null )'''

Return the value of statistic specified by $name. Useful when creating derivative statistics such as average.

== Translations ==

See [[Translations]]

== Manage player scores and Tie breaker ==

=== Normal scoring ===

At the end of the game, players automatically get a rank depending on their score: the player with the biggest score is #1, the player with the second biggest score is #2, and so on...

During the game, you update player's score directly by updating "player_score" field of "player" table in database.

Examples:
<pre>

// +2 points to active player
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=player_score+2 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

// Set score of active player to 5
self::DbQuery( "UPDATE player SET player_score=5 WHERE player_id='".self::getActivePlayerId()."'" );

</pre>

Note: don't forget to notify the client side in order the score control can be updated accordingly.

=== Tie breaker ===

Tie breaker is used when two players get the same score at the end of a game.

Tie breaker is using "player_score_aux" field of "player" table. It is updated exactly like the "player_score" field.

Tie breaker score is displayed only for players who are tied at the end of the game. Most of the time, it is not supposed to be displayed explicitly during the game.

When you are using "player_score_aux" functionality, you must describe the formula to use in your gameinfos.inc.php file like this:

<pre>
'tie_breaker_description' => totranslate("Describe here your tie breaker formula"),
</pre>

This description will be used as a tooltip to explain to players how this auxiliary score has been calculated.

=== Co-operative game ===

To make everyone win/lose together in a full-coop game:

Add the following in gameinfos.inc.php :
'is_coop' => 1, // full cooperative

Assign a score of zero to everyone if it's a loss.
Assign the same score > 0 to everyone if it's a win.

=== Semi-coop ===

If the game is not full-coop, then everyone loses = everyone is tied. I.e. set score to 0 to everybody.

=== Only "winners" and "losers" ===

For some games, there is only a group (or a single) "winner", and everyone else is a "loser", with no "end of game rank" (1st, 2nd, 3rd...).

Examples:
* Coup
* Not Alone
* Werewolves
* Quantum

In this case:
* Set the scores so that the winner has the best score, and the other players have the same (lower) score.
* Add the following lines to gameinfos.inc.php:

<pre>
// If in the game, all losers are equal (no score to rank them or explicit in the rules that losers are not ranked between them), set this to true
// The game end result will display "Winner" for the 1st player and "Loser" for all other players
'losers_not_ranked' => true,
</pre>

Werewolves and Coup are implemented like this, as you can see here:
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=werewolves&section=lastresults
* https://boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=coupcitystate&section=lastresults

Adding this has the following effects:
* On game results for this game, "Winner" or "Loser" is going to appear instead of the usual "1st, 2nd, 3rd, ...".
* When a game is over, the result of the game will be "End of game: Victory" or "End of game: Defeat" depending on the result of the CURRENT player (instead of the usual "Victory of XXX").
* When calculating ELO points, if there is at least one "Loser", no "victorious" player can lose ELO points, and no "losing" player can win ELO point. Usually it may happened because being tie with many players with a low rank is considered as a tie and may cost you points. If losers_not_ranked is set, we prevent this behavior and make sure you only gain/loss ELO when you get the corresponding results.

Important: this SHOULD NOT be used for cooperative games (see is_coop parameter), or for 2 players games (it makes no sense in this case).

=== Solo ===

If game supports solo variant, a negative or zero score means defeat, a positive score means victory.

=== Player elimination ===

In some games, this is useful to eliminate a player from the game in order he/she can start another game without waiting for the current game end.

This case should be rare. Please don't use player elimination feature if some player just has to wait the last 10% of the game for game end. This feature should be used only in games where players are eliminated all along the game (typical examples: "Perudo" or "The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow").

Usage:

* Player to eliminate should NOT be active anymore (preferably use the feature in a "game" type game state).
* In your PHP code:
self::eliminatePlayer( <player_to_eliminate_id> );
* the player is informed in a dialog box that he no longer have to play and can start another game if he/she wants too (with buttons "stay at this table" "quit table and back to main site"). In any case, the player is free to start & join another table from now.
* When your game is over, all players who have been eliminated before receive a "notification" (the small "!" icon on the top right of the BGA interface) that indicate them that "the game has ended" and invite them to review the game results.

'''Important: this should not be used on a player who has already left the game ("zombie") as leaving/being kicked of the game (outside of the scope of the rules) is not the same as being eliminated from the game (according to the rules), except if in the course of the game, the zombie player is eliminated according to the rules.'''

=== Scoring Helper functions ===

These functions should have been API but they are not, just add them to your php game and use for every game.

// get score
function dbGetScore($player_id) {
return $this->getUniqueValueFromDB("SELECT player_score FROM player WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set score
function dbSetScore($player_id, $count) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score='$count' WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// set aux score (tie breaker)
function dbSetAuxScore($player_id, $score) {
$this->DbQuery("UPDATE player SET player_score_aux=$score WHERE player_id='$player_id'");
}

// increment score (can be negative too)
function dbIncScore($player_id, $inc) {
$count = $this->dbGetScore($player_id);
if ($inc != 0) {
$count += $inc;
$this->dbSetScore($player_id, $count);
}
return $count;
}

== Reflexion time ==

; function giveExtraTime( $player_id, $specific_time=null )
: Give standard extra time to this player.
: Standard extra time depends on the speed of the game (small with "slow" game option, bigger with other options).
: You can also specify an exact time to add, in seconds, with the "specified_time" argument (rarely used).

; function isAsync()
: Returns true if game is turn based, false if it is realtime

== Undo moves ==

Please read our [[BGA Undo policy]] before.

'''Important''': Before using these methods, you must also add the following to your "gameinfos.inc.php" file, otherwise these methods are ineffective:
'db_undo_support' => true

Note: if you deploy undo support after game is in production this will take into effect for new games only, old games will give user an error if user choses Undo action, but otherwise it should not affect them.

; function undoSavepoint( )
: Save the whole game situation inside an "Undo save point".
: There is only ONE undo save point available (see [[BGA Undo policy]]). Cannot use in multiactivate state or in game state where next state is multiactive.
: Note: this function does not actually do anything when it is called, it only raises the flag to store the database AFTER transaction is over. So the actual state will be saved when you exit the function calling it (technically before first queued notification is sent, which matters if you transition to game state not to user state after), this may affect what you end up saving.

; function undoRestorePoint()
: Restore the situation previously saved as an "Undo save point".
: You must make sure that the active player is the same after and before the undoRestorePoint (ie: this is your responsibility to ensure that the player that is active when this method is called is exactly the same than the player that was active when the undoSavePoint method has been called).

function actionUndo() {
self::checkAction('actionUndo');
$this->undoRestorePoint();
$this->gamestate->nextState('next'); // transition to single player state (i.e. beginning of player actions for this turn)
}

'''Important note''': if you are reading game state variable right after restore (without changing state first) it won't work properly as the global table cache is not automatically refreshed after undoRestorePoint(). So you should either change state immediately to refresh game state values, or use $this->gamestate->reloadState() to refresh the state. If you choose to do the latest, be aware that this will bring the state machine back to the state during which the save point snapshot has been taken using undoSavepoint() (which means your transition you do after has to declared in the state which was saved, not in the state which was active for your actionUndo())

== Managing errors and exceptions ==

Note: when you throw an exception, all database changes and all notifications are cancelled immediately. This way, the game situation that existed before the request is completely restored.

; throw new BgaUserException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a user error
: You must throw this exception when a player wants to do something that they are not allowed to do.
: The error message will be shown to the player as a "red message".
: The error message must be translated, make sure you use self::_() or $this->_() here and NOT clientranslate()
: Throwing such an exception is NOT considered a bug, so it is not traced in BGA error logs.

Example from Gomoku:
<pre>
throw new BgaUserException( self::_("There is already a stone on this intersection, you can't play there") );
</pre>

; throw new BgaVisibleSystemException ( $error_message)
: You must throw this exception when you detect something that is not supposed to happened in your code.
: The error message is shown to the user as an "Unexpected error", in order that he can report it in the forum.
: The error message is logged in BGA error logs. If it happens regularly, we will report it to you.

; throw new BgaSystemException ( $error_message)
: Base class to notify a system exception. The message will be hidden from the user, but show in the logs. Use this if the message contains technical information.
: You shouldn't use this type of exception except if you think the information shown could be critical. Indeed: a generic error message will be shown to the user, so it's going to be difficult for you to see what happened.

== Zombie mode ==

When a player leaves a game for any reason (expelled, quit), he becomes a "zombie player". In this case, the results of the game won't count for statistics, but this is cool if the other players can finish the game anyway. That's why zombie mode exists: allow the other player to finish the game, even if the situation is not ideal.

While developing your zombie mode, keep in mind that:
* Do not refer to the rules, because this situation is not planned by the rules.
* Try to figure that you are playing with your friends and one of them has to leave: how can we finish the game without killing the spirit of the game?
* The idea is NOT to develop an artificial intelligence for the game.
* Do not try to end the game early, even in a two-player game. The zombie is there to allow the game to continue, not to end it. Trying to end the game is not supported by the framework and will likely cause unexpected errors.

Most of the time, the best thing to do when it is zombie player turn is to jump immediately to a state where he is not active anymore. For example, if he is in a game state where he has a choice between playing A and playing B, the best thing to do is NOT to choose A or B, but to pass. So, even if there's no "pass" action in the rules, add a "zombiepass" transitition in your game state and use it.

Each time a zombie player must play, your "zombieTurn" method is called.

Parameters:
* $state: the name of the current game state.
* $active_player: the id of the active player.

Most of the time, your zombieTurn method looks like this:

<pre>
function zombieTurn( $state, $active_player )
{
$statename = $state['name'];

if( $statename == 'myFirstGameState'
|| $statename == 'my2ndGameState'
|| $statename == 'my3rdGameState'
....
)
{
$this->gamestate->nextState( "zombiePass" );
}
else
throw new BgaVisibleSystemException( "Zombie mode not supported at this game state: ".$statename );
}
</pre>

Note that in the example above, all corresponding game state should implement "zombiePass" as a transition.

'''Very important''': your zombie code will be called when the player leaves the game. This action is triggered from the main site and propagated to the gameserver from a server, not from a browser. As a consequence, there is no current player associated to this action. In your zombieTurn function, you must '''never''' use getCurrentPlayerId() or getCurrentPlayerName(), otherwise it will fail with a "Not logged" error message.

== Player color preferences ==

BGA players (Club members) may now choose their preferred color for playing. For example, if they are used to play green for every board game, they can select "green" in their BGA preferences page.

Making your game compatible with colors preferences is very easy and requires only 1 line of configuration change:

On your gameinfos.inc.php file, add the following lines :

// Favorite colors support: if set to "true", support attribution of favorite colors based on player's preferences (see reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method)
// NB: this parameter is used only to flag games supporting this feature; you must use (or not use) reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences PHP method to actually enable or disable the feature.
'favorite_colors_support' => true,

Then, on your main <your_game>.game.php file check the code of "setupNewGame". New template already have correct code, but if you editing very old game and it may be absent.

$gameinfos = $this->getGameinfos();
...
if ($gameinfos['favorite_colors_support'])
$this->reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences($players, $gameinfos['player_colors']); // this should be above reloadPlayersBasicInfos()
self::reloadPlayersBasicInfos();

The "reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences" method reattributes all colors, taking into account players color preferences and available colors.

Note that you must update the colors to indicate the colors available for your game.

Some important remarks:
* for some games (i.e. Chess), the color has an influence on a mechanism of the game, most of the time by giving a special advantage to a player (i.e. Starting the game). Color preference mechanism must NOT be used in such a case.
* your logic should NEVER consider that the first player has the color X, that the second player has the color Y, and so on. If this is the case, your game will NOT be compatible with reattributeColorsBasedOnPreferences as this method attribute colors to players based on their preferences and not based as their order at the table.

Colours currently listed as a choice in preferences (Note - you don't have to pick these, the "closest" color will be found):

* #ff0000 Red
* #008000 Green
* #0000ff Blue
* #ffa500 Yellow
* #000000 Black
* #ffffff White
* #e94190 Pink
* #982fff Purple
* #72c3b1 Cyan
* #f07f16 Orange
* #bdd002 Khaki green
* #7b7b7b Gray

== Legacy games API ==

For some very specific games ("legacy", "campaign"), you need to keep some informations from a game to another.

This should be an exceptional situation: the legacy API is costing resources on Board Game Arena databases, and is slowing down the game setup process + game end of game process. Please do not use it for things like:
* keeping a player preference/settings (=> player preferences and game options should be used instead)
* keeping a statistics, a score, or a ranking, while it is not planned in the physical board game, or while there is no added value compared to BGA statistics / rankings.

You should use it for:
* legacy games: when some components of the game has been altered in a previous game and should be kept as it is.
* "campaign style" games: when a player is getting a "reward" at the end of a game, and should be able to use it in further games.

Important: you cannot store more than 64k of data (serialized as JSON) per player per game. If you go over 64k, storeLegacyData function is going to FAIL, and there is a risk to create a major bug (= players blocked) in your game. You MUST make sure that no more than 64k of data is used for each player for your game. For example, if you are implementing a "campaign style" game and if you allow a player to start multiple campaign, you must LIMIT the number of different campaign so that the total data size to not go over the limit. We strongly recommend you to use this:

try
{
$this->storeLegacyTeamData( 'my_variable', $my_data );
}
catch( feException $e )
{
if( $e->getCode() == FEX_legacy_size_exceeded )
{
// Do something here to free some space in Legacy data (ex: by removing some variables)
}
else
throw $e;
}

The keys may only contain letters and numbers, underscore seems not to be allowed.

; function storeLegacyData( $player_id, $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Store some data associated with $key for the given user / current game
: In the opposite of all other game data, this data will PERSIST after the end of this table, and can be re-used
: in a future table with the same game.
: IMPORTANT: The only possible place where you can use this method is when the game is over at your table (last game action). Otherwise, there is a risk of conflicts between ongoing games.
: TTL is a time-to-live: the maximum, and default, is 365 days.
: In any way, the total data (= all keys) you can store for a given user+game is 64k (note: data is store serialized as JSON data)

; function retrieveLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Get data associated with $key for the current game
: This data is common to ALL tables from the same game for this player, and persist from one table to another.
: Note: calling this function has an important cost => please call it few times (possibly: only ONCE) for each player for 1 game if possible
: Note: you can use '%' in $key to retrieve all keys matching the given patterns

; function removeLegacyData( $player_id, $key )
: Remove some legacy data with the given key
: (useful to free some data to avoid going over 64k)

; function storeLegacyTeamData( $key, $data, $ttl = 365 )
: Same as storeLegacyData, except that it stores some data for the whole team within the current table
: Ie: if players A, B and C are at a table, the legacy data will be saved for future table with (exactly) A, B and C on the table.
: This is useful for games which are intended to be played several time by the same team.
: Note: the data total size is still limited, so you must implement catch the FEX_legacy_size_exceeded exception if it happens

; function retrieveLegacyTeamData($key)
: Same as retrieveLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

; function removeLegacyTeamData()
: Same as removeLegacyData, except that it retrieves some data for the whole team within the current table (set by storeLegacyTeamData)

== Language dependent games API ==

This API is used for games that are heavily language dependent. Two most common use cases are:
* Games that have a language dependent component that are not necessarily translatable, typically a list of words. (Think of games like Codenames, Decrypto, Just One...)
* Games with massive communication where players would like to ensure that all participants speak the same language. (Think of games like Werewolf, The Resistance, maybe even dixit...)

If this option is used, the table created will be limited only to users that have specific language in their profile. Player starting the game would be able to chose one of the languages he speaks.

There is a new property language_dependency in gameinfos.inc.php which can be set like this:
'language_dependency' => false, //or if the property is missing, the game is not language dependent
'language_dependency' => true, //all players at the table must speak the same language
'language_dependency' => array( 1 => 'en', 2 => 'fr', 3 => 'it' ), //1-based list of supported languages

In the gamename.game.php file, you can get the id of selected language with the method '''getGameLanguage'''.
; function getGameLanguage()
: Returns an index of the selected language as defined in gameinfos.inc.php.

Languages currently available on BGA are:
'ar' => array( 'name' => "العربية", 'code' => 'ar_AE' ), // Arabic
'be' => array( 'name' => "беларуская мова", 'code' => 'be_BY' ), // Belarusian
'bn' => array( 'name' => "বাংলা", 'code' => 'bn_BD' ), // Bengali
'bg' => array( 'name' => "български език", 'code' => 'bg_BG' ), // Bulgarian
'ca' => array( 'name' => "català", 'code' => 'ca_ES' ), // Catalan
'cs' => array( 'name' => "čeština", 'code' => 'cs_CZ' ), // Czech
'da' => array( 'name' => "dansk", 'code' => 'da_DK' ), // Danish
'de' => array( 'name' => "deutsch", 'code' => 'de_DE' ), // German
'el' => array( 'name' => "Ελληνικά", 'code' => 'el_GR' ), // Greek
'en' => array( 'name' => "English", 'code' => 'en_US' ), // English
'es' => array( 'name' => "español", 'code' => 'es_ES' ), // Spanish
'et' => array( 'name' => "eesti keel", 'code' => 'et_EE' ), // Estonian
'fi' => array( 'name' => "suomi", 'code' => 'fi_FI' ), // Finnish
'fr' => array( 'name' => "français", 'code' => 'fr_FR' ), // French
'he' => array( 'name' => "עברית", 'code' => 'he_IL' ), // Hebrew
'hi' => array( 'name' => "हिन्दी", 'code' => 'hi_IN' ), // Hindi
'hr' => array( 'name' => "Hrvatski", 'code' => 'hr_HR' ), // Croatian
'hu' => array( 'name' => "magyar", 'code' => 'hu_HU' ), // Hungarian
'id' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Indonesia", 'code' => 'id_ID' ), // Indonesian
'ms' => array( 'name' => "Bahasa Malaysia", 'code' => 'ms_MY' ), // Malaysian
'it' => array( 'name' => "italiano", 'code' => 'it_IT' ), // Italian
'ja' => array( 'name' => "日本語", 'code' => 'ja_JP' ), // Japanese
'jv' => array( 'name' => "Basa Jawa", 'code' => 'jv_JV' ), // Javanese
'ko' => array( 'name' => "한국어", 'code' => 'ko_KR' ), // Korean
'lt' => array( 'name' => "lietuvių", 'code' => 'lt_LT' ), // Lithuanian
'lv' => array( 'name' => "latviešu", 'code' => 'lv_LV' ), // Latvian
'nl' => array( 'name' => "nederlands", 'code' => 'nl_NL' ), // Dutch
'no' => array( 'name' => "norsk", 'code' => 'nb_NO' ), // Norwegian
'oc' => array( 'name' => "occitan", 'code' => 'oc_FR' ), // Occitan
'pl' => array( 'name' => "polski", 'code' => 'pl_PL' ), // Polish
'pt' => array( 'name' => "português", 'code' => 'pt_PT' ), // Portuguese
'ro' => array( 'name' => "română", 'code' => 'ro_RO' ), // Romanian
'ru' => array( 'name' => "Русский язык", 'code' => 'ru_RU' ), // Russian
'sk' => array( 'name' => "slovenčina", 'code' => 'sk_SK' ), // Slovak
'sl' => array( 'name' => "slovenščina", 'code' => 'sl_SI' ), // Slovenian
'sr' => array( 'name' => "Српски", 'code' => 'sr_RS' ), // Serbian
'sv' => array( 'name' => "svenska", 'code' => 'sv_SE' ), // Swedish
'tr' => array( 'name' => "Türkçe", 'code' => 'tr_TR' ), // Turkish
'uk' => array( 'name' => "Українська мова", 'code' => 'uk_UA' ), // Ukrainian
'zh' => array( 'name' => "中文 (漢)", 'code' => 'zh_TW' ), // Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan)
'zh-cn' => array( 'name' => "中文 (汉)", 'code' => 'zh_CN' ), // Simplified Chinese (Mainland China, Singapore)

== Debugging and Tracing ==

To debug php code you can use some tracing functions available from the parent class such as debug, trace, error, warn, dump.

self::debug("Ahh!");
self::dump('my_var',$my_var);

See [[Practical_debugging]] section for complete information about debugging interfaces and where to find logs.

Gamehelptheisleofcats

2022-01-19T16:45:09Z

Bennygui: Replaced content with "The Isle of Cats is a 2-4 players, card-drafting, polyomino cat-placement board game."

The Isle of Cats is a 2-4 players, card-drafting, polyomino cat-placement board game.

Your game state machine: states.inc.php

2022-01-05T19:49:42Z

Bennygui: /* Private parallel states */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

This file describes the state machine of your game (all the game states properties, and the transitions to get from one state to another).

Important: to understand the game state machine, it's recommended that you read this presentation first:

[http://www.slideshare.net/boardgamearena/bga-studio-focus-on-bga-game-state-machine Focus on BGA game state machine]

== Overall structure ==

The machine states are described by a PHP associative array.

Example:

<pre>
$machinestates = array(

// The initial state. Please do not modify.
1 => array(
"name" => "gameSetup",
"description" => clienttranslate("Game setup"),
"type" => "manager",
"action" => "stGameSetup",
"transitions" => array( "" => 2 )
),

// Note: ID=2 => your first state

2 => array(
"name" => "playerTurn",
"description" => clienttranslate('${actplayer} must play a card or pass'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must play a card or pass'),
"type" => "activeplayer",
"possibleactions" => array( "playCard", "pass" ),
"transitions" => array( "playCard" => 2, "pass" => 2 )
),
</pre>

== Syntax ==

=== id ===

The keys determine game state IDs (in the example above: 1 and 2).

IDs must be positive integers.

ID=1 is reserved for the first game state and should not be used (and you must not modify it).

ID=99 is reserved for the last game state (end of the game) (and you must not modify it).

Note: you may use any ID, even an ID greater than 100. But you cannot use 1 or 99.

Note²: You must not use the same ID twice.

Note³: When a game is in prod and you change the ID of a state, all active games (including many turn based) will behave unpredictably.

=== name ===

('''Mandatory''')

The name of a game state is used to identify it in your game logic.

Several game states can share the same name; however, this is not recommended.

Warning! Do not put spaces in the name. This could cause unexpected problems in some cases.

PHP example:
<pre>

// Get current game state
$state = $this->gamestate->state();
if( $state['name'] == 'myGameState' )
{
...
}

</pre>

JS example:
<pre>
onEnteringState: function( stateName, args )
{
console.log( 'Entering state: '+stateName );

switch( stateName )
case 'myGameState':

// Do some stuff at the beginning at this game state
....

break;
</pre>

=== type ===

('''Mandatory''')

You can use 3 types of game states:
* activeplayer (1 player is active and must play.)
* multipleactiveplayer (1..N players can be active and must play.)
* private (during multiactive states players can independently move to different private parallel states. See more details [[#Private_parallel_states|here]].
* game (No player is active. This is a transitional state to do something automatic specified by the game rules.)

'''Note:''' Make sure you don't mistype the value of this attribute. If you do (e.g. 'multiactiveplayer' instead of 'multipleactiveplayer'), things won't work, and you might have a hard time figuring out why.

=== description ===

('''Mandatory''')

The description is the string that is displayed in the main action bar (top of the screen) when the state is active.

When a string is specified as a description, you must use "clienttranslate" in order for the string to be translated on the client side:

<pre>
"description" => clienttranslate('${actplayer} must play a card or pass'),
</pre>

In the description string, you can use ${actplayer} to refer to the active player.

You can also use custom arguments in your description. These custom arguments correspond to values returned by your "args" PHP method (see below "args" field).

Example of custom field:
<pre>

In states.inc.php:
"description" => clienttranslate('${actplayer} must choose ${nbr} identical energies'),
"args" => "argMyArgumentMethod"

In mygame.game.php:
function argMyArgumentMethod()
{
return array(
'nbr' => 2 // In this case ${nbr} in the description will be replaced by "2"
);
}
</pre>

Note: You may specify an empty string ("") here if it never happens that the game remains in this state (i.e., if this state immediately jumps to another state when activated).

Note²: Usually, you specify a string for "activeplayer" and "multipleactiveplayer" game states, and you specify an empty string for "game" game states. BUT, if you are using synchronous notifications, the client can remain on a "game" type game state for a few seconds, and in this case it may be useful to display a description in the status bar while in this state.

=== descriptionmyturn ===

('''Mandatory''' when the state type is "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer")

"descriptionmyturn" has exactly the same role and properties as "description", except that this value is displayed to the current active player - or to all active players in case of a multipleactiveplayer game state.

In general, we have this situation:

<pre>
"description" => clienttranslate('${actplayer} can take some actions'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} can take some actions'),
</pre>

Note: you can use ${you} in descriptionmyturn so the description will display "You" instead of the name of the player.

Note 2: you can use ${otherplayer} to refer to some other player if you want this to be shown in player's color, but you must provide otherplayer_id as argument (along with otherplayer) to specify this player's id in this case or game won't load.

I.e.

"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} can follow action of ${otherplayer}'),

And this will have to be state arguments for this
<pre>
function arg_playerTurnFollow(){
return ['otherplayer'=> $this->getLeaderPlayerName(),
'otherplayer_id'=> $this->getLeaderPlayerId()
];
}
</pre>

=== action ===

('''Mandatory''' when the state type is "game.")

"action" specifies a PHP method to call when entering this game state.

Example:
In states.inc.php:
<pre>
28 => array(
"name" => "gameTurnNextPlayer",
"description" => clienttranslate('Updating some stuff...'),
"type" => "game",
"action" => "st_gameTurnNextPlayer",
</pre>
In mygame.game.php:
<pre>
function st_gameTurnNextPlayer() {
$player_id = $this->getActivePlayerId();
$next_player_id = $this->getPlayerAfter($player_id);
$this->giveExtraTime($next_player_id);
$this->incStat(1, 'turns_number', $next_player_id);
$this->incStat(1, 'turns_number');
$this->gamestate->changeActivePlayer($next_player_id);
$this->gamestate->nextState('next');
}
</pre>

Usually, for a "game" state type, the action method is used to perform automatic functions specified by the rules (for example: check victory conditions, deal cards for a new round, go to the next player, etc.) and then jump to another game state.

Note: a BGA convention specifies that PHP methods called with "action" are prefixed by "st".

Note: this field CAN be used for player states to set something up; e.g., for multiplayer states, it can make all players active.

Example for action in player state:
in states.inc.php:
<pre>
2 => array(
"name" => "playerTurnPlace",
"description" => clienttranslate('Other player must place ships'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must place ships (click on YOUR SHIPS board to place)'),
"type" => "multipleactiveplayer",
'action' => 'st_MultiPlayerInit',
'args' => 'arg_playerTurnPlace',
"possibleactions" => array( "playPlace" ),
"transitions" => array( "next" => 4, "last" => 99)
),
</pre>
in mygame.game.php:
<pre>
function st_MultiPlayerInit() {
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
}
</pre>

=== transitions ===

('''Mandatory''')

With "transitions" you specify which game state(s) you can jump to from a given game state.

Example:
<pre>
25 => array(
"name" => "myGameState",
"transitions" => array( "nextPlayer" => 27, "endRound" => 39 ),
....
}
</pre>

In the example above, if "myGameState" is the current active game state, I can jump to the game state with ID 27 or the game state with ID 39.

Example to jump to ID 27:
<pre>
In mygame.game.php:
$this->gamestate->nextState( "nextPlayer" );
</pre>

Important: "nextPlayer" is the name of the transition, and NOT the name of the target game state. Multiple transitions can lead to the same game state.

Note: If there is only 1 transition, you may give it an empty name.

Example:
<pre>
In states.inc.php:
"transitions" => array( "" => 27 ),

In mygame.game.php:
$this->gamestate->nextState( ); // We don't need to specify a transition as there is only one here
</pre>

=== possibleactions ===

('''Mandatory''' when the game state is "activeplayer" or "multipleactiveplayer")

"possibleactions" defines the actions possible by the players in this game state, and ensures they cannot perform actions that are not allowed in this state.

Example:

<pre>
In states.game.php:
"possibleactions" => array( "playCard", "pass" ),

In mygame.game.php:
function playCard( ...)
{
self::checkAction( "playCard" ); // Will fail if "playCard" is not specified in "possibleactions" in the current game state.

....

In mygame.js:
playCard: function( ... )
{
if( this.checkAction( "playCard" ) ) // Will fail if "playCard" is not specified in "possibleactions" in the current game state.
{ return ; }

....

</pre>

=== args ===

(optional)

Sometimes it happens that you need some information on the client side (i.e., for your game interface) only for a specific game state.

Example 1: in ''Reversi'', the list of possible moves during the playerTurn state.

Example 2: in ''Caylus'', the number of remaining king's favors to choose in the state where the player is choosing a favor.

Example 3: in ''Can't Stop'', the list of possible die combinations to be displayed to the active player so that he can choose from among them.

In such a situation, you can specify a method name as the « args » argument for your game state. This method must retrieve some piece of information about the game (example: for ''Reversi'', the list of possible moves) and return it.

Thus, this data can be transmitted to the clients and used by the clients to display it. It should always be an associative array.

Let's see a complete example using args with ''Reversi'' game:

In states.inc.php, we specify an '''args''' argument for gamestate '''playerTurn''':
<pre>
10 => array(
"name" => "playerTurn",
"description" => clienttranslate('${actplayer} must play a disc'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must play a disc'),
"type" => "activeplayer",
"args" => "argPlayerTurn", // <==== HERE
"possibleactions" => array( 'playDisc' ),
"transitions" => array( "playDisc" => 11, "zombiePass" => 11 )
),
</pre>

It corresponds to a '''argPlayerTurn''' method in our PHP code (reversi.game.php):
<pre>
function argPlayerTurn() {
return array(
'possibleMoves' => self::getPossibleMoves()
);
}
</pre>

Then, when we enter into the '''playerTurn''' game state on the client side, we can highlight the possible moves on the board using information returned by '''argPlayerTurn''':

<pre>
onEnteringState: function( stateName, args ) {
console.log( 'Entering state: '+stateName );

switch( stateName ) {
case 'playerTurn':
this.updatePossibleMoves( args.args.possibleMoves );
break;
}
},
</pre>

==== Naming and API conventions ====

As a BGA convention, PHP methods called with "args" are prefixed by "arg" followed by state name (example: '''argPlayerTurn''').

All "arg*" methods are put into corresponding section of .game.php file commented as
//////////// Game state arguments

Arg method MUST return array. Return integer or string will result in some undebuggable exceptions.

Arg method MUST be defined in php if it is declared in state description, if you don't need it comment it out from the states.inc.php file (the '''args''' parameter). If you not sure if you need it or not you can keep it returning empty array until you figure it out.

function argPlayerTurn() {
return array(); // must be an array
}

'''Warning''': the "args" method can be called before the "action" method so don't expect data modifications by the "action" method to be available in the "args" method!
Also don't modify database in this method!

You should NOT be calling getCurrentPlayer() in the context of this function, since state transitions are broadcasted to all player independent of who initiated it. Instead you should send information on per player basis (Note: if this is private info see section below).

If you using this function in multi-player state, you should not call getActivePlayer() either, you should send per player info:

function arg_playerTurn() {
$res = array ();
$players = $this->loadPlayersBasicInfos();
foreach ( $players as $player_id => $player_info ) {
$color = $player_info ['player_color'];
$res [$player_id] = array("color"=>$color);
}
return $res;
}

Note: you never need to send player color like this, this is just an example.

Note 2: you CAN call methods that return all active players if multi-player states if its relevant.

==== Other usages ====

You can use values returned by your "args" method to have some custom values in your "description"/"descriptionmyturn", i.e. in states.inc.php:

"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must play ${color} disc'),

So arg function will be something like:

function argPlayerTurn() {
return array('color'=>this->getActivePlayerColor());
}

You can use args also in '''onUpdateActionButtons''' function on js side, however two important notes:
* it is just '''args''' (not args.args like in '''onEnteringState''')
* it is args of the current state, which may not be state you think it will be! This method is called during change of active player, which happens in some weird place especially during "multipleactiveplayer" states. If you pulling your hair thinking why its "undefined" on js side - check the current state.

==== Private info in args ====

By default, all data provided through this method are PUBLIC TO ALL PLAYERS. Please do not send any private data with this method, as a cheater could see it even it is not used explicitly by the game interface logic.

However, it is possible to specify that some data should be sent to specific players only.

Example 1: send information to active player(s) only:

<pre>
function argPlayerTurn() {
return array(
'_private' => array( // Using "_private" keyword, all data inside this array will be made private
'active' => array( // Using "active" keyword inside "_private", you select active player(s)
'somePrivateData' => self::getSomePrivateData() // will be send only to active player(s)
)
),
'possibleMoves' => self::getPossibleMoves() // will be sent to all players
);
}
</pre>

Inside the js file, these variables will be available through `args.args._private`. (e.g. `args.args._private.somePrivateData` -- it is not `args._private.active.somePrivateData` nor is it `args.somePrivateData`)

Example 2: send information to a specific player (<specific_player_id>) only:

<pre>
function argPlayerTurn() {
$specific_player_id = ...; // calculate some-how
return array(
'_private' => array( // all data inside this array will be private
$specific_player_id => array( // will be sent only to that player
'somePrivateData' => self::getSomePrivateData()
)
),

'possibleMoves' => self::getPossibleMoves() // will be sent to all players
);
}
</pre>

IMPORTANT: in certain situations (i.e. "multipleactiveplayer" game state) these "private data" features can have a significant impact on performance. Please do not use if not needed.

It is also possible to use these private args in the "description" messages, like "${you} have to play ${_private.count} cards".

==== Translations in args ====
You can do the same as in notification by adding i18n parameter, i.e
<pre>
function argPlayerTurn() {
return [
'i18n' => ['terrainName' ],
'terrainName' => ($this->token_types[$terrain]['name']), // this should be defined in material.inc.php and with clienttranslate
'terrain' => $terrain,
];
}
</pre>

Than you can do something like this in state:
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must place a house on ${terrainName}'),

See more in [[Translations]]

=== updateGameProgression ===

(optional)

If you specify "updateGameProgression => true" in a game state, your "getGameProgression" PHP method will be called at the beginning of this game state - and thus the game progression of the game will be updated.

''At least one'' of your game states (any one) must specify "updateGameProgression=>true".

=== initialprivate ===

(optional)

This parameter will enable private parallel states in a multiplayer state. Parameter should be set to first private parallel state a player will be transitioned to.
See more details about Private parallel states [[#Private_parallel_states|here]].

== Implementation Notes ==

=== Private parallel states ===

Private parallel states are useful when multiple players are active and their turn is very complex. In that case it is possible with parallel states for each player to be in a independent state.

Lets say that players need to do three complex action one after another in multiactive state. With parallel states each player can independently be in a different state (i.e. one player still need to decide about first action while some players are deciding their second action and the fastest player is already on their third action. Normally this can be handled with two simple, but limited, approaches:

* Moving all players to different states together - this is limiting for faster players as they need to wait other players for each separate action. The more problematic thing is that it would be hard to implement an undo feature when one player wants to change their previous action. In that case all players should be moved back to previous state which will interrupt their flow.
* Using client states, by changing the state in which the player is in javascript - the problem with this approach is that players will lose their progress on browser refresh (F5). Furthermore the validation logic of specific actions should be implemented on both server side and client side and we cannot have specific args for each different action, but they should be calculated only at the beginning of the first action and possibly calculated on client side after each action, which again duplicates logic on client and server.

With private parallel states, each specific action can be implemented as a parallel state. Parallel states are defined with the type 'private' and players are moved to those private states during one master multiactive state. Lets look at the example:

<pre>
10 => [
"name" => "playerTurn",
"description" => clienttranslate('Waiting for other players to end their turn.'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must do your turn'), // Won't be displayed anyway since each private state has its own description
"type" => "multipleactiveplayer",
"initialprivate" => 50, // This makes this state a master multiactive state and enables private states, this is also a first private state
"action" => "stPlayerTurn",
"args" => "argPlayerTurn",
"possibleactions" => ["changeMind"], //this action is possible if player is not in any private state which usually happens when they are inactive
"transitions" => ["playersDecide" => 11] // this is normal next transition which will happen after all players finish their turns
],

50 => [
"name" => "chooseFirst",
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must make your first choice'), // just this parameter is needed. description is not needed as no player is inactive in this state
"type" => "private", // this state is reachable only as a private state
"args" => "argChooseFirst", //this method will be called with playerId as a parametar and is used to calculate arguments for this action for specific player
"action" => "stChooseFirst", // this method will be called with playerId as a parameter and can be used to make some changes when player enters this private state
"possibleactions" => ["toSecond"],
"transitions" => [
'chooseSecond' => 51, // transition to another private state
]
],

51 => [
"name" => "chooseSecond",
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must make your second choice'),
"type" => "private",
"args" => "argChooseSecond",
"possibleactions" => ["finish", "back"],
"transitions" => [
'back' => 50,
]
],
</pre>

When entering the master state it is usually useful to set some players as multiactive and initialize their private state:

<pre>
function stPlayerTurn() {
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();

//this is needed when starting private parallel states; players will be transitioned to initialprivate state defined in master state
$this->gamestate->initializePrivateStateForAllActivePlayers();

// in some cases you can move immediately some or all players to different private states
if ($someCondition) {
//move all players to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateStateForAllActivePlayers("choseSecond");
}

if ($other condition) {
//move single player to different state
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($specificPlayerId, "chooseSecond");
}
}
</pre>

When some action is done by a player, you can move them to the next private state:

<pre>
function toSecond() {
$this->checkAction("toSecond"); //the action must be defined in private state; actions defined in master state are not possible
$this->gamestate->nextPrivateState($this->getCurrentPlayerId(), "chooseSecond"); //moving current player to different state
}
</pre>

Please check the detailed API [[Main_game_logic:_yourgamename.game.php#Private_parallel_states|here]].

=== Using Named Constants for States ===

Using numeric constants is prone to errors. If you want you can declare state constants as PHP named constants. This way you can
use them in the states file and in game.php as well

EXAMPLE:

states.inc.php:

<pre>
// define contants for state ids
if (!defined('STATE_END_GAME')) { // ensure this block is only invoked once, since it is included multiple times
define("STATE_PLAYER_TURN", 2);
define("STATE_GAME_TURN", 3);
define("STATE_PLAYER_TURN_CUBES", 4);
define("STATE_END_GAME", 99);
}

$machinestates = array(

...

STATE_PLAYER_TURN => array(
"name" => "playerTurn",
"description" => clienttranslate('${actplayer} must select an Action Space or Pass'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must select an Action Space or Pass'),
"type" => "activeplayer",
"args" => 'arg_playerTurn',
"possibleactions" => array( "selectWorkerAction", "pass" ),
"transitions" => array(
"loopback" => STATE_PLAYER_TURN,
"playCubes" => STATE_PLAYER_TURN_CUBES,
"pass" => STATE_GAME_TURN )
),
</pre>

=== Example of multipleactiveplayer state ===

This is an example of a multipleactiveplayer state:

2 => array (
'name' => 'playerTurnSetup',
'type' => 'multipleactiveplayer',
'description' => clienttranslate('Other players must choose one Objective'),
'descriptionmyturn' => clienttranslate('${you} must choose one Objective card to keep'),
'possibleactions' => array ('playKeep' ),
'transitions' => array ( 'next' => 5, 'loopback' => 2, ),
'action' => 'st_MultiPlayerInit',
'args' => 'arg_playerTurnSetup',
),

In game.php:
// this will make all players multiactive just before entering the state
function st_MultiPlayerInit() {
$this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
}

Note: if you want exact this function its already defined in table class its called 'stMakeEveryoneActive'

When ending the player action, instead of a state transition, deactivate player.

function action_playKeep($cardId) {
$this->checkAction('playKeep');
$player_id = $this->getCurrentPlayerId(); // CURRENT!!! not active
... // some logic here
$this->gamestate->setPlayerNonMultiactive($player_id, 'next'); // deactivate player; if none left, transition to 'next' state
}

=== Difference between Single active and Multi active states ===
In a classic "activePlayer" state:

* You cannot change the active player DURING the state. This is to ensure that during 1 activePlayer state, only ONE player is active
* As a consequence, you must set the active player BEFORE entering the activePlayer state
* In such states on JS side onUpdateActionButtons is called before onEnteringState during game play (but after during reload, i.e. F5)
* Finally, during onEnteringState, on JS side, the active player is signaled as active and the information is reliable and usable.

In a "multiplePlayer" state:

* You can (and must) change the active players DURING the state
* During such a state, players can be activated/desactivated anytime during the state, giving you the maximum of possibilities.
* You shouldn't set active player before entering the state. But you can set it in "state initializer" php function (see example above st_MultiPlayerInit)
* Finally, during onEnteringState, on JS side, the active players are NOT active yet so you must use onUpdateActionButtons to perform the client side operation which depends on a player active/inactive status.

=== Designing states ===

As a general rule you state machine should resemble "round/turn overview" from the game rule-book. Normally if book say its player turn and player can do multiple things during their turn it is still only
one player state (plus a game to switch player), not muliple states.

In a classic game (i.e. chess), there is only active player at any time, so it is simple playerTurn/gameTurn sequence and you only need 2 states.

[[File:Simplestates.png]]

In complex euro game there can be multiple rounds, and each round have phases which can be distinctly unique, i.e. in first phase everybody draws card and discard (multi-player), then player have one turn each (single-active), then another is resolution of actions from players and some of them may become active again, then there is round upkeep/reset. This would require one multi-player state for phase 1, pair of states for phase2 (singel-active + game), pair of states for phase3 and finally round-end/unkeep game state.

For pair of active player/game states you can make player state first, which transitions to game state, or the other way around, you start with game state which transition to active player state, its loop in any case but depends on how you want to do "phase" initiazations.

[[File:Eurogamestates.png]]

=== Complete examples ===

Example of simple game where player take turns

<pre>
if ( !defined('STATE_END_GAME')) { // guard since this included multiple times
define("STATE_PLAYER_TURN", 2);
define("STATE_GAME_TURN_NEXT_PLAYER", 3);
define("STATE_PLAYER_GAME_END", 4);
define("STATE_END_GAME", 99);
}

$machinestates = [
1 => [ // The initial state. Please do not modify.
"name" => "gameSetup",
"description" => "",
"type" => "manager",
"action" => "stGameSetup",
"transitions" => [ "" => STATE_PLAYER_TURN ] ],
// Game states
STATE_PLAYER_TURN => [ // main active player state
"name" => "playerTurn",
"description" => clienttranslate('${actplayer} must do something or pass'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must do something or pass'),
"type" => "activeplayer",
"args" => "arg_playerTurn",
"possibleactions" => [ "dosomething","pass" ],
"transitions" => [ "next" => STATE_GAME_TURN_NEXT_PLAYER,"last" => STATE_PLAYER_GAME_END ] //
],
STATE_GAME_TURN_NEXT_PLAYER => [ // next player state
"name" => "gameTurnNextPlayer",
"description" => clienttranslate('Upkeep...'),
"type" => "game", //
"action" => "st_gameTurnNextPlayer", //
"updateGameProgression" => true,
"transitions" => [ "next" => STATE_PLAYER_TURN,"loopback" => STATE_GAME_TURN_NEXT_PLAYER,
"last" => STATE_PLAYER_GAME_END ], // TODO replace with STATE_END_GAME, its there to use undo/restore during dev
],

STATE_PLAYER_GAME_END => [ // active player state for debugging end of game
"name" => "playerGameEnd",
"description" => clienttranslate('${actplayer} Game Over'),
"descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} Game Over'),
"type" => "activeplayer",
"args" => "arg_playerTurn",
"possibleactions" => ["endGame"],
"transitions" => ["next" => STATE_END_GAME,"loopback" => STATE_PLAYER_GAME_END ] //
],
// End of Game states
// Final state.
// Please do not modify (and do not overload action/args methods).
STATE_END_GAME => [
"name" => "gameEnd",
"description" => clienttranslate("End of game"),"type" => "manager",
"action" => "stGameEnd",
"args" => "argGameEnd" ]

];

</pre>

Options and preferences: gameoptions.json, gamepreferences.json

2021-10-29T18:39:52Z

Bennygui: /* Game Options */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

In this file, you can define your game options (i.e. game variants) and user preferences.

Note: If your game has no variants or preferences, you don't have to modify this file.

'''IMPORTANT:''' after you edited this file and syncronized to ftp folder you have to go to the control panel and press "Reload game options configuration" for your changes '''to take effect'''.

Make sure you understand difference bettween options and preferences:
* Game options - something usually in the rule book defined as "variant" (except for 2,3,X people - that is automatically handled - you can query it)
* User preferences - personal choices of each player only visible to that specific player - i.e. layout, either or not to prompt for action, ether or not auto-opt in in some actions, etc

== Game Options ==

Game options are selected by the table creator and usually correspond to game variants, for example if the game includes expansions or certain special rules.

These variants are defined in gameoptions.inc.php as the $game_options variable:
$game_options = array(...); // exactly named that

Each option is a pair in the format: number => 'option description array'.

All options defined in this file should have a corresponding "game state label" with the same ID (see "initGameStateLabels" in yourgame.game.php)

self::initGameStateLabels ( array (
...
"my_game_variant" => 100,
) );

Numbers have to be exactly from 100 to 199 (there can be gaps).

That is how you access them during runtime:

public function isSecondVariant() {
return $this->getGameStateValue('my_game_variant') == 2;
}

Or this
$this->gamestate->table_globals[100]

The following are the parameters of option description array:
* '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. The name of the option visible for table creator. Value must be wrapped in totranslate function.
* '''values''' - '''mandatory'''. The array (map) of values with additional parameters per value.
** '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. String representation of the numeric value visible to table creator. Value must be wrapped in totranslate function.
** '''description''' - String description of this value to use when the name of the option is not self-explanatory. Displayed at the table under the option when this value is selected.
** '''tmdisplay''' - String representation of the option visible in the table description, usually if variant "names" are On and Off, but the description would be same as option name when On, and nothing when Off. ('''Warning''': due to some caching, a change in tmdisplay may not be effective immediately in the studio, even after forcing a reload of gameoptions.inc.php.)
** '''nobeginner''' - Set to true if not recommended for begginers
** '''firstgameonly''' - Set to true if this option is recommended only for the first game (discovery option)
** '''beta''' - Option in beta stage on development
** '''premium''' - Option can be only used by premium members
* '''default''' - indicates the default value to use for this option (optional, if not present the first value listed is the default)
* '''displaycondition''' - checks the conditions before displaying the option for selection. All conditions must be true for the option to display. Supported condition types:
** ''minplayers'' condition ensures at least this many players
** ''maxplayers'' conditions ensure at most this many players
** ''otheroption'' condition ensures another option is set to this given values.
** ''otheroptionisnot'' conditions ensure another option is NOT set to this given values
* '''displayconditionoperand''' - can be 'and' (this is the default) or 'or'. Allows to change the behaviour to display the option if one of the conditions is true instead of all of them.
* '''startcondition''' - checks the conditions (on options VALUES) before starting the game. All conditions must be true for the game to start, otherwise players will get a red error message when attempting to begin the game. Supported condition types:
** ''minplayers'' condition ensures at least this many players
** ''maxplayers'' conditions ensure at most this many players
** ''otheroption'' conditions ensure another option is set to this given values. That works the same as in '''displaycondition'''.
** ''otheroptionisnot'' conditions ensure another option is NOT set to this given value. That works the same as in '''displaycondition'''.
** ''gamestartonly'' if you have options that are exclusive, for example for a solo mode: you can have a maxplayer of 1 for one option and a minplayer of 2 for an other option and you will be stuck. See below for an example.
* '''notdisplayedmessage''' - if option is not suppose to be visible because of displaycondition but this is set, the text will be visible instead of combo drop down

Common options for all tables (reserved range 200-299):
*201 (const GAMESTATE_RATING_MODE) - ELO OFF (aka Training mode),
*200 (const GAMESTATE_CLOCK_MODE) - game speed profile, array(0,1,2) - realtime (technically <10 realtime but you cannot define range in php), values >=10 - turn based (currently 10..21)

Example:
<pre>
$game_options = array(
100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('my game option'),
'values' => array(
// A simple value for this option:
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 1')
),

// A simple value for this option.
// If this value is chosen, the value of "tmdisplay" is displayed in the game lobby
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 2'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('option 2')
),

// Another value, with other options:
// beta=true => this option is in beta version right now.
// nobeginner=true => this option is not recommended for beginners
3 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 3'),
'beta' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'default' => 1
),

101 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Draft variant'),
'values' => array(
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('No draft')
),
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Draft'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Draft'),
'premium' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array(
'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 100, // Game specific option defined in the same array above
'value' => array(2, 3, 4)
),
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 201, // ELO OFF hardcoded framework option
'value' => 1 // 1 if OFF
)
),

'startcondition' => array(
1 => array(),
2 => array(
array(
'type' => 'maxplayers',
'value' => 3,
'message' => totranslate('Draft option is available for 3 players maximum.')
)
),
),
),

102 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Takeovers'),
'values' => array(
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('No takeover')
),
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Allow takeovers'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Takeovers'),
'premium' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'displaycondition' => array( // Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array(
'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 100,
'value' => array(3, 4)
)
),
'startcondition' => array(
2 => array(),
1 => array(
array(
'type' => 'maxplayers',
'value' => 2,
'message' => totranslate('Rebel vs Imperium Takeover Scenario is available for 2 players only.')
)
),
),
)
);
</pre>

Example of option that condition on ELO off

<pre>
$game_options = array(

100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Learning Game (No Research)'),
'values' => array(

1 => array( 'name' => totranslate('Off'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('') ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate('On'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Learning Game') ),

),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 201, // ELO OFF hardcoded framework option
'value' => 1, // 1 if OFF

)
),
'notdisplayedmessage' => totranslate('Learning variant available only with ELO off')
),

);
</pre>

Example of condition that is only available for REALTIME game mode
<pre>
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option until these conditions are met - game speed is selected as realtime
array( 'type' => 'otheroption', 'id' => GAMESTATE_CLOCK_MODE, 'value' => array(0,1,2) )
),
</pre>

Example of using condition on your own option
<pre>
102 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Scenarios'),
'values' => array(
1 => array( 'name' => totranslate('Off'),
'nobeginner' => false ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate('On'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Scenarios'),
'nobeginner' => true ),

),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroptionisnot',
'id' => 100, // learning variant
'value' => 2, // 1 if OFF,2 is ON

)
),
'notdisplayedmessage' => totranslate('Scenarios variant is not available if Learning variant is chosen')
),
</pre>

Example of ''gamestartonly'':
<pre>
102 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Mode'),
'values' => array(
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Normal')
),
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Solo'),
),
),
'startcondition' => array(
1 => array(
array(
'type' => 'minplayers',
'value' => 2,
'message' => totranslate('Normal mode is 2 for players or more')
'gamestartonly' => true,
)
),
1 => array(
array(
'type' => 'maxplayers',
'value' => 1,
'message' => totranslate('Solo mode is for 1 player')
'gamestartonly' => true,
)
),
),
)
</pre>

== User Preferences ==

User preferences is something cosmetic about the game interface which however can create user wars, so you can satisfy all users
by giving them individual preferences. You should use this only if it significantly improves the interface for a large proportion of users.

<pre>
$game_preferences = array(
100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Notation style'),
'needReload' => true, // after user changes this preference game interface would auto-reload
'values' => array(
1 => array( 'name' => totranslate( 'Classic' ), 'cssPref' => 'notation_classic' ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate( 'Tournament' ), 'cssPref' => 'notation_tournament' )
),
'default' => 2
)
);
</pre>

There is two ways to check/apply this. In java Script

if (this.prefs[100].value == 2) ...

This checks if preferences 100 has selected value 2.

Second, if cssPref specified it will be applied to the '''<html>''' tag. So you can use different css styling for the preference. Note: it seems needed to set needReload to true for that class change to be effective.

As user you have to select them from the Gear menu when game is started. On studio only user0 will have it actually working (bug?).

The following are the parameters of preferences description array:
* '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. The name of the preference. Value will be automatically wrapped in totranslate if you don't.
* '''needReload''' - If set to true, the game interface will auto-reload after a change of the preference.
* '''values''' - '''mandatory'''. The array (map) of values with additional parameters per value.
** '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. String representation of the numeric value. Value will be automatically wrapped in totranslate if you don't.
** '''cssPref''' - CSS class to add to the '''<html>''' tag. Currently it is added or removed only after a reload (see needReload).
* '''default''' - Indicates the default value to use for this preference (optional, if not present the first value listed is the default).

=== Listening for preference changes ===

The BGA framework lacks any callback to notify your game when a user preference is changed (see [https://studio.boardgamearena.com/bug?id=36 proposal #36]), but you can create your own if you need to run some UI code in response to a preference change.

; In ggg.js
<pre>
setup: function (gamedatas) {
... // your setup code here
this.setupPreference();
},

setupPreference: function () {
// Extract the ID and value from the UI control
var _this = this;
function onchange(e) {
var match = e.target.id.match(/^preference_[cf]ontrol_(\d+)$/);
if (!match) {
return;
}
var prefId = +match[1];
var prefValue = +e.target.value;
_this.prefs[prefId].value = prefValue;
_this.onPreferenceChange(prefId, prefValue);
}

// Call onPreferenceChange() when any value changes
dojo.query(".preference_control").connect("onchange", onchange);

// Call onPreferenceChange() now
dojo.forEach(
dojo.query("#ingame_menu_content .preference_control"),
function (el) {
onchange({ target: el });
}
);
},

onPreferenceChange: function (prefId, prefValue) {
console.log("Preference changed", prefId, prefValue);
... // your code here to handle the change
},
</pre>

=== Updating preference from code ===
The BGA framework lacks any method to update a user preference from the code (see [https://studio.boardgamearena.com/bug?id=36 proposal #36]), but you can create your own if you need to.

; In ggg.js
<pre>
updatePreference: function(prefId, newValue) {
// Select preference value in control:
dojo.query('#preference_control_' + prefId + ' > option[value="' + newValue
// Also select fontrol to fix a BGA framework bug:
+ '"], #preference_fontrol_' + prefId + ' > option[value="' + newValue
+ '"]').forEach((value) => dojo.attr(value, 'selected', true));
// Generate change event on control to trigger callbacks:
const newEvt = document.createEvent('HTMLEvents');
newEvt.initEvent('change', false, true);
$('preference_control_' + prefId).dispatchEvent(newEvt);
},
</pre>

=== Accessing User Preferences on the server ===
Surprise, surprise - this is lacking too. Mostly.
There is a variable you can acesses called $this->player_preferences.
This contains table of user preferences, ONLY accessible in setupNewGame().
You can use this to populate a table that you manage yourself.
The table has to be updated when user changes preference (and you have to hook up a lister and initiate a special axac call out-of-turn).
Check the code of Agricola for details but this should work:.

; In dbmodel.sql
<pre>
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `user_preferences` (
`player_id` int(10) NOT NULL,
`pref_id` int(10) NOT NULL,
`pref_value` int(10) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`player_id`, `pref_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;
</pre>

; In ggg.game.php
<pre>
protected function setupNewGame($players, $options = array())
{
// TODO: Save $this->player_preferences: key is player_id, value is array with pref_id as key and pref_value as value
}
</pre>

; In ggg.js
<pre>
setup(gamedatas) {
...
this.initPreferencesObserver();
},
initPreferencesObserver() {
dojo.query('.preference_control').on('change', (e) => {
const match = e.target.id.match(/^preference_[cf]ontrol_(\d+)$/);
if (!match) {
return;
}
const pref = match[1];
const newValue = e.target.value;
this.prefs[pref].value = newValue;
this.onPreferenceChange(pref, newValue);
});
},
onPreferenceChange(prefId, prefValue) {
prefId = parseInt(prefId);
if (prefId === 101 /*TODO: You probably want to send only some preferences*/) {
// TODO: Code your own action in ggg.action.php and send it prefId and prefValue
// The on the server side you can save it all in the user_preferences
// table you created above.
}
},
</pre>

Options and preferences: gameoptions.json, gamepreferences.json

2021-08-26T11:19:03Z

Bennygui: /* Accessing User Preferences on the server */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

In this file, you can define your game options (i.e. game variants) and user preferences.

Note: If your game has no variants or preferences, you don't have to modify this file.

'''IMPORTANT:''' after you edited this file and syncronized to ftp folder you have to go to the control panel and press "Reload game options configuration" for your changes '''to take effect'''.

Make sure you understand difference bettween options and preferences:
* Game options - something usually in the rule book defined as "variant" (except for 2,3,X people - that is automatically handled - you can query it)
* User preferences - personal choices of each player only visible to that specific player - i.e. layout, either or not to prompt for action, ether or not auto-opt in in some actions, etc

== Game Options ==

Game options are selected by the table creator and usually correspond to game variants, for example if the game includes expansions or certain special rules.

These variants are defined in gameoptions.inc.php as the $game_options variable:
$game_options = array(...); // exactly named that

Each option is a pair in the format: number => 'option description array'.

All options defined in this file should have a corresponding "game state label" with the same ID (see "initGameStateLabels" in yourgame.game.php)

self::initGameStateLabels ( array (
...
"my_game_variant" => 100,
) );

Numbers have to be exactly from 100 to 199 (there can be gaps).

That is how you access them during runtime:

public function isSecondVariant() {
return $this->getGameStateValue('my_game_variant') == 2;
}

Or this
$this->gamestate->table_globals[100]

The following are the parameters of option description array:
* '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. The name of the option visible for table creator. Value must be wrapped in totranslate function.
* '''values''' - '''mandatory'''. The array (map) of values with additional parameters per value.
** '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. String representation of the numeric value visible to table creator. Value must be wrapped in totranslate function.
** '''description''' - String description of this value to use when the name of the option is not self-explanatory. Displayed at the table under the option when this value is selected.
** '''tmdisplay''' - String representation of the option visible in the table description, usually if variant "names" are On and Off, but the description would be same as option name when On, and nothing when Off. ('''Warning''': due to some caching, a change in tmdisplay may not be effective immediately in the studio, even after forcing a reload of gameoptions.inc.php.)
** '''nobeginner''' - Set to true if not recommended for begginers
** '''firstgameonly''' - Set to true if this option is recommended only for the first game (discovery option)
** '''beta''' - Option in beta stage on development
** '''premium''' - Option can be only used by premium members
* '''default''' - indicates the default value to use for this option (optional, if not present the first value listed is the default)
* '''displaycondition''' - checks the conditions before displaying the option for selection. All conditions must be true for the option to display. Supported condition types:
** ''minplayers'' condition ensures at least this many players
** ''maxplayers'' conditions ensure at most this many players
** ''otheroption'' condition ensures another option is set to this given values.
** ''otheroptionisnot'' conditions ensure another option is NOT set to this given values
* '''displayconditionoperand''' - can be 'and' (this is the default) or 'or'. Allows to change the behaviour to display the option if one of the conditions is true instead of all of them.
* '''startcondition''' - checks the conditions (on options VALUES) before starting the game. All conditions must be true for the game to start, otherwise players will get a red error message when attempting to begin the game. Supported condition types:
** ''minplayers'' condition ensures at least this many players
** ''maxplayers'' conditions ensure at most this many players
** ''otheroption'' conditions ensure another option is set to this given values. That works the same as in '''displaycondition'''.
** ''otheroptionisnot'' conditions ensure another option is NOT set to this given value. That works the same as in '''displaycondition'''.
* '''notdisplayedmessage''' - if option is not suppose to be visible because of displaycondition but this is set, the text will be visible instead of combo drop down

Common options for all tables (reserved range 200-299):
*201 (const GAMESTATE_RATING_MODE) - ELO OFF (aka Training mode),
*200 (const GAMESTATE_CLOCK_MODE) - game speed profile, array(0,1,2) - realtime, values 11-21 - turn based

Example:
<pre>
$game_options = array(
100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('my game option'),
'values' => array(
// A simple value for this option:
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 1')
),

// A simple value for this option.
// If this value is chosen, the value of "tmdisplay" is displayed in the game lobby
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 2'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('option 2')
),

// Another value, with other options:
// beta=true => this option is in beta version right now.
// nobeginner=true => this option is not recommended for beginners
3 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 3'),
'beta' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'default' => 1
),

101 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Draft variant'),
'values' => array(
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('No draft')
),
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Draft'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Draft'),
'premium' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array(
'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 100, // Game specific option defined in the same array above
'value' => array(2, 3, 4)
),
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 201, // ELO OFF hardcoded framework option
'value' => 1 // 1 if OFF
)
),

'startcondition' => array(
1 => array(),
2 => array(
array(
'type' => 'maxplayers',
'value' => 3,
'message' => totranslate('Draft option is available for 3 players maximum.')
)
),
),
),

102 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Takeovers'),
'values' => array(
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('No takeover')
),
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Allow takeovers'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Takeovers'),
'premium' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'displaycondition' => array( // Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array(
'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 100,
'value' => array(3, 4)
)
),
'startcondition' => array(
2 => array(),
1 => array(
array(
'type' => 'maxplayers',
'value' => 2,
'message' => totranslate('Rebel vs Imperium Takeover Scenario is available for 2 players only.')
)
),
),
)
);
</pre>

Example of option that condition on ELO off

<pre>
$game_options = array(

100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Learning Game (No Research)'),
'values' => array(

1 => array( 'name' => totranslate('Off'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('') ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate('On'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Learning Game') ),

),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 201, // ELO OFF hardcoded framework option
'value' => 1, // 1 if OFF

)
),
'notdisplayedmessage' => totranslate('Learning variant available only with ELO off')
),

);
</pre>

Example of condition that is only available for REALTIME game mode
<pre>
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option until these conditions are met - game speed is selected as realtime
array( 'type' => 'otheroption', 'id' => GAMESTATE_CLOCK_MODE, 'value' => array(0,1,2) )
),
</pre>

Example of using condition on your own option
<pre>
102 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Scenarios'),
'values' => array(
1 => array( 'name' => totranslate('Off'),
'nobeginner' => false ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate('On'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Scenarios'),
'nobeginner' => true ),

),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroptionisnot',
'id' => 100, // learning variant
'value' => 2, // 1 if OFF,2 is ON

)
),
'notdisplayedmessage' => totranslate('Scenarios variant is not available if Learning variant is chosen')
),
</pre>

== User Preferences ==

User preferences is something cosmetic about the game interface which however can create user wars, so you can satisfy all users
by giving them individual preferences. You should use this only if it significantly improves the interface for a large proportion of users.

<pre>
$game_preferences = array(
100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Notation style'),
'needReload' => true, // after user changes this preference game interface would auto-reload
'values' => array(
1 => array( 'name' => totranslate( 'Classic' ), 'cssPref' => 'notation_classic' ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate( 'Tournament' ), 'cssPref' => 'notation_tournament' )
),
'default' => 2
)
);
</pre>

There is two ways to check/apply this. In java Script

if (this.prefs[100].value == 2) ...

This checks if preferences 100 has selected value 2.

Second, if cssPref specified it will be applied to the '''<html>''' tag. So you can use different css styling for the preference. Note: it seems needed to set needReload to true for that class change to be effective.

As user you have to select them from the Gear menu when game is started. On studio only user0 will have it actually working (bug?).

The following are the parameters of preferences description array:
* '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. The name of the preference. Value will be automatically wrapped in totranslate if you don't.
* '''needReload''' - If set to true, the game interface will auto-reload after a change of the preference.
* '''values''' - '''mandatory'''. The array (map) of values with additional parameters per value.
** '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. String representation of the numeric value. Value will be automatically wrapped in totranslate if you don't.
** '''cssPref''' - CSS class to add to the '''<html>''' tag. Currently it is added or removed only after a reload (see needReload).
* '''default''' - Indicates the default value to use for this preference (optional, if not present the first value listed is the default).

=== Listening for preference changes ===

The BGA framework lacks any callback to notify your game when a user preference is changed (see [https://studio.boardgamearena.com/bug?id=36 proposal #36]), but you can create your own if you need to run some UI code in response to a preference change.

; In ggg.js
<pre>
setup: function (gamedatas) {
... // your setup code here
this.setupPreference();
},

setupPreference: function () {
// Extract the ID and value from the UI control
var _this = this;
function onchange(e) {
var match = e.target.id.match(/^preference_[cf]ontrol_(\d+)$/);
if (!match) {
return;
}
var prefId = +match[1];
var prefValue = +e.target.value;
_this.prefs[prefId].value = prefValue;
_this.onPreferenceChange(prefId, prefValue);
}

// Call onPreferenceChange() when any value changes
dojo.query(".preference_control").connect("onchange", onchange);

// Call onPreferenceChange() now
dojo.forEach(
dojo.query("#ingame_menu_content .preference_control"),
function (el) {
onchange({ target: el });
}
);
},

onPreferenceChange: function (prefId, prefValue) {
console.log("Preference changed", prefId, prefValue);
... // your code here to handle the change
},
</pre>

=== Updating preference from code ===
The BGA framework lacks any method to update a user preference from the code (see [https://studio.boardgamearena.com/bug?id=36 proposal #36]), but you can create your own if you need to.

; In ggg.js
<pre>
updatePreference: function(prefId, newValue) {
// Select preference value in control:
dojo.query('#preference_control_' + prefId + ' > option[value="' + newValue
// Also select fontrol to fix a BGA framework bug:
+ '"], #preference_fontrol_' + prefId + ' > option[value="' + newValue
+ '"]').forEach((value) => dojo.attr(value, 'selected', true));
// Generate change event on control to trigger callbacks:
const newEvt = document.createEvent('HTMLEvents');
newEvt.initEvent('change', false, true);
$('preference_control_' + prefId).dispatchEvent(newEvt);
},
</pre>

=== Accessing User Preferences on the server ===
Surprise, surprise - this is lacking too. Mostly.
There is a variable you can acesses called $this->player_preferences.
This contains table of user preferences, ONLY accessible in setupNewGame().
You can use this to populate a table that you manage yourself.
The table has to be updated when user changes preference (and you have to hook up a lister and initiate a special axac call out-of-turn).
Check the code of Agricola for details but this should work:.

; In dbmodel.sql
<pre>
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `user_preferences` (
`player_id` int(10) NOT NULL,
`pref_id` int(10) NOT NULL,
`pref_value` int(10) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`player_id`, `pref_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;
</pre>

; In ggg.game.php
<pre>
protected function setupNewGame($players, $options = array())
{
// TODO: Save $this->player_preferences: key is player_id, value is array with pref_id as key and pref_value as value
}
</pre>

; In ggg.js
<pre>
setup(gamedatas) {
...
this.initPreferencesObserver();
},
initPreferencesObserver() {
dojo.query('.preference_control').on('change', (e) => {
const match = e.target.id.match(/^preference_[cf]ontrol_(\d+)$/);
if (!match) {
return;
}
const pref = match[1];
const newValue = e.target.value;
this.prefs[pref].value = newValue;
this.onPreferenceChange(pref, newValue);
});
},
onPreferenceChange(prefId, prefValue) {
prefId = parseInt(prefId);
if (prefId === 101 /*TODO: You probably want to send only some preferences*/) {
// TODO: Code your own action in ggg.action.php and send it prefId and prefValue
// The on the server side you can save it all in the user_preferences
// table you created above.
}
},
</pre>

Options and preferences: gameoptions.json, gamepreferences.json

2021-08-26T10:44:26Z

Bennygui: /* Accessing User Preferences on the server */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

In this file, you can define your game options (i.e. game variants) and user preferences.

Note: If your game has no variants or preferences, you don't have to modify this file.

'''IMPORTANT:''' after you edited this file and syncronized to ftp folder you have to go to the control panel and press "Reload game options configuration" for your changes '''to take effect'''.

Make sure you understand difference bettween options and preferences:
* Game options - something usually in the rule book defined as "variant" (except for 2,3,X people - that is automatically handled - you can query it)
* User preferences - personal choices of each player only visible to that specific player - i.e. layout, either or not to prompt for action, ether or not auto-opt in in some actions, etc

== Game Options ==

Game options are selected by the table creator and usually correspond to game variants, for example if the game includes expansions or certain special rules.

These variants are defined in gameoptions.inc.php as the $game_options variable:
$game_options = array(...); // exactly named that

Each option is a pair in the format: number => 'option description array'.

All options defined in this file should have a corresponding "game state label" with the same ID (see "initGameStateLabels" in yourgame.game.php)

self::initGameStateLabels ( array (
...
"my_game_variant" => 100,
) );

Numbers have to be exactly from 100 to 199 (there can be gaps).

That is how you access them during runtime:

public function isSecondVariant() {
return $this->getGameStateValue('my_game_variant') == 2;
}

Or this
$this->gamestate->table_globals[100]

The following are the parameters of option description array:
* '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. The name of the option visible for table creator. Value must be wrapped in totranslate function.
* '''values''' - '''mandatory'''. The array (map) of values with additional parameters per value.
** '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. String representation of the numeric value visible to table creator. Value must be wrapped in totranslate function.
** '''description''' - String description of this value to use when the name of the option is not self-explanatory. Displayed at the table under the option when this value is selected.
** '''tmdisplay''' - String representation of the option visible in the table description, usually if variant "names" are On and Off, but the description would be same as option name when On, and nothing when Off. ('''Warning''': due to some caching, a change in tmdisplay may not be effective immediately in the studio, even after forcing a reload of gameoptions.inc.php.)
** '''nobeginner''' - Set to true if not recommended for begginers
** '''firstgameonly''' - Set to true if this option is recommended only for the first game (discovery option)
** '''beta''' - Option in beta stage on development
** '''premium''' - Option can be only used by premium members
* '''default''' - indicates the default value to use for this option (optional, if not present the first value listed is the default)
* '''displaycondition''' - checks the conditions before displaying the option for selection. All conditions must be true for the option to display. Supported condition types:
** ''minplayers'' condition ensures at least this many players
** ''maxplayers'' conditions ensure at most this many players
** ''otheroption'' condition ensures another option is set to this given values.
** ''otheroptionisnot'' conditions ensure another option is NOT set to this given values
* '''displayconditionoperand''' - can be 'and' (this is the default) or 'or'. Allows to change the behaviour to display the option if one of the conditions is true instead of all of them.
* '''startcondition''' - checks the conditions (on options VALUES) before starting the game. All conditions must be true for the game to start, otherwise players will get a red error message when attempting to begin the game. Supported condition types:
** ''minplayers'' condition ensures at least this many players
** ''maxplayers'' conditions ensure at most this many players
** ''otheroption'' conditions ensure another option is set to this given values. That works the same as in '''displaycondition'''.
** ''otheroptionisnot'' conditions ensure another option is NOT set to this given value. That works the same as in '''displaycondition'''.
* '''notdisplayedmessage''' - if option is not suppose to be visible because of displaycondition but this is set, the text will be visible instead of combo drop down

Common options for all tables (reserved range 200-299):
*201 (const GAMESTATE_RATING_MODE) - ELO OFF (aka Training mode),
*200 (const GAMESTATE_CLOCK_MODE) - game speed profile, array(0,1,2) - realtime, values 11-21 - turn based

Example:
<pre>
$game_options = array(
100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('my game option'),
'values' => array(
// A simple value for this option:
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 1')
),

// A simple value for this option.
// If this value is chosen, the value of "tmdisplay" is displayed in the game lobby
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 2'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('option 2')
),

// Another value, with other options:
// beta=true => this option is in beta version right now.
// nobeginner=true => this option is not recommended for beginners
3 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 3'),
'beta' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'default' => 1
),

101 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Draft variant'),
'values' => array(
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('No draft')
),
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Draft'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Draft'),
'premium' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array(
'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 100, // Game specific option defined in the same array above
'value' => array(2, 3, 4)
),
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 201, // ELO OFF hardcoded framework option
'value' => 1 // 1 if OFF
)
),

'startcondition' => array(
1 => array(),
2 => array(
array(
'type' => 'maxplayers',
'value' => 3,
'message' => totranslate('Draft option is available for 3 players maximum.')
)
),
),
),

102 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Takeovers'),
'values' => array(
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('No takeover')
),
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Allow takeovers'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Takeovers'),
'premium' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'displaycondition' => array( // Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array(
'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 100,
'value' => array(3, 4)
)
),
'startcondition' => array(
2 => array(),
1 => array(
array(
'type' => 'maxplayers',
'value' => 2,
'message' => totranslate('Rebel vs Imperium Takeover Scenario is available for 2 players only.')
)
),
),
)
);
</pre>

Example of option that condition on ELO off

<pre>
$game_options = array(

100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Learning Game (No Research)'),
'values' => array(

1 => array( 'name' => totranslate('Off'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('') ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate('On'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Learning Game') ),

),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 201, // ELO OFF hardcoded framework option
'value' => 1, // 1 if OFF

)
),
'notdisplayedmessage' => totranslate('Learning variant available only with ELO off')
),

);
</pre>

Example of condition that is only available for REALTIME game mode
<pre>
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option until these conditions are met - game speed is selected as realtime
array( 'type' => 'otheroption', 'id' => GAMESTATE_CLOCK_MODE, 'value' => array(0,1,2) )
),
</pre>

Example of using condition on your own option
<pre>
102 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Scenarios'),
'values' => array(
1 => array( 'name' => totranslate('Off'),
'nobeginner' => false ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate('On'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Scenarios'),
'nobeginner' => true ),

),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroptionisnot',
'id' => 100, // learning variant
'value' => 2, // 1 if OFF,2 is ON

)
),
'notdisplayedmessage' => totranslate('Scenarios variant is not available if Learning variant is chosen')
),
</pre>

== User Preferences ==

User preferences is something cosmetic about the game interface which however can create user wars, so you can satisfy all users
by giving them individual preferences. You should use this only if it significantly improves the interface for a large proportion of users.

<pre>
$game_preferences = array(
100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Notation style'),
'needReload' => true, // after user changes this preference game interface would auto-reload
'values' => array(
1 => array( 'name' => totranslate( 'Classic' ), 'cssPref' => 'notation_classic' ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate( 'Tournament' ), 'cssPref' => 'notation_tournament' )
),
'default' => 2
)
);
</pre>

There is two ways to check/apply this. In java Script

if (this.prefs[100].value == 2) ...

This checks if preferences 100 has selected value 2.

Second, if cssPref specified it will be applied to the '''<html>''' tag. So you can use different css styling for the preference. Note: it seems needed to set needReload to true for that class change to be effective.

As user you have to select them from the Gear menu when game is started. On studio only user0 will have it actually working (bug?).

The following are the parameters of preferences description array:
* '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. The name of the preference. Value will be automatically wrapped in totranslate if you don't.
* '''needReload''' - If set to true, the game interface will auto-reload after a change of the preference.
* '''values''' - '''mandatory'''. The array (map) of values with additional parameters per value.
** '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. String representation of the numeric value. Value will be automatically wrapped in totranslate if you don't.
** '''cssPref''' - CSS class to add to the '''<html>''' tag. Currently it is added or removed only after a reload (see needReload).
* '''default''' - Indicates the default value to use for this preference (optional, if not present the first value listed is the default).

=== Listening for preference changes ===

The BGA framework lacks any callback to notify your game when a user preference is changed (see [https://studio.boardgamearena.com/bug?id=36 proposal #36]), but you can create your own if you need to run some UI code in response to a preference change.

; In ggg.js
<pre>
setup: function (gamedatas) {
... // your setup code here
this.setupPreference();
},

setupPreference: function () {
// Extract the ID and value from the UI control
var _this = this;
function onchange(e) {
var match = e.target.id.match(/^preference_[cf]ontrol_(\d+)$/);
if (!match) {
return;
}
var prefId = +match[1];
var prefValue = +e.target.value;
_this.prefs[prefId].value = prefValue;
_this.onPreferenceChange(prefId, prefValue);
}

// Call onPreferenceChange() when any value changes
dojo.query(".preference_control").connect("onchange", onchange);

// Call onPreferenceChange() now
dojo.forEach(
dojo.query("#ingame_menu_content .preference_control"),
function (el) {
onchange({ target: el });
}
);
},

onPreferenceChange: function (prefId, prefValue) {
console.log("Preference changed", prefId, prefValue);
... // your code here to handle the change
},
</pre>

=== Updating preference from code ===
The BGA framework lacks any method to update a user preference from the code (see [https://studio.boardgamearena.com/bug?id=36 proposal #36]), but you can create your own if you need to.

; In ggg.js
<pre>
updatePreference: function(prefId, newValue) {
// Select preference value in control:
dojo.query('#preference_control_' + prefId + ' > option[value="' + newValue
// Also select fontrol to fix a BGA framework bug:
+ '"], #preference_fontrol_' + prefId + ' > option[value="' + newValue
+ '"]').forEach((value) => dojo.attr(value, 'selected', true));
// Generate change event on control to trigger callbacks:
const newEvt = document.createEvent('HTMLEvents');
newEvt.initEvent('change', false, true);
$('preference_control_' + prefId).dispatchEvent(newEvt);
},
</pre>

=== Accessing User Preferences on the server ===
Surprise, surprise - this is lacking too. Mostly.
There is a variable you can acesses called $this->player_preferences.
This contains table of user preferences, ONLY accessible in setupNewGame().
You can use this to populate a table that you manage yourself.
The table has to be updated when user changes preference (and you have to hook up a lister and initiate a special axac call out-of-turn).
Check the code of Agricola for details but this should work:.

<pre>
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `user_preferences` (
`player_id` int(10) NOT NULL,
`pref_id` int(10) NOT NULL,
`pref_value` int(10) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`player_id`, `pref_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;
</pre>

; In ggg.js
<pre>
setup(gamedatas) {
...
this.initPreferencesObserver();
},
initPreferencesObserver() {
dojo.query('.preference_control').on('change', (e) => {
const match = e.target.id.match(/^preference_[cf]ontrol_(\d+)$/);
if (!match) {
return;
}
const pref = match[1];
const newValue = e.target.value;
this.prefs[pref].value = newValue;
this.onPreferenceChange(pref, newValue);
});
},
onPreferenceChange(prefId, prefValue) {
prefId = parseInt(prefId);
if (prefId === 101 /*TODO: You probably want to send only some preferences*/) {
// TODO: Code your own action in ggg.action.php and send it prefId and prefValue
}
},
</pre>

Options and preferences: gameoptions.json, gamepreferences.json

2021-08-26T10:44:07Z

Bennygui: /* Accessing User Preferences on the server */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

In this file, you can define your game options (i.e. game variants) and user preferences.

Note: If your game has no variants or preferences, you don't have to modify this file.

'''IMPORTANT:''' after you edited this file and syncronized to ftp folder you have to go to the control panel and press "Reload game options configuration" for your changes '''to take effect'''.

Make sure you understand difference bettween options and preferences:
* Game options - something usually in the rule book defined as "variant" (except for 2,3,X people - that is automatically handled - you can query it)
* User preferences - personal choices of each player only visible to that specific player - i.e. layout, either or not to prompt for action, ether or not auto-opt in in some actions, etc

== Game Options ==

Game options are selected by the table creator and usually correspond to game variants, for example if the game includes expansions or certain special rules.

These variants are defined in gameoptions.inc.php as the $game_options variable:
$game_options = array(...); // exactly named that

Each option is a pair in the format: number => 'option description array'.

All options defined in this file should have a corresponding "game state label" with the same ID (see "initGameStateLabels" in yourgame.game.php)

self::initGameStateLabels ( array (
...
"my_game_variant" => 100,
) );

Numbers have to be exactly from 100 to 199 (there can be gaps).

That is how you access them during runtime:

public function isSecondVariant() {
return $this->getGameStateValue('my_game_variant') == 2;
}

Or this
$this->gamestate->table_globals[100]

The following are the parameters of option description array:
* '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. The name of the option visible for table creator. Value must be wrapped in totranslate function.
* '''values''' - '''mandatory'''. The array (map) of values with additional parameters per value.
** '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. String representation of the numeric value visible to table creator. Value must be wrapped in totranslate function.
** '''description''' - String description of this value to use when the name of the option is not self-explanatory. Displayed at the table under the option when this value is selected.
** '''tmdisplay''' - String representation of the option visible in the table description, usually if variant "names" are On and Off, but the description would be same as option name when On, and nothing when Off. ('''Warning''': due to some caching, a change in tmdisplay may not be effective immediately in the studio, even after forcing a reload of gameoptions.inc.php.)
** '''nobeginner''' - Set to true if not recommended for begginers
** '''firstgameonly''' - Set to true if this option is recommended only for the first game (discovery option)
** '''beta''' - Option in beta stage on development
** '''premium''' - Option can be only used by premium members
* '''default''' - indicates the default value to use for this option (optional, if not present the first value listed is the default)
* '''displaycondition''' - checks the conditions before displaying the option for selection. All conditions must be true for the option to display. Supported condition types:
** ''minplayers'' condition ensures at least this many players
** ''maxplayers'' conditions ensure at most this many players
** ''otheroption'' condition ensures another option is set to this given values.
** ''otheroptionisnot'' conditions ensure another option is NOT set to this given values
* '''displayconditionoperand''' - can be 'and' (this is the default) or 'or'. Allows to change the behaviour to display the option if one of the conditions is true instead of all of them.
* '''startcondition''' - checks the conditions (on options VALUES) before starting the game. All conditions must be true for the game to start, otherwise players will get a red error message when attempting to begin the game. Supported condition types:
** ''minplayers'' condition ensures at least this many players
** ''maxplayers'' conditions ensure at most this many players
** ''otheroption'' conditions ensure another option is set to this given values. That works the same as in '''displaycondition'''.
** ''otheroptionisnot'' conditions ensure another option is NOT set to this given value. That works the same as in '''displaycondition'''.
* '''notdisplayedmessage''' - if option is not suppose to be visible because of displaycondition but this is set, the text will be visible instead of combo drop down

Common options for all tables (reserved range 200-299):
*201 (const GAMESTATE_RATING_MODE) - ELO OFF (aka Training mode),
*200 (const GAMESTATE_CLOCK_MODE) - game speed profile, array(0,1,2) - realtime, values 11-21 - turn based

Example:
<pre>
$game_options = array(
100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('my game option'),
'values' => array(
// A simple value for this option:
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 1')
),

// A simple value for this option.
// If this value is chosen, the value of "tmdisplay" is displayed in the game lobby
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 2'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('option 2')
),

// Another value, with other options:
// beta=true => this option is in beta version right now.
// nobeginner=true => this option is not recommended for beginners
3 => array(
'name' => totranslate('option 3'),
'beta' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'default' => 1
),

101 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Draft variant'),
'values' => array(
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('No draft')
),
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Draft'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Draft'),
'premium' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array(
'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 100, // Game specific option defined in the same array above
'value' => array(2, 3, 4)
),
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 201, // ELO OFF hardcoded framework option
'value' => 1 // 1 if OFF
)
),

'startcondition' => array(
1 => array(),
2 => array(
array(
'type' => 'maxplayers',
'value' => 3,
'message' => totranslate('Draft option is available for 3 players maximum.')
)
),
),
),

102 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Takeovers'),
'values' => array(
2 => array(
'name' => totranslate('No takeover')
),
1 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Allow takeovers'),
'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Takeovers'),
'premium' => true,
'nobeginner' => true
),
),
'displaycondition' => array( // Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array(
'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 100,
'value' => array(3, 4)
)
),
'startcondition' => array(
2 => array(),
1 => array(
array(
'type' => 'maxplayers',
'value' => 2,
'message' => totranslate('Rebel vs Imperium Takeover Scenario is available for 2 players only.')
)
),
),
)
);
</pre>

Example of option that condition on ELO off

<pre>
$game_options = array(

100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Learning Game (No Research)'),
'values' => array(

1 => array( 'name' => totranslate('Off'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('') ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate('On'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Learning Game') ),

),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroption',
'id' => 201, // ELO OFF hardcoded framework option
'value' => 1, // 1 if OFF

)
),
'notdisplayedmessage' => totranslate('Learning variant available only with ELO off')
),

);
</pre>

Example of condition that is only available for REALTIME game mode
<pre>
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option until these conditions are met - game speed is selected as realtime
array( 'type' => 'otheroption', 'id' => GAMESTATE_CLOCK_MODE, 'value' => array(0,1,2) )
),
</pre>

Example of using condition on your own option
<pre>
102 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Scenarios'),
'values' => array(
1 => array( 'name' => totranslate('Off'),
'nobeginner' => false ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate('On'), 'tmdisplay' => totranslate('Scenarios'),
'nobeginner' => true ),

),
'displaycondition' => array(
// Note: do not display this option unless these conditions are met
array( 'type' => 'otheroptionisnot',
'id' => 100, // learning variant
'value' => 2, // 1 if OFF,2 is ON

)
),
'notdisplayedmessage' => totranslate('Scenarios variant is not available if Learning variant is chosen')
),
</pre>

== User Preferences ==

User preferences is something cosmetic about the game interface which however can create user wars, so you can satisfy all users
by giving them individual preferences. You should use this only if it significantly improves the interface for a large proportion of users.

<pre>
$game_preferences = array(
100 => array(
'name' => totranslate('Notation style'),
'needReload' => true, // after user changes this preference game interface would auto-reload
'values' => array(
1 => array( 'name' => totranslate( 'Classic' ), 'cssPref' => 'notation_classic' ),
2 => array( 'name' => totranslate( 'Tournament' ), 'cssPref' => 'notation_tournament' )
),
'default' => 2
)
);
</pre>

There is two ways to check/apply this. In java Script

if (this.prefs[100].value == 2) ...

This checks if preferences 100 has selected value 2.

Second, if cssPref specified it will be applied to the '''<html>''' tag. So you can use different css styling for the preference. Note: it seems needed to set needReload to true for that class change to be effective.

As user you have to select them from the Gear menu when game is started. On studio only user0 will have it actually working (bug?).

The following are the parameters of preferences description array:
* '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. The name of the preference. Value will be automatically wrapped in totranslate if you don't.
* '''needReload''' - If set to true, the game interface will auto-reload after a change of the preference.
* '''values''' - '''mandatory'''. The array (map) of values with additional parameters per value.
** '''name''' - '''mandatory'''. String representation of the numeric value. Value will be automatically wrapped in totranslate if you don't.
** '''cssPref''' - CSS class to add to the '''<html>''' tag. Currently it is added or removed only after a reload (see needReload).
* '''default''' - Indicates the default value to use for this preference (optional, if not present the first value listed is the default).

=== Listening for preference changes ===

The BGA framework lacks any callback to notify your game when a user preference is changed (see [https://studio.boardgamearena.com/bug?id=36 proposal #36]), but you can create your own if you need to run some UI code in response to a preference change.

; In ggg.js
<pre>
setup: function (gamedatas) {
... // your setup code here
this.setupPreference();
},

setupPreference: function () {
// Extract the ID and value from the UI control
var _this = this;
function onchange(e) {
var match = e.target.id.match(/^preference_[cf]ontrol_(\d+)$/);
if (!match) {
return;
}
var prefId = +match[1];
var prefValue = +e.target.value;
_this.prefs[prefId].value = prefValue;
_this.onPreferenceChange(prefId, prefValue);
}

// Call onPreferenceChange() when any value changes
dojo.query(".preference_control").connect("onchange", onchange);

// Call onPreferenceChange() now
dojo.forEach(
dojo.query("#ingame_menu_content .preference_control"),
function (el) {
onchange({ target: el });
}
);
},

onPreferenceChange: function (prefId, prefValue) {
console.log("Preference changed", prefId, prefValue);
... // your code here to handle the change
},
</pre>

=== Updating preference from code ===
The BGA framework lacks any method to update a user preference from the code (see [https://studio.boardgamearena.com/bug?id=36 proposal #36]), but you can create your own if you need to.

; In ggg.js
<pre>
updatePreference: function(prefId, newValue) {
// Select preference value in control:
dojo.query('#preference_control_' + prefId + ' > option[value="' + newValue
// Also select fontrol to fix a BGA framework bug:
+ '"], #preference_fontrol_' + prefId + ' > option[value="' + newValue
+ '"]').forEach((value) => dojo.attr(value, 'selected', true));
// Generate change event on control to trigger callbacks:
const newEvt = document.createEvent('HTMLEvents');
newEvt.initEvent('change', false, true);
$('preference_control_' + prefId).dispatchEvent(newEvt);
},
</pre>

=== Accessing User Preferences on the server ===
Surprise, surprise - this is lacking too. Mostly.
There is a variable you can acesses called $this->player_preferences.
This contains table of user preferences, ONLY accessible in setupNewGame().
You can use this to populate a table that you manage yourself.
The table has to be updated when user changes preference (and you have to hook up a lister and initiate a special axac call out-of-turn).
Check the code of Agricola for details but this should work:.

<pre>
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `user_preferences` (
`player_id` int(10) NOT NULL,
`pref_id` int(10) NOT NULL,
`pref_value` int(10) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`player_id`, `pref_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;
</pre>

ggg.js:
<pre>
setup(gamedatas) {
...
this.initPreferencesObserver();
},
initPreferencesObserver() {
dojo.query('.preference_control').on('change', (e) => {
const match = e.target.id.match(/^preference_[cf]ontrol_(\d+)$/);
if (!match) {
return;
}
const pref = match[1];
const newValue = e.target.value;
this.prefs[pref].value = newValue;
this.onPreferenceChange(pref, newValue);
});
},
onPreferenceChange(prefId, prefValue) {
prefId = parseInt(prefId);
if (prefId === 101 /*TODO: You probably want to send only some preferences*/) {
// TODO: Code your own action in ggg.action.php and send it prefId and prefValue
}
},
</pre>

Gamehelpgoldwest

2021-05-07T16:58:25Z

Bennygui:

== Overview ==

The game is played over 10 rounds, or 12 in a 2 player game. The players each get 10 or 12 camps and each turn they will put a camp on the board. When all players have played all their camps, there is one last turn and the game ends.

== Player Turn ==
Each turn, players must perform 3 steps in the following order:
# Activate its supply track
# Use metals, if the player has any
# Build or Loot

On the last turn, there is no ''Build or Loot'' step.

=== Activate Supply Track ===
The player must select a section with resources on its player board and takes '''all''' the resources in that section. He must then leave one resource in each lower sections.

For example, if the player activates section 2 with 4 resources, he must leave 1 in section 1 and another in section 0. He will then have 2 resources for the next step.

It's possible for the player to have no resources for the next steps at the end of this process.

=== Use metals ===
If the player does not have metal resources from the previous step, this step is skipped. Metals are: Gold, Silver and Copper.

Metal resources can be spent in 3 ways.
* '''Investments''', only once per turn: With the right resources, the player can buy an investment card that gives points, and sometimes special bonuses. The first players to buy an investment card also get a bonus tile. In a 4 player game, there are 5 bonus tiles (that score 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point). In a 3 player game there are 4 bonus tiles and in a 2 player game there are 3.

* '''BoomTown''', only once per turn: To place an influence token in BoomTown to get the bonus of an office, the player must pay 2 resources: one matching the resource above the office, and one matching the resource to the right of the office. Most offices give points at the end of the game but the 1x1 tile is different and give 4 points immediately. (In the ''Trading Post'' mini expansion, this 1x1 tile instead gives a resource that can be used on the current turn or placed in the supply track for points.)

* '''Shipping Track''': Metal resources can be used to advance the player's stagecoach. Each resource advance 1 step. Some steps give 2 or 3 points and some steps have bonus tiles that the 2 first players get to score more points. The stagecoach does not stop on the steps with the bonus tiles.

=== Build or Loot ===
In this step, the player takes a visible mining token from the board but will get different bonuses depending on the remaning ''Wood'' or ''Stone'' resource:

* The player has no ''Wood'' nor ''Stone'': In this case, one of the player's camp goes into the Wanted Area and the player looses 1 point.
* The player has ''Wood'' or ''Stone'' but not both: In this case, one of the player's camp goes on the board, on the spot where the mining token was taken. The mining token is placed on the influence track in the player board, in the row of the mining terrain type.
* The player has both ''Wood'' and ''Stone'': In this case, one of the player's camp goes on the board, on the spot where the mining token was taken. An influence token is placed under the camp and this is now a ''Settlement''. The mining token is placed on the influence track in the player board, in the row of the mining terrain type and an additionnal influence token is placed in the same row.

No resources can be keep for a next round, any remaining ressources are lost.

After this, the player must choose only one section in its supply track to place the resources from the mining token. The player scores 3 points if they are placed in section 3, 2 points for section 2, 1 point for section 1 and 0 points for section 0.

The invisible mining tokens around the choosen token are then revealed and its the next player turn.

== End Scoring ==
At the end of the game, the following are taken into account for each player to calculate the final score:
* Building groups: 2 points per building (camp or settlement) in the player's largest contiguous group.
* Each offices in BoomTown is scored.
* The player with the most camps in the Wanted Area looses 1 point per camp. The player with the second most camp looses 1 point per 2 camps.
* The 1st and 2nd most influence in each terrain is scored.

Gamehelpgoldwest

2021-05-07T15:19:59Z

Bennygui: Created page with "== Overview == The game is played over 10 rounds, or 12 in a 2 player game. The players each get 10 or 12 camps and each turn they will put a camp on the board. When all play..."

== Overview ==

The game is played over 10 rounds, or 12 in a 2 player game. The players each get 10 or 12 camps and each turn they will put a camp on the board. When all players have played all their camps, there is one last turn and the game ends.

== Player Turn ==
Each turn, players must perform 3 steps in the following order:
# Activate its supply track
# Use metals, if the player has any
# Build or Loot

On the last turn, there is no ''Build or Loot'' step.

=== Activate Supply Track ===
The player must select a section with resources on its player board and takes '''all''' the resources in that section. He must then leave one resource in each lower sections.

For example, if the player activates section 2 with 4 resources, he must leave 1 in section 1 and another in section 0. He will then have 2 resources for the next step.

It's possible for the player to have no resources for the next steps at the end of this process.

=== Use metals ===
If the player does not have metal resources from the previous step, this step is skipped. Metals are: Gold, Silver and Copper.

Metal resources can be spent in 3 ways.
* '''Investments''', only once per turn: With the right resources, the player can buy an investment card that gives points, and sometimes special bonuses. The first players to buy an investment card also get a bonus tile. In a 4 player game, there are 5 bonus tiles (that score 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point). In a 3 player game there are 4 bonus tiles and in a 2 player game there are 3.

* '''BoomTown''', only once per turn: To place an influence token in BoomTown to get the bonus of an office, the player must pay 2 resources: one matching the resource above the office, and one matching the resource to the right of the office. Most offices give points at the end of the game but the 1x1 tile is different and give 4 points immediately. (In the ''Trading Post'' mini expansion, this 1x1 tile instead gives a resource that can be used on the current turn or placed in the supply track for points.)

* '''Shipping Track''': Metal resources can be used to advance the player's stagecoach. Each resource advance 1 step. Some steps give 2 or 3 points and some steps have bonus tiles that the 2 first players get to score more points. The stagecoach does not stop on the steps with the bonus tiles.

=== Build or Loot ===
In this step, the player takes a visible mining token from the board but will get different bonuses depending on the remaning ''Wood'' or ''Stone'' resource:

* The player has no ''Wood'' nor ''Stone'': In this case, one of the player's camp goes into the Wanted Area and the player looses 1 point.
* The player has ''Wood'' or ''Stone'' but not both: In this case, one of the player's camp goes on the board, on the spot where the mining token was taken. The mining token is placed on the influence track in the player board, in the row of the mining terrain type.
* The player has both ''Wood'' and ''Stone'': In this case, one of the player's camp goes on the board, on the spot where the mining token was taken. An influence token is placed under the camp and this is now a ''Settlement''. The mining token is placed on the influence track in the player board, in the row of the mining terrain type and an additionnal influence token is placed in the same row.

After this, the player must choose only one section in its supply track to place the resources from the mining token. The player scores 3 points if they are placed in section 3, 2 points for section 2, 1 point for section 1 and 0 points for section 0.

The invisible mining tokens around the choosen token are then revealed and its the next player turn.

== End Scoring ==
At the end of the game, the following are taken into account for each player to calculate the final score:
* Building groups: 2 points per building (camp or settlement) in the player's largest contiguous group.
* Each offices in BoomTown is scored.
* The player with the most camps in the Wanted Area looses 1 point per camp. The player with the second most camp looses 1 point per 2 camps.
* The 1st and 2nd most influence in each terrain is scored.

Game interface logic: Game.js

2021-03-31T15:39:56Z

Bennygui: /* Scoring animated display */

{{Studio_Framework_Navigation}}

This is the main file for your game interface. Here you will define:

* Which actions on the page will generate calls to the server.
* What happens when you get a notification for a change from the server and how it will show in the browser.

== File structure ==

The details of how the file is structured are described below with comments on the code skeleton provided to you.

Here is the basic structure:

* '''constructor''': here you can define global variables for your whole interface.
* '''setup''': this method is called when the page is refreshed, and sets up the game interface.
* '''onEnteringState''': this method is called when entering a new game state. You can use it to customize the view for each game state.
* '''onLeavingState''': this method is called when leaving a game state.
* '''onUpdateActionButtons''': called when entering a new state, in order to add action buttons to the status bar.
* ''(utility methods)'': this is where you can define your utility methods.
* ''(player's actions)'': this is where you can write your handlers for player actions on the interface (example: click on an item).
* '''setupNotifications''': this method associates notifications with notification handlers. For each game notification, you can trigger a javascript method to handle it and update the game interface.
* ''(notification handlers)'': this is where you define the notifications handlers associated with notifications in '''setupNotifications''', above.

More details:

;onEnteringState(stateName, args)
This method is called each time we are entering into a new game state.
You can use this method to perform some user interface changes at this moment.
To access state arguments passed via calling arg* method use args.args.
Typically you would do something only for active player, using this.isCurrentPlayerActive() check.

'''Warning''': for multipleactiveplayer states:
the active players are NOT actives yet so you must use onUpdateActionButtons to perform the client side operation which depends on a player active/unactive status.
If you are doing initialization of some structure which do not depend on active player, you can just replace
if (this.isCurrentPlayerActive()) {
into
if (!this.isSpectator) {
for the main switch in that method.

;onLeavingState(stateName)
This method is called each time we are leaving a game state.
You can use this method to perform some user interface changes at this moment.

;onUpdateActionButtons(stateName, args)
In this method you can manage "action buttons" that are displayed in the action status bar.
To access state arguments passed via calling arg* method use args parameter. Note: args can be null! For game states and when you don't supply state args function it is null.
This method is called when active or multiactive player changes. In classic "activePlayer" state this method is called before the onEnteringState state.
In multipleactiveplayer state it is a mess. The sequencing of call would depends on either you get into that from transition from reloading the whole game (i.e. F5).

See more details in [[Your_game_state_machine:_states.inc.php#Diffrence_between_Single_active_and_Multi_active_states]]

== General tips ==

; this.player_id
: ID of the player on whose browser the code is running.

; this.isSpectator
: Flag set to true if the user at the table is a spectator (not a player).
: Note: This is a variable, not a function.
: Note: If you want to hide an element from spectators, you should use [[Game_interface_stylesheet:_yourgamename.css#spectatorMode|CSS 'spectatorMode' class]].

; this.gamedatas
: Contains the initial set of data to init the game, created at game start or by game refresh (F5).
: You can update it as needed to keep an up-to-date reference of the game on the client side if you need it. (Most of the time this is unnecessary).

; this.isCurrentPlayerActive()
: Returns true if the player on whose browser the code is running is currently active (it's his turn to play).

; this.getActivePlayerId()
: Return the ID of the active player, or null if we are not in an "activeplayer" type state.

; this.getActivePlayers()
: Return an array with the IDs of players who are currently active (or an empty array if there are none).

; this.bRealtime
: Return true if the game is in realtime. Note that having a distinct behavior in realtime and turn-based should be exceptional.

; typeof g_replayFrom != 'undefined'
: Returns true if the game is in replay mode <i>during the game</i> (the game is ongoing but the user clicked "reply from this move" in the log)

; g_archive_mode
: Returns true if the game is in archive mode <i>after the game</i> (the game has ended)

; this.instantaneousMode
: Returns true during replay/archive mode if animations should be skipped. Only needed if you are doing custom animations. (The BGA-provided animation functions like <i>this.slideToObject()</i> automatically handle instantaneous mode.)
: Technically, when you click "replay from move #20", the system replays the game from the very beginning with moves 0 - 19 happening in instantaneous mode and moves 20+ happening in normal mode.

---

You may consider making a function like this, to detect if the game is in a read-only state:

// Returns true for spectators, instant replay (during game), archive mode (after game end)
isReadOnly: function () {
return this.isSpectator || typeof g_replayFrom != 'undefined' || g_archive_mode;
}

== Dojo framework ==

BGA uses the [http://dojotoolkit.org/ Dojo Javascript framework].

The Dojo framework allows us to do complex things more easily. The BGA framework uses Dojo extensively.

To implement a game, you only need to use a few parts of the Dojo framework. All the Dojo methods you need are described on this page.

== Javascript minimization (before July 2020) ==

For performance reasons, when deploying a game the js code is minimized using ShrinkSafe (based on ECMASCRIPT version 3). Some advanced syntax may not be compatible with this process. In particular:
* You should not use reserved keywords from the javascript language as variables.
* You should not declare default argument values in function declarations. The following syntax is invalid for ShrinkSafe: '''function myFunc(requiredArg, optionalArg = 'defaultValue') {}'''
* You should not use '''let''' or '''const''' to declare variables.

'''Tip:''' a developer encountering some problems with this has successfully used [http://plugins.netbeans.org/plugin/58580/jshint JSHint] on NetBeans to evaluate code to make it compatible for ECMAScript 3. With the plugin installed, set the below options in '''.jshintrc''' file, and then open '''Action Items''' window (in NetBeans):<pre>{ "maxerr": 999, "esversion": 3 }</pre>

'''Tip:''' some online tools also allow to convert between different versions of javascript, such as https://www.typescriptlang.org/play or https://babeljs.io/ or https://extendsclass.com/javascript-fiddle.html

== Javascript minimization (after July 2020) ==

For performance reasons, when deploying a game the javascript code is minimized using '''terser''' (https://github.com/terser/terser). This minifier works with modern javascript syntax. From your project "Manage game" page, you can now test a minified version of your javascript on the studio (and revert to the original).

NB: it has been reported that there is an issue with this minifier and percentage values for opacity.

== Accessing and manipulating the DOM ==

'''$('some_html_element_id')'''

The $() function is used to get an HTML element using its "id" attribute.

Example 1: modify the content of a "span" element:

<pre>
In your HTML code:
<span id="a_value_in_the_game_interface">1234</span>

In your Javascript code:
$('a_value_in_the_game_interface').innerHTML = "9999";
</pre>

Note: $() is the standard method to access some HTML element with the BGA Framework. You should not use the '''getElementById''' function.

'''dojo.style'''

With dojo.style you can modify the CSS property of any HTML element in your interface.

Examples:

<pre>
// Make an element disappear
dojo.style( 'my_element', 'display', 'none' );

// Give an element a 2px border
dojo.style( 'my_element', 'borderWidth', '2px' );

// Change the background position of an element
// (very practical when you are using CSS sprites to transform an element to another)
dojo.style( 'my_element', 'backgroundPosition', '-20px -50px' );
</pre>

Note: you must always use dojo.style to modify the CSS properties of HTML elements.

Note²: if you have to modify several CSS properties of an element, or if you have a complex CSS transformation to do, you should consider using dojo.addClass/dojo.removeClass (see below).

'''dojo.addClass''', '''dojo.removeClass''', '''dojo.hasClass''', '''dojo.toggleClass'''

In many situations, many small CSS property updates can be replaced by a CSS class change (i.e., you add a CSS class to your element instead of applying all modifications manually).

Advantages are:
* All your CSS stuff remains in your CSS file.
* You can add/remove a list of CSS modifications with a simple function and without error.
* You can test whether you applied the CSS to an element with the '''dojo.hasClass''' method.

Example from ''Reversi'':

<pre>
// We add "possibleMove" to an element
dojo.addClass( 'square_'+x+'_'+y, 'possibleMove' );

// In our CSS file, the class is defined as:
.possibleMove {
background-color: white;
opacity: 0.2;
filter:alpha(opacity=20); /* For IE8 and earlier */
cursor: pointer;
}

// So we've applied 4 CSS property changes in one line of code.

// ... and when we need to check if a square is a possible move on the client side:
if( dojo.hasClass( 'square_'+x+'_'+y, 'possibleMove' ) )
{ ... }

// ... and if we want to remove all possible moves in one line of code (see "dojo.query" method):
dojo.query( '.possibleMove' ).removeClass( 'possibleMove' );
</pre>

Conclusion: We encourage you to use '''dojo.addClass''', '''dojo.removeClass''' and '''dojo.hasClass''' to make your life easier :)

'''dojo.attr'''

With dojo.attr you can access or change the value of an attribute or property of any HTML element in your interface.

Exemple:
<pre>
// Get the title of a node
var title = dojo.attr( id, 'title' );
// Change the height of a node
dojo.attr( 'img_growing_tree', 'height', 100 );
</pre>

'''dojo.query'''

With dojo.query, you can query a bunch of HTML elements with a single function, with a "CSS selector" style.

Example:
<pre>
// All elements with class "possibleMove":
var elements = dojo.query( '.possibleMove' );

// Count number of tokens (i.e., elements of class "token") on the board (i.e., the element with id "board"):
dojo.query( '#board .token' ).length;
</pre>

But what is really cool with dojo.query is that you can combine it with almost all methods above.

Examples:
<pre>
// Trigger a method when the mouse enter in any element with class "meeple":
dojo.query( '.meeple' ).connect( 'onmouseenter', this, 'myMethodToTrigger' );

// Hide all meeples who are on the board
dojo.query( '#board .meeple' ).style( 'display', 'none' );
</pre>

'''dojo.place'''

dojo.place is the best function to insert HTML code somewhere in your game interface without breaking something. It is much better to use than the '''innerHTML=''' method if you must insert HTML tags and not only values.

<pre>
// Insert your HTML code as a child of a container element
dojo.place( "<your html code>", "your_container_element_id" );

// Replace the container element with your new html
dojo.place( "<your html code>", "your_container_element_id", "replace" );

</pre>

The third parameter of dojo.place can take various interesting values:

"replace" : (see description above).

"first" : Places the node as a child of the reference node. The node is placed as the first child.

"last" (default) : Places the node as a child of the reference node. The node is placed as the last child.

"before" : places the node right before the reference node.

"after" : places the node right after the reference node.

"only" : replaces all children of the reference node with the node.

positif integer : This parameter can be a positif integer. In this case, the node will be placed as a child of the reference node with this number (counting from 0). If the number is more than number of children, the node will be appended to the reference node making it the last child.

See also full doc on dojo.place : [https://dojotoolkit.org/reference-guide/1.7/dojo/place.html]

Usually, when you want to insert some piece of HTML in your game interface, you should use "[[Game_layout:_view_and_template:_yourgamename.view.php_and_yourgamename_yourgamename.tpl#Javascript_templates|Javascript templates]]".

'''dojo.empty'''

Remove all children of the node element

'''dojo.destroy'''

Remove the element

dojo.query(".green", mynode).forEach(dojo.destroy); // this remove all subnode of class green from mynode

'''dojo.create'''

Create element

dojo.create("div", { class: "yellow_arrow" }, parent); // this creates div with class yellow_array and places it in "parent"

'''addStyleToClass: function( cssClassName, cssProperty, propertyValue )'''

Same as dojo.style(), but for all the nodes set with the specified cssClassName

=== Animations ===

'''Dojo Animations'''

BGA animations is based on Dojo Animation ([http://dojotoolkit.org/documentation/tutorials/1.8/animation/ see tutorial here]).

However, most of the time, you can just use methods below, which are built on top of Dojo Animation.

Note: one interesting method from Dojo that could be useful from time to time is "Dojo.Animation". It allows you to make any CSS property "slide" from one value to another.

Note 2: the slideTo methods are not compatible with CSS transform (scale, zoom, rotate...). If possible, avoid using CSS transform on nodes that are being slided. Eventually, the only possible solution to make these 2 compatible is to disable all CSS transform properties, use slideToObjectPos/placeOnObjectPos, and then apply them again.

'''this.slideToObject( mobile_obj, target_obj, duration, delay )'''

You can use slideToObject to "slide" an element to a target position.

Sliding element on the game area is the recommended and the most used way to animate your game interface. Using slides allow players to figure out what is happening on the game, as if they were playing with the real boardgame.

The parameters are:
* mobile_obj: the ID of the object to move. This object must be "relative" or "absolute" positioned.
* target_obj: the ID of the target object. This object must be "relative" or "absolute" positioned. Note that it is not mandatory that mobile_obj and target_obj have the same size. If their size are different, the system slides the center of mobile_obj to the center of target_obj.
* duration: (optional) defines the duration in millisecond of the slide. The default is 500 milliseconds.
* delay: (optional). If you defines a delay, the slide will start only after this delay. This is particularly useful when you want to slide several object from the same position to the same position: you can give a 0ms delay to the first object, a 100ms delay to the second one, a 200ms delay to the third one, ... this way they won't be superposed during the slide.

BE CAREFUL: The method returns an dojo.fx animation, so you can combine it with other animation if you want to. It means that you have to call the "play()" method, otherwise the animation WON'T START.

Example:
<pre>
this.slideToObject( "some_token", "some_place_on_board" ).play();
</pre>

'''this.slideToObjectPos( mobile_obj, target_obj, target_x, target_y, duration, delay )'''

This method does exactly the same as "slideToObject", except than you can specify some (x,y) coordinates. This way, "mobile_obj" will slide to the specified x,y position relatively to "target_obj".

Example: slide a token to some place on the board, 10 pixels to the bottom:
<pre>
this.slideToObjectPos( "some_token", "some_place_on_board", 0, 10 ).play();
</pre>

'''this.slideTemporaryObject( mobile_obj_html, mobile_obj_parent, from, to, duration, delay )'''

This method is useful when you want to slide a temporary HTML object from one place to another. As this object does not exists before the animation and won't remain after, it could be complex to create this object (with dojo.place), to place it at its origin (with placeOnObject) to slide it (with slideToObject) and to make it disappear at the end.

slideTemporaryObject does all of this for you:
* mobile_obj_html is a piece of HTML code that represent the object to slide.
* mobile_obj_parent is the ID of an HTML element of your interface that will be the parent of this temporary HTML object.
* from is the ID of the origin of the slide.
* to is the ID of the target of the slide.
* duration/delay works exactly like in "slideToObject"

Example:
<pre>
this.slideTemporaryObject( '<div class="token_icon"></div>', 'tokens', 'my_origin_div', 'my_target_div' ).play();
</pre>

'''this.slideToObjectAndDestroy: function( node, to, time, delay )'''

This method is a handy shortcut to slide an existing HTML object to some place then destroy it upon arrival. It can be used for example to move a victory token or a card from the board to the player panel to show that the player earns it, then destroy it when we don't need to keep it visible on the player panel.

It works the same as this.slideToObject and takes the same arguments.

Example:
<pre>
this.slideToObjectAndDestroy( "some_token", "some_place_on_board", 1000, 0 );
</pre>

'''this.fadeOutAndDestroy( node, duration, delay )'''

This function fade out the target HTML node, then destroy it.

Example:
<pre>
this.fadeOutAndDestroy( "a_card_that_must_disappear" );
</pre>

CAREFUL: the HTML node still exists until during few milliseconds, until the fadeOut has been completed.

'''Rotating elements'''

You can check here [http://jimfulton.info/demos/dojo-animated-rotate.html an example of use] of Dojo to make an element rotate.

This example combines "Dojo.Animation" method and a CSS3 property that allow you to rotate the element.

IMPORTANT: to asses browser compatibility, you must select the CSS property to use just like in the example (see sourcecode below):

<pre>
var transform;
dojo.forEach(
['transform', 'WebkitTransform', 'msTransform',
'MozTransform', 'OTransform'],
function (name) {
if (typeof dojo.body().style[name] != 'undefined') {
transform = name;
}
});
// ... and then use "transform" as the name of your CSS property for rotation
</pre>

'''Animation Callbacks'''

If you wish to run some code only after an animation has completed you can do this by linking a callback method.

<pre>
var animation_id = this.slideToObject( mobile_obj, target_obj, duration, delay );
dojo.connect(animation_id, 'onEnd', dojo.hitch(this, 'callback_function', parameters));
animation_id.play();

…

callback_function: function(params) {
// this will be called after the animation ends
},
</pre>

If you wish to call a second animation after the first (rather than general code) then you can use a dojo animation chain (see tutorial referenced above).

=== Moving elements ===

'''this.placeOnObject( mobile_obj, target_obj )'''

placeOnObject works exactly like "slideToObject", except that the effect is immediate.

This is not really an animation, but placeOnObject is frequently used before starting an animation.

Example:
<pre>
// (We just created an object "my_new_token")

// Place the new token on current player board
this.placeOnObject( "my_new_token", "overall_player_board_"+this.player_id );

// Then slide it to its position on the board
this.slideToObject( "my_new_token", "a_place_on_board" ).play();
</pre>

'''this.placeOnObjectPos( mobile_obj, target_obj, target_x, target_y )'''

This method works exactly like placeOnObject, except than you can specify some (x,y) coordinates. This way, "mobile_obj" will be placed to the specified x,y position relatively to "target_obj".

'''this.attachToNewParent( mobile_obj, target_obj )'''

With this method, you change the HTML parent of "mobile_obj" element. "target_obj" is the new parent of this element. The beauty of
attachToNewParent is that the mobile_obj element DOES NOT MOVE during this process.

Note: what happens is that the method calculate a relative position of mobile_obj to make sure it does not move after the HTML parent changes.

Why using this method?

Changing the HTML parent of an element can be useful for the following reasons:
* When the HTML parent moves, all its child are moving with them. If some game elements is no more linked with a parent HTML object, you may want to attach it to another place.
* The z_order (vertical order of display) depends on the position in the DOM, so you may need to change the parent of some game elements when they are moving in your game area.

CAREFUL: this function destroys original object and places a clone onto a new parent, this will break all references to this HTML element (ex: dojo.connect).

== Players input ==

'''dojo.connect'''

Used to associate a player event with one of your notification methods.

Example: associate a click on an element ("my_element") with one of our methods ("onClickOnMyElement"):
<pre>
dojo.connect( $('my_element'), 'onclick', this, 'onClickOnMyElement' );
</pre>
Same idea but base on query (i.e. all element of 'pet' class)
dojo.query(".pet").connect('onclick', this, 'onPet');

Note: the methods described here are the only correct ways to associate a player input event to your code, and you should not use anything else.

'''this.connect'''
function(element, event, handler)

Used to associate a player event with one of your notification methods.

this.connect( $('my_element'), 'onclick', 'onClickOnMyElement' );

Or you can use an in-place handler

this.connect( $('my_element'), 'onclick', (e) => { console.log('boo'); } );

Note that this function stores the connection handler. That is the only real difference between '''this.connect''' and '''dojo.connect'''. If you plan to destroy the element you connected, you '''must''' call this.disconnect() to prevent memory leaks.

'''this.connectClass'''
function( cssClassName, event, handler )

Same as connect(), but for all the nodes set with the specified cssClassName.
<pre>
this.connectClass('pet', 'onclick', 'onPet');
</pre>
'''this.disconnect'''
function( element, event )

Disconnect event handler (previously registered with this.connect or this.connectClass).

this.disconnect( $('my_element'), 'onclick');

Note: dynamic connect/disconnect is for advanced cases ONLY, you should always connect elements statically if possible, i.e. in setup() method.

'''this.disconnectAll'''

Disconnect all previously registed event handlers (registered via this.connect or this.connectClass)

'''this.checkAction'''
function( action, nomessage )

Check if player can do the specified action by taking into account:
* current game state
* interface locking (a player can't do any action if an action is already in progress)

return true if action is authorized (i.e: the action is listed as a "possibleaction" in current game state).

return false and display an error message if not authorized (display no message if nomessage parameter is true).
The displayed error message could be either "This move is not allowed at this moment" or "An action is already in progress".

Example:
<pre>
function onClickOnGameElement( evt ) {
if( this.checkAction( "my_action" ) ) {
// Do the action
}
}
</pre>

'''this.checkPossibleActions'''
function( action, nomessage )

* this is independent of the player being active, so can be used instead of this.checkAction(). This is particularly useful for multiplayer states when the player is not active in a 'player may like to change their mind' scenario.

Check if player can do the specified action by taking into account:
* current game state
* interface locking (a player can't do any action if an action is already in progress)

'''this.ajaxcall( url, parameters, obj_callback, callback, callback_error )'''

This method must be used to send a player input to the game server. '''It should not be triggered programmatically''', especially not in loops, in callbacks, in notifications, or in onEnteringState/onUpdateActionButtons/onLeavingState, in order not to create race conditions.

* url: the url of the action to perform. For a game, it must be: "/<mygame>/<mygame>/myAction.html"
* parameters: an array of parameter to send to the game server.
** Note that "lock: true" must always be specified in this list of parameters in order the interface can be locked during the server call.
** Note: Restricted parameter names (please don't use them):
*** "action"
*** "module"
*** "class"
* obj_callback: must be set to "this".
* callback: a function to trigger when the server returns and everything went fine (not used, as all data handling is done via notifications).
* callback_error: (optional and rarely used) a function to trigger when the server returns an error. if no error this function is called with parameter value false.

Usage:
<pre>
this.ajaxcall( '/mygame/mygame/myaction.html', { lock: true,
arg1: myarg1,
arg2: myarg2,
...
}, this, function( result ) {
// Do some stuff after a successful call
// NB : usually not needed as changes must be handled by notifications
// You should NOT modify the interface in a callback or it will most likely break the framework replays (or make it inaccurate)
// You should NOT make another ajaxcall in a callback in order not to create race conditions
} );
</pre>

Note: to reduce the boilerplate code you can define your own wrapper, which will do checking, locking and allow to skip parameters, for example
<pre>
ajaxcallwrapper: function(action, args, handler) {
if (!args) {
args = [];
}
args.lock = true;

if (this.checkAction(action)) {
this.ajaxcall("/" + this.game_name + "/" + this.game_name + "/" + action + ".html", args,//
this, (result) => { }, handler);
}
},
</pre>
This can be called like this which is a lot more compact
<pre>
this.ajaxcallwrapper('playDraw');
this.ajaxcallwrapper('playMove', {card: id})
</pre>

'''this.isInterfaceLocked()'''

When using "lock: true" in ajax call you can use this function to check if interface is in lock state (it will be locked during server call and notification processing).
This check can be used to block some other interactions which do not result in ajaxcall or if you want to suppress errors.

'''this.addActionButton( id, label, method, (opt)destination, (opt)blinking, (opt)color )'''

You can use this method to add an action button in the main action status bar.

Arguments:
* id: an element ID that should be unique in your HTML DOM document.
* label: the text of the button. Should be translatable (use _() function).
* method: the name of your method that must be triggered when the player clicks on this button.
* destination (optional): deprecated, do not use this. Use '''null''' as value if you need to specify other arguments.
* blinking (optional): if set to '''true''', the button is going blink to catch player's attention. Please don't abuse of blinking button.
* color: could be '''blue''' (default), '''red''' or '''gray'''.

You should only use this method in your "onUpdateActionButtons" method. Usually, you use it like this (from Hearts example):

<pre>
onUpdateActionButtons: function( stateName, args ) {

if (this.isCurrentPlayerActive()) {
switch( stateName ) {
case 'giveCards':
this.addActionButton( 'giveCards_button', _('Give selected cards'), 'onGiveCards' );
break;
}
}
},
</pre>

In the example above, we are adding a "Give selected cards" button in the case we are on game state "giveCards". When player clicks on this button, it triggers our "onGiveCards" method.

Example using blinking red button:
<pre>
this.addActionButton( 'commit_button', _('Confirm'), 'onConfirm', null, true, 'red');
</pre>

Note: at least in studio example above will make button huge, because it sets it display of blinking things to '''block''',
if you don't like it you have to change css display value
of the button to inline-block (the id of the button is the first argument, i.e 'commit_button' in example above)

== Translations ==

See [[Translations]]

== Notifications ==

When something happens on the server side, your game interface Javascript logic received a notification.

Here's how you can handle these notifications on the client side.

=== Subscribe to notifications ===

Your Javascript "setupNotifications" method is the place where you can subscribe to notifications from your PHP code.

Here's how you associate one of your Javascript method to a notification "playDisc" (from Reversi example):

<pre>
// In setupNotifications method:
dojo.subscribe( 'playDisc', this, "notif_playDisc" );
</pre>

Note: the "playDisc" corresponds to the name of the notification you define it in your PHP code, in your "notifyAllPlayers" or "notifyPlayer" method.

Then, you have to define your "notif_playDisc" method:

<pre>
notif_playDisc: function( notif )
{
// Remove current possible moves (makes the board more clear)
dojo.query( '.possibleMove' ).removeClass( 'possibleMove' );

this.addDiscOnBoard( notif.args.x, notif.args.y, notif.args.player_id );
},
</pre>

In a notification handler like our "notif_playDisc" method, you can access to all notifications arguments with "notif.args".

Example:
<pre>
// If you did this on PHP side:
self::notifyAllPlayers( "myNotification", '', array( "myArgument" => 3 ) );

// On Javascript side, you can access the "myArgument" like this:
notif_myNotification: function( notif )
{
alert( "myArgument = " + notif.args.myArgument );
}
</pre>

=== Synchronous notifications ===

When several notifications are received by your game interface, these notifications are processed immediately, one after the other, in the same exact order they have been generated in your PHP game logic.

However, sometimes, you need to give some time to the players to figure out what happened on the game before jumping to the next notification. Indeed, in many games, they are a lot of automatic actions, and the computer is going to resolve all these actions very fast if you don't tell it not to do so.

As an example, for Reversi, when someone is playing a disc, we want to wait 500 milliseconds before doing anything else in order the opponent player can figure out what move has been played.

Here's how we do this, right after our subscription:
<pre>
dojo.subscribe( 'playDisc', this, "notif_playDisc" );
this.notifqueue.setSynchronous( 'playDisc', 500 ); // Wait 500 milliseconds after executing the playDisc handler
</pre>

-----

It is also possible to control the delay timing dynamically (e.g., using notification args). As an example, maybe your notification 'cardPlayed' should pause for a different amount of time depending on the number or type of cards played.

For this case, use '''setSynchronous''' without specifying the duration and use '''setSynchronousDuration''' within the notification callback.

* NOTE: If you forget to invoke '''setSynchronousDuration''', the game will remain paused forever!

<pre>
setupNotifications: function () {
dojo.subscribe( 'cardPlayed', this, 'notif_cardPlayed' );
this.notifqueue.setSynchronous( 'cardPlayed' ); // wait time is dynamic
...
},

notif_cardPlayed: function (notif) {
// MUST call setSynchronousDuration

// Example 1: From notification args (PHP)
this.notifqueue.setSynchronousDuration(notif.args.duration);
...

// Or, example 2: Match the duration to a Dojo animation
var anim = dojo.fx.combine([
...
]);
anim.play();
this.notifqueue.setSynchronousDuration(anim.duration);
},
</pre>

=== Ignoring notifications ===
Sometimes you need to ignore some notification on client side. You don't want them to be shown in game log and you don't want them to be handled.

The most common use case is when a player gets private information. They will receive a specific notification (such as "You received Ace of Heart"), while other players would receive more generic notification ("Player received a card").

In X.game.php
<pre>
$this->notifyAllPlayers("dealCard", clienttranslate('${player_name} received a card'), [
'player_id' => $playerId,
'player_name' => $this->getActivePlayerName()
]);

$this->notifyPlayer($playerId, "dealCardPrivate", clienttranslate('You received ${cardName}'), [
"type" => $card["type"],
"cardName" => $this->getCardName($card["type"])
]);
</pre>

The problem with this approach is that the active player will receive two notifications:
* Player1 received a card
* You received Ace of Hearts

Hence, notification ignoring. Similar to setting a synchronous notification above, you can set up a check whether a notification should be ignored:
<pre>
this.notifqueue.setIgnoreNotificationCheck( 'dealCard', (notif) => (notif.args.player_id == this.player_id) );
</pre>

'''setIgnoreNotificationCheck(notificationId, predicate)'''
This method will set a check whether any of notifications of specific type should be ignored.

The parameters are:
* notificationId: before dispatching any notification of this type, the framework will call predicate to check whether notification should be ignored
* predicate (notif => boolean): a function that will receive notif object and will return true if this specific notification should be ignored

NOTE: You can think that it could be possible to send generic notification to all other players with notifyAllPlayers and it will seem to work. The problem is that table spectators would miss this notification and their user interface (and game log) wouldn't be updated.

IMPORTANT: Remember that this notification is ignored on the client side, but was still received by the client. Therefore it shouldn't contain any private information as cheaters can get it. In other words this is not a way to hide information.

IMPORTANT: When a game is reloaded with F5 or when opening a turn based game, old notifications are replayed as history notification. They are used just to update the game log and are stripped of all arguments except player_id, i18n and any argument present in message. If you use and other argument in your predicate you should preserve it as explained [[Main_game_logic:_yourgamename.game.php#Notify_players|here]].

=== Pre-defined notification types ===

'''tableWindow''' - This defines notification to display [[Game_interface_logic:_yourgamename.js#Scoring_dialogs|Scoring Dialogs]], see below.

'''message''' - This defines notification that shows on players log and have no other effect

// You can call this on php side without doing anything on client side
self::notifyAllPlayers( 'message', 'hello', [] );

'''simplePause''' - This notification will just delay other notifications, maybe useful if you know you need some extra time for animation or something. Requires a time parameter.

<pre>
self::notifyAllPlayers( 'simplePause', '', [ 'time' => 500] ); // time is in milliseconds
</pre>

== Tooltips ==

'''this.addTooltip( nodeId, _( helpString ), _( actionString ), delay )'''

Add a simple text tooltip to the DOM node.

Specify 'helpString' to display some information about "what is this game element?".
Specify 'actionString' to display some information about "what happens when I click on this element?".

You must specify both helpString and actionString. Most of the time, you should use only one and specify a void string ("") for the other one.

Usually, _() must be used for the text to be marked for translation.

"Delay" is an optional parameter. Usually, it is primarily used to specify a zero delay for some game element when the tooltip gives really important information for the game - but remember: no essential information must be placed in tooltips as they won't be displayed in some browsers (see [[BGA_Studio_Guidelines|Guidelines]]).

Example:
<pre>
this.addTooltip( 'cardcount', _('Number of cards in hand'), '' );
</pre>

'''this.addTooltipHtml( nodeId, html, delay )'''

Add an HTML tooltip to the DOM node (for more elaborate content such as presenting a bigger version of a card).

'''this.addTooltipToClass( cssClass, _( helpString ), _( actionString ), delay )'''

Add a simple text tooltip to all the DOM nodes set with this cssClass.

IMPORTANT: all concerned nodes must have IDs to get tooltips.

'''this.addTooltipHtmlToClass( cssClass, html, delay )'''

Add an HTML tooltip to to all the DOM nodes set with this cssClass (for more elaborate content such as presenting a bigger version of a card).

IMPORTANT: all concerned nodes must have IDs to get tooltips

'''this.removeTooltip( nodeId )'''

Remove a tooltip from the DOM node.

== Dialogs, warning messages, confirmation dialogs, ... ==

=== Warning messages ===

Sometimes, there is something important that is happening on the game and you have to make sure all players get the message. Most of the time, the evolution of the game situation or the game log is enough, but sometimes you need something more visible.

Ex: someone fulfill one of the end of the game condition, so this is the last turn.

'''this.showMessage( msg, type )'''

showMessage shows a message in a big rectangular area on the top of the screen of current player.

* "msg" is the string to display. It should be translated.
* "type" can be set to "info" or "error". If set to "info", the message will be an informative message on a white background. If set to "error", the message will be an error message on a red background.

Important: the normal way to inform players about the progression of the game is the game log. "showMessage" is intrusive and should not be used often.

=== Confirmation dialog ===

'''confirmationDialog( message, yesHandler, noHandler )'''

When an important action with a lot of consequences is triggered by the player, you may want to propose a confirmation dialog.

CAREFUL: the general guidelines of BGA is to AVOID the use of confirmation dialog. Confirmation dialogs slow down the game and bother players. The players knows that they have to pay attention about each move when they are playing online.

The situation where you should use a confirmation dialog are the following:
* It must not happen very often during a game.
* It must be linked to an action that can really "kill a game" if the player do not pay attention.
* It must be something that can be done by mistake (ex: a link on the action status bar).

How to display a confirmation dialog:
<pre>
this.confirmationDialog( _('Are you sure you want to bake the pie?'), dojo.hitch( this, function() {
this.bakeThePie();
} ) );
return; // nothing should be called or done after calling this, all action must be done in the handler
</pre>

=== Multiple choice dialog ===
You can use this dialog to give user a choice with small amount of options:
<pre>
var keys = [1,5,10];
this.multipleChoiceDialog(
_('How many bugs to fix?'), keys,
dojo.hitch(this, function(choice) {
var bugchoice = keys[choice];
console.log('dialog callback with '+bugchoice);
this.ajaxcall( '/mygame/mygame/fixBugs.html', { bugs: bugchoice}, this, function( result ) {} ); }));
</pre>

=== Dialogs ===

As a general rule, you shouldn't use dialogs windows.

BGA guidelines specify that all game elements should be displayed on the main screen. Players can eventually scroll down to see game elements they don't need to see anytime, and you may eventually create anchors to move between game area section. Of course dialogs windows are very practical, but the thing is: all players know how to scroll down, and not all players know how to show up your dialog window. In addition, when the dialog shows up, players can't access the other game components.

Sometimes although, you need to display a dialog window. Here is how you do this:

// Create the new dialog over the play zone. You should store the handler in a member variable to access it later
this.myDlg = new ebg.popindialog();
this.myDlg.create( 'myDialogUniqueId' );
this.myDlg.setTitle( _("my dialog title to translate") );
this.myDlg.setMaxWidth( 500 ); // Optional

// Create the HTML of my dialog.
// The best practice here is to use [[Game_layout:_view_and_template:_yourgamename.view.php_and_yourgamename_yourgamename.tpl#Javascript_templates|Javascript templates]]
var html = this.format_block( 'jstpl_myDialogTemplate', {
arg1: myArg1,
arg2: myArg2,
...
} );

// Show the dialog
this.myDlg.setContent( html ); // Must be set before calling show() so that the size of the content is defined before positioning the dialog
this.myDlg.show();

// Now that the dialog has been displayed, you can connect your method to some dialog elements
// Example, if you have an "OK" button in the HTML of your dialog:
dojo.connect( $('my_ok_button'), 'onclick', this, function(evt){
evt.preventDefault();
this.myDlg.destroy();
} );

If necessary, you can remove the default top right corner 'close' icon, or replace the function called when it is clicked:
// Removes the default close icon
this.myDlg.hideCloseIcon();

// Replace the function call when it's clicked
this.myDlg.replaceCloseCallback( function() { ... } );

=== Scoring dialogs ===

Sometimes at the end of a round you want to display a big table that details the points wins in each section of the game.

Example: in Hearts game, we display at the end of each round the number of "heart" cards collected by each player, the player who collected the Queen of Spades, and the total number of points loose by each player.

Scoring dialogs are managed entirely on '''PHP side''', but they are described here as their effects are visible only on client side.

Displaying a scoring dialog is quite simple and is using a special notification type: "tableWindow":
<pre>
// on PHP side:
$this->notifyAllPlayers( "tableWindow", '', array(
"id" => 'finalScoring',
"title" => clienttranslate("Title of the scoring dialog"),
"table" => $table
) );
</pre>

The "table" argument is a 2 dimensional PHP array that describe the table you want to display, line by line and column by column.

Example: display an 3x3 array of strings
<pre>
$table = array(
array( "one", "two", "three" ), // This is my first line
array( "four", "five", "six" ), // This is my second line
array( "seven", "height", "nine" ) // This is my third line
);
</pre>

As you can see above, in each "cell" of your array you can display a simple string value. But you can also display a complex value with a template and associated arguments like this:
<pre>
$table = array(
array( "one", "two", array( "str" => clienttranslate("a string with an ${argument}"), "args" => array( 'argument' => 'argument_value' ) ) ),
array( "four", "five", "six" ),
array( "seven", "height", "nine" )
);
</pre>

This is especially useful when you want to display player names with colors. Example from "Hearts":
<pre>
$firstRow = array( '' );
foreach( $players as $player_id => $player )
{
$firstRow[] = array( 'str' => '${player_name}',
'args' => array( 'player_name' => $player['player_name'] ),
'type' => 'header'
);
}
$table[] = $firstRow;
</pre>

You can also use three extra attributes in the parameter array for the notification:

<pre>
$this->notifyAllPlayers( "tableWindow", '', array(
"id" => 'finalScoring',
"title" => clienttranslate("Title of the scoring dialog"),
"table" => $table,
"header" => array('str' => clienttranslate('Table header with parameter ${number}'),
'args' => array( 'number' => 3 ),
),
"footer" => '<div>Some footer</div>',
"closing" => clienttranslate( "Closing button label" )
) );
</pre>

*'''header''': the content for this parameter will display before the table (also, the html will be parsed and player names will be colored according to the current game colors).
*'''footer''': the content for this parameter will display after the table (no parsing for coloring the player names)
*'''closing''': if this parameter is used, a button will be displayed with this label at the bottom of the popup and will allow players to close it (more easily than by clicking the top right 'cross' icon).

=== Scoring animated display ===

Sometimes (Terra Mystica final scoring for example), you may want to display a score value over an element to make the scoring easier to follow for the players.
You can do it with:

<pre>
this.displayScoring( anchor_id, color, score, duration, offset_x, offset_y );
</pre>

'''anchor_id''': ID of the element to place the animated score onto (without the '#')

'''color''': hexadecimal RGB representation of the color (should be the color of the scoring player), but without a leading '#'. For instance, 'ff0000' for red.

'''score''': numeric score to display, prefixed by a '+'

'''duration''': animation duration in milliseconds

'''offset_x''' and '''offset_y''': if both offset_x and offset_y are defined and not null, apply the following offset (in pixels) to the scoring animation. Note that the score is centered in the anchor, so the offsets might have to be negative if you calculate the position.

Note: if you want to display successively each score, you can use ''this.notifqueue.setSynchronous()'' function.

=== Speech bubble ===

For better interactivity in some games (Love Letter for example), you may use comic book style speech bubbles to express the players voices.
This is done with:

<pre>
this.showBubble(anchor_id, text, delay, duration, custom_class)
</pre>

text - what to put in bubble, can be html actually not just text

delay - in milliseconds is optional (default 0)

duration - in milliseconds is optional (default 3000)

custom_class - extra class to add to bubble is optional, if you need to override the default bubble style

'''Warning''': if your bubble could overlap other active elements of the interface (buttons in particular), as it stays in place even after disappearing, you should use a custom class to give it the style "pointer-events: none;" in order to intercept click events.

Note: If you want this visually, but want to take complete control over this bubble and its animation (for example to make it permanent) you can just use div with 'discussion_bubble' class on it, and content of div is what will be shown.

== Update players score ==

The column player_score from the player table is automatically loaded into this.scoreCtrl and therefore into the stars location on the player board. This occurs sometime after the <gamename>.js setup() function. However this score must be updated as the game progresses through player notifications (notifs).

Increase a player score (with a positive or negative number):

<pre>
this.scoreCtrl[ player_id ].incValue( score_delta );
</pre>

Set a player score to a specific value:

<pre>
this.scoreCtrl[ player_id ].setValue( new_score );
</pre>

Set a player score to a specific value with animation :

<pre>
this.scoreCtrl[ player_id ].toValue( new_score );
</pre>

Typical usage would be (that will process 'score' notification):
<pre>
setupNotifications : function() {
...
dojo.subscribe('score', this, "notif_score");
},
notif_score: function(notif) {
this.scoreCtrl[notif.args.player_id].setValue(notif.args.player_score);
},
</pre>

== Players panels ==

=== Adding stuff to player's panel ===

At first, create a new "JS template" string in your template (tpl) file:

(from Gomoku example)
<pre>
var jstpl_player_board = '\<div class="cp_board">\
<div id="stoneicon_p${id}" class="gmk_stoneicon gmk_stoneicon_${color}"></div><span id="stonecount_p${id}">0</span>\
</div>';
</pre>

Then, you add this piece of code in your JS file to add this template to each player panel:

<pre>
// Setting up player boards
for( var player_id in gamedatas.players )
{
var player = gamedatas.players[player_id];

// Setting up players boards if needed
var player_board_div = $('player_board_'+player_id);
dojo.place( this.format_block('jstpl_player_board', player ), player_board_div );
}
</pre>

(Note: the code above is of course from your "setup" function in your Javascript).

Very often, you have to distinguish current player and others players. In this case, you just have to create another JS template (ex: jstpl_otherplayer_board) and use it when "player_id" is different than "this.player_id".

=== Player's panel disabling/enabling ===

'''this.disablePlayerPanel( player_id )'''

Disable given player panel (the panel background become gray).

Usually, this is used to signal that this played passes, or will be inactive during a while.

Note that the only effect of this is visual. There are no consequences on the behaviour of the panel itself.

'''this.enablePlayerPanel( player_id )'''

Enable a player panel that has been disabled before.

'''this.enableAllPlayerPanels()'''

Enable all player panels that has been disabled before.

== Image loading ==

See also [[Game_art:_img_directory]].

'''Be careful''': by default, ALL images of your img directory are loaded on a player's browser when he loads the game. For this reason, don't let in your img directory images that are not useful, otherwise it's going to slowdown the game load.

'''dontPreloadImage( image_file_name )'''

Using dontPreloadImage, you tell the interface to not preload a specific image in your img directory.

Example of use:
<pre>
this.dontPreloadImage( 'cards.png' );
</pre>

This is particularly useful if for example you have 2 different themes for a game. To accelerate the loading of the game, you can specify to not preload images corresponding to the other theme.

Another example of use: in "Gosu" game with Kamakor extension, you play with 5 sets of cards among 10 available. Cards images are organized by sets, and we only preload the images corresponding to the 5 current sets with '''ensureSpecificGameImageLoading( image_file_names_array )'''.
<pre>
// By default, do not preload anything
this.dontPreloadImage( 'cards.png' );
this.dontPreloadImage( 'clan1.png' );
this.dontPreloadImage( 'clan2.png' );
this.dontPreloadImage( 'clan3.png' );
this.dontPreloadImage( 'clan4.png' );
this.dontPreloadImage( 'clan5.png' );
this.dontPreloadImage( 'clan6.png' );
this.dontPreloadImage( 'clan7.png' );
this.dontPreloadImage( 'clan8.png' );
this.dontPreloadImage( 'clan9.png' );
this.dontPreloadImage( 'clan10.png' );
var to_preload = [];
for( i in this.gamedatas.clans )
{
var clan_id = this.gamedatas.clans[i];
to_preload.push( 'clan'+clan_id+'.png' );
}
if( to_preload.length == 5 )
{
this.ensureSpecificGameImageLoading( to_preload );
}
</pre>

'''Note:''' You don't need to specify to not preload game box images (game_box.png, game_box75.png...) since they are not preloaded by default.

== Other useful stuff ==

'''dojo.hitch'''

With dojo.hitch, you can create a callback function that will run with your game object context whatever happen.

Typical example: display a BGA confirmation dialog with a callback function created with dojo.hitch:

<pre>
this.confirmationDialog( _('Are you sure you want to make this?'), dojo.hitch( this, function() {
this.ajaxcall( '/mygame/mygame/makeThis.html', { lock:true }, this, function( result ) {} );
} ) );
</pre>

In the example above, using dojo.hitch, we ensure that the "this" object will be set when the callback is called.

NOTE: In modern JS there are lambdas that eliminate need for that, the example above will look like this
<pre>
this.confirmationDialog( _('Are you sure you want to make this?'), () => {
this.ajaxcall( '/mygame/mygame/makeThis.html', { lock:true }, this, (result) => {} );
} );
</pre>

; updateCounters(counters)
: Useful for updating game counters in the player panel (such as resources).
: 'counters' arg is an associative array [counter_name_value => [ 'counter_name' => counter_name_value, 'counter_value' => counter_value_value], ... ]
: All counters must be referenced in this.gamedatas.counters and will be updated.
: DOM objects referenced by 'counter_name' will have their innerHTML updated with 'counter_value'.

;'''onScreenWidthChange()'''
:This function can be overridden in your game to manage some resizing on the client side when the browser window is resized. This function is also triggered at load time, so it can be used to adapt to the :viewport size at the start of the game too.

;'''updatePageTitle()'''
:This function allows to update the current page title and turn description according to the game state. If the current game state description this.gamedatas.gamestate.descriptionmyturn is modified before :calling the function, it allows to update the turn description without changing state.

Example from Terra Mystica:
<pre>
onClickFavorTile: function( evt ) {
...
if ( ... ) {
this.gamedatas.gamestate.descriptionmyturn = _('Special action: ') + _('Advance 1 space on a Cult track');
this.updatePageTitle();
this.removeActionButtons();
this.addActionButton( ... );
...
return;
}
...

}
</pre>

== BGA GUI components ==

BGA framework provides some useful ready-to-use components for the game interface:

[[Studio#BGA_Studio_game_components_reference]]

Note that each time you are using an additional component, you must declare it at the top of your Javascript file in the list of modules used.

Example if you are using "ebg.stock":
<pre>
define([
"dojo","dojo/_base/declare",
"ebg/core/gamegui",
"ebg/counter",
"ebg/stock" /// <=== we are using ebg.stock module
],
</pre>

== BGA Buttons ==

You can create a custom button, but the BGA framework provides a standard button that requires only .css classes: '''bgabutton''' and '''bgabutton_${color}'''.

'''Examples:'''

<pre>
<a href="#" id="my_button_id" class="bgabutton bgabutton_blue"><span>My blue button</span></a>
</pre>
<pre>
<a href="#" id="my_button_id" class="bgabutton bgabutton_gray"><span>My gray button</span></a>
</pre>
<pre>
<a href="#" id="my_button_id" class="bgabutton bgabutton_red"><span>My red button</span></a>
</pre>
<pre>
<a href="#" id="my_button_id" class="bgabutton bgabutton_red bgabutton_big"><span>My big red button</span></a>
</pre>

'''Note''': To see it in action, check out ''Coloretto''.

== Sounds ==

Add a custom sound and make it load with your interface:

Add this in your template (.tpl) file:
<pre>
<audio id="audiosrc_<gamename>_<yoursoundname>" src="{GAMETHEMEURL}img/<gamename>_<yoursoundname>.mp3" preload="none" autobuffer></audio>
<audio id="audiosrc_o_<gamename>_<yoursoundname>" src="{GAMETHEMEURL}img/<gamename>_<yoursoundname>.ogg" preload="none" autobuffer></audio>
</pre>

Note: this is a requirement to provide both a mp3 and a ogg file.

Play the sound (from your .js file):

<pre>
playSound('<gamename>_<yoursoundname>');
</pre>

Disable the standard "move" sound for this move (to replace it with your custom sound):

Add this to your notification handler:

<pre>
this.disableNextMoveSound();
</pre>

Note: it only disable the sound for the next move.