Your game state machine: states.inc.php

Game File Reference

Overview

• dbmodel.sql - database model
• gameinfos.inc.php - meta-information
• gameoptions.json - game options & user preferences
• img/ - game art
• Game Metadata Manager - tags and metadata media
• material.inc.php - static data
• misc/ - studio-only storage
• modules/ - additional game code
• states.inc.php - state machine
• stats.json - statistics
• X.action.php - player actions
• X.css - interface stylesheet
• Game.php - main logic
• X.js - interface logic
• X.view.php - dynamic game layout
• X_X.tpl - static game layout

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Useful Components

Official

• Deck: a PHP component to manage cards (deck, hands, picking cards, moving cards, shuffle deck, ...).
• Draggable: a JS component to manage drag'n'drop actions.
• Counter: a JS component to manage a counter that can increase/decrease (ex: player's score).
• ExpandableSection: a JS component to manage a rectangular block of HTML than can be displayed/hidden.
• Scrollmap: a JS component to manage a scrollable game area (useful when the game area can be infinite. Examples: Saboteur or Takenoko games).
• Stock: a JS component to manage and display a set of game elements displayed at a position.
• Zone: a JS component to manage a zone of the board where several game elements can come and leave, but should be well displayed together (See for example: token's places at Can't Stop).

Undocumented component (if somebody knows please help with docs)

• Wrapper: a JS component to wrap a <div> element around its child, even if these elements are absolute positioned.

Unofficial

• BGA Code Sharing - Shared resources, projects on git hub, common code, other links
• BGA Studio Cookbook - Tips and instructions on using API's, libraries and frameworks
• Common board game elements image resources

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Game Development Process

• First steps with BGA Studio
• Create a game in BGA Studio: Complete Walkthrough
• Tutorial reversi
• Tutorial gomoku
• Tutorial hearts
• BGA Studio Guidelines
• BGA game Lifecycle
• Pre-release checklist
• Post-release phase
• Player Resources - add player help/rules to your game page

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Guides for Common Topics

• Translations - make your game translatable
• Game Replay
• Mobile Users
• 3D
• Compatibility

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Miscellaneous Resources

• Studio FAQ
• Tools and tips of BGA Studio - Tips and instructions on setting up development environment
• Studio logs - Instructions for log access
• Practical debugging - Tips focused on debugging
• Troubleshooting - Most common "I am really stuck" situations
• Studio Bugs - Reports against Studio itself (not BGA!)

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:

Focus on BGA game state machine

Overall structure

The machine states are described by a PHP associative array.

Example:

$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( "actPlayCard", "actPass" ),
    		"transitions" => array( "playCard" => 2, "pass" => 2 )
    ),

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:

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

JS example:

        onEnteringState: function( stateName, args )
        {
            console.log( 'Entering state: '+stateName );
            
            switch( stateName )
            case 'myGameState':
            
                // Do some stuff at the beginning at this game state
                ....
                
                break;

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 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:

 		"description" => clienttranslate('${actplayer} must play a card or pass'),

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:

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"
        );    
    }

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:

        "description" => clienttranslate('${actplayer} can take some actions'),
        "descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} can take some actions'),

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

    function arg_playerTurnFollow(){
        return ['otherplayer'=> $this->getLeaderPlayerName(),
                'otherplayer_id'=> $this->getLeaderPlayerId()
        ];
    }

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:

    28 => array(
        "name" => "gameTurnNextPlayer",
        "description" => clienttranslate('Updating some stuff...'),
        "type" => "game",
        "action" => "st_gameTurnNextPlayer",

In mygame.game.php:

    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');
    }

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:

    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)
    ),

in mygame.game.php:

    function st_MultiPlayerInit() {
        $this->gamestate->setAllPlayersMultiactive();
    }

Warning: Prevent to do anything on stGameEnd() and argGameEnd() in mygame.game.php. It may cause game never end and always stuck in "Recording game results + computing statistics in progress...".

transitions

(Mandatory)

With "transitions" you specify which game state(s) you can jump to from a given game state.

Example:

    25 => array(
        "name" => "myGameState",
        "transitions" => array( "nextPlayer" => 27, "endRound" => 39 ),
        ....
    }

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:

In mygame.game.php:
    $this->gamestate->nextState( "nextPlayer" );

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:

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

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:

In states.game.php:
       	"possibleactions" => array( "actPlayCard", "actPass" ),

In mygame.game.php:
        function actPlayCard( ...)
        {
             $this->checkAction( "actPlayCard" );    // Will fail if "actPlayCard" is not specified in "possibleactions" in the current game state.

            ....

In mygame.js:
        playCard: function( ... )
        {
            if( this.checkAction( "actPlayCard" ) ) // Will fail if "actPlayCard" is not specified in "possibleactions" in the current game state.
            {  return ;   }
// or 
        playCard: function( ... )
        {
            if( this.bgaPerformAction( "actPlayCard", { id} ) ) // Will not trigger if "actPlayCard" is not specified in "possibleactions" in the current game state.
            {  return ;   }

            ....

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:

    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( 'actPlayDisc' ),
        "transitions" => array( "playDisc" => 11, "zombiePass" => 11 )
    ),

It corresponds to a argPlayerTurn method in our PHP code (reversi.game.php):

    function argPlayerTurn() {
        return array(
            'possibleMoves' => $this->getPossibleMoves()
        );
    }

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:

        onEnteringState: function( stateName, args )  {
           console.log( 'Entering state: '+stateName );
            
            switch( stateName )  {
            case 'playerTurn':
                this.updatePossibleMoves( args.args.possibleMoves );
                break;
            }
        },

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 is ALWAYS 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.

Note: You cannot use Example 1 and Example 2 together. If you have to send private args to multiple players, use Example 2.

Example 1: send information to active player(s) only:

    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' => $this->getSomePrivateData()   // will be send only to active player(s)
                )
            ),
            'possibleMoves' => $this->getPossibleMoves()          // will be sent to all players
        );
    }

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:

    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' => $this->getSomePrivateData()   
                )
            ),

            'possibleMoves' => $this->getPossibleMoves()   // will be sent to all players
        );
    }

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".

Flag to indicate a skipped state

By default, The front-end will be notified of entering/leaving all states. To speed up the front-end chaining of automatically passed states, you can disable this state change notification, so the front-end doesn't trigger the preparation steps for a state that you know will be automatically skipped, and it may reduce sent args. In this case, define the _no_notify flag to true in the state args.

function argPlayerTurn()  {
  $playableCardsIds = ...;
  return [
    'playableCardsIds' => $playableCardsIds,
    '_no_notify' => count(playableCardsIds) === 0,
  ];
}
function stPlayerTurn()  {
  $args = $this->argPlayerTurn();
  if ($args['_no_notify']) {
    $this->gamestate->nextState('next');
  }
}

In this example, it might avoid a blinking message "You must play a card" (quickly replaced by the next state message) when you cannot play a card and the game automatically skips this state.

IMPORTANT: if you use _no_notify, you must handle a redirection to another state on the st function!

Note that if you play synced notifications during a skipped state, it will display the notifications on the previous state. For example, for an endScore state width description "Computing end score..." sending a lot of animated notifications, you should NOT use this flag so the description is visible.

Translations in args

You can do the same as in notification by adding i18n parameter, i.e

function argPlayerTurn()  {
 return [
      'i18n' => ['terrainName' ],
      'terrainName' => ($this->token_types[$terrain]['name']), // this should be defined in material.inc.php and with clienttranslate 
      'terrain' => $terrain,
   ];
}

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 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:

    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" => ["actChangeMind"], //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" => ["actToSecond"],
        "transitions" => [
          'chooseSecond' => 51, // transition to another private state
        ]
      ],
   
    51 => [
        "name" => "chooseSecond",
        "descriptionmyturn" => clienttranslate('${you} must make your second choice'),
        "type" => "private",
        "args" => "argChooseSecond",
        "possibleactions" => ["actFinish", "actBack"],
        "transitions" => [
          'back' => 50,
        ]
      ],

When entering the master state it is usually useful to set some players as multiactive and initialize their private state:

    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("chooseSecond");
            return;
        }

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

When some action is done by a player, you can move them to the next private state:

    function actToSecond() {
        $this->checkAction("actToSecond");  //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
    }

Please check the detailed API here.

Client States

Client state almost have nothing to do with server states, except they can simulate same experience without actually changing server states.

See description here: https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/BGA_Studio_Cookbook#Multi_Step_Interactions:_Select_Worker.2FPlace_Worker_-_Using_Client_States

In many cases you can achive similar results by using client states vs private server states. The only caveat - when using client states during multiactive server state other player will trigger state changes (multiactive player set) which will call onUpdateActionButtons. Some measures have to be taken to preserve client state in this case.

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:

// 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( "actSelectWorkerAction", "actPass" ),
    		"transitions" => array( 
    		        "loopback" => STATE_PLAYER_TURN,
    		        "playCubes" => STATE_PLAYER_TURN_CUBES,
    		        "pass" => STATE_GAME_TURN )
    ),

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 ('actPlayKeep' ),
   '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 actPlayKeep($cardId) {
       $this->checkAction('actPlayKeep');
       $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.

Note: in some off cases other players can perform special actions even if they are not active, see example https://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/BGA_Studio_Cookbook#Out-of-turn_actions%3A_Un-pass. Do not abuse this technique!

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 multiple 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.

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 (single-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.

Complete examples

Example of simple game where player take turns

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" => [ "actDSomething","actPass" ],
                "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" => ["actEndGame"],
                "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" ] 

];