DrEcco (2022)

For HPS colleagues developing games

All games that need to be uploaded on the website must implement the following items:

1. The game must be submitted as a ZIP archive, which unzips into files directly (not a directory containing those files).
2. The main entry point to your game as an HTML file. (iframe.html in the example.)
3. Various metadata and configurations in index.php. (See example.)

In addition, there are 3 APIs that may be helpful:

1. saveData API

Source code is in dbman/saveData.php. If your game need to save intermediate state between each new games, saveData provides a VARCHAR(255) to save that state. It returns 200 if save success; 404 if username does not exist.

Usage:

• Send GET request to dbman/saveData.php

Parameters:

• type: save or load
• user: username of the current player
• game: game name
• data: a string less than 255 (only for type=save)

2. saveScore API

Source code is in dbman/saveScore.php. saveScore provides a VARCHAR(255) to store the game score. If your game does not have an actual score, just send "WIN", "LOSE" or "TIE". If your game have several roles, say Hunter and Prey, please come up a single score which makes sense to all roles.

Usage:

• Send GET request to dbman/saveScore.php

Parameters:

• gamename: name of your game, should be the same as $game in index.php
• playername: default player1/2/3 or any name user sets in this game
• score: "WIN", "LOSE", "TIE" or a numeric score.

3. getScore API

Source code is in getScore.php. It displays a scoreboard and is automatically included in index.php from a template.

index.php

This file defines various metadata for your game and also serves as the entry point on Dr.Ecco website. Most of it should be self-explanatory. Note that you may use inline HTML in the instruction part. Finally, do not change the last line and take a note of your game's name (the $game variable) as you need it to upload your game.

Upload your game

After finishing your game and index.php, put everything into a ZIP file. Then, go to Backroom.

• Game name: This must be exactly the same as $game in your index.php.
• Select zip file to upload: The ZIP file you just made, which must contain index.php and be 20MB or less.
• Overwrite: You should only set it when you need to update your game. Never set it when uploading for the first time.

Click "Upload". The server will do some basic checks and then update server-side stuffs automatically. If you see

Passed: Done.

then you are good to go and should see your game on the website immediately. Otherwise, it will point out the error you need to fix.

• Error: File size less than 20MB.
  • Did you include node_modules in your ZIP file? You probably don't need them in the production build.
• Error: /web/tl3514/drecco/games/Game_Name exists.
  • If it's your first time uploading a game, then its name conflicts with some others' existing game. Otherwise, check "Overwrite".
• Error: Index.php exists.
  • Did you zipped the whole folder instead of these files directly?

For future architects

Important Note: The file named dbconf.php must NOT be shared with anyone under any circumstances as it contains the main DB password for the Dr Ecco website. Please mask the login infomation in dbconf.php before sharing these instructions with the class.

This GitHub repository contains the whole server and select games as examples (in /games/). The only thing missing from the production server is the database password, which you need to provide on your own if you want to run a self-hosted copy.

Setting up the database:

• Go to CIMS guide and follow instructions there and create a database.
  • create database called drecco, and your net id will be prepend as tl3514_drecco.

Transferring the webpage to your cims account

Login to access.cims.nyu.edu

cd /web/$USER
git clone https://github.com/09fl/drecco.git
cd drecco/

Changing the required parts to run your web page and connect to database.

You need to change the database information and/or file upload destination:

File Path	Lines to Change
backroom/upload.php	6
dbconf.php	4-6

Updating folder and file permissions to public access

Make sure that all required files are in rw-r--r-- mode and all folders are in rwxr-xr-x mode (except /games, which requires rwxrwxrwx to allow file uploading) at a minimum.

chmod -R u+rwX,go+rX .
chmod 777 games

Initialize database

Go to https://cims.nyu.edu/~tl3514/drecco/backroom/initdb.php. If you see Database initialized then the initialization script has done its job.

To check its results, go to https://cims.nyu.edu/phpMyAdmin/index.php to see the newly created tables.

Adding a new game

Once we are done with the permission, we can add a game now. Refer to the guide above to see how to add a new game.

Note again: Do not share the main DB passwd with anyone.