I just finished Sparckman's Hi Score Tutorial. What now?

Hey Clickers,

I just completed Sparckman's hi-score tutorial based on Jeff's tutorial. ;D. Everything's working great! My server is Online and I can upload my hi scores by manually filling in the score. But what now? I built an endless runner based off of the Canabult endless runner tutorial from the website. I have a counter that tracks how far the player gets. I want to implement this game with the hi score system. I also want the hi score to update automatically instead of the player typing in their score. How do I do this? Please be as descriptive as possible so.. er.. others can understand. XD Thanks Clickers!!!

I didn't follow the tutorial so I don't know how the system is setup to accept updates,
but assuming that you have to fill a (external file? pre-setted high score object?) with the score,
you would have to send your endless runner hi-score alongside with a player identification (nickname?)
to this score storing/sending system (maybe on player's game over or level finish..)
Then the scoring system would take care of sorting all received scores.

If you need something a little more detailed XD
I could take a closer look at the tutorial to see what's going on,
but unfortunately not quite now :(

Maybe Sparckman bumps in, meanwhile X)

Yeah! No rush. That would be great if you could take a look at it. I don't even know where to begin. Hopefully Sparckman or someone can help!

Hey Emerson,
I took a quick look at the tutorial,
(I looked at Jeff's starting one because Sparckman says he based on that, maybe he customized it a little, but I think key feature should be the same...)

The main thing you have to do is sending your high score data to your webserver through the GET object,
using variables you have pre-setted in the php scripts you have uploaded.

So, in Jeff example,
on button click "upload score" he sends GET data
with this action:

GET url:
Edittext$( "Edit Box Script URL" ) + "?gameid=" + Edittext$( "Edit Box Game ID" ) + "&playername=" + Edittext$( "Edit Box Player Name" ) + "&score=" + Edittext$( "Edit Box Player Score" ) + "&code=" + mdFive$( "String Parser" )

Basically, it appends to your server URL the following params:
?gameid=(game id)&playername=(playername)&score=(score)&code=(se curitycode)

appending those values to an url with a GET protocol,
means that you are "sending" those variables to that internet page,
so that the php scripts in that page can get those informations you just sent and store them in the database

Now, for your game,
you'd just have to place the above "GET url" action,
every time you want your game to record a score (finishing a level, game over, time over etc.).
This will cause the game to send that score to your online database,
who will handle that score and record so that you can later retrieve/share it from any internet-connected machine running your game.

Schrodinger,

Here is the game I'm talking about. On the first frame, I want the player to input their name, but not their own score. I'm going to change the "Submit" button to "Start Game." When the player hits "Start Game," then jump to frame 2 which is the running game. The counter on top right of page is what I want to track as Highscore which is on frame 3. I feel like I'm close but don't understand how to connect the Counter as being the highscore. I appreciate anyone who understands how to do this. Thanks Clickers!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0v...ew?usp=sharing

Hey man,

basically what you'll have to do is:

1) grab player's name in first frame and store it in any place of your choice that can be retained through frames (you may go with a Global String)
i.e.

on button "submit"
---> set global string A to edittext$
---> go to next frame

2) you should "merge" the third frame scoring-send dynamics into the second frame,
obviously not the "strings" part displaying the scores,
but only the part relating to the dialogue with the server and the get URL to send the data

more specifically:
-copy lines 1 to 4, without all that alterable string things
-copy the server status group (if you want to be sure the server is online and responding, otherwise you can also drop that)

You may put all this under a specific group in frame 2,
and then make some modifications, mainly:

a) removing all edit boxes and substituting each of them with global strings that you would have to pre-set at start of frame with the data you need

b) changing the string parser MD5 action to:
global string game id + global string player name (the one we stored in the first frame!) + Str&("score counter") (your score counter value!) + global string secret key

c) changing the Get URL string to:
"your server url/score_script.php" + "?gameid=" + global string game id + "&playername=" + global string player name + "&score=" + Str&("score counter") + "&code=" + mdFive$( "String Parser" )

d) changing the triggering action from the "push button" to the "Game over action" or any other kind of action you want for triggering the hi-score sending to the server


I could set up this, but I feel you'll better test this with your server on your own ;)

Schro!!!

Thank you. Yes, me tinkering around and making mistakes and getting it right is the best way I'll learn. Thank you sir!

No problem.
Hopefully, I'll be right there in the next couple of hours (and hopefully also a little more X))
if you need some other tip just ask!

Schro,

I'm confused. I've been at it 2 hours and can't figure it out. You see things that I can't yet. Feel free to use my server and set it up. For example,

Suggestion A: The edit boxes are on Frame 3. Do I copy and paste them to frame 2? And if yes, what do I preset them with?

Also, I don't want to delete something that is crucial. I really don't understand String Parsar or the Get Object as of now. So I don't see which events that are crucial to the hi score. Again, I must look to the experts and ask for your help.

But please know, that I'm not just using Forum Members code and taking credit. I will acknowledge all who helped on my game and I take time to try and understand the code. Thanks Schrodinger!

Ok Emerson,

I see you're experiencing on more advanced tools, so It's natural to have some doubts X)
Forum members are free to make their own choices,
I'm currently available for (not too time-consuming XD) suggestions, and happy to help, so there's no problem!

I've setup an example, I've just added the group "online score" to your main game frame,
and pre-set some global strings to hold the data you need to send to the server
(plus minor changes to the other two frames, mainly the input name form, and to the game resolution, to make all fit well into screen)

runner_score

During game, press the "send score" button to send current score to your server
(obviously, you'll want to change the onclick-sendscore event, to something like "on player death" or "on certain score reached..."
this is the triggering event for the score to be sent to the server)
Press the "view score" to access frame 3 with score listings

That's all!

Hey Schro,

Thank you sir. I checked out your updates and added some things myself. I added a feature for when the player dies that triggers to send the score to frame 3 or to start the frame over. I also skinned the first frame. The only issue, I know I created it, is that if I type my full name and beat the lowest score on the hi score table, it overlaps the name that was already there. Here is an update! Also, is there a way to clear the names so the table is fresh?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0v...ew?usp=sharing

As for overlapping names,
I think that ninth (now last) line being "test test test test test" is too long and goes to the following line,
overlapping the tenth

You have two simple ways to tackle this problem,
I'd go for the first:

1) on name input (first frame) for the edit box add a condition stating:
start of frame
>>> control - limit text size (maximum nr. of characters)

2) on name output (third frame) cut each line to a maximum fixed length >> like "left$(string,maximumnumberofchars)"


As for hi-score resetting,
keep in mind that frame 3 outputs what you have stored in your mySql table on the server,
so best way would be clearing your "score" SQL table on the server.
But if you don't have experience with SQL database management (and the hoster doesn't offer easy tools to interact with it)
maybe easier would be editing your config.php file (you can change it locally and then overwrite the one you have uploaded)

in short... X)
I thing you could simply track this line on config.php:

// Your table name for mySQL
// You can change this is you wish
$tname= 'scores';

and change to:

// Your table name for mySQL
// You can change this is you wish
$tname= 'scores1';


You may repeat this procedure at will,
each time you change the table name in you config file,
simply tells the script to create a new (empty) table if he doesn't already find that.
Previous table would still exist in your database, but there are no space issues in this scenario.

Schro,

You are a life saver! I got everything working just like I needed. Breath of fresh air. Thank you for generously lending your knowledge. :D