2008/3/24, Ian Wadham <<a href="mailto:ianw2@optusnet.com.au">ianw2@optusnet.com.au</a>>:<div><span class="gmail_quote"></span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br> Looking at the CSPoker website, it appears that CSPoker is still at<br> a fairly early stage in its life-cycle (first Beta) and has already had quite<br> a long development period. There is nothing wrong with that. It is<br>
quite normal and to be expected. But what I ask is whether it is realistic<br> for Guy to expect to complete very much within the time-frame of a<br> GSoC project? Might you be biting off more than you can chew, Guy?</blockquote>
<div><br>That depends. If I have to rewrite all the server logic in C++ then yes, that would be too much. <br></div><span>If I can write a thin client for the Java server (possibly hosted on GGZ Gaming Zone?) then there's no problem and I can even throw in some basic AI for a single player mode. My Master's thesis is about poker AI.<br>
I understand your hesitation but I just finished a JavaFX thin client in a few weeks while studying. I'm sure I can do a lot more work this summer. I don't want to rewrite things from scratch.<br>I'm not sure what a long development period is but we've only started CSPoker this summer and I'm pretty happy with the stage we're in already. In a few months we should have a very stable fully functional game.<br>
<br></span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> I think KDE 4 Games definitely needs a Poker game, but to produce a<br> really good one, engineered to KDE standards, could take quite a lot<br>
of effort and involve several people. If we were to start such a project,<br> what would be the best starting point? KPoker, CSPoker or something<br> else? How do we decide? </blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I think we should compare features, what is under the hood and how<br> easy/hard it would be to build upon either KPoker or CSPoker, as<br> opposed to starting from scratch.<br> <br> For example, KPoker only plays 1 or 2 players, is not networked, plays<br>
only standard 5-card draw-poker, has an AI but perhaps not a good<br> one, would like to be able to play Texas Hold 'em, has nice KDE Games<br> card decks which have been taken over into KDE 4 and (KPoker) is<br> already a KDE application, written in C++.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> CSPoker plays any number of players, is networked (but perhaps not yet<br> reliably), plays only Texas Hold 'em, has no AI (yet) but might have robot<br>
players, would like to play other kinds of poker, has only one card deck(?),<br> but nicer graphics otherwise, and (CSPoker) is written in Java, is in a Beta<br> state and is not a KDE application (yet).</blockquote><div>
</div>With all due respect to KPoker but other than a hand evaluator, there's very
little to it. The work we did on CSPoker to build a scalable,
multithreaded, multiplayer server is of high quality and well
engineered. I also think that our card deck looks very good compared to
KPoker's.<div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> BTW do KDE applications really *have* to be written in C++? Whether<br>
they have to or not, I know from personal experience that it is quite a lot<br> of work to KDE-ize an application.</blockquote><div><br>This indeed is a key issue. I can write a thin client in C++ but if we need to bundle the server then Java needs to be supported. <br>
</div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> Please correct me if I am wrong about any of the above and I am sorry<br> if it appears negative (I would say it is realistic ;-)). I would really like<br>
to see a revival of poker in KDE 4, but I think it is more than a short-<br> term project.</blockquote><div><br>I appreciate your honest evaluation. I only want to do this if the community supports it, and if they do, I want to work very hard to achieve the goals.<br>
CSPoker is a long-term project for me and that will hopefully include a KDE port.<br><br>Cheers,<br><br>Guy<br></div></div><br>