I would like to create an online implementation of a board game. What engines could I use to write the game and make it easily accessible to as many people as possible?
I would like it to be as widely accessible as possible, so it would be best if the user interface would run in a browser, not in a separately downloaded app. Likewise, it should be cross platform, not limited to a single platform; pure JavaScript/HTML would be best, as that would allow it to be usable on the iPad as well, though Flash or Java may be acceptable. Silverlight doesn't have the market penetration (I don't have it installed, for instance) and XNA is far too limited.
Other features that would be nice would be good chat and social features (or integration with other chat or social network systems), leaderderboard or tournament systems, and easy integration of bots to provide AI opponents in case there aren't enough human players around. Game timers, to keep people moving at a reasonable rate, would also be good. Saving game records, and allowing people to replay and review records for study, would be nice too, though I'm not expecting much as those types of features tend to only show up in purpose-built engines for games like chess or Go.
Being free/open-source software would be a big plus, so I could extend it myself, though closed or hosted solutions might be acceptable if they provide enough of the above features or provide some means for extending them.
Are there any such systems that meet my needs? Or any that are close even if not exactly matching?
Some similar systems, that don't quite meet my needs, would include:
- Yahoo Games, which is web based, but I can't write my own games for it (or any of many similar servers in that category).
- Volity, which is built on SVG and XMPP. It's open source, designed to be an open standard, has support for bots, etc, but it requires a separate client download, and seems not to be actively developed or used any more.
- SuperDuperGames, which is an open source, online system for doing turn-based (play-by-mail style) games. That is, it's not live or real time, but instead you submit your moves, and wait for someone to submit theirs, within the next day or so. It's an active community, but I want something where I can play games live, not over the course of weeks or months.
