i working on a design for a small game. but i got a question before i start getting deeper into design and production.

can i use the new xna network framework. to make a class that could connect to a webservice so that the loged player could talk to a DB server (for some kind of MMO strategy game)

does it need to be done with a game tag or can i do my own network handling?.

thanks a lot guys. i installing XNA 2.0 right now but i having some problems on windows vista.

you can not use a db server on a web service but if you use system.net and build the webservice on that u can

but it will not run on xbox360

mike

 

Althought it's quite true the 360 just lacks the services through XNA for an MMO Server, what you could theoretically do (don't quote me on this though) is create a gamertag with gold account access that acts as your server machine and links to your online database on an always on Windows machine.

You could then program it to search the database (probably best to locally store on that rather than another proxy) and have that share the network data requested. The Live services is simply used to connect to machines, and retrieve gamertag information; past that the packet sending, sessions, etc... all that is in your control.

to be honest it's actually a sight easier than a manual system, and more stable than most automatic systems I've used in the past.

i pretty much dont care about 360, becouse i`m aiming at windows. basicly the xna game will be a graphical front end for the game, becouse most of the data will be calculated at the server. so the game will request a session id based on loging and password, and them request data to the server using the session id as a token.

i been very bussy at work lately and havent been able to take a look at xna 2.0 and still not quite sure i can do this with the new networking.

i basicly need to send an xml to the server with the request and recibe and parse the info in the game.

becouse i do not have a direct access to the DB on the server only localhost conections allowed i thught doing it webservice like.

If you are making an MMO, you can't use the Networking provided by the XNA framework for many reasons. You should use System.Net (part of the standard .NET framework) since it allows you to have many players on you server, and you can do almost anything, like web services and stuff. Some people say that System.Net is very hard, but I found I easy, so I guess it is hard to say if it will cause any trouble for you. If you have a good understanding of binary data, and read a couple of books on networking in C#, you should be ready to code. But an MMO is maybe a bit advanced if you are just beginning network programming. Start of small.

thnaks for the response steffanp, i`m note really starting in network programming i been working with webservices and sockets for as long as i can remember.


thought xna is another matter, i only been doing basic engines and shader stuff with it.

but i planning on a small "mmo" kinda game, to get more indepth with xna.

Just to clarify. I could do the same thing, build the game using XNA then on the networking using .net. Only requiernment for peoplel wanting to play would be to download the XNA Framework? (the 2 mb one)

right?

Yes correct. Using System.Net or a package like lidgren means you can do watever you want.

Lidgren has an XNA Serialization function that im toying with now which makes it just like handling messages in xna's .net architecture. Its fairly simple to use too, ill be making a tutorial on using it in conjuction with lidgrens normal .net framework here very soon. it allows sending vector2's , 3's, 4's rotations, matricies, everything you need.ive updated my program completley writing vectors and reading them instead of adding them by doing .x, .y ect.

Sounds cool!

Looking forward to that tutorial.
I am myself trying to use lidgren to make a small MMO possible.