Features offered by the GNS library
The GNS library does not allow you to integrate or communicate with any existing
commerical video games or video game portals. It is designed to integrate with
a video game that you are developing to give it the following abilities:
Find other players online
If you are writing an online game, all instances of your game on the Internet
could communicate with a single GNS server so that players can see who is
playing, and who is interested in playing against other people online.
Internet-based chat room support
GNS does not integrate with IRC, Yahoo Chat, or any existing proprietary instant
messaging system. However, game players can talk with each other in chat rooms
hosted by a GNS server.
Product updates
Though players can just go to your game's website and download updates,
your game could run automatic updates on itself through communicating with
a GNS server.
Content Hosting
If your game relies on an active player community creating new models, effects,
and plug-ins of your game, you could allow players to exchange content from
your game over a remote GNS server. Permissions can be designated per-player so
that you can decide who has access to what.
Program Crash Reporting (Win32 only)
Little can be more frustrating than having your players experience software
failures that you cannot duplicate. By allowing the GNS client to handle
uncaught exceptions, you could set up your game to submit error reports through
your GNS server to a MySQL database. In a future release, a MySQL error report
browser will be available.
Putting these features into your game
Unlike most other third party libraries, the GNS library requires access
to a remote server to function properly. So, the implementation, in
summary, comes in four steps:
1. Find a host for your dedicated GNS server
In order for the GNS client to work, there must be a dedicated GNS server
program running on a Windows or Unix-based operating system. The GNS
server is an actual running process, like Apache or Microsoft IIS; it will not
function if you simply upload it to your website. GNS
servers must be managed by professional web hosts.
If you own or lease your own Windows-based web server, and have a
dedicated high-speed connection to the Internet, you can run the gnsServe.exe
that comes with the Win32 GNS library, or build and run a
customized GNS server yourself. If you own or lease a Unix-based web
server, you can compile and run the gnsServe project that comes with the
GNS library.
If you do not own or lease a web server, you will have to contact a
professional web hosting company and ask them to let you run a GNS server that
you must build. Because GNS is still in beta and not widely recognized,
you may have some difficulty achieving this step.
Until you have access to a dedicated GNS server, you may run the GNS server
executable (gnsServe.exe) included with the GNS library on your own computer
for testing.
Gamieon, Inc. intends to start offering public GNS server beta hosting by
the end of 2005, and offer full service hosting later in 2006. If you are
interested in participating, please e-mail support@gamieon.com
for details.
2. Download the GNS library
You may download the latest GNS library from the GNS website at
http://www.gamieon.com/gns . The GNS library package includes both
the library and the GNS server source code.
3. Build and link the GNS library into your game
The Win32 version of the GNS library comes with already-compiled debug and
release DLL's and LIB files for easy linkage with your game. Using the IDE or
makefile editor of your choice, add gnsD.lib to the debug version of your
project, and gns.lib to the release version of your project.
Unix developers must decompress and build the GNS library and server.
For detailed descriptions of getting the GNS library and server built, please
visit http://www.gamieon.com/gns/doc/index-2.html or
consult section two of the documentation which comes with the library.