   [web] Design for an internet game
  Hello! I am planning to develop a turn-based strategy game. I would like to make a website front-end and a standalone client. The standalone client would allow for both solo play (against AI) and multiplayer, by connecting to the same server the website does. In a nutshell, a player could play the game:- with others, on the website,- with others, using the client, and- solo, using the client.I wanted to ask for opinions about the development of the server. Right now I see two possibilities (although there may be more):1. develop a website that the client connects to via HTTP;2. develop a server that the client connects to via another protocol and that the website makes calls to.The first alternative seems easier to develop but the website would be tightly coupled with the server, it seems. The second one allows for more flexibility but might be more difficult to implement.Thanks for any suggestions!   
  Have you considered whether to have it tick-based vs turn-based?Turn-based:- Players take turns- Turns can take as long as the player likes (maybe a time limit though)- When a player declares that their turn is finished, the next player takes his.- Other players must waitTick-based:- All game activity (e.g. production, movement, battles) happens during "ticks" which happen at a regular rate- In between ticks, players can view what's happened and make planning moves to determine what will happen next tick (e.g. resource allocation and planning unit movements)- All players do this at the same time- Nobody has to wait longer than the tick timeEssentially the tick-based system is what the PBM (Play-by-mail) games used to do, also some BBS door games.I feel that tick-based is extremely applicable to the web. It also scales a lot better.Obviously with a turn-based system, the more players there are, the less frequently they get a turn.Mark   ;  Thanks for your comments! My idea was to make it turn-based, because the focus would be on one-on-one (or maybe team) battles and not economy management. The mechanic would be similar to a Magic: The Gathering duel or a Heroes of Might and Magic battle. In a nutshell, a player's experience would be similar to playing chess or cards on Yahoo.   ;  I would personaly use the HTTP protocol:- Simple to implement on the client (if there is no library already)- No need to code special things on the server.For the client, I would try to do it in Java, and therefore you could distribute one binary which runs on Win, Linux and Mac OSX.   ;  a_bertrand, I had the same thoughts myself with regards to the Java client. And there's no doubt that using HTTP will make everything much easier on me. Thanks for your time!   