Thanks Nemi! (How to generate randomized text in PHP :)

Photics · #1 08-19-2005, 01:30 PM

I was working on a new Guild Wars web game for Photics.com, but I hit a snag. See... not only do I hate the refresh tag, I am not allowed to use it with certain advertisements. So, by eliminating the refresh tag, a plain static page would appear over and over. I was thinking some random text would make the game feel more dynamic... kinda like the loading screen in Neverwinter Nights or Knights of the Old Republic.

The problem? I'm no coder. I'm something like the Borg of web design. I find new technology and assimulate it into my own website. Yet, that's just not going to fly if I'm going to be making new games. Sooooooooooo... Nemi heard about what was going on. That's when he told me about the rand() command in PHP.

I'm still fuzzy on the whole writing my own code thing. But based on what Nemi said, I did manage to come up with this...

Code:

<?php

$array[0] = "Hi Nemi!";
$array[1] = "What calls us is victory!";
$array[2] = "This is randomly created text!";
$array[3] = "DON'T LOOK AT ME!";
$array[4] = "Buy Mike's book!";

$randomVar = rand(0, 4);
echo $array[$randomVar];

?>

Now... I can drop that into the game for a dynamic effect. :)

Wooo hooo... I'm learning PHP :lol:

Ronduwil · #2 08-19-2005, 03:06 PM

I'm not a seasoned web developer or anything, but can't you just put the refresh tag in a given frame so that only that frame refreshes itself? If so, you can still use the refresh tag without violating any agreements with your advertisers.

Photics · #3 08-19-2005, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronduwil

I'm not a seasoned web developer or anything, but can't you just put the refresh tag in a given frame so that only that frame refreshes itself? If so, you can still use the refresh tag without violating any agreements with your advertisers.

Did I mention how I hate frames too?! ;)

Actually, it's difficult to explain without showing the game... and I'm not ready to do that yet. Plus, this adds an interesting element to the game... one that I think will actually create a sense of travel. I'd use a second game as an example to say you're right. There are ways around making the whole page to load. Yet, I'm not sure that developer is ready to talk about his game yet either.

Soon... there will be NDAs for everyone! HA HA :lol:

In this case, I'm fairly certain frames would not have helped me... and I like this solution so much better. This game should to run great on a T-mobile Sidekick II... which doesn't support the META-REFRESH command.

#4 08-19-2005, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photics

Code:

<?php

$array[0] = "Hi Nemi!";
$array[1] = "What calls us is victory!";
$array[2] = "This is randomly created text!";
$array[3] = "DON'T LOOK AT ME!";
$array[4] = "Buy Mike's book!";

$randomVar = rand(0, 4);
echo $array[$randomVar];

?>

'course, its more efficient to do it more like ...

Code:

<?php
switch (rand(0,4)) {
    case 0:  echo "Hi Nemi!"; break;
    case 1:  echo "......"; break;
    ....
}
?>

You get to avoid the allocation and initialization of the array that you won't be reusing.

Nemisari · #5 08-19-2005, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amaranth

'course, its more efficient to do it more like ...

Code:

<?php
switch (rand(0,4)) {
    case 0:  echo "Hi Nemi!"; break;
    case 1:  echo "......"; break;
    ....
}
?>

You get to avoid the allocation and initialization of the array that you won't be reusing.

This code served multiple purposes .. since Photics doesn't have any formal training in programming, the code fragment I helped him with introduced the topic of variables, arrays, and functions which he can reapply later :)

you are correct .. switch would have been more efficient, but it wouldn't have helped Photics any ;)

Photics · #6 09-03-2005, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemisari

This code served multiple purposes .. since Photics doesn't have any formal training in programming, the code fragment I helped him with introduced the topic of variables, arrays, and functions which he can reapply later :)

I don't know what any of that means, but I certainly did reuse this code. It's on the main page...

http://photics.com/

...can you see where? :D