xml-dev - RE: XML for Online Games

[Leigh Dodds <ldodds@ingenta.com>]

> BTW:  using XML in games is not that novel.  The 
> X3D effort has an XML encoding and can be applied 
> to games, there is a talkingHead application that 
> uses XML, and extending the persistence of games 
> via XML serialization is a straightforward application. 
> The latency issues are a much harder problem 
> than picking XML for message formats.

I was involved with a Java port of the Quake2 game server for 
a while (the project [1] has dried up now). 

We ended up using a DOM tree to store the level information, 
allowing game modules to manipulate the data prior to 
the start of a new level. XML was also used as a means of 
persisting game data, and loading game state at start of level.

I also tinkered with an XML structure for capturing the model 
animation data.

It was a neat way to add extensibility to the game data. Nothing 
flashy but an interesting application to work with never the less.

[1]. http://www.planetquake.com/q2java/

Cheers,

L.

-- 
Leigh Dodds, Systems Architect       | "Pluralitas non est ponenda
http://weblogs.userland.com/eclectic |    sine necessitate"
http://www.xml.com/pub/xmldeviant    |     -- William of Ockham