How is the actual interface for online games of go coded? Not asking about go playing programs, but the actual user interface for an online game between two real people. I've been trying to create one for a couple of weeks, but am being thwarted by an irritating lack of knowledge in the area. Any words of help would be appreciated at this point.

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"I can't do it, I don't know my ABC's." - Anonymous

Hi Ryukai,

Please don't take this the wrong way -- genuinely interested in the answers:

• What's your background with software ?
• How much programming experience have you had ?
  [ Basic/intermediate/advanced/expert ? ]
• Example: have you ever programmed any user interface for 2 (or more) users for any games ?

A single high school class.
Basic, for all intents and purposes.
Yes, I have.

While I'm not going to set up my own website and attempt to start an independent go server anytime soon, I do have the distinct advantage of working with a website and programming language which are dedicated to creating games. I've worked with it for a number of years, and do have a good grasp on the basics. I'd usually be able to figure this kind of thing out on my own by looking at a working example, but I haven't been able to find one. Which has more or less left me unsure of so much as how to start.

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"I can't do it, I don't know my ABC's." - Anonymous

Hi Ryukai,

Thanks -- very helpful background info.

More specific examples:

(a) Very basic: guess the number game. ( Computer has a secret random natural number between 1 and 5 ; user has to guess it. )
(b) Basic Tic-Tac-Toe, 2 humans only.
(c) With (b), add an A.I. engine.
(d) Othello, 2 humans only.
(e) With (d), add an A.I. engine.

Have you programmed any games at similar difficulty to the above ?

Corollary: what's the most advanced game you've programmed so far ?

Oh, one more question: what's your Go level ?

I don't understand ANY of this, I don't even understand what you’re asking but I have heard about GTP, and so … there it is: http://senseis.xmp.net/?GoTextProtocol (hope I needn’t explain that I don't even know whether this is helpful or not )

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“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?

I've done a guess the number game before, I do have the skills to do a tic-tac-toe game and to add an AI opponent, I couldn't do Othello, as I honestly have no idea how it's played, and the most advanced game I've programmed was for my high school class' final. A fairly simple game resembling pacman, in which the goal was to avoid enemy npcs that moved about a maze randomly at varying speeds, accomplish a handful of objectives, and leave.

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"I can't do it, I don't know my ABC's." - Anonymous

Hi Ryukai,

Thanks, very helpful info.

You know how to make a simple 2-D board and for the 2 users to take turn to add or remove pieces on the board.

If you know the basic rules of Go ( thus my last question above ),
then you shouldn't have any problems creating a basic Go interface.

So... what's your Go level ?

Hi Ryukai,

Here's another angle.

If you can play with an existing, simple Go interface, could you reverse engineer it ?

If you want to create your own Go interface from scratch, without any influence of other people, then don't look at the following hidden section.

If, however, you want to get some ideas from existing Go interfaces, then click Show to reveal the hidden section:

Thanks for the help. At the moment, I'm uncertain about my playing strength. I haven't played online much recently, and the last time I had an opportunity to play anyone in person, the estimations of my level wavered pretty far.

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"I can't do it, I don't know my ABC's." - Anonymous

Hi Ryukai,

I'm confident you can create your own Go interface in one day.

Good luck, and let us know your progress or questions.

Screenshots !

These will likely be beyond you, but you can get some ideas.

Made a long time ago...
https://sourceforge.net/projects/nngs/

Web browser go server made more recently...
https://gitlab.com/mibitzi/weiqi.gs