Newb, how to start coding question - and - flash & ruby?

[Tom Dellaringa]

Hi there,

I'm a web developer (mainly front end) of 10 years but am new to Ruby. I
got the pickaxe book and really have been enjoying it (although things
are getting hairy for me now halfway through!) Ruby seems like a really
really cool language.

Anyway, my idea was to build an online game, and my first question
really is can Ruby on Rails/Ruby "talk to" Flash? I've been poking
around for info on this but have come up with zippo. I originally wanted
to use xHTML for the presentation layer, but I require an isometric grid
for one thing, and it's impossible to get it implemented correctly in
HTML.

Secondly, I could use some advice on how to start coding my objects -
how to organize them and what to tackle first. Here is the premise:

You have a ship in space. There are X types of ships (merchant, pirate,
etc) that determines what kind of player you are. You move along the
isometric grid, turn based (for now at least). You have a bank account
with credits, an inventory of goods and some personal information. As
you move you encounter locations (such as a space station, a mining
resupply depot, a friendly planet) that are very basic (say they have
1-4 rooms). There's more, but that's a start.

I'm thinking my objects are:

player
ship
location
zone (the current view of "space" they are in in a 10x10 isogrid)

To begin with, but I could use any general suggestions before I get
started. Am I correct in assuming I can get started on coding these
things before I get the whole front end issues worked out? (I assume
talking to Flash/web page, whatever involves other objects).

Thanks for any tips!

Tom

 

[Austin Ziegler]

Anyway, my idea was to build an online game, and my first question
really is can Ruby on Rails/Ruby "talk to" Flash? I've been poking
around for info on this but have come up with zippo. I originally wanted
to use xHTML for the presentation layer, but I require an isometric grid
for one thing, and it's impossible to get it implemented correctly in
HTML.

I don't have any particular recommendation on the organisation of your
particular project, except perhaps being flexible. I monitor the Rails
list, however, and I seem to recall seeing some topics recently on the
subject of Flash integration with Ruby on Rails. You may want to check
that out at:

http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails

-austin

 

[Jim Weirich]

Anyway, my idea was to build an online game, and my first question
really is can Ruby on Rails/Ruby "talk to" Flash? I've been poking
around for info on this but have come up with zippo. I originally wanted
to use xHTML for the presentation layer, but I require an isometric grid
for one thing, and it's impossible to get it implemented correctly in
HTML.

Don't know if this is what you have in mind, but you should check out
Rich Kilmer's stuff at http://richkilmer.blogs.com/.

 

[Tom Dellaringa]

Don't know if this is what you have in mind, but you should check out

Rich Kilmer's stuff at http://richkilmer.blogs.com/.

Hmm... well this the only thing I have seen that is remotely close. It's
slightly over my head, at least without fully reading it all. I'll have
to contact him and see what he thinks. Thanks for the link!

Anyone have any comments on getting started on my code?