I think adding support for various Message Boards is a far better and faster development approach then trying to make one myself. By ulitizing other forums and message boards, I can build the tools to configure those forums and make bridging from the game files to the message board. I can also probably add the users automatically and when an staff member is added, I can add them to the forum.
Some tools include:
User integration in the forum: SMF and phpBB for the first two.
Staff members and Staff member permissions into the Forum.
Forum Message Boards creation from the game administration panel and creation of message boards for admin and clans and other.
Skinning tools to take the template system that the game engine uses and transfer it over to the ones that SMF and phpBB use.
Configuration would have to include:
Location of the Forum
Type of Forum (depends on what version of the forum and the forums that are supported)
Version of Forum (and the forum integration dependency, some versions are probably security fixes and won’t be an issue).
MySQL data for the forum if possible.
Keeping the Integration Updated:
When the forums are updated I would have to take some time to make sure that the integration works for the new version and if not, then make changes, so that it does. The minor tool sets won’t be that much of an issue, I doubt that they are going to do major changes to the user tables. The skinning toolset would probably have to be updated more, but that probably won’t be that big of an issue either.
Benefits:
By doing this, I can focus on improving core systems that don’t exist elsewhere and improving the other pages. I’ll probably never be able to create a message board that is as good as the ones like phpBB and even SMF. It would be developmental time spent that could be spent on other things.
But I already started making the message board:
I did start a half assed and half finish message board, but taking the time to add support for SMF would be worth it. Time would have to be spent to add support for phpBB at a later date. I do think that I will complete what I have started just, so that the person doesn’t have to download and support the other forum.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Mecha Asylum Design Document
- Data Store is Finished, but Still Imperfect
- If You Look at it This Way
- Configuration SPL Usage
- New Configuration Factory Possible Features
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