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[ifanalban]

After long searching, I can't find any online Welsh scrabble sites, even thought there are plenty in other languages (English, obviously, seems to have the most). Does anyone know anything different?

I can get source code for IRC type play - but that needs the server side to run permanently - which I can't do on my host. Also, the code needs rewriting heavily because a lot of the logic is bound up with the standard English alphabet. Also I want a scrabble-like game like the rather excellent "wabble" - http://www.wabble.org/. The author doesn't make the code publicly available or I could adapt it.

You can chat as you play - if your opponent(s) are online at the same time as you - rejoin later etc. (I'm not sure how long their games persist - but I'd want one that could go on as long as it took).

It's all realised with javascript and Ajax - so just needs a browser to play. I don't know what the backend is written in - probably php.

If none already exists, I'm going to write one. I know there are some programming wizards out there so I'm looking for advice. My idea is to have a nice graphical interface on the client side using script.aculo.us or Dojo or something similar and Prototype. Games to be stored as tables in a MySql database on the server and accessed via a php script which will (using the database) just keep a record of tiles used, current position, put new goes in the data base (update position) and send it to the next player in response to an Ajax request. I have unlimited bandwidth (now) on the server that hosts my stuff and loads of storage space, so I think this approach will work.

I'd be glad of hearing anyone's thoughts on this.

For fans of Spanish (and I know there's a lot of you here) in my trek through google space, I have read that the best online scrabble site is Spanish - it's here - http://www.redeletras.com/.

[Spenny]

We've got a pretty capable host here, so once you work out what you need, I can check that we could host it. I think games are really useful learning tools.

[TygerC]

Based on that description, it sounds good. I've done my share of msqyl/php coding, so if you need any help, let me know.

[ifanalban]

Diolch i chi'r ddau. Thank you both for your offers of help.

Ryan who designed Wabble has contacted me via this forum - apparently it turned up in his 'referrers' log (I didn't know about such things) and he checked it out. He has files that let you internationalise his app, so I'll have a go at that - if it can cope with digraphs, then I'd say job done - but I will still be interested in designing tile based (and other) Ajax word games for Welsh - I agree, Spenny, games are a great way to learn - in fact the only way I could get some people to learn basic maths.

So Susanna I might be asking for your help before long ... do you know of any "frameworks" for php and Ajax that would suit such game applications and make the programming a little painless, or do you think it's better to start from the ground up? There are so many frameworks, it's bewildering.

[TygerC]

So Susanna I might be asking for your help before long ... do you know of any "frameworks" for php and Ajax that would suit such game applications and make the programming a little painless, or do you think it's better to start from the ground up? There are so many frameworks, it's bewildering.

Last work related php programming I did with drupal, so no, not really... But I don't think that starting from scratch is the best option either. Did you look at this: http://www.phpframeworks.com/? It gives some idea what to choose when you know what components you need.

[ifanalban]

Ryan's going to Cymricise his app - easy for him really, he just need to make some new tiles. i told him not to worry about translating the instructions into Welsh - but I suppose in the spirit of bilingualism someone should. I'll give it a go then get someone to correct it (I'd hate to end up one of those poor people who gets mocked on line for appalling Welsh translations ). If anyone else wants to try - just throw the text at google translate and then correct.

Good ideas for games for learners? There is a mad word game whose name escapes me ...

[ifanalban]

Ryan has Cymricised his app - you can now play Wabble (a scrabble-like game) in Welsh online - I've checked it and it all works so I told him to go live. Which should happen today - in the meantime you can try it on http://test.wabble.org . If you have no-one to play with, open it in two different browsers (eg Firefox and Opera), create a game in one with one player name and join it in the other with another player name.

He's used the letter distribution given on Wikipedia.

It has chat ( ), follows all the rules sensibly - but if challenged, the challenger gets to say if the word is acceptable - so a bit of fair play required - like agreeing an online dicitionary beforehand (riadur.tk maybe?) - if anyone can be bothered to prepare a wordlist, he can plug that in to be used as arbiter.

Also he sent me a text file of the interface for translation - If anyone wants to have a go I can send you the text file ...

Let me know if you find any glitches and I'll let Ryan know

[Aran]

Bloody hell, that's absolutely brilliant - fair play to him and to you!...

When we get back from the Eisteddfod, I'll do a press release about this - it will certainly get coverage in the Daily Post and the Western Mail, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the BBC picked up on it...

[ifanalban]

Well it's live and I've posted all over facebook about it - anyone for scrabble? I've started a public game but nothing can happen till someone else joins! [Or I join as another player.]

http://www.wabble.org , click the Cymraeg icon - there's just the one game going - it's straightforward to join a game.

You can set up private games and private areas too.

Bloody hell, that's absolutely brilliant - fair play to him and to you!

All that happened Aran was me posting about designing on-line scrabble and giving a link to Wabble as an example. The alert young Ryan followed the link back to SSiW - he looks at his referrer logs (obviously an IT pro ) so someone clicked on my link, and he contacted me via SSiW and offered to Cymricise his app. Information super-highway or what?

[ifanalban]

A note on playing Wabble

Games created in the general area expire after 3 hours - you need to create a private lobby for games that will persist for longer - 4 days. You create a private lobby under the tab of that name - games in it are only visible to people who you give the lobby key ( a password) to. If you need a game to last longer than 4 days (I know people who play on-line scrabble who make one move a day on average and they're in the same time zone!) ... er, you can't in Wabble.
You can configure your game when you set it up - you can specify there's a move time limit 1-10 minutes or no limit, whether spectators can watch and chat etc.