Internet Board Games

Question

Hello I'm looking to create a web-page where users can play Gomoku live with eachother, kind of like instantchess.com, or yahoo's online pool.

I would like to be able to..
1) Have the players to chat with each other while they play.
2) Have registered users where a ranking can be kept track of.
3) Users can create 'rooms' where another player and spectators can join.

Should I be using java applets for the whole page, Especially the networking? If so, can someone point me in the right direction because I don't know how to have the applets interact with the server for database storage and live play/chat.

Also assuming I would be using java applets what IDE do you suggest?

Any Help is appreciated, Thanks.

Answer 1

1) If you use Java Applets, I would recommend building in Swing. I do all of my development in Eclipse using their visual editor for rich application development, but I have heard positive things about NetBeans.

2) I would not recommend using applet technology. It seems, currently, that Sun is on the verge of retiring that technology. Instead, I would recommend a page based architecture. You could use a framework like GWT or something similar. I am certain other Stack Overflow members who are more familiar with web technologies can point you in a better direction than I can. However, this post has a pretty good run down of a number of different web-presentation layer technologies.

Be aware you will need to talk to a database to do the behavior you have described. Just an FYI if you were not aware.

Answer 2

Also, your users are going to hate applets....because pretty much everyone hates Applets.

Answer 3

audiodude is right, your users will hate applets.

Flash is defacto now.