[WIP] Dice game maker

[R23MJ]

Where I Got the Idea

(click to show/hide)

    I am a huge Pirates of the Caribbean fan (no seriously, I'm drooling as I type this just thinking about the new one). About a week ago, I was hanging out in my living room with my father, and he had Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest on. You can bet your bottom dollar I stuck around to see how it played out, despite me already knowing the ending. As you get older and experience things over and over, you tend to notice the more minute details about them; as I was watching the scene with Will Turner and Davy Jones playing a high stakes game of dice, I started to pick up on how the game was played... and it fascinated me. I quickly looked to Google and found that it is a real dice game, known as Liar's Dice or Pirate's Dice. I personally had never heard of it before then, and frankly loved the idea of such a game: quick paced, intense, and pirates played it, I mean, come on, do I need another reason to like it? I headed straight to my work station -- after the movie was over, of course -- to begin crafting an online Pirate's Dice game. Now, while I do admit I could find myself buried in hours of play, I don't think anyone else willing to give it a try would find themselves that addicted; so the question remained: how could I make this into something that a wider audience of people might enjoy, or at least try? A "Dice Game" maker (horrendously generic, I know).

    Dice are evil -- pure, unadulterated evil. They bounce around, fly off of tables, and occasionally land on a corner so perfectly that they launch four feet into the air. So, what if you could play any dice game at any time, or make up your own dice game, or just roll some d*** dice because you feel like it? Well, truth is you already can, just my dice whatever merbobber let's you do it all without chasing those things around. Oh and Lua, did I mention it's all in Lua?

How to play Liar's/Pirate's Dice (This is really the only thing you need to read before downloading):

(click to show/hide)

    There are many, and a I mean many (okay, not really too many) different ways to play Liar's Dice, the version I made to distribute with this framework is one of the more restrictive versions of "Common Hand"; however, most versions have a common goal: to guess the amount of any face value on the field, and have your opponent lose a challenge, or to challenge your opponent and win the challenge.

Rules:

• 2 Players. Each player had 5 dice. They are rolled once, out of sight of the opponent.
• Each player rolls an extra dice, highest value decides to bid first or pass.
• 1 are wilds.
• Bids can neither go down in quantity or face, if I bid 3 5s, my opponent must bid 3 6s, 4 5s, 4 6s, etc. or challenge
• Challenge means you are challenging your opponents last bid, all dice are revealed, if they guessed the amount of the said face, or less, i.e bid was 4 5s there were 4 or less 5s, they win. If there bid was higher, you win.

For more specifics refer to Wikipedia

Liar's Dice is working!!! Download here:
Download(mediafire): ~810kb compressed (.zip)

Okayyy... So, What is it?
    The (Really) Brief Synopsis
    My Dice-whatever-you-wanna-call-it is essentially a Lua framework. I use Sol2 -- an amazing C++ <-> Lua binding library -- add a "Dice" class, some network classes, some animations/images, Dear ImGui, throw it all into the compiler, down a cup of coffee, take a few breaks to go outside and shovel some snow, and BOOM!: you can make dice games in Lua.

    So now that you have a really vague idea of what this actually does/is, I'll try to explain some more. Explaining things has never really been my strong suit, so strap in and I'll just take you down code-snippet lane.

    The Part Where I Show You Something Useful/Just Code

Sol2 stuff

(click to show/hide)

    So with every great (and not so great) idea, you start with the dice:

Dice.hpp

class Dice : sf::Drawable
{
private:
    int xFace;
    sf::IntRect xTexRect; // Texture rectangle is got by doing {(xFace - 1) * 32, 32} after rolling. Texture file looks like ([1][2][3][4][5][6]).png

    ...
public:
    ...

    int roll(); //Does some voodoo with std::uniform_distribution, now we have a face value. Because clearly dice don't have a face prior to rolling.
    int getFace(); //Incase you didn't feel like capturing it when roll returned it.

    ...
};
 

Sol2 lets us do something even cooler: Use it in Lua:
Somewhere inside Source.cpp, because that sh** is a mess.

sol::state Lua;

...

Lua.new_usertype<Dice>("Dice", ...
    "roll", &Dice::roll,
    "face", sol::property(&Dice::getFace)
    ); //BOOM Dice is now usable in Lua.
 

run.lua

myDice = Dice.new()

myDice:roll()
print(myDice.face .. " you can do this fancy thing in Lua where you append things to your print call with .. ")
    -- Actually calls our getFace, but looks as if we directly access our xFace.
 

Rinse and repeat, we need to access the World Wide Web(WWW):
Network.hpp

class Server
{
private:
    std::vector<std::unique_ptr<sf::TcpSocket>> xClientList; //This is horrific: I need a Client class, which would then have the unique_ptr to the socket and handle everything gracefully, but for now this works.

    ...
public:
    Server(unsigned short); //Yup, you guessed it (or maybe not): that variable is our port.

    std::vector<sf::Socket::Status> broadcast(std::string msg); //Broadcast msg to every client, only string for now, because I am to lazy to implement everything else, hence the [WIP]. Return the status of each send() call, in the order the clients are connected (this is why I need a Client class. D*** it).
    sf::Socket::Status send(std::string msg); //Hopefully you can guess what that does.
   
    MessageBundle update(); //Update listens for new connections, and receives messages, then returns a MessageBundle which is just a struct with the string message and integer index to the sender.. I know, I know: the client class.

    ...
};

class Client //Not the client class I need to make, this just does client side stuff, send messages, and receive, etc. It's very similar to server, so I'm not gonna bother typing it all out.
{
   ...
};
 

Pollute Source.cpp with some more sol2 usertypes, (Including sf::Socket::Status enum, we need that). And we are well on our way to making a dice game.

Dear ImGui stuff

(click to show/hide)

So I could I just have some static GUI system that whomever decides to make a game has to just deal with, and some of you may think this is the better way to go, buuuuuuut I decided to let loose ImGui into the world of Lua.

Using Sol2's set_function I was able to do something like this for a selected few of ImGui's functions:

Lua.set_function("ImGui_Begin", &ImGui::Begin);
 

some of them required some extra work regarding overloads and variables, etc. but I got the functions I found useful working, and plan to get the majority of the added at some point. He is a simple gui I might make for a dice game:

function Update() -- Update is automatically run once per cycle in our C++
    ImGui_Begin("Menu")
    if ImGui_Button("Press me") then
        ImGui_Text("How dare you!")
    end
    ImGui_End()
end
 

Okay, okay. Enough Talk, Where do I Download it?
    Unfortunately, it is in a horrible state to distribute, I'm not gonna do that yet. I'm going to clean it up a bit, and optimize it (*cough* *cough* Client class) then dice games shall once again rule the world (I don't think they ever did, but lets pretend). Hopefully in a couple days I can release the kraken (get it), and you can enjoy some dice games. I also wanna setup this spare RasPi of mine as a server, so everyone can try their hands at liar's dice, and not just download a useless framework.

I know there will be at least 1 person -- hopefully -- who will be interested in looking at the Liar's Dice Lua file to learn how the Framework will work, and feel. So here it is, keep in mind this is in dire need of being cleaned up, not just the Lua, the C++ too. I made a Player class, which is fine, but I feel it is needless garbage, and will without a doubt be removed before I release this. Without farther ado, the files:

(click to show/hide)

Run.lua

DiceTextureLoc = "res/images/OldDie.png"

LastBet = {1, 2}
GuiCurQuantity = LastBet[1] + 1
GuiCurFace = LastBet[2]

yourTurn = 0
gameOverMsg = "You lost!"
gameOver = false

totalDice = 10

cn = ClientNetwork.new()

function mysplit(inputstr, sep)
        if sep == nil then
                        sep = "%s"
        end
        local t={} ; i=1
        for str in string.gmatch(inputstr, "([^"..sep.."]+)") do
                        t[i] = str
                        i = i + 1
        end
        return t
end

function Init()
        if cn:connect("127.0.0.1", 5576) == SocketStatus.Done then
                print("Connected!")
                cn:send("join")
        else
                print("Connection to server failed!")
        end
       
        LocalPlayer:giveDice(5)
       
        LocalPlayerHand = {0,0,0,0,0,0}

        LocalPlayerHand[1] = LocalPlayer:rollDice(1)
        LocalPlayerHand[2] = LocalPlayer:rollDice(2)
        LocalPlayerHand[3] = LocalPlayer:rollDice(3)
        LocalPlayerHand[4] = LocalPlayer:rollDice(4)
        LocalPlayerHand[5] = LocalPlayer:rollDice(5)
end

function Update()
        message = cn:update()
        if message ~= " " then
                print(message)
                if message == "Full" then
                        print("Server full")
                elseif message == "go" then
                        yourTurn = 1
                elseif string.find(message, ",") then
                        LastBet = mysplit(message, ",")
                        LastBet[1] = tonumber(LastBet[1])
                        LastBet[2] = tonumber(LastBet[2])
                        GuiCurQuantity = LastBet[1]
                        GuiCurFace = LastBet[2]
                        yourTurn = 1
                elseif message == "stop" then
                        yourTurn = 0
                elseif message == "chal" then
                        cn:send("hand," .. LocalPlayerHand[1] .. "," .. LocalPlayerHand[2] .. "," .. LocalPlayerHand[3] .. "," .. LocalPlayerHand[4] .. "," .. LocalPlayerHand[5])
                        yourTurn = 0
                else
                        gameOver = true
                        gameOverMsg = message
                end
        end
                       
        ImGui_Begin("Menu")
        ImGui_BeginChild("Quantity", ImVec2.new(175, 140), true)
                for i = 2, 10 do
                        if i ~= nil  and LastBet[1] ~= nil then
                                if i >= LastBet[1] then
                                        if ImGui_Selectable(i, GuiCurQuantity == i) then
                                                GuiCurQuantity = i
                                        end
                                end
                        end
                end
        ImGui_EndChild()
        ImGui_SameLine(190)
        ImGui_BeginChild("Face", ImVec2.new(175, 140), true)
                for j = 1, 6 do
                        if j ~= nil  and LastBet[2] ~= nil then
                                if j >= LastBet[2] then
                                        if ImGui_Selectable(j, GuiCurFace == j) then
                                                GuiCurFace = j
                                        end
                                end
                        end
                end
        ImGui_EndChild()
       
        if (LastBet[1] ~= GuiCurQuantity or LastBet[2] ~= GuiCurFace) and yourTurn == 1 then
                if ImGui_Button("Bid") then
                        LastBet = {GuiCurQuantity, GuiCurFace}
                        GuiCurQuantity = LastBet[1]
                        GuiCurFace = LastBet[2]
                        cn:send(GuiCurQuantity .. "," .. GuiCurFace)
                end
                ImGui_SameLine(75)
        end
       
        if (LastBet[1] ~= 1 or LastBet[2] ~= 2) and yourTurn == 1 then
                if ImGui_Button("Challenge Bid") then
                        cn:send("chal")
                end
        end

        if gameOver then
                ImGui_Text(gameOverMsg)
        end
        ImGui_End()
end

function Close()
        cn:disconnect()
end

function Debug()
        print(yourTurn)
end
 

Server.lua

sn = ServerNetwork.new(5576)

PlayersHands = { p1Set = false, p1 = {"hand",0,0,0,0,0}, p2Set = false, p2 = {"hand",0,0,0,0,0} }

LastBet = {1, 2}
Connected = {0, 0}

GameOver = false

function mysplit(inputstr, sep)
        if sep == nil then
                sep = "%s"
        end
        local t={} ; i=1
        for str in string.gmatch(inputstr, "([^"..sep.."]+)") do
                t[i] = str
                i = i + 1
        end
        return t
end

function printTable(inputTable)
        for i = 0, #inputTable do
                if (inputTable[i] ~= SocketStatus.Error) then
                        print(i .. ": " .. inputTable[i])
                end
        end
end

function CountFaces(hand, faceToCount)
        ret = 0
       
        for _, face in ipairs(hand) do
                if face == faceToCount or face == 1 then
                        ret = ret + 1
                end
        end
       
        return ret
end

function Init()
end

function Update()
        message = sn:update()
        if message.msg ~= " " then
                print(message.msg)
                if message.msg == "join" then
                        if Connected[1] == 0 then
                                Connected[1] = 1
                                print(sn:send("go", message.sender))
                        elseif Connected[2] == 0 then
                                Connected[2] = 1
                        else
                                sn:send("Full", message.sender)
                                sn:disconnect(message.sender)
                        end
                elseif string.find(message.msg, "hand") then
                        if not PlayersHands[1] then
                                PlayersHands[2] = mysplit(message.msg, ",")
                                PlayersHands[2][2] = tonumber(PlayersHands[2][2])
                                PlayersHands[2][3] = tonumber(PlayersHands[2][3])
                                PlayersHands[2][4] = tonumber(PlayersHands[2][4])
                                PlayersHands[2][5] = tonumber(PlayersHands[2][5])
                                PlayersHands[2][6] = tonumber(PlayersHands[2][6])
                                PlayersHands[1] = true
                        elseif not PlayersHands[3] then
                                PlayersHands[4] = mysplit(message.msg, ",")
                                PlayersHands[4][2] = tonumber(PlayersHands[4][2])
                                PlayersHands[4][3] = tonumber(PlayersHands[4][3])
                                PlayersHands[4][4] = tonumber(PlayersHands[4][4])
                                PlayersHands[4][5] = tonumber(PlayersHands[4][5])
                                PlayersHands[4][6] = tonumber(PlayersHands[4][6])
                                PlayersHands[3] = true
                        end
                elseif string.find(message.msg, ",") then
                        LastBet = mysplit(message.msg, ",")
                        LastBet[1] = tonumber(LastBet[1])
                        LastBet[2] = tonumber(LastBet[2])
                        sn:send("stop", message.sender)
                        sn:broadcast(message.msg, message.sender)
                elseif message.msg == "chal" then
                        challenger = message.sender
                        sn:broadcast(message.msg, -1)
                else
                        print("Unknown message")
                end
        end
       
        if PlayersHands[1] and PlayersHands[3] and not GameOver then
                FaceCount = CountFaces(PlayersHands[2], LastBet[2])
                FaceCount = FaceCount + CountFaces(PlayersHands[4], LastBet[2])
               
                print(FaceCount >= LastBet[1])
                if FaceCount >= LastBet[1] then
                        sn:send("You lost! There were " .. FaceCount .. " " .. LastBet[2] .. "s.", challenger)
                        sn:broadcast("You won! Your opponent challenged your bid, but there were " .. FaceCount .. " " .. LastBet[2] .. "s.", challenger)
                else
                        sn:send("You won! There were " .. FaceCount .. " " .. LastBet[2] .. "s.", challenger)
                        sn:broadcast("You lost! Your opponent called your bluff, there were " .. FaceCount .. " " .. LastBet[2] .. "s.", challenger)
                end
                GameOver = true
        end
end

function Close()
        --sn:shutdown()
end

function Debug()
        print(PlayersHands[2][2] .. " " .. PlayersHands[2][3] .. " " .. PlayersHands[2][4] .. " " .. PlayersHands[2][5] .. " " .. PlayersHands[2][6])
        print(PlayersHands[4][2] .. " " .. PlayersHands[4][3] .. " " .. PlayersHands[4][4] .. " " .. PlayersHands[4][5] .. " " .. PlayersHands[4][6])
end
 

Ehhem.. screenshots.
    So, I am not artist, and I didn't make the dice texture either, I just modified some things and made it into a texture, so it's not pretty. I mean, it's actually just five dice and a menu. But the h*** with it: here are some screenies.

Client View:


Server View:


Nice, nice. But What All Could I Do with this?
    Everything is exposed to Lua, you could even write AI Code for offline mode play, Admittedly, I attempted to and failed miserably, and decided to stick to something I know how to do. AI's are no joke man. Here is a list of things I have thought of, but this is definitely not the exhaustive list.

Features(?):

• Automatically run functions (Init(), Update(), Close())
• A Debug() function, press F2 at any point to do whatever
• Create, roll, and get the value of dice.
• Communicate with a server, server tools to manage it
• Lists folders in "Games" directory, game folders should include "server.lua" for servertools, and "run.lua" for the client.
• Very extendable: possible to make AI, for offline play, possible to make rating (ELO?) system, and store data server side.

Finally, the end
    It seriously took me about two hours to write this, but strangely, I enjoyed it. I hope I touched on everything, and explained well enough what this is. If not, feel free to ask questions. I can't say how often I will be checking this, I will probably come back to talk about updates, and possibly a few times while I'm supposed to be paying attention in school. Last message: if you read all of this, you are a true trooper, and thanks for that.

[R23MJ]

Hello again! I have updated the application, I am looking forward to seeing some feedback on the project.

Change log

(click to show/hide)

1.0.1

• Used Sol2's 'require' to make using sfml and imgui functions/objects more intuitive in Lua. Now to use ImGui functions do 'Imgui.Begin()' vs 'ImGui_Begin()'
• Added an AI to "Pirate's Dice" game, pretty easy to beat, and the implementation is ugly, but it gives some life to the game.

1.0

• Initial release

The server tools still need a little work, but by the next build they will be included. I was just too excited to sit on the AI any longer. It is fairly basic, and not a very good implementation for an AI (feel free to modify it, found at the bottom of the 'run.lua' in 'res/games/Pirate's Dice').

Well, I won't go on and on like the last post, so here is the DL link. I do not have a github setup yet, and I'm not sure if I want to share the code until everything is final.

Download(mediafire): ~810kb compressed (.zip)

[eXpl0it3r]

Just gave it a try! Totally remember this game from PotC and if I remember correctly, I once even lookup the rules as well.

You probably should post the game rules at the top of the thread and include the instructions somehow in the game.
Why can one not bid on 1s?
You should show a message when the opponent has made their move and possibly show what the bid.

Quite nice to see your integration of Sol2 and Imgui. Guess you've been following Elias' development of Re:creation?

[R23MJ]

First of all, thank you for trying it! I know it's not much. You are right though, I didn't clarify too much, I guess I was too excited. You seemed to have figured it out, but for others who try it, the first box is the quantity (Number of dice) the second box is the face (the side) so selecting 2 and 3 would bid 2 3s.
I will be updating the main post.

Why can one not bid on 1s?
You should show a message when the opponent has made their move and possibly show what the bid.

Ones are wilds, something else I forgot to mention. Adding a message is definitely needed, along with other visuals.

I am very very anxiously awaiting Re:Creation. Elias is making a phenomenal game.

[R23MJ]

I updated the main post, added the download link to it, and I also moved the rules for Liar's Dice closer to the top. This is a mini-project I was working on when I got bored of my main project, so I will continue to update it until it is more of something and less GUI scattered across a screen with a couple dice floating in the middle. After that updates will slow down, and hopefully I can reveal my main project shortly.