Gameforce
Update: Video posted below.
This is my first post in nearly three weeks and my first Force.com related post in nearly a month. Where have I been you may wonder? Only working on the coolest Force.com site in the world
. Haha, just kidding. But yes, for the past 2 months I have been slowly chipping away on my entry for the Force.com Cloud Developer Challenge. So what did I build?
Gameforce - The Worlds 1’st online gaming site built upon the Force.com platform.
When I set out to build my entry I wanted to build something that had never been done before. We have all see the blogging, HR, accounting, shopping cart, content management, and many other traditional business apps. There is no doubt these can be super cool but in the end most of them have been done before. Salesforce.com and Force.com are typically viewed as a platform for business apps and I wanted to build something on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. I hope I have succeeded with building an online gaming site.
The site consists of two games: blackjack and LineUp4 aka Connect 4.
Blackjack
Place your bets and play against the dealer.
LineUp4
A true online multiplayer game where two people can play against each other anywhere in the world. It also has the ‘Smack Talker’ which is live chat between the players. You can see more features listed on the about page located here.
This site may not have the coolest graphics or the trendiest web design but when it comes to taking the Force.com platform to the limit I have used every trick in the book that I know about. When checking out this site keep in mind it was built with 100% Force.com. There is no extra javascript, flash, or any other web technology.
Video update:
After seeing how cool some of the videos were that other people created showing of their site I created one as well. It gives a great overview in about 5 minuets. The one feature I forgot to mention in the video is that if you are playing a game of LineUp4 and are not logged in, you can log in, and will be returned to the game right where you left off. The game state will be saved.
http://tehnrd.com/gameforce.swf (if the video is to large for your screen, right click on the video and select ‘Show All’)
Now we wait for the results of the contest. I’m hoping this site puts me in contention for the Mac Book prize. I’m sure there are going to be some great entries but I’m hoping for the best since this site is like nothing I have ever seen before. My current computer is also 5 years old so a new pc definitely wouldn’t hurt. With so many entries in this contest perhaps salesforce could give away a more than one Mac Book
?
Also, due to the very dynamic nature of this site and the fact that it is currently hosted on a developer edition account I fully expect to exceed the site limits if this site gets popular. I have mirrored this site an a Force.com Free Edition account located here but it does not have the log in ability.
And one more thing. Thanks to my awesome wife for putting up with me while I constantly snuck away to work on this site.
You beat me there … I was just discussing this idea with my colleogue yesterday and now I see it live. Anyways it is brilliant. I was wondering why I hadn’t seen a post and now I know why.
Awesome idea mate! I can’t boast the 100% force.com(I’ve only got 99%;), and I’m sure the idea is the most original.
Impressive! This is very original; quite amazing given the strict 100% force.com non-javascript approach. Good luck in the Challenge judging.
Thanks for all the great feed back. I really appreciated it. I have also added a video above that showcases most of the sites features in about 5 minutes.
Jason,
I’ve known you since you were born, couldn’t read your writting growing up and certainly don’t understand the codes and such. What I do understand when I see it in action is it is really cool and unique from what I’ve read. You’ve done well son. I now return to 1+1 = 2 and a b c’s.
Ha! What a laugh!
We, too, developed an online gaming site for the challenge, see my blog entry at: http://theenforcer.net/2009/09/cloud-challenge-entry-daily-shinro/
Good stuff!
John @ theEnforcer
This is great gives me some ideas :0