How to implement client server in android for making BINGO game, but not for chat application

Question

I am making a game of Bingo. For that I will be connecting two mobiles via wifi- hotspot and the grid should be shared to both clients, that is both mobiles should see the grid. How can i pass the grid two both clients? Also, how to pass numbers in between client and server? Via object or other thing and how? Also how to exactly implement client server application making 2 java files n android? PS: we are not implementing a chat application.

Bingo XML file: https://github.com/TanishaShrotriya/SDL/blob/master/activity_main_bingo.xml

Java File: https://github.com/TanishaShrotriya/SDL/blob/master/MainActivity_bingo.java

Answer 1

You have a few options. First you need to determine which architecture works for you.

Client/Server (AWS Instance with APIs, and Firebase with PUSH) ---This will enable the devices to get current came status on open, and push changes to their board on confirming their space was called/filled. ---This will enable other devices in that "room" a name given to a virtual shared space for a game. To receive PUSH notification of changed data to display.

Next you need to decide if the server will maintain the full state of each user or just the current called values for comparisons.

If you decide that you do not want to write APIs and setup a Server for PUSH, you can do an ad-hoc wi-fi or even a BLE based communication among everyone in the area. However, this will require significantly more understanding of how to pass bytes, handle network issues, latencies, and communicating from device to device.

If you choose to do the ad-hoc wifi as you mentioned you would have to maintain a ton of connections like a mesh network. A better option would be to have all devices join the same wifi network so that they have access to each other, but aren't necessarily keeping track of mesh networking.

However, even if you are on the same wifi knowing who to send the information to can be difficult without a server to retain routes and IPs of current players. So you may have to create a host so that it can listen for enrolled players. The host device would need to retain routes to all other devices so that it can send the info to each IP address when a change occurs.

I still highly recommend going the client/server route of APIs and PUSH it will be far more reliable.

Now as far as how to pass the data, you could of course screenshot via code and send images, but that is wasteful. I would recommend having a matrix that keeps track of the values covered and simply send a JSON snippet of the card_id, the player_id, and the json of covered blocks to the server that can then push changes back to all players in the "virtual room". This allows them to see how their fellow competitors are doing.

So I would have to ask for more details about what your goal is to help any further, but that is my recommendation, because ad-hoc wifi or bluetooth is doable, but on a mesh scale size you will have a giant headache on your hands. The host scenario device with all on same wifi would be my second direction if you are really anti-server and APIs, which the only reason I could see you avoiding that is if you wanted to play off wifi that doesn't have internet or if you don't want to pay the $30/month for traffic while it is small.

Let me know if that helps or if you want to provide additional clarity.