turn-based game - timer problem

Networking & Multiplayer
#1

Alo

I have a client/server turn-based game where the players (4) on each table have 30 sec to make a move. What is the best design:

Right now I have 3 solution:

  1. Timer on client - The timer is activated on the client. And when the time is zero, send a message to the server, which notify the other players. Problem: What if the current client logout?
  2. Timer on server - The server send a message every second to all players at the table. Problem: What if I have many tables (50) running at the same time. 4*50=200 mesages every second just for uptate timers.
  3. Timer on client & server. The timer is activated on the client and the server send a mesage every 5 or 10 second to synchronized the timer on the client. Problem: Can’t think of anything right now.

Any other solutions?

Thx in advance.

#2

I found the answer myself. Thx anyway

#3

Please post it here, then. It is extremely unfair to anyone who finds this page via google to find no answers (because you’ve basically told people not to answer) to the question they’re struggling with.

If not, please let me know and I’ll delete this topic entirely.

#4

Sorry for that. The solution I found usefull is let the server to broadcast within that game when the 30 seconds starts and ends , and have the clients keep a timer locally for display purposes

A sequence could looks like this:

2006 11 21 15 30 00: Server to Client: Player 1 start Turn (Server save the current time. Client use a 30 sec counter just for display)
2006 11 21 15 30 10: Client to Server: Player 1 make a move
2006 11 21 15 30 11: Server to Client: Move permitted.
2006 11 21 15 30 12: Server to Client: Player 2 start Turn (Server save the current time. Client use a 30 sec counter just for display)
2006 11 21 15 31 10: Client to Server: Player 2 make a move
2006 11 21 15 31 11: Server to Client: Move denied.