cryptofrye/gamblor

An online casino app built for Django Dash 2012

Created by Stephen McDonald

Introduction

Gamblor is a real-time casino app built for the 2012 Django Dash.

The idea was to provide a plugin system for games that can be played collaboratively in real-time using WebSockets, and to that end Gamblor was successful.

Check out the deployed version at http://gamblor.jupo.org.

Features

Here are some of the highlights that were implemented over the 48 hours of the Dash:

• Simple plugin system for adding games with their own turn arguments, template, JavaScript and CSS files.
• Initial games implemented are simple versions of Roulette and Craps.
• Real-time avatars, controlled by arrow keys - walk around the game room and bash into your friends.
• Authentication by Twitter or Facebook - profile photo is then used as the head of your avatar.
• Chat system - talk to other avatars, messages are displayed above each avatar in real-time.
• Gambling! Each user starts with $5000 and can bet against each game, simply drag chips onto a game to bet.
• Interface is almost entirely CSS - chips use 3D transforms and dashed borders.

Game Engine

Games plug straight into Gamblor and consist of a handful of interfaces, the primary one being the core.game.Game base class:

• Game.Form - defines the form class for the game, allowing arguments to be passed into each turn.
• Game.bet - handles each person betting, and any args provided by the game's form.
• Game.turn - implements the rules for a turn of the game.
• Game.outcome - called at the end of each turn for each player, with their betting args passed in, and returns a value to multiply their bet by, which would be zero for a loss.

Other interfaces for each game are:

• templates/games/<game-name>.html - template that renders the game visibly.
• static/css/games/<game-name>.css - stylesheet for the game.
• static/js/games/<game-name>.cjs - any JavaScript for the game, that can implement custom game effects, as well as betting handlers for the game.

TODO

As a one-man team for the first time in three years, this year was particularly gruelling! Here's a list of things I wanted to do, but fell short of time:

• Show chips dropped onto games.
• Add collision detection between avatars.
• Show actual amounts won and loss to all users.
• Show players who are in a particular game.
• Implement all the rules for Roulette and Craps.
• Let users drag chips onto each other to share money.
• Provide ways of getting more money (share on Twitter, random handouts).
• Sound effects!
• Walking animations for avatars.
• Animated dice for Craps.