Where to start?

[3ndl3ss]

Hello, I have a simple idea for a gaming application tool. I would like to create a small tool for an online game that I play.

The tools objective will just be to alert the user through a sound that will play as soon as there is any type of movement on a certain part of the screen.


I play an mmorts where there is a report icon that flashes only when I have an incoming attack on my castle. I have sat for 15 hrs straight watching this icon waiting for it to flash some days in order to counter and prepare for the attack.

There is no other sounds that are associated with this game so this tool will allow me to do other things around the house like watch TV or clean the house or do my college homework while not having to worry about my empire that I have spent the last year building and protecting falling under the enemies clutches.

I have minor experience in C, xml and Java and am an expert at html. I am also the webmaster for two websites. Though I am not sure what format is best to design this script in.

This is a very simple idea. If anyone knows where I should start or if there is already an application like this please let me know. All feedback and ideas will be appreciated.

[tomws]

What is the game itself written in? You mention it's an RTS, so I assume it's something active like Javascript/AJAX or Flash. The base technology will determine your requirements. If Javascript, and if it doesn't violate the game's TOS, take a look at Greasemonkey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greasemonkey).

[3ndl3ss]

The game is written Flash and uses Adobe Flash as its means of media.

It also uses a GIGANTIC XML database for its server while keeping track of 100's of thousands of clients data.

I have looked over the ToS and if this is done properly then it will not violate the ToS because this "ALERT" application (as I am going to dub it for now) will be completely apart from the games coding and interface. Which rules out Greasemonkey even it was in the correct platform because the ToS states that you may not manipulate the coding directly.

I imagine that if this is done correctly and I can find the right guidance then once the application is functional I can clean up the interface of "ALERT" and possibly even market it or distribute it as Freeware because I know of many people just in this game alone who would use it.

I am sure there is other uses for tracking and being alerted to,via sound, screen movement, but i just can't think of any of them right now. :o


So, if its written in FLASH does that necessarily mean that my completely separate application must be written in flash as well in order to detect and alert to the page movement?

[tomws]

Well, it's out of my league. Perhaps someone else has experience with something like this. I wonder, though, whether you could use a packet sniffer to detect when the alert happens and then emit a notification based upon that. I suspect there are ways to "watch" a certain area of the screen, too, but that's something else that's beyond my capability. :(

[3ndl3ss]

A packet sniffer is definitely an idea. Then I could just monitor the internal script changes and be alerted through there instead of monitoring the external visual changes.

The only problem with that i see is that the encryption that the server sends in is highly encoded and I would not be able to discern what is actually what within the data. And there is also the initial aspect of how to get it to alert phonetically. So, still, hmmm, where to start?