A couple of questions

[GrimFinger]

I was browsing the Gad Games' blog site, this morning, and I have a couple of questions.

One, out of curiosity, why do your blog entries not have dates that accompany them, to denote when you post a new blog entry?

Two, in your most recent blog entry, you state:

The only exception might be our messaging and forum system. We've been exploring the idea of integrating phpBB into the game system. This uses php and either mySQL or MS-SQL. Our investigation has concluded it could be the best choice for Ilkor and although the integration won't be that straightforward it is possible. With some luck we should have this in place and ready for exclusive use by our playtesters by the end of the year.


Do you have any concerns that integrating phpBB into your game system might make the game more vulnerable to being hacked?

[Gads]

Hey Grim,

Thanks for checking out our blog and the questions that have come out of that.

I've tried to answer them as best as I can below:

One, out of curiosity, why do your blog entries not have dates that accompany them, to denote when you post a new blog entry?

There is a date. It is directly to the left of each blog heading. I'm not sure how it renders for you on your browser. I do know the blog might render slightly differently depending on your operating system and computer / phone, etc. However I would be surprise is it would differ that much.

Do you have any concerns that integrating phpBB into your game system might make the game more vulnerable to being hacked?

Not really. We have security concerns either way we go. The type of integration we are looking at providing between our game forum and the game engine will not enhance hacking. If anything, using two different systems will reduce hacking. Had we gone for a fully integrated 'home grown' forum we would run the risk of exposing ourselves even more.

Secondly, the forum will be a 'closed forum'. It would NOT be accessible to the public, but rather only to the players. To join the forum the player would need to sign up for the game. The integration I am talking about would be to ensure his forum profile is automatically setup, his username and password etc are kept in sync, etc.

Finally there are well documented security measures that you can put in place to prevent or at least reduce hackers when running a phpBB forum. These need to be followed and if so in a 'closed' forum I believe the chances of being hacked will be drastically reduced.

Cheers,

Sean.