I don't even know what to call it, pardon my noobness. How do you make a small simple chatroom that you can upload to a web host, where you can chat with people and allow them to join your game? Let's say the game is coded in win32/opengl. What do you code the web app in? PHP? java? I'm lost just a general guide would be useful thanks!

The easiest thing to do is probably to put an IRC client Java applet on your website, and pre-configure it to connect to a server and channel of your chocie. I believe there are Java IRC clients that can do this, already available. You just need to emit the right HTML to embed the applet, so no special web language needed.

If you really want to run your own chat, then you need to have a server where the chat server can run in the background, uninterrupted. This typically means dedicated hosting (there are no free "arbitrary server" hosts). Then, follow one of the tons of tutorials on the web for how to write a client/server chat program. Run the server code on your server machine, and distribute the client according to what method you chose (installable EXE, ActiveX control, Java applet, Flash, etc).

You have a couple of choices here.

Write your own Java chat applet that allows users to start games and transmit the data to people who want to join the game.

Or

Modify and open source IRC Java applet client to do the above.


That's pretty much all you can do (to make it work well) without getting dedicated hosting.

Thanks guys that's exactly what I needed to know. Guess I got to get cracking on learning Java too soon.

I looked up how to call a java applet from an html file and found this:

<applet code=MyGamesChat.class
archive="MyGamesChat.jar"
width=120 height=120>
</applet>

Does that seem correct?

Thanks for steering me in the right direction.

edit: I have another quick question, Let's say I have a chat and game server coded in c++ is it possible to install that on a web host instead of writing one in java?

thanks again.

If the web host lets you install the server on their servers, then yes, you can install it there. However, most web hosting packages do not let you install custom C++ code on the server side. You typically have to go with a "dedicated host" solution for that (price: $100/month and up). IRC clearly has the upper hand on price!

Thanks Hplus, yeah $100/month is definitely out of my price range for this project!