Pbbg.site json api structure

Roadmap Features
#1

We discussed about two months ago on Discord about PBBGs who wanted to provide a JSON API for the pbbg.site directory and what the API should look like.

I dug up the schema I made.

{
  name: string
  ?version: string
  ?description: string
  ?tags: string[]
  ?status: string ('up'/'down'/other)
  dates: {
    born: "Y-m-d"
    ?updated: "Y-m-d"
  }
  players: {
    registered: int
    ?active: int
  }
  ?links: {
    production: string
    beta: string
    github: string
    ...: string
  }
}

Hereā€™s OpenDominionā€™s implementation as an example for the above schema: https://beta.opendominion.net/api/v1/pbbg

Let me know what you think.

2 Likes
#2

Given our recent talk about expanding pbbg.site, this would be a cool addition, though I would change a couple of things.

Status should be given by pbbg, not relied upon by the response, unless itā€™s like a custom status? I imagine status as like whether itā€™s actually online or offline via ping test or something similar.

Change ā€œbornā€ to ā€œcreatedā€.

Updated could be an object with a link to the latest update.

In the links section it looks as if links is optional, but the children are not. Other than that it looks like a nice little schema :slight_smile:

1 Like
#3

Looking back at it, ā€˜bornā€™ should definitely be ā€˜createdā€™ instead. But despite that I donā€™t know if such a format will ever be adopted, or useful even.

#4

I have hopes that it will in the future

#5

Iā€™ve implemented this for Imperial Conflict here: https://imperialconflict.com/pbbg

results 
{
  "name": "Imperial Conflict",
  "description": "Imperial Conflict is a free online browser-based massively multiplayer online strategy game set in space. Players interact in cooperation and against other players in a quest to \"Rule The Galaxy\".",
  "tags": [
    "space",
    "strategy",
    "military"
  ],
  "players": {
    "registered": 49387,
    "active": 248
  },
  "links": {
    "website": "https://imperialconflict.com",
    "forum": "https://discourse.imperialconflict.com",
    "discord": "https://discord.gg/yVZjc4M",
    "patreon": "https://www.patreon.com/imperialconflict",
    "facebook": "https://www.facebook.com/imperialconflict/",
    "twitter": "https://twitter.com/ic_game",
    "reddit": "https://www.reddit.com/r/ImperialConflict/",
    "pbbg.com": "https://pbbg.com/games/imperial-conflict",
    "PBBG Wiki": "https://wiki.pbbg.com/wiki/Imperial_Conflict"
  },
  "data": {
    "empires": {
      "active": 301
    },
    "galaxies": {
      "active": 4
    },
    "patreon_subscriber_credits": [
      "RUNIC",
      "Rivan",
      "Jets",
      "Ushanewnewba",
      "SCORP",
      "kingray",
      "Zeraph",
      "RenegadeDamon",
      "Goddess_of_the_Dead",
      "Tishxo",
      "Zeratel",
      "Usha"
    ]
  }
}

Some thoughts:

dates.created:

Our start date isnā€™t clear given our original owner didnā€™t document that, so Iā€™m not yet sure what to put here. I could guess reasonably well but Iā€™d imagine there are others out there with this issue. I left it out for now, and recommend making it optional.

data:

I added a freeform ā€œdataā€ to reflect some misc data that is relevant meta info but may not be shared with other games. For me, this is counts for active ā€œempiresā€ (sub-accounts) and ā€œgalaxiesā€, as well as patreon subscribers.

We got some feedback on this example from Pirion on Discord, he had a good point about abstracting some of this into generic data. Patreon subscriber data in particular may be better suited in some kind of credits block alongside staff info.

#6

This site has some serious issues that must be fixed immediately! This is most alarming.

1 Like
#7

Directory entry is about OpenDominion and not about original Dominion game, so I think you can safely use creation date of your project instead of creation date of Dominion.
And if you do not remember that, I think date of first commit will be a good approximation.

#8

Ah, I mean that we donā€™t have complete history for Imperial Conflictā€™s codebase. It didnā€™t even make it into proper version control until years after it launched. :grimacing:

We have a few guesses from archive.org, but nothing I am too confident about.

#9

Sorry, I totally confused you with @WaveHack :sweat_smile:

#10

No worries! Weā€™re both good looking, Itā€™s an understandable mistake.