MacOS Netrek client reimplemented using SwiftUI
I'm pleased to report the release of Netrek version 2.0 for MacOS!
Netrek is the _original_ Internet online team game. Originally implemented in 1989 in C on UNIX workstations using the X Window System, #Netrek is the ancestor of all TCP/IP-based live action Internet games today. A generation of TCP/IP programmers learned socket programming updating Netrek client and server code.
In 2019, I implemented a new Netrek client in #Swift for MacOS using SpriteKit for graphics. Today I released Netrek version 2.0 for MacOS. This version uses #SwiftUI for graphics, completely replacing SpriteKit!
Netrek is a free download from the MacOS 10.15 App Store. Source code is #OpenSource at https://github.com/darrellroot/Netrek-SwiftUI
SwiftUI's declarative programming style aligns well with the data structures used by Netrek: The client sends user commands to the server. The server replies with the new game state. The client updates its game state. SwiftUI displays the current game state to the user.
Swift is a wonderful language to program! Its type safety makes the code understandable while preventing many errors I commonly commit when programming C. I'm very happy about the addition of SwiftUI, and am amazed that it is capable of being used for real-time-action video games.
The Netrek community commonly plays on Thursdays at 6PM Pacific. Grab a client and join us! Visit https://netrek.org for more information about Netrek. Join the netrek-forever Google Group to get updates regarding upcoming games. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/netrek-forever