Chategories is a prototype implementation of a multi-player SMS game. It is similar to the board game, Scattergories® with slightly different possibilities and scoring.
- AT&T Marketplace Account, with a purchased Local Number.
- A host to run this application with a "publicly routable FQDN"
NOTE: Item 2 can be satisfied by running this application on a laptop behind a NAT/firewall, and installing a tunnelling utility such as ngrok. This utility registers a temporary FQDN on their public server, and routes traffic via a secure tunnel to your app running on localhost. See https://ngrok.com
- Clone this repo
- Run the application (e.g. python3 Chategories).
NOTE: By default, Flask http server listens on port 5000. - Verify the application is running by attempting to access it using a browser. e.g. URL is http://localhost:5000/
- If using a utility like ngrok, start it now. Make a note of the public https endpoint it reports.
Ideally, this step should only need to be done once, and may need to be repeated if the server or app needs to be restarted.
Using a browser, navigate to the SMSbot Home screen http://localhost:5000/ Select App Setup from the navigation menu. Fill in the SMSbot Configuration form:
- Private Project Key is the value from your AT&T API Marketplace Account.
- Private Project Secret is the value from your AT&T API Marketplace Account.
- Projet TN is a Telephone Number resource you have reserved in the AT&T API Marketplace Account and assigned to the Project.
- APIM URL is the URL of the AT&T API Marketplace server. (generally, keep the default value)
- Public URL is the URL that APIM server will use to call the webhook in this application. When using ngrok, this is the value produced in Step 4 of Deployment Instructions above.
The app is deployed with a starter set of categories. You can add more categories or de-activate any of the existing categories. Using a browser, navigate to the SMSbot Home screen http://localhost:5000 Select the Customize Categories Menu from the navigation menu.
The form presents the set of category items that make up the possibilities. Use this form to:
- modify the position value
- modify the category value
- activate or deactivate a particular item
- add a new category item
Remember to click on Submit to make your changes take effect.
The form presents the set of position and letter items that make up the alphabet possibilities. Use this form to:
- modify the position value (begins with or ends with)
- modify the letter value. Note: can be more than 1 letter.
- activate or deactivate a particular item
- add a new alphabet item
Remember to click on Submit to make your changes take effect.
The game composes a question by randomly pairing a Category item with an Alphabet item, and sending the question to all players. Each player submits their answer to the question. An answer that is invalid scores -1. An answer that matches another player scores 0. A unique correct answer scores 1.
A message from a player can be either a command or an answer. Commands are one of the following key words, followed by a colon (:).
| Command Key Word | Arguments | Description |
|---|---|---|
| join: | name | adds player name to the game |
| drop: | removes the player from the game | |
| new: | initiates a new game | |
| reset: | reset scores of all players to 0 |
| Player | Message Content | Player 1 sees | Player 2 sees | Player 3 sees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | join: Doug | Doug joined | ||
| 2 | join: Carl | Carl joined | Carl joined | |
| 3 | join: Dom | Dom joined | Dom joined | Dom joined |
| 3 | new: | New game! names of streets that begins with M | New game! names of streets that begins with M | New game! names of streets that begins with M |
| 1 | Main | Noted | ||
| 2 | Maple | Noted | ||
| 3 | Broad | Unique response Main from Doug. Unique response Maple from Carl. Invalid response Broad from Dom. Current Score: Doug 1, Carl 1, Dom -1. Next category! Capitals of states that begin with T | Unique response Main from Doug. Unique response Maple from Carl. Invalid response Broad from Dom. Current Score: Doug 1, Carl 1, Dom -1. Next category! Capitals of states that begin with T | Unique response Main from Doug. Unique response Maple from Carl. Invalid response Broad from Dom. Current Score: Doug 1, Carl 1, Dom -1. Next category! Capitals of states that begin with T |
| 1 | Topeka | Noted | ||
| 2 | Topeka | Noted | ||
| 3 | Trenton | Duplicate response Topeka from Doug. Duplicate response Topeka from Carl. Unique response Trenton from Dom. Current Score: Doug 1, Carl 1, Dom 0. Next category! sport teams that begins with O | Duplicate response Topeka from Doug. Duplicate response Topeka from Carl. Unique response Trenton from Dom. Current Score: Doug 1, Carl 1, Dom 0. Next category! sport teams that begins with O | Duplicate response Topeka from Doug. Duplicate response Topeka from Carl. Unique response Trenton from Dom. Current Score: Doug 1, Carl 1, Dom 0. Next category! sport teams that begins with O |
| 3 | drop: | Dom has left | Dom has left | |
| 1 | Orioles | Noted | ||
| 2 | Oakland | Unique response Orioles from Doug. Unique response Oakland from Carl, Current Score: Doug 2, Carl 2. Next category! Colors that being with P | Unique response Orioles from Doug. Unique response Oakland from Carl, Current Score: Doug 2, Carl 2. Next category! Colors that being with P |