FAQ
From Multistat
Contents |
What is Multistat?
Written entirely in PHP, Multistat is designed to be a flexible log file parser for multiple game servers. It is designed with an extensible plugin interface, which allows any combination of input or output (i.e. Quake 3 input with HTML output or Halflife with MySQL output).
Why??
Why write another log parser when there are so many out there that do the job? To my knowledge, there are no open source game statistics packages that can handle more than one or two games. Multistat aims to solve this problem.
How much will you charge
Nill/Null/Zero/Zip. I don't plan to ever charge for Multistat itself - though I may offer it as part of a third party service in the future.
I want to use Multistat for personal/commercial use
Do what you want with it - as long as you abide by the GNU GPL v2. Of course, I would also like to be given visible credit on any sites that use it so more people can hear about Multistat.
What started the development? / History
I originally started writing statistics tools in C back in 2000 (yes I know I could have used Perl but I didn't have time to learn it at the point in time!). Unfortunately, every time a change was made to the mod or game the entire tool had to be edited, recompiled, and relinked. in addition, if I wanted to write a new statistics tool then I would quite often end up duplicating code that I'd already written for another tool. So the idea of a plugin based tool was born.
Originally, I wrote Multistat in C since it seemed logical that I should extend / utilise the code I'd already written. However, after I was knocked out of any serious development for a few years by health problems and Real LifeTM I decided that it would be more useful to use a scripting language that was reasonably widespread. Simply for the fact that most webhosts provide PHP over Perl I decided to go with PHP. I suppose it also helped that it's very similar to C in syntax!
I want to help develop Multistat / a plugin
Great!! I can always do with some help in regards to Documentation, website management, testing etc. If you want to develop a plugin send a proposal to me. Please note that any plugin needs to be licensed under the GNU GPL v2. This is because a) you are using an API governed by this license and b) I want to ensure that everything remains available to everyone.
Can you add a plugin for X game ?
I'm more than happy to look at doing this since I want Multistat to work with as many games as possible. If you can provide sample game logs then that will make the job both easier and faster. Drop me a line and I'll try to work something out.
Contact Details
Drop me a line and I'll endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible.
