Configuration File
See File.
Domain
A Domain is a virtual 'box' that GameCreate uses to store information on your servers, hosts, and games. It is also used to hold information about your games service, such as a name and contact email. As a GameCreate customer, you will receive your own domain name to access your domain and its contents.
File
In GameCreate, a file is a text-based game configuration file managed using the GameCreate interface. GameCreate can maintain multiple definitions for the one filename (such as two copies of "server.cfg", one for team gameplay and one for duels). Each server can select the file definitions it needs to use.
Apart from the normal contents of configuration files required to run the server, files can contain property substitutions and tags. Together, these features allow GameCreate's configuration screen to have full control over the contents of a file without the need to edit it manually.
Game
A Game is the software and accompanying data files required to run a particular server. A game can be installed on a host, allowing a game server to be created on that host. In particular, note that game modifications, or mods, are generally treated as separate games in GameCreate.
Game Server
See Server.
GameCreate Service
The GameCreate Service is the GameCreate.com web interface and associated software that the GameCreate client communicates with. Generally, we will not refer specifically to the 'service' and instead will just refer to GameCreate as a whole. However, it is important to point out at a high-level how GameCreate works. By installing the GameCreate client on your host, you allow GameCreate.com and your host to communicate over the internet. In turn, by accessing GameCreate.com you can manage game servers on that host.
Host
A Host is a physical computer. Game software is installed on a host, allowing one or more servers to be run on the host. In GameCreate, a host is specifically a physical computer on which the Game Create Client software has been installed.
Property
A Property is a configuration option that affects a game server in some way. In GameCreate, there are two types of properties: built-in, and game-specific. Built-in properties are shared by all servers regardless of game type: properties such as "Name" and "Maximum Players" are built-in. Game-specific properties are provided as a means of configuring various options for particular games. For example, a game may have a properties such as "Time Limit" and "Friendly Fire".
Properties have a 'type' such as "SELECT" or "TEXT". The type determines how the property appears on the server configuration screen. A "SELECT" property will display a drop down list of values ot choose from, whereas a "TEXT" property allows arbitrary text input. Values selected on the server configuration screen are then placed into configuration files using Property Substitution.
Property Substitution
Property Substitution is the process of taking the values selected for Properties and placing them into configuration files. Each Property in GameCreate has a variable name that identifies the property: for example, a "Time Limit" property may have "timelimit" as its variable name. Configuration files will indicate where to insert the value of the Time Limit property by including the word "%timelimit%" (that is, the variable name surrounded by percentage signs) in the file. When the configuration file is written to a host's disk, "%timelimit%" will be replaced by the value for Time Limit selected in the server configuration area.
Property Value Inheritence
In GameCreate, property values are inherited whenever a default value is selected. Consider the server configuration screen: default property values are shown in grey, non-default values are shown in white. The initial default value for a property comes from the property itself. If the property's default value is changed, all servers using the default value (that is, have the property shown in gray) will use the new default value for the property.
The default value is then inherited from any templates applied to the server, that specify a value for the property. If multiple templates have a value for the same property, the template number determines which template is used (highest number being the selected template).
For the value from a template to be used, the property must be shown in grey (ie, default value) on the configuration screen. If the property is shown in white (ie, non-default value), the template's property value will not be used and changes to the template's property value will have no affect on the server.
Server
A server is the individual location that players connect to when playing a game. At the computer level, a server is a running instance of the dedicated server software provided by a game's developer. In particular, note that we will never use the word server when referring to an actual computer.
GameCreate supports two types of servers: permanent and temporary. Permanent servers are the type you are likely familiar with: they are intended to be running 24x7. Temporary servers are a unique GameCreate feature that allows your users to create servers that run for a short time (typically a few hours) and which the user has full control over it.
Tag
A tag is a word that can appear in a file to affect what is written to the host's disks. Tags can perform tasks such as selecting between blocks of text based on some condition, including other files, and manipulating property values. For example, usePassword=<gc:if>%password%<gc:then>1<:gcelse>0</gc:if> would result in usePassword=1 being written if there was a password set in the configuration screen, and usePassword=0 if there was not.
Template
A template is a named collection of one or more property values - or in other words, a partial configuration. Servers that share similar property values can make the relationship explicit by creating a template containing the common property values. The template is then applied to each configuration server. This is advantageous because a change made to the template will then affect all servers using the template (although see Property Value Inheritence for exceptions).