Implementation Breakdown...

Pardon the rambling nature I expect this post will assume...  I just want to try to really break this grand plan in my head down into rather small, manageable chunks so that I can actually get them done.  Some brainstorming ideas will also be here.  Post is subject to later editing. :)

Note: items listed within brackets, [ ], are things I am considering but not sure whether I will ultimately implement.

Database
What it needs to include:

• all currently logged-in users (so you can see who's available to start a game with)
• [all users ever? - only if I want to include saved information on a user's past activity]
•  [location pointers to stored screenshots of past games]
• location pointers to stored game board (track) files - both the default/provided ones and the user-created ones
• games currently in progress: the group of users who are playing together; whose turn it is; locations on the board of each player.  note: include some kind of tag for games not yet started, players invited vs. accepted, and user who started game (becomes 'organizer')

Steps:

• draw out the schema
• create db, add tables and relationships
• add some test data
• write out the queries for the above functionality
• code queries in PHP, test

Interface
Elements/pages:

• navigation...
• introduction, maybe combined with help/about page
• list of users currently online (split to show your friends and non-friends)
• list of games not yet started and open to players joining (as opposed to closed/invite-only games)
• sequence of pages or steps on a page to set up a new game: selecting a premade track or [a saved track of yours] or design a new track, decide whether to open your game to any users or invite certain users, choose symbol markers
• main gameplay page - the Flash gameboard, list of the players, their symbols, whose turn it is
• post-game display... [stats? save this game screenshot?]

 Steps:

• diagram of navigational flow through pages / solidify pages
• and similarly, decide what to put in main navigation
• sketches of interfaces
• mockups of interfaces (html etc.)

Flash game board area
Functionality:

• display pre-made static image (blank grid on which to draw a new track; pre-made tracks on grid)
• user drawing a new track [check for invalid tracks - e.g. unclosed loops or lack of inside and outside boundary...?]
• detect user clicks and localize them onto gridpoints (for players to take their turns)
• display new overlaid graphics (player symbols on gridpoints, showing possible locations for next move)
• determine whether a move would be out of bounds - for each potential new position, I'm thinking of drawing a line (possibly invisibly within the code?) from current player position to new position, and seeing if that line intersects with the track boundary; perhaps store some key information regarding the track boundaries when it's created, and use start and endpoints of these lines to compare...
• output/save entire game board as a static image (for saving new tracks and/or completed games)

Facebook integration
Steps:

• Set up a new Facebook application
• Connect outside hosting/database
• Run some tests to make sure FB API hooks up
• After or as mockups are being built, convert into FBML, FBJS, etc.