HOWTO: Setup timed sessions

[abdutron]

Hello,

I was wondering: is it possible to setup timed session for a game?

This is what I have in mind:
As a "game master", I can start a 15 minutes sessions. When time is over, it becomes impossible to interact with the map (kind of frozen ?)
As a "game master", I can start 3 sessions of 15 minutes. Between sessions, no one can interact with the map.

I host Minetest 5.3.0 on a Debian 10 and I have access to the configuration files.

i am asking this question because I would like to run 3 x 15' building sessions, and see at the end what builders will have been able to accomplish.

I do not manage to find out how to do that. Is it from the server / client side?

Thank you, Stéphane.

[Bastrabun]

You can grant/revoke the interact privilege. Without it, player can roam the map but neither build nor mine blocks.

[rubenwardy]

So, there are two things to consider - what happens if the player leaves the game, or if the server shuts down/crashes?

minetest.after can be used to create timers that expire after a period of time, but they don't persist over server restarts.

Another option is to store the game time in the player meta, and then use that to check when the 15 minutes is up - this will survive server restarts

Preventing interact is as simple as revoking the interact priv, as Bastrabun said. This was persist over server restarts

[abdutron]

Hello!

Thank you very much for your help.
I will try the given solutions and choose the best one in my context.

Finally, is it possible to show a watch / timer / countdown... on the screen of every player?
Have you ever heard of something like that? Maybe a mod?

Stéphane