I would suggest you get in contact with @lordnigel. He has this intaractive adventure game #ibt that relies on users giving commands with a comment and there is a program answering and calculation your points.
For the timing problem I would suggest that you have some pictures ready for a post (lets say 10) and just only allow 10 players per round. Maybe if they don't proceed within 1hr you could open up your spot. Or you just go wild west style and just let everybody turn a tile (maybe only every 10min?) and just award the fastest player.