Game Design From Concepts To Implementation

Transcription

1 Game Design From Concepts To Implementation Games Go Online

2 The Dawn of Online Games Yesterday: we were buying boxes from the shelf Bad news: those times are gone! Today: we download a software for free and pay to use an online service

3 So What? We must look to the online thing as a component of our game Did I say resource? Did you say feature? Maybe someone said strategic! This is everything about understanding if online is in or out of your core business

4 What do We Use it For? Online Online as an added as an option value Online-capable games Online as a feature

5 How Would You Classify

6 What is the Point? This is not a matter of playing online, it is a matter of being online! Global scoreboards Trophies (reputation) In-game Out-of-game Social networking (doh!) all this to let you brag around about your new hi score Well established companies are there to help you do just this

7 It s a SERVICE! Under this prospective online gaming is no longer a product, it s a service You are not just required to BUILD it you have to RUN it! From laws of online world design Is it a game? It's a SERVICE. Not a game. It's a WORLD. Not a game. It's a COMMUNITY. Not a game. Anyone who says, "it's just a game" is missing the point. plus other amenities

8 Another Way to Look at the Problem Downloadable content Support Advertising Other services Online gaming service Online as a feature Online as an option Online-capable games Social network Web browsing Instant messaging

9 If it is a Service There is a Server! Secure (paid for) channel GAME SERVER GAME CLIENT

10 or Maybe not Secure (paid for) channel GAME NETWORK GAME CLIENT GAME SERVER

11 Just buy a computer and install it!

12 Just buy a computer and install it! Other Internet services Internet Firewall Game server Firewall Directory and security server Database server Outside world DMZ Private network

13 Hardware Crashes! Other Internet services Internet Firewall Load balancer Game server Game server Game server Firewall Directory and security server Database server Other shared resources Outside world DMZ Private network Put redundancy here at will

14 and Things May Get Really Ugly!

15 Game server A game server architecture may be made up by several pieces First, we may have a front and a back tiers Frontend welcomes clients, perform initial authentication, and converts messages to some common format Backend holds authentication data and run the actual game software server

16 Overall architecture Frontend custom client Game cluster Frontend browser Game cluster Frontend mobile User database Frontend Backend

17 Game clusters Are usually different, independent, incarnation of the same world Also called shards May be completely different worlds May be completely different games

18 Overall architecture Battle.net Armory WoW Starcraft Authenticator Battlenet database Frontend Backend

19 Server architecture Sub-server World database Sub-server Character database Sub-server

20 Why clustering? To balance workload! To increase the overall number of players (in each world) To increase processing power To add detail to the worlds To improve mobs A.I.