A communication architecture for massive multiplayer games

ABSTRACT

In this paper we present an approach for a communication architecture based on the publisher/subscriber model. The key issues considered here are scalability, ease of programming and dynamic system evolution. The division of the communication load into distinctive channels allows decoupling the domains of the game enabling the overall system to scale flexibly with the underlying network infrastructure, map size or number of players simultaneously online. Thus our approach is suitable to realize especially huge game-worlds as used in massive multiplayer online games. The underlying publisher/subscriber communication layer provides a high level of abstraction with a lean API therefore dramatically simplifying network programming in the game engine. Due to the fact that the communication is content-based, there is no fixed correlation between the game players and the game backend servers. This permits the dynamic evolution of the system by removing or adding not only players but also game servers and game content on the fly.

REFERENCES

• 1: J. Aronson. Dead reckoning: Latency hiding for networked games. http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19970919/aronson_01.htm, September 19 1997.
• 2: Y. W. Bernier. Latency compensating methods in client/server in-game protocol design and optimization.
• 3: P. Bettner and M. Terrano. 1500 archers on a 28.8: Network programming an age of empires and beyond. GDC 2001, March 22 2001.
• 4: Timothy H. Harrison , David L. Levine , Douglas C. Schmidt, The design and performance of a real-time CORBA event service, Proceedings of the 12th ACM SIGPLAN conference on Object-oriented programming, systems, languages, and applications, p.184-200, October 05-09, 1997, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
• 5: J. Kaiser , M. Mock, Implementing the Real-Time Publisher/Subscriber Model on the Controller Area Network (CAN), Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Symposium on Object-Oriented Real-Time Distributed Computing, p.172, May 02-05, 1999
• 6: R. Rajkumar , M. Gagliardi , Lui Sha, The real-time publisher/subscriber inter-process communication model for distributed real-time systems: design and implementation, Proceedings of the Real-Time Technology and Applications Symposium, p.66, May 15-17, 1995
• 7: M. Wallner. Ein publisher/subscriber Protokoll fuer heterogene Kommunikationsnetze. University of Ulm, Germany, March 2001.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.8 PERSONAL COMPUTING
      K.8.0 General
          Subjects: Games

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.4 Distributed Systems
          Subjects: Client/server
      C.2.5 Local and Wide-Area Networks
          Subjects: Internet (e.g., TCP/IP)

General Terms:
Algorithms, Documentation, Experimentation, Performance

Keywords:
massive multiplayer games, publisher/subscriber model, scalability