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1. So You Want to Write a Connected Multiplayer Game...
At the beginning of 1996, connected applications were an interesting concept, but not much of a reality. At the time, Internet browsers were one of the few Internet applications available. These browsers simply shoved information down the wire, while this is an effective way to ultimately get information to the end user, it didn't add much opportunity for a rich experience. With the added horsepower that a powerful client can provide once the information gets there, the end-user's experience can be enhanced.
Early online games only included role-playing or simulator games. These types of games worked well in this online environment because they did not require real-time player updates and were limited to a small number of players. With the coming of age of the PC and the supporting operating systems, real-time, fast-action games are quickly becoming a reality.
Today, a new series of full-featured, robust clients are available. These new clients reduce the role of the servers by locally processing data, thereby limiting the amount of transmitted data and effectively increasing the speed of the game.
With the introduction of Windows95, DirectPlay, and Winsock several options have been made available in the operating system-specifically, APIs that create an abstraction layer from the protocol implementation details which previously did not exist.
Online gaming is now growing out of its technical infancy to become a reality. Certainly many creative game developers have had dreams about what their ideal multiplayer gaming environment would be. Maybe something like this...
1.2.1 Capabilities of the Ideal Multiplayer "Dream" Game:
Audio/Video Phone - Whether I'm flying in an aircraft or spacecraft, or traveling through tunnels with a rocket launcher, I would be more immersed in a game if I could verbally taunt my enemy. With communications devices, I could tell my team where to move in for an ambush, to retreat if we are losing, or just let them know my status. How much more fluid would the game be? Take for example about a year ago I was playing Descent II with some co-workers. Alliances were formed and each team would gang up on each other. I conference-called my team over analog phones one day to share my ideas on strategy. Let's just say our opponents would always say "How the hell did you guys gang up on us so quickly?!" The added feature of continuous communication gave us the ability to warn each other as well as tell each other where to go.
Voice fonts - Impersonating special characters would add fun and humor, while making it easier to distinguish among different players. How embarrassing it would be to hear Alvin the chipmunk chuckling and saying "Hasta La Vista Baby" while toasting you!
Incredible high resolution visual 3D - We all have seen 3D animation, and those of us who have been blessed with playing Quake or Hellbender with a hot 3D accelerator card know that it is much more visually appealing (not to mention just plain easier to see). If every player had 3D, these games would be even more popular.
Spectators - It's always amazing to be able to watch someone who is a "master" at Quake hide around a corner, dart up to someone from behind, get their attention, and then run circles around them while nailing them to the wall (literally!). If there was a 'ghost mode' capability in a game, we could fly around and learn the skills of these masters.
Surrounding 3D audio - If player A, who's being circled, could hear an opponent's footsteps around the corner, he or she could at least be able to turn around faster and get a couple of shots in before being blown to bits. This capability would surely add more realism to the game. Or if a player was flying a spacecraft, he could get a sense of where his enemy is from the 3D audio, turn accordingly, and find the opponent.
O.K., O.K. WAKE UP! Perhaps with a 100Mbit hub, a 400MHz processor, a $2000.00 3-D card, and virtual reality, one could establish the scenario we dreamed up above, or maybe a drive down the street to the "Multiplayer World Arcade" (at $40 a visit) could do it. But these are only a sampling of the types of capabilities we'd like to be able to offer on the home platform.
Unfortunately all developers wake up the to same low bandwidth, high latency infrastructure we've got today, making the implementation of these features extremely difficult. Referring to Figure 1-1, although there have been developments in ISDN and cable modems, broadband connectivity in homes will not make a significant appearance over the next 2-3 years.
Figure 1-1: Narrow and Broadband Modem Saturation
Given what we have to work with, we may need to give up on some parts of these dreams for now. However, with the clever technologies that are currently available from various Internet technology vendors, we can add a little spice to multiplayer games, and start the trend of media-rich multiplayer gaming.
1.3 The Challenges for Tomorrow
This paper will address the issues involved in developing such games, and will give developers an introduction to the benefits and limitations of connected application architecture. It is not meant to be a relative checklist of features between various services and tool kits (which may change overnight from vendor to vendor). It is meant to give the application developer a framework of tradeoffs and issues to bear in mind. At the same time, this document highlights some of the key participants and vendors in this dynamic industry. We'll also introduce what we consider to be the seven 'Golden Rules' of creating a multiplayer game, examine the many issues, technologies, tools of game development, and offer a few "tips and tricks."
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