Acknowledgments

Intel would like to thank the following companies and contributors for their assistance and information in writing this paper:

Dale Addink, Interactive Creations Inc. (ICI)
John Carmack, Id Software
John Cash, Id Software
Yu-Shen Ng, Mpath Interactive
Jeff Rothschild, Mpath Interactive
Jason Rubinstein, TEN
Jeff Kesselman, TEN
Bill Lipa, TEN

CONTENTS:

• 1. So You Want to Write a Connected Multiplayer Game...
  • 1.1 A Little History Lesson
  • 1.2 Where We're at Today
    • 1.2.1 Capabilities of the Ideal Multiplayer "Dream" Game:
  • 1.3 The Challenges for Tomorrow
• 2. Here's How You Do It - Development Considerations
  • 2.1 Golden Rule 1: Design Your Game from the Ground Up
    • 2.1.1 Peer-to-Peer Game Models
      • 2.1.1.1 Technical Peer-to-Peer Game Issues
    • 2.1.2 Client/Server Game Models
      • 2.1.2.1 Turn-Based Games
      • 2.1.2.2 Real-Time Games
      • 2.1.2.3 Technical Client/Server Game Issues
    • 2.1.3 Fully Connected Game Models
      • 2.1.3.1 Technical Fully Connected Game Issues
    • 2.1.4 Tips
  • 2.2 Golden Rule 2: Know your Market - Choose the Right Connection
  • 2.2.1 How Many Can Play?
  • 2.2.2 Keep the Connection Simple
  • 2.2.3 Low-Level Connectivity Protocols
  • 2.2.3.1 Internet Protocol
  • 2.2.3.2 RSVP
  • 2.2.4 Low Level Connection Solutions
    • 2.2.4.1 Winsock
    • 2.2.4.2 Winsock 2
    • 2.2.4.3 Microsoft DirectX
  • 2.2.5 High Level Connection Solutions
    • 2.2.5.1 OSP Services
  • 2.2.6 Tips
  • 2.3 Golden Rule 3: Anything That Can Go Wrong With Communications, Will
    • 2.3.1 Fault Tolerance
      • 2.3.1.1 Up Time
    • 2.3.2 Tips
  • 2.4 Golden Rule 4: Balance The Bandwidth Budget
    • 2.4.1 Bandwidth Scalability
    • 2.4.2 Tips
  • 2.5 Golden Rule 5: Beating the Clock - Latency Expectations
    • 2.5.1 Tips
  • 2.6 Golden Rule 6: Scale to the Platform
    • 2.6.1 Media Choices
      • 2.6.1.1 Video
      • 2.6.1.2 Audio
    • 2.6.2 Tips
  • 2.7 Golden Rule 7: You're Not Done Yet: Business Considerations
• 3. Conclusion