No Time To Play

Data Queue Image from Wikipedia

It’s been a busy week!  But we’re back at building a game application server.  See part 1 of the series if you need to catch up.

So … Let’s start off building a glorified chat server, something you could build a MUD or MUCK off of.  Adding tile graphics or whatever you may like is really just an extension of that, and if there’s interest I can show how that’s done as well.  By aiming for a lower goal, though, we’ll get a good short-term accomplishment. (continue reading…)

You know, I’m beginning to think I’m not actually that much into games.

That may sound strange coming from someone who makes games (even as a “mere” hobby). But the more I think of it, the more it seems that I care little about the very things that make games special. I’m not a competitive person; challenge for the sake of challenge disgusts me. I do like to play, to explore and to socialize, but technically you don’t need games for any of that. It’s just that games happen to be excellent enablers for all three, ideally at once.

That probably explains my preferences. But most importantly, it might be able to show me where to go next.

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So … as promised in my last post, I’m going to start a series of “how to build your game application server”.  The first step is to figure out, in general what you want to make.  Then, the next step is to get a sense of your architecture.  How are your components going to fit together and communicate with each-other?  What interpreted language will you use, and what underlying “lower level” language will you use to support it

For this series of examples, I’m going to take you through building a multiplayer server which would be suitable for running a MUD/MUCK or a multi-player tile based game like EUO or Shattered Moon’s Ultima IV multiplayer.

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To change gears from my last post, let’s talk about some game software design.  The purpose of this article is to sort of underscore a certain way of thinking about software design; this probably won’t come as news to some of you, but for those of us who have been writing games since the DOS era it might get some gears turning.

When “application server” is said, what probably comes to mind in most developer’s heads is one of the following: web server, java application server (Tomcat, jBoss,etc.), or something similarly boring and business-related.

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Hello, ladies and gentlemen;

Felix has been kind enough to give me permission to make a mess of post on this site, so in the proud tradition of programmers everywhere: Hello, world!

Let me warn you; the first part of this is going to read a little bit like a rant, but I promise it gets constructive.  And I’m not ranting against things I hate, I’m ranting about things I wish could be better.  Things, in fact, that I love.  To my mind, this is vital for game developers to see; we, as a collective, need to always learn and strive to make better products.  We need to learn from the good and from the bad, and always play with an open mind.

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Last night, my friend Felix asked me for an article for No Time To Play, and since I owe him and this time I knew I can do it, I started thinking about games once again and my history with playing. And I thought about sharing with you as much as I can in a blog post. So, this is it: my (incomplete and far from final) story with games.

I used to be quite a gamer. I was playing around 2-3 hours a day on average, and I had 5-6 hours sessions at times. I loved it. I was escaping to alternate worlds, exploring different situations and having a wonderful feeling whenever I was winning.

Not anymore. Now, when I play games from time to time I can’t help myself analyzing them. I see most games as repetitive, dull, without substance. Maybe I learned too much about how my brain works. Maybe I’ve seen more of the real life and games seem artificial. Or maybe games are not what they used to be.
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