Multiplayer lobby / game finding

Networking & Multiplayer
#1

Assuming I get a multiplayer (peer-to-peer) game running*, how would I go about creating a lobby so people could find opponents and kick off games over the internet? I assume you’d need some kind of central server for everything to connect to, but how would that actually work? It would be annoying to have to maintain a server of some kind, yet equally annoying to make people manually set up games via IRC etc.

How have things like Kev’s Mini Adventure handled creating a server?

*No laughing at the back there. :stuck_out_tongue:

#2

Mini Adventure was/is central server based. There’s not setup of a server as such.

Generally things like CS allow you specify your server as public… this makes it registered with a central repository somewhere that the clients then query to find games to play.

Kev

#3

Hi

Kev and I have a box sat in the states with 997GB of bandwidth spare a month. which kinda helps :). And yes, miniad/lights of laminos does have a central server.

Endolf

#4

So what is the server, physically? Just a computer connected via broadband or were you paying for one to be hosted? I assume the second, in which case, what were you actually running (software) on the server?

I assume you hard-coded the game to originally connect to a known IP/URL?

#5

The server is a hosted box yep. And yes there is a bespoke server running on the box (but in Mini Adventure’s case all the game runs on the server, since its not game based, its intended to be MMORPG).

Actually, MA lets you select your own server but gives you a default. In the case of CS I believe it connects a specified domain which can obviously be rerouted in the background should it need to be.

You could happily write some simple JSP, CGI, PHP to do a sort of central game registry, saves you running the server. However, you’d probably find writing the server is just as easy… specially if you just used RMI or something to manage it :slight_smile: See other thread…

Kev

#6

Well since I’ve already got hosing which I use for orangytang.net it would probably be easier to stick with PHP etc. (I don’t think the hosting allows java code to be run). But if its just player and game finding thats probably more than adaquate.

Guess I should start writing the game then. ;D

#7

Na, no point writing it now. You’ve done the interesting bit, thinking about it… the rest is irrelevent :wink:

Kev