Massively Multiplayer Game Development 2

Description

As the MMP game market continues to grow, new challenges and technology hurdles constantly emerge. Massively Multiplayer Game Development 2 is an all new volume in this successful series written to address the challenges faced by the entire MMP development team, not just the programmers. The articles include a wealth of unique knowledge acquired through the experiences of some of the online game industrys best and brightest developers. These developers have worked on the most successful and anticipated MMP games, such as EverQuest, Ultima Online, The Sims Online, Second Life, Asherons Call, Star Wars Galaxies, and more. Programmers will find a wide array of technical tips and techniques throughout the collection, while designers and producers will find numerous articles filled with readable, informative insights to successful MMP design, along with time and costsaving production methods. Most of the articles are self-contained so they can be read in any order. There is also a companion Web site that will be updated frequently with development news and commentary from the biggest names in online game development. This collection will provide the entire team with ready-to-use techniques and innovative methods for solving all of your MMP challenges.

CONTENTS:

v
Contents
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
About the Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Contributor Bios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
About the Web Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxi
SECTION 1 MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER DESIGN TECHNIQUES . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Virtual Worlds: Why People Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Richard A. Bartle - University of Essex
1.2 The Three Thirties of MMP Game Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Artie Rogers - NCSoft
1.3 Balancing Gameplay for Thousands of Your Harshest Critics . . . . . . . 35
Brian Psychochild Green - Near Death Studios, Inc.
1.4 Power by the People: User-Creation in Online Games . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Cory Ondrejka - Linden Lab
1.5 Games Within Games: Graph Theory for Designers - Part 1 . . . . . . . . 85
David Kennerly - Fine Game Design
1.6 Worlds Within Worlds: Graph Theory for Designers - Part 2 . . . . . . . . 99
David Kennerly - Fine Game Design
1.7 Guild Management Tools for a Successful MMP Game . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Sean Dragons Stalzer - The Syndicate
1.8 A Stock Exchange-Inspired Commerce System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
John M. Olsen - Infix Games
1.9 Alternatives to the Character Grind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Artie Rogers - NCSoft
1.10 Telling Stories in Online Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Shannon Appelcline - Skotos
1.11 Great in Theory: Examining the Gap Between System Design
Theory and Reality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Justin Quimby - Turbine Entertainment Software
SECTION 2 MMP ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
2.1 Automated Testing for Online Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Larry Mellon - Electronic Arts
2.2 Massively Multiplayer Scripting Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Jon Parise - Electronic Arts
2.3 Real-World MMO Object Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Joe Ludwig - Flying Lab Software
2.4 MMP Server Cluster Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Joe Ludwig - Flying Lab Software
2.5 Massively Multiplayer Games Using a Distributed
Services Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Shea Street - Tantrum Games
2.6 Metrics Collection and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Larry Mellon - Electronic Arts
2.7 Delta-Compression for Heterogeneous Data Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Jim Hicke - Xtreme Strategy Games, LLC
2.8 Architecture and Techniques for an MMORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Gideon Amir - Majorem
Ramon Axelrod - AiSeek, Inc.
2.9 MMP Engineering Pitfalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Justin Quimby - Turbine Entertainment Software
2.10 Animated Procedural Skies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
John M. Olsen - Infix Games
2.11 Time and Event Synchronization Across an MMP Server Farm . . . . . 295
Roger Smith - Modelbenders, LLC
Don Stoner - DCSI
2.12 Anti-Cheat Mechanisms for Massively Multiplayer Games . . . . . . . . 307
Marty Poulin - Sony Computer Entertainment America
2.13 The Quest for Holy Scale - Part 1: Large-Scale Computing. . . . . . . . 339
Max Skibinsky - HiveMind, Inc.
vi Contents
2.14 The Quest for Holy Scale - Part 2: P2P Continuum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Max Skibinsky - HiveMind, Inc.
2.15 Optimization Techniques for Rendering Massive Quantities
of Mesh Deformed Characters in Real-Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
John W. Ratcliff - Ageia Technologies, Inc.
SECTION 3 MMP PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
3.1 Large-Scale Project Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Michael Saladino - Electronic Arts
3.2 Effective Quality Assurance - How to Manage Developers . . . . . . . . 401
Craig McDonald - Origin Systems (R.I.P.)
3.3 Small Fish in a Big Pond: How Small Developers and Publishers
Can Succeed in Promoting Their MMP Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Mike Wallis - Turbine Entertainment
3.4 Managing and Growing an MMOG as a Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
John Donham - Sony Online Entertainment
3.5 Community Management: Do's and Don'ts from
Those Who've Done Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Graham Williams - Ubisoft
Katie Postma - Ubisoft
3.6 Important Features to Attract and Retain Guilds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Sean Dragons Stalzer - The Syndicate
3.7 Techniques for Providing Online Support for Massively
Multiplayer Games. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Tom Gordon - AlienPants
3.8 Asian Game Markets and Game Development -
Mass Market for MMP Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
Adi Gaash - Exci-TV
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
Contents vii