Development and Deployment of Multiplayer Online Games, Vol. I: GDD, Authoritative Servers, Communications
Product ID: 202666450
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Trying to develop your own multiplayer online game can be overwhelming, especially as information on multiplayer specifics is very scarce. The nine-volume Development and Deployment of Multiplayer Games series is an attempt to summarize a body of knowledge that is known in the industry, but is rarely published, let alone published together . The series is highly praised by prominent representatives of the multiplayer gamedev industry . An "Early Praise" page within the book lists several testimonials by people from billion-dollar and/or AAA companies with job titles ranging from Managing Director and CTO to Backend Technical Director and Principal Software Engineer . Genres: From Social Games to MMOFPS, with Stock Exchanges In Between . Development and Deployment of Multiplayer Online Games aims to cover pretty much all the MOG genres - ranging from social games to MMORPGs and MMOFPS. While there are certainly differences between the genres, around 80% of the discussed concepts apply across the board. Level: Intermediate+ . This series is not trying to teach very basics of the programming (and is not a book to copy-paste your MOG from). Rather, it is intended for those intermediate developers who want to progress into senior ones, and all the way up to CTOs and architects. In particular, there is no explanation of what event-driven programming is about, what the difference is between optimistic locking and pessimistic locking, why do you need a source control system, and so on. Instead, there will be discussions on how the concept of futures fits into event-driven programming, when the use of optimistic locking makes sense for games , and how to use source control in the presence of unmergeable files . This Volume: Vol. I Vol. I starts Part ARCH(itecture) , and includes three Chapters. Chapter 1 discusses Game Design Document (GDD) - mostly concentrating on its multiplayer specifics of GDDs. Chapter 2 explores the all-important aspects of cheating - which is virtually non-existent in single-player games and games between friends, but plays an enormous role in multiplayer games; the resulting analysis leads to Authoritative Server architectures (note that discussion on implementing anti-cheating measures is much longer than it is possible to fit into Vol. I, and will take the whole Vol. VIII). The largest chapter of Vol. I, Chapter 3, is dedicated to typical multiplayer communication flows. Along the course of this discussion, it will cover lots of different topics, including such different things as Client-Side Prediction, Low-Latency Compressible State Sync, Lag Compensation and its dangers, and Inter-DB Async Transfer with Transactional Integrity Review: A Good Survey of MOG Specific Domain Knowledge - So Vol 1, in my opinion, is more like a survey of domain knowledge relating to Multiplayer Online Games; and it covers just about everything you need to know about from a very high level overview perspective. The author doesn't go into too much detail about any subject and they steer clear of talking about implementation in this volume, and that's fine. BUT what the author does very well in this volume is point you to their references so you can do further reading and learn more on any given subject. The bibliographies in this volume are extremely valuable resources in of themselves. One concern I have is that this is supposed to be a 9 volume series and only 2 volumes exist (on desertcart at least) then it looks like volume 2 was published in 2020 (though my copy says published in 2018) and I haven't seen any updates from the author since. I checked the ITHare website and it looks like it was last updated in 2017, so I really hope the author is continuing their work on this series because it is definitely valuable stuff. Review: I love this book - I've read every book on this topic (like seriously, every one I've been able to find for years), this is by far the best book on this topic. Its not even close.
| Best Sellers Rank | #891,417 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #312 in Game Programming #390 in Computer Networks, Protocols & APIs (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 41 Reviews |
D**.
A Good Survey of MOG Specific Domain Knowledge
So Vol 1, in my opinion, is more like a survey of domain knowledge relating to Multiplayer Online Games; and it covers just about everything you need to know about from a very high level overview perspective. The author doesn't go into too much detail about any subject and they steer clear of talking about implementation in this volume, and that's fine. BUT what the author does very well in this volume is point you to their references so you can do further reading and learn more on any given subject. The bibliographies in this volume are extremely valuable resources in of themselves. One concern I have is that this is supposed to be a 9 volume series and only 2 volumes exist (on amazon at least) then it looks like volume 2 was published in 2020 (though my copy says published in 2018) and I haven't seen any updates from the author since. I checked the ITHare website and it looks like it was last updated in 2017, so I really hope the author is continuing their work on this series because it is definitely valuable stuff.
M**.
I love this book
I've read every book on this topic (like seriously, every one I've been able to find for years), this is by far the best book on this topic. Its not even close.
N**M
It's for game developers who want to learn about server development.
It's a wonderful book in MOG area! I think every game developer should buy and read it! It introduced network related knowledge on MOG games. The content of the book is extremely detailed, clear and easy to understand. It also introduced lots of information that you never seen before. And it has integrated so many things, such as latency problem, which could affect by user input, monitor refresh rate, network transmission, network tick in client and server and so on.
M**Y
Treat yo' self and get the hardcover!
Great book with some solid concepts. It's a great starter if you are looking to understand Server Driven Development and holistic game design around servers. You'll have a better understanding of the ecosystem after reading it, and you'll come back referring to well laid out chapters on modular server ideas.
A**R
Couldn’t put it down
This is an incredible resource for building ANY low latency highly interactive distributed applications. So much good stuff in here, but certainly had to pick up vol 2.
T**V
It's been a great read so far!
I'm about 1/3 of the way through the book, but it's been an exciting read so far. When will volumes 2 - 5 be ready? I'm especially looking forward to volume 5 when things start getting serious.
I**O
Love this book.
Just fantastic thing funny reading and cool images , now waiting next series about Database and server side architecture , hope they will finish them soon.
S**H
In a market full of "beginner" networking books that are 30% a tutorial on sockets, this is the ONE advanced/expert book
This book got me laid. Server architecture is poetry for serenading the ladies.
T**H
Advice from a veteran
Awesome. Exactly what's needed. I'm buying them all. Destined to become a classic.
H**E
Great book to understand the worries of a MOG team and the architectural patterns
I'm almost 10 years working with web development so the book was perfect to get my head in tune with the issues when building a game with online multiplayer feature. Besides of the technical content, the book also have details about team/company organization, the development process and some worries on the business point of view. It's great to the ones who already have working experience, the ones who don't probably will have a little more difficulty to understand some parts (as is noted on the book introduction).
M**O
Great content, great book.
Amazing content, you rarely find technical books that readable and relatable and actually helpful. I just hope next volumes also come in Physical version. Purchased hard cover book and it has great quality.
Y**E
The goto book for netcode
This book fully explains the minefield that is programming MOGs for the internet. The author is clearly very experienced and has real experience with real time distributed systems. Modern netcode was in dire need of some good literature and this fills the gap. It would take a substantial chunk of a career in gamedev to learn everything in this book without it.
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