Massively Multiplayer Game Development (Game Development Series) (Hardcover)

by Thor Alexander (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Massively Multiplayer (MMP) game development is one of the fastest growing areas in the game market. With the first MMP releases, the genre took off with amazing speed, and as its popularity continues to soar, so do the many challengesinternationalization, customer support, hacking, and technological advancements. To keep up with these challenges, developers need to implement the best tools and techniques available. Massively Multiplayer Game Development provides these solutions.

This comprehensive, insightful collection of articles is written by some of the industry’s best MMP developers, and provides a wealth of unique knowledge acquired while working in the MMP trenches. Details on database techniques and game systems are also included. Unlike many programming books, Massively Multiplayer Game Development is intended to appeal to the entire team: programmers will find a multitude of technical ideas, and designers and producers will benefit from the detailed information on design, architecture, and customer support.

TOPIC HIGHLIGHTS:
* MMP Design Techniques: provides a "big picture" design process and includes valuable insights learned by the Toontown Online team, as well as practical online customer support issues learned by the Ultima Online team.
* MMP Architectures: features extensive coverage on applying object-oriented and Extreme Programming practices for building robust MMP frameworks and architectures.
* Server-Side Development: details the server side of online development, including seamless server pros and cons, development and maintenance issues, and wireless device porting tips.
* Client-Side Development: covers movement prediction, character customization, and the challenges of console MMP games.
* Database Techniques: explores this black art that very few developers have mastered. Covers the fundamentals of design and explains how and how not to use databases for online games.
* Game Systems: addresses how to design the core game system that powers MMP games.
* CD-ROM (Windows) includes demos and source code from the book in C++, Python, and Shockwave

Contributors!
Thor Alexander
Jason Asbarh
Jason Beardsley
Mark Brockington
William Dalton
David Fox
Tom Gambill
Mike Goslin
Ben Hanson
Todd Hayes
Dale Homburg (cover)
Christian Lange
Jay Lee
Glyph Lefkowitz
Paul McInnes
John M. Olsen
Sean O’Neil
Javier F. Otaegui
Jay Patterson
Patricia Pizer
Sean Riley
Artie Rogers
Paul Sage
Derek Sanderson
Jesse Schell
Joe Shochet
Matthew Walker

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

Intel Pentium-Series, AMD Athlon or newer processor recommended. Windows 95/98/ME/XP with at least 32MB RAM for C++ demos. Linux and MacOs are supported for cross-platform Python and Shockwave demos. 3D graphics card and DirectX 8 or higher recommended for Graphics demos, and the latest version of Shockwave.

About the Author
Thor Alexander, editor, has been working in the game industry for over ten years and recently founded Hard Coded Games. Prior to starting his own company, he was a senior AI programmer at Electronic Arts and Xatrix Entertainment, and was a founding member of Asgard Interactive and Harbinger Technologies. His multiplayer game development experience includes Ultima Online II and Valhalla's Gate, the world's first multi-node MUD. The other contributor's to this book have all worked in the multiplayer development area and are some of the best in the industry!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 484 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; 1 edition (February 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584502436
• ISBN-13: 978-1584502432
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #645,688 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The Charles River Media Game Development Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Bag, March 25, 2003

By	Jeffrey Thompson (Champaign, IL United States) - See all my reviews

I have very mixed feelings about this book. While it presents a wonderfully broad discussion of MMOG development and is chalk full of ideas that you can use in development, it is at the same time often incomplete. The problem is not in the desire for the sections of the book to more deeply discuss their subject matter, but more due to the fact that the sections often fail to fully describe even what they are attempting to talk about. Included source code is fairly sparse making it difficult to discern what the authors were reaching at even when he provides UML (minus complete descriptions). At least one python project fails to work at all and there is no information for corrections on the Charles River Media web site.

So, do I recommend this book? Yes. Knowing the book as I do now, I would still have purchased it, however this may be one that you want to look through somewhat carefully at a local bookstore prior to purchasing. Expect to have to expend considerable effort when developing code based on portions of the book as you will progress along merrily based on the descriptions only to hit a roadblock in the code based on an incomplete or completely missing description of a critical portion of the topic. This book is definitely for already competent developers/designers, though you should already be prior to attempting to craft a MMOG anyway.

This book will likely float between 2 and 5 stars depending on the reader.

Best of luck to all!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thoughtful compendium of wisdom, March 10, 2005

By	Evan Sims "Game Designer" (Champaign, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A fascinating book that compiles an array of essays by professionals in today's MMO industry. Each chapter brings something new and unique to consider: from the database to the game engine, costumer service to the network protocols, AI factions to interface design. However, some of the topics are so broad and complex the authors really have no chance of leaving you with a sense of satisfaction when their time is up- moving from topic to topic each chapter, you often feel the essays are left open and incomplete. Even so, the issues discussed are very important to consider, and rarely have I seen them covered in other books on the subject. Definitely an interesting read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MMO encyclopedia, February 20, 2006

By	Kosmyq (Mexico) - See all my reviews

Thos book is a collection of wisdom, aimed to provide an overall view of what you need to consider to write your own MMO. There is no code and the articles do not go too deep, which is not a bad thing, because they provide easy to understand contents. So before writing any code, read a related article, avoid pitfalls and only then start writing. I have been reading this book for several months, over and over and I still love it. There is no need to read the articles in any particular order and each reading session can be as short as 30 min. and still provide good knowledge to you. This book is a must have on your bookshelf if you are serious about MMO games and use other people's knowledge to shorten you own development cycle. I like it so much, I just bought the 2nd edition, which looks very promising, too. And dear author(s), if you write a book with a framework, I'll buy that one, too, without any doubt.