Game Servers
Computer or mechanical systems responsible for running individual game instances.
Computer-mediated games need programs to uphold the game state, handle input from players and provide presentations of game events. In many cases they also have to handle various agents that perform actions within the game. Game Servers is the name of these programs. Game instances can also be maintained by mechanical systems, e.g. pinball machines, so these can also be Game Servers even if they are not full-fledged computers.
Note: while a computer system can be built to handle several different game instances, this pattern describes the logics that control one game instance. Systems that control more than one game instance and support some form of extra-game communication or interaction are at least partially Meta Servers.
Contents
Examples
The first Game Servers were developed for playing Nim, Tic-Tac-Toe, and Chess in the 1940s and 1950s but already in the 19th century did Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace design concepts for creative mechanical systems for playing Tic-Tac-Toe.
Pinball
Arcade
Battlefield Unreal Tournament Quake series
World of Warcraft Ultima Online
Anti-Examples
optional
Using the pattern
Meta Servers Non-Consistent Narration Instances Chat Channels Player Kicking Player Decided Rule Setup Game Lobbies
Diegetic Aspects
Interface Aspects
Narrative Aspects
Consequences
Relations
Can Instantiate
Instances, Non-Consistent Narration
with ...
Can Modulate
-
Can Be Instantiated By
-
Can Be Modulated By
Chat Channels, Game Lobbies, Meta Servers, Player Decided Rule Setup, Player Kicking
Possible Closure Effects
-
Potentially Conflicting With
-
History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
-
Acknowledgements
-