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.

For Massively Multiplayer Online Games, Game Servers are frequently called shards.

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.

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.

Arcade Machines are dedicated machines for playing games. Well-known examples of this type of games include Asteroids, Gauntlet, Pong, Space Invaders, and the Donkey Kong and Pac-Man series. Similarly, Pinball Games such as Star Trek: The Next Generation can be considered Game Servers.

Online Games require Game Servers so that players have some place to connect to when they wish to play. Examples of this can be found in many genres: the Battlefield, Unreal Tournament, and Quake series for First-Person Shooters; BatMUD and DragonMud for MUDs; Eve Online, World of Warcraft, and Ultima Online for Massively Multiplayer Online Games; and Candy Crush Saga and FarmVille for Social Media Games.

Using the pattern

Meta Servers Non-Consistent Narration Instances Chat Channels Player Kicking Player Decided Rule Setup Game Lobbies

Game Servers do not per se require Game Clients, e.g. MUDs such as DragonMud and Kingdoms can be played without using Game Clients. However, as soon as games have graphical (or even ascii-based) representation they become a necessity.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Instances, Non-Consistent Narration

Can Modulate

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Can Be Instantiated By

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Can Be Modulated By

Chat Channels, Game Clients, Game Lobbies, Meta Servers, Player Decided Rule Setup, Player Kicking

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

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History

New pattern created in this wiki.

Acknowledgements

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