11 replies to this topic

[TcM]

I was thinking, which is the best way to use for multiplayer games... use sockets or one centralized server with a database and a table holding all the info (for example the x,y of the player etc) and the clients will always get that data.. i know it might be slower, but isn't that worth it.. because that way you will not have to design a server side, because the db will have everything, so you will concentrate on the client side only.. is that better or worse?

[WingedPanther]

I think it depends on the type of game. A lot of LAN games simply have a "master" client and a bunch of other clients. I'm thinking of StarCraft/WarCraft as an example. Other games lend themselves well to the Client/Server model.

[TcM]

But do you think it will lag a lot because of the queries and such?

[WingedPanther]

It depends on the optimizations and size of the database. Network traffic is more likely to cause lag than DB access.

[TcM]

So basically the DB approach is more feasible in most scenarios? Hmm.. good, I thought it was the other way round.

[TcM]

Yeah, but you can still make a dedicated server client, and the clients connect to that.. to avoid the problem you are stating.

[TcM]

Uhm, I forgot the exact terms, but one is the server software that 'listens' and the client is the one that will connect to that software... so in order to overcome your problem just make a dedicated server (hardware) as a server (using software)

[John]

Keep scalability in mind. In a client-to-server model, the performance often depends on the server which can become expensive. However, in a peer-to-peer model, that cost is handed off to the client. If the software engineer is clever enough when designing the application layer protocol, one laggy peer should not effect the entire network.

[TcM]

But what if the laggy peer is the server? What can you do bout that (except finding a better peer)?

[John]

In a peer-to-peer model, we assume there are multiple peers. Every peer is both a server and a client. If one peer is slow, the software should find a faster one - which can be implemented in numerous ways. This is what a decent BitTorrent client usually does.