NetDog or SmartFoxServer integration with TGE/TGEA?
by Tim.Holt · in Torque Game Engine · 01/29/2009 (9:49 pm) · 4 replies
Curious if anyone has looked into integrating TGE/TGEA with NetDog or SmartFoxServer MMO middleware. SmartFoxServer might be a bit of a surprise to some, but apparently it's usable with things other than their default Flash front end. Unity3D for example has an integration with SmartFoxServer.
#2
What's "MMO" to you? If it's the ability to support tens of thousands of clients on a single CPU, then yay, most quality net libraries can do that today. But those clients can't do anything either. Scaling 500 clients on a single CPU (hell, on a quad core one) with AI, physics, gameplay etc - without severe latency is something SmartFoxServer can't help you with :)
Can't comment on that second product you mentioned though. It might be more suited.
Edit: The edit should go trough eventhough it says an error happened. At least it does to me.
01/30/2009 (1:42 pm)
Have you used SmartFoxServer? It's as much a MMO middleware as TNL or RakNet is. They added a database layer, though that's not what you need to make a "MMO".What's "MMO" to you? If it's the ability to support tens of thousands of clients on a single CPU, then yay, most quality net libraries can do that today. But those clients can't do anything either. Scaling 500 clients on a single CPU (hell, on a quad core one) with AI, physics, gameplay etc - without severe latency is something SmartFoxServer can't help you with :)
Can't comment on that second product you mentioned though. It might be more suited.
Edit: The edit should go trough eventhough it says an error happened. At least it does to me.
#3
What I'm looking for really though are the second tier of core requirements one needs. Things like user authentication, object sharing and persistence, banning, logging user activity, user monitoring tools, admin tools, etc. Spell systems, skill trees, XP etc. I'll worry about myself :^)
There's been some fairly active "crossbreeding" of Unity with SmartFoxServer and NetDog. Like Torque, Unity is a nice front end, but pretty weak on the multiplayer back end unless you're interested in just "small" non-persistent multiplayer experiences.
It strikes me that this kind of merging could be good for some users wanting to create larger more persistent systems using TGE[A].
01/30/2009 (2:46 pm)
I definitely get what middleware can (and can't) do for you in developing an MMO. I guess I see setting up a net library as just one small part of the overall requirement. Load balancing, clustering, messaging and so forth are sort of a given.What I'm looking for really though are the second tier of core requirements one needs. Things like user authentication, object sharing and persistence, banning, logging user activity, user monitoring tools, admin tools, etc. Spell systems, skill trees, XP etc. I'll worry about myself :^)
There's been some fairly active "crossbreeding" of Unity with SmartFoxServer and NetDog. Like Torque, Unity is a nice front end, but pretty weak on the multiplayer back end unless you're interested in just "small" non-persistent multiplayer experiences.
It strikes me that this kind of merging could be good for some users wanting to create larger more persistent systems using TGE[A].
#4
Of course the highest layer of Torque and Unity is weak at this kind of stuff. It's not made to be MMOish. Unreal/IDTech isn't either. And that's your point, I guess. :)
I would be more interested if I suspected this to be trivial to implement. If it has load balancing, then it must root quite deep into Unity I'm sure.
01/30/2009 (4:22 pm)
I didn't see IPC/LB or messaging mentioned, but if that's included then it can definatly be interesting.Of course the highest layer of Torque and Unity is weak at this kind of stuff. It's not made to be MMOish. Unreal/IDTech isn't either. And that's your point, I guess. :)
I would be more interested if I suspected this to be trivial to implement. If it has load balancing, then it must root quite deep into Unity I'm sure.
Torque Owner Tim.Holt