Plan for Josh Ritter

Distributed Massively Multiplayer Framework

I am in the process of writing the distributed server framework for the "massively multiplayer" part of the show... It could be described as the BitTorrent of massively multiplayer... if you are rolling your eyes over another tiny company trying to make a MMORPG, you needn't... this is quite different... and cool...

There'll be a test release of "The Overseer" server control applicaton quite soon... "The Overseer" allows you to quickly snap together server configurations of the form:

Master
   World(s)
      Region(s)
         Zone(s)

These configurations can be persisted and can span machines... it's very important for our success to quickly and easily launch/connect/configure servers...

I have also written a really cool role, permission, avatar, ghosting, SQL system... come to think of it, I am finally having fun working on games again!!!

I want to distribute the "The Overseer" test via the live patching system to give it a workout too... I have to add http support to the download client before we do this... so, we'll see...

Here's a quick sketch:

--- Prairie Games Master Server ---
    
         Our Games:
 
              Superhero Game -> Add World
                  ***World List, see MoM example below***
              
              Vampire Game -> Add World                   
                  ***World List, see MoM example below***
              
               Minions of Mirth -> Add World
        
                   Minions of Mirth World Servers:
 
                     Joshs World Server -> Add Region, Make Connection
                        Region Server 1 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 1 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 2 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 3 -> Make Connection
                        Region Server 2 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 1 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 2 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 3 -> Make Connection
                      
                    Barrys World Server -> Add Region, Make Connection
                        Region Server 1 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 1 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 2 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 3 -> Make Connection
                        Region Server 2 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 1 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 2 -> Make Connection
                            Zone Server 3 -> Make Connection
            
 
--- Local Servers and Connections ---
 
My Servers (Worlds, Regions, and Zones):

    Server (name) (hierarchy)
        -> Status (Process ID, running, metrics)
        -> Information (Name, roles, avatars, tables)
        -> Live Connections (connections TO this server) ... disconnect/ban IP
        -> Process -> Spawn, Shutdown, Restart
        -> Enable/Disable
        -> Configuration -> port, auto-spawn
        -> Make Connection (username, password, role) (shortcut)
        -> Delete Server (and all child servers)
        -> Child Servers (which can also have children)
           -> Add Child Server (Region or Zone)
           -> Remove Server (Region or Zone)
           -> Edit Server(Region or Zone)
        -> Users (username, password, roles)
           -> Add User
           -> Remove User
           -> Edit User
                   
My Connections:
    World Connections
      *** Connections ***
    Region Connections
      *** Connections ***
    Zone Connections
      *** Connections ***

    Connection (username, password, role):

       -> Status
       -> Configuration: port,  auto-connect
       -> Enable/Disable,
       -> Connect/Disconnect
       -> Delete
       -> Notebook with Avatar tabs
          -> Admin Avatar (control server process remotely, etc)
          -> Database Avatar (edit tables tied to Connection role)
          -> Builder Avatar (extend 3d environment arbitrarily)

Roles:

    Admin - has access to all avatars of server (shutdown, restart, etc)
    Immortal - full access to DB (other than admin stuff, server settings, etc)
    Game Master -  player + privledges
    Character - a player character
    Builder - can extend environment...

I am also taking hints from the MUD systems of old:

One thing that I am quite keen on is arbitrary extension of the 3d enviornment... basically, allowing people to tack their own zones onto live worlds via a "Builder" role... this will allow people to make their own dungeons, houses, castles, forests, mountain ranges, etc... and then attach them to their own or other people's worlds... the distributed nature of the server framework means that there is NO LIMIT to the size of the world...

The Builder role can be toggled or password protected... so if you want to control your world's extension or lack thereof...

Our technology supports discrete zones... there are triggers that transport you from one zone to another... now, the question with "Builders" adding zones to a world is how to interface the new zones to existing zones...

In a text mud this is simple because the room data is on one server and there isn't any 3d trigger that has to be laid out in existing level data... What I am thinking is that zone exits will popup a multiple choice dialog for zones that have been extended... this will give the player a choice of zones that "Builders" have tunneled from the zone... later on, there could be a better system for extending the game world... perhaps some kind of trigger layout tool in the actual client that builders can use...

Of course, zone connections can be handcrafted to be precisely laid out in the level editing software... but, allowing people to tack on zones arbitarily is easy to do and while developing the game this feature is handy... so I want to support it...

Thank you for reading this ramble...

-Josh Ritter
Technical Director
Prairie Games, Inc