Brendan Chen
690f690faa
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22 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
22 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
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title: Game server orchestration
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---
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Game server orchestration is solving the problem of provisioning dedicated game servers in a scalable manner for a multiplayer game.
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When I added dedicated server builds for [[Resonance]], a cyberpunk-themed first person shooter, I did not realize the work I was giving myself later. I created a [vibe-coded prototype](https://github.com/brendan-ch/ResonanceServerOrchestrator/tree/2d71f0491830dfa91d7887c208c14c52d6513202) of a server orchestrator that was nowhere close to being production ready.
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Previously the game used [PurrLay](https://github.com/PurrNet/PurrLay), a peer-to-peer relay that clients connect to, where one of the clients becomes the *host* for a match. With the dedicated server architecture, all clients connect directly to the game server which can run game logic.[^1] Adding the game server orchestrator means knowing when to start and stop a server, and how to point players to the server with the correct match.
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I decided to try and turn the aforementioned prototype into a [custom backend](https://github.com/brendan-ch/ResonanceServerOrchestrator/tree/2d71f0491830dfa91d7887c208c14c52d6513202) for the orchestration. The basic flows look something like this:
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- Players join a match in the orchestrator after having been in the same lobby, so the orchestrator doesn't depend on the lobby backend
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- When all players have joined, the orchestrator provisions the dedicated server, and players connect to the dedicated server to play the game
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- When the game ends, players leave the match in the orchestrator, and the server exits
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[Edgegap](https://edgegap.com) is currently planned as the dedicated server platform. But, hopefully, with the custom orchestrator, there is some ability to switch to other providers.
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Right now this system works fine in development when conditions are predictable, but there is still much work to be done.
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[^1]: I didn't realize that I could drop [PurrLay](https://github.com/PurrNet/PurrLay) when adding the dedicated server until later.
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